This state government agency is the lead institution for the conduct of American diplomacy facilitating the promotion and protection of interests for US citizens globally. The department operates more than 270 embassies, consulates, and other posts worldwide. These provide policy guidance, program management, administrative support, and in-depth expertise in matters such as law enforcement, economics, the environment, arms control, human rights, counter narcotics, public diplomacy, security, consular services and more. To collaborate, one of the primary communication methods between these bureaus for government to government communication was a primitive black and white ASCII-based cable system established circa World War II.
The restrictions associated with the legacy cable-based communication system limited the department’s responsiveness and did little to control the human capital costs associated with the need to scale up the number of employees to address the manual effort required to appropriately process the cables in a timely fashion. In addition, the department was required to become compliant with NARA.
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the nation’s record keeper that archives important business, legal and historical documents forever. The agency like many other organizations are required to submit their files to NARA in PDF/A (the PDF format for Archiving). So the decision was made to look into technology that could revolutionize their antiquated cable system and provide a reliable, yet scalable solution that would store and archive their cables, enable sharing and improve information accessibility through search, while providing protected access to information by employee clearance level. A secondary, but nice-to-have requirement was the capability to enhance communication by including support for rich media options such as fonts, attachments (like images) and support for Microsoft® Outlook® to easily draft cables.
The department had challenges with:
Legacy Data Sharing Practices: The administration relied on a dated ASCII-based cable system for inter-bureau communication. This severely limited the department’s data retrieval responsiveness and increased overhead costs associated with information processing.
Inability to Efficiently Comply with NARA Requirements: Each cable communication needed to be converted into a standardized PDF/A format for long-term (50 years) preservation and submission to NARA.
Integration with Internal SMART System: The new solution needed full integration with the State Messaging and Archive Retrieval Toolset (SMART), which combines all diplomatic text cables, emails, and memos into a single messaging system for classified and unclassified networks.
After doing their research, the agency determined they needed reliable and feature-rich document transformation technology. The two recommended vendors were Adobe and Adlib. Adlib was ultimately chosen based on ease of installation, the automation capabilities of the entire document E2E process and Adlib's pixel-perfect accuracy. Adlib’s transformation technology became a key element to the State Messaging and Archive Retrieval Toolset (SMART) system. A system designed to combine diplomatic text cables, email, and memos in a single messaging system for classified and unclassified networks. SMART also provides collaboration tools, such as instant messaging, document management, document search and improved record keeping.
"Automated PDF transformation from Adlib has enabled us to reduce our costs associated with the delays and errors of manual intervention within business processes."
- IT Project Manager
The Adlib solution is now processing anywhere from 3000-5000 cables per day. Those incoming cables and their associated attachments are automatically converted to PDF/A (PDF for Archiving), then stored in Microsoft SharePoint. Once the solution was fully implemented it assumed the role of an official Archive. Some value-added functionally was leveraged by enabling content “tags” which associates the newly generated PDF/A files to a set of rules that determines the length for which that PDF/A file gets stored for (i.e.: Store file for 2 years to 50 years). In addition, roles-based access control through Microsoft BizTalk was established to determine who can and cannot access specific documents. Roles-based access allows SMART users based on their profile (by citizenship, classification, location, topic and clearance) to have controlled access to documents. In addition, document access controls were implemented through DRM (Digital Rights Management) to control document open and print capabilities.
The department is able to recognize new found efficiencies through server-based document-to-PDF/A process automation in the back office versus their former method of manually processing documents at the desktop operation level. The newly automated process enables its employees to better focus on their day jobs, therefore saving time and money by not wasting time with error-prone manual document processing and PDF/A conversions. In addition, it was easy to implement an accurate process for standardizing document naming conventions, the application of document metadata and ensuring the PDF/A documents end up in the right place. Costly and inefficient paper storage and information look-up processes was replaced by an efficient system to store and provide controlled access to digital assets. All of these efficiency benefits were achieved in parallel while also enabling the agency to seamlessly share documents and be in compliance with NARA.
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Our engineering teams are constantly creating new schematics and blueprints within AutoCAD or MicroStation which need to be managed and archived. These CAD files would have far too many layers if they were not rendered so they need to be processed through Adlib first. Adlib delivers excellently converted AutoCAD renditions, which is highly important to us. These can be complex images so accurately transferring the detail is critical.
I do view Adlib as being a stronger solution than others.
Adlib is likely the best option on the market today. Adlib does a great job processing huge volumes with strong quality. Adlib is constantly online and processing files nightly 24/7. Our organization can’t really function without Adlib being operational, it is heavily embedded in the work we do.
Many people drop documents in a folder which is monitored by Adlib. Anything that is placed in our vault must first go through Adlib, so they eventually get their hands on basically any document we receive or create.
All the documents we are rendering are signed certificates ensuring that ships have been appropriately inspected. Our documents are relatively large and contain charts, graphs, and drawings. We want these rendered correctly and concisely so each certificate is accurate and professional looking. Adlib helps to add our logos, a watermark, and make the entire certificate look that much more professional. The fact that the renderings are really clean and well-formatted is a key benefit of Adlib.
When we made the decision to change rendering solutions back in 2016, we looked towards 3 separate vendors. Overall, Adlib seemed more mature as a software option.
We process all digital insurance claims through Adlib. The documents for claims can be quite robust, and commonly need to be files from many parties like police reports, fire and safety documents, and images.
I like that Adlib has designed a fairly niche product within the PDF rendering space. It is very good at what it does while remaining accurate and fast.
We initially looked at OpenText, but it didn’t meet our upfront requirements. I would happily give Adlib a positive referral. They deserve a 10 out of 10, as I view them as the strongest option available.
Adlib is integrated with Enovia, our active quality management tool. Every file type is rendered through Adlib as all materials are required to be stored as PDFs. The files we are processing can be a mixture of different things such as product specifications, ingredients, formulas, raw materials used in products, or specifics of packaging.
The majority of the documents we are rendering through Adlib are preclinical study reports, new drug developments, and general clinical documents. Due to how heavily regulated life sciences is, 100% of our documents are required to be transferred to and stored as a PDF. Working with the likes of Adlib keeps us complaint.
Adlib is fully embedded within M-Files. They have paired very well with each other which has kept us happy. When we were selecting Adlib, a key reason we did so was due to Adlib telling us how easily their software partners with other systems.