North Warwickshire BC Accessibility Success with Jadu eGov 1.5.
North Warwickshire Borough Council (NWBC) started implementation of Jadu eGov Content Server version 1.5 at the end of April 2005. After a six week implementation, they went from a SiteMorse™ ranking of 389 to 11 jumping 378 places.
The Government Forum 365 website reported NWBC's success as their top story along with the July SiteMorse league table.
NWBC switched from their previous CMS running on several Windows servers for accessibility and usability issues - their new site, devolved out entirely to Service Units is powered by a single Linux Server. Rugby BC, who also scored very well (42) - run a single Windows 2003 Server.
Although automated testing systems such as SiteMorse and Scivisum are far from definite and cannot check for all areas of accessibility - they do force the issue of accessibility by promoting it and bringing it to the surface and can be a useful tool for the web site manager.
Paul Johnson, Local Authority Delivery Manager at Jadu said: "Jadu eGov 1.5 includes features specifically designed to promote accessibility - from link checkers to the nice clean XHTML all webmasters dream of..."
Now on it's fifth incremental upgrade, Jadu eGov Content Server has proved to be best of breed CMS and web productivity suite for 9 local authorities with many others yet to officially confirm implementations.
Suraj Kika, CEO of Jadu said: "We are very proud to announce Jadu eGov 1.5 it is a milestone in our roadmap and will make some heads turn in our industry - as well as over 30 new features, we have improved a number of technologies that make the Jadu eGov CMS system one of the most accessible in terms of generated content and one of the most usable, in terms of tools available.
Where most CMS systems offer 'Accessibility Checkers' Jadu eGov automatically cleanses content and generates pure XHTML - content managers needn't concern themselves with understanding WAI guidelines. "
Jadu eGov CS Version 1.5 is more notable features include a new scheduling engine used to schedule administrative tasks such as publishing of documents. The new scheduling engine also manages admin tracking reports particularly useful during implementation.
The most notable new arrival is support for the Integrated Public Sector Vocabulary (IPSV) which has replaced the Local Government Category List (LGCL). Andy Perkins, Software Architect for the eGov product line said: "Unlike most CMS system out there, we haven't just bolted in the IPSV it's embedded at every level.
We also haven't disregarded the LGCL we have built in functionality to edit the LGCL and turn it into web navigation. If you have ever tried to write a taxonomy yourself you will know the benefit of having a serious head start."
Jadu eGov CS's new taxonomy management means that automated taxonomy classification tools and software are not required - saving thousands in costs. New taxonomies can be imported into Jadu eGov as standards change.
"We have already seen the LGCL evolve into IPSV and newer standards emerging such as the Local Government Navigation List (LGNL) - its essential for any Government specific CMS to be able to import and adopt these standards, or the cost of 'keeping-up' standards compliance could start to impact resources that would otherwise be spent extending functionality and features..."
"The Local Authority eGovernment market is a marvel right now and very exciting the rapid rate of change and the innovation as a result is something that should be seen as setting a standard for Governments everywhere - particularly for councils 'doing it right' with web accessibility" - Suraj Kika, CEO of Jadu.
