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Re: Average time to Remediate PDFs in bulk?

for

From: Jordan Wilson
Date: Oct 10, 2014 9:54AM

Thanks,

I don¹t need it to be perfect - rather looking for an average that I can
use for a low and high boundary for my estimate. As far as the size of the
batch, approximately 1000 documents. Most are simple, some are
intermediate and a few are complex.

Perhaps it would be more helpful if I took a stab myself and asked if it
made sense to others:

If I was to take a guess at this I¹d say something like:

Simple documents: .5 an hour
Intermediate documents: 1-4 hours
Complex documents: 4-8+ hours

Does that mesh (on average, and without needing to be perfect) with
other¹s experiences or it too high/too low?



On 10/10/14, 11:42 AM, "Chagnon | PubCom" < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

>Jordan wrote: "Does anyone recommend an average time (in hours) they use
>for
>remediating a PDF?
>I'm trying to semi-accurately estimate an hourly effort for large batches
>of
>documents."
>
>Define "large." It means different things to different people. Is a large
>batch 10 documents or 100 documents? Are the documents 5 pages long, 50
>pages, or 500 pages?
>
>In our contracts to agencies for PDF remediation, we specifically do not
>place an estimate on how long it will take to remediate a PDF. It's just
>not
>possible because there are too many variables.
>
>The biggest factor is how well the original source document was made,
>which
>then affects the underlying structure and coding of the PDF, which of
>course
>directly affects accessibility.
>
>The version of the originating software is critical; Word 2013 makes a
>better document than Word 2007. Same with Adobe InDesign. And which
>version
>of Acrobat was used to convert the document affects the accessibility in
>the
>PDF.
>
>You can't see any of these items by visually looking at the PDF, so how do
>you know what you'll run into when you start remediation?
>
>And then there's Alt-text; is the graphic a complex statistical chart or a
>garden-variety photo for window-dressing the document's visual appearance?
>Big difference in what has to be written for Alt-text, and statistical
>Alt-text has to then be approved by the author or SME.
>
>Summary: sometimes we can remediate a 100-page PDF from Word faster than a
>4-page PDF brochure from InDesign. It's all about the code, the source
>document, the software versions, and the skills of the person who made the
>document.
>
>WTHK ... Who the heck knows!
>
>--BJC
>
>- PubCom.com - Trainers, Consultants, Designers, and Developers.
>- Print, Web, Acrobat, XML, eBooks, and U.S. Federal Section 508
>Accessibility.
>- 508 Workshop: www.workshop.pubcom.com
>- US Federal Training: www.gpo.gov/customers/theinstitute.htm
>
>
>>>