PCH | The Most Fundamental Time Saver in Redaction

When it comes to redaction, the true key for any software is how deep its interaction with the accessed files is. All too often, people work with files loaded into software that has no intuition for the content, or the workload for that matter. Instead, the software relies on command prompt, a high level of technical education on the part of the user, and copious amounts of time. But in high-paced environments, none of this exists, and surely not heaps of time can be expended. Software that does the heavy lifting for you is critical to your mission.

There are a number of ways to accomplish this. A wide array of tools, with an even wider amount of options within, along with simple points of access. But to be truly intuitive, your software has to consider how visual the work of redaction truly is. You need software that prioritizes this and offers simple, effective tools that provide this level of visual interaction, so that the work can get done, exactly where it is, exactly as it is seen. This is where the simple concept of “Point, Click, & Hold” is the total utility.

What is Point, Click, & Hold?

It’s an old concept from word processing software. The ability to use a computer’s mouse to point at a word, phrase, or sentence, click on the selection, and then hold that selection so that you can apply changes. It could be that you’re wanting to apply bolding, italicized, or underlining to the selection. It could be that you’re creating a title in a large and/or different type of font. But for word processing, the idea behind this tool was to make changes in a given document “on the fly” so that documents could be created faster.

Prior to this, the process in a document was much more arduous. You had to set lines in a document, and manually change the text at each line to accomplish basic functionality like headers, footers, titles, and so forth. Point, Click, & Hold, or PCH for short made it possible to get these tasks done quicker, speeding up the process of creating and publishing documents. This same basic tool for word processing can be applied in a number of different ways for redaction tasks and can completely change the speed of work your agency is currently operating under.

In Document Redaction

This is the most basic concept, but it makes a huge difference in completion times. Just like the use of PCH in word processing software, when it comes to redaction software it can be used to highlight the specific words that need to be redacted. Most redaction software requires manual redaction, meaning you would have to select each word and apply a single redaction. With CaseGuard Studio, you’re able to highlight as many, or as few words, and apply multiple layers of redaction as you see fit.

PCH makes it easy to access multiple points within the document and apply as many redactions as needed. The real advantage is in the interaction that your staff feels while redacting. PCH gives them full control over the document, being able to interact at each point they select along the way. This factors into the quality of work, in both the result, and their attentiveness. By drawing them closer to the document, staff members stay motivated as they feel they are accomplishing the result desired.

In Image Redaction

PCH works as the go-to tool in image redaction. How else would you go about selecting areas in an image that needs to be blurred out, pixelated, or completely blacked out? Believe it or not, there is software out there that requires users to type in X and Y-axis coordinates to get to a specific part of the image. Some require you to select a tool, and stretch the working area of that specific tool around the area to work on, so that your view of the file zooms in. It’s not a bad way of doing business, but eventually, you get lost in the work you’re doing, and have to zoom out, and change perspective, and then eventually work overlaps over the other, or the work doesn’t simply get done right the first time.

Image redaction should be simple, intuitive, and not time-consuming. CaseGuard Studio’s PCH tool is designed to work with images the same way it works in documents. By giving the user complete control over selecting a given area, accomplishing the task needed in one swift motion, and getting your staff onto the next task without hesitation.

In Audio Redaction

Some people might think that audio redaction presents a challenge to incorporating PCH tools, but whatever struggles other vendors have, CaseGuard Studio has accelerated past the struggle, and found success. CaseGuard Studio focuses on the creation of the waveform, sometimes called the “audio wave,” as a way to visualize the sound file your staff will be working on.

A waveform is a graphical version of the audio previously recorded in an audio or video file, and in creating the waveform your staff can see how the audio unfolds and can physically seek and select the audio that needs to be redacted. This leads to a greater sense of control over the file, and accurate redactions that are ultimately better than the leading software can offer.

In Video Redaction

We teased it in the last section, but waveforms are created with video files, and work as a companion to the video presented. You can resize the waveform so you can view more of it, in concert with the video, which gives you an even better sense of control over audio redaction in video files. It allows the user to seamlessly switch between audio and video redactions and be able to quickly make decisions concerning the content.

Conclusion

CaseGuard Studio is making visual tasks easier to comprehend and complete, placing the file content in the exact context your staff needs to get those files finished, published, and keeping your staff on target to get the workload done. When it comes to redaction, the goal is to get the work done, faster than the requests come in. And while that challenge is easier said than done, software that keeps pace with the speed of work is tantamount to compliance, and the continued appearance of professionalism within the community you serve. If you haven’t, it’s time to experience the next level in redaction software. CaseGuard Studio is waiting for you.