[jaws-uk] Re: Jaws with SAP HR software

  • From: "Brian Hartgen" <brian.hartgen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <jaws-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Tue, 9 May 2006 15:54:55 +0100

Hello Graham

Terry has asked me to write to the list about the SAP application.

Obviously the scripts which T&T have written would not be available freely
from the internet because they have been created for a customer and also due
to the following reason.

SAP is a vast application which is used within many large organisations for
all kinds of purposes:  accountancy, human resources tasks, to log product
part numbers and so on.  The vastness of the application is complicated by
the fact that SAP is very customisable by whichever company or organisation
is using it, and so while (as is the case with many situations) generic
scripts may help, the reality is that they would have to be tailored to the
tasks being worked through by the user.  Added to this, users themselves may
wish to have additional prompt or help information input into the scripts to
aid their overall understanding of the application within the context of
their employment.

Like many applications, SAP is a program which does not have standard
Windows controls in the most part.  For example,  tabbing through form
fields causes JAWS to speak nothing at all, (not even the user name and
password log on screen), list boxes and radio buttons do not speak their
respective prompts, etc.  However of course this has not stopped us from
scripting it!

As a summary, T&T have been very successful in creating scripts to
facilitate very efficient access to the parts of the app the user requires.
This means that all the controls in the various forms speak and can be
managed, hot keys have been created where necessary (although there were
some by default), tool bar buttons can be navigated, and we also implemented
table navigation keys to interact with data presented in columns, together
with lots of useful spoken prompts and virtual viewer help information.

My advice Graham is that if a person really needs to use this or a similar
application, they should obtain a full scripting assessment of the app.  For
anyone who is remotely interested, this is where a company visits the place
of work, thoroughly assesses the application both visually and with JAWS
running, talks to the potential user and associated staff members
(particularly line management and I T) about what is expected of the user in
the context of the app, and so on.  The assessor ought then to be able to
write a thorough report setting out the time he or she expects the scripting
to take, whereupon the scripting can be done.

So the actual answer Graham to your question as far as I am aware is no,
there are not scripts for this application. But hopefully you can perhaps
understand why not.

Please let me know if I can help further.

Brian Hartgen
Technical Consultant
T&T Consultancy Ltd

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