The solution “Soy nuevo aquí” of the University of Extremadura will facilitate labour insertion of new employees with impairments

26/01/2012. The University of Extremadura has started its third R&D+i project within the framework of Indra-Adecco Foundation Chair of investigation in accessible technologies. It seeks to develop a new solution, called “Soy nuevo aquí” to facilitate the laboural insertion of people with impairments who have recently joined a company.

The Chancellor of the University of Extremadura, Segundo Piriz; the Director of Universities Relations of Indra Carlos Fernández and General Manager of Adecco Foundation Francisco Mesonero signed today in Caceres this new R&D+i project as part  of  the commitment of the three entities to the development of solutions and services to facilitate access to technology, laboural and social integration of people with impairments.

“Soy nuevo aquí” is conceived as an interactive web application with multi-device support, that is, users can have access with computers, telephones and tablets, etc. The tool will help new employees, regardless of the functional diversity, learn work methods, procedures, labour risks prevention, location of objects; and configuration and use of the necessary equipment to carry out their work.

Each person will be able to know information about the work environment on demand, that is, a person might want to know all the details from the beginning, other people when they need it and people with memory or learning disorders might need to go over the information in several ocassions.

As the application solves these questions workers do not need to depend on other workers, superiors or co-workers. Therefore he/she will be more independent, will gain more self-confidence and will not feel inferior.

On the other hand, companies could destine a shorter amount of human resources to tutoring with new functional diversity workers since they only need to know how to work with SoyNuevoAquí as it is but a web application similar to many others which can be run in browsers with or without assistant software.

Free distribution and customisable solution

The application will be distributed for free and with an open source approach. Contents and the structure of the application can be configured and can be adapted to the characteristics and needs of each company or to the user profile. These aspects will be centralised and can be upgraded any time.

When asked about the location of elements, the application will identify the most efficient way. Since the information system is centralised and is dynamic it is easy to alert in the event of certain inconveniences such as an elevator out of order, a temporary closed access, a disconnected printer, etc. and offers other options. It will take into consideration the user profile for solutions or if simplifying instructions were needed.

The application is specially important and its development is clearly oriented to providing information of interest for people with mobility and vision impairments, or those who suffer from temporary barriers or for life. Those individuals with cognitive problems related to memory or speech who feel there is excessive communication during the first days of work and feel uncomfortable could also benefit from the application.

 UEx Chair

Indra-Adecco Foundation's Chair of accessible technologies at the UEx was created in 2010 and it is the result of the relations Indra and the University of Extremadura have maintained for five years  when they signed the cooperation agreement to carry out consultancy services, training; and investigation and development. 

“Soy nuevo aquí” is the Chair's third project after DIUWA 2.0, a tool intended for people with disabilities to  design accessible web user interfaces and POSET, a task sequencer system which allows people within the spectrum of autism, Asperger syndrome or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder to have the possibility to become more independent in their jobs

In fact the development of the new project will employ the tools described in the current version of DIUWA 2.0 and will be able to apply sequencing tasks concepts for users with cognitive functinal diversity identified in POSET and integrate them in the application proposed in this project.

Indra in Extremadura

Indra's Software Lab in Badajoz opened its doors in 2004 and currently employs 250 professionals. Among the most significant projects developed by the company in the area we should mention the development of the first global e-administration platform based on free software for Extremadura's regional government.
Indra is the premier Information Technology company in Spain and a leading IT multinational in Europe and Latin America. It is ranked as the second European company in its sector according to investment in R&D with over € 500 M during the last three years. In 2010 revenues reached € 2,557 M and the international market already accounts for a 44%. The company employs more than 35,000 professionals and has clients in more than 110 countries.