This post is the ninth in a series of questions you as a publisher should ask when interviewing software service providers. (View the eighth question here.) The questions will help you find out if a product is the right fit for you business and if it is really going to do what it claims: help you save time and sell more advertisements.
How can I get artwork and start building my issues?
Your sales team has a signed contract and the order is approved; your production team is up. You need a software system where an approved order can seamlessly move through your company’s workflow process. Even before artwork is uploaded, you should be able to assign responsibilities to the production staff and monitor the status of their work. All progress should be easily searchable, allowing team members and management the ability to view where an issue is in terms of missing ads, work that needs revisions, and what is the next step. Once someone finishes his or her tasks, job tickets should be able to be reassigned to the next team member and the process continues. All pertinent information should be tracked through the entire production process and be accessible through reports.
Good publishing software will allow for file uploads by employees or directly by the client. And once the ads are uploaded, the production team can work in one centralized location, preventing too much back and forth communication. The software should intelligently track order history, making it easy for you or the client to refer back to previous orders. Having your production history in an integrated system allows those with permission to revise old artwork or re-run a previous ad that was in your publication in just a few simple steps.
Even as artwork is in the process of final approval, you should be able to build your magazine with an intuitive pagination tool. Look for the ability to easily place and replace approved orders and editorials, change page locations and templates, and lock areas for ads, house ads or editorials. During this process, your team should be able to see the information gathered by the sales and production teams, ensuring proper placement and guarantee a client’s satisfaction. It is here in the backend of a process where you see the benefits of tracking all the information in an easy-to-use and effective publishing software tool.
Next: How does your system handle invoicing?
POSTED BY Tom Bellen, to contact click here.