|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Citation Software Inc.
Specialists in variable-data publishing since 1986
|
|
|
|
www.CitationSoftware.com info@CitationSoftware.com 508-436-2543
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
*
|
Click here to sign up for our free newsletter.
|
|
|
|
|
Case Studies
|
The case studies below constitute a partial synopsis
of Citation Software's project history.
Each case study describes how Citation Software
was instrumental in creating a solution for
a particular set of circumstances.
|
CASE STUDY: Web Portal for Channel Partner Direct Mail System
|
The Challenge
Aladdin Knowledge Systems (www.ealaddin.com)
is a leader in digital security, providing organizations with award-winning
solutions for software commerce and Internet security. The company serves
more than 30,000 customers worldwide and employs about 350 people.
Aladdin's international network of Channel Partners is made up of system
integrators, Web developers, networking companies and consulting firms
that sell and support Internet security products.
Aladdin wanted to make
it easy for its Channel Partners to carry out direct-mail campaigns that
make use of high-quality, full-color marketing literature that carries
Aladdin's corporate branding and conforms to Aladdin's design standards
but is also tailored for each particular Channel Partner.
|
The Solution
During the
summer of 2002, Aladdin's Director of Channel Marketing, Michael Lange,
began to explore this possibility with Citation Software.
After a series of discussions with Citation,
Lange made the decision to hire Citation Software to develop a
Web-to-print portal
that would allow Aladdin's Channel Partners to launch Aladdin-approved
direct-mail campaigns quickly and easily, on demand.
The system was deployed in Q4 2002.
To launch a campaign, a Channel Partner uses a Web browser to enter data,
make selections, and upload a logo file and a database file that are
used to drive the document-customization process. A document proof is
generated by the system's server-based, state-of-the-art
document-composition engine. The system displays a proof on screen,
and the Channel Partner is instructed to click a button to approve it.
Once this is done, the system automatically generates a print-ready PDF
file and sends order details to the Channel Partner, to an Aladdin
representative, and to Citation Software production personnel. The
appropriate files are transmitted to a print-and-mail vendor, who
prints the customized documents on a digital press and mails
them to the recipients listed in the uploaded database.
The entire process takes five days or less.
Click here
to get a PDF file that contains more details.
|
CASE STUDY: On-line mailpiece-design system
|
The Challenge
Business Reply envelopes & postcards are used heavily by
direct-mail-marketing companies, by fund-raising organizations,
and by many other kinds of organizations.
(A Business Reply envelope/postcard is a pre-addressed,
specially formatted, bar-coded envelope or postcard that
enables a business to pay the postage for mail received
from its customers. Click here
to see a picture of a Business Reply envelope/postcard.)
The U.S. Postal Service has strict regulations regarding
the format of Business Reply envelopes & postcards.
Companies that need to create these envelopes & postcards
must understand the U.S. Postal Service's requirements
and must utilize graphic-design software or mechanical
graphic-design tools to create them. This can be a
painstaking and time-consuming process.
|
The Solution
During the last few years, Internet technology has become
increasingly powerful and widely available. It is obvious
that Internet technology should be exploited to facilitate
the process of designing Business Reply envelopes & postcards.
With this in mind, Citation Software undertakes
a project that focuses on the creation and implementation
of an on-line
"mailpiece-design" application. This application
is based on Adobe Acrobat/PDF technology from Adobe
Systems Incorporated and on proprietary mailpiece-design
technology from Citation Software. The application can
be used by anyone with a Web browser and a laser printer,
inkjet printer, imagesetter, or digital press.
The application creates artwork for complete, ready-to-use Business
Reply envelopes & postcards in just a few moments. The person using
the application can download an Adobe Acrobat PDF file
containing the artwork and print it right away.
This application has been deployed
at www.ReplyMailOnLine.com.
You can try it out for free by pointing your Web browser to
that location and clicking on the "Free tryout" link near
the top of the window.
|
CASE STUDY: Software for printing 2-dimensional Datamatrix symbols on variable-data documents
|
The Challenge
A startup lettershop needs variable-data-printing software that's
easy to use. They have identified the variable-data-printing
solution that they want; it can do everything they need
except for one thing: it doesn't have a feature that will
allow them to print Datamatrix symbols
(2-dimensional bar codes) on the documents that it generates.
The lettershop has considered purchasing a different variable-data-printing
solution — one that can print the Datamatrix symbols but
is more difficult to use.
They really need the Datamatrix symbols, because their inserting
equipment requires Datamatrix symbols to match pre-printed envelopes with the
documents to be inserted into the envelopes. However, the
lettershop owner doesn't want
to purchase a variable-data-printing system that's difficult to
learn and understand.
|
The Solution
The lettershop owner consults with Citation Software. Citation
Software analyzes the capabilities of the easy-to-use
variable-data-printing solution that the lettershop wants
to buy. After this analysis, Citation Software proposes the
idea of developing software that will work in conjunction
with the easy-to-use variable-data-printing software, enhancing
its capabilities and allowing it to print the required
Datamatrix symbols.
Within a few weeks, Citation Software designs and develops
the software. The lettershop begins using it right away. Their
production rollout goes smoothly.
|
CASE STUDY: Text-formatting software to generate EPS files from text with embedded HTML commands
|
The Challenge
A printing company with experience in variable-data printing
takes on a client that is building a Web portal to support
direct-marketing campaigns for
automobile dealerships. Information collected from users
via the portal's Web interface is to be used to generate
customized hard-copy documents.
Users will drive the system by entering free-form text
and making selections on HTML forms.
Users' input
is to be captured in a database, along with embedded HTML
text-formatting commands.
The printing company plans to
generate the customized paper documents
by using commercial variable-data-printing
software to populate a template with information derived from
users' selections and entries on the HTML forms.
At issue is how to translate the HTML text-formatting commands
into a format that can be used to render the typography on
paper in an appropriate format.
|
The Solution
Citation Software designs and develops
software that analyzes template files generated by the
commercial variable-data-printing software that's used
by the printing company. This software
uses the information in the template files to extract the text and
embedded HTML text-formatting commands from the database and
create Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) files containing
text that is formatted accordingly. The commercial
variable-data-printing software is programmed to
incorporate the EPS files automatically into the
documents that are created.
|
CASE STUDY: Variable-data-printing system for direct-mail marketing
|
The Challenge
A software-publishing company uses an outdated,
proprietary variable-data-printing system
to print documents for its direct-mail-marketing
campaigns.
The system is very inflexible:
it supports only one database format, it
supports only one type of printer, it
imposes severe constraints on document
dimensions, and it cannot generate
color documents.
In addition, launching new
direct-mail-marketing campaigns requires
programming expertise, because the
system doesn't have a graphical user
interface (GUI) for laying out documents.
The company has outgrown this system because:
- the IT department maintains databases
in several different formats; it is
time-consuming to convert data to the
format required by the proprietary
variable-data-printing system
- new printing equipment has been purchased,
and it doesn't work with the proprietary
system
- the company wants to be able to
print documents of many different sizes,
in color as well as in black-and-white
- the company can no longer afford to
dedicate programming personnel to
document-design tasks.
|
The Solution
The company acquires a state-of-the-art,
"off-the-shelf"
variable-data-publishing application.
The new application accepts data in
many different formats, supports almost
any printer, can generate color documents
as well as black-and-white ones,
and imposes no limits on document
dimensions.
In addition, the new application makes
it very easy to lay out new documents.
|
CASE STUDY: Customized bar charts and pie charts
|
The Challenge
A printing company takes on a new
variable-data-publishing project
(i.e., personalized-publishing project).
The company
has been engaged in the business of
variable-data printing for more than a decade.
Although the new project is similar
in many ways to the company's other
undertakings — most of which involve
the use of Xerox DocuTech printers to print
direct-mail-marketing documents — there are
some differences. One difference is that the
new project demands a much higher level
of personalization than any of the
company's other endeavors. Another
difference is that the requirements for
the new project
stipulate that customized documents must
be generated in two formats:
- Paper format (to be distributed via U.S. Mail)
- PDF format (to be viewed on line)
To meet the project's requirements, company
officers decide to invest in commercially
available, state-of-the-art
variable-data-printing software for generating
the paper version of the documents; and they
hire a Web-development firm to create the
on-line documents and to create a browser-based
interface that allows users to access the
on-line documents.
COMPLICATIONS ARISE
After the printing company and the Web-development
firm have completed a substantial amount of
work on the project, the client
realizes that it would be
a good idea to incorporate a pie chart and
a bar chart into each document. The client
wants the pie chart and bar chart in each
document to represent data that is unique
to that particular document.
Unfortunately, the printing company discovers that their
new variable-data-printing software won't
allow them to generate customized charts.
Undaunted, company management researches
the problem and discovers that they can
buy another variable-data-printing
software application that will allow
them to create customized charts. The
purchase is made, and the company
abandons the variable-data-printing
software that they
purchased a few weeks earlier and starts
the project again from square one.
Meanwhile, the Web-development firm that was
hired to create the on-line
document-creation system searches for a way to
create customized charts and incorporate
them into the on-line documents. This
proves to be a difficult task, because
the document-creation technology that
the Web-development firm is using does
not support customized graphics.
MORE PROBLEMS CROP UP
The printing-company's employees are
hard at work learning how to use the
new variable-data-printing software.
After working with the new software
for a few weeks,
the employees realize that their problems
aren't yet solved! Although the
new variable-data-printing software is
capable of generating customized charts,
it imposes limitations on the
formatting of the charts. It becomes
apparent that this software can't
accommodate the client's formatting
requirements.
The Web-development firm continues to
search for software that can generate
customized charts that meet the
client's formatting criteria. Concurrent
with this effort, the Web-development
firm begins the
difficult task of re-engineering
the boilerplate PDF document that
is used in the on-line production
environment so that customized charts
can be incorporated into each on-line
document that is generated.
DEADLINE APPROACHES!
The client's deadline for the initial
production run is only a week away,
and neither the hard-copy production system
nor the on-line production system is up and running!
A representative from the printing
company contacts
Citation Software,
describes the difficulties that have arisen
in connection with the project, and asks for advice.
|
The Solution
After detailed discussions with a printing-company
representative and detailed discussions
with a representative from the Web-development
firm, Citation Software proposes the
development of proprietary software that will
generate customized charts that meet the
client's formatting specifications.
The proposed design of the
proprietary charting software will allow
for deployment of the proprietary
charting software in the printing company's
Windows-based print-production environment and also
in the Web-development company's
Linux-based on-line-production environment.
Using the proprietary charting software
in both production environments
will obviate the need to find chart-creation software
than can be integrated with the on-line production
system that has been developed. Using the
same software in the print-production
environment and the on-line production
environment
has another benefit, too: it will
free both companies from the burden
of ensuring that the formatting
of the charts in the on-line
documents matches the formatting of
the charts in the paper documents.
(Since the same code will be used to
generate both sets of charts,
fidelity will be assured.)
DEVELOPMENT OF PROPRIETARY CHARTING SOFTWARE BEGINS
Barely one week before the first
scheduled production run, Citation
Software begins the task of
designing, developing, and testing
the proprietary charting software.
Concurrent with these efforts,
Citation Software collaborates
with technical personnel at the
printing company, the Web-development
firm, and the client company to
facilitate integration and testing
of the proprietary charting software.
THE FIRST PRODUCTION RUN HAPPENS ON SCHEDULE!
The first production run happens one
week later, as scheduled. The printing
company looks forward to a profitable,
long-term
relationship with the client.
|
CASE STUDY: PDF-based print-on-demand system
|
The Challenge
A manufacturing/distribution organization uses Xerox DocuTech printers
to print software manuals on demand. The company's
print-on-demand workflow system is based on proprietary technology. This
proprietary system is outdated and expensive to maintain. Management personnel
want to move away from proprietary technology and design a new
system based on Adobe Acrobat/PDF technology.
|
The Solution
Requirements-gathering sessions are held. Based on discussions
that take place during these sessions, Citation Software
creates functional and
architectural specifications for a new, PDF-based print-on-demand
system. The specifications are based on a combination
of commercially available software and custom-software-development
efforts.
The company can look forward to having a more-efficient,
faster print-on-demand system that is easier to use and less
costly to maintain than the old system.
|
CASE STUDY: On-line documentation for print-on-demand system
|
The Challenge
A software-manufacturing/distribution facility employs
unskilled and semi-skilled workers to man its Xerox DocuTech-based
print-on-demand
production line. The software that operates the
print-on-demand system is outdated. In addition,
the system is largely undocumented, and it has suffered
from lack of maintenance because of the company's
down-sizing efforts over the past decade.
When something unexpected occurs on the production line,
production personnel depend on the company's software
engineers to diagnose the problem and fix it. The
software-engineering team finds it necessary to devote
quite a lot of time and effort to tasks that are
related to keeping the production line up and running.
This is detrimental to the team's productivity. This
problem is exacerbated by the fact that some of the
team's experienced software engineers have left the
company; other software engineers must dedicate
many hours to gaining an understanding of the
infrastructure of the print-on-demand system.
|
The Solution
Citation Software analyzes the infrastructure of
the company's print-on-demand system and
then creates Web-based documentation for the system.
This documentation describes the components of the system and
their interaction with each other, explains how information flows
through the system,
and outlines troubleshooting strategies. The documentation is geared for use by both
non-technical personnel (such as the production folks)
and by technical personnel (such as the software engineers).
By taking advantage of the Web-based documentation system,
production personnel can diagnose and repair many
production problems without pulling in the
software-engineering team. Also, the Web-based
documentation system makes it easy for the
software-engineering team to find technical information
pertaining to the print-on-demand system.
|
CASE STUDY: Page-orientation filter
|
The Challenge
A manufacturer of injection-molding machinery needs to
convert its library of CAD drawings
to Adobe Acrobat PDF format so that they can be viewed on
line. To accomplish this, the company develops a system
that renders the drawings to PostScript format
and then converts them to PDF format.
The process of converting from PostScript format to PDF
format proves to be problematic: the drawings are oriented
sideways on the screen when the PDF files are opened
in the Adobe Acrobat application.
|
The Solution
Representative PostScript files and and PDF files are analyzed
by Citation Software.
Based on the results of the analysis, Citation
Software creates a software filter that
normalizes the viewing orientation
of the CAD drawings.
|
CASE STUDY: Personalized reports
|
The Challenge
A consulting firm analyzes data collected from its clients'
employees and generates statistical-analysis reports
which are sold to the clients. The data analysis is handled
by a mainframe computer, and the reports are printed on a
dot-matrix printer.
The firm is dissatisfied with the appearance of the
reports. It wants to develop an in-house system that
can produce reports with pizzazz — i.e.,
typeset-quality text and 3-D graphics.
|
The Solution
Design and development of PC-based personalization software
(i.e., variable-data-printing software) is undertaken by Citation Software.
The system uses laser printers
to print typeset-quality reports with integrated graphics that are
unique to each report.
The new system requires very little human intervention,
because the
software composes text, draws graphs, and collates the
reports.
The company's investment in mainframe hardware and
software has been preserved, because the mainframe
computer is still used for data collection, data
administration and data analysis.
|
CASE STUDY: Automated imposition system
|
The Challenge
A software-manufacturing/distribution organization has an
on-demand printing system that uses Xerox DocuTech
printers to print software manuals from PostScript files
provided by customers. For some of the software manuals,
automated imposition is required as part of the workflow
process.
Commercially available imposition software can't
handle some of the PostScript files that the customers
provide, because the commercially available software
requires that PostScript files be structured according
to Adobe Systems Inc.'s "Document Structuring
Conventions" (DSC). Oftentimes the customer-supplied
PostScript files — although printable — are not
structured according to Adobe's DSC specifications.
Because of this problem, the organization must:
- re-work many of the PostScript files so that
they comply with Adobe's DSC specifications, or
- provide training for customers so that the
customers know how to create PostScript files that
comply with Adobe's DSC specifications.
Both of these solutions are costly.
|
The Solution
Proprietary imposition software is created by Citation
Software. This powerful
software can re-position pages in virtually any PostScript
file, regardless of DSC compliance.
Turnaround time for printing software manuals has been
greatly reduced, as have costs associated with re-working
the files.
|
CASE STUDY: Health-status reports
|
The Challenge
A health-management-consulting firm collects
health-related data from its customers' employees
and then analyzes the data. The firm needs a
system that will print a professionally designed,
highly customized data-analysis report for each
employee from whom data was collected.
|
The Solution
Citation Software creates a PC-based personalization-software
system. For each employee, the system
prints a booklet that contains an attractive,
employee-specific report.
Turnaround time for printing software manuals has been
greatly reduced, as have costs associated with re-working
the files.
|
CASE STUDY: Improved typesetting system
|
The Challenge
The Marketing Division for a company that prints customized
business forms and stationery wants to improve the quality
of its products, expand its product line, and reduce
turnaround time for order fulfillment.
The company's Cost Accounting Division complains that
the company's typesetting systems and processes are
labor-intensive.
The company's Software Engineering Division realizes
that their typesetting technology is obsolete.
Everybody knows that new and better technology is
available, but they can't afford to throw away the
entire system and start from scratch!
|
The Solution
The printing company purchases a
PostScript imagesetting (typesetting) machine.
Citation Software designs and develops new
software that translates typesetting commands
used by the company's old typesetting machinery into commands
understood by the new PostScript machinery.
With the new system, color separation is handled by the
software rather than by hand, and customers' logos are
archived and rendered electronically instead of manually.
In addition, the new system allows the company to offer a
more extensive selection of typefaces to its customers.
Furthermore, the company still uses its old order-entry system,
so employees responsible for order entry need little or no
retraining.
The company can continue to use its old typesetting equipment
alongside the new equipment.
|
CASE STUDY: On-line software manual for PC-based application
|
The Challenge
A software-development firm is maintaining a software manual
that was typeset with a nine-year-old typesetting system.
The company wants to move away from the outdated typesetting system.
In addition, the company would like to reduce packaging costs and
distribution costs by phasing out the use of printed manuals and
instead providing on-line manuals to its customers.
|
The Solution
Citation Software converts the
electronic files for the manual into
a format that
is usable by a state-of-the-art typesetting system (QuarkXPress).
Citation Software then uses QuarkXPress
to typeset a new version of the manual and
to generate an Adobe Acrobat PDF file containing the manual.
Customers now receive only the electronic
version of the manual, so the firm no longer incurs printing
costs for production of the manual - and
packaging/distribution costs have been
reduced. Also, the new, PDF version of the manual is
less expensive to maintain than the old version.
|
For each of the projects described above, Citation Software
provided some or all of the following services:
- system analysis
- software design
- software development
- quality assurance
- content development and editing
- graphic design
- typesetting/page composition
- production support.
|
|
Is your company struggling with some of
the challenges described in these case studies?
If so, Citation Software can help you
to deal with them. Give us a call at
508-436-2543, or send e-mail to
info@CitationSoftware.com.
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright © 2008 Citation Software Inc.
info@CitationSoftware.com
508-436-2543
www.CitationSoftware.com
|
|
