Digital asset management and workflow solutions in action
�� a quantum leap in time and cost savings in production management� at Mortons Media Group, publishers of heritage magazines
A Media Mogul Workflow Case Study
Media Mogul Workflow is a flexible workflow solution developed by award winning digital asset management company, Picdar. Its introduction marks a step-change in the way that any �publisher� can now organise and control its production workflow.
Mortons Media Group, specialist in heritage transport magazines, has successfully installed Picdar�s Media Mogul Workflow. Andrew Savage, the company�s Production Manager, says, �Within only a few months from implementation we have experienced a quantum leap in time and cost savings in production management, happier editorial teams and a ten-fold growth in syndication.�
The benefits and spin-offs for Mortons:
They�ve doubled their publishing output without increasing costs
They can get the edition out earlier
They�ve been able to grow syndication ten-fold
Editorial and production teams are happier
They�re more flexible � people can move between titles easily and pick up where others left off
Bottlenecks are spotted early and are fixed before they become a problem
They�re in full control of the production process
Last minute delays and surprises are history
They can always find their content
Magazine publishing � small teams, big problems
Magazine editorial and production teams are often run with a few people wearing many hats. A sub-editor, for example, may be just as likely to choose the pictures and write the headlines as well as tighten up a contributors� copy. Before the introduction of Picdar�s Workflow solution at Mortons, a lot of the work-in-progress for each edition, made up of the pictures, text, images, and templates for each title, had to be pulled together from a variety of different places. Understanding the processes of how to do that, and knowing the physical location of where things were kept, was held in people�s minds. What can be a seemingly ad-hoc process of rummage and find is commonplace in many magazine publishers, large and small.
These constituent materials (Picdar calls them �assets�) that make up the content of each magazine can lie dormant in a number of different physical and digital folders. This spread of assets across different desks, local hard drives and various computer servers perpetuates and increases problems associated with managing workflow and with archiving. Andrew Savage, Production Manager at Mortons explains, �Before we had Picdar�s technology and processes in place, archiving used to be a manual process with different people doing it in different ways. After a while the server would fill up and then, without notice, would shut down causing all sorts of delays. Retrieving material was also difficult because it was so hard to find anything. With Picdar, all those problems have been solved�.
Unwieldy management of assets means that magazine publishers are living with unnecessarily high costs, as well as losing opportunities to generate additional revenue. By example, Andrew talks about the relationship the Mortons print business has with its web publishing. �In the past our web development team would dip into the server and pull out material used for print. They could only guess which material was correct,� says Andrew. Changing to Picdar�s more systematic workflow has taken the guesswork out of finding the right material fast. What Mortons has also found is that the web publishing team can now provide a much better customer service. �We have very enthusiastic readers who feel that they are part of the magazine, and with Media Mogul it is now easier to give them what they want,� says Andrew.
Picdar � Big problems fixed
Picdar�s workflow solution for magazines maintains the idiosyncrasies of an individual magazine team�s working practice while providing a resilient and scaleable meta-structure for the control of assets. �One of the many benefits of unifying our working practices with Media Mogul Workflow is that it is now possible for people to jump from one magazine to another and start working immediately,� comments Andrew. Production lead times are accurate and, as perfectly illustrated by Mortons, makes it possible to acquire, expand and innovate with new magazines.
In collaboration with Geoff McBride from Picdar, an expert advisor and extremely knowledgeable in the vagaries of print and production, Andrew put together a team to review how work-flowed at Mortons. They looked at how different editorial teams work, what was common, what could be improved, and from that agreed a framework upon which Picdar could structure the workflow components that would best suit Mortons. Says Geoff, �What we did was to define the steps and stages through which Mortons would work most effectively and then mapped that against Media Mogul�s workflow structure and made it accessible through the other software tools that they use, like QuarkXPress.�
Mortons� new workflow with Media Mogul
Mortons needed to decide on the number of approval stages, or checks, required within the workflow. After careful consideration of what happens in the process at Mortons, four main stages were defined: Raw; Reject; For approval; Approved. These stages can be adjusted at any time for individual titles. Sub-folders are also created for each of the magazines and for named features. Once someone has finished working with an �asset� � an image or a piece of copy for example - it is passed forward to the next stage. This is a simple process of drag and drop. From editorial to technical and production, continuous version control is automatically maintained to safeguard the work while it is being checked in and out of different stages. It is always very clear what needs to be done, and on what version and when. PDF views of pages become visible in a page navigator at every stage.
Picdar � Unsurpassed experience in publishing automation
The magic of Picdar�s solution resides in its core digital asset management (DAM) system; a complex, scaleable and versatile database that has been developed specifically for businesses that depend on the publishing process and which sits at the heart of the Workflow solution. Typically this means newspaper and magazine publishers, but the requirement to manage, control and distribute large volumes of digital rich information is not unique to publishers. With installations from brand management systems for global consumer goods companies to making better use of thousands of drawings and ideas in a world-famous architectural firm, Picdar has unsurpassed experience in making print and web publishing work better in any type of business.
Publishing has unique characteristics. Assets � and generally this means images, text and �documents� � not only contain information unique to them (file type, copyright, reference, cost, date, author, et al) but they are constantly on the move through a production process. To add further complexity, each asset is likely to have some sort of relationship to other assets, for example when they are used together. These are assets that may need to be worked on by different people at different stages of a publishing process. Each time work is done on them, the attributes and relationships to other assets will change again.
The digitisation of publishing over the past three decades has created greater opportunities, but it is not surprising that it has also created more complex management issues. This can sometimes be seen where, understandably, individuals have been allowed to build file structures and archiving procedures that are unique to how they want to work. Piles of CD cases in amongst reams of paper is a familiar sight for many publishers, and all know that in the end this is a murderous way of working. Getting people used to the idea of doing things differently is the first step to change for the better. �When we first started to talk about change, editors were worried about losing control. What we did was to set up a central sub-editor�s desk that corrects the syntax and grammar of all copy on the way in. Editors like it because now they only have to think about technical changes to copy. We can only do this because of Picdar�s Workflow, and it�s saving everyone a lot of time,� says Andrew.
How it works
Mortons now has a �version� and �checking� control system that has a central database, but a personal look and feel for each user. Its apparent simplicity belies the sophistication at the heart of the system. Geoff gives an overview of what happens, �Media Mogul Workflow is a tool for passing material through the production process from ingestion (input) to print ready material as a PDF output. Work is passed forward within workflow to the next person who needs it. A folder structure on the desktop is only a representation of the system. We�ve built in a degree of personalisation that each user can adapt to their style. By making it look familiar to the user, it�s easy for people to feel like it is still their system. Underneath, all the threads are kept together, so that whatever changes are made on the desktop, production has proper control over workflow.�
With Picdar�s Quark XTensions, users at Mortons can drive the system from within the Quark application but with the confidence that updates are being handled automatically by Media Mogul. Templates and furniture, items like logos and commonly used images, are stored within the system and can be searched as readily as pictures and stories. Andrew can look from his computer and see the current status of all the magazines at any time. An added benefit with Media Mogul, explains Andrew, is for advertisement planning, �Because we can see the page layouts as well, it helps with positioning ads. We can see if an ad looks OK and if it�s appropriate to that part of the magazine.�
Incoming copy, pictures and artwork can arrive by various means. A unique element of Picdar's technology includes Media Mogul�s E-Loader module that automatically strips out and loads attachments arriving via email. Without Media Mogul, downloading and cataloguing a large image can tie someone up for a few minutes. Over the course of a week, this soon adds up to many working hours that could be spent doing something more useful and interesting. Along with CDs and other storage media on which information might arrive, all digital material is transferred automatically to its appropriate place and categorised and captioned directly into the system. Colour quality and correction is carried out in the page area with the colour corrected version then pushed back as the �asset�. Once images have been allocated to the page or feature they are automatically routed to the colour studio, checked out for colour correction and then checked back in, while the page is being finished.
The page is checked out with low-resolution files for viewing and linked to the high-resolution files held in the database. A Media Mogul Quark XTension is used to export all high-resolution components and update the links ready for printing. Again, as an asset it is fed back into Media Mogul so that in future it can be referenced accurately in the Media Mogul DAM Archive, or reproduced with little or no production intervention by anyone who wishes to use them for syndication or licensing.
A better working day with Picdar
Andrew used to have the type of job that many production people would recognise. Negotiating print slots with contract printers could occupy whole days. Because of the circular task of asking everyone about the readiness of the
individual parts of the magazine, giving accurate answers to printers was both difficult and time consuming. Commenting on a better way of working, Andrew says, �With Media Mogul I can see the status of the whole magazine, how ready it is and the location of any blockage�.
Media Mogul Dashboard: shows the status of every picture, article and page for the issue
In the past, Andrew was working with inherently unstable information about readiness for print, and that was bad business for a company anxious to expand and develop. And growth is something that Mortons is always very keen to do.
Mortons is very aware of problems associated with merging different cultures and processes when acquiring new publications. The company wanted to solve those problems wherever possible. With Picdar�s solution, Andrew has now created a common workflow practice across Mortons� production processes.
The company has a long history of understanding new technology and how it can bring major benefits and opportunities to its business. In 1968, when it was still a newspaper publisher, it was one of the first publishing houses in the country to forsake letterpress for web-offset and phototypesetting. Selling its Lincolnshire Independent Newspaper Group in 2001, Mortons moved out of local news production to concentrate on its national business as the leader in producing magazines for the British classic motor market. Its special emphasis is motorcycles, a sector for which it also runs the top three shows in the UK. But it is now widening its field of interest in the classic motor sector.
With Picdar�s Workflow now in place, Andrew says with pride, �Since installing the Picdar system we�ve added eight new titles and six one-shots over 2005. All came in easily and we�ve not even finished the year yet. At even a rough estimate, because we�ve not had to increase staffing levels, we�ve almost doubled our output while maintaining our base line costs�. Now when the printer calls for an update, Andrew can see instantly the exact status of every element and every stage of every magazine and can provide immediate feedback and accurate timings.
Andrew is delighted with the new Picdar system, �In the past the system could get very slow. With Media Mogul, the system is purged of redundant material every day. Anything older than 56 days, a time frame that we can configure, gets weeded off if it is not in a current production cycle. Published material, the full magazine content, is then moved to the on-line Media Mogul archive. This means the system is never cluttered or slowed down with old material, but we still have access to everything whenever we need it.� Currently Mortons produce 3-4 magazines a week and the company is looking at further expansion. Says Andrew, �We can expand the system at very little cost. It is just a matter of disk space to allow us to buy the next group of magazines. And, because of web technology built into Picdar, if we buy titles that have editors that want to work off site, they can. The most impressive benefit of using Media Mogul is that we can publish much more without having to increase the number of staff.�
�Within only a few months from implementation we have experienced a quantum leap in time and cost savings in production management, happier editorial teams and a ten-fold growth in syndication.�
Andrew Savage, Production Manager
