We would like to thank the following individuals who assisted in formulating this report and for donating their examples for our use.

Transcription

1 DESKTOP PUBLISHING A FEDERAL PROGRESS REPORT U.S. General Services Administration Information Resources Management Service Foreword We would like to thank the following individuals who assisted in formulating this report and for donating their examples for our use. Peter McFadden, Public Information Specialist, U. S. Arms Control and Disarmament agency. Charles M. High, Writer-Editor, Department of Education. Larry Dambrose, Forms Management Analyst, and Grace W. Butler, Management Analyst, Office of Personnel Management. Kathleen McCulloch, Special Assistant, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Department of Transportation. Randall W. Bacon, Printing Specialist, Environmental Protection Agency. Keith Heiberg, Legal Technician, Office of Administrative Law Judges, Department of Agriculture. Joe Bryant, Statistician, Rural Electrification Administration, Department of Agriculture. James C. Sheeran of the Office of Innovative Office Systems, Information Resources Management Service, General Services Administration was responsible for developing this report. FRANCIS A. McDONOUGH Deputy Commissioner Information Resources Management Service U.S. General Services Administration

2 i Table of Contents Executive Summary...1 Introduction...3 What is desktop publishing?...3 Comparing conventional and desktop publishing...4 Desktop publishing boundaries...5 Survey Findings...7 Benefits of desktop publishing systems...7 Publications produced...8 Equipment used...8 Software used...9 Program missions of responding offices...10 Training received...10 Technical support...11 Recommendations...,,,,,...11 Future applications...13 Summary...13 Descriptions of Typical Applications...14 Newsletter publishing...14 Handbook publishing...15 Forms design...16 Brochure publishing...17 Directory publishing...18 Legal material publishing...19 Report publishing...20 Desktop Publishing Trends...22 Expected trends...22 When to buy?...24 Appendix A - Selected Bibliography...25 Appendix B- Research Methodology...26

3 ii Executive Summary Federal agencies now have the option of using desktop publishing technology to prepare some of their documents for publication. The purpose of this report is to share among all Federal agencies information on selected Federal uses of and experiences with desktop publishing systems. Findings The report's findings are primarily drawn from a review of the operations of 56 desktop publishing systems located at 26 different Federal agencies. Described below are several of the findings. Publications produced. The desktop systems were used to produce over 200 separate publications. The three most popular types of publications being produced were: (1 ) specialty publications (such as catalogs and directories); (2) presentation documents (such as briefing papers and view graph packages); and (3) newsletters. Although processed by desktop publishing systems, almost all of the publications were printed by conventional printing processes. The laser printers or other printers associated with the desktop publishing systems were generally found to print too slowly or uneconomically to be used in place of conventional printing processes. Benefits. The two most often reported benefits of using desktop publishing systems were: a reduction in the amount of time needed to produce publications, and the improved appearance of published documents. Lessons learned. Many of the users of the 56 desktop publishing systems advised that extensive training is usually necessary to be able to make full and effective use of desktop publishing systems. These users also strongly recommended not purchasing a system until testing confirms that it can meet an organization's publishing requirements. Typical Applications Reviewed in the report are the experiences of seven Federal offices in using desktop publishing systems to prepare common types of publications. The seven types of publishing applications examined are: newsletter, handbook, forms, brochure, directory, report, and legal material publishing. Each review identifies the Federal office operating the desktop publishing system, describes the publication being produced, and lists the benefits and recommendations for processing that type of publication on a desktop system. Future Trends

4 Also discussed in the report are several trends predicted to occur within the desktop publishing industry during the next 3 to 5 years. Summarized below are several of the probable trends. Increased capabilities. Future desktop publishing systems are expected to have larger memory capacities and faster processing speeds. More powerful and user friendly publishing software is forecast to become available. The software will offer more type font selections and will integrate many of the capabilities of computer aided design, business graphics, spreadsheets, and word processing programs. Lower prices. The prices of the laser printer and graphics terminal components of the systems are expected to decline. Better laser printers. The print quality and production speeds of laser printers are predicted to improve. Improved scanners. Scanners are often used to input existing text or graphic images into a desktop publishing system's computer. The near-term forecast is for more capable scanners at lower prices. Introduction Over the past several years, there has been a rapid growth in the capabilities and number of products available to support electronic publishing activities within the office environment. Consequently, many Federal offices now have available the option of using desktop publishing tools to assist them in preparing some of their documents for publication. What is Desktop Publishing? Many terms, such as personal computer publishing, third generation word processing, and office publishing, have been used to describe desktop publishing. For the purposes of this report, desktop publishing (DTP) is defined as a microcomputer-based publishing system. Typically, basic systems consist of a general purpose microcomputer, publishing software, and an output device (usually a laser printer) small enough to fit on the top of an office desk. Report purpose and content. This report shares information about the early uses, benefits, and lessons learned in using desktop publishing systems in a cross section of Federal offices. The report consists of four chapters and two appendices. This introduction is the first chapter. The second chapter, Survey Findings, reports on the findings of a questionnaire sent to the users of DTP systems in many Federal agencies.

5 The third chapter, Descriptions of Typical Applications, describes common uses of DTP systems in several Federal offices. The fourth chapter, Desktop Publishing Trends, charts some probable desktop publishing trends during the next five years. Appendix A is a bibliography and Appendix B describes the study methodology. Publishing in federal agencies. Publishing, broadly speaking, is the public distribution of information--often as printed material. Almost all Federal offices are responsible for producing some publications for use either within their own agency, for use by other government agencies, or for public distribution. Most Federal agencies produce large amounts of printed materials. Frequently, publishing activities are a significant part (often 2-5 percent) of a Federal agency's expenditures. Conventional publishing will continue to account for the bulk of an agency's publishing requirements for the foreseeable future. Comparing Conventional and Desktop Publishing The following paragraphs compare the conventional and the desktop publishing processes involved in producing an uncomplicated typeset document of 50 pages. Conventional publishing process. Listed below are the steps typically involved in a conventional publishing process. o The document text is keyboarded on a typewriter or on some form of word processing equipment. o The final text is proofread and corrected as needed. o The text is re-keyboarded or otherwise input into typesetting equipment. o Typeset galley proofs are printed. o The typeset galleys are proofread and, if needed, corrected. o Graphics, if any, are selected and assembled for layout. o The merging and layout of text and graphics is a manual, "cut and paste" process. o A camera-ready copy (master copy) of the publication is created, proofread, and, if needed, corrected. o Conventional printing processes are used for printing multiple copies of the publication. lt is estimated that it takes an average of 3 weeks to transform the text of a document into a printed publication using this

6 traditional publishing process. Desktop publishing. The following describes a "typical" desktop publishing work flow. o The document text is keyboarded into a microcomputer. o The final document text is proofread and corrected as needed. o Graphics, if any, are assembled from computer software programs or existing graphics are electronically scanned into the desktop system computer for processing. o The typesetting and layout of the document text and graphics are done electronically. o A camera-ready copy of the document is produced on the desktop system's printer. The camera-ready copy is proofread, and corrections, if needed, are made electronically. o Traditional printing processes are used to produce multiple copies of the publication. It is estimated that it takes an average of 2 weeks to transform document text into a printed publication using the above desktop publishing process. Comparison. Desktop publishing varies from conventional publishing in several respects. The differing characteristics of desktop publishing, as contrasted with conventional publishing, include the following: o Desktop publishing systems process documents in a typeset format. o Graphics are digitized and can be processed by the system computer. Desktop publishing publications may feature more graphic images as electronically processed graphics are easier to work with. o Text is keyboarded only once into a microcomputer. The text does not have to be re-keyboarded or otherwise input into separate typesetting equipment. In summary, desktop publishing automates and integrates several publishing steps. The page layout, pagination, typesetting, and merging of text and graphics can be accomplished electronically and simultaneously. "Cut and paste" activities are avoided. Desktop Publishing Boundaries The term "desktop publishing" is somewhat of a misnomer. Only rarely do desktop publishing systems completely process a document through the entire

7 publishing cycle to produce a printed publication. Generally, desktop systems are used only to process documents from the approved draft stage to the point where the documents are ready for printing. The output of desktop publishing systems is usually a copy of a document printed by the system's printer or a copy produced by photo typesetting equipment. This output is then used by conventional printing operations to print multiple copies of the document. A desktop publishing system's printer is usually not used to print production copies of a publication. Generally, the laser printer or other printers associated with desktop publishing systems print copies too slowly or too uneconomically to be used in place of conventional printing processes. The next chapter summarizes the results of a survey of the operations of desktop publishing systems in a number of Federal offices. Survey Findings This chapter summarizes the results of a desktop publishing (DTP) survey conducted among a cross section of Federal Government offices during the Spring of Details on the conduct of the survey are contained in Appendix B, Research Methodology. The questionnaire was completed by individuals operating 56 desktop publishing systems at 26 different Federal agencies. These individuals were actively using the systems to produce publications. The survey covered such items as the benefits and problems of using DTP systems, the types of equipment and software being used, the kinds of publications being produced, and the types of training received. The following paragraphs summarize the findings of the survey. Benefits of Desktop Publishing Systems The desktop publishing benefit most often cited during the survey was the reduction of the time needed to produce publications. The time saved was mostly in the document layout, typesetting, and proofreading phases of the publishing process. A benefit almost equaling time savings in importance is the improved appearance of publications. Many users stated that DTP technology had allowed them to upgrade the "professional appearance" and the "print quality" of their office's publications. Other frequently mentioned benefits were increased local control over the design of publications, the capability to update the content of publications rapidly, and the improved readability of publications. The array in Figure 1 lists the number of times a particular benefit was cited by survey respondents.

8 Figure 1 - Desktop Publishing Benefits Benefits Times Cited. Reduced production time 35. Improved appearance 32. Increased control over design 27. Capability to update rapidly 19. Improved readability 14. Other 27 Publications Produced The documents most frequently produced were specialty publications such as telephone directories, parts catalogs, and training course materials. Other types of publications often produced were newsletters, reports, and presentation documents such as "fact sheets" and overhead transparencies. Shown in Figure 2 below are the number of times respondents reported producing various kinds of publications. Figure 2 - Publications Produced Types of Publications Produced Times Reported. Specialty publications 41. Presentation documents 21. Newsletters 20. Reports 19. Brochures, pamphlets 17. Technical manuals, handbooks 11. Forms 10. Other 63 Equipment Used IBM or IBM clone equipment constituted almost one-half of the computers used

9 for desktop publishing operations, as shown in Figure 3. The next most commonly used equipment brands were Apple and Zenith machines. The remaining computers were a variety of other makes such as Wang, Xerox, Sun, and NBI. Brands of Computer Equipment in Use (As of March 1987) Computer Equipment Types Percent. IBM and clones 46. Zenith 14. Apple 13. Other 27 The length of time the desktop publishing computers had been in use ranged from 1 month to over 4 years. The distribution of the computer usage times is shown in Figure 4. Figure 4 - Time DTP Computer Equipment in Use (As of March 1987) Months in Service Percent Software Used. 1-3 months months months 28. Over 12 months 42 Over two-thirds of the installations reported using Xerox Ventura Publisher or Aldus Pagemaker software as their primary desktop publishing program. Figure 5 below summarizes the page composition software being used by product name. Figure 5 - Software Being Used (As of March 1987) Product name Percent. Xerox Ventura Publisher 38

10 . Aldus Pagemaker 35. Interleaf Publishing 6. Office Publisher 3. Other 18 The length of time the software products had been in use varied from 1 month to 4.5 years with the average time being 11 months. Shown in Figure 6 is a distribution of the amount of time the desktop publishing software programs had been in use. Figure 6 - Time DTP Software in Use (As of March 1987) Time in Months Percent. 1-3 months months months 27. Over 12 months 42 Program Missions of the Responding Offices Thirty percent of the desktop publishing systems were in offices supporting the functional missions of the agency. Another forty percent of the systems were operated by offices performing publishing services, public affairs, or policy development functions. Shown in Figure 7, divided into 9 categories, are the program missions of the reporting offices. Figure 7 - Program Missions Mission Areas Percent. Operating program support 34. Publishing services 16. Public affairs 14

11 . Policy 13 Training Received. ADP 6. Training 6. Management 4. Services 3. other 4 While over one-third of the users reported receiving formal classroom training, most users learned to use their desktop publishing systems through self-study or on-the-job training methods. Many users reported overlapping methods of training, such as receiving a vendor briefing on system operation and also using a tutorial package for self-study. Listed in Figure 8 are the types of training received. Many users also commented that receiving quality training was a key factor in being able to make rapid and effective use of desktop publishing systems. Figure 8 - Types of Training Received (Note: Many users reported receiving more than one type of training.) Type of Training Percent Technical Support. On-the-job training 61. Tutorial packages 41. Vendor briefing 39. Classroom training 37. Other training 9 Figure 9 summarizes the types of technical support available to the users of DTP systems. Many of the users reported having available more than one type of technical support. Figure 9 - User Technical Support Available (Note: Some users had several types of support available.)

12 Support Available Percent Recommendations. Vendor hotline 72. Local users group 25. Agency support center 22. Other support 4 Survey participants provided a wide range of recommendations to other offices that are considering the acquisition and operation desktop publishing systems. Listed below are six of the most commonly mentioned categories of recommendations. Training period. Forty percent (20 of 51) of the users stressed that organizations should plan for a long (up to several months) training period. An extensive training period was thought to be necessary for most individuals to be able to make full and effective use of typical DTP systems. Many users also advised that, in addition to technical equipment training, document design training is frequently needed to be able to produce attractive publications. Document requirements. Thirty percent of the users stated that it is important to take the time to document an organization's publishing needs. Test the system. Twenty-four percent of the users strongly recommended delaying the purchase of a desktop publishing system until testing confirms that the system can completely meet an office's publishing requirements. Provide backups. Twenty percent of the respondents advised that it is often necessary to provide for people or equipment backups for a desktop publishing system. Anticipate future requirements. Eighteen percent of the users stressed the importance of anticipating future publishing requirements or equipment changes. Start small. Fourteen percent of the users suggested starting with small projects when first using a desktop publishing system to produce products. Other recommendations made were: (1) develop policies for handling materials that may be copyrighted or classified; (2) if word processors are to furnish input to a desktop publishing system, make sure the systems are compatible; (3) acquire enough system memory to handle requirements; and (4) try to obtain desktop systems only from vendors that provide telephone "hot lines"

13 for answering questions. Future Applications Figure 10 summarizes the plans of respondents for new uses of their desktop publishing systems. Figure 10 - Future Desktop Publishing Applications (Arrayed by numbers of planned applications) Applications Numbers Summary. Produce new publications 33. Improve graphics 10. Produce presentations 9. Network systems with others 8. Begin publishing reports 4. Start publishing forms 3. Produce desktop videos 2. Other applications 2 The survey suggests that the use of desktop publishing systems will increase within Federal agencies as the systems are able to speed up and improve the publishing process. The documents now being produced on DTP systems tend to be those where it is important to publish low volume up-to-date information quickly. The current users of the systems stressed that extensive training is often necessary to be able to make full and effective use of DTP systems. Also these users strongly recommended not purchasing a system until testing confirms that it can meet the publishing needs of an organization. The next chapter describes the experiences of several Federal offices in using the systems to produce various types of publications. Descriptions of Typical Applications From the 56 survey responses summarized in the previous chapter, seven desktop publishing applications were selected as being representative of typical Federal Government uses of this technology. The applications are

14 summarized on the following pages under the names of common uses of desktop publishing such as newsletter, handbook, and reports publishing. Each synopsis identifies the office operating the system, describes the publication being produced, and lists benefits and recommendations for processing that type of publication on a desktop publishing system. All the example publications used the desktop publishing system's printer or a phototypesetter to create the final copy of the publication. Conventional printing processes, such as offset printing, were then used to print the production copies of the publication. Newsletter Publishing Office: Office of Public Affairs, U. S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. Office mission: Performing the agency's legislatively mandated requirements of disseminating and coordinating public information about arms control and disarmament activities. Application: The office uses a desktop publishing system to produce the Arms Control Update newsletter on a monthly basis. The newsletter generally contains 8 pages and presents information in text, photographic, and graphics formats. Additionally, the office uses the desktop publishing system to produce other publications. Benefits: The office spokesperson described the following benefits that have resulted from the use of the desktop publishing system. o The system provides the editor of the newsletter with increased control over the layout and appearance of the publication. o It enables the office to publish the newsletter more quickly and inexpensively. The typesetting capability of the desktop publishing system has reduced the size of the newsletter and improved its readability. Lessons learned: User groups can be a significant help in learning how to make effective use of specific brands of computers and desktop publishing software packages. Don't spread yourself too thin by trying to learn how to use many software programs. Concentrate on learning how to use thoroughly one or two programs. Knowing your software well is a key factor in making productive use of desktop publishing systems. Recommendations: The office spokesperson offered these suggestions to others considering the acquisition of a desktop publishing system.

15 o Obtain a high quality scanner to go with your system. In most offices almost all copy to be processed by a desktop system is already in typed or printed form. A good scanner can greatly speed up the input of material into the system. o Centralize the operation of the DTP system. This will permit developing well trained and experienced system operators. It will also make it possible to set standards for publications to be produced on a DTP system. Figure 1 Handbook Publishing Office: The Division of Training and Dissemination, Office of Student Financial Assistance, U. S. Department of Education. Office mission: The preparation of informational materials for students, parents, and schools on student financial aid programs operated by the Federal Government. The office also develops technical materials that explain the award procedures for Federal student financial aid. Application: The office uses a desktop publishing system to develop handbooks for the Federal student financial assistance programs. Benefits: The office spokesperson described the following benefits that have resulted from the use of the desktop publishing system. o The system has enabled the office to produce near typeset quality publications without the time delay and expense of obtaining traditional typesetting services. o It permits the handbook's author, rather than an outside graphic designer, to prepare the publication's graphics. Lessons learned: Do not expect to accomplish too much too quickly. Start with simple publications. It takes time to develop and perfect the use of graphics in publications. Be patient in learning how to use the equipment. There is usually a solution for almost any problems that are initially thought to be intractable equipment problems. Recommendations: The office spokesperson offered these recommendations to others considering acquiring a desktop publishing system for producing handbooks. o Prospective vendors should demonstrate, step-by-step, how they would

16 process your documents on their equipment. Many demonstrations use prepackaged materials prepared by experts over long periods of time. These utopian scenarios usually cannot be duplicated by the average Government office. Before buying, you need to know what you can realistically expect from the desktop system given your office's time constraints, materials and personnel skills. o Having a computer screen large enough to display two document pages at the one time is helpful in laying out handbook pages. Additionally, the use of a "mouse" device is almost essential in preparing handbooks that contain many images. o The intended user of the system should be significantly involved in the acquisition decision, rather than relying heavily on a generic systems person who may not be familiar with the planned applications. Figure 2 Forms Design Office: Reports and Forms Management Branch, U. S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Office mission: The design and management of forms; the management of reports. Application: The office uses a desktop publishing system to design and produce forms. The OPM forms workload consists of over 700 forms such as OPM internal use forms as well as standard and optional forms that are used throughout the Federal Government. Benefits: The office spokespersons described the following benefits resulting from the use of the desktop publishing system. o A primary benefit is that it has speeded up the publishing of OPM forms. The desktop publishing system has eliminated the pencil design and typesetting steps from the OPM forms publishing process. "What took weeks to produce now takes only a few hours or days." o Another benefit is that customers can now make changes to forms as needed rather than waiting for a major revision to make changes. o An additional advantage is that it is easier to "sell" a customer on a form design when it is illustrated as it will appear in print, rather than trying to obtain final approval for a paper and pencil rendition of the proposed form.

17 Problem area: An emerging problem area is that forms' customers now seem to be less careful in proofing the final design of their forms. This is thought to be caused by the customers knowing that the desktop system can be used to make changes just before printing the form. Recommendations: The office spokespersons offered the following recommendations to others planning to use desktop publishing systems for producing forms. o A WYSIWYG (What-You-See [on the computer screen] Is-What- You-Get [from the printer]) system is almost essential for doing good forms design work. In addition, having a mouse device available is most helpful. o System training by the vendor or others is needed to rapidly learn how to use a desktop system fully. Refresher or advanced training after several months of system experience is also helpful. o User groups are recommended as a significant source of help in learning how to use a particular model of desktop publishing system. o GSA should provide agencies with information to help them determine if a desktop publishing system should be purchased or leased. Figure 3 Brochure Publishing Office: Office of Budget, Planning, and Policy Development, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Department of Transportation. Office missions: The primary missions of the office are: (1) developing the agency's budget; (2) performing long-range program planning; (3) developing traffic safety policies; (4) evaluating traffic safety standards; and (5) carrying out engineering, economic, and regulatory analyses. Application: The office uses a desktop publishing system to produce consumer information brochures on various aspects of motor vehicle safety. The brochures are generally 2-4 pages in length, and present information in a variety of formats such as text, graphics, charts, and tables. Also, the desktop system is used to produce other types of publications. Benefits: The office spokesperson described the following benefits that have resulted from the use of the desktop publishing system. o It permits the rapid preparation of camera-ready copy at less cost than the previous method of obtaining this service from an outside contractor. o The desktop system makes it possible to quickly and inexpensively update

18 brochures. o The system has improved the appearance and the readability of the motor vehicle safety brochures. In addition it has made it easier to work with complex formulas used in some publications. Lessons learned: Some software packages are more useful than others in producing publications. Before purchasing a software package, it is advisable to try it out on samples of your publications, or to obtain recommendations from other users. Be flexible in what is expected in a final product. One can be creative with a desktop publishing system. A "...final product may not look anything like what the first draft did, yet be much more like what is actually needed." Recommendation: The office spokesperson recommended the early establishment of local policies and procedures for using desktop publishing systems. Figure 4 Directory Publishing Office: Facilities Operations Branch, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Office mission: Procurement of printed materials for the agency. Application: The office uses a desktop system to prepare the EPA Headquarters Telephone Directory for publication twice a year. In addition, the system is used for producing other types of publications during the year. Benefits: The office spokesperson described the following benefits that have resulted from the use of the desktop publishing system. o The system has improved the appearance and quality of publications previously produced by other means. o It has allowed EPA program offices to publish near typeset quality publications at lower costs. o The desktop publishing system can access agency files through the EPA Electronic Mail System. This capability speeds up the routing, editing, and processing of documents before publication. o Recommendations: The office spokesperson offered the following suggestions to others considering the acquisition of a desktop publishing system. o Ensure that the system will meet your needs down the road. Get a system you can "grow into, not one that you will grow out of in a year or two."

19 o "Plan enough time to learn the system before actually putting it into operation...try not to produce too much work before you become familiar with the system...develop a `controlled growth' schedule for producing work on the system." o Evaluate the types of publications your organization needs to produce. Look at several desktop publishing packages to help ensure that you acquire the best system for satisfying your organization's publishing needs. o Purchase a laser printer that produces high quality images. Preferably, acquire a printer that is PostScript compatible. (PostScript is a computer language that translates text and graphics into a form that can be printed by various printers or other output devices.) Figure 5 Legal Material Publishing Office: Hearing Clerk Unit, Office of Administrative Law Judges, U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Office mission: Publishing the decisions of the USDA Administrative Law Judges (ALJ) and providing general support for the ALJ function. Application: The office uses a DTP system to produce the Agriculture Decisions publication. This monthly publication generally runs from 100 to 200 pages. It contains the decisions and orders issued by the ALJ's, the USDA Judicial Officer, and other legal matters related to the regulatory laws administered by the Department of Agriculture. Benefits: The office spokesperson described the following benefits resulting from the use of the desktop publishing system. o The desktop system has speeded up the process of printing the Agriculture Decisions publication. o It has eliminated the time consuming task of proofreading galley proofs printed by an outside typesetting organization. o The system provides the office with increased control over the final appearance of the publication. A copy of the publication is immediately available on the computer screen for proofreading and editing. Changes to the format and layout of the publication can be a made rapidly and electronically. The final camera-ready copy of the publication is now produced by the desktop system's printer instead of being produced by an

20 outside typesetting firm. Recommendations: The office's spokespersons made the following recommendations to others considering using a desktop publishing system for publishing legal materials. o Document your organization's publishing requirements now and into the future as completely as you can. o "...plan on a long period of time (several months, especially for a non-computer experienced person) for learning to use the system." System training focused on your specific applications is often needed to be able to quickly and effectively use your system to produce products. Make sure you obtain all the system reference manuals you need to accomplish your publishing tasks. o Test, using your documents, that the system you propose to acquire can completely process your publications. The test should cover the input, processing, and output phases of your publishing cycle and all phases of the test should be carefully observed. o "Don't buy too much machine...this equipment is constantly being improved and upgraded by the vendors." Figure 6 Report Publishing Office: Statistics and Data Processing Division, Rural Electrification Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Office mission: Production of statistical reports and other publications for the Rural Electrification Administration. Application: The office uses an Interleaf desktop publishing system to produce several major statistical reports. These annual statistical publications present data in 19 different formats and average 250 pages each. The office is also responsible for the production of other reports and publications during the year. Benefits: The following benefits have resulted from the use of the system. o The electronic text layout capabilities of the system have allowed the office to eliminate the annual task of manually cutting and pasting 500 pages of reports text onto large poster boards. The system also has

21 eliminated the time consuming chore of manually stripping in dollar signs and table headings for the reports. o It has given the office's reports a more "professional" look. o The system's electronic layout capabilities permit the office to experiment with differing page layouts, grids, and sizes of graphs to improve the readability of the reports. o The desktop system allows the office to make last minute changes to the text of the reports. o The final reports were available for distribution four weeks earlier than usual this year. This savings of time came about as the office was able to deliver ready-to-print copy to the printer for almost all the pages of the reports. Lesson learned: The transfer of information from the host computer to the desktop publishing system was initially a problem. This data transfer problem was solved by obtaining a hard disk for the desktop computer and installing a new release of the Interleaf operating system. This problem illustrates the importance of ensuring that a desktop publishing system will be compatible with any computers that will be furnishing the system with input. Recommendations: The following recommendations are provided for others considering the acquisition of desktop publishing systems. o Document the desktop publishing needs of your organization. (Develop the documentation only to a level of detail commensurate with the estimated value of the proposed system.) o Have vendors demonstrate, using samples of your major publications, that their systems can completely satisfy your office's publishing requirements. o Train more than one employee to operate the equipment. Figure 7 Desktop Publishing Trends Predicting trends within the desktop publishing industry is an uncertain business because of the dynamic nature of the technology and the product competition within the industry. Despite this uncertainty, some commonly predicted trends have been compiled from a review of desktop publishing literature and the "future forecasts" sessions of several desktop publishing conferences.

22 Expected Trends The following paragraphs describe some probable trends within the desktop publishing industry during the next 3 to 5 years. Federal acquisitions. The U. S. General Services Administration has projected that the Federal Government will have over 1,000,000 microcomputers in operation by the early 1990's. Several market research companies have made estimates that from 8 to 25 percent of the installed base of microcomputers in the United States will be upgraded into desktop publishing workstations during the next five years. If the Government follows this trend, it has a potential for acquiring some 80,000 to 250,000 desktop publishing systems during the next few years. It is indeed expected that many program and publications support functions within the Federal Government will be able to justify the acquisition of desktop publishing tools during this time frame. Increased capabilities. It is expected that the following capabilities will be added to many desktop publishing systems during the next few years. Future desktop publishing systems are expected to have larger memory capacities and faster processing speeds. Increased selections of type fonts are predicted to become widely available. Suppliers will produce more powerful and more user friendly desktop publishing software along with improved reference and instruction manuals. It is predicted that desktop publishing software will incorporate and integrate many of the capabilities of computer aided design, business graphics, data base retrieval, spreadsheet, and word processing programs. Desktop publishing software is expected to become available with format sheets and templates that will aid in the layout of common documents such as brochures, catalogs, directories, and newsletters. These templates should substantially reduce the amount of document design training that many users felt they needed in the past. On the other side of the coin, many word processing products will add desktop publishing capabilities to become document processors. There will continue to be a blurring of the word processing, computer aided design, and desktop publishing product lines. Lower prices. Overall prices of desktop publishing systems will tend to fall because of increased competition and improved manufacturing processes. In particular, the prices of the laser printer and graphics terminal components of the systems are expected to decline. Better laser printers. The resolution (measured in dots per inch) of laser printers is expected to increase substantially in the near term. Improved resolution will permit the printers to produce sharper, better quality output.

23 Laser printers capable of color printing are forecast to be available within a few years. Initially, it is thought that color laser printers will be expensive and will have slower production speeds than the current black and white models. However, it is expected that the price/performance ratios of color laser printers will rapidly improve. Better scanners. Scanners provide an efficient means to input already existing text or graphic images into a desktop publishing system's computer. This capability saves the time and expense of keyboarding in materials that are already in typed or printed form. Scanning in graphic images such as photographs or art work also saves considerable time in incorporating graphic images into publications. The near-term forecast is for more capable scanners at lower prices. Improved clip art availability. Clip art is a term used for software packages that contain graphic images of many common objects such as buildings, people, trees, or animals. Specialized packages are also available that contain graphic images or symbols useful for performing specific functions, such as making maps or "drawing" electronic circuit schematics. Extensive clip art libraries on CD ROM (Compact Disk Read Only Memory) optical disk systems will soon become available. More standardization? It is hoped, rather than confidently predicted, that standardization will increase within the desktop publishing industry. The hoped for standardization would permit more integration among software products and increased interconnectivity among differing brands of desktop publishing systems. However, it is entirely possible that competitive pressures will prevent the development of industry standards that would permit the easy transport of desktop publishing files between differing desktop systems. When to Buy? Two prevailing tendencies within the desktop publishing industry are for systems to become better and cheaper as time goes on. An agency, however, that can now substantially reduce its costs or improve its operations by acquiring a desktop publishing system is well justified in doing so. The risk of system obsolescence can be mitigated somewhat by acquiring expandable, modular systems that can be augmented with new equipment or software as technology emerges.

24 Appendix A - Selected Bibliography Burns, Diane and S. Venit. "PC Desktop Publishing Comes of Age." PC Magazine. October 1987, pp Datapro Reports on Electronic Publishing Systems. Volumes I and II. Delran, NJ: Datapro Research Corporation, Davis, Frederick E., John A. Barry, and Michael Wiesenberg. Desktop Publishing. Homewood, IL: Dow Jones Irwin, "Desktop Publishing's Inexpensive Upstarts." PC Magazine. April 1988, pp "Electronic Publishing." Government Computer News, 24 June 1988, pp Hetherington, Carl E. "Electronic Publishing's Future is Promising." The Office, December 1988, pp Krasnoff, Barbara. "Users See the Darker Side of Desktop Publishing." PC Week, 16 June 1987, pp Study of Trends Toward Decentralized Printing and Publication. Washington: U.S. General Services Administration, "The 1988 Guide to Desktop Publishing for PC-Compatible Systems." Special Supplement to Personal Computing, 1988, pp Watzman, Suzanne. Training: The Key to Successful Document Production. Cambridge, MA: Watzman Keyes Information Design, Inc., 1987.

25 Appendix B - Research Methodology The Information Resources Management Service (IRMS) of the U. S. General Services Administration (GSA) during 1988 began to research the uses of desktop publishing systems by Federal agencies. The purpose was to share on a Governmentwide basis a summary description of the early experiences of Federal offices with these systems. The following paragraphs outline the scope of the analysis and the methods used. Initiating the analysis GSA sent a letter to the senior information resources management officials of 75 Federal Government departments and agencies. The letter asked the officials to identify to GSA several individuals (if any) within their agencies who were currently using desktop publishing technology. It was requested that the individuals identified represent a cross section of desktop publishing users at all organizational levels within the agency. It was also asked that persons working on applications only at the planning stage not be included. Responses were received from 58 agencies which identified 130 users of desktop publishing systems. The survey questionnaire GSA then sent a letter explaining the purpose of the survey to the 130 potential survey participants along with a one page survey form. The recipients of the survey form were asked to complete the form and return it within a 5 week time period. Completed survey forms were returned by 56 individuals. The results of the survey are presented in Chapter 2, Survey Findings. Figure 8