XEGENCY ARTWORK PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR AD AGENCIES

Transcription

1 XEGENCY ARTWORK PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR AD AGENCIES An innovative workflow management solution for Ad agencies and Design agencies to efficiently manage the artwork production process. Right from request for artwork, creating tasks, assigning tasks to studio, design/ adaptation, review/ approval and all processes right up to delivery are managed through this online application. The operations from initiation of an artwork request to the artwork delivery can be monitored, with access to assets, progress and history. All its stake holders are constantly updated, prompted to act on tasks like assigning a job, review an artwork, Language translation, language type set, send artwork for client approval, confirmation of client approval etc. Ability to have a dashboard view of all Jobs, separate status tab to see all jobs in a status, details of connected tasks, online proofing, comments and annotations by Approvers, time lines of studio operations, reference files upload, storage of artwork versions, digital assets connected to a job or brand, pending approval alert are key features of the solution. Xegency is developed to integrate it easily with Single Sign-on, ERP, Billing or Employee Information Systems of an agency. Direct Benefits and Features Most suitable artwork production system for Ad agencies Easy to have centralised studio for all branches/multiple profit centres, dedicated studios Increases speed, efficiency and control over AW production and approval process Artwork production process turns proactive, rather than reactive Streamline studio operations and approval flow in particular Manages all operations from request for an artwork to delivery Client Servicing team can track the artwork work life cycle easily Servicing/Studio can view progress, status, history, comments from Approvers Studio Manager is empowered to view all Jobs/ tasks assigned or to be assigned Easy to manage the artwork approval online through Proofing applet Features like Artwork Comparison helps to find mistakes and variations easily Review and Annotations done online helps to reduce mistakes and versions Overview of Jobs pending for approval from other departments, clients etc Complete Digital Asset Management system Easy to access all assets related to an artwork or brand Ability to share assets, transfer assets between brands and profit centres Clarity in communicating the changes between all stake holders Lesser mistakes and revisions due to error free and clear communication Internal and Client side approvals can be tracked at one place

2 Sync with SAP systems to fetch Customer, Brand, User details, also Job creation Support media plan import to create Jobs/ Tasks easily Studio Manager gets alerts each time for an action, helps to plan the workload Multiple levels of approvals parallel or sequential can be set up Mandatory Check list for approvers ensure all check points of a Brand/ Client Attachments can be uploaded to describe the corrections in an artwork /SMS alerts for status updates and to remind about tasks Easy to transfer files to Vendors by configuring FTP, supports large size file transfers Generate reports and MIS data for Analysis and for improving processes Master Data and User Management The system is organised by arranging the Clients and Brands to profit centres. It also keeps complete customer masters with customer code, Brands mapped to each customer and the contact persons of brands. The campaigns/projects of a brand is created on the system with details like start date, end date, description. The brand manuals can be uploaded and approved to make it accessible for all users. The master data can be synced with the ERP/ SAP systems of the agency. Main stake holders of the system are Client Servicing team, followed by Creative Art & Copy, Studio, Language Team, Processing Team and Client. It also supports a Traffic Coordinator for overall coordination. The system can be configured to add Planning Department also as a stake holder. Single sign on feature helps to use the same log-in credentials of each user in the agency intranet for Xegency as well. Employee Information System can be synced to update the users and their permissions. Job Creation Importing the details of an Artwork Requisition from ERP/ SAP/ Billing system of an agency is the first step to create a Job. A Job is created in the system automatically, using the details imported. The order number can be the same, more details to be added to the Job by the Servicing team or a Traffic Coordinator. The job is further split into tasks by separating requests for languages, artworks, processing etc. There could be multiple tasks based on a Media plan. To make the task creation easy, the media plan can be imported from an excel sheet. The approvers for a job can be either added, pre-defined or allowed to be modified anytime by Traffic Coordinator or Client Servicing team. Review and Approval The approvers of an artwork can be from Client Servicing, Creative, Copy and Production. The

3 Client Servicing team may have multiple hierarchies; they can be arranged into different levels to suit the operational style of the agency. The approvals can be spread into multiple levels. Xegency supports parallel, sequential and combination of both for approval workflow. The approvers can be either pre-fixed based on brand or added/ modified on the go as preferred by the agency. The Approvers are classified into Mandatory Approvers and Reviewers. Reviewers can review an artwork, but approvals will not be mandatory. An artwork can move forward without their review. Even though their rejections will move the job into Rejected status. Review of an artwork is facilitated by a Proofing applet, the tool developed specifically to address the challenges of online artwork review. Proofing applet converts the PDF of an artwork and displays it on a viewer which simulates the same experience of printed proof or better. A reviewer can view the artwork online, annotate on it by placing a sticky, or using rectangular, circular shapes, arrow marks, highlight using colour overlays, outlines etc. They can also measure the sizes and distances, rotate, zoom and make the page to fit to width or height. Comments of Approvers can be viewed together or separately, this helps to address the conflicts in comments by Approvers. All Approvers are notified by about the changes marked by other approvers. Version control brings in all versions of an artwork together, helping to see the changes marked on earlier versions easily. This makes the studio team more responsible as all changes marked are visible for scrutiny. There are finer features like Comparison of two versions of an artwork or an artwork version with another approved artwork. This shows the differences, highlight or blink the areas having changes in colour, position or size, so that the Approver is pressed to notice even the minor differences. Text comparison can also be made possible to easily detect the differences in spelling between artwork versions. Production Management The system is developed with a concept of Production Status and Baskets. The production status represents exact status of the Job and Basket is a combination of production statuses. Once all the production statuses are completed in a Basket, Job moves ahead to the next basket. The Tabs in the Xegency are arranged based on the basket, so the jobs in a basket are shown in columns like Tab. Workflow Jobs can be segregated as Job Types and separate work flow can be assigned for each of them. Eg. Artwork, Language, Processing can have different workflow. The system has capability to add work flows for digital, TVCs also. The production status for each work flow can be different. The approval steps and rules can also be different for each workflow. The Jobs in different workflows can be viewed together based on the status.

4 Dashboard View Client servicing team and management team can view the progress of all jobs and tasks simply by referring to the system, workload of the studio can be easily understood. Also provide realistic picture of how many steps to be completed to release an artwork to publication or for print production. All jobs handled by a Client Servicing person is available at one place, helps to rearrange the priority. They can attach all materials required for a task, also helps them to review it systematically. Assets Management The reference files, creative files like Photoshop files, images, Layout files, campaign assets, logo etc. can be attached along with the Jobs or task so that they can be used by studio. There is also an extensive Digital Assets Archive to store all assets of a brand or client. They can be brand identity files, photo shoot images, retouched images, illustrations, Graphics, Fonts etc. There is a search facility to retrieve them quickly. The search can be based on many parameters like brand, campaign, job name, initiated between, servicing person, profit centre, Initiator, Approver etc. The approved artworks, previous versions, language files, processed artworks can be accessed or downloaded. Detailed Operational Flow of the System A new Job Requisition is created in the SAP/ billing system of the ad agency, and automatically imported to Xegency. Or a job can be directly created in Xegency. The Job gets assigned to the Client servicing team member responsible for the brand. Client servicing team member can create further tasks in that job, which is the breakdown of deliverables from the studio. The deadline, Approvers of the task, output required, formats and details of the output are added to the tasks at this stage. Very large creative files can be uploaded as reference or as creative source file for building the artwork. System supports the transfer of files with more than a GB size easily through the FTP. The Job is 'Initiated' by Client Servicing and goes to the Studio Head. The status of Job changes to Initiated and moved to another Tab. Studio Head in turn review and assigns the tasks to a designer in the studio. Studio head can view the number of Jobs assigned with a designer. When job is assigned, status become 'Assigned'. The Studio Head has the liberty to assign the tasks in a job to multiple designers or all tasks to a single designer. Designer can download all materials of a task and view details of a job. They can also access the

5 Assets Module to download assets required for that Job. When starting the job, they click on 'Start' which records the start time and they can 'Pause', 'Restart', and 'Finish' a Job. This will record the actual time taken for a Job by Designer. When 'Finish'ed, the completed artwork can be uploaded. On finishing the upload, a proof of the same can be viewed as the Approvers see them online. Designer can add a note to Approver or to Studio Head to read before review. The proof then goes to Studio Head for review. Studio Head can review the jobs moved to 'Completed' status. They can open the proof in the proofing applet, review, place annotations and finally Reject or Approve it. On approval by Studio Head, it goes to the Approvers for review. On rejection, artwork goes to the Designer to make the changes marked in the proof by Studio head. If the designer is absent at that time, it can be reassigned to anyone else. Finally when the studio head approves, job moves to next status. There could be multiple levels of approvals within the agency. It can go first to either Art Directors or Creative Directors, or to Copy Writers, or to Client Servicing team as desired by the agency. These rules can be set based on the choice and operational policies of the Agency. The workflow designing is a crucial step in the implementation of Xegency. It supports multiple levels of work flows, and rules can be set at end of each level to decide where the Job shall be moved to. Job can be sent back to Studio on rejection of a department or it can continue to be reviewed by all departments. On approval, the job will anyway move to next department or level. When all departments complete approval, the status is changed to 'Approved' or 'Client to Approve'. The Client s approval to an artwork can be sought online or offline by Client Servicing team, when client approves it, status is changed to 'Client Approved'. If the client sends any comments, those can be added by Client servicing. They can upload files marked with corrections and send back to repeat the approval process till the Client Approve the artwork. After the approval from client, Client servicing team can transfer the artwork to Publication, Media Agency or for Print Production. The Client Approved jobs known to studio, so that they can upload Hi resolution files of the artwork, source files with complete fonts, links etc. These files will go as final deliverables to prepress house for processing or to an internal department for further processing. User Interface The user interface of the system is very friendly and easy to use with features to set a preferred view of the user. The sorting, filter features are also very helpful to users when they deal with large number of Jobs. The system is robust enough to handle high volume of jobs and tasks. Xegency helps to identify the Jobs pending in a production status easily, and to know the work

6 load at each stage of the production process. The tab separated view helps to quickly view all Jobs in a status.

7 Artwork Production Planning Easy to view tasks by Brand, Campaign, Profit centre, Deadline based Easy to share and distribute large size files for artwork production View progress of Tasks, view workload of studio, ongoing jobs etc. Disciplined way of Task creation and assigning Complete activity trail is recorded, helps for process improvement Job and Task Management Create Jobs with all details, tasks to be completed for a Job Assign Tasks to Studio, designers, record work time Automated notifications and alerts for tasks, delay in tasks Dash board view of all tasks, helps to view tasks in each status Artwork Review and Approval Approval hierarchy can be defined with multiple levels for a job type Online proofing aids collaboration, leading to lesser mistakes and versions Proofs can be viewed by all Approvers, lesser conflicting comments Errors due to misinterpretations are lesser due to clear annotations Keeps all versions and it's comments of an artwork Easy to compare two versions, or to compare with another artwork Check lists are mandatory for Approvers Asset Management Assets of a brand, Job or tasks are stored along with Transfer large files as assets, easy to distribute assets Full-fledged Asset Management System Access rights can be set to regulate asset usage View Assets related to a Job within Job docket Delivery Support to configure Vendors FTP to deliver files Large files can be transferred easily to Vendors/ Media agencies Easy to connect with pre-press, printing presses Files can also be sent as attachments via MIS Reports Extensive Reports can be created for analysis Audit trail reports with complete life cycle

8 Easy to know the time spent for a Job, Number of versions etc Invoicing can be done based on real effort taken Analysis of reports helps to weed out inefficiencies Approval delays can be measured and corrected Cost and efficiency benefits % savings by streamlining the process flow Lesser effort for managing the jobs and tasks Faster turnaround due to alerts and reminders Visibility increases responsibility of stake holders Servicing team can spend their time for other responsibilities Faster approval and job completion leads to profitability Easier to refer past jobs and assets, this save precious time Ensures disciplined production and delivery process

9 PowerPoint Page 1 What is Xegency 1. A workflow solution for Advertising and Design agencies. 2. Suits to large agency networks, also to single branch outfits. 3. Complete artwork production lifecycle is managed by Xegency. 4. Xegency brings in efficiency, speed and clarity in the process. 5. Artwork Approvals and Production management modules. 6. Total control and visibility over the process, easy to manage. Page 2 Customisable and Integration friendly system 1. Configurable to great extent, Customisable to suit an agency. 2. Extensive Master data settings, User management, templates. 3. Master data management to store Client, Brand, Campaign details. 4. User and Role management to assign permissions. 5. Integration with SAP, ERP or EIS systems possible. 6. Profit centre/ Business Unit mapping for users and brands. Page 3 Operational Benefits 1. From AW Request creation, Work assigning, approval up to delivery. 2. Internal and External approvals are easy to manage. 3. Complete record of approvals, comments, check lists by approvers. 4. Increases responsibility, audit trail help to identify reasons of mistakes. 5. Visibility increases efficiency of communication. 6. Stake holders are constantly prompted to act on tasks. 7. Dash board view of all Jobs running in studio. Page 4 Key Advantages 1. Online Proofing with annotations helps faster approvals. 2. Easy to collaborate comments from multiple reviewers.

10 3. Multiple levels of review helps quality improvement. 4. Designers get clarity in instructions, lesser conflicting comments. 5. Able to compare with older versions or approved artworks. 6. Automated comparison to identify mistakes easily. apage 5 Multiple Workflows for better management 1. Workflows define the flow of approval and when it goes to a Reviewer. 2. Multiple workflows based on artwork type, brand, profit centre etc. 3. Separate workflow for Artwork, Languages, Processing. 4. Multiple levels of approval for CS, Creative Art & Copy, Senior CS Team 5. Approvers be pre fixed or added on the go as per agency policy. 6. Status view in separate tabs based on the progress of a job. Page 6 Proofing applet for online proofing 1. Online proofing of artworks, comments and annotations by Approvers. 2. High Magnification features, vector preview to read even smaller texts 3. Records time of annotation, Measure, Grids, Download with comments. 4. Feature to compare two versions of same AW or with another AW. 5. View comments/ annotations user wise, versions wise or department wise. 6. Download artwork PDF with annotations for offline view. Page 7 Asset Management and Sharing 1. Storage of all artwork versions, download or transfer Approved artworks. 2. All Assets of a Job/Task, Brand or a Client is accessible on click. 3. Share assets between Profit centres, or different team or with Studio. 4. Access to AW Brief, AW, Assets, History, Comments & Language details. 5. Brand Manuals, Guidelines are also accessible for easy reference. 6. Upload and transfer larger files easily through FTP. Page 7 Speed, efficiency and savings 1. Brings in speed and control to the AW Production process 2. Approvals become proactive and collaborative

11 3. Leads to faster approval, lesser versions of AW 4. Clarity in comments helps to achieve lesser mistakes. 5. Easy to track history, pending approvals or bottlenecks in a job. 6. Saves time spent for follow up, lesser communications. Page 8 Future ready application with MIS Reports 1. Customisable to suit the operations of an agency 2. Easy to add new modules and operations. 3. Reports for MIS, Dash board view for quick summary. 4. Reports for billing, with Production time, versions etc 5. Can be used for Digital AW production as well. 6. Supports latest browser versions and browser technology. 7. Cloud ready application, supports on premise hosting.