Studies & Whitepaper
Read our studies and whitepapers to receive more information about future oriented technologies, trends and solutions:
Digital magazines for tablets
Why are standard tools the key to process-oriented, automated production of digital editions?
Management Summary
An entirely new breed of output device arrived on the scene with the 2010 launch of the iPad. It opened the door to a wealth of opportunities and possibilities that an energized media industry is eager to capitalize on. Around the world publishing houses and media companies, especially, are busy brainstorming ways to market contents for such devices. In stark contrast to the free-of-charge culture that dominates the World Wide Web, this platform could well be poised for the breakthrough of billable content. Revenues to date and forecasts for the years ahead show promise, as do initial studies assessing user behavior. Applications for tablets are seeing more frequent use than conventional online platforms. The tablet unifies the benefits of print and online content - an appealing layout with stories well told, enriched with multimedia and engaging interactive features.
With the Apple App Store up and running and other business models on the rise, the first standards for publishing technology are taking hold. Companies aim to publish and deliver digital editions to as many devices and platforms as possible, so file format certainly matters. A universal standard for all platforms much like PDF is emerging with the .folio format. When the floodgates opened, a wave of hastily developed app production tools inundated the market, but the first professional solution did not arrive until the Adobe® Digital Publishing Suite (DPS) was released. Its developers factored the entire business model into the equation from its inception. The market launch was far more deliberate and very well timed because everything from publishing and distribution to the different platforms to benefits and market analysis tools were on the drawing board from day one. Adobe DPS certainly performs well in professional environments such as those found in publishing houses and corporate publishers, but it takes a publishing system such as vjoon K4™ to tap its
full potential. This publishing system takes over and automates many routine tasks, organizes central data management and maintenance, structures workflows, and ensures every task is performed by the right person at the right time using the right contents. That saves time and free minds to focus on creative ideas.
Even small teams of two, three, or more people benefit considerably from the advantages of such a system. Anything goes, from projects involving a single tablet publication to full-blown crossmedia publishing efforts. The more complex the workflows, the more important end-to-end process management becomes. The vjoon Unified Publishing Process® offers precisely this capability. So while publishing houses and corporate publisher enjoy plenty of leeway to try out different concepts in terms of marketing and content, they can entrust their publishing workflows to wellestablished and efficient standard solutions.
vjoon Unified Publishing Process®
Why are well-established industry standards the key to efficient cross-media publishing?
Management Summary
With the arrival of digital magazines for the iPad, media companies, corporate publishers, and marketing organizations are finding that their publishing workflows are less than fully integrated, and that many legacy systems in place today are simply not up to the task. The situation is much like it was years ago when online publishing first took off: Companies frequently see the publication of tablet editions as a separate and often insular task rather than part of a greater whole. What's more, conventional and corporate publishers have to cope with several different platforms (iOS, Android, etc.). This drives the cost of making high-quality apps and creates demand for uniform, process-driven and highly automated means of production. With its Unified Publishing Process (UPP), vjoon has taken a holistic approach to creating, managing and rendering contents for print, tablet, Web, mobile applications and whatever other platforms the future may bring.
An analysis conducted to identify inefficiencies in cross-media publishing soon found that eliminating these flaws requires a new approach focused on end-to-end, highly automated processes. It also became abundantly clear that a global perspective and a holistic approach are necessary to consolidate publishing processes in today's editing departments, newsrooms, and across companies' diverse organizational units. Industrial and commercial companies face similar problems, as studies of their complex production and logistics chains have shown. And the persistent application of sound supply chain management practices have proven how successful such processes can be when they are continuously controlled and partially automated.
The term supply chain management (SCM) is taken to mean the planning and management of all tasks related to supplier selection, procurement, and conversion, as well as all logistical tasks. It entails coordinating and cooperating with business partners (suppliers, intermediaries, logistics service providers, and customers). SCM integrates management within and beyond the company's boundaries. The company developed UPP with the benefits of supply chain management in mind and focused on enabling start-to-finish process control and creating highly automated workflows throughout the production process. As a result, UPP serves to control not only native processes, but also external workflows and outside systems.The Unified Publishing Process offers de-cisive benefits for publishing houses and corporate publishers. It streamlines the entire production process and simplifies the workflow by automating complex and recurring tasks, which saves time and money, affords greater creative leeway, and boosts productivity. This culminates in higher-quality content, tailored to suit the respective output channel. That means greater reader satisfaction and, consequently, higher advertising and sales revenue. vjoon K4™ version 6 is integrated with the Unified Publishing Process.
Report on K4 6.1,
vjoon’s Cross-Media Publishing Platform
(By Erik Vlietinck, IT-Enquirer 2009, www.it-enquirer.com)
Management Summary
K4 6.1 is now a true cross-media publishing system, with capabilities that are unique, such as the ultimate in flexibility when it comes to publishing terminology (map publication” to anything you want). Its workflow engine is task-based. Users don’t have to know about statuses unless they need to.
Publishing to multiple channels with K4 6.1 can be done faster than before due to the parallelism allowed for by the workflow engine. Besides working in different channels, users can perform parallel tasks — for example, one user can be working on metadata of an image, while another one is still editing the same image. K4 6.1 also makes publishing less prone to errors and time loss. With its rewind feature, a workflow gone awry can even be taken back in time —allowing users to start over again and do it better the second time around.
vjoon’s philosophy of building a core system and enabling third party vendors to develop specialist add-ons ensures that K4 6.1 is a very cost-effective and attractive system. K4 has become one of the most flexible system available, with enough power to drive all publishing needs and markets.
vjoon K4 6.0 Comes Close to Publishing in the Real World with Task-based Workflow
(By Erik Vlietinck, IT-Enquirer 2008, www.it-enquirer.com)
Management Summary
Most currently available publishing systems apply a status-based workflow in order to push layout and content objects through the publishing process. Most disturbing about status-based workflow is that it is counter-intuitive, resulting in steep learning curves, high training costs, and error-prone workflows. A task-based workflow in which the system tells the users working with the system, what to do, instead of simply telling what the result should be as in status-based workflows is less prone to errors and has a less steep learning curve when done well.
vjoon K4 6.0 uses a task-based approach with rewinds, dependencies and the ability to have split workflows that can synchronise. K4 6.0 enables users to finish tasks without the need to check in or check out objects. The user can simply accept a task and from that point onwards the system creates the components needed to complete the task and move the user through the workflow until the desired end-result is achieved. Unique about K4 6.0 is that it uses a simple to use GUI-based Workflow Editor effectively enabling administrators to rapidly set up extremely complex parallel cross-media publishing workflows.
