Automated Publishing
Success with VDP Automation Using PatternStream
The following table reports on the success of PatternStream automated publishing implementations. PatternStream (a product of Finite Matters Limited) has a substantial installed base that continues to grow.
A summary of the benefits they experienced includes: cost savings, cost justified on the basis of ROI (return on investment), manhour savings, improved accuracy, ability to handle last-minute changes, short lead times, control over proprietary information, ease of distribution, quality assurance of data, elimination of repetitive publishing tasks, improved service to internal clients, pdf ease-of-use (with hyperlinks and searchability), and ease of managing publishing tasks.
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Organization
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Organization
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Information
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Comments
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Benefits
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| AIMR [Association for Investment & Management Research] |
37,000 members in 74 countries | 2 annual directories | Previous method cost $37,000 per year in service bureau costs and 560 manhours | Cost savings, manhour savings, improved services; PatternStream method: $0 in service bureau costs and 80 manhours |
| BEA (The Bureau of Economic Analysis) | Washington-based agency of the US Dept. of Commerce in charge of providing timely, accurate, up-to-date statistics on US economic activity | ”Survey of Current Business” a monthly publication |
Short production lead times, accuracy of data; optimum management of data and procedures, PatternStream developer from FML | |
| City governments |
Fort Worth, TX Memphis, TN Richmond, VA Honolulu, HI Gainesville, FL Anaheim, CA |
budgets and other reports | Budgets being published involve billions of dollars, balanced to the penny; projects done in association with American Mgmt Systems [AMS] | Ability to publish current information, accuracy of publication, ease of distribution (pdf files), reduced cost of production |
| City of Phoenix Transit | City organization responsible for public transportation | Service catalog called the “Bus Book” covering bus schedules | Desired a fully-automated solution that would tie into Giro’s HASTUS transit scheduling software and another Transit database | Made project feasible financially and technically; removed manual labor, reducing ongoing HR costs; also shortened production lead-times |
| Columbia Books | Directory publisher based in Washington, DC | 5 annual directories: Corp Public Affairs, Nat’l Trade & Prof Assoc, State & Regional Assoc’s, Washington, Wash DC Reps |
Information from directories is used by associations, corporations, lobbyists, and politicians — SQL Server database | Improved accuracy, ability to handle last-minute changes, shorter lead times, intellectual property stays in-house, dramatic cost reductions |
| County governments Adobe Spotlight, County Gov’ts |
Santa Clara, CA Howard, MD Orange, CA San Diego, CA San Mateo, CA Cuyahoga, OH Orange, FL Franklin, OH Honolulu, HI Cobb, GA Olmstead, MN Broward, FL Westchester, NY |
budgets | Budgets being published involve billions and trillions of dollars, balanced to the penny; projects completed by FML, some done in association with American Mgmt Systems [AMS] | Ability to publish current information, accuracy of publication, ease of distribution (pdf files), drastic reduction in manhours |
| Cox Hardware + Lumber | Industrial and residential supplier in Houston, TX | product catalog (print and CD) |
Desire to increase sales presence with print catalog. Utilize the same (Triad) database that runs the business and web catalog. Include images and info for about 30,000 items with callouts | Made the project feasible for internal staff who had ongoing business responsibilities; was affordable with run-time PatternStream, and manageable using Active Lightning developer |
| Department of Defense (AF, AFR, ANG, Army, ARNG, JCS) |
USA federal government department | content management in support of budgets | System budget information is contained in a SQL database and entered and maintained through a web interface. PatternStream uses the database information to form the exhibits and publish them in PDF to user’s browsers. Project done in association with AMS. | 100% automation, production of ubiquitous easy-to-use pdf, great formatting capability, ability to launch programmatically from a web interface |
| Experian | Consumer credit information gathering and reporting agency | Cole Directories | Need ability to update data as quickly and accurately as possible | Short lead times, accuracy of data; assistance from an FML PatternStream developer |
| GE Capital Financial Assurance | Part of Fortune #5 company, provides financial services | monthly mutual fund fact sheets for 13 funds | Desire to publish as quickly as possible after month-end | Substantially reduced publication and distribution time, manhour savings, quality assurance for data |
| Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District | Organization in the city of San Rafael, CA responsible for public transportation | transportation schedules | Desired a fully-automated solution that would tie into Giro’s HASTUS transit scheduling software and its own database (FML developed new PatternStream product called TransitWriter™ for this market) |
Made project feasible financially and technically; removed manual labor, reducing ongoing HR costs; also shortened production lead-times |
| Honeywell, Inc | Diversified technology and manufacturing leader with headquarters in Morristown,New Jersey and locations around the globe | Tradeline catalogs | Variable product attributes, variable information placement, solution developed by APT Solutions | Automated production that was technically and financially feasible |
| Hydraulic Supply Corp | Headquarters in Sunrise, FL, 11 locations; a full service Fluid Power specialty distributor | catalog of hydraulic & pneumatic components and systems, hose, fittings, connectors, electronic systems, and accessories | Stability compared to their previously-used approach with Corel Ventura 8.0 | |
| IPC Communication Services | employee-owned manufacturing and distribution company | catalogs | company specializes in supply chain management, printing, data management, CD-ROM mastering & replication, assembly, fulfillment, and worldwide distribution | Elimination of repetitive publishing tasks, short lead times, manhour savings, improved service to clients with less staff, new service offering that provides a competitive edge |
| Krause Publications | Publishes 52 hobby periodicals, 35 periodicals in 13 areas of interest and 600 titles; employee-owned company in Iola, WI |
books, 100 titles annually | Publishing machines developed in-house with Premier PatternStream licenses | Cost savings, control over proprietary information, help with repetitive publication tasks |
| MediQual | A division of Cardinal Health Information Companies | medical glossary | Utilize Microsoft FoxPro database as data source | Rapid production, and ability to produce info product for both print and electronic distribution |
| Meister Publishing Company | A leading communication and information center for worldwide specialized agriculture | agriculture information reference books | Finite Matters Limited [FML] performed the development. Solution included a browser-based user-interface, import of data from delimited flat files, and PatternStream publishing machine. Utilized MySQL and PHP databases. | Ability to efficiently maintain content and publish up-to-date reference materials rapidly and accurately |
| MFS Investment Management Adobe Spotlight, MFS |
Boston-based mutual fund company with over $120 billion in assets | marketing communication pieces including many fact sheets | Desire to publish as quickly as possible after quarter-end and month-end with accuracy, desire for better management and control over information gathering and production processes; development done in-house with 7 plus Premier licenses— Oracle database with web-based interface | Elimination of repetitive publishing tasks, short lead times, manhour savings, improved service to many internal divisions, system enables 15 times more publications to be produced with less staff |
| NICOR Gas (formerly Northern Illinois Gas Company) | Provides natural gas service to 1.9 million customers in northern Illinois | manual | Manual includes 850+ field specifications — Access database | Ease of distribution (pdf files on CD-ROM), ease-of-use (hyperlinks and searchability), information is accurate and up-to-date |
| NIMA [National Imagery and Mapping Agency] | Houston-based federal agency in charge of providing timely, accurate imaging of geospatial information | reports that include important images | Need ability to update images and data as quickly and accurately as possible for national security objectives; they utilize 6 Premier PatternStream licenses | Short lead times, accuracy of data; PatternStream VAR Instrux |
| Outdoor Interactive, Inc | Internet retailer of hunting, fishing, camping, and boating products | product catalog customized for individual customer, imposed and ready for 4-color process output to Indigo sheet-fed press (digital publishing) | Mission to increase sales via focused selection products geared to customer’s interests and presentation of this offering that is attractive, up-scale, touchable and easy-to-read | Made project feasible financially and technically; provided ability to have different templates so that successive releases over time will have fresh look; Active Lightning VAR who was strong contributor for solving the challenges of this project |
| Public School Systems |
Philadelphia, PA Anne Arundel County, MD Oakland, CA |
budgets and other reports | Solutions implemented by American Mgmt Systems [AMS] | Ability to publish current information, accuracy of publication, ease of distribution (pdf files), reduced cost of production |
| Rockwell International | Fortune 500 company with numerous internal divisions | catalog | Includes info on supply components, equipment, and systems — Oracle database | Short lead times, ease of managing publication tasks, met complex project specifications |
| Royal Australian Air Force Aeronautical Information Services [RAAF AIS] |
Producer of aeronautical information products for all Australian Defense Force flight operations in support of Defense activities worldwide | various aeronautical information publications | Ease of use, rapid production, and ability to duplicate the success of the US National Imagery and Mapping Agency | |
| Sigma-Aldrich | Manufacturer/ distributor of laboratory chemicals and equipment, located in St. Louis, Missouri | catalog | Catalog info includes text in 2 languages and prices in 14 currencies, use an Access database | Efficient, trouble-free management of information; met complex project specifications; pricing information is accurate and up-to-date |
| Standard and Poor’s | New York-based firm that publishes information on financial matters for a world-wide audience | S&P’s Daily Newsletter, S&P’s Corporate Description Directory, S&P’s Money Market Directories, European Stock Reports | S&P was an early adopter of PatternStream, their solutions were developed by FML; they utilize Oracle databases and publish to pdf, html, and sgml formats | Substantial annual cost savings |
| State governments |
Missouri Iowa Louisiana Connecticut |
budgets and other reports; CT: legal documents | Budgets being published involve billions and trillions of dollars, balanced to the penny; broad state-wide implementations by American Mgmt Systems [AMS], e.g. 30 agencies in MO | Ability to publish current information, accuracy of publication, ease of distribution (pdf files), reduction of ongoing costs |
| The McGraw Group, Inc. | Distributor of industrial equipment and supplies with 14 branch locations in VA, NC, and SC | 2 catalogs | These catalogs are McGraw’s primary source of information for facilitating sales — SQL Server database | Publish an interactive web site and 2 catalogs from a single database, faster publication turnaround, reduction in publishing costs |
| The Menu Pages | Start-up company in New York, NY | menus | Provide dining information service to New Yorkers; menus as pdf files from a database | Made project feasible financially and technically |
| University of San Francisco |
Private Jesuit University founded in 1855 | ”USF General Catalog” | FML developed complete solution: SQL Server database, web-based interface (front-end), and database publishing system | Many USF personnel can input and maintain data, sections can be published at will, reduced production cycle, elimination of repetitive manual publishing tasks |
| USFI | Provider of direct marketing services including marketing communications, information and data mgmt, and doc/forms mgmt services | content management and publishing systems in support of catalog and collateral publishing | Very few design limitations, excellent software application architecture, very stable, enables rapid development and easy maintenance |