Workflow Efficiently Takes XML Data To Production

J Jays' tailored XML extraction workflow can export data from business-to-business publisher Findlay Publications' third-party publishing system.

The XML workflow applies the data to J Jays' Mosaic production management tool and, at the same time, J Jays has added eight new Findlay titles to its pre-press portfolio.

The relationship between the Dartford UK Findlay Publications and J Jays is almost a decade old, when J Jays began providing typesetting and page make-up services for the Machinery Classified magazine.

That work paved the way for the current relationship between the two companies.

Now J Jays provides pre-press services across all main Findlay journals, including the fortnightly New Electronics, monthly titles Eureka, Works Management, Machinery and European Automotive Design and the bi-monthly Manufacturing Computer Solutions.

The weekly Machinery Classified is also included in that roster.

With the addition of the new titles, J Jays now moves 600 pages through Mosaic every month for Findlay.

Findlay's production manager, Derek Gill, explained: "When an upgrade to our Maxim publishing system provided the facility for data to be exported using email protocols, we turned to J Jays to develop a workflow system, which would allow us to take advantage of this to integrate our internal systems more closely with Mosaic.

Whilst Maxim provides us with our external interface to the advertiser and handles our advertising order processing, J Jay's Mosaic tool manages our entire downstream production process, so a direct link between the two has immediate advantages in efficiency and cost management." Advertisements arriving at Findlay from external advertisers are moved in to Maxim for order processing, computation and flat planning.

With the workflow designed by J Jays, the advertisements are now extracted automatically in to Mosaic, where they are processed for proofing, page progress tracking and remote approvals.

According to Derek Gill, the impact is tangible, even for a relatively small publisher such as Findlay.

He commented: "The new workflow is already saving time and money and improving accuracy by removing the need for double keying of advertisement data.

Manual booking in and booking out of ads is a thing of the past and we have been able to channel the time previously spent on those processes in to streamlining other areas of production.

The cost-saving potential in a larger publishing house would be very significant." The XML extraction workflow will now be adapted for Machinery Classified, which has different production parameters from the other journals.

Gill said: "For Findlay, the value of working with J Jays stems from its typesetting heritage, which it has successfully built on to evolve themselves in to a first-class data management company.

Data is the lifeblood of today's publishing process and J Jays is fundamental to helping Findlay keep it under control.".

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