Software's Insight In To Pre-Production Workflows

Workspace is a new software tool that is claimed to provide pre-press operators with quick access and comprehensive insight in to their pre-press production workflows.

A browser-based software product from Onevision Software, Workspace is claimed to be easy to learn and use, According to Onevision, Workspace allows printers and publishers to remotely monitor, track, manage and control every job throughout the production process.

Workspace serves as a remote monitor for Asura and Asura Pro, Onevision's products that streamline and automate the pre-flighting, optimisation and normalisation processes in print production by automatically checking, correcting and outputting to several formats, including PDF, EPS and PostScript.

Workspace software was seen for the first time at Nexpo in Orlando, Florida (USA), where it provided real-time, streamlined views of every job within the pre-press production cycle.

For example, Workspace's monitor feature automatically analyses and clearly displays job tracking and statistics.

Users can also start jobs, or drill-down to quickly check job status and obtain information, such as the history, activity and a thumbnail for any job, said Onvevision.

Workspace's control is said to enable authorised users to configure production settings and modify jobs within the queue.

Standard processes, such as normalise, split, merge, print and export can be incorporated in to the workflow via a drag-and-drop procedure.

Siobhain Towell, vice president of marketing at Onevision , said: "We have made a dedicated effort to build a software tool for Asura and Asura Pro that helps pre-press managers and operators work more efficiently, by gaining a complete picture of many aspects of their production and publishing environment.

Our customers regularly tell us how Asura and Asura Pro save them time by automatically spotting and fixing problematic files before they go to press and they have also provided us with extensive feedback." He continued: "The advances offered by Workspace are largely based on this feedback and we feel the software is the next step in the evolution of our products." Onevision said that its software products are currently used by many printing and publishing companies.

In the USA Onevision clients include Dow Jones and Company, Gannett, Pearson plc, Merrill Corporation and R R Donnelley.

Outside of the USA clients include Financial Times, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Sydney Morning Herald and Times of India, amongst others.

Workspace requires Asura 8.2 and Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition, Windows XP Professional, Service Pack 2, or Windows 2000 Professional or Server, Service Pack 4.

The software is designed to be compatible with most existing software from third-party vendors and pricing is based on configuration and individual requirements, said Onevision.

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