Discipline, flexibility, planning, responsibility—key ingredients to successfully implementing computer management systems. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO The installation of a computer management system is not purely an academic process—it is an arduous, yet ultimately beneficial, production process that must be initiated, controlled and completed without impeding the regular, day-to-day business tasks of any commercial printing operation. Easier said than done. In a perfect world, implementing new software solutions for estimating, electronic job ticketing, job costing, job invoicing, inventory tracking—essentially every administrative data collection component of a print production cycle—would be as easy as sticking a disk into a CD drive and executing a few,
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Job tickets—which have been around since Gutenberg, if only in an elementary form—have evolved from handwritten envelopes to computerized, customized, global documents. In the new millennium, that evolution continues as job tickets are transformed from mere digital versions of their paper-based predecessors to virtual windows in the production process. BY CHERYL A. ADAMS "Our crystal ball indicates that, not only will print buying on the Internet become widespread, but also, in many cases, the management systems that the printer uses [such as those for electronic job ticketing applications] will be run totally over the Internet, as well," says Carol Andersen, president of Micro
Implementing computer management systems arm commercial printers with a key to unlocking print production bottlenecks—on and off the Internet. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO Any printer will report that a breakdown in the communication process in any phase of the print production cycle can be debilitating. Printers, quite simply, do not have the luxury of easily absorbing workflow bottlenecks—from the moment a purchase order comes in, through the prepress and printing processes, to the second the product is lifted off the finishing room floor for shipment and the customer, promptly, is billed for services rendered. Good news: There are a host of fine technology
BY JERRY JANDA Phil Ruggles, a Cal Poly State University professor and consultant specializing in management information systems, estimates that this year there are approximately 70 vendors selling computer management systems to the graphic arts industry. As of yet, no vendors sell software that makes selecting, and integrating, a computer management system any easier. Ruggles notes that there is no easy way to determine which computer management system is best for a given company—there are simply too many variables to allow for a quick choice. Research and study by the printer are essential. And at the end of the research process, it is unlikely
