ad tracking software [OT]

[angela deangelo]

Chris,

Our workflow right now is all Macintosh-based - ads are created in  
Creator 4.0.5 (trying to get to Creator 8.0, just bought 14 copies),  
a person sits and exports the ads as an eps. Pagination is handled on  
ALS and CLS in MEI, then an overlay from those programs is placed in  
Quark Xpress 4.11, and we use ScenicSoft (now defunct) Export for  
Prepress feature to make .EPS files for placement in Preps 4.0. Those  
files are then sent to an ECRM Server and that goes direct-to-plate.

We also have Total Ad from Vision Data. I don't have much experience  
on it, because it is used mainly by our business office. (on still an  
other side note - how does that run for you?? Seems like our Business  
Manager is always resetting the Sun Server it runs on, people tell me  
they are slow on it, etc.)

We feel like we are 15 years behind everyone else when we look at  
demonstrations of Ad Tracking programs. Even if we got the lowest  
form of Ad Tracking, we'd still be light years ahead of where we are  
at now. I can imagine it is VERY NICE when you can find an ad on the  
fly, and have all the artwork along with the ad (people always forget  
to move all art to one folder, etc.)

Thanks for your input. I do appreciate the time it took to explain it  
all.

Ang

---------------------------------------------------

Angela DeAngelo
Macintosh Specialist
Kapp Advertising Services, Inc.
100 E. Cumberland Street
Lebanon, PA 17042


> Angela,
>
> Our newspaper produces a daily and 15 weeklies.  We use Roundhouse  
> for Ad Tracking and like it - 14 designers.  I haven't seen any  
> other solutions in quite awhile so I don't know if it is the best  
> for your needs or not.  It requires a Microsoft SQL Server database  
> and an application server to run IIS web server for system  
> management and proofing (for a smaller shop can be the same server  
> if enough horsepower).  I think the interface is MAC-only right now  
> (version 3.5) although there will be a web interface on version 4  
> (rebranded IPS Adtrac - requires SQL Server 2005).
>
> Please note that your designers will need to change database  
> statuses every time they touch the ad, and it will help to have  
> someone dedicated to assigning incoming ads to a 'received/ 
> gatekeeper' status so you'll know when the ad has been received  
> from the sales rep.  However being able to find where an ad is in  
> the workflow and determine what has not yet been submitted is Very  
> Nice.
>
> I can tell you though that we had Vision Data Total Ad up until  
> February of this year, so there is a proven export mechanism with  
> it (they call it an 'MEI export interface').  Roundhouse imports  
> tab delimited text files, which the Total Ad interface exports.
>
> Roundhouse has an automated set of scripts that drive applications  
> on a standalone MAC workstation called 'DocServer'.  When the job  
> is placed into a certain user-definable database status, DocServer  
> kicks in and finalizes it (EPS or PDF).  We actually do not have  
> DocServer running and are manually finalizing each ad, since there  
> was a bug with C2 and our Windows file server where it kept  
> prompting for 'missing' parts that were actually there.  I just  
> haven't had time to test it out since we upgraded to C7...
>
> You didn't mention what you are using for page-layout software..
>
> Hope this helps,
>
> -- 
>
> chris denesha
> Advertising & Telephone Systems Support, IT
> The Day Publishing Company
> (860)701-4485; OR (800)542-3354, X4485
> c.denesha at theday dot com - Work email
> chris-list at denesha dot org - List email
>
> kappmactech at comcast.net
>
>