We Can't Wait for JDF

Before I rant, a qualification. Besides being a computer systems integration company providing digital prepress solutions, Blanched Systems is a shareholder in Dalim Software, a member of CIP4, the organization behind the JDF. In fact, Dalim Software CTO Jacques Thiebauld sits on the CIP4 advisory board. We at Blanchard Systems understand JDF. We believe in JDF. And we can't wait until the entire industry is connected. But that's the point. We can't wait. The promise of JDF is significant. It will allow disparate tools, such as design software, preflighting, and order entry, to work together. From when a photographer snaps a photo, through editorial copy, printing, and shipping, data about project specifications and the manufacturing process will pass through JDF-driven hardware and software. People in the middle won't have to reinvent job data every time. JDF will automate many prepress and printing processes. So what's the problem? It's going to take time. This is a complex structure. There's a lot of design, prepress, print, postpress, and shipping operations to be coordinated. We have to wait until everyone on the JDF standards committee agrees on a complete working system, and vendors buy into the process. It means upgrading all of our systems. Even for larger, prepared companies, the massive upgrade, one step at a time, will require patience. My recommendation: Buy a system that's broader than JDF; a system that has flexibility to read and react to different forms of data, including but not limited to JDF. JDF represents the future of the industry, and has tremendous promise for integrating disparate systems. But why wait? There are flexible systems that provide valuable integrated communications advantages right now, today, this second. These integrated automated workflow systems are saving our customers money every day. Add intelligence to these systems, and you score even larger savings. Using database technology, we can eliminate human intervention of redundant, error-prone data entry. There are already databases, applications, and systems that can process metadata and job ticket data, and return information about what's happened. For example, we can link Dalim Software's products, and other workflow and MIS systems, to sites that operate DALiM TWiST, a digital workflow solution. These systems can exchange metadata that exists in many forms; from a simple text document to an Excel spreadsheet, or a filename, or an XML file, or a direct connection to some database. For example, using a preset convention, the filename 1234TP could tell the workflow that a file requires trapping and proofing, with specs pulled from job 1234's database record for preflighting metadata. This metadata can build dynamic workflows, based upon job specifications, telling workflow engines what to do. DALiM PRiNTEMPO, a browser-based printing system, uses JDF today for automating impositions, but it also uses metadata to dynamically set workflow parameters and settings. Any authorized worker with Internet access can get a clear 'status view' of each job, pages, and impositions, all within a simple Web-browser-based interface. PRiNTEMPO can also automate the production of imposed pages, fitting each into an imposed flat, without user intervention. Pages can be positioned by naming convention or page number. PRiNTEMPO interacts with printing management systems to create a job structure without re-entering data. This includes common functions such as preflighting, ripping, trapping, proofing, and imposition. There are substantial benefits to publishers who use these tools. Using DALiM MiSTRAL, a JDF-compliant e-submission interface and print production management system, a magazine publisher can tie data into a workflow solution that accesses a common database with ad specifications. Along with a Web interface, this allows advertisers to submit ads and proof them automatically with DALiM DiALOGUE, a collaborative remote Web viewing and soft proofing system. Selecting 'Approve' delivers ad files and metadata to the workflow. The ad is ready for placement. The same tools that will provide the JDF's benefits in the future can deliver many of these benefits today. Why wait?- Charles BlanchardCharles Blanchard is president and CEO of Blanchard Systems. He can be reached at Charles@BlanSys.com.

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We Can't Wait for JDF

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