Desktop Publishing: Advantages & Challenges

Our Business for 40 Years

“The set of human and material resources, processes, and data streams for formatting, printing, and sending of natively electronic documents to physical or electronic destinations.”

desktop publishing defintion

Pioneer of Desktop Publishing

The desktop publishing chain starts with the reception of data and goes to their final distribution, passing through a set of business stages allowing formatting of the streams.

Indexation

Indexing is defined as the ability to recognize and extract important differentiating information from the flow of information (or spool) in order to provide this information to the entire publishing chain.

In practice, implementing an indexing solution consists of capturing or entering information contained in the document (physically or in the metadata) to “qualify” it. Thus, by setting rules (presence of the word “invoice”, a customer number, and an amount) it can be said that a document will be of such and such a type (in this case “an invoice”).

The ability to define a type of document and extract information has many advantages: better document routing, improved processing speed, information extraction (to allow searches, classification, second processing, etc.), homogenization of documentary production…

Conversion

“Conversion” is the step of conforming the format of the data stream so that it can be recognized and interpreted by software or a printer.

Multiple file formats exist: Office, LibreOffice, OpenOffice office formats, PDF format, business formats, etc… But, on the other hand, printers are not able to understand and interpret all these languages. This is where a conversion step necessarily comes in.

The formats understood by the printers are also numerous and depend on the brand of choice of the manufacturer: AFP, IPDS, PCL, PostScript, PDF, etc. At each print request, and depending on the printer in charge of the print, a conversion must be performed. This is where, in a high-volume professional setting and depending on the fleet of printers, and conversion motor

(Dynamic) Composition

Creation Process

Composition of documents is formatting raw information (names, amounts, labels, images…) in its final form. A tool for creation and enhancement is then essential. It allows a document to reinforce the visual identity of the company and to be so a vector of communication. The composition also allows the addition of personalized messages, and variability in the contents. This is called interactive composition.

Example:

A bank wishes to produce the monthly account statements of Mrs. Martin whose branch office is in Paris 8th. The interactive composition will allow the insertion of the contact details of her bank agency , the opening hours, and also besides her expenses the commercial activities of the bank in progress.

After Composition, Post-composition

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Formatting

This step is defined as all the formatting actions of the document for its final printing.

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Settings

This translates into the possibility to add OMR codes or data matrix, and perform a re-pagination…). This information will be used for the rest of the production chain.

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Tracking & Optimization

Each document entering the production line is traced and a preparatory work of sorting, grouping, and alottment is set up.

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Desktop publishing is a central element, at the very heart of the enterprise, making it possible to streamline exchanges and deliver information to the right recipient as quickly as possible and at the lowest cost.

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Sending Stage

Sorting, Grouping, & Allotment

The sorting, grouping, and allotment (or TRL in French) stage is a real lever for savings in terms of reducing costs and increasing productivity. This step allows you to prepare and optimize the enveloping and sending of postal mail.

By analyzing the data and the documents, this step makes it possible to minimize the number of letters to be sent by grouping letters in the same envelope, thus making it possible to optimize the postage rate. This tariff is also optimized via an industrial preparation stage of the workflow before submission to the post office.

Distribution of Documents

Sending documents either by post (printing, enveloping, and transmitting to the postal service) or electronically: email, FTP, made available on a web portal, an EDM, or electronic safe.

Thanks to Desktop Publishing: We Control the Management of Incoming and Outgoing Document Workflows

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Reduce Costs

Desktop publishing meets the main challenge of reducing the costs of an organization. Long considered an incompressible expense item, the production center is increasingly facing the challenge of reducing its costs while maintaining the same level of productivity.

On the other hand, it becomes the place where ever-increasing tasks are carried out that were previously undertaken by other services: complex printing and small volumes (for instance: contracts, mailings, and various documents…). Whether this processing is carried out internally or entrusted to a third party, this choice is explained in particular by the desire to eliminate local printing (too expensive) and to consolidate postal shipments at decreasing rates.

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Provide Professional Quality Work

Entrusting office tasks to a production center is the assurance of quality work thanks to the use of dedicated business machines allowing an exemplary industrial realization of the user’s wishes.

Place of intelligence, the desktop publishing center adapts to the speeds and requirements of its company (or customer) in order to satisfy the end user as quickly and efficiently as possible while respecting postal constraints ( collection time, weight, number of shipments, optimizing rates, notion of industrial mail, etc…).

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Bringing Together Different Services

A transversal business, desktop publishing affects several departments:

The IT and technical department for its implementation and maintenance
The service of the production center (when the service is managed internally)
The financial service (sending invoices)
The administrative service (sending mail)
The marketing/communication department (sending mailings)

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