Production workflow

Digital ad delivery had humble beginnings at the ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, which adopted a "Just do it" attitude, according to Kara Gabbert, assistant to the data services director at the 350,000-circulation morning daily on Florida's Gulf Coast.

After acknowledging that sales reps were in the field with little technical expertise, the TIMES decided to integrate digital ad delivery into its workflow. One clear advantage would be in composing, where cutting overtime was an imperative.

Hardware and software standardization was one of the first steps, with the selection of one Macintosh, one SyQuest off-line storage device and two modems. Software included Quark XPress, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator.

At the same time, advertisers were surveyed as to whether they were in a position to send ads digitally or planned to be; what platforms and tools they were using, and which medium they'd prefer, modem or disk.

Operating from an office that bore no name -- as a way to encourage participation companywide -- the project moved into training preparation, with creation of guide sheets for sales people, production and advertisers. How-tos addressed included how to do color, how to collect for output, what parameters to use for transmission and delivery, and most important, how to track documents through the process.

Among the obstacles the TIMES encountered were exchanges with systems from third -party suppliers, whose products could enable advertisers to deliver ads on a later deadline than the TIMES had anticipated, and troublemaking digital images, both color and black and white.

In response, the paper revised guide sheets to include specific standards for Photoshop manipulation of monochrome halftones, and how to use even more ways to deliver data.

The task of updating documentation "never goes away," Gabbert said, which is part of the broader issue of process maintenance. The paper must work to stay on top of knowing about and installing software revisions; staying current with advances in third-party systems, specifically AP AdSEND and B-Linked Inc. of New York, and accommodating new advertisers as they come on-line.

Gabbert said that on her plate now are concerns about paginating with Portable Document Format (PDF) files, using ISDN for delivery, keeping tabs on developments with electronic data interchange, expanding into Internet delivery of files and "training forever."

Now, the TIMES manages the workflow with one person devoted to it and four or five others well-versed in the steps. The library of how-to and guide sheets has been cut to three, including a checklist for first-time senders -- and that first ad "isn't live, please," Gabbert said.

A production of The Cole Group, Copyright (c) 1997, All Rights Reserved.

Last updated: 28 June 1997.

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