K4 Integrator Managing Editor Inc. (MEI) has succesfully implemented the vjoon K4 Publishing System at the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies. The educational retreat center has already used the popular workflow management solution integrating Adobe InDesign and InCopy to produce two of its seasonal course catalogs and to handle content for its Web site, eomega.org, realizing immediate time and cost savings. Most recently, Omega used the system to produce its 144-page 2009 Summer Catalog, a full-sized book that has already been sent to the organization’s mailing list. The catalog has a print circulation of about 480,000. Omega published its first K4-managed piece, a 26-page brochure detailing its winter curriculum, during its K4 pilot phase in 2008.

Founded in 1977, Omega Institute for Holistic Studies provides educational programs focused on wellness and personal growth. A nonprofit organization, Omega Institute offers more than 350 workshops annually, which are designed to “inspire an integrated approach to personal and social change,” according to its Web site. With headquarters in Rhinebeck, N.Y., and special workshops, conferences and retreats in locations around the world, Omega draws more than 23,000 people every year to its classes. In addition to its major catalog for its summer session, Omega sends out several smaller catalogs every year.

The K4 setup at Omega Institute
Omega Institute’s K4 setup has about 20 users. The Institute also purchased the K4 XML Exporter for repurposing its print content for its Web site, as well as K4 Web Editor for quick, simple, Web-based text editing and proofing. Additionally, Omega Web staff worked with interactive marketing services firm MEA Digital to manage its XSL development and establish an efficient workflow for using K4-managed content online.

Before installing K4, Omega publishing staff collaborated primarily via e-mail, sending documents back and forth for editing and review without any central repository for maintaining the data. The editorial team would wait for content and scheduling information to trickle in from instructors and other sources; meanwhile, the design department could not begin its work until all the information on a page was ready.

Under Omega’s old workflow, once pages were laid out and ready for final proofing, hard copies would be printed, distributed and marked up for editing. When content was ready to be pushed online, Web staff would spend four to five weeks cutting and pasting materials to be formatted for the organization’s Web site.

Time savings thanks to automized XML export process
Since implementing K4, Omega has created a new, streamlined workflow that has already helped cut production time and materials. The system’s powerful database capabilities have allowed staff to collaborate much more easily. Designers can start working on pages before all the print content is available, while editors simultaneously add more text as they receive it. Electronic content management makes it easier for staff to circulate proofs, utilizing PDFs to share and make notes on pages instead of paper printouts. And thanks to the new automated XML export process, Omega was able to repurpose its summer print catalog for eomega.org in about a quarter of the time it took previously.

“By using K4, we developed a clearer understanding of our workflow. It has helped us organize a tremendous amount of data and has streamlined the way various groups in our organization — Web, editorial, design, programming — work together,” said Jennifer Brown, editorial manager at Omega Institute. “The time savings were immediately apparent. We’re very appreciative.”

Omega staff plans to use K4 to expand online-only content for its Web site, where there aren’t as many space constraints as in the printed pieces — providing extended biographies of its instructors, for example. While Omega previously had no system for managing such content, staff can now use K4 as the “vault” where it maintains all of its extra data, and can standardize on InCopy and K4 Web Editor for authoring and editing.

For MEI, Omega Institute is an exciting addition to the K4 community, representing a different market that can benefit from streamlined electronic publishing. “This installation illustrates how K4 isn’t just a publishing system for magazines and newsrooms,” said Linda Bruce, vice president of enterprise sales at MEI. “It’s a powerful workflow and content management solution for any organization that needs to publish important data, for print, Web or both.”