Quinnipiac University, University of Missouri, Villanova University and Others Now Offering On-line Print Services Tailored to the University Setting ATLANTA---April 12, 2002-- T/R SYSTEMS, INC., a leader in developing innovative solutions for the management and production of digital documents, recognized today the strong contribution that colleges and universities had in developing the feature set for its recently introduced Digital StoreFront, a fully automated server/software solution that simplifies print job submission, proofing, and quoting over the Internet. These remarks were made at the Association of College and University Printers (ACUP) annual conference. "T/R Systems is proud of its tradition of customer-focused product development," said Neal Tompkins, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, T/R Systems. "Yet the positive impact of college and university printer input on the feature set of this product is unprecedented. The result is that Digital StoreFront is today a stronger and more vibrant product thanks to the time, energy, and keen insights of print departments serving the needs of faculty, administration and students. I believe this has been a development effort that will be remembered for its long-term benefits. It should serve as a model of product and feature development for the academic print-facility market." The Digital StoreFront site at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, was the first customized university site. To keep a consistent look and feel for Quinnipiac, their Digital StoreFront site was designed with a graphical user interface that was identical to the school's Web and intranet pages - providing a seamless experience for customers. Another result of this effort is a new feature called the Front Counter interface. Using the Front Counter interface, Quinnipiac's customers can submit documents in hard copy or diskette for processing. The Front Counter interface stores transactions in the Digital StoreFront database, which offers the print center significant operational benefits. "To be able to provide exactly what our customers need is very important to us," said Peter DiDomenico, Manager of Preprinted Matter Processing for Quinnipiac University. "Digital StoreFront allows us to maintain a single database for all orders, while providing services for those who may not be able to submit documents electronically." The University of Missouri's Printing Services had already designed an Internet-based storefront site for faculty, staff and students to submit documents. However, the prospect of developing and maintaining the site while implementing a campus wide digital conversion didn't make sense from a financial or support standpoint. The University of Missouri and T/R Systems' personnel customized Digital StoreFront to accurately mirror the Printing Service's workflow. The University of Missouri's Digital StoreFront offers automation capabilities that reduce and simplify the production cycle for digital documents. Employee intervention is unnecessary for document conversion, the creation of online proofs, issuing job tickets or updating job status information. "We couldn't expect our in-house technology to grow and innovate as rapidly as that of a company that is dedicated to printing and document technology," said Heath Cajandig, Digital Production Manager at the University of Missouri. "Working with T/R Systems on this project gave us a solution that allowed us to focus on what we know best, our customers and employees, while T/R Systems handled the workflow and technical issues." Villanova University's print center has a high volume of students that utilize its services. To satisfy its needs, their Digital StoreFront needed to be easily accessible by students. Villanova University and T/R Systems' effort led to the development of a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) integration feature for authentication. This allows anyone with an authorized university email address to have immediate access to the site, and allows students to charge any printing services to their university identification cards. In addition, Villanova University decided to offer business card ordering through Digital StoreFront. Now, customers can easily order business cards in several design styles and submit their order in the same way they would any other document. "One of the things that most impressed us was T/R Systems' approach to product development consulting," said Michael George, Director of Graphic Services. "Using our business rules, T/R Systems' Professional Services Department worked with our printing department, our IT department and students to analyze our workflow and customer needs and then build a product that uniquely supported us. Digital StoreFront is that flexible; from the basic product, new and important features can be added." Digital StoreFront is a customizable print center-branded server/software solution that print providers own, host and control. The business rules-based model allows service providers to modify their storefront as needed, and print center hosting ensures the confidentiality of customer information. Since Digital StoreFront is not based on an Application Service Provider (ASP) system, there are no hosting or transaction fees. As new features are developed, they are added to Digital StoreFront and offered as standard features or add-on modules. For more information on Digital StoreFront, contact Mike Knight, Vice President, Professional Services, T/R Systems; Phone: 888-487-7462; email: [email protected] or contact your local T/R Systems sales representative.