CHICAGO, Nov. 10 -- R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company today announced a major new release of MediaCompass(TM) from RR Donnelley Premedia Technologies. MediaCompass is a suite of online collaborative workflow and digital asset management tools that allows customers to gain greater quality, consistency and control in their marketing, advertising and publishing efforts. Significant new capabilities have been added in order to improve user efficiency and effectiveness, including an all-new streamlined and integrated user interface. Other improvements include new workflow tools, language localization, workgroup enhancements and better integration with the production desktop. These new capabilities work together to further enable distributed workflow solutions for RR Donnelley Premedia Technologies customers. The new MediaCompass user interface was designed with efficiency in mind and enables the user to unleash the power of multiple MediaCompass applications from a single login. Common functions can be performed with fewer steps, users and groups have more power to customize their workspace, and users can interact with the tools in multiple languages. "Our new user interface toolkit allows us to create completely customized user experiences for workgroups," said Grant Miller, Senior Vice President of Product Planning and Development for RR Donnelley Premedia Technologies. "We can change the look and feel, hide or reveal specific features, localize for foreign languages and otherwise customize the tool for the specific needs of the customer." MediaCompass also delivers powerful tools for users to self-administer their own workflows with minimal support requirements. File locking, check-in check-out capabilities and a customizable upload tool combine to make MediaCompass an even more comprehensive workflow tool. Internet users in geographically disparate workgroups can now better manage the process of editing and revising content online in a controlled and trackable permissions- based sharing environment. "We recognize the challenges our customers face trying to manage ever more diverse and distributed production teams," said Mary Lee Schneider, President of RR Donnelley Premedia Technologies. "The new MediaCompass is now even better equipped to be the lynchpin of these workflows." In addition, users benefit from new desktop integration tools, including a new option to view MediaCompass content as a virtual "server" available on the desktop. Users can interact with their content the way they would with a local volume, even dragging and dropping content into common graphic arts applications without a web browser. "This new release demonstrates our continuing commitment to improving the premedia workflows of our customers in ways that drive efficiencies within their own environment," added Miller. "It also shows the fruits of our close collaboration with customers in the process of imagining and developing the next generation of tools to help them succeed in their businesses. The enhancements to MediaCompass 3.0 are the direct result of listening carefully to users across all segments." As RR Donnelley's comprehensive suite of integrated online asset management, workflow and collaboration tools, MediaCompass includes the following proprietary tools: Image Merchant(TM) for digital asset management. -- ShareStream(TM), for SWOP-certified soft-proofing, document routing and approval DemandSelect(SM) for dynamic publishing -- AdSpring(TM) for ad-placement and management workflow -- Photo-flow and StudioStream for remote photography approval and proofing tools.