IOWA CITY, Iowa - September 12, 2006 - Today MetaCommunications, a leading developer of software management solutions for the graphic arts industry, announced the immediate availability of Approval Manager 1.0, a new cross platform workflow product for managing proof approvals in marketing, creative, and production environments. Approval Manager is a unique new software solution designed to provide approval workflow management for leading digital proofing technologies, including Adobe Acrobat (Professional, Standard, and Reader versions), Kodak RealTimeProof Partner, Microsoft Word, and others. Inspired by customer demand and designed with the recommendations of an industry advisory panel, Approval Manager masters the inherent difficulty of managing, tracking and scheduling the approval processes within and across organizations or departments. Although digital proofing technologies have been available for several years, the workflow management necessary to drive a digital proof through an often complex approval process has been notably absent - causing many organizations to struggle in obtaining the efficiency gains thought possible with digital proofing. With Approval Manager, traditional difficulties involved with keeping an approval process consisting of multiple rounds, multiple reviewers, and tight deadlines on track are simplified and automated. Approval Manager provides a user friendly web based interface (Mac OS X and Windows) for setting up and planning proofing stages, and for managing proofing rounds, reviewers, and schedules. Approval Manager manages the complex cyclical workflows involved in the creative process chain. These workflows may include proofing iterations between designers, creative directors, legal teams, brand & product managers, merchandisers, marketing, prepress and external customers. "Approval Manager adds workflow to today’s digital proofing technologies, providing customers with the means to leverage that technology and bring about unprecedented savings in time and improved process control throughout an entire organization," says Robert Long, Executive Vice President of MetaCommunications. KEY FEATURES Planning and Scheduling - Support for stage plans and digital proof rounds - Proof planning and templating - Proof, stage, and round scheduling Workflow - Linear, parallel and cyclic workflow support - Event driven email notifications and reminders Interface - Dashboard view based on manager, production, and reviewer roles - File comments, round comments, and annotations stored in database - Visual queues for status, schedule prediction, and management - User groups/teams supported for internal and external users - Web browser based interface Technology - Built on .Net technologies with Microsoft SQL Server support - Integrates Adobe Acrobat, Kodak RealTimeProof Partner, Microsoft Word, and other native proofing technologies. - Integration with Workgroups 2006 suite Download a high-resolution screen shot of Approval Manager’s Dashboard window: http://www.meta-comm.com/news/releases/060912/approval_manager.png WORKGROUPS(TM) 2006 SUITE Approval Manager 1.0 is being released simultaneously with the MetaCommunications Workgroups 2006 suite (see press release at http://www.meta-comm.com/news/releases/060912/workgroups.htm ). Approval Manager is fully integrated with the Workgroups 2006 suite and may be used as a standalone system or in conjunction with Workgroups 2006. All information is universally available and a standalone Approval Manager solution may be converted to the Workgroups 2006 suite at anytime. ADVISORY PANEL Approval Manager was developed with the recommendations of industry experts from leading organizations. Many of these panelists participated by contributing their expertise in shaping this new technology to fulfill an unmet need in the industry. Panelists include participants from the following organizations: - American College of Physicians - Allstate Insurance - Canon Communications - Carson Pirie Scott - Corporate Express - Federated Design Group - H&S Graphics - Montage Media - NEC 360 - Paramount Graphics - Southern Graphic Systems - Time, Inc. - Tru Art Color Graphics - Wellington Management PRICING & AVAILABILITY Approval Manager 1.0 is available immediately and is priced affordably with complete systems starting at $3995. MetaCommunications products are available from authorized resellers, system integrators, distributors and OEM partners. MetaCommunications will be providing the first public exhibition and demonstrations of Approval Manager and the Workgroups 2006 suite at Graph Expo ’06. For more information, call 319-337-8599 or e-mail [email protected].