Higher performance and greater flexibility for multichannel publishing, paired with standard third-party system integration

The new version 6.4 R2 of the Cross-Media Publishing Platform vjoon K4 is out now and ready to boost workflow productivity and efficiency. Its highlights include enhanced multichannel publishing capabilities and standard third-party system integration. To this end, its extensive feature set has been extended with some key components. The company has also added some functions available in version 5.9 but not in version 6, thereby achieving feature parity. “In keeping with the strategy behind the Unified Publishing Process, we are taming the growing complexity in publishing by simplifying management processes. Automated routines, the ability to integrate and manage sub-processes, and standards streamline the workflow, enable lean publishing, and save time and money,” says Andreas Schrader, CEO of vjoon®.

Flexible license administration, optimized multichannel publishing, and feature parity

License pools stand out among the extended feature set’s many highlights. These pools make it much easier for printing service providers and advertising agencies to manage their vjoon K4 licenses. They can group and assign individual licenses to certain publications or customers to ensure enough licenses available for every project. All customers, outside service providers such as translators and proofreaders, and in-house staff are afforded the necessary access to vjoon K4. And, as a fringe benefit of this ability to allocate licenses to several customers, users enjoy real client capability.

New automated workflows for multichannel publishing perform routine tasks, which lightens users’ workload and brings even more order and consistency to the process. Print, tablet and Web editions are usually produced at different times. If, for example, the print and tablet editions are to appear on the same day, editors can devote more time to the digital edition. It does not need to be printed so the deadline can be pushed back accordingly. The Web edition is not subject to any deadline because it is updated on the fly. The new version 6.4 of vjoon K4 allows editions to be released automatically and independently for every channel. Editors can configure and customize time schedules so that the system automatically replaces the previous issue with the latest issue or leaves the current issue in place, for example, for the Web channel.

Alongside these and many more new features, version 6.4 R2 also comes with the few functions the previous release had lacked, thereby achieving feature parity with version 5.9. One example is K4 Captions & Credits™, which automatically generates captions and credits based on metadata and templates. Users of the older version benefit in many ways by stepping up to version 6: Managing processes, databases, Adobe® InDesign® Servers, and licences is an exercise in convenience with this release’s flexible software architecture and ergonomic admin panel. Beyond that, its feature set has been extended with a host of powerful functions, including some familiar features from version 5.9 that have been further optimized to make teamwork even easier and more productive.

Standard third-party systems integration

The new version of vjoon K4 also offers an ingenious standardized approach to networking publishing environments and integrating third-party systems. The Unified Publishing Process calls for end-to-end process control. In keeping with this philosophy, vjoon K4 can now be used to automate and control subordinate processes on integrated systems. The entire workflow is organized in vjoon K4: The Cross-Media Publishing Platform determines when content is to be diverted to outside systems. It then hands over the files, retrieves them after processing, and routes their content back into the main workflow. This smooth interaction among components has been optimized in vjoon K4. The new K4 External Task Dispatcher™ (K4 XTD™) allows third-party solutions such as translation management systems and systems for image analyzing/optimization to be integrated and controlled via process-driven mechanisms. K4 Drop Folders™ automate file importing from one or several ‘drop’ folders. The respective data may be imported directly from the folders or sourced from an asset management system. K4 XTD, K4 Captions & Credits, K4 Drop Folders, and K4 XML Exporter™ can be used collectively to automate entire image workflows. What’s more, K4 Object Rules™ adapt layouts to comply with the rules of external page planning systems. This means an editor can actually amend previous plans in an external planning system while a graphic artist works concurrently on the layouts affected by these changes. K4 Object Rules define the placement of objects (pictures, ads, and audio/video objects) and can constrain the right to select the issue, section, status, or assignment.

Adobe DPS and vjoon K4 have been deeply integrated since June 2010, and version 6.4 R2 takes this to another level. The publishing platform has also been interfaced with several other globally leading systems such as JournalDesigner, the planning system from dataplan, and the Web content management system Drupal. Interconnections such as these follow the philosophy of the Unified Publishing Process. vjoon continues to apply these standards to the entire integrated publishing environment.

Even better client-server communication and parallel processing with InDesign Servers

Several of vjoon K4’s performance benchmarks have improved markedly with the new version. For example, editors and layout people benefit from even quicker responses to complex queries and faster access time when working in a browser.

Now several InDesign Servers can process multiple tasks in parallel to further enhance performance. When last-minute changes were made in the past, each new preview image was computed sequentially. Now any number of InDesign Servers can run simultaneously to compute such images in parallel. This is a tremendous advantage when the pressure is on and the deadline is approaching fast.

For further information please see www.vjoon.com.