Print
Solutions March 2006
Cover
story
Reality
Check, continued
Web-to-Print
Finding
the Right Port of Entry
Allied
Printing Resources designs and
modifies a web-to-print solution
for the New York and New Jersey
Port Authority.
By
LaShell Stratton
The
Port Authority of New York and
New Jersey includes an immense
network of bridges, tunnels, bus
terminals, seaports and airports
sprinkled as far south as the
Outerbridge Crossing between New
Jersey and Staten Island and as
far north as the George Washington
Bridge. Since 2001, Allied Printing
Resources has served as a one-stop
shop for all the Port Authority’s
letterhead, envelopes and business
cards, thanks to a customized
web-to-print site powered by NowAllied.com.
“All
of this was contractual,”
says Jeffery Miller, vice president
of sales at the Carlstadt, N.J.-based
manufacturer that provides offset
printing services. Miller says
that the requirements of winning
such a large contract were that
the bidding company “had
to give them a web-based solution
and you had to be competitive.”
The
contract with the Port Authority
ran smoothly for several years,
but in 2005 Port Authority officials
came to Allied Printing Resources
with a request that required the
manufacturer to make modifications
to its software to better fit
the client’s needs. Miller
says most of the request had to
do with the Port Authority’s
desire to simplify the print ordering
process and have more oversight
of print billing. The changes
required Allied to modify log-in
procedures for users but “this
was fairly complicated because
the code for this had not been
written,” Miller says. The
entire project would take roughly
six months to complete.
The
NowAllied.com sites allow for
flexible billing options depending
on the end user’s system.
Some clients chose to bill by
credit card; others, like the
Port Authority, enter a cost-center
code to track their billing. Prior
to the changes made to Allied’s
web-to-print software, the Port
Authority had nearly 300 cost
centers with unique log-in names
and passwords. “They said
it was all too hard to remember,”
Miller says.
The
Port Authority wanted to simplify
the process with a central log-in
that allowed one user to access
all cost centers but still maintain
the compliance measures of the
older software version. “For
each one of the cost centers there
is a unique approver,” Miller
says. “The approver receives
an email that alerts them of the
impending transaction and asks
them to approve it or decline
it. There are different compliance
levels for different cost centers.”
The
changes allowed the Port Authority
to better monitor print orders
placed by employees. “The
trick is not just having people
log-in, but tracking them through
the system,” says Christopher
Royer, Allied Printing Resources
vice president of operations.
LaShell
Stratton is assistant editor at
Print Solutions magazine. Email
her your comments at lstratton@PSDA.org.
Tips
•
Steer end users down the road
of least resistance. Although
clients may seem to know what
they want, don’t hesitate
to give them advice about their
web-to-print needs and what options
may be best for them. You’ve
been doing it longer and know
the process.
•
Be careful of offering too much
customization (remember the bottom
line). Every company is unique,
says Jeffery Miller, vice president
of sales at Allied Printing Resources.
“As much as you try to generalize
your site so that you offer the
maximum amount of products and
services, there will be a company
that comes along that wants something
different,” he says. “Everyone’s
process is different. Some want
compliance, some don’t.
Some really don’t care.
The trick is to try to solve all
these companies’ nuances
without overdoing customization
and killing yourself financially.”
•
Make sure everything is documented.
Christopher Royer, Allied Printing
Resources vice president of operations,
advises companies that offer web-to-print
capabilities to carefully document
what services and products will
be customized. Update the documentation
as customer requirements shift
and evolve. When the project is
done, it should match your documentation
on customer expectations about
features and pricing.
The
Back Story of NowAllied.com
Allied
Envelope Company began in 1932
as a New York-area envelope printer.
But Jeffery Miller, vice president
of sales, says Allied Printing
Resources, as it is now called,
began developing its web-to-print
technology in 1996. The first
incarnation of NowAllied.com,
called NowPrinting.com, was created
with e-commerce solutions in mind.
“We came on the stage back
during the internet boom,”
Miller says.
The
New Jersey manufacturer partnered
with a high-tech company to offer
print solutions over the internet.
“We wanted to build software
that could enable us to sell printing
to customers over the web,”
he says.
Though
Allied has one IT specialist on
staff to help maintain the web-to-print
sites, the company still outsources
the rest of its web-related software
and hardware needs to Corsis Technology,
based in New York City. Corsis
created NowAllied.com’s
e-procurement system using Mac
OS X, Java server pages, JAVA
2D, XML and Postgre SQL technologies.
Corsis still writes much of the
code for the sites and hosts Allied’s
two servers.
But
Chris Royer, vice president of
operations, says though Allied
may outsource its technical work,
all of the orders over NowAllied.com
are printed in-house. “We’re
actually doing all of it ourselves,”
said Royer says. “We have
about 30 pieces of equipment on
the floor.”
Over
time, Allied’s web-to-print
capabilities attracted a diverse
client list, including the City
of Philadelphia, Mass Mutual
Financial Group, and the HMO
Health Plus. “They all
use it for different purposes.
Some use it just for envelopes
and others for inventory,”
Miller says. Allied customizes
the appearance of web pages
for each client, “so that
it’s like their intranet,”
he says.
Cover
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