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Solutions May 2005
Case Study
A
One-Stop Shop For Efficiency, Services
Imagine
collecting 1,000 scientific papers,
distributing each one to four
people to review, collecting their
feedback and then publishing the
papers. Automated Graphic Systems
Inc. (AGS) faces this challenge
each year when it coordinates
materials for one of its biggest
client's annual conference.
At
the week-long conference, scientific
authors from around the globe
present 1,000 technical papers
to more than 3,000 peers. Before
joining forces with AGS four years
ago, the conference administrator
coordinated the paper evaluations
and dissemination alone and manually—a
tedious and cumbersome process.
"The author sent a physical
disk and then four sets of hard
copies of the paper," says
Jason Byrnes, a sales representative
at AGS, White Plains, Md. "And
then the hard copies would be
mailed to the reviewers, and back
to the author if there were any
changes. The process was very
slow and difficult to coordinate.
The disks would come in different
formats, so that was hard to standardize."
AGS
suggested the organization use
its proprietary product, Total
Meeting Organization System (TMO).
"The system collects the
papers online and instantly converts
them to PDF," Byrnes says.
"Then the author proofreads
the PDF and agrees to submitting
a copyright-release form. This
goes into a database where reviewers
can comment on the papers and
the administrator can review the
papers' status."
TMO
accepts seven types of files,
including Microsoft® Word
and Excel documents. If an author
finds errors in the paper after
it's converted to PDF, he
or she can make corrections to
the original file and upload it
again, writing over the original
document and creating a new, corrected
PDF. "Authors doing their
own proofreading saves months
off the whole cycle," Byrnes
says. "I'm sure any
printer would tell you what a
nightmare it would be to get 1,000
different Word files and have
to do something with them."
TMO
is one of the several services
AGS provides to the organization
for the event. For the 2004 conference,
it supplied logos, magazine advertisements,
a 64-page advance program, three
variable-data post cards, a mini
CD-ROM with packaging and disk
face, a 96-page final program,
and book covers for three volumes
of conference proceedings.
Founded
in 1975, AGS is divided into five
business segments:
1- and 2-color printing; electronic
products (CD-ROM and internet);
composition and design; sheet-fed
commercial printing; and digital
printing. When new employees begin,
they're trained in every
department, which makes working
on various components of a project
easier for those involved. "I
think that's the main ingredient
in linking everybody together—that
everyone has experience in each
of these departments," Byrnes
says. "And from working
together, you can build these
[client] relationships."
Location
also is key to successfully providing
a variety of products for a conference
that moves to a different major
city every year. "That's
really where the national footprint
of Consolidated Graphics can come
in," Byrnes says, referring
to the company's 70 U.S.
divisions. "For instance,
if a client's having a conference
in San Diego and needs conference
materials in four days, we can
print them out there at one of
our facilities and get it done
on time and save all the overnight
shipping charges."
AGS
also can penetrate accounts such
as this one because it has been
working almost exclusively with
associations and non-profits since
its inception as a database composition
house 30 years ago. The company
has leveraged that experience
to provide innovative yet consistently
branded graphics for the conference
for the last four years. "AGS
has provided us with a unique
opportunity to produce our conference
proceedings with one vendor who
understands and manages the entire
project on our behalf,"
the conference administrator says.
"The integration and one-stop
shopping offered by AGS makes
my job as a conference administrator
that much easier."
—Sarah
Whitman
TIPS
Jason
Byrnes, sales representative at
White Plains, Md.-based Automated
Graphic Systems Inc., offers the
following tips for working on
a project with multiple products
and services.
1. Don't get overwhelmed.
Take
each piece one by one. Consider
all the departments that will
need to coordinate and schedule
the details, then move on to the
next component.
2. Make sure everyone is
talking.
Various departments will be working
on different parts of the same
project and schedules depend on
each piece being done right and
on time. Keep in regular touch
with all the departments. Include
everyone involved on email, and
make sure they include you.
3. Make sure the customer knows
what you're doing.
The customer
is often not needed until you
have a question or there's
a roadblock. Remember to update
the customer on projects that
are going smoothly. Remind the
customer when they will be needed
for proofing or reviewing.
4. Maintain a schedule.
Review the
schedule with your customer personally
and more than once, and review
the schedule with your company's
internal departments.
"I'm
sure any printer would tell you
what a nightmare it would be to
get 1,000 different Word files
and have to do something with
them."
Jason
Byrnes, Sales Representative
Automated
Graphic Systems Inc., White Plains,
Md.
