Scope software integration needs

Essential elements: The minimum set of capabilities needed to implement a useful Print MIS solution to meet your needs right now
Enhanced requirements: The set of features which would help your business today, but which you will implement after the system is in place and running
Future needs: The capabilities you expect to need in the future as your business grows and changes

Every time someone touches a job adds time, cost, and potential errors and many of those touches occur where disparate systems meet.

Typical examples of this include rekeying data from web-to-print systems, reentering job ticketing into presses or prepress systems, retyping delivery instructions into shipping systems, inputting data into billing systems, and there are many others.

Print MIS systems provide an overarching view of orders and jobs from reception through shipping. Thus, they are in a position to eliminate manual handoffs between islands of automation – but only if they are integrated.

Integration of multi-vendor systems can be challenging, and you should allocate time and resources to make it happen. There are some key questions to ask up front to minimise the required effort – and to ensure that it is even possible.

BI-DIRECTIONAL JDF CERTIFICATION

Job Definition Format (JDF) is the printing industry’s primary integration standard, defined and managed by the CIP4 standards organisation. Be sure that your Print MIS selection is JDF certified and be sure that it handles bi-directional integration. Your Print MIS solution needs to be able to accept information from external systems and to send data to them to truly be integrated.

INTEGRATION EXPERIENCE

Ask each vendor for a list of the software with which they have integration experience. Sometimes vendors have software wizards, or prewritten XML files to map data fields and to speed the integration process. Even if they don’t, a vendor with experience integrating their offering with the products in your shop will speed the process and reduce cost and frustration.