Automated Ghent WorkGroup ad ticket verification

 

 

The problem

  • Magazine and newspaper publishers receive hundreds of ads every day from a variety of sources
  • When an ad is received, size, bleed and color usage need to be checked to ensure that the ad matches the placement purchased as well as the production requirements for that ad
  • This is often a manual process where a trained operator needs to review the file submitted for accuracy against the booking system

 

The Switch solution

 

The Ghent PDF Workgroup (GWG) is an international organization made up of graphic arts users, associations & developers building best practices for publishing workflows. The GWG has created a standard for including advertisement metadata with a PDF file. That standard is named the GWG Ad Ticket.

Switch, along with Enfocus PitStop Server, can eliminate the manual review process by:

  • Using the Ad Ticket information to automatically direct files to the right process and check them against the specifications to ensure they are correct
  • Publishers who have not adopted the GWG Ad Ticket format can also get the same benefits from Switch by linking with their current ad booking system through database integration or custom XML job tickets

 

 Benefits

  • Operators don't need to review every file, freeing up time for more demanding work & customer service
  • Fewer errors by ensuring consistency through a standardized process
  • Faster turnaround time by moving files immediately to the right place
  • Improved communication by alerting operators when jobs are ready or problems are detected

 

 

Flow elements and modules used for this case 

 

Receiving ads with ad ticket data

GWG Ad Ticket data is stored as XMP data along with the PDF ad file. This data can come from an ad booking systemwebsite portal, or in the case of our sample flow, a SwitchClient Submit point.

Presorting jobs

Once the ads are submitted

  • The Ad Ticket data is used to route the job to the right process
  • If the job is defined as Black and White, or Full Color, the ads are sorted and directly submitted to PitStop Server for Smart Preflight & Correction
  • If the ad is marked as a spot color job, it is sent to a Switch Checkpoint where an operator is alerted and he can determine if the job is really a spot color ad or if it should be converted to a four-color job
  • If the spot color ad is to be converted to four-color, it is automatically sent to PitStop Server for the color conversion

 

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