Approval Manager 2011 Product Analysis

CONTENTS
Executive Summary Introduction Proofing workflows Approval Manager 2011; what it is Workflow functionality Proofer support Revision support and audit trail Scheduling Conclusion 1 2 3 5 6 8 10 10 11

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Executive Summary
Online proofing is an evolution of traditional print proofing. It encompasses review and approval jobs and uses tools which workgroups can complete a proofing project with. These tools are accessed through a web browser with an interface that is designed to make proofing more streamlined and efficient. Online proofing can be done with desktop software such as Adobe Acrobat, but with these applications a considerable risk of losing oversight of the process exists. Most vendors of online proofing systems therefore have developed systems that can be used efficiently by workgroups without losing track of the process. However, most of these systems are only efficient when small workgroups collaborate because of the lack of solid workflow functionality. Few support deadlines, although these are essential to any proofing system that needs to fit in a publishing workflow. Additionally, these systems are almost exclusively dedicated to marketing content proofing. The Approval Manager 2011 online proofing system we tested for this report is an exception to the rule. This system does support deadlines through scheduling capabilities. It supports pushing jobs to the reviewers by e-mail, and it supports a number of proofers that extend well beyond traditional content for example, Approval Manager 2011 can be used to proof prototyping software design. Finally, this system is the only one that scales well, as it can also be upgraded to a fullscale publishing system, Workgroups 2011.

Introduction
Traditionally, proofing has been limited to a print-centric, colour-focused replacement for contract proofing. Outside of printing processes, however, it can refer to a collaboration process that runs during the conceptual phase of a creative project. Proofing in that sense equals the review and approval of creative projects and is a business critical process. Creative content encompasses a large array of file formats and media types, including documents, images, presentations, video clips, interactive content, web content, etc. The need for and importance of proofing can vary depending on the market, the volume of content and the number of people involved in the process. Online proofing is a relatively new market of review and approval tools that are available to workgroups. These tools are accessed through a web browser with an interface that is designed to make proofing more streamlined and efficient. The market is driven by very different companies in the pharmaceutical, healthcare, publishing, retail, financial, and other markets. Users of online proofing include:
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Graphic designers Photographers Freelance writers Copywriters Software designers Lawyers and legal departments

Those who are involved with the management of the process include:
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Marketing managers Product managers Technical editors Compliance officers

Online proofing enables a more efficient, controllable and audit enabled workflow. If many people are involved with the approval process, if time is a critical factor, or when a high volume of content must be approved on a regular basis, online proofing is by far the only technology that can cope. In markets that are heavily regulated such as healthcare, pharmaceutical and financial markets, online proofing is the only solution that can provide for the necessary audit trails. Industries that use one form of proofing or another include engineering, healthcare, architecture, film making, photography, mapping and geospatial, software development, legal, marketing and advertising, packaging and print. 2

Proofing workflows
There are two basic online proofing workflows:
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A designer or account manager shares a proof with a single group of reviewers who review, annotate, and approve. An initial group of reviewers iterating revisions until they agree on a version they can share with one or more editors who approve.

The most common workflow includes a designer and perhaps an account or project manager, and a client. Sometimes content is reviewed and approved in stages. Often, one or more rounds of internal previews happen before the person or team responsible for approving the content even sees the first proof. This is common in healthcare and financial services, so that the marketing department can produce near final content before sending to technical or compliance staff for approval. Some online proofing tools allow for proofing multiple file formats, including PDF, Flash,

MPEG, MS Word, and other files. A number of these tools also support more interactive file formats such as HTML , animation files, and video clips. Most of these tools, however, are based on a static file format like PDF for reviewing purposes. Except for the fact that Adobe has its own proofing system built into Adobe Acrobat, PDF is not a system. It is a specification evolved from EPS. It was not designed as a team collaboration, proofing and annotation solution. PDF is all about print. It does not incorporate a robust system for workflow, notification, approval, and project management.

Like MS Office products, Acrobat/PDF was designed as a single user shrink-wrapped product. In order to be useful, an online proofing tool needs to be built around concepts of project management and job management. To use Acrobat PDF for annotations, you must also install a version of Acrobat that supports it. Every member of the team that wants to prove and collaborate must have the correct version at every location she wants to workoffice, home, laptop, etc. When proofing using an application like Adobe Acrobat, the workflow needs to be organised outside of the application, creating a risk of fuzzy agreements, and a lack of clarity about responsibilities. Additionally, and perhaps even worse, such point-and-shoot solutions dont support the setting of due dates for proofing stages, which can lead to dragging ones heels when the work load is already considerable. In contrast, a system like Approval Manager 2011 allows managers to easily find the stage at which a proofing job stalls and therefore also the person or group of persons who are responsible. He/she can then take appropriate action, e.g. by re-routing the job to other reviewers with a smaller work load.

A new proofing workflow starts with 2 steps: production and an approval stage (the customer of the project).

Approval Manager 2011; what it is

Publishing and editorial systems both depend on a workflow in which review and approval processes run along pre-defined paths. Approval Manager 2011 is like a publishing systems review and approval mechanism being taken out and packed into a stand-alone module, although far more flexible and easier to use. Approval Manager 2011 is a project management solution that allows project managers to route proofs across multiple stages on a web-based graphical dashboard. They can create and edit workflows or routes on the fly and with a minimum of effort. In addition to its workflow capabilities, Approval Manager 2011 also supports schedule management, where each workflow stage can have its own deadlines. The two types of proofing that were discussed earlier can be managed with Approval Manager 2011. However, due to the flexibility of Approval Manager 2011, a third type of proofing workflow can be initiated with Approval Manager 2011 as well; one where any member of a workgroup or outsider (like freelance contributors) with the right permissions can start a proofing process based on a template a project manager has created. This allows designers, writers, photographers, etc. to ask for approval instead of having to wait until an editor or manager starts a new process. Approval Manager 2011 can also be used as a module of Workgroups 2011, MetaCommunications publishing workflow and collaboration system, which is a hosted modular process automation and management solution. The Approval Manager 2011 dashboard can be fully branded so that external users (such as freelance contributors) and customers get to see your logo and colours instead of the default MetaCommunications branding.

Features lacking in competing products

Approval Manager 2011 is a unique product in the online proofing market as it includes functionality not found elsewhere. The most important capabilities we found competing products to be lacking are:
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Scheduling with due date alerts per stage Automatic synchronisation between external proofers (Acrobat, InDesign/InCopy, etc.) and Approval Manager 2011 Ability to proof exotic files such as Balsamiq Mockups with built-in proofer Workflow features such as scheduling, email notifications, audit trail, etc. Upgrade to a full-scale publishing workflow and collaboration management system available. With its extensive file support and workflow functionality, Approval Manager 2011 is more than a proofing software for marketing content. For example, it can also be used as a prototyping scheduling and ap-

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proval system for software (or web) design and development. This allows an investment in Approval Manager 2011 to return far higher yields than is possible with other solutions.

Workflow functionality
Approval Manager 2011 is web-based; the client lives in a web browser. The user with administrator privileges has access to a dashboard where he can create new proofing workflows using a connected diagram interface. This diagram represents the workflow through which the asset that is to be proofed will be routed. A diagram starts with a production stage in which the user uploads an asset that is to be reviewed and approved. As many review or approval

stages can be set up as necessary. The project manager can send an asset to the next reviewer using business rules. There are three possibilities:
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Manual routing Automatic send to next review stage if approved with changes Automatic send to next stage only if approved without changes

The project manager can also send an asset back to a previous stage. Each stage can further incorporate multiple rounds. At the end of a stage, the manager can force the workflow to start over with a new production, or can complete the workflow himself. All stages of a workflow are represented by interconnected boxes with a name, due date and

time, and a reviewers list. Approval Manager 2011 can also display review rounds in a diagram which shows instantly how many review rounds have finished, how many are still open, and the exact routing (back and forth) the asset has gone through . This is unique to Approval Manager 2011.

Formatted email message generated and sent automatically by Approval Manager 2011.

At each stage change the next reviewer can be notified by email that he has a review job to accomplish. To-do lists as well as to-do list changes can be sent out on a regular basis. Users can be notified immediately upon having taken action, etc. Reviewers or users can be created by the manager on the fly. When a new user is created, he/she will receive an email with a link for automatic login. Once a user is logged in, he/she can check his dashboard for new review assignments, but in general users are invited to participate to a review round or notified there is a review job awaiting them. In other words, users do not have to constantly monitor Approval Manager to find out if they have work assigned to them. The way Approval Manager 2011 works on this level is the same as with any good publishing workflow tool. Less obvious is that Approval Manager also allows each user to start his/her own review process. A user can create his own workflow the same way a manager can, for his own documents. This approach is a little different from what publishing systems usually allow. In most publishing systems, a user enters a file into the system after which it is automatically pulled into the editing and therefore proofing process. This all or nothing approach can have several disadvantages, among which editor work overload may be the most obvious. One result of this all or nothing approach may be that assets that do not require approval e.g. photographs purchased locally from a freelance photographer nevertheless have to be approved explicitly in order to push them 7

down the workflow to the publication production stage, while other assets find their way into publications unnoticed e.g. photographs purchased by a business unit in a country with different legal requirements. With Approval Manager 2011 this problem is largely accounted for as a user who enters his own documents into the system explicitly asks for review and approval, and will normally not do so unless it is required. The argument against this approach that assets might be in risk of being missed this way holds no water as a manager can manually intervene in any stage of the process. When Approval Manager 2011 is upgraded to Workgroups 2011, the entry of assets into the system and the proofing requirements for each of them can further be set on an even more granular level. Managers can also manually intervene while a proofing workflow is running to edit due dates, to add and remove stages, and to change assigned reviewers and producers, further adding to the flexibility of the solution. Additionally, they are responsible for uploading new versions of a file, and renaming and removing files. The ability to manually intervene at any time, and to change the proofing workflow even when it is running, allows for much flexibility. For example, when a particular reviewer or group of reviewers become unavailable during the workflow, the manager can exchange them for others, or remove their stage entirely. If an approval objective changes e.g. the approval for a specific file no longer depends on a customers approval but must be proofed within the organisation the manager can immediately have this change reflect in the proofing stages without disturbing the workflow itself.

Proofer support
Approval Manager 2011 has extensive proofer support. Its default proofing environment is Spark! Which by itself supports a large number of common file types out of the box, including PNG, PDF, JPEG, GIF, TIF, etc. By adjusting a number of options, Spark! will also support the innovative Balsamiq Mockups, making Approval Manager suitable not only for marketing content but also for software design, prototyping, and other types of projects. Spark! has a user-friendly interface with a toolbar that much resembles the annotation toolbar of Adobe Acrobat. Spark! supports zooming up to 6000%, measurements in pixels, inches, or centimetres, and PDF comments export. It also allows assets to be rotated, drawn on, etc. Except for Spark!, Approval Manager 2011 offers support for Adobe Acrobat and Reader, the Foxit Reader, and Dalim DiALOGUE. Furthermore, Approval Manager allows editors to

review InDesign digital proofs and apply copy corrections directly in InCopy, in real time. Balsamiq Mockup, Dalim DiALOGUE, and InDesign/InCopy support are all unique features of Approval Manager 2011, which set this solution apart from the competition. While Balsamiq support extends the usability of Approval Manager 2011 beyond traditional content publishing markets, Dalim support enables a far more powerful brand management than is possible with any other approval software. Dalim DiALOGUE proofer support means Approval Manager users will have access to high resolution, colour accurate proofing. InDesign/InCopy support effectively turns Approval Manager into a publishing workflow tool with which the solution becomes enticing to use for smaller businesses who want to start small with an inexpensive review and approval system that also manages revisions, and that offers scalability through an upgrade to MetaCommunications Workgroups 2011. Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Reader and Foxit Reader support are integrated with Approval Manager 2011. This means comments and annotations made in these applications are automatically synchronised with Approval Managers database, further streamlining the proofing process. Approval Manager also incorporates native proofer, which is a technology that allows users to open almost any type of file in their native application, including video. However, native proofer does not synchronise the proofing workflow automatically.

Scheduling
When a proofing workflow is created in Approval Manager 2011, the manager of the workflow can also set deadlines. These deadlines are set to a date and a time. For each stage in the workflow, a different deadline can be set. Deadlines in Approval Manager are dynamic, i.e. they act as a reminder mechanism. Late proofing reviews are visually indicated and users can be set to receive email alerts when the deadline has passed. It would be even more efficient when alerts could go out when the deadline approaches, e.g. within a pre-defined period prior to the due date. However, given the fact that most online proofing systems dont even support scheduling, the availability of a complete deadline system sets Approval Manager 2011 apart from its competition, as deadlines are essential to any efficient workflow. Furthermore, Approval Manager 2011 does support automated reminders, although a little different from the alerts we would like to see added to the system. Automated reminders are scheduled email messages that contain current and past due To-Do lists.

Revision support and audit trail

In publishing systems revision support is extremely important as it enables a user to compare the original document with changes that have been made from one stage to the next. In many industries, auditors must be able to reconstruct a documents change history through a so-called audit trail (the pharmaceutical industry is infamous for this requirement). Approval Manager 2011 supports both. The revision capability in Approval manager allows users to see the changes made to an asset or document simply by comparing previously reviewed proofs visually. This is possible because proof revisions are automatically saved. The saving mechanism also allows managers to step back through the workflow and see where revisions have been made. The audit trail in Approval Manager is called History. There are two types of history available in Approval Manager 2011:
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Complete History Round History presents the same type of information, but displays only the events and activities that belong to a specific round.

The first type lists all the activities for each round in the approval process, while the latter

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Conclusion
Approval Manager 2011 is more than just an online proofing tool. It is a workflow system focussed on the review and approval process. Although competing products exist, they all seem to consider the proofing process as a stand-alone activity that is disconnected from other publishing tasks. MetaCommunications Approval Manager 2011 views the proofing process as part of a bigger whole, and this approach prevents information silos, streamlines the publishing or prototyping process and makes for a more efficient system altogether.

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