Application: Alumni Newsletter (Higher Education, VI Level: L3)

Solution: Personalized Newsletter with Data Driven Graphics

Workflow Documentation

Data Environment
University records. Database format.

Supplemental Data
None.

Web Integration
Data can come from any source, no additional processing needed. Perhaps a data file might be submitted via the WEB to a print service bureau, in this case a Lytrod/VIPP workflow would be very efficient as such a small amount of information would be transferred.

Data Conditioning
Open in Excel and save as a delimited file format.

Quark File Conditioning
Quark static portions of the design were saved as an EPS and used as a background image. Image cropping was done external to Proform Designer. Since the EPS backgrounds were so large, JPGs were also created and used in Proform Designer, although the VIPP composition uses the EPS images.

Asset Library
VIPP Project folder or VIPP Project Container

Coding
Lytrod's Proform Designer creates VIPP code that ultimately composes and assembles the pages. Pre-designed page layouts were imported into Proform Designer and simple personalization was added using the same PostScript fonts from the Quark Express design so that the static and variable elements are seamlessly integrated.

The VIPP rules for the bar chart assembly are created in an easy-to-use wizard. By defining three colors and entering the value of the average contribution, the variable alumni's contribution and zero, the effect of the double bar chart is achieved. The bar chart is than composed at the printer from raw data improving composition speed. Full color, image rich, multi-page layouts make for extremely large EPS files. With a Lytrod/VIPP workflow, the page layouts are cached dramatically improving job processing.

Lytrod's Proform Designer creates VIPP code and resources and the document is ultimately composed and assembled at the VIPP enabled engine from the raw data.

RIP and Print Process
The VIPP enabled engine does the composition, imposition, RIP and print process.

Provided is a VIPP Project Container, JOB3.VPC, the VPC file contains all of the files including a job submission file. The VPC can be launched using the VIPP Project Manager or on supported DFEs.

Since not all DFEs support Project Containers, a VIPP Project Folder, JOB3, is also provided. The project folder contains all files, including the data file, needed to run the application. Simply copy the JOB3 folder and its contents to the XGFC/Projects folder on the VIPP enabled engine.

The production print stream is the data file, in this case alumni_database.csv, which contains the VIPP job ticket and database data. In a production print environment, the data file would be sent to the VIPP enabled printer via LPR (this can be done via Lytrod's Proform Designer or via any standard LPR demon). For demonstration, you may simply open the project folder and "print" the data file: alumni_database.csv.

It is important to note that Lytrod supports VIPP image caching which dramatically improves job processing, as the variable images are ripped only once for the entire job.

Scalability
Unlimited. This is the advantage of the dynamic document construction method used by VIPP. The document is composed at the RIP in real time, as the data is sent to the printer.
Here image caching is quite important. Larger images take a long time to RIP, with caching the image is RIPed once.

Turnaround Time
2 ½ hours.

Overall Caveats and Considerations
In the bar chart, one bar changes color based on the year of graduation of the recipient. Although the bars can vary in color, than cannot do so based on a data condition. So our workaround was to highlight the year of graduation with an image.

Since VIPP only accepts one data stream, the values for the bar chart were inserted manually from the average_gift_database.xls.