Application: Just Sold Postcard (Real Estate, VI Level: L2)

Workflow Documentation

Data Environment
(Describe the typical sources of data and format in this type of application.)
Delimited format.

Supplemental Data
(File names and format and include any supplemental data that was used to produce the application.)
None.

Web Integration
(If applicable, describe the process for enabling web-based data input into the application.)
Data can come from any source, no additional processing needed. If a web data input interface is used, a delimited data file should be created. It's unlikely that a web submission process would be used for such a specialized piece, as custom photos and descriptions would need to be submitted.

Data Conditioning
(What, if anything, had to be done to make the data usable in your application?)
Open in Excel and save as a delimited file format. Header files cannot have spaces in VIPP. The spaces were replaced with underscores. Additional headers were added so that Designer could read the data 2 records at a time.

Quark File Conditioning
(What if anything had to be done to the Quark file provided to make it usable in this application.)
When applicable, Quark static portions of the design were saved as an EPS and used as a background image. Some images were cropped external to Proform Designer.

Asset Library
(Describe the architecture and formats that the static and variable assets were stored in.)
VIPP Project folder or VIPP Project Container

Coding
(Describe the business logic and coding methods for enabling the composition and assembly of variable pages.)
The information and photo of the real estate agent are created (using Proform Designer's logic wizards) based on conditional logic from information found in the realtor_database.csv. The images of the houses are data-driven.

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
(Describe the production print stream and the composition, imposition, RIP and print process? Document all file names needed to load and run your application.)
The VIPP enabled engine does the composition, imposition, RIP and print process.

Provided is a VIPP Project Container, JOB9.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, JOB9, is also provided. The project folder contains all files, including the data file, needed to run the application. Simply copy the JOB9 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 house_database_modified.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: house_database_modified.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
(How large a record set can your solution support? What are the productivity implications and/or caveats associated with scaling the run to larger thresholds?)
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.

Turnaround Time
(Document the time for an end-to-end process from trigger event to delivery.)
3 hours.

Overall Caveats and Considerations
(Anything that we need to know about this application such as workarounds, or special conditions e.g. limited number of data formats supported, etc.)
The VIPP code was edited so that the "Just Sold!" text is printed after the data-driven images.