42 - The answer to your questions about print & publishing
The priint:suite 4.2 Release
Historically, it’s been said that “42” is the answer to all questions of the universe. Are you familiar with the masterpiece by Douglas Adams? Simon Sinek would ask the question "Why?" to “42”. With this question I would like to open this blog post about the release of priint:suite 4.2.
Why priint:suite 4.2?
Our performance promise is clear: priint:suite users receive continuous improvements to our features that are being continuously developed. These unique features are helpful in day-to-day work and increase productivity overall. However, features do not help with the implementation of innovations. Fundamental rethinking is the groundwork for innovations, and with every priint:suite release it helps our customers to innovate and be even more successful. That is why we have chosen the following focal points in our long-term product development:
- User Experience
- Simplification
- Processes
There are several exciting things to report on these topics in priint:suite 4.2.
Neowise - priint:planner with a new user interface
Codename Neowise
The time has finally come: There is now a new user interface for our web applications. Since pictures say more than words, here are a few screenshots:
The New Publication Window
Maintenance of metadata for a publication or document
Show columns
The administrative functions have not yet been implemented in the Neowise interface. This is not a problem, however, because the old and new user interface priint:planner can be used in parallel. Aside from a significantly improved user experience, priint:suite 4.2 also offers several new features.
Flatplan module - the companion for document creation
The newly developed Flatplan module is a new companion for the complete lifecycle of a document. From work preparation, content assignment and document creation to correction, approval and final data dispatch, the module can encompass the process.
Overview of a publication in the flatplan
Scheduling content for a dynamic document
Digital commenting on pages
The new Kanban Board provides a quick overview on which "stage" the documents of a publication are in:
Kanban Board
It's time to think differently: Camunda as the new Business Process Engine
One thing is certain: the priint:suite is not the center of the enterprise universe. It is also not the "single source of truth", like comparably PIM, MDM, DAM or CMS systems. The digital transformation in corporate processes is bringing new approaches to collaboration into focus.
Now is the time to think about the future of publishing workflows:
- Part of a larger workflow
Publishing processes become part of higher-level processes- such as content creation processes, campaign management, collaboration platforms, and many more. - Integration of a wide range of systems
When publishing is integrated with other processes, the focus is on integration with a wide variety of systems. But on what basis should this be done? - Use of standards
There is no alternative to standards for the collaboration of systems, and for workflow management, that means BPMN (Business Process Model Notation).
That is why we decided to integrate Camunda. Processes can be modeled in external workflow editors or directly within the priint:suite:
Process definition in priint:suite
With the support of Camunda, priint:suite 4.2 also offers "horizontal" scaling options to quickly and securely generate hundreds of thousands of documents.
Last But Not Least: priint:comet InDesign Plug-ins
It started nearly two decades ago with a data driven publishing plug-in for Adobe InDesign. For 18 years, new features have been added, making our priint:comet InDesign the most powerful automation tool for Adobe InDesign. It's also been backward compatible for 18 years.
It was time to present this deep and wide range of functions in a simpler way for the user. The priint:comet facelift not only simplifies the work, but also helps users to make their work even more efficient.
Easy access to content
Data changes and comments in a palette
Access to documents
priint:suite 4.2 – part 1 of 3
No, the priint:suite is not (yet) the answer to all questions of the data driven publishing universe. It is, however, a big step towards it with a much improved user experience and a standard BPMN based workflow engine.
This is the feedback we received from partners and pre-release users.