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Real time may become gauge for publishing in near futureLAS VEGAS -- Millennium fever overcame my local newspaper about mid-July. It seemed that every day, every section of the paper had a new take on how computers will change in the next century. Among the predictions: The average person will have at least 150 computers playing a supporting role in the quest for an ever-better, less labor-intensive life. I was especially fond of the computerized kitchen concept -- a kind of self-discerning variety of refrigerator capable of keeping a running inventory of eggs, milk, zucchini and other vegetables wedged in the darkest, furthermost corner of the bottom shelf. When the inventory runs low, the refrigerator and its silent companions create a shopping list. And then they order what's needed on-line. This view of computers offers a vision of computer networking we may see one day -- not a bunch of computers each performing a single task, but a single network of computers that handles everything. They talk to each other, keep shopping lists, exchange money. Such integration of functionalities didn't stand out as a theme NEXPO '99, but it has been part of every show I've attended -- beginning in the late '70s, when newsrooms were already trying to figure out how to integrate pagination into the editorial process. It was not a painless exercise for many newsrooms, but it did smooth the way for a number of other exercises in newspaper computer integration. You could say that it was one small step for the computer, one giant leap for the newspaper.
Three announcements
Three announcements in the last year carry an implied promise of transformation of publishing management systems:
Ultimately, AdVenture is intended to provide an unparalleled knowledge base of advertising operations. What do these three business developments mean? We're headed down the road to total, real time integration of advertising front-ends and their back-end cousins, business systems. Even so, one major problem remains: Almost every supplier holds a different understanding of real time, of integration, and of the values of either or both. "Real time?" queries the opening of a series of tech notes provided by Digital Technology International of Springville, Utah. "[It's] probably one of the most misunderstood phrases being bantered around in the newspaper industry today. It is used to discuss integration of billing systems with front-end and production systems or third-party applications such as credit card processing systems." Like my fantasy refrigerator, the tech note continues that "real time? processing" carries an implication that an entry or change entered on one system is instantly mirrored on another. "This is not the case," the writer concludes, since different forms are used at different stations along the way, and there will always be at least a little lag time between the time data are entered on one screen and the time they are available on any other screen. The DT writer suggests the process is described more accurately as a "trickle" relationship, with data entered or modified on one system being uploaded or downloaded to another at site-specified time intervals -- from every few minutes to twice a day. The relationship between computers, continues the report, is also constrained by the ability of each to produce or accept automatic files in ASCII format. DT's systems are among those that can do both, and is doing so with systems made by Geac; IBM's Atlanta-based media segment; Unisys Corp. of Blue Bell, Pa.; Publishing Business Systems Inc. of Des Plaines, Ill.; Layout 8000 from Software Consulting Services of Nazareth, Pa., and a number of fax, electronic ad delivery and credit verification systems. At DT, the application formerly known as TaskMaster has been rolled into the latest incarnation of DT's classified ad product, ClassSpeed version 5.0.1. Now classified ad sales people can use the product to "manage the entire sales function." The definition of "sales function" has, of course, been expanded to include a new range of tasks, including scheduling and routing display ads to production. SQL-based systems makes virtual real time exchange of data an achievable task. Jeff Kosiorek, manager of marketing communications for Edgil Associates Inc. of North Chelmsford, Mass., says that "by populating a relational database with classified ads, a newspaper gains data processing opportunities and a way to flexibly interface with their business systems. Data retrieval and transmission is no longer an issue as files can be sent to any number of destinations at the newspaper for further processing." Edgil's AdCentral, for example, can already provide interfaces to Atex J-11 and SII systems for "an uninterrupted flow of data to and from the newspaper's business systems," and is working on a means for providing a "dynamically updated reflection of database information" for Enterprise from Atex Media Solutions of Bedford, Mass.
Integration: the sequel
The trick is really to allow each system to see the other. Creating a user interface to handle such real time data sharing is much easier to accomplish, since the major task (other than providing the network) is to make sure that each system has a clear concept of the other's database file, or field definitions. Nonetheless, the process works with considerably less hassle when "everyone is running from the same database, so that you have full control and definition," Sie said. "One vendor and common components make integration both easier and cheaper. "Flexibility is the key to long life," Sie said. That means that companies that either began life with, or have developed Odbc capabilities are way ahead in this game. Since ACT hung out its shingle a mere nine years ago, it began life with that philosophy and a good understanding of open systems. That's why Sie doesn't expect that new mergers and alliances will affect his company, or others like it that are built on an open systems foundation. Eugene Kiel, vice president of advertising products at CText Inc. of Ann Arbor, Mich., is also confident that these changes in the supply-side world will not be a problem for his company. "We have the technology to run a real time interface in our systems. But it takes customer interest and participation from the supplier on the other side," he said. "We await a customer who insists on [real time interfacing for synchronizing with a business system] ... most people settle for batch interfacing." In part, that may be because CText customers, though they may do an actual batch synchronization only twice a week, can still get what Kiel calls "real time total exposure": The CText system receives aging information from the business system and tracks it separately, and monitors new ads (revenue) and payments that have not been transferred. The combined data elements offer "total exposure" without the stultifying wait that usually accompanies traditional batch transfers and processing. Nonetheless, the company is moving in the general direction of real time integration already. It is co-developing a product with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that will integrate accounts receivable functionality into CText's AdVision. Its open systems capabilities also have allowed the Los Angeles Times to mount an open server on the CText system to transfer information for ad creation to the paper's Data Flow display ad production solution from Cascade Systems Inc. of Acton, Mass. The CText AdVision system's "export candidates" feature allows the Times to register display ads for export. Once booked and saved on the AdVision system, a stored procedure developed by the Times "grabs the record and opens an ad jacket in Cascade," where the operator creates the ad based on the jacket information relayed from AdVision. The ad, once completed, is sent back to the AdVision system to be seamlessly and automatically integrated into a page at pagination time. Kiel sees no reason why similar integration feats could not be accomplished with, for example, real time lookups of credit info, since the major requirement would be the insertion of the appropriate Odbc calls in the layer between the two systems -- in much the same way CText's Sybase database is accessed by Crystal Reports.
From refrigerators to ink
The dirty little truth about computers and networking is that they can't do anything that isn't first suggested by human imagination. That's why, as I walked around the NEXPO floor, I kept thinking that it could be incredibly useful to provide sales reps with real time data on a customer's credit standing. But something was missing. One day I found myself casually chatting with one long-time salesperson for a well-established newspaper supplier. I asked him why he thought this was an important subject. This is where the story converges with my opening thoughts: He envisions a system that can do not only all the functions various suppliers had told me about, but much more. In his vision, the system of the future will be able to start using information from the database(s) for a new range of predictive purposes. Based on ad sales, how large will that day's paper be? How many street copies, comp copies and home delivery copies will be needed? How much paper will it take? How much ink will the edition use? What kind of staffing will be required? His vision moves things further. He foresees computer networks that -- like my fantasy refrigerator and zucchini -- can place orders for ink, set staffing schedules, calculate the best price for newsprint and then place the order, pay bills and collect revenues. There's the magic of integration for you. You won't find a description of it in a sales brochure -- at this point it's a promise and a process. It will be available once users understand what's possible and start to ask for it -- or create it themselves. Once that happens, the last thing left to do will be to teach the networks to recognize a smart innovation inherent in a vision of the future, and then program themselves to implement the vision. Now, if I could just get my garbage disposal to interface with the refrigerator -- which will one day be integrated into the on-line service that delivers my groceries -- so that my fridge would be capable of disposing of the leftovers and fuzzy zucchini on its own. It doesn't even have to be real time. Just-in-time will do. -- L. Carol Christopher
Advanced Publishing Technology, From THE COLE PAPERS, August 1999, Copyright © 1999, All Rights Reserved.
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