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The on-demand document is often considered a batch of one—an automated process that generates a low volume batch document. The key difference lies in the fact that a business process or user voluntarily triggers the generation of a particular document, usually at the back end of a business transaction (think receipt, advice slip, order confirmation). From that point on, the processes supporting on-demand documents are identical to those for batch documents. The interactive document—as the name suggests—cannot be generated solely by an automated process and needs the human touch to be completed and produced. Personalisation can be applied to pages, sections, paragraphs, images, logos, variables, etc. There is no restriction to what the interaction may cover— from content (text, images, and data); layout (margins, fonts, positioning of any component); and even production options (paper type, size, orientation, colour or black and white printing, simplex or duplex imposition, etc.). Of course, personalisation options also cover what is not to be personalised or modified and, therefore, will remain fixed. Equally, personalisation may require some degree of control and/or constraint— maybe a font can be changed but only within certain boundaries (font type, size, bold, italic, etc). Perhaps a paragraph can be optionally selected but not changed or edited. An image or logo can be rotated and zoomed out but cannot be zoomed in beyond its original resolution to guarantee optimum print quality. Furthermore, personalisation may be role-based with more experienced staff having greater editing privileges than junior staff or new starters, for instance. The second step of building an interactive document is completed by the business users—those individuals who will engage their knowledge, experience, and grey matter to bring the document to life—and enhance the customer relationship. Users apply personalisation rules according to their profile and rights, and will create the final document that may be produced for any number of recipients. Also, the personalised template needs to be associated to a list of recipient(s) and the necessary data, if applicable, to create the final documents. Finally, the system should allow for immediate or deferred production to take advantage of existing production capabilities such as printer capacity, mail sort discounts, automated fulfilment, automatic capture of the documents in the archive, and/or the CRM systems, etc. Interactive documents examined The creation of an effective interactive document requires grey matter, business understanding, and human intervention. The sheer variability and unpredictability of such documents usually prohibits the use of traditional programmable tools. It is true that some interactive documents can be partially automated when there is limited and known variability. In such cases, the user-supplied information can be captured through online forms to interact with a document template hidden somewhere in the document system. This can work well for a personalised catalogue, a letter inviting a customer to supply specific information, or even for assisting in the production of customised document packs. However, not all customisation tasks can be automated. Selecting, resizing or rotating an image, editing, and applying cosmetic changes to a paragraph cannot be done without a graphical display. Thus some sort of WYSIWYG interface is required to allow the user to engage in the creation of the interactive document. The various solutions are represented in the diagram above. There is a certain amount of overlap between these individual tool types. For instance, current graphic arts solutions can manage an amount of variable data. Word processing tools can handle images to a certain extent, and data processing tools can handle image and text. However, I do not believe that any one tool set fulfils the specific needs of the interactive document. Let’s examine each sector individually. Technologies for interactive documents The Word Processor solution Traditionally and perhaps historically, interactive documents have been managed with the help of PC-based word processors. We have all used MS Word® or equivalent to tailor company-supplied templates and generate a piece of correspondence that eventually gets printed and sent to a customer. Although this should be a simple operation, experience demonstrates that the number of templates in circulation in any reasonably sized company is very high, that no one knows exactly how these templates are being used, and no one knows how to manage them properly. Word processors are impaired by their very strengths: a word processing solution is often very simple to use and can be accessed by almost any computer user. Editing and changing documents is easy and interaction with a document template is almost self-explanatory. Yet this flexibility is married to a lack of control, traceability, and automation. Business users may create as many document templates as needed but no system prevents users from doing pretty much what they want. Anyone can change the appearance of the document, change fonts, colours, margins, logos, delete, or add components as they go along. More importantly, there is no easy way to guarantee that the document content is a true and reliable representation of the business relationship with a particular customer. Key requirements of the interactive document Interactive documents are best built in a twostep process. First, an author creates a document template, providing as much predefined material as possible. In the creation process, the author also applies personalisation rules that will determine and drive the end user’s role in creating documents with the template. Solutions at hand There are a number of ways organisations address their interactive document requirements. Next let’s explore the tools available, once again classified into three different tool types as follows: • Word processing tools • Graphic arts tools • Data processing tools 4 e• views Journal, Xplor UK & Ireland Edition Issue 7 January 2009

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of e views - January 2009

e views - January 2009 Contents Technology Management Creating a Print Intelligent Enterprise The Future of Broadband Connectivity: @ 320 kph? TPE Master Class Cover Story TransPromo and the Credit Crunch Xplor Europe News Service Directory

e views - January 2009

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