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PrintTalk

JDF, as described earlier, is a way to automate the workflow within a printing house but if one wants to take it a step further, one can also automate the flow between the customer and printing house. It is here that PrintTalk becomes part of the process.

PrintTalk was originally a community that was created to outline the best way to digitally communicate between companies that purchased printed matter and those who produced it. PrintTalk is built around the same ideas as JDF and is based on cXML, a protocol built on XML, the language that JDF and JMF are based on.

In 2004, it was decided that CIP4 would take over the PrintTalk specification and that they would also ensure its continued development and integration with then existing and future versions of JDF. Accordingly, PrintTalk is now implemented in the JDF standard and complements JDF by specifying the external communication of business processes between the printing house and buyer.

How Does It Work?
PrintTalk is a protocol that supports 11 business objects. These objects are used to construct a dialogue between the customer and printing house. Examples of these objects could be requesting a quote, sending a quote, creating an order, confirming an order, and canceling an order.

In practice, it could work like this: the customer logs in to a website from which he/she can book a printing job. The customer indicates what type of job is to be done and fills in the information needed for the printing house to complete the job. The customer then clicks on “send inquiry to printing house”. A function on the web server now creates a PrintTalk message with the information the customer wishes to send to the printing house. The printing house then estimates a price and a PrintTalk message is sent back with a quote.

The dialogue can continue up until the job is finished and an invoice is sent to the customer. PrintTalk can help the printing house to substantially reduce the amount of administration surrounding the ordering procedure and thus save the company both time and money.