Article 7 of 7
Admera and JDF
As you now know, JDF is an open and expandable standard whose goal is to encompass the entire workflow from ordering, through prepress, printing, post-print handling, to delivery and invoicing. As prepress is the natural next-step after ordering, we have chosen to begin with the focus on this step in Admera VCS.
For that reason, it is natural that the file that can today be exported from Admera VCS builds on the part of the JDF specification called ICS MIS to Prepress. It is this part of the specification that handles the communication between the management system and prepress. Admera has also chosen to conform its own JDF to the latest version, 1.3.
Admera VCS can today send out a JDF file with fundamental information concerning a job’s structure, order information, product parts, customer information, etc. to any recipient. Then, the idea is that the workflow’s accompanying software will fill in more detailed process information as the work advances.
Admera will continually increase the amount of information that can be sent from the system until all the relevant parts of the order are included in the exportable file. Admera VCS employs today a decentralized approach as regards JDF but when all the relevant order information is implemented, work will begin to centralize the architecture so that VCS users can access the comprehensive status reports from the entire production flow and by that means, even more accurate after-calculations. But already today, there are large opportunities to save both time and money through the use of existing functionality.
Admera is also working to implement PrintTalk into the system. The PrintTalk protocol can be advantageously used to send business information between, for example, the buyer and seller and therefore works excellently as an e-trade solution. The advantage of implementing this established standard is that all e-trade solutions that support PrintTalk can, in theory, communicate with Admera VCS.
Consequently, Admera will eventually be able to administer both the internal and external flows. The high level of automation that VCS can then offer will save our customers much time and money by, above all, reducing the amount of administration.
If you have any questions regarding Admera’s JDF initiative, please feel free to contact us.
