May 21, 2007
The Most Common HVTO Mistakes
Part One: The First 10 Mistakes
In the complex world of high volume transaction output (HVTO), it’s only natural that today’s professional and company would encounter the occasional (or often) HVTO mistake. However, it’s the savvy document pro that knows which mistakes to be aware of and to avoid.
As part of its new series on the most common HVTO mistakes, OutputLinks asked its readers and sponsors for input. In response, OutputLinks received an overwhelming amount of feedback from professionals who anonymously shared their most common mistakes.
As a result of the reader poll, here’s a list of the Top HVTO Mistakes, starting with the first 10 (in no particular order).
1. Lack of Communication
One of the biggest mistakes in the industry is interpersonal communications. How can you succeed when the project manager can’t specify his or her requirements, and while the supplier or staff doesn’t completely understand the requirements of the project? This type of miscommunication can cost a company a significant amount of money, time and, eventually, the project.
2. Missing the Big Picture
One of the biggest mistakes that HVTO professionals often make is failing to nurture the broader process. One reader said, “So often we concentrate only on our part of the workflow and overlook the relationships and implications up and downstream. For example, if the data upstream is flawed, no matter what we do, the print run will be flawed. And, if the print run is flawed, the mail run will be filled with errors and undue expense. As a result, no matter how smoothly the print operation runs the overall operation will be suboptimal.”
3. Product Versus a Solution
A huge HVTO mistake that many make is buying a product versus purchasing a complete solution.
4. Not Budgeting for Implementation
Many also purchase software and hardware without properly budgeting for the implementation and resources required to receive maximum return on investment from the purchase.
5. Not Using Customer Info for a Dynamic Statement
The next most common mistake involves failing to use information about the customer to create a more appropriate, dynamic and 1:1 statement.
6. Poor Document Design
One critical mistake is not reviewing overall document design, which enhances customer correspondence and reduces mail piece size. If the bill design hasn’t changed in 15 or 20 years, that’s a mistake.
7. “We Didn’t Change Anything!”
One reader loves this mistake: “We didn't change anything and now the job is not working!” In the end, it’s usually discovered that something WAS changed.
8. Forgetting to Ask for Help
When you continue to try to solve a problem without looking outside the organization for help, you can cost time delays and increase development costs.
9. Neglecting Security
Ignoring security issues in the document world is a major no-no.
10. Failing to Upgrade Barcodes
Many continue to use linear barcodes for new applications when they could easily upgrade to 2D barcodes, which require less real estate and enhance error recovery.
Watch for part two of this series, which continues the list of the Most Common HVTO Mistakes. Plus, watch for more stories, tips and expert advice on how to combat or avoid these mistakes.
The Most Common HVTO Mistakes
Part Two: OutputLinks’ Readers Identify More Blunders in the World of High Volume Transaction Output
In part one of “The Most Common HVTO Mistakes,” OutputLinks took a brief look at several errors in the high volume transaction output (HVTO) community.
For this insightful new series, OutputLinks asked its readers and sponsors for input. In response, OutputLinks received an overwhelming amount of feedback from professionals who anonymously shared their most common mistakes.
As a result of the reader poll, here’s the continuation of the list of the Top HVTO Mistakes, in no particular order.
11. PCs in an HVTO Environment
One reader points to this mistake: “Putting a Windows-based PC in front of a high-volume, high-end production printer. We're all familiar with the freezes and reboots associated with PCs due to spyware, viruses and patches, and while that might be acceptable for a single-user system, you don't want that holding up your production equipment.”
12. Using Clones for PDF Generation
Some say that using Adobe "clones" for PDF generation is a common mistake. This OutputLinks reader explains: “Only Adobe offers 100 percent Adobe PDF and, unless you don't care about how your document looks, i.e. document reflow, incorrect page breaks and other formatting issues, you need your PDF print driver to be based on Adobe PDF JobReady.”
13. Inappropriate Use of Tools
This mistake can occur when objects like watermarks or forms backgrounds are created with tools other than the design tools used for the content part of the output. These tools may or may not be trimmed to produce accurate, consistent or compact objects.
14. Calculating Business Data Values
Yet another mistake is calculating business data values (i.e. the total amount owing) at document composition time vs. having the business application do the calculations and pass them in. The reader who pointed out this mistake said it was a big topic at the 2007 Xplor conference.
15. Bitmap Fonts and Outline Fonts
Another reader says that not understanding the differences between bitmap fonts and outline fonts --- resulting in document mismatches --- is a common mistake.
16. Print Files Lacking “Intelligence”
When utilizing software that creates print files using fonts with dynamic code page assignments, it can leave print files with no intelligence embedded.
17. Custom Modifications and Pseudo Standards
“Tweaking a character set with some custom characters is common,” shares one reader. However, “If stored with the same identifier as the original character set, it will cause problems. Even worse if it’s stored with the same identifier as well as introduced to pseudo standards, such as printer resources.”
18. Misprints and Managing Reprints
One mistake is not taking steps to avoid misprints, and having a weak ability to manage reprints.
19. Premature Document Finishing Processes
This readers says, “As opposed to all design and meta information-related issues, document finishing processes should happen as late as possible. Nothing is worse than having to resort a print spool file that already has some form of visual sequencing order included.”
20. Mix of Applications
This OutputLinks reader shares a common mistake: “Mixing different types of documents, such as mixing a bill run with a dunning run, can cause problems in workflow applications. The documents then have to be split and categorized by complex logic.”
Watch for the continuation of this series, including more stories, tips and expert advice on how to combat or avoid mistakes in the HVTO industry.
The Most Common HVTO Mistakes
Part Three: OutputLinks Readers Share More High Volume Transaction Output Mistakes
In part two of “The Most Common HVTO Mistakes,” OutputLinks looked at more mistakes in the high volume transaction output (HVTO) community.
For this insightful new series, OutputLinks asked its readers and sponsors for input. In response, OutputLinks received an overwhelming amount of feedback from professionals who anonymously shared their most common mistakes.
As a result of the reader poll, here’s the final 10 errors in the list of the Top HVTO Mistakes, in no particular order.
Would you like to comment? Do you have a mistake to share? Would you like to write an article and be a part of this series? Please e-mail the OutputLinks editorial team at press@OutputLinks.com.
21. Improper Use of Color Management
One reader writes in and says that storing graphical elements with individual color management context is completely possible. However, at design time, says the reader, quite often the use and application of the color management issues are not harmonized within a set of documents.
22. Printing Internal Reports
Another readers shares that if a report doesn't leave the building or the company, it should be stored and made available online. “This is good for cutting printing costs, and good for the environment,” the reader explains.
23. Devil-May-Care Structures
The use of custom fonts is desirable to follow corporate identity issues. If the design tools additionally bring along the use of custom encodings, the information included in these documents are likely to be lost when trying to re-use them for other purposes.
24. Improper Use of Metadata
At design time, all the meta information of a document is most likely available. However, creators sometimes miss the point in wrapping the meta information within the document. When this data has to be used in later workflows, and it must be retrieved by complex logic.
25. Upfront Spending
Spending money upfront to develop and document standards for output and systems.
26. Insufficient Barcoding
Another mistake is not taking advantage postal discounts due to insufficient barcoding.
27. “Less Than Automatable”
One OutputLinks reader writes in with this HVTO mistake: “I am sure that smarter folk than I have thought of everything from the 10,000 foot level. However, in my experience I don’t think that the 10,000 feet guys ever really look at things from the 10 foot level. If they did, they might notice that many database output engines that create one flavor bills and statements do not have the ability to add in barcodes and sequence numbers for the inserters. The companies that come to mind are Crystal Reports and Oracle; both of these output PDFs that are less than automatable.”
28. Mainframe World to Client Server
“I don’t think that companies like Oracle and Crystal Reports ever thought that their output would become part of the HVTO world, but as many companies have moved from the mainframe world to client server it is starting to happen more and more frequently,” says another OutputLinks reader.
29. Making it Difficult for Service Bureaus to Retrofit
An OutputLinks reader e-mails this mistake: “The other thing that HVTO vendors fail to make allowances for is the fact that big in-house installations have all of the money in the world to set up great ADFs that sort, check and redo damages, etc., but service bureaus have lots of older equipment that are still working and on the books. These work-horses do a lot of the work that’s out there these days due to the explosion in outsourcing --- companies divesting themselves of ‘non-core’ business units --- and it’s not easy to be able to retrofit this equipment to respond to the more sophisticated requirement that today’s businesses require.”
30. Not Allowing for Future Growth
”Making a purchasing decision that doesn't allow for future growth is a common mistake,” says this OutputLinks reader. “Enterprises need to make sure they aren't locking themselves in to a technology that prohibits flexibility later on.”