From Here to Integrity: Find the Right Solution to Improve Productivity, Eliminate Errors and Ensure Regulatory Compliance

By Ken Renko, Product Marketing Manager, Pitney Bowes Emtex Software

As we approach the midpoint of this series on "Taming the print to mail workflow," a backward glance at the topics we've covered to date shows that we've covered some fundamental aspects of print production. This includes everything from Intelligent Mail barcodes, TransPromo and Color Enablement, and Print Control and Management to preparing the modern print-to-mail operation for a greener, more eco-responsible future. In this month's column, I'd like to build on that foundation and focus on integrating print-to-mail operations to provide process and document integrity across the mailstream.

Defining exactly what integrity means to a print-to-mail operation overall can be as elusive as a soap bubble. Very often, integrity is considered a mail-specific concern. And in the past it was. This is no longer the case. Today's increasingly complex requirements demand more—especially if a print-to-mail operation is to run like the well-oiled machine we know that it's capable of being. As a result, print-to-mailers who want to extract every drop of productivity out of their technology investments aren't just looking to assure integrity in the mail process. They're aiming to extend these same controls and process efficiencies to the production operation.

What is integrity? Simply put it's a system of tracking, reporting and controlling print jobs, mailpieces, the inserting process and device accounting. Ideally a closed-loop process, it improves efficiency and quality, captures and provides a 360 degree view of operational performance and ultimately reduces costs, among other things. There are some very good reasons to focus on improving integrity. Among them: meeting or exceeding SLA commitments, controlling costs (customer service, search and reprint, production), simplifying compliance with customer requirements and state and federal regulations and minimizing the cost of non-conformance.

Any integrity initiative exists to achieve specific objectives and overarching goals. Typically, the objective is to implement an end-to-end, closed-loop workflow that enables complete integrity and accountability across the mailstream. The objective supports a larger goal: to provide a high degree of confidence that documents are correctly printed, that damaged pieces are automatically and accurately reprinted, that mailpieces are not duplicated or printed twice on different machines, that finished documents are properly collated, assembled, inserted, and prepared for mailing and mailpieces are not double-stuffed, incorrectly accumulated or missing altogether.

One basic requirement for a good integrity solution is the ability to generate control codes and extract data to generate control files like Mail Run Data Files (MRDF), scanning and confirming control codes, and using MRDF data to confirm integrity.  A further aspect of integrity is detecting damaged mailpieces that must be reprinted and creating select files that are sent to the print operation for automatic reprinting, then compiling that data to generate accurate reports.

From here to integrity …

Like many print-to-mail operations, you may already have some level of integrity control in place. Whether you're looking to take it to the next level or start from scratch, improving job and process integrity, accuracy and accountability begins by asking questions:

·    How are you currently managing integrity in your print-to-mail operation?

·    How much of the process still depends on manual operator intervention?

·    What challenges do you routinely experience in terms of regulatory compliance?

·   Where are there areas of opportunity for improving efficiency and accuracy in your print to mail operation today?

Once you understand where you are now and where you want to be and have identified specific challenges and opportunities for improvement, the next step is to begin evaluating potential solutions and partners and determine how their capabilities synch with what you need to do to get from here to integrity.

Basic capabilities to look for in an integrity platform

One of the best ways to ensure integrity across the mailstream—for both production and mailing—is to implement an integrity platform solution that automates the process. The question is—what essential components should you look for? At the most basic level, you want to be able to access data from key stages of the print-to-mail process including data composition, output management, production printing, finishing and inserting, and mailing/delivery. You also want to be able to:

·   Create control files  to provide expected data to inserters

·   Automate mailpiece reprints without disrupting production

·   Access data in real time to monitor overall operations

·   Monitor mailpiece and device status, compare historical information, generate reports

·   Verify jobs to prevent lost, incomplete or duplicate jobs

·   Automate audit generation and collection of operational metrics

A solid integrity solution benefits the entire operation

Certainly, implementing a robust and proven integrity solution provides the peace of mind that comes from knowing that the right mailpiece went out with the right number of pages, in the right envelope to the right recipient. With a solution that provides a single dashboard and a unified view of the entire print and mail operation, it's easier to detect inefficiencies and errors, to improve productivity, eliminate waste, increase accuracy, generate audit trails and deliver high-integrity customer communications. Stronger mailpiece and process controls also enable:

·         Enhanced SLA performance

·         Measurable productivity improvements 

·         Improved accuracy

·         More efficient use of time and resources

·         More effective asset utilization

·         Compliance with various regulatory requirements

·         Ability to accurately account for each piece produced

·         Improved job integrity with comprehensive piece-level job tracking

To learn more…

To learn more about Emtex solutions, visit our Web site at http://www.emtex.com

Questions? Want to talk about how you can move ahead in your journey toward integrity? Contact me directly with your thoughts and comments at krenko@us.emtex.com

Ken Renko has been involved with printing systems and output management technology companies for more than 30 years. He joined Pitney Bowes' Emtex Software in 2006 as a Product Marketing Manager in Boca Raton, Florida and is responsible for product management and marketing support for industry-leading enterprise output management solutions including: Virtual Intelligent Presentation (VIP)™, Virtual Document Enhance (VDE)™, and FlexServer. Prior to joining Pitney Bowes Emtex Software, Ken held various technical and marketing support positions with Océ Digital Document Systems and the Xerox Printing Systems Group. The combined years of experience in the electronic document industry have provided him with an objective understanding of the requirements and challenges that impact transactional printing, document output management, multi-vendor workflows and variable data applications. He has developed a number of white papers, authored several industry articles and has been a regular presenter at Xplor and On Demand.