The Business Process:
A publishing company has a single, centralized office with 25 employees and an editorial team of 5 which also serves as management. The front-office recieves article submissions via postal mail as well as email, and processes these submissions into a standardized Word document that includes a comments form at the bottom of the document for the editorial team to leave comments. There is another form below that which includes financial data-gathering elements including the author's pay rate, length of article, advertizing categories and more. The modified Word document is emailed to the editorial staff for review, and then emailed back to the front-office where the five documents are aggregated into one, and stored on a single computer for archival purposes.
The Problem:
The business process, while logical, is slow given all of the paper that must be pushed around the office. Futher, the process, in it's current implementation, is prone to error, since the front office must transcribe articles that are mailed by post, and must aggregate the editorial team's comments into one single document. Finally, the editors never see one another's comments, and aren't aware of where one another are at with their review; the disconnected way in which they review a particular article leaves all of them out of sync with one another, and does not allow them, as a group, to get a glimpse of the financial implications of publishing one article as opposed to another.
The Solution:
This scenario calls for a web application that is customized to the publishing company's unique business process. No over-the-counter solution will address these specific needs. Argot Systems recommends a single webserver and database to house a public-facing web form, as well as a private extranet to house the web application. The front facing web form is available for authors to submit articles in a systematic fashion. The private extranet provides the editorial team with a real-time view of the particular submitted article, access to one another's comments, and both historical and current financial data regarding the author in question as well as the magazine's typical rates, all on one page. In addition to addressing the problems described above, the custom web application allows the front office to focus on their own business functions, instead of administering the editorial team's process.
Other Case Studies:
You Are Here: Home >> Case Studies >> Custom Web Application
Call or write us anytime - we'll solve your classic business problems with contemporary IT solutions.
Email: sales@argotsystems.com
Phone: 401-450-6000
Depending on client requirements, Argot Systems implements the following technologies:
Microsoft ASP.NET, AJAX.NET, Open Source Content Management, SQL Server, PHP, MySQL