Reducing Turnaround and Ramping Production for Time Inc.

Challenge Final XML Content within Two Hours of Receipt

Time Inc. was under pressure to quickly cut turnaround times associated with XML production for nine of its most popular consumer magazines: Entertainment Weekly, Fortune, Fortune International, Health, People, Sports Illustrated, TIME, TIME International, and Time Style & Design.

Solution A Custom Workflow and Team for Rapid Front-End Conversion of Live Magazine Content

Time Inc. turned to Aptara for its ability to quickly and efficiently establish a process for converting live magazine content into PRISM XML. A highly skilled technical workforce and state-of-the-art integrated production facilities uniquely positioned Aptara to offer customized, cost-effective content transformation services.

An expert project analyst team with PRISM DTD expertise was assembled and a custom production process was designed to handle the required content volumes—within as little as a two-hour window. Key to this was Aptara’s PowerEdit™ application, a sophisticated rules-based content analysis, normalization, and editing tool. Successful implementation under the aggressive timeline relied upon:

• thorough analysis of source material, checking for compliance with PRISM, determining granularity
• mapping content to ensure it could be tagged with 100% consistency
• a dedicated, US-based resource to optimize communications with Time Inc. staff
• non-routine shifts of dedicated programmers
• Aptara’s PowerEdit™ technology to optimize content processing that would otherwise have been highly manpower-intensive
• a production pilot to simulate the live production process and test potential stress points and quality control procedures
• volume stress-testing to prove that the process could scale to meet demand and sustain 100% on-time delivery
• training, support and real-time feedback online and via phone

Results A Custom Production Process for Rapid Content Conversion

The custom-designed workflow for converting Time’s magazine content to XML, within as little as two hours of receipt, was live in ten weeks. Additionally, Time Inc.’s specified quality standards were consistently exceeded through constant process monitoring and improvement. With Aptara’s digital publishing expertise and steadfast commitment to its customers, Time Inc. achieved its turnaround improvement goals, which Aptara continues to successfully meet today.