College In-Plant Gets Future-Ready with XMPie StoreFlowRESOURCES

College In-Plant Gets Future-Ready with XMPie StoreFlow

CASE STUDY

St. Norbert College In-Plant switches to a Web-to-Print eCommerce system with advanced Variable Data Print (VDP) capabilities to drive more print volume to its print presses and futureproof its operations.

AT A GLANCE

XMPie Customer

St. Norbert College | https://www.snc.edu/

The Challenge

How to become a future-ready print shop by offering high-value dynamic print products online and automating job fulfillment.

The Solution

XMPie PersonalEffect StoreFlow (Web-to-Print Solution).

The Results

– Order submission has increased by 40% since the site launch

– Order time per product reduced by 60%

– Reduced reliance on warehouse stock, resulting in storage and postage savings (80%)

– 80% fewer jobs are being sent offsite

– 60% increase in product offerings

St. Norbert College Digital Print Center

Background

The St. Norbert College Digital Print Center is a full-service In-Plant of St. Norbert College, a top-ranked Catholic liberal arts college in the United States it was founded in 1898.  Open to both the campus and the local community in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the Print Center offers a wide variety of services and has supported the college with its printing requirements since 1999.

Challenge

Faced with rising volumes and a time-consuming job submission process, the Digital Print Center needed to overhaul its workflow. Its outdated ticket-based system severely impacted its ability to provide the high service level that customers expected, so centralizing the ordering process became mission-critical.

Print orders were coming into the Center via email, and staff took care of the entire job submission process manually. This chaotic workflow involved several telephone calls or emails each time, often to multiple people to place and finalize each order before the costs were assigned manually to each department. Customers couldn’t see what they were spending for themselves and had to request budget updates continually. Everyone was frustrated with the long delays and wanted the ordering process to be revamped.

Not only was the workflow due for an upgrade, but also the print products on offer were either generic or personalized each time manually by the designer. These included stationery, promotional material, signage, posters, calendars, etc. Instead, the Print Center wanted to offer dynamic templates, with locked-down colors, logos, fonts, and messaging, for staff to customize themselves; ensuring complete brand integrity, no matter who was adjusting the templates.

Finally, the new system had to integrate with the Print Center’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software that stored all employee verification, passwords, and budget access numbers to enable role-based access control.

It became essential to take the whole operation online by switching to a Web-to-Print eCommerce system with advanced Variable Data Print (VDP) capabilities. By streamlining order acquisition, processing jobs around the clock, and offering personalized, data-driven products, the Print Center could drive more print volume to its print presses and futureproof its operations.

Critical Requirements:

  • Advanced personalization capabilities
  • Centralized ordering workflow
  • Brand protection
  • 24/7 self-serve job submission
  • Role-based access controls
  • Integration with its existing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software.
"We were pushing piles of paperwork trying to keep everyone happy, and we knew that throwing more bodies at it was not the answer."
Paul Mroczynski
Digital Print & Mailing Manager at St. Norbert College

Solution

After looking at different Web-to-Print solutions, the Print Center selected StoreFlow software from XMPie to power its move online.

Among the key features that clinched its decision to go with XMPie were its advanced personalized, data-driven print capabilities, end-to-end Adobe workflow, JDF-compliance, role-based access control, and open software architecture. With these capabilities, the Print Center could grow in the future to offer more services and integrate with third-party systems as its customers’ needs changed over time.

StoreFlow also comes with Xerox’s FreeFlow® Core software which automates the process steps required to prepare a job for print. 

StoreFlow uses a self-serve business model; the customer is in the driver’s seat during the ordering process, and human intervention is reduced during fulfillment.

Like any other online shopping experience, faculty and staff log on to the website to submit new jobs from a catalog of either static documents or dynamic pre-populated templates, which allow them to customize or personalize some aspects of the design. For example, an administrator ordering a batch of graduation certificates needs the name and course title to be personalized on each document. Rather than inserting the details manually, the administrator can upload an Excel spreadsheet with the list of names and course titles. XMPie connects the data with the design to create the personalized certificates and generates a proof for checking before the job is submitted.

The storefront is fully integrated with the Print Center’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software. With the Single-Sign-On feature, each customer can securely log in to the storefront with their ERP credentials and only access their group of relevant products. Submitted jobs are automatically assigned to the correct budget code for easy payment processing.

"I love the new online system. It cuts my ordering time by around 75% - I'm not recreating the wheel each time."
Jenny De Cleene
Administrative Assistant at St. Norbert College

Available products include signage, business cards, greetings cards, social media posts, letterhead, table tents, and much more. Each template has been created using Adobe InDesign, so the branding and messaging are locked down, and errors are eliminated. StoreFlow harnesses Adobe’s technology as part of the composition process, so the design’s quality is maintained as if the document was printed manually straight from the Adobe application. With the Kitting feature, groups of products or documents can also be purchased as a single unit, which is useful for departments that repeatedly order the same products in bulk. All order history is saved in the customer’s account for easy reordering.

Since the designer was free to focus on higher-value design projects instead of mundane manual versioning, the Print Center could increase the number of products available in the store and improve the speed to market. This advantage was especially highlighted during the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic when the Center rolled-out campus-wide customized Covid-19 safety posters to keep staff and students informed about the new regulations and keep everyone safe and compliant.

"It was incredibly helpful during the start of Covid when we were trying to outfit our departments and customize different posters and signs for social distancing around the campus. Without XMPie, we couldn't have done it so fast. It was literally a life-saver."
Jenny De Cleene
Administrative Assistant at St. Norbert College

By making the operation accessible 24/7, the Print Center succeeded in increasing visibility and capacity, even in such a challenging business environment. Although the site is currently only for internal college staff, the Print Center will soon be expanding its services by opening a separate B2C site for the wider community. It will also diversify by offering more complex documents, including personalized prospectuses and omnichannel services such as email campaigns. As XMPie is a fully extendable and scalable solution, the Print Center can add power and functionality to grow the business while protecting its investment all along the way.

"Like all print shops and In-Plants, we had to reduce our dependency on manual processes and think about how we could grow in the future. If you can't link to other systems, you're landlocked, and we didn't want that. XMPie is limitless. It's robust and totally open-ended."
Paul Mroczynski
Digital Print & Mailing Manager at St. Norbert College

Results

By implementing this digital transformation, the Print Center has been able meet its customers’ evolving communication needs, increase productivity, save costs, and prove its value to the college and wider community.  

    • Order submission has increased by 40% since the site launch.
    • Order time per product reduced by 60%.
    • Reduced reliance on warehouse stock, resulting in storage and postage savings (80%).
    • 80% fewer jobs are being sent offsite.
    • 60% increase in product offerings.

Lessons Learned

  • Make sure that IT can support any integration with third-party software.
  • It’s vital to win support for the new workflow from the customers. Spend time training everyone, so they know how to use the new site.

Critical Success Factors

  1. XMPie fully supports a JDF-based workflow, ensuring a seamless integration with the Print Center’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software.
  2. XMPie is built with open architecture, so future requirements are secure. The Print Center needed to be able to expand in the future to provide even more services such as emails and omnichannel campaigns.
  3. Since XMPie uses an end-to-end Adobe workflow, the Print Center could guarantee absolute brand consistency to help the audience instantly recognize the St. Norbert College brand.

Want a demo of PersonalEffect StoreFlow? Get in touch here!