Template Central Web to Print Launch in June
1Background
A web to print system, Template Central, is being launched in Juneto enable schools and directorates to produce high quality marketing materials, on-brand quickly. The system works very much in the way that Moonpig does to allow people to customise designs with their own text and images.
The new system will free up the university’s internal design resource in marketing and communications to manage more complex design and branding, providing additional savings to the university on external design costs. The graphic design team have since their formation within marketing in June 2013 produced over 1333 hours of design work - a saving for the University of over £90,000 in equivalent external design costs.
2Implementation
To make the process of ordering print more efficient and within the “corporate image”, Marketing and Communications and Procurement have joined forces to introduceTemplate Central with pre-designed templates for users to populate with text that would be in the correct “house style”.Templates on the system include posters, course profiles, leaflets, booklets, invitations and standard University stationery that can be ordered through template central. Print against the design generated is ordered via the University E Procurement system to make sure that the correct workflow and approvals are in place at the time of ordering.
Training sessions are taking place on 3, 4 and 12 June. All people currently ordering print on Parabalis have been invited to take part in these sessions and further sessions will be organised as the system is rolled out across the university. We’ll be arranging some further sessions. If you want to book on the training, contact Gay Higgins 34910.
Schools and Departments are currently obtaining a same day or next day service for basic print items when using on site facilities, the majority of basic print requirements supplied by CDS are on a 2 to 3 day lead-time. Schools and Departments will have to include this in their planning timescales and not leave the request until the very last moment. However, the use of template design should speed up the turnaround of design work.
Follow this link to download the user guide
Pricing
When designs are created you will be given details of the price for the item you are designing. As an indication here is the pricing matrix that the system uses.
3EU Tender
Due to the value print at the university the supplier for the web to print system, was selected following EU Procurement Legislation, including advertising in the European Journal, Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ), shortlisting, invitation to tender and presentations.
The tender documentation was evaluated and presentations were held in the presence of:
John McCarthy- Marketing
Susan Craig- Marketing
Kirsty Smith- Marketing
Linda Sutton- Procurement
Caroline Merritt- Faculty of HumSS
Andy Lawrence- Faculty of Science
Mike Lancaster- Faculty of Health
The print contract was awarded to Corporate Document Services (CDS) in October 2013.