Content Management Integrated with
DAM for Marketing Communication
Presenters:
Diane Rooney
VP, Production Services
Grand Circle Travel
Joseph Bachana
President/CEO,
DPCI
About Grand Circle Travel
Grand Circle offers 46 years of
leadership in international travel,
adventure and discovery for
Americans over 50 years old.
Headquartered in Boston, the
company has 39 offices and 2000
associates worldwide.
How things used to be
Content was in Word, Excel or on paper
Images were managed on a file server
Hard copy catalog pages were picked
up and marked up with changes
Catalog pages were done manually
Challenges of the old way
Keystroke errors
Manual layout creation was time consuming
Approval process took a long time in hard copy and
was repetitive
Design had to reformat Excel rate grid files in
QuarkXPress format
Image captions had to be written every time
Metadata for Images/Photos (who the photographer
was, location, costs) was not being maintained.
Multiple sources for product information,
necessitating return to hard copy to find the latest
Major Requirements
Support GCT’s business model as opposed to
forcing GCT to work with an application that
didn’t fit the way we work.
System had to cut production time by 33%
One repository to preserve all product and
photo information for publishing effort
Allow pricing information to be posted realtime from all worldwide offices
System must track information about photos
Other Requirements
A system that could pull pricing
information directly from the Mainframe
Simplify production process – reduce
repetitive actions
Simplify approval process – reduce
repetitive actions
System that could grow with us
Vendor Competency Exam
Researched Major Software and Service
Vendors
Interviewed Candidates
Vendor Visits
Demos and custom presentations
Reference Checks
Financials Check
What did GCT Decide To Do?
Decided a custom-built content management
system would support our unique needs,
but…
Digital Asset Management was a solution that
we could purchase
Hook the CMS into the DAM for maximum
power
Wanted personalized attention on upgrades
of our system. Didn’t want to wait for
scheduled mass upgrades
What did GCT Decide To Do?
Selected DPCI as custom solution provider
Insisted on a fixed cost and schedule for
project
Co-developed requirements definition with
DPCI for new system
Established an ROI
Coordinated DPCI and print vendor on digital
asset management implementation as well as
prepress checks on output
GCT’s ROI Proposition
Created the following ROI Criteria:
Reduce Production cycle by 33%
Reduce Creative/Production hours by 25%
Reduce Rate Grid lead-time by 2 weeks
50% Reduction in price related Brochure Errors
GCT’s ROI Results
Results gleaned in a test of one catalog run:
Grand Circle Corporation
24 Page ANZ CMS Analysis
M e as ure m e nt
Creative Hours*
Traf f ic
Production
Acct. Mgmnt
Copy
Design
Photo
Total Cre ative Hours
4/30/2002
M ar ch
2001
M ay
2002
June
2002
July
2002
5
3
21.5
21
36.5
5
92
0
4
20.5
21
30
5
80.5
0
4
20.5
21
30
5
80.5
0
3.5
17
20
16
4
60.5
Reduction in Hours May 2002-July 2002
Le ad Tim e - Days
-25%
60
45
45
Lead-time Reduction f rom May 2002 to July 2002
Cost Per Page**
Non-Creative
Product Mgrs
Finance
Inventory
Total Non-Cre ative Hours
Non-Creative Hours May 2002-July 2002
30
-33%
$115.00
9
1.5
1
11.5
$100.63 $100.63
6
1.5
1
8.5
6
1.5
1
8.5
$75.63
5
0
0.5
5.5
-35%
Constraints for Project
Minimal IT involvement at GCT
Minimal Onsite involvement early in project
Complexity of data model (business logic)
Change Management Issues
No institutionalized PM process at GCT
Design-driven magazine format was not
conducive to template-driven workflow
Exciting Features of CMS
Automate MS Excel rate grids onto design
templates with styles applied
Automate placement of text and image
content onto design pages
Automated creation of MS Word documents
directly from the CMS web interface
Automated creation of PDF documents for
approvals
Exciting Features of CMS
Link between Cumulus and CMS
Multi-caption database
Automated pickup with minimal or no
changes (catalog, individual trip)
Organizational changes
required by the new system
• New CMS required a fulltime
administrator and project manager
• Department also assigned an account
manager/traffic resource to handle
change management for CMS
• While the system required the addition of
two new resources, staff attrition was
30% after 9/11 yet promotional volume
increased 100%
New Challenges
• Web content is not integrated with CMS, but it
could be—Business issue, not technical
• Pre-trip material is stored in a Lotus Notes
database, so there is no one source for product
information. This could be consolidated with
CMS
• Pricing from mainframe could be fully integrated
with CMS, but again this is a business issue, not
technical
Thank You!
Contact Information:
Diane Rooney, Grand Circle Travel
drooney@gct.com
Joseph Bachana, DPCI
info@databasepublish.com