IEEE Workflow Management System

STM E-Production Seminar3 December 2009

London, UKDawn Melley

Director, Periodicals Editorial ServicesIEEE

Move to Electronic Publishing Has Transformed Publishing Process

• Volume of articles published has grown steadily

• Web-based peer review = increased submissions• E-first publication allows for faster dissemination

• Primary delivery model and “copy of record” have shifted from print to electronic

• Focus of periodical process has become article-by-article electronic publication

• DOIs for citation• Online issues can reduce frequency of print • Build issues in IEEE Xplore one article at a time

Working to Improve the Journal E-Article Environment

• Processing and publishing single articles is faster than waiting for all articles for an issue to be completed – speed of publication improves

• IEEE uses two models for single article delivery:• Pre-print model (accepted, unedited version)• Rapid Post model (final copy-edited version)• These models are similar to those used by other publishers

• Print schedule:• Issue production time reduced by almost 20%

• IEEE Workflow Management System (WMS) launched at the end of 2007 to support an all-digital journal workflow

• Extract author-supplied source files directly from Manuscript Central upon acceptance

• Now able to track text, graphics and ancillary files in our processing queue

WMS Improves Efficiency of Journal Production Process

• WMS is used by the IEEE Publishing Operations Department to:

• Streamline and automate the editorial/production process

• Provide the ability to quickly adapt to changing business conditions

• Worked with consultants to build IEEE customizations into third-party software

• Built in phases, beginning with vendor proposals in 2004 and ending with launch in late 2007

• Rolled out in 2008

Vendor Selection Process Was Detailed & Comprehensive

• Did site visits to see existing journal production CMSs

• Looked at a number of proposals, based on all leading CMS available at the time

• Documentum• Other proprietary systems

• Reviewed detailed written proposals• Invited leading contenders in for

presentations• Evaluated vendors using an evaluation

matrix

Matrix Captured Elements Most Important to IEEE

• Vendor criteria• References• Prior experience• Directly related experience (work on other publishing projects)• Financial stability• Technological stability of proposed platform

• Quality of the SOW• Resources (amount & quality)• Shows understanding of project• Proposed development process• Point of contact

• Cost of project• Proposed schedule--realistic?• Presentation

• Well-organized• Responsive• Demonstrates an understanding of IEEE’s business

Selected a Documentum-Based System Building on Existing Solution

• Worked with Flatirons Solutions to customize PubFusion, a system built for Wolters Kluwer

• Purchased base code and customized extensively to fit IEEE needs

• Worked in phases, using an iterative design process

• Phase 1: Functional specs, solution design• Phase 2: Core functionality• Phase 3: Automation• Phase 4: Integrations

Defining Requirements, Developing Workflows & Designing UIs Took Time

• Core team identified to work with Flatirons to review process in detail

• Started in 2004, system went live at end 2007• Called in larger groups of stakeholders for

review & input as portions of system were being developed

• First step was to review existing workflows• Workflow development in process while UI

prototypes were built, reviewed, refined, and then reviewed and refined again

• Reviewing as the system was being developed was critical to success

WMS Is Based on an End-to-End Digital Workflow

• All articles and other materials for publication are imported directly from external systems (i.e., online peer review systems)

• The ability to import manually exists• Articles move through the production process

based on pre-defined workflows, milestones trigger the update of schedule information

• Important not to over-engineer—need flexibility to react to changing business needs

• Contact with authors, EICs, IEEE staff, and others is done through system portals

WMS Provides All Involved With Real-Time Information About Content in Our Queue

• Through web-based portals, WMS gives authors, editors-in-chief, and society staff the ability to

• Check the status of an article• What has happened, what will happen and when

• Update personal information (bio, photo, contact information)

• Review article proof and submit alterations• Contact IEEE editorial staff• Review the queue of articles available for publication

(EIC/society)• Create issue line-ups (EIC/society)• View information about page budget and pages

published (EIC/society)

Other Benefits of WMS Include Component-Level Content Management &

Enhanced Reporting• WMS is designed to manage our content at

the component level• Figures, photos, multimedia, text• This will prepare us to act on opportunities for

component-based publishing• Better, more automated tracking through the

production process allows for more detailed reporting

• Audit trails, milestones, and system events can all be used to create meaningful, targeted reports

Training End Users Is a Critical Part of the Process

• Staff training was done using• Demos• FAQs• User guide• Weekly open user group meetings• Expert Users on the floor• Blog site• Centralized help desk

• Despite best efforts, training & documentation were challenging

• Training of authors and IEEE volunteers done using FAQs and user guides, along with webinars for editorial offices

What Does WMS Look Like?• Screen shots illustrate some system

highlights• Inbox view: editorial staff interact with WMS

through the inbox• Highly customized to provide ability to organize work in

different ways• Tasks sortable by columns• Additional filters to screen visible tasks by type,

publication, issue• Metadata

• Used to automate the production process, for reporting, and to track performance to schedule

• Detailed tracking of process/system events• Easily identify bottlenecks• Analyze where time is lost/gained• Measure staff productivity

Extensive use of metadata to drive automation and reporting

Detailed tracking of process is possible

Review and edit issue line up: change order of articles;

add/delete articles throughdrag & drop

Specify appropriate journals;provide expiration date

Track pages used as % of annual budget;view page count details for each issue

Update contact information as oftenas needed, in one place—

new information will be used by all editorial staff

The Author Gateway- an Author Connection to the IEEE

Landing Page

Author ProfileCreate & maintain profile;

biography to be used as needed byIEEE staff

Tracking Articles Through Production With the Article Tracker

Milestones & Status

Article TrackerView status of each article in progress:

What stage of production?Is proof available for review?

What happens next?