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E-Spec’s Adobe Extensions are now available for CC2015

Posted on October 29, 2015 by Anna Brindley
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E-Spec has released updated versions of all of our Adobe extensions – now compatible with CC2015.

Convert-It! for Adobe Illustrator

  • Provides alternate file formats; JPG, PNG, PSD and PDF
  • Separates assets contained on artboards or layer/sub-layers into individual files
  • Similar to Photoshop “export asset” feature

Tag-It! for Adobe Illustrator

  • Collects and embeds XMP metadata; standard or custom fields
  • Validates metadata with “pick lists”
  • Some metadata can be required
  • Metadata is mapped to your business systems

Route-It! for Adobe Illustrator

  • Sends images and metadata to business system API’s
  • Configured with authorization
  • No user interaction required

In-Cat! for Adobe InDesign

  • Automate creation of InDesign publications
  • Templates are mapped to your database
  • Search for items, select template and create a publication with a single click
  • Later update all images and data with another single click

For more information visit our website: www.e-spec.net or contact us at sales@e-spec.net

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Posted in Press Release | Tagged Adobe Extensions, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, API's, Apparel, CC2015, Consumer Goods, DAM, DAM system, data integration, designers, Digital Asset Management, JPG Conversion, metadata, metatagging, PDF Conversion, photographs, PLM, PLM Integrations, PNG, PNG Conversion, Retail, technical designers, technical drawings, XML Metadata | Leave a reply

Images Drive Your Business

Posted on October 21, 2015 by Anna Brindley
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Images Drive your Business copy

Images drive your business.  A design sketch initiates a new product. Technical details are captured in images used to tell a vendor how to build the product. Photos market the new product to consumers. Logos identify the product as yours. When problems arise in manufacturing, pictures document the defects. Sales and inventory reports include images as a reference. Customer service agents use pictures to ensure they are talking about the correct item. Websites require multiple images of the same product. Store signage must have large versions of the pictures.  Marketing needs pictures of the product being used. If your company creates products, images are involved in every aspect of your business.Most companies treat images as after thoughts – something that must accompany their data. Images are lumped together on departmental systems; each department maintaining their own copies and trying to ensure they have the latest and correct version of the image. When enterprise software systems are implemented, they may capture images and include them as part of “one version of the truth”, but the truth is: not every one uses the enterprise software – but everyone uses images.

Linear Workflow Ends in DAM

Previously, the product development department would hand products over to marketing, sales and production in a linear fashion. In today’s world speed to market requires all these tasks to be performed in parallel; the hand-offs are not done all at once. They are iterative. There are plenty of solutions being offered to help automate this complicated workflow and communications, but they still treat images as overhead and attachments.

In the linear workflow, the Digital Asset Management (DAM) system is at the end of the process. Assets are stored when they are complete; the DAM is more of a repository or archive.

dam ending

Make DAM the Hub

In the world of today, the DAM system needs to be involved up front. DAM is the hub of your business, enabling the images to drive the process.

How?

  • Define common attributes – enterprise taxonomy and vocabulary The first step towards implementing an enterprise approach to integration is to define the terminology used by each department and their business systems. This exercise includes mapping of the attributes between systems and documenting the allowed values. Relationships between the attributes should also be captured, such as “one-to-many” and “many-to-one”.
  • Use embedded metadata – standard and custom Adobe’s XMP is the industry standard for formatting metadata. It is used in JPGs created by most cameras and previous metadata standards have adopted XMP versions. The current standards contain fields for common elements (especially for photography and publishing) but the power of XMP is the ability to define your own custom schema and tags. Custom fields are used to store your taxonomy and vocabulary.
  • Use system’s API’s (RESTful and SOAP if you haven’t upgraded in a while) It used to be common for business systems to have an “open” database. This allowed integration to be accomplished at the database level. Today it is more common for the vendor to supply Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). These API’s are now adopting industry standard so integration can be performed more easily and in a more generic fashion. The first standard to become popular in recent years was SOAP but this has rapidly been replaced by RESTful APIs. In both cases the syntax is similar to XML (as in the XMP standard), allowing straightforward implementations.
  • Collect metadata early at origin To make this integration support your workflow, metadata needs to be collected as early as possible; collect all the attributes that are known at creation and add new ones as soon as they can be identified. Make the data collection as easy and non-obtrusive as possible – the fewer keystrokes the better. 
  • Define common metadata with subsets for user groups/departments As you collect metadata, you need to keep the dialogs as uncluttered as possible. You want to provide the user with only the attribute fields they are concerned with. The file may have many more fields embedded, but the user doesn’t need to see or deal with all of them. Typically you can divide the attributes up by user group or workflow task. This makes user adoption much easier.

hub

An Ideal Scenario

A designer sketches a product design in Adobe Illustrator. Metadata is collected: season, collection, gender, design number, designer’s name and other attributes. The metadata is embedded in the Illustrator file. A JPG version of the file is created and sent to the PLM system along with the metadata. If the metadata points to an existing record, the image is added to that record; if the record does not exist, it is created and the image is added. At the same time a PNG (with transparent background) is sent to an internal website used for cross-departmental communications. The original AI file is cataloged in the DAM system.

The product development advances to the point where a sample is requested from a manufacturing vendor.  When the sample arrives, it is sent to the photo studio for photos. As the photos are being processed, metadata is added to the files (sample number, season, collection, gender, design number, designer’s name and other attributes). The photos are cataloged by the DAM system. It is now possible for systems to use the metadata from their sketch files (JPGs or PNGs) to query the DAM system and retrieve the photos.

As the PLM and ERP systems exchange data, records in the ERP now also match the metadata. The internal website can provide data from a group of styles from multiple systems. By selecting the Season/Collection images, queries can return pricing data from one system, color and size data from another, and sales statistics from yet another system.

A customer service representative can use the image to verify that they are referencing the correct product and then use the metadata to access data from the other systems to respond to the customer’s inquiry. This same functionality can be built in to a “self-service” customer service website.

The Key

The key is to create embedded metadata that combines to build indexes of unique records in every business system. Self-aware images and metadata drive your business workflow and processes.

This article originally appeared in WhichPLM? http://www.whichplm.com/editors-choice/images-drive-your-business.html

Posted in Blog | Tagged Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Plug ins, API's, Apparel Designer, DAM, DAM system, Digital Asset Management, Digital Asset Manager, image workflow, metadata, metatagging, Photoshop, PLM, workflow, XMP Metadata | Leave a reply

Generic Tools–The Key to Simple Integration

Posted on October 6, 2015 by Anna Brindley
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E-Spec-Header-Simple1

After my last article, “PLM Integrations with Adobe Illustrator – Keep It Simple”, I have been asked to expound on the correct simple approach. Our experience is that when the integration is too specific or customized to one particular business system, it limits the user’s flexibility when providing similar content to other destinations. Creative users do not live in a single system vacuum; their content can be used and re-purposed by many other people and systems within the enterprise.Our integration approach is based on:

  • Industry standard metadata
  • Industry standard API’s (usually RESTful but previously SOAP)
  • Separating multiple assets from a single file
  • Tools to configure/map the metadata and API’s without programming
  • Reusable tools – not customized per system, customer or particular installation

First – Identify Attributes

The first step is to identify the attributes that define a unique item (product, asset, object, style, etc.). In most of our customers, this is Style # and season; sometimes Style #, color, season, size or size range. The combination of these values will identify a unique record in all systems across the enterprise. Associating an image to these values enables the image to be linked to multiple systems.

Other attributes also need to be identified; the taxonomy and vocabulary of the enterprise. This is an exercise in determining the proper nomenclature, knowing what each system calls every attribute. This will allow information to be exchanged between systems.

Creating Metadata Fields

tagitdesk1We provide our customers with a tool to create the metadata fields. We use Adobe’s XMP metadata standard to create custom XMP fields; these can be text, memo (multi-line text), date, combo boxes (pick lists) and check box fields. The field definitions look very similar to XML.

We provide a series of tools that can be configured by the customer to match their requirements. Our metadata collection tools are configured per user/user group. Each configuration is designed to minimize keystrokes for the user. Only the fields the user is concerned with are included. Where possible, default values are assigned to reduce data entry. We collect the metadata as the image is created, embedding the unique identifying data inside the image file. Additional descriptive or informational metadata can also be collected and saved in the file.

Separate Multiple Images

An additional tool is used to separate the multiple images that are contained in a single file. These images are typically separated by layer/sub-layer or by artboards. These derived files will also have the same metadata embedded in them as the original file has.

For systems that “catalog” files (like Digital Asset Management systems), this is enough as these systems will read the metadata and import it with the image into the system. For other systems we provide tools that will write the metadata and the image (or image path) directly to their database. If the database is proprietary or encrypted, we provide tools that will communicate with the system’s API’s to allow the metadata and the image to be imported into the system.

To help automate the integration, “target” locations (folders) are used. Most companies already have something similar in place; users have their individual work areas to store their working files and when the files are ready to enter the workflow, they are saved to shared locations so others can access the files. These shared locations become our “targets”. When a file is saved (or updated) in a target destination, the metadata dialog is displayed and all required fields (typically the unique attributes) must be provided. The file is separated into its individual images and the files routed as defined in the configuration.

Unique Approaches by Companies

Different companies use these tools to solve their unique integration challenges in different ways. One company uses this approach to tie their Illustrator files to the BOM maintained in their ERP system. Another separates the images into both JPG and PNG files; the JPGs are sent to their PLM system while the PNGs are used in their website (transparent PNGs allow the image to maintain the background of the website). The JPGs are later provided to their ERP, sourcing system and data warehouse. With each image, the metadata is used to create and update records in each system. Since the data is “sync’d” between systems, it is possible to query related data across multiple systems.

Another customer implements this approach to integrate Illustrator files to their Digital Asset Management (DAM) system. The DAM acts as an integration hub feeding data and images to all their other business systems. Any changes made to the images or metadata are fed downstream via the DAM.

By using generic tools configured with industry standards, this approach has provided integration with dozens of DAM, PLM, ERP and other business systems. This approach is not limited to just Adobe Illustrator files as many file types now support custom XMP metadata; even files that don’t support XMP can participate using “sidecar” XML files. Even image files can be related to each other; if the design sketch has the same identifying metadata as a photo, a sample’s photo can be used in a report replacing the previous sketch. The opposite can also happen; a customer service representative can access the design specs for a product by using the metadata contained in the catalog’s photo of the product.

When the data is collected at its origin and passed along with the image, the image becomes the driver for the workflow through the enterprise.

This article originally appeared in WhichPLM: http://www.whichplm.com/editors-choice/generic-tools-the-key-to-simple-integration.html

Posted in Blog | Tagged Adobe, Adobe CC, Adobe Extensions, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Plug ins, Apparel, Apparel Designer, attributes, busines intellegence, business systems, Consumer Goods, data integration, data tagging, metadata, metatagging, PLM, PLM Integrations, XMP Metadata | Leave a reply

Not all images are created equally

Posted on May 29, 2015 by Anna Brindley
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Equal-copy
Not all images are created equally, so why do we try to manage them in the same way or within a single system?

Image overload

In recent years the number of images a company must deal with has exploded. What used to be a few sketches, pattern pieces and photos has become a mountain of Illustrator files, digital photos, PDFs and images downloaded from the internet. Images are used as inspiration, to convey design concepts, to provide details to vendors, to maintain brand identity, for consumer interaction, for almost every transaction and interaction that occurs, there is an image.

Back in the day

In the past many business systems contained no images, then a few started to include “thumbnails” for browsing and reporting. Most images were maintained in product systems and marketing systems. Departments and individuals managed their own images as best they could; using the file system tools provided by their operating systems and networks.

What’s in a name?

Most of the organization was implemented using folders and sub-folders along with “intelligent” file names. Over the years prefixes and suffixes ran out of room, so most of the “intelligence” was lost. Many business systems had file name restrictions on length and special characters, further limiting the “intelligence” of the file names.  This also meant that in newer systems more descriptive (and longer) names were used, making integration with the older systems a challenge.

Bandaids

Many departments started using various applications to help manage their images; PDM/PLM systems in product development areas and DAM systems in marketing departments are typical. These are what I refer to as “point solutions”; they only addressed the immediate needs of the departmental users. Little or no thought was expended to other users of the same images and typically there was little enforcement of rules; users still maintain their own images, submitting only the bare minimum to the departmental systems. User share folders on the network continue to explode. The typical IT reaction was to add hard drive space; enabling the problem further.

Recently Master Data Management (MDM) and Product Information Management (PIM) initiatives and systems have come into play. While these don’t address images directly, they do try to enable enterprise-level consistency of data about the company’s products and services. This data is “data about data” – metadata. Most of these initiatives still treat images as an afterthought rather than the lifeblood of the company’s creativity and workflow.

Solution- An Enterprise Approach

What is required to achieve industry best practice in regard to images is an enterprise approach. This approach must include enterprise taxonomy and an enterprise structured vocabulary. Taxonomy creates the classifications for the business; division, department, product type, season, collection – how the business attributes are organized. The vocabulary creates the nomenclature; being structured means everyone uses the same values or names, across departments, systems and users. The taxonomy and vocabulary must be consistent across all business systems so the data elements are easily exchanged allowing for integration.

With an enterprise taxonomy and vocabulary in place, images can be “tagged” with compliant metadata allowing the image to be accessed via the metadata by any user from any system. Best practice is to embed the metadata into the file itself, this allows the image to move (or be copied) from system to system, location to location and still retain the information. The image becomes “self-aware”.

The first metadata attribute should be “image type”. Each image type will have a subset of metadata attributes associated with it. Fabric images will have a different subset of attributes than a style sketch or a sample photo. Each subset will have common enterprise attributes to relate the image to its workflow, users and systems. Having the enterprise level standards allow images to participate in multiple workflows and systems.

Implementing an enterprise level DAM (Digital Asset Management) system enables the sharing of images from a single source. DAM systems don’t have to move or create additional copies of the images; they catalog and index the images in their current locations. Metadata is extracted form the images and imported into the DAM database allowing easy access to the images and the metadata.  Images can be “served” with the proper file format and resolution from the original source file tracked by the DAM. Applications can access images on demand or they can be “copied” as required. If the metadata is embedded in the copy of the images, the applications continue to have access to the metadata.

Folders, sub-folders and file names can still help manage the images but with the addition of embedded metadata and an enterprise DAM, images are no longer locked into “point solution” databases or departmental network share locations. All users and applications can access the images as they progress through their workflows.  The ever-growing image repositories can be managed.

Benefit

Images now drive your business rather than filling your network storage and clogging your business processes.

Posted in Blog | Tagged Adobe Illustrator, Apparel, Apparel Designer, Consumer Goods, DAM, data, Designer, Digital Asset Management, digital photos, Freckled Chicken, IT, MDM, metadata, metatagging, PDM, Photoshop, PIM, PLM, Retail, Retail Systems, technical drawings, XMP Metadata | Leave a reply

E-Spec’s Tag-It! -an informational webinar

Posted on December 1, 2014 by Anna Brindley
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E-Spec’s Tag-It! makes it easy to apply custom and standard XMP metadata to your assets and files.

In a nutshell:

Tag-It!:
• Collects metadata and embeds it in the Adobe Illustrator (.ai) file and all Convert-It! generated alternative files
When importing an image into a Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) system, the Designer is typically required to also enter relevant data into the PLM system. This means opening PLM, manually importing the image and then entering data into PLM before saving the image. By embedding the metadata in the image, the PLM system can automatically import the image along with the metadata and place both the image and the data into the PLM database. If the image or the metadata is modified the PLM system can automatically update the database.
Tag-It! allows the Designer to stay in the Illustrator application, simply entering the metadata and saving the file. The Designer does not need to switch to the PLM system, saving time and eliminating mistakes.
• Implements business rules while entering the metadata
Tag-It! is configured to match the metadata to the customer defined fields and standard fields in the PLM system. Features like required fields, validation lists, dependent validation lists, default values and hidden fields allow Tag-It! to provide valid data to the PLM system with minimum user interaction.
Tag-It! makes it easy for the Designer to provide the required data. Default values mean that repetitive data does not have to be entered. For example: If I usually work in “mens”, the division field can be defaulted to “mens”; if I am working on an exception, a  “kids” style; I simply select “kids from the list. If I always work in “mens”, the division field can be defaulted to “mens” and also hidden so I don’t even see the field in Tag-It!’s dialog but the value “mens” is still embedded in the file. Dependent fields allow Tag-It! to provide only valid data to the PLM system. If the product type field is dependent on the division field then when I select “mens” the validation list for product type displays “pants”, “shorts”, “jeans”; when I select “womens” in the division field the validation list for product type changes to “dresses”, “skirts”, “pants”, etc. This means that valid data is provided to the PLM system.
Posted in Webinar Recording | Tagged Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Plug ins, apparel designers, attributes, business systems, designers, E-Spec, Fashion, metadata, metatagging, PLM, Product Lifecyle Management, Retail, XMP Metadata | Leave a reply

Enterprise Digital Workflow and what it means

Posted on November 12, 2014 by Anna Brindley
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Learn how to create a digital media workflow using metadata and automated integration tools from E-Spec!
Create media assets Identify attributes using metadata Convert assets to useable file formats Deliver assets to databases, systems and websites Publish line sheets, catalogs, and other electronic documents.

Posted in Blog | Tagged Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Partner, Adobe Plug ins, Catalogs, Digital Asset Management, Digital Asset Manager, Line sheets, metadata, metatagging, XMP Metadata | Leave a reply

One way a leading apparel company keeps designers happy…

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Anna Brindley
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A Case Study for E-Spec’s Convert It!, Tag-It!, and Image Importer for YuniquePLM

download-5

Client Description

http://www.cutterbuck.com/ Cutter & Buck, Inc. was founded in 1989, in Seattle, Washington, with an eye towards making premium sportswear and outerwear in styles with distinctive details, quality craftsmanship, and the finest fabrics. We embrace our regional heritage with a brand identity that embodies Genuine Spirit of the Pacific Northwest. Staying true to our proud tradition of creating high-quality performance sportswear for over 20 years, we have evolved from a niche-specialty brand to a global lifestyle brand, with a large selection of modern classic apparel and accessories for people who naturally thrive between an urban and outdoor lifestyle.

Business Problem

Cutter & Buck offers many color ways of a particular style. For them, they will have all the various color ways of a style contained in a single Adobe Illustrator file. Designers prefer to keep this single file with each color way on a separate layer for the sake easy access and speed of future editing purposes. The problem with working this way was that the files needed to be separated as individual files by color way for their PLM system as well as for use in their customer catalogs.

E-Spec Solution

By implementing E-Spec’s Convert-It!, Tag-It!, and Image Importer for YuniquePLM, a process that used to take hours is now performed in minutes. With these tools, the Designers simply save the AI files normally using Tag-It! to identify the image with basic style information. On save each color way within the file is saved behind the scenes as a separate AI and JPG file that are fed into the YuniquePLM database and linked to the appropriate style record. Additional copies of the individual color way AI files are also delivered to the Art department where they are color corrected for print and placed into an InDesign document for catalog creation. “Our Designers absolutely love it”, said Dean Dunlop, Network/Storage Systems Administrator. “ E-Spec is one of the best companies that I deal with”, he said when asked about our customer service.

Technologies Used

E-Spec Convert It!

E-Spec Tag-It! for Illustrator

E-Spec Image Importer for Gerber YuniquePLM

Business Benefits

-Huge time savings reducing a process that took hours down to one that takes only minutes

-Fewer mistakes with file changes as edits automatically update in PLM and the catalog

-Designers are happy to spend more time in creative tools and less time on data entry

Posted in Case Study | Tagged Apparel, apparel designers, Cutter and Buck, designers, metatagging, PLM, XMP Metadata, YuniquePLM | Leave a reply

Does your business process include enterprise image management?

Posted on October 28, 2014 by Anna Brindley
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Here are 5 reasons it should:

1 Your images have a lifecycle too. Metadata should be entered by the creator and updated throughout the workflow.

2 Your metadata matters. It should be consistent, searchable, and easy for the users to enter and in some cases collected automatically.

3 How many clicks do your creators use to save their files in other formats for downstream systems and departments? These formats should be automatically created on save; and each time you edit later.

4 Is your file directory a huge navigation mess? The filing structure should be created automatically based on consistent file information that is saved within the file.

5 Need to know information about that image downstream? Look it up in the stored metadata. It’s all there because your images are now self aware.

Posted in Blog | Tagged Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Lightroom, metadata, metatagging | Leave a reply

Creating Digital Asset Workflows using Metadata –How to make your files Self-Aware

Posted on October 23, 2014 by Anna Brindley
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dal

Creating Digital Workflows using Metadata or How to make your files Self-Aware

My company, E-Spec has been using Adobe XMP metadata for over 8 years now. I began following Digital Asset Management (DAM) groups when I joined LinkedIn a few years ago. I continue to be amazed at how perception of the same technology can vary based on your background. The DAM view seems to be that metadata is primarily a tool for retrieval of assets (in most cases images) with a historical tilt towards an archive solution. E-Spec views metadata as a means for system integration and reducing redundant data entry in the business process. I would like to solicit some discussion — how can these different views can work together to create more robust DAM and integration solutions.

Keywords vs. Attributes

Our mantra for process improvement is “collect the data at the source and eliminate redundant data entry between systems”. The data of interest is “attribute” data whether it is product attributes, image attributes or file attributes. As the user “publishes” their content for collaboration, they know certain attributes. The goal is to capture these attributes just as the users share their files. Most corporate creative departments allow each user a personal workspace (still on the network so IT maintains the backups) and provide “share” locations where users can collaborate together on this content. In the shared locations, we find “attributes” are maintained using folder/sub-folder structures and specific “coding” in the actual file names (did you bring your Dick Tracy decoder ring?). The types of attributes might be the consumer/customer of the content, the type of content or other product information; for example in the fashion world: season, collection, product type, gender, size range, etc.

What I have observed from the DAM discussions is more of a content emphasis; the keywords represent the visual content in the file; the image is of a “dog”, a “retriever”, a “golden retriever” and it is in a “fenced yard”, in the “mountains”, etc. Back to the fashion example, the keywords might include; “dress”, “knee-high”, “floral pattern”, “sleeveless” – things that anyone looking at the file can see. Note that some of these keywords might also be considered attributes, but many attributes could not be derived by observing the contents of the file. From looking at the dress, I cannot tell that it belongs to a particular season (Fall 2015) or is intended for a particular customer (Macy’s) or a marketing collection (Martha Stewart). So while attributes and keywords are related and even overlap, their methods of collection may be different.

Attached vs. Embedded

Another distinction I have observed in the different approaches is how the data is captured. The DAM system catalogs the files and keywords are entered in a database with links to the file (asset). Some of the data may or may not be embedded in the file but a large portion of the data is only contained in the database (a general observation – varies by system/vendor). If the asset is checked out the linked data may or may not travel with the asset. Our approach has been to immediately embed attribute data in the file; if the file is moved or copied the attributes still exist in the file (the asset has become “self-aware”). If I make a copy of the file and send it to another department for use in their business system, the attribute data is available to integrate the file with other existing business data. If I place the file in a shared “drop box”, the recipient still has access to the attributes in his copy of the file. And if I provide the file to a DAM system, the attributes can be extracted and included with the keywords already being entered. Embedding attributes in the file means the file knows to whom and where it belongs, it knows which external data elements are relevant to it and it can be a conduit for system/data integration.

Self-aware Documents

The optimum approach is to create the attribute taxonomy and vocabulary to match the business applications used in the enterprise workflow. A sub-set of the attributes can be used to identify a key to a single record in a particular database; different sub-sets for different systems. The creative user is creating an image to be used in producing the previous discussed dress. As they save their work to the shared location, they know some of the attributes; season, customer, collection, gender, product type. As other users work with them, other attributes become known; size range, color, target price, etc. At some point an ID is assigned (prototype #, style #, etc.). Sending a copy of this file to a product development database, a unique record can be created for this style using the embedded attributes. The product development system will then collect additional data about our dress as it progresses through the product workflow (sampling, sourcing, production). This data might be related to the fit of the dress, the required components to make the dress and even the cost. If another copy of the file is sent to an inventory/production system, a unique record can be created there as well. Additional data will be collected regarding factories, ship dates, quantities, etc. Other copies of the file might be sent to e-commerce websites, sourcing systems, etc. The file is provided to our DAM system as well. A user can use the DAM system to find the dress and knowing the attributes, can query the other business systems to get information such as status, sales results or any other data in those databases related to our dress. The dress image has become self-aware!

This does not replace or interfere with the traditional DAM approach; it simply provides some data (attributes) earlier in the cycle. Keywords can still be added to our dress (“floral print”, “roses”, etc.) at any point.

The integration doesn’t stop with business systems. At some point a photo is taken of our dress to be used in a catalog. If we embed the same attributes in the photo, then later when customer service gets a call about the pink floral dress in the catalog, the metadata can be used to look up in the inventory system how many size 6’s are in stock; they can look up in the product system if the dress fits the same as last season’s model, etc. The photo can take me to the original sketch and from there to the rest of the enterprise.

The point is the taxonomy and vocabulary requirements are different when using metadata for integration and need to be included in your DAM implementation planning – it can’t be added after the fact.

In creative and graphic-intensive enterprises, the DAM system can become the hub of data integration by using “self-aware” images.

About E-Spec, Inc.

E-Spec, Inc. (founded in 2001) offers a suite of Adobe extensions and other tools to establish a digital media workflow within the creative process. Free yourself from the mundane work of identifying, converting, publishing and tracking of media files and focus on what you do best, create!

Dan Hudson, President E-Spec, Inc. dan@e-spec.net

Posted in White Paper | Tagged Apparel, attributes, Consumer Goods, DAM, DAM system, data integration, Digital Asset Management, Digital Asset Manager, Fashion, file attributes, metatagging, system integration, XMP Metadata | Leave a reply

Are your creative teams spending too much time pushing paper?

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Anna Brindley
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A Case Study:

Convert-It!, Tag-It!, and Route-It! allow designers to focus on creative tasks.

Client Description

A Southern California apparel company with a unique style and emphasis on skateboarding, surfing, music, and “fun”.

Business Problem

Product Designers wanted to be able to use their beloved Adobe Illustrator and nothing more. Data was being handed off to a data analyst to be re-keyed into business systems taking way to much time and creating vulnerability to errors in data. This company needed a way to reduce labor costs while keeping designers happy.

E-Spec Solution

The implementation of E-Spec’s Convert-It!, Tag-It! and Route-It! allowed designers to remain in Adobe Illustrator and trigger a workflow by tagging AI files with pertinent metadata as they are saved, automatically converting copies of the AI files on the fly to a format their business systems can understand, and delivering the copies to two waiting business systems behind the scenes. With these tools the company was able to automate some very manual tasks and reduce errors.

 

“We were able to re-assign a data analyst thus reducing the overall labor costs of the product design area. Our number one goal was to keep our designers in the tool they use most—Adobe Illustrator. This lead to an overall increased satisfaction rate for our designers.” – IT Business Consulting Manager

 

Having originally implemented the solution with Gerber’s WebPDM product development system, when the decision was made to switch to Innovative Systems’ Full Circle ERP product, E-Spec was able to redirect the movement of the images on the backend without changing the process for end users.

Technologies Used

  • E-Spec Convert-It! for Adobe Illustrator
  • E-Spec Tag-It! for Adobe Illustrator
  • E-Spec Route-It! for Adobe Illustrator
  • In house developed web service API for custom business database and Full Circle ERP

 

Business Benefits

  • Labor reduction allowing data analyst that had to re-key information into 2 business systems to be reassigned
  • Fewer clerical errors
  • Increased job satisfaction for Designers
  • Increased performance of image and data creation

Request a Consultation

Posted in Case Study | Tagged Adobe Illustrator, apparel designers, business systems, designers, E-Spec, ERP, Full Circle, Gerber Technology, metadata, metatagging, PLM, XMP | Leave a reply

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