Case Studies Publishing Houses

Zeitverlag Gerd Bucerius GmbH & Co. KG

Being the greatest opinion-forming periodical in Germany, DIE ZEIT with more than 488,000 sold copies week per week reaches more than 2.07 million readers. Founded in Hamburg in 1946, DIE ZEIT is published every week on Thursdays, reporting about subjects like politics and economics, culture and science, technology and medicine, society and education, travelling, lifestyle and sports.

DIE ZEIT employs some 300 employees in the editorial office and the publishing company.

Further editorial offices of DIE ZEIT are in Berlin, Brussels, London, Moscow, Paris and Washington. Correspondents are working in Frankfurt, Kapstadt, New York, Beijing and Jerusalem. Zeitverlag produces regular tabloids, magazines like ZEIT-Wissen and ZEIT-Geschichte, ZEIT Studienführer and several other publications. Zeitverlag Gerd Bucerius belongs to Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck.

The Task:

Until the changeover to K4, DIE ZEIT had been producing with the Quark Publishing System on Mac OS 9. In addition to the exchange of the editorial system the changeover of the IT infrastrcture to a new hardware and new operational systems (Mac OS X with Managed Clients / Windows XP) were part of the job.

A modern, database-driven production system was required that had already stood the test in the production processes of other large publications. At the same time the system had to be able to make all data processed in the print editorial offices available to other communication channels such as, for example, DIE ZEIT online without any additional work. Imperative was the integration into the existing IT environment. The system should deliver a reliable and high-efficient connection to the branch offices and be extremly failure-resistant. The focus on modern software standards should guarantee low operational costs and the system should remain configurable via open interfaces.


Last but not least an ergonomical user guidance, a consistent concept for versioning, status and allocation as well as a transparent view of the production status were considered essential assets in meeting the requirements of a sophisticated editorial team. Futhermore, to meet the ZEIT’s demands for quality professional tools for final editing and easy and efficient corrections were required.

The Project

During a three-months pre-project phase and prior to the roll-out of the software, various professional teams discussed and agreed on detailed amendments to the project requirements specifications. Some workflows were simulated in the software laboratory and – where necessary - customized. Following the changeover of the first department and a joint critical review of the steps, the project’s line of action was further refined. Following this procedure all further departments of DIE ZEIT inclusive of the Berlin office could be switched over to the new technique within two months. In addition SNAP supported DIE ZEIT’s technical staff during the project phase with the operation of the old system and the roll-out of the new IT infrastructure. During the changeover period, a project team was constantly at disposal. After final acceptance of the project SNAP innovation is still supporting Zeitverlag with the operation and further development of the system.

Number of workstations: 200 at the locations Hamburg und Berlin

Operational system Server: Mac OS X

Operational system Client: Mac OS X / Windows XP

Used / developed components:

• SoftCare K4
• Adobe Creative Suite
• Adobe InCopy
• MadeToPrint Auto for SoftCare K4
• MadeToPrint for
• Adobe InCopy MadeToCompare

Services:

• Comprehensive analysis of processes and requirements
• Support with the re-definition of the editorial workflows
• Installation and customizing
• Training for Adobe products, K4 Publishing System
• Accompaniment of production
• Production Support
• IT Support
• Project Management
• Documentation.

Customer Feedback:

„A sophisticated workflow for a layout-based production is one of the essential requirements of ZEIT Verlag. A further requirement was the capability to produce several publications with one system at the same time. Based on the experience of other K4 users, we were already convinced of the stability of the system even before the project started. Administration and support of the editorial system have become significantly simpler and faster.”

Frank Rödel, Technical Director, DIE ZEIT