K4 Features and Benefits
DPCI is a certified solutions and integration partner for the K4 Publishing System. Listed below are the key features of the K4 Publishing System and the benefits of each.
Enterprise Content Technology
The K4 Publishing System is a powerful enterprise workflow management solution with a tiered architecture in which desktop and browser based clients communicate with a Web application layer that is backed by a MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, or Oracle database. All content and layouts are stored securely in the K4 database with full version control.
Desktop users connect to the K4 Publishing System using a set of Adobe InDesign or Adobe InCopy plugins. Additional browser-based functionality can be added to the K4 Publishing System to allow non-InCopy or InDesign users to participate in K4 workflows. Once a user logs in to the K4 Publishing System they have access to content based on the permissions that user has been granted.
When a user accepts a workflow task, the InDesign or InCopy file is transferred to the user’s local machine and is marked on the server as being “checked-out.” This locked status alerts all users of the system that the file is currently being modified and helps to prevent other users from accidentally overwriting a particular file. When a user is done with a task, or needs to work on it later, they check the file back in which transfers the local file back into the K4 database.
Workflow Management
The K4 Publishing System task oriented workflows makes it easy to create step-by-step tasks and milestones for editorial, design, and production workflows. Workflows can be defined for any type of content or any type of file. As content and files progress through the workflow, users are notified of new assignments through email notification or through alerts within InCopy and InDesign. The benefit of the task-based workflow is that users know exactly what jobs or functions they need to perform to complete a task and move through the workflow process. K4 workflows are adaptable for books, magazines, newspapers, journals, Website content or any other publication type.
Document Version Control
Every time a user checks a document back into the K4 Publishing System a new version is saved. Versions can also be saved intermittently while the file is open. Users can view a version history for every file and can easily go back to an earlier version if necessary. The K4 Administrator can define how many versions to save before older versions are deleted to conserve server space.
Web-based Publishing
Remote editors can access InCopy documents through a Web browser made possible by InDesign Server technology. News reporters can log into K4 and write content in the space provided on an InDesign page without having InCopy, a VPN connection, or being onsite. External contributors can make edits to their content without having InCopy or the fonts needed to preview the page. Hours of editing rounds can be saved by letting the editors make their own changes online.
Distributed Workforce
For organizations that have offices spread across the country or across continents, it can often be a challenge to integrate these offices together in a centralized and managed environment. Version control is lost when files are transferred through email or other distribution methods. The new K4 Distributed Enterprise System (DES) seeks to eliminate the need for transferring files outside of K4 to remote office, by incorporating K4 Local Data Storage (LDS). With LDS, K4 Database Servers are configured at the remote location and are synchronized with the central K4 Publishing System. Whenever a file is modified the LDS servers and the central K4 server are both updated with the current version of the file. With local access to large files, a remote user can open a document quickly because of its relative location on the LDS.
File Management
The K4 Publishing System can store and manage nearly any file type. PDFs, Photos, vector graphics, Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, and Microsoft Word documents can all be managed and versioned within task-based workflows.
Multi-Channel Publishing
The K4 Publishing System can be configured to expedite your content output to multiple channels. Using XML Exporter, you can transform your content for use on the Web, on Mobile and on eBook devices.
Tablet Publishing
The K4 Publishing System Version 6 integrates with the Adobe Digital Publishing Suite. K4 users can generate folio files and push content to the Adobe Digital Publishing Suite from right inside the K4 user panels through automated tasks. K4 can also automate the time-consuming process of creating separate horizontal and vertical layout orientations for tablet devices.
Publishing Workflow at a Glance
K4 Overview is an add-on to the K4 Publishing System. This browser-based solution gives users thumbnail views and status information for pages managed in the K4 system without needing InDesign or InCopy. Through the thumbnail view, senior editors can get an overview of an entire publication and can check on the status of each item as the publication nears completion. Users can also download PDF’s of each document to use for commenting, annotations and proofing.
