You might be familiar with the following scenario: You regularly create extensive print and online products such as product catalogues, price lists, or data sheets. Do you struggle with an overwhelming flood of data, such as images, videos, or other documents? And do you also lose valuable time manually entering the data into InDesign?

We will show you how to avoid such scenarios and how to make your workflows in print production more efficient.

How to simplify workflows, manage assets, automate layouts

Workflows for publishing large marketing and communication documents can be much easier with database publishing. With database publishing, structured data, images, and videos from databases such as our digital asset management system Cavok can be integrated into defined layout templates in InDesign. This can be done with automation plugins for InDesign, such as EasyCatalog by 65bit, distributed by our partnerUST GmbH.

In this context, Cavok DAM and EasyCatalog are the perfect match:

Cavok serves companies dealing with extensive print and online documents - including image material - as a platform for managing and organising their digital assets. It provides a central place for these assets and enables easy access for internal and external users. The advantage: Assets can be enhanced with custom metadata such as file size, name, format, creation and modification date, article number, or size. As a user, you can not only easily find your assets but also automatically integrate them into other applications. When it comes to catalogue production with InDesign, this is done via the Cavok interface for EasyCatalog.

With EasyCatalog, you can import data for print and online production from various data sources directly into InDesign, thus creating layouts efficiently and automatically, and paginate and pre-produce catalogues. You work within the InDesign environment and navigate intuitively, while the rest runs in the background. Data sources are either simple text files or Excel files, structured XML files, or digital assets from Cavok.

A practical example – more efficient catalogue design through automation

The production of the approx. 700-page annual catalogue of a renowned company for hunting and outdoor supplies shows how Cavok and EasyCatalog are successfully used in combination. The catalogue is produced as print product and for browsing online.

A 14-member graphics team is responsible for creating and designing the catalogue's double pages in InDesign. The print and online browsing catalogue contains all information about the products offered. In the past, this production process meant a significant amount of manual work for the team. Since 2022, processes have been largely automated—thanks to the combination of EasyCatalog, Cavok, which serves as a PIM replacement in the company, SAP, and an online shop system.

Since Cavok was launched, each double page has been individually designed and structured using Cavok, whereas EasyCatalog has generated a consolidated view in InDesign through double-page pagination. Data such as sizes, colours, prices including strikethrough prices, item texts, and brands are imported from SAP, while images and logos are integrated from Cavok. This is driven by a specially developed algorithm that queries the respective data sources. Company-specific templates are also used whenever necessary. Before the graphics team actually begins to further process and refine the double pages, the catalogue has already been pre-produced up to 80-90 percent via EasyCatalog.

Should any last-minute changes to prices or images be necessary after completion of the catalogue, the staff can now implement these changes much easier than befor. The document can be updated at the push of a button, including the changes, ensuring that the data from the respective source is displayed in the correct place within the document.

The combination of Cavok and EasyCatalog also enables seamless synchronisation with the company's separately maintained online shop system, Agora. This ensures that the information from the catalogue is synchronised and available in the online shop. Although the print production and the shop may have different texts and formats, the essential product and pricing information is the same.

Much easier workflows for everyone involved

The introduction of Cavok and EasyCatalog, along with the perfect integration of all connected systems, has positively influenced and accelerated the production of extensive print and online documents within the company. Thanks to automated data integration and processing, the graphic designers can now work much more efficiently and focus primarily on the design of the catalogue pages. Synchronisation with the online shop ensures that customers are always up-to-date with the current range of products. The graphics team in the company is pleased with the enhancement.

Would you also like to manage your assets centrally and simplify your catalogue production? We would be happy to assist you.

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