Customer requirements
- Expansion of workflow and accounting systems
- Reduced operating costs
- Centralised data storage
- Fault-tolerant server
The MIS solution
- Implement a storage area network (SAN) to provide high capacity, fault-tolerant
shared storage to multiple servers for the ad booking and production functions
- Cluster the credit management servers, thus increasing fault tolerance and reducing the
potential downtime, and subsequent lost revenues, as a consequence of a single server failure
- Overcome the technical challenges associated with providing Services for Macintosh in a Windows
cluster environment
Technical benefits
- Fully integrated production and sales processes
- Fault tolerance in all systems
- Centralised management capabilities - reduced technical overheads
- Performance monitoring by HP Insight Manager supporting pre-failure warranty. Any component
not functioning properly is replaced by HP before failure occurs.
Business benefits
- Central point of management and support for the division's newspaper production
- Reduced production costs
- Reduced possibility of downtime
- Secured press deadlines and production schedules
- Increased data security
- Solid business continuity
- Profit stability
Partners and technologies
- Hewlett-Packard (project partner): system design, supply and implementation of the HP Proliant
file server platform and MSA1000 SAN
- Microsoft: clustering technology
- Miles 33: publishing and credit management software systems
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The fourth largest publisher of local and regional newspapers in the UK, Johnston
Press also hosts over 90 local Internet sites. Since its foundation in 1767 as
F Johnston
& Co Limited, its publishing philosophy has been to deliver a local service to local
communities, reflected in their motto 'Life is Local'. In 1988 it became a
fully listed public company and changed its name to Johnston Press plc.
The situation
Johnston Press' South Midlands division (the second largest in Johnston Press)
identified a business need across the division to extend the ad booking, production
tracking, planning and accounting business systems; areas which are fundamental to the
24/7 newspaper production process in the division. These functions are provided by
software from Miles 33, the industry leader in publishing software.
The company also wished to migrate from employing disparate
servers and storage, located at each newspaper office, to a centralised storage system
and a single back-up procedure. This would fit with their IT re-structuring programme
and reduce the cost of storage.
Miles 33 has a suite of integrated applications called
FutureProof that provide advertising, planning, accounts and credit management functions
to the teams responsible for the newspaper production. FutureProof is built in Microsoft
SQL, a highly scaleable database application and contains all information concerning page
planning, editorial content, ad rates and availability and, crucially, interfaces with the
credit management system. This system, CMS 3000, provides real time customer credit status
information to the advertising sales department, as well as creating invoicing and managing
debt.
Clearly, all these systems are critical to the newspaper production
process; extending deadlines for the advertising sales team whilst ensuring that the
publications still get to the presses in time to meet distribution deadlines.
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“MIS has once again demonstrated their value to Johnston
Press as a key member of the project team. I would not hesitate in recommending MIS as the
technology partner for any company that is planning capital technology projects.”
Martin Simpson
Divisional IT Director
Johnston Press
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