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How PlanSystem3 Helped 417 Magazine Handle an Increased Workload

417 Magazine is the fastest-growing city/regional magazine in North America, covering the region in southwest Missouri with that area code and serving more than 133,000 readers. In addition to its flagship 417 Magazine , the company boasts four niche publications, which also continue to thrive.

The magazine’s annual bridal issue became a twice-yearly publication; its Home magazine prints quarterly; and a supplement called 417 Encore , targeting retired baby boomers, is published twice a year. The magazine also launched GO, a bimonthly tabloid aiming for greater Springfield’s 60,000 or so college-age students.

Background
Before the installation of PlanSystem3, nearly every aspect of the magazines' production was executed manually.

“We literally did everything by hand,” explains Advertising Art Director Penny Wahl. “Over half of our pages consist of advertising, so keeping track of all the ads and where they would be placed is a huge job.”

Another challenge 417 faced was completing the layout within a tight timeframe that was frequently exacerbated by missed editorial deadlines.

“Magazine production is like an assembly line … you can’t get your part done until the person in front of you gets theirs done,” says Art Director Hope Brooks. “Unfortunately, it all falls on the art department, because our press dates cannot change.”

With the implementation of PlanSystem3 and its PlanMaker module, planning and laying out the issues took a positive turn, as timeframes were compressed dramatically.

Easing the growing pains
While enjoying the rapid growth and success of its publication, 417 faced a caveat: much more work to do without a significant increase in staff. Just five years ago 417 printed 3,000 issues monthly and had 300 subscribers; today it prints 20,000 issues a month and has 12,000 paid subscribers.

“We tried to do as much as we could without additional staff,” explains Ms. Brooks. “Before we had PlanSystem3, it would take me a day to draw the page layouts by hand. Now I can do a book that is double the size in half the time. PlanSystem3 has helped tremendously with our growth,” she adds.

Ad placement made easy
One of the primary advantages of using PlanSystem3 is for placement of the ads. 417 uses PlanMaker, a PlanSystem3 module, to place the ads and lay out the magazine.

“With PlanMaker, it’s easy to keep track of the ads without worrying about losing an ad or missing something,” says Ms. Wahl. She explains that the list of ads for each issue is imported into
PlanMaker from an Excel document, and then sorted by size and position, streamlining the process.

According to Ms. Wahl, 80 percent of 417 ‘s ads are produced in-house. “After the ads have been produced, it takes time to get client approvals, make changes and revisions, so it’s not realistic to
think we can shorten that part of the process. However, with PlanSystem3 we are able to produce much more work within that timeframe.”

PlanMaker saves time
417 Magazine averages approximately 250 pages every month and generally contains 200 ads ranging from a sixth of a page to full page, as well as a significant amount of editorial. Before PlanMaker, Ms. Brooks laid out the entire book on paper. “It was a nightmare. I’d have to re-draw the layout numerous times to accommodate all of the changes and specific positioning requests,” says Ms. Brooks. “Now, I can do what took days in just a few hours.”

Changes are made rapidly, too. “If I need to add signatures or make changes, PlanSystem3 really expedites the process,” Ms. Brooks notes. “It also automatically repaginates page numbers for the
entire issue.”

Initially, she didn’t see the need for an organizational tool like PlanSystem3. “I felt that because
I was organized, it would simply create a lot of additional work for me to use the system. Now that
I am using it, I don’t know what I’d do without it,” she states.

Keeping everyone on the same page
Before installing PlanSystem3, 417 experienced problems with multiple users accessing files at the same time, and changes not being saved. According to Ms. Wahl, “With PlanSystem3's check-out feature, we can see who is working in the system at any time. It’s very obvious who’s been in it, and what stage things are at.” 417 also uses PlanSystem3 for routing and for tracking approvals of its advertising.

Ms. Wahl explains that with PlanMaker, the entire staff now has a graphical view of the creative and editorial content coming together in real-time, and everyone knows the status of every page in the
book. “Now we can see every issue of the magazine … how many ads have been bought and how
the approval process is going,” she says. “It really helps keep us on track.”

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