Tracking and managing jobs
This is a complex and involved process that is usually handled by managers, supervisors, and studio traffic staff. I won't go into great detail, because the administrative side of traffic management is not my area of expertise. However, from a production operator's point of view, there are some clear steps you can take to ensure that your files are well organized.
Name your files by job or client
Use an information slug in your file
Use a colour bar in your file
Keep a paper trail
Use PDFs for client proofs
Archive digital files carefuly
Name your files by job or client
For example, if there is a docket/job number associated with a particular
job, then use that number in the first part of your file name (For example,
"JOB2334_somejob" or "Myclient_somejob.qxd"). Whatever
convention you use is up to you, but make sure you consistently use them
always. This ensures that your files will be archived in an organized
fashion, and you'll be able to reference and retrieve them quickly.
Rest assured that when you're desperately looking for a job that you worked
on two years ago, and it's archived on one of your hundreds of disks,
you'll thank yourself for being organized.
If you work in a team environment, make sure all members of the team are
using the same job number.
Use an information slug in your file
This could be as simple as a textbox, or as complex as you want to make
it. The important thing is that it contains important information about
the file. For example, it could contain a list of fonts used, the
names or innitials of operators who have worked on that file, any special
instructions on printing (For example, the scale of enlargement for oversized
outputs, or the line screen to be printed at), contact information for
yourself or your company's production manager, and any other information
that you, your printer, or your client will find useful.
If you don't print with registration from QuarkXpress (which automatically
prints the file name, page number, and date), you could also use this
slug to include the actual file name. You can use the "current page"
character (command-3) in this slug so that it automatically shows
the current page on each page the slug resides on.
Why is it called a slug? Beats me.
Use a colour bar to show what colours are being used in the file, specifying C, M, Y, K, and any spot colours. You could combine this colour bar with the information slug mentioned above. This has the added benefit of forcing operators to check the colour bar against the actual colours in QuarkXpress's colour pallette.
Keep any paper records together in a folder. Any rough drafts, sketches, linears, copy changes from clients, outputs signed by clients, and any other physical material that shows a trail of changes should go into this folder. These records should be archived in an organized fashion. They can be an invaluable asset when the memories of clients and partners fade in time, as they sometimes do: It is the surest way of proving who made what changes. This, of course, requires that you take extra care in dating and notating all such records.
The same precaution applies to any digital trails as well, including text files containing copy changes, PDFs with client notations, and emails from clients and suppliers.
Use PDFs to send proofs to your clients. This standardized, cross-platform format is ideal for showing your clients exactly what the file looks like. And if your clients have the full package of Adobe Acrobat, then they can even notate changes directly in the PDF and send it back to you.
PDFs should never be used for colour and image quality proofs: That can only be realistically accomplished with printed colour proofs from film houses or printers.
Archive digital files carefuly
Archive your jobs, making sure that the enclosing folders have the job number in the folder names, so that they can be easilly found later. Use an indexing program to index all your archives. Freelancers and small studios could use a program such as Disk Recall or DiskTracker to index all their disks and hard drives, while medium to large sized studios and agencies will probably be best served by indexing their archives on a searchable Web database on their Intranet.
Use British spelling in your searches