Setting Up Production Schedule Templates

Schedule templates are used within a variety of places in both Editorial and Production. Whilst the process is similar for setting up both types of Schedule templates, the following page will deal with Production Schedule Templates only. More information on Editorial Schedule Templates can be found here.

There are two key things that you must do before you can begin to use the Production Checklist or Production Roles tab:

1. Create your Tasks.

2. Create a 'Default' schedule. This will be automatically applied to your titles in order for the Production Roles and Production Checklist screens to work. If you don’t do this, you won’t be able to access your titles in the Book Production screen. You can then select an alternative schedule once these have been created.

 

Setting Up Schedule Templates:

Select Schedule Templates from the main Production Admin menu, and you will be taken to a new screen. The list will be empty if you haven't created any schedule templates. In the image below, we have added some schedules as examples.

1. Click on Create New.

2. Form/Class: Choose a format from the list of options in the drop-down menu, which contains possible publishing formats (ie Book, Video, PB, HB). What you are doing is creating schedules that can be lumped by product type or form. If you are creating your Default schedule, then leave this item at Default.

If you want a format that is not on the list, or you wish to use a different label, click on the little blue button called NEW and you will be able to type a name of your schedule manually. To go back to the drop-down menu, click on Select existing.

3. Schedule Type. There are 6 schedule types under the drop down menu that come up when you create a schedule template. The remaining fields will change dependent on the schedule type you choose. The following instructions will take you through the schedule types used in Production. 

Production Checklist

This is the first schedule that you must configure in order to use the Book Production functions. For more detail on what the Production Checklist schedule is, see here.

1. Select a Task from from the drop-down menu.

2. Add the Duration of the task by typing in a numerical value, and chose the Period from the drop down menu as either days or weeks. You must set at least 1 task in your schedule; otherwise, you will get an error message when accessing a title in Book Production.  You can tick the boxes to mark whether your deadline is a milestone or is immovable.

3. Repeat items 1 and 2 until you've added all of the tasks related to that schedule template.

4. Click update when you are done

Roles

The Production Roles schedule allows you to break down each stage of your production process, assign tasks to your department, attach costs, and a whole lot more.

Once you select Roles, a further field will appear, asking you to assign a schedule class. The classes available are Master, Editorial, Production and Marketing. You can then filter production reports based on schedule class. Therefore, in reporting you can either filter by a specific schedule, or a class (group) of schedules.

1. Select a Task from from the drop-down menu.

2. Add the Duration of the task by typing in a numerical value, and chose the Period from the drop down menu as either days or weeks. You must set at least 1 task in your schedule; otherwise, you will get an error message when accessing a title in Book Production.  You can tick the boxes to mark whether your deadline is a milestone or is immovable.

3. Repeat items 1 and 2 until you've added all of the tasks related to that schedule template.

4. You can then modify the dependencies of each task.

To modify your dependencies, that is, how your work flow phases are connected to each other (or not), and if they are not going to be in a linear order A, B, C, click on Modify dependencies. We've demarcated the button with a red square in the image below: 

All dependencies will appear on the screen so that you can put them in any logical order you want. For example, proofreading can’t start before the manuscript is in, but design can be independent and components can be dependent on design etc. Please see an example below:

To hide your dependencies, click on Hide Dependencies.

7. You also have the option to add 'Child' tasks, using the Blue plus button in the screenshot above. A pop-up window will appear allowing you to assign child tasks to a particular task. This simply means that these child tasks will function as their own sub-schedule, and it is designed to track tasks that must be completed in order for the parent task to be completed.

6. Click update when you are done

Please note that some client publishers decide to hide the Checklist tab in order to use this Roles tab only.

Schedule Templates for use outside of Production

Costs

This is where you will set up a set of costs to remind users about which costs would normally be related to the schedule. This is used in Editorial, in the Costs tab. 

Here you can add information about costs connected to tasks and set the basis on which the costs are being built, whether it is a fixed cost or by copies ordered or by a page, and you can set the rate and currency. This will then go into your profit and loss estimation. You can add as many costs as needed by clicking on the blue Add another task button.

Always click update when you are done

Rights

This is where you can set up schedules for your rights contracts. 

Choose a Task from the drop-down menu. Set the Duration of the deadline by typing in a numerical value and label the period either by days or weeks. 

Always click update when you are done

Tips & Tricks:

It is vital that you include durations in your schedule templates as this is what triggers the system to include a title on your Prod Scheduling report. If you do not do this, then you will need to go into the Deadlines tab of each title you have added to your production schedule and manually add information to the column we have circled below in red. Click 'cancel' when the system tries to 'automatically update' rest of the items in the schedule and continue to type items in manually.

Once you have created your Default schedule, you can create as many schedules as needed for different formats. If you want to copy an existing schedule, click on the looking glass symbol (shown in the image below) and a pop up window will appear enabling you to choose from the list of schedules you have already created:

Click on the relevant item and the screen will be populated with the tasks related to that schedule. You can start to manipulate in there, adjusting where necessary.

To remove a Schedule template, click on a box in front of the Schedule template and click Remove Selected:

If you change any elements of a template that have already been applied to a project in Book Production, these changes will not filter through to the rest of the system. You will need to go back into the individual titles within Book Production and adjust the schedule.

We've have circled the relevant item in the image below:

You have two options.

1. You can click on a different schedule template and then back onto the original one (in this case Default). When the screen refreshes, the schedule should update accordingly.
2. If it does not, then you can click onto the Edit All button. By doing so, you will be able to adjust the various tasks within the schedule against this individual title only.

Click Update when you are done.