MetaCommunications releases Approval Manager 1.0

MetaCommunications, a developer of software management solutions for the graphic arts industry, has announced the immediate availability of Approval Manager 1.0, a new cross platform workflow product for managing proof approvals in marketing, creative, and production environments.

Approval Manager is a new software solution designed to provide approval workflow management for leading digital proofing technologies, including Adobe Acrobat (Professional, Standard, and Reader versions), Kodak RealTimeProof Partner, Microsoft Word, and others. Inspired by customer demand and designed with the
recommendations of an industry advisory panel, Approval Manager ‘masters the inherent difficulty of managing, tracking and scheduling the approval processes within and across organizations or departments’, the company said in a statement.

‘Although digital proofing technologies have been available for several years, the workflow management necessary to drive a digital proof through an often complex approval process has been notably absent - causing many organizations to struggle in obtaining the efficiency gains thought possible with digital proofing. With Approval Manager, traditional difficulties involved with keeping an approval process consisting of multiple rounds, multiple reviewers, and tight deadlines on track are simplified and automated,’ the statement continued.

Approval Manager provides a user friendly web based interface (Mac OS X and Windows) for setting up and planning proofing stages, and for managing proofing rounds, reviewers, and schedules. Approval Manager manages the complex cyclical workflows involved in the creative process chain. These workflows may include proofing iterations between designers, creative directors, legal teams, brand & product managers, merchandisers, marketing, prepress and external customers.

’Approval Manager adds workflow to today's digital proofing technologies, providing customers with the means to leverage that technology and bring about unprecedented savings in time and improved process control throughout an entire organization,’ said Robert Long, executive vice president of MetaCommunications.