MetaCommunications Donates Software Licenses to University of Northern Iowa Graphic Communications Program

Iowa City, IA (PRWEB) March 14, 2007

A leading software developer of cross-platform process management and productivity solutions for the graphic arts industry, today announced that it has donated 25 software licenses for Job Manager, one of the components of its Workgroups 2007 process and productivity suite, to the University of Northern Iowa for use in its Graphic Communications program.

"We believe strongly in helping to develop the next generation of graphic arts professionals," said Bob Long, Executive Vice President at MetaCommunications. "Dr. Carl Nelson Blue, Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator of the Graphic Communications Program in UNI's Department of Industrial Technology has an excellent program in place at the University, and we mutually determined that giving students access to Job Manager would be a valuable addition to the program."

Job Manager will be used in the school's Estimating and Management course, where students learn about costing methods for digital and traditional graphic imaging, as well as current management best practices for print production. As part of the course, students also produce and present a comprehensive research project of estimating and management practices at a local printing company as well as identify career opportunities available in estimating and management within the printing industry.

"In a highly competitive industry such as printing, it is critical to have good business management practices in place," said University of Northern Iowa's Dr. Blue. "Through the generosity of MetaCommunications, we will be able to provide our students with access to an important tool that will help them understand the costing dynamics of a production environment through access to real-time job data. This not only facilitates the learning process, but makes our students more marketable when they graduate." The University's Graphic Communications program graduates an average of 15-20 students annually.

Job Manager is one of four components in MetaCommunications Workgroups 2007 process and productivity suite which includes:

• Job Manager, a powerful suite of financial management tools that enable creative and production workgroups to accurately create estimates and quotes, monitor job costs, quickly generate on-demand reporting and invoices, and share information with industry leading accounting systems.
• Virtual Ticket, a configurable job ticketing solution that brings together all the components of your work in a centralized location, including project briefs, job tickets, customer information, associated document files, and more. From this one location Virtual Ticket provides advanced workflow tools to help you manage and automate your processes, dramatically improving productivity, turnaround time, and quality.
• Approval Manager, a tool for managing, tracking, and scheduling any approval process within and across creative and production environments.
• Digital Storage Manager, a powerful storage management solution specially designed for creative, publishing and prepress workgroups, leveraging multiple file servers, near-line storage, and offline media.

MetaCommunications products are used daily by thousands of users in more than 750 organizations worldwide, including such well-known names as Time, Inc., the Centers for Disease Control, the American College of Physicians and commercial printer Sandy Alexander, Inc., to improve productivity and automate their workflow.

About the University of Northern Iowa

Known for its commitment to "Students First," the University of Northern Iowa offers a world-class university education with personalized experiences and lifetime opportunities for undergraduates as well as programs at the master's, specialist and doctoral levels. Building on its historic excellence in teacher education, the university has developed outstanding programs in business, natural sciences, humanities and fine arts, and social and behavioral sciences.

One of Iowa's three state universities, UNI enjoys national recognition for its high educational standards in the 120 majors offered. U.S. News and World Report has ranked UNI second among Midwest public universities for 10 consecutive years.

About MetaCommunications

MetaCommunications (http://www.meta-comm.com) is a leading software developer of cross-platform process management and productivity solutions for the graphic arts industry, including its award-winning Job Manager™, Virtual Ticket™, Approval Manager™ and Digital Storage Manager™ components. MetaCommunications has thousands of users of its software worldwide, helping some of the world's top creative agencies, corporate marketing groups, printing and prepress firms, and publishers work more efficiently and profitably. MetaCommunications was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Iowa City, Iowa. For more information, please visit MetaCommunications

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT

Robert Long

MetaCommunications

1210 S. Gilbert Street

Iowa City, IA 52240 USA

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