ci-book™ • Product information
System overview
ci-book™ • Home
The start page of the ci-book™ • Platform has been designed and made more flexible so that the welcome text, the display of visual highlights, direct access to favourite applications and the view of the latest templates, edited documents and recent publications can be freely configured. From the ci-book™ • Plan Professional upwards, each client receives their own ci-book™ • Client, which means that the logo and colours can be adapted to the respective corporate design and optional ci-book™ • Applications can be activated on a customer-specific basis.
ci-book™ • Templates
Templates are provided for customisable documents and the resulting publications. Specific layout elements can be released for editing per template using different and self-defined sets of rules. Adobe InDesign packages are required for the provision of templates, which are imported using the ci-book™ • Template Transformer. The ci-book™ • Universal Editor is used to customise and use templates or to create documents.
ci-book™ • Documents
Documents show a user's own, current and in-progress documents. In addition, users with the corresponding roles and rights can view and edit the documents of other users, for example for the approval, editing or translation work steps. In terms of the optimal workflow, this area is always 'empty' - Documents within ci-book™ are merely an intermediate result in the overall publication process.
ci-book™ • Publications
Publications display a user's own completed and published documents and can be ordered again or commissioned for printing, for example. Users with the appropriate roles and rights can also view and manage the publications of all users and groups of a ci-book™ client, for example to delete/archive them, thereby eliminating 'outdated' publications that no longer comply with current CD guidelines.
ci-book™ • Applications
The ci-book™ • Platform contains almost 30 applications and extensions to meet the diverse tasks in web-to-publish and to offer an optimal basis for the individualisation and production of your advertising and communication materials in marketing, sales and support.
ci-book™ • Template Transformer
The Template Transformer imports templates from InDesign® packages for the ci-book™ • Platform and makes them available for (further) editing in the ci-book™ • Universal Editor. The templates required for print and online advertising material can be developed, created and then imported either independently or with the support of d-serv GmbH. The option to import PDF and IDML files is in preparation.
ci-book™ • Template Inspector
The Template Inspector is an optional function, comparable to the PreFlight check in the print sector, which checks the InDesign® packages to be imported or the fonts, colours, links and formatting used in them. It recognises common errors, can automatically correct some of them or at least highlight them and makes the results of the check available for download as a protocol.
ci-book™ • Category & Tag Editor
The Category & Tag Editor for Templates can be used to create and manage categories and tags for templates to make them easier and quicker to find. A variant of this application offers the same functionality for attachments, such as image files. To increase convenience, it is planned to merge these two applications so that categories and tags for all templates and assets of a ci-book™ • Client can be managed together.
ci-book™ • Template Supervisor
The Template Supervisor is not an application, but a service provided by d-serv GmbH to check and finalise Adobe® InDesign® packages so that the required templates can be imported seamlessly and without errors into the ci-book™ • Platform.
ci-book™ • Universal Editor
In the Edit Mode of the Universal Editor, documents can be created and texts and images can be edited. Once editing is complete and a document has been 'published', it is available in numerous export formats under Publications.
ci-book™ • Universal Editor
In the Design Mode of the Universal Editor, authorised users can adjust the general design specifications and properties of imported templates - including the properties of individual documents if required.
ci-book™ • Asset Manager
The Asset Manager is used to manage media files, in particular images, which are to be made available to users for selection when editing templates and documents in the ci-book™ • Universal Editor. If a digital asset management system from another provider is already being used in the company, this can be integrated via an (API) interface.
ci-book™ • Category & Tag Editor
The Category & Tag Editor for Assets can be used to create and manage categories and tags for assets to make them easier and quicker to find. A variant of this application offers the same functionality for templates and the resulting publications. To increase convenience, it is planned to merge these two applications so that categories and tags for all templates and assets of a ci-book™ • Client can be managed together.
ci-book™ • Asset Organizer
The Asset Organizer provides a personal, user-specific storage area for media and image files, potentially also for other file formats that should not be available to all users of the ci-book™ • Platform. Media and image files, which must be available to all users, are managed in the ci-book™ • Asset Manager.
ci-book™ • Job Advertiser
With the Job Advertiser, job advertisements are organised and automatically produced in the appropriate format for leading job portals such as Indeed, Monster, Stepstone, JobVector and Stellenanzeigen.de; connections to other job portals are possible. Thanks to the multi-posting functionality, a job advert can be made available for several job portals in a single workflow. The specific parameters and metadata of a job advertisement, such as category and localisation, also allow it to be reused automatically.
The costs for placing a job advert are not included in the Job Advertiser.
ci-book™ • Plan Assistant
The Plan Assistant is an extension for the ci-book™ • Job Advertiser for a calendar overview of the produced or placed ads on the job portals Indeed, Monster, Stepstone, JobVector and Stellenanzeigen.de.
ci-book™ • Online Ads Producer
With the Online Ads Producer, visual ads for LinkedIn, Facebook, Mastodon & Co., based on suitable templates, are created CD-compliant and made available for download.
The first version of the corresponding instructions for creating suitable templates is expected to appear in 2024.*
ci-book™ • Online Ads Controller
With the Online Ads Controller, online ads on »Google Ads« and »Meta Ads« can be viewed and evaluated. If required, other providers can be integrated additionally or alternatively.
ci-book™ • Pricelist Allocator
With the Pricelist Allocator, preferred (print) service providers can be stored with their contact details and price lists and allocated to individual templates respectively documents and publications based on them.
ci-book™ • Address Guide
With the Address Guide, the address and contact data of your subsidiaries, trading stations, franchise locations or sales representatives can be directly assigned to selected templates and publications based on them.
ci-book™ • Key Visual Creator
With the optionally available Key Visual Creator, individual specifications such as the initial image, desired font and possible text information are first recorded in such a way that an icon-text combination can then be generated as a unique key visual in the form of a vector graphic with the help of the AI developed in-house in cooperation with the University of Mannheim.
ci-book™ • Interfaces & External Systems
1. Import
Transfer manually or automatically.
- Adobe® InDesign® Packages
- Enterprise Ressource Planning (ERP)
- Product Information Management (PIM)
- Digital Asset Management (DAM)
- Content Management System (CMS)
- Translation Memory System (TMS)
2. Transformation
Processing manually or automatically.
- Verification: Checking the imports.
- Extraction: Transfer of the templates/data.
- Dynamisation: Provision of the templates/documents.
- Individualisation: Editing the templates/documents.
- Localisation: Adaptation of the templates/documents.
- Evaluation: Checking the publications/exports.
- Administration: Role and rights management.
- Organisation: Information and process management.
3. Export
Delivery manually or automatically.
Formats:
- IDML, PDF
- HTML, XML, XLIFF […]
- JPG, PNG, TIF […]
Media:
- Screen
Data:
- Back to source system.
- Forward to another target system.
ci-book™ • Administration
The administration of the ci-book™ • Platform is the central starting point, among other things for
- Management of user profiles,
- Management of users,
- Management of user groups,
- Management of roles & rights,
- Analysing usage data,
- Internal communication via e-mail dispatch or notifications on the platform and
- Controlling client-specific workflows and fonts.
ci-book™ • Profile Manager
System-related, personal settings for each user.
ci-book™ • User Manager
Company-related, general settings for all users.
ci-book™ • Group Manager
Allocation of users to groups with different tasks and rights.
ci-book™ • Platform Communicator
For internal communication, for example, textual and visual information about upcoming marketing campaigns can be published as "highlights" on the start page using the Platform Communicator. The start page texts can also be changed and updated independently. It is already possible to store your own support email address; further client-specific support services are planned for 2024 - user manuals in PDF or HTML format, links for videos on your own platforms and calendar entries for internal training dates.
ci-book™ • Activity Reporter
With the Activity Reporter, numerous activities and key figures relating to the use and acceptance of the ci-book™ • Platform are recorded and analysed in graphical form. The dashboard shows initial data and analyses for various areas, whereby detailed and comprehensive views can be displayed in the form of lists or diagrams. The most frequently used templates can thus be determined and reused accordingly to optimise advertising and communication materials.
ci-book™ • Process Organizer
The Process Organizer is used to define the desired processes, including their workflows and tasks, for general or specific templates and documents or publications based on them for approval, translation and proofreading.
ci-book™ • Font Controller
With the Font Controller, the CD fonts can be controlled and exchanged centrally for all templates and documents, whereby the font styles and formatting used are always visible. Controlling the fonts used ensures both consistent brand identity and compliance with licence requirements. In addition, complete typesets for translations or online publications can be exchanged automatically.
ci-book™ • Jobtype Organizer
The Jobtype Organizer is used to define permissible export formats including their required colour space, whereby PDF, JPG and PNG files can also be generated with a watermark or copyright notice.
ci-book™ • Message Carrier
With the Message Carrier, important messages about current or upcoming marketing campaigns are maintained and published directly on the ci-book™ • Platform. If required, these messages can also be sent by email to selected users or user groups who are registered in the ci-book™ • User Manager or Group Manager. Additional costs are charged for sending emails depending on the number and frequency of emails sent.
ci-book™ • Database
ci-book™ • Renderengine
ci-book™ • Support
The Support section of the ci-book™ • Platform contains the following information, a.o.:
- client-specific contact persons and messages,
- system messages from d-serv GmbH,
- link to the ci-book™ • User Guide,
- example of an Adobe® InDesign® package,
- plus assistance offers and order options for chargeable additional services.