Newspapers, magazines and web sites are different types of publications, but they have a lot in common: All strive to present information as quickly, efficiently and attractively as possible. Teambase is software designed to help groups collaborate on publications of all types. Teambase can be used to streamline production at a weekly newspaper with a staff of 15, a national news magazine with a staff of 450, a retailer that sells in print and on the web, or a publication like yours — one with its own special needs and priorities.

For Example: Editors can write captions and headlines while viewing the images and other elements on the page, without blocking access to the page, which may be needed in production. Teambase accomplishes this by granting permission to content (such as stories or pictures) separately from their containers (such as boxes on an InDesign page). There is no limit to the number of people who can collaborate on a single page as the parts come together on deadline.

For Example: One of the country’s largest weekly newsmagazines produces its entire publication with Teambase Publish. Hundreds of editors and writers on Macintosh and Windows computers combine to produce the issue. Using Microsoft Word as their text editor, they get exact composition information and see exactly how their stories will appear in the printed version. As stories and pages go back and forth among writers and editors, each revision is versioned away. Editing integrity is guaranteed, as a designer can work with — but not change — text on a page while the text is being edited in a word processing program. A folder-like workflow, with varying permissions assigned to groups of users, shapes the production process providing controlled access to stories, pages and photos throughout the process.

A group of medical journals shares a complex workflow where files are shared among multiple publications. With Teambase Publish, each publication can see what others have shared, and can re-use and revise others’ content. Instead of a folder-like workflow, editors use cross-publication queries to immediately find the most urgent tasks. The status of multiple pages inside several publications with overlapping deadlines is easily tracked through Teambase Publish.

A daily newspaper uses Teambase Publish to coordinate the efforts of its writers, editors, photographers and production staff to get late-breaking news to its readers. Half a dozen editors write headlines and edit stories simultaneously on each page, combining their efforts to provide a superior page flow up to deadline. The Teambase browser provides customized access and insight to how the issue is coming together. Automatic processes intelligently capture important metadata, making it easy for those who know the stories best to choose keywords, add categories and specify other information that adds value to their archives. Production plans keep all participants informed about status, and provide a simple way to analyze page flow and uncover hidden production bottlenecks.