DocBridge^® Spool

Central Print Management for Production Printing

Use

Advantages

At a Glance

Why DocBridge®?

Use

Reduction of Manual Activities
Automatic assignment of print jobs (orders) using selection or assignment criteria relieves the workload on production staff (print operators), who can then concentrate more on their core business.
Performance
Jobs can be prioritized according to specific factors (including available capacity, efficiency, profitability, time-critical factors).
Profitability
Print jobs with the same attributes are seamlessly sequenced, reducing press make-ready times.
Openness
DocBridge® Spool has a REST interface for connecting external applications or for quickly and easily integrating the Compart solution into existing document processing structures.
Transparency
DocBridge® Spool provides a detailed overview of running print jobs including logging via REST interfaces as well as a modern web-based user interface.
Data Consistency ("house keeping")
Based on freely configurable rules, DocBridge® Spool enables easy cleaning of the database of processed jobs (e.g. cleaning up/deleting obsolete files or log files).

Advantages

Open Interfaces (API)
DocBridge® Spool has REST interfaces for connecting external applications.
Color Quality
PDF files are sent to IPDS printers using "Object Containers" to guarantee color quality (support of ICC color profiles).
Configuration
DocBridge® Spool allows "on-the-fly" configuration of new printers (Runtime Extending Configuration Changes).
Compatibility & Investment Protection
With DocBridge® Spool, users gain access to numerous conversion options within the DocBridge® family (e.g. generation of barcodes, wide variety of analog and digital output formats such as AFP, PDF, PDF/A, PDF/UA, PCL, HTML5).
Integration
DocBridge® Spool integrates seamlessly into existing infrastructures and serves as a bridge between legacy systems and state-of-the-art technologies.
User-friendliness
An easy-to-understand user interface ensures that even users with little IT knowledge can quickly find their way around DocBridge® Spool.

At a Glance

Take a look at the graph beneath illustrating the print management:
Control and optimization of print production (convert print data, print preparation, print job management)

Why DocBridge®?

DocBridge® provides high-performance, platform-independent and scalable software solutions for omnichannel customer communication and document management.

Experts for Omnichannel Document and Output Management
Bridge between the analog and digital document world
Digital first: state of the art document generation focused on electronic communication
Proven expertise in quality assurance, document conversion and mail bundling/postage optimization
Wealth of technology and consulting know-how for batch and individual processing

Headquartered in Germany, the company has been a market presence for 30 years, with subsidiaries and a network of partners in Europe, Africa, and North and Latin America.

Compart helps businesses create, produce and distribute documents using applications for compliant and efficient processing of large volumes of data in batch as well as transaction processes.

The DocBridge® product family that Compart develops, sells and supports covers the document and output management process from start to finish: creation, preparation, and output of information on every physical and electronic channel.

The company enjoys a reputation as a trendsetter worldwide. More than 1,500 customers from a wide range of industries in over 50 countries (including banks, insurance companies, energy suppliers, telecommunications companies, print service providers, public administrations, logistics, and healthcare) use Compart applications.

Print management software to control and optimize print production (convert print data, print preparation, print job management) - DocBridge® Spool width=

DocBridge® Spool is a product of the DocBridge® Production Suite

DocBridge Production Suite

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Print Management Software for Central Management in Production Printing

DocBridge® Spool is software for the central control and management of jobs in production printing. The solution, which has REST interfaces (API) for connecting external applications, is based on a powerful, flexible architecture and enables the central management of input and output connectors.

The main benefit of this solution is that it significantly relieves employees (print operators) of manual operator interventions, allowing them to better focus on their core business. In addition, the use of DocBridge® Spool allows transparency and cost-effectiveness to be increased overall in high-volume production printing.

Central Control and Monitoring of Print Jobs for Greater Efficiency in Production Printing

Benefit from IT-supported automatic assignment of print jobs (orders) and thus relieve your employees of manual tasks. Reduce machine setup times with DocBridge Spool and take advantage of the wide range of options for integrating external applications into existing document processing structures (API).

Print management software for controlling print jobs and the entire print production process

The Software: Main Functions and Concept

Architecture and Components

Functions in Detail

User

Innovations

Supported Formats

Architecture and Components

DocBridge® Spool

DocBridge® Spool is a scalable and platform independent software for centralized control and monitoring of jobs in print production. DocBridge® Spool is based on a flexible architecture and provides REST interfaces (API) to connect to external applications.

DocBridge® Spool was designed to enable configuration, management and monitoring of Input Connectors (IPDS Receivers, Hotfolders, LPD, IPP) and Output Connectors (IPDS Drivers, LPR, Custom). Therefore, the DocBridge® Spool scope of delivery includes configuration options for all supported connectors.

DocBridge® Spool includes the following components and modules that interact with each other:

DocBridge® Spool Core:

DocBridge® Spool Core is the central server component that manages and controls all other components and modules of DocBridge® Spool, e.g. Input and Output Connectors, housekeeping, persistence etc.

It handles all Authentication & Authorization requests and provides a secure REST interface, which is also used by the web interface to facilitate user friendly interactions.

DocBridge® Spool - Output Connector Controllers:

DocBridge® Spool - Output Connector Controllers can be installed on multiple systems. This allows DocBridge® Spool Core to start and stop the Output Connector applications on remote systems.

Input Connector:

Input Connector is the collective term for modules that receive input data and forward it to DocBridge® Spool Core. DocBridge® Spool Core then creates a job that can be processed by an Output Connector.

DocBridge® Spool supports five Input Connector types:

Authorized external applications can create jobs with the REST interface
IPDS Receiver, an IPDS Printer emulation that enables bi-directional communication with one or more AFP presentation systems to receive IPDS data
LPD Service enables remote systems to submit jobs via LPD/LPR network printing protocol to one or more LPD Queues
IPP Printer Service enables remote systems and clients to submit jobs via Internet Printing Protocol
One or more Hotfolders (watched directories) can be monitored for incoming jobs

Output Connector:

Output Connector is the collective term for the modules that process and transfer the jobs to configured devices or external systems, such as printers or archiving file systems.

Jobs are assigned to Output Connectors by DocBridge® Spool Core based on their processing criteria (priority, job class, forms, Output Connector name)

DocBridge® Spool supports three Output Connector types:

IPDS Driver: Connector for printing to IPDS printers, including automated conversion of page elements that are not supported by the printer or the IPDS Specification (e.g. barcodes, PDF Object Containers, Vector Graphics)
LPR: To submit jobs via LPD/LPR network printing protocol to one or more remote LPD Queues
Custom Output Connector: Enables the user to create an Output Connector to process data based on user requirements

Functions in Detail

What can DocBridge® Spool do?

Reduction of manual activities
The automatic assignment of print jobs (orders) using selection or assignment criteria relieves the workload on production staff (print operators), who can then concentrate more on their core business.
Performance
Jobs can be prioritized according to specific factors (including available capacity, efficiency, profitability, time-critical factors).
Profitability
Print jobs with the same attributes are seamlessly sequenced, reducing press make-ready times.
Openness
DocBridge® Spool has a REST interface for connecting external applications or for quickly and easily integrating the Compart solution into existing document processing structures.
Transparency
DocBridge® Spool provides a detailed overview of running print jobs including logging via REST interfaces as well as a modern web-based user interface.
Flexibility
DocBridge® Spool enables customer-specific post-processing of produced print jobs to serve additional channels (e.g. archiving after printing in a different format).
Data consistency ("house keeping")
Based on freely configurable rules, DocBridge® Spool enables easy cleaning of the database of processed jobs (e.g. cleaning up/deleting obsolete files or log files).

User

Print operator

DocBridge® Spool is particularly interesting for companies that use printing systems from different manufacturers. Normally, they would have to use a separate spooler for each individual printer and also know exactly which print job has to go to which spool system so that the file can also be processed. Not so with DocBridge® Spool: The software automatically recognizes which print line the respective job has to be sent to, prepares the jobs accordingly and distributes them to the responsible printers.

Innovations

Current releases

The products of the DocBridge® family are further developed in regular cycles to meet the latest standards, cover customer needs and offer future-proof innovations.

All current and past releases can be found in the customer area.

Current release:
DocBridge® Spool 2.0.0

Supported Formats

AFP
HTML
PostScript
SVG
Grid formats
PDF
PCL 6
IPDS
PCL 5
(s. Compart Matrix)

A complete overview of supported input and output formats is provided in the Compart Matrix.

Compart Matrix

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Application Scenarios

1 Dealing with different data streams

2 Correct use of the right printing resources

1 Dealing with different data streams

Target

A print service provider must process different data streams from different media (e.g. AFP and PDF) and prepare them accordingly. In doing so, it is important to guarantee optimum utilization of the devices and keep makeready times as low as possible.

Solution

DocBridge® Spool receives jobs and optimizes the data streams
The jobs are optimized for performance and transmitted to the printer(s)
The PDF files are transmitted to an IPDS printer via Object Container to maintain color quality
Print jobs with the same attributes are sequenced seamlessly to save paper, reduce makeready times and make optimum use of the IPDS printing systems
The operator controls and monitors the jobs using a web-based graphical interface

Benefit

Greater efficiency thanks to optimized preparation of data streams to exploit the full printing speed, as well as smart job control
Optimal system utilization thanks to a solution for controlling and managing the entire document output process
Full flexibility thanks to support for all common input formats
High environmental protection and cost savings by minimizing waste of substrates or paper

2 Correct use of the right printing resources

Target

The customer wants to enrich their existing AFP mixed mode jobs without changing the host application. The goal is to ensure that the correct versions of the resources that reside on the host system are always used.

Solution

The IPDS Receiver Input Connector receives the data, including all necessary resources, from the AFP presentation system on the host
The jobs are automatically forwarded to DocBridge® Mill Plus, where they are enriched and optimized
DocBridge® Spool receives the enriched jobs from DocBridge® Mill Plus and transfers the jobs to the respective printers
The operator controls and monitors the jobs via a web-based graphical interface

Benefit

Jobs can be enriched without having to change the old applications
Resources do not need to be copied manually from the host system to DocBridge® Spool
Full flexibility through support of all common input formats