Arizona State University

At Arizona State University, Job Manager Show Graphics Students the Complete Picture:
How to Run a Graphics Business End-to-End.

When Graphic Information Technology Professor Penny Ann Dolin began teaching graphics on a college level, she realized students in her courses didn't have a grasp of the business side of the industry. "They had skills in their own specialties," says Dolin, "but they didn't see the bigger picture. They didn't know how to charge for a graphics project. They couldn't cost out an entire job."

Fortunately, Dolin saw an opportunity to correct the situation. She created a course at Arizona State University Polytechnic Campus called Graphics Industry Practices. It was designed to teach her students how to operate a graphics business. And to assist here students, she turned to a Workgroups module called Job Manager. Job Manager allowed Donlin’s students to create estimates, determine and calculate costs, and understand the true costs of doing business.

Dolin says she achieves her objective by breaking students up into groups of six or seven. Each group forms a mock company and is charged with developing the departments and cost centers associated with the main products of the company — whether web or print.

Job Manager is a great tool to help my students learn how to actually make money in a graphic arts business.
Penny Ann Dolin, Graphic Information Technology Professor

Says Dolin: "The students have to determine cost centers and departments and associate them correctly. They have to decide how they're going to gauge costs and what the minimum increments of billable time will be. They receive RFQ requests for quotes from me and they have to come up with an estimate based on the data they have entered into Job Manager. At that point, they know whether their project will be profitable."

Dolin says the skills the students learn using Job Manager are fully applicable in the real world beyond the university. She adds, "It helps them determine how to figure out all of their different measurements of cost, time, labor and consumables. It's a great tool to help them learn how to actually make money in a business. It's especially helpful because it's geared specifically towards the graphics industry."

Dolin reports, "I had an email from a student last year saying, 'I can't believe how valuable this knowledge is where I work now.' A lot of companies are using Job Manager. This course makes my students job ready — and it's a big differentiator when companies realize how much more these students are trained than average graphics graduates. They arrive at the workplace with real management skills."

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