User-Friendly Configuration 

Configuration of Workgroups is designed to be simple and efficient across all server and desktop apps. From automatically detecting required settings to suggesting settings where needed, Workgroups applications are designed to get you up, running, and properly configured as quickly as possible. A range of in-place tests help ensure the settings you choose work correctly.

Database Management Tools

Flexible and easy to use administrative capabilities have been added to the Workgroups suite. Administrators can now start and stop databases independently, access and filter event log information and manage product licensing in one intuitive interface.

Streamlined Installation

The completely new Server Installer has been rewritten with speed and ease of use in mind. An intelligent wizard automatically configures the installation procedure based on your Workgroups license certificate and operating system. Components required by the installer are now downloaded dynamically from the US, Europe, or Asia...all based on the installer’s location.

Configurator

Use the new all-in-one Server Configurator to create new databases, change the application family of existing databases, configure reporting services and email notifications, update license certificates, and more.

Built-in LDAP Authentication

LDAP support is now built-in to Workgroups 2010 so you can use your corporate LDAP/Active Directory server to authenticate Workgroups users sign in. Administrators will find this feature simple to configure and transparent to users.

Workflow and Scheduling Engine

The next generation of the Advanced Workflow and Scheduling (AWS) engine has arrived with features and functionality for administrators, developers, and users alike! AWS is now built as a server-based workflow engine that is seamlessly integrated into all modules of the Workgroups 2010 suite, including Approval Manager. With AWS, users and administrators have consolidated scheduling and activity views across the entire Workgroups 2010 suite, and developers have a built-in workflow engine to use with their custom applications. See more AWS 5.0 features.

Cloud Hosted

The new Workgroups 2010 suite is now available for installation on site or as a new hosted subscription service through Workgroups.com. Hosted services are quick to implement: no server software, setup or hardware is required to get up and running. For customers interested in working from the cloud and reducing their IT overhead, subscriptions start as low as $39 per user, per month (plus server fees).
Sign up for service now.

Custom Application Menus 

Administrators and users can now create custom Application Menus that can be used to execute scripts, run reports, open finds, create new jobs, open browser windows, open dashboards, and much more. This provides administrators with the ability to organize and optimize how they and their users work. Application Menus may be set up by administrators and shared to users based on their permissions.

Dashboards 

Provide users with easy to use visual Dashboards that present virtually any information upon logging in, or on demand. For example, Dashboards can be used to present users with navigational choices, user To-Do lists, button driven automation, and reports. These are a great way to provide users with information and automation pertinent to their work.

New Standard Forms 

The standard forms installed with every database have been updated to include improved organization and a great new appearance. If upgrading, new standard forms will be added with a "[Workgroups 2010 R2]" suffix, providing you with the opportunity to review and choose the new features, designs, and form elements you would like to adopt.

Find and Replace in MetaScript Editor 

MetaScript, Custom Query, and Stored Files editing gets more convenient and efficient with Find and Replace functionality.

New File Collector
Capabilities 

File Collectors have a range of new properties and functions in this release. Cosmetically, snap-to sizing is replaced by continuous resizing in order to provide for more control in designing the appearance of file collectors in forms. At a functional level, several new properties provide greater flexibility in designing how the file collector behaves and new metascript functions provide administrators and developers with the ability to programmatically refresh the contents of a file collector, sync with the file system, and work with mouse-click events in file collectors.

Additional details are provided in the release notes.

Server-Side Script Execution 

Make your system run lightning fast, even across the Internet. The new server-side scripting capabilities make it easy to optimize performance by running transaction-intensive scripts on the Application Server. Results of scripts executed on the server are transparently available to the form.

Improved Library
Import/Export 

Library import and export capabilities have been enhanced to include:

• Single-click installation of ticket and solution libraries downloaded from the Developer Center.
• User Groups and Permissions can be exported and imported with corresponding entities.
• All entities can be skipped, replaced, or renamed on import.
• New and open XML-based library format.

Integrated Feedback 

A built-in feedback system provides a simple way for users to send feedback (and optionally logs) to MetaCommunications. This new features enables you to communicate your comments, suggestions or bugs directly to our engineering department. This makes for quicker technical support responses and ultimately, a better product.

Document Organizer

Perhaps one of the most powerful features in the Workgroups 2010 release is the Document Organizer, a new folder mode in file collectors. With this new mode, users can use file collectors placed in their tickets to organize their files and keep everything in the right place! Files, emails, email attachments, scanned documents, and even entire directories can be dropped into these new file collectors and the system will automatically copy them to the correct location in the file system. This location can be set by the user or determined programmatically. For example, use the Virtual Ticket module to automatically create the correct folder on the file server for each new Job. Then, use the file collector's new folder mode so that everyone working on the job has a single place to drop their job-related files, emails, attachments, etc... The file collector automatically copies these resources to the right folder on the server and the system indexes, thumbnails, and extracts all the metadata. Not only do misplaced files and a poorly organized file repository become a thing of the past, but achieving this for your team, department, or workgroup is as easy as dragging and dropping!

Copy/Paste File Management

Users can take any digital resource (files or folders) and copy/cut and paste it into a file collector. If the file collector is set to the new folder mode, the files or folders will be copied or moved automatically. It’s that simple. No file system navigation to tread through to ensure your files are placed in the right location.

Folder Searches

Right mouse-click on any file collector and search its contents. The system will automatically build a find that searches the referenced locations and can also help you add additional filter criteria to make finding your files even easier.

Desktop Application Deployment Page

Using just a standard web browser, users can automatically download, install, and log in to Workgroups through the Virtual Ticket module. A web server has been embedded into Workgroups to serve a deployment page complete with the appropriate desktop installer and a simple link to automatically log in to the correct server and database. The deployment page may be distributed to users via a simple URL, or the link can be sent through an auto-generated email invitation.

Plug-ins for Popular Graphic Design Tools

Use automation plug-ins for QuarkXPress, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign (including the latest CS5 releases), and the Mac OS X Finder. These integrated plug-ins provide users with the ability to access the Virtual Ticket module's capabilities right from within their native graphics applications. Look up job tickets, find digital assets, copy images from job tickets, and more!

Support for AppleScript

Use the powerful AppleScript language to automate activities in the Virtual Ticket module or to drive any number of the hundreds of AppleScriptable applications directly from the system. Your scripts can even be stored centrally in the Workgroups database, distributed, and then executed by individual client computers or offloaded to the server for processing.

Solution Libraries

Solution Libraries are designed to enhance and extend the core functionality of Workgroups and can include tickets, searches, scripts, and reports. Use Solution Libraries to add substantial functionality to your system: for example, a full CRM or a Help Desk solution. Each may be easily customized with built-in tools, giving your organization the flexibility it needs to adapt the software to your unique environment. Most Solution Libraries are downloadable free of charge at the MetaCommunications Developer Center.

Plug-in for Mac OS X Finder

Quickly look up file metadata and even archive files and folders directly from the Mac OS X Finder. Using a plug-in integrated into the familiar Finder application, users have instant access to the Workgroups database while working in their desktops an navigating their local and network file systems.

Proofing Workflows 

Easily control your proofing and review workflows. Upload files, arrange stages, set due dates and add reviewers from an intuitive visual interface.

Other Improvements 

• On Review and Production tabs, files that need attention are auto-expanded on tab open.
• File thumbnails currently in progress will be loaded and shown asynchronously.
• The default auto-routing rule for Production is "Move Next on Completion" and for Approval is "Next on Success".
• User is automatically added to production list of new files s/he uploads (unless user is a manager).

Expandable Manage Tab 

Items on the Manage Tab are now expandable. The expanded view allows you to see all of your proof files as thumbnails with statuses displayed below them in the scrolling ribbon.

Customizable Branding 

Approval Manager now supports full custom branding: customized colors, logos and styles on each page as well as in e-mail notifications. Customization requires no programming or scripting abilities, and is simple enough to allow users to customize their system in minutes.

Approval Manager
Dashboard 

Dashboards have been designed to support users in all their proof-related activities. Worklists provide an easy-to-understand, drill-down view of the current status and schedule of all proofs in progress. Empty tab auto-hiding helps you focus on current tasks and filter alerts ensure that nothing is left unnoticed.

Annotation Filtering 

The latest release allows you to filter annotations in a variety of ways: You can view annotations from the currently selected stage, view only annotations created by you, view all annotations, or even hide all annotations to get a clean view of the proof.

Trafficking and Scheduling

Document review and approval processes are trafficked and scheduled using visual, easy to use, and efficient dashboards that provide managers with the ability to see at a glance the current status of all documents under review and conveniently drill down into the details of the processes they are interested in. Delays are immediately identified, and quickly addressed by schedule changes, reassigning reviewers, or other means.

Branded Web Portal

The Approval Manager module of Workgroups 2010 includes a separate web portal designed to be accessed by collaborators outside your workgroup. The portal may be fully branded with your unique look and feel without requiring any programming. With the web portal, your external reviewers are safely and securely included into your document and proof reviews.

Collaborative Users

Collaborative Reviewers are external users who access the system through a branded web portal and have access only to information directly related to the proofs they are assigned to. This allows managers to freely assign collaborative reviewers to approval processes without worry that they will expose information about other work, customers, or other business information contained in the system.

Account management for collaborative reviewers is simplified by providing easy tools to create new accounts, activate or deactivate existing accounts, and assign rules for automatically deactivating accounts based on dates or active reviews.

Proof Management Dashboard

Dashboard worklists for managers and producers provide an easy-to-understand view of the current status and schedule of all proofs and documents under review. Since proofs are centrally trafficked and scheduled, you have the ability to see when proofs are in jeopardy of missing a deadline or predicting when a proof will be completed. This allows you to accurately predict when work will be ready for production and ready to deliver to your customers.

Proof Review Dashboard

Each reviewer in the system has an individual dashboard worklist from which to work. This worklist presents a prioritized list of all documents s/he is responsible for reviewing and provides a one-click means for conducting their reviews.

Digital Resource Explorer

Use a powerful digital resource browser called Digital Resource Explorer to browse all the files of your team or workgroup, regardless of their current location. Even files that are currently offline or unavailable are available to Digital Resource Explorer. Users familiar with navigating their file system with either the Mac OS X Finder or Windows Explorer will be right at home navigating all the files across all the storage locations used by their teams and workgroups.

Full-Size Document Previews

View full-sized multi-page previews and extensive document metadata, right down to the fonts being used, box size, and text content, for all files and documents. Preview extraction is performed automatically by the system. Once captured, preview information is available regardless of whether the file is stored online, near-line or offline.

Find Files by Custom Metadata

Use the built-in search capabilities to find files based on file metadata including extracted text, keywords, associated customer information, related project information, and more. The Digital Storage Manager module provides you with more ways to quickly locate the documents you need, based on the information you’re likely to remember.

Find Files by Text Content

Full text searches let you find document files by searching on the very text contained in the documents. The Digital Storage Manager module for Workgroups 2010 captures the text content of common file types including QuarkXPress, Adobe Illustrator, PDF, and Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. The text content is stored as metadata and can be used to find document files regardless of whether they are online, offline, or residing in a secure storage location.

Helper Applications for Archiving

Use built-in support for the most popular third-party archiving and media authoring applications to simplify your archiving activities. Helper applications exist for:

• CA Software ARCserve
• EMC Dantz Retrospect
• Roxio Toast
• Rimage CD/DVD Production Systems
• Built-in Mac OS X CD/DVD Authoring
• Nero
• Microsoft Removable Storage Manager (RSM)

Archiving Automation

Use powerful archiving features to quickly and simply archive to your choice of offline media or to online servers. When archiving to online servers, the system even creates disaster recovery and archive media in one step, eliminating the countless hours and expenses involved in maintaining large storage repositories.

Archiving Workflows

The Digital Storage Manager module for Workgroups 2010 supports two types of archiving activities. The first is a decentralized workflow, which enables individual users within a workgroup to perform their own archiving functions. The second is a centralized workflow where a central archivist or cybrarian handles archive and retrieval requests in the form of queues. Users in a centralized workflow may assign a date on which files or folders are archived, while users in a decentralized workflow assume the responsibility of archiving their own files.

Metadata Management

Use InterSync to automatically extract existing metadata from your digital resources and smart metadata management features built right in to allow you and your team to easily add additional metadata not already contained within the files. For example, add keywords at the job or project level and let the system propagate these down to the related files. Or, add customer information to a project and the system associates it with all the related files. You can even search for individual files based on Metadata assigned at the job level.

Job Costs Analysis

Generate a window/report that provides an analysis of the costs created in the system with results categorized in detailed views, outside purchase views, or summarized views.

Workflow Analysis

A summarized view of each cost center encountered by jobs during the period, including the cost center name and code, the number of times it was encountered by jobs during the period, and the average amount of time each job resided in the cost center. On-demand views provide information on the labor, material, and miscellaneous tasks that have been charged by one or multiple departments/cost centers.

Work in Process Reporting

A listing of all jobs that have not yet been invoiced through a specified date, along with their associated costs broken down by labor, material items, miscellaneous items, outside purchases, and total costs.

Employee Analysis

Generate summary reports for insight into labor, material, and miscellaneous tasks that have been charged by individual or groups of employees over date ranges you specify.

Job Charge Collector

Similar to the Job Recorders used by employees, special Job Charge features allow managers to specify a variety of basic job charge information, including the number of the job to charge, the bill code, task and quantity to be charged, etc. Management-level features also allow permitted users to create backdated job charges, specify outside purchases, record the date and unit cost for the job charge, and more.

Employee Job Recorders

Capture what jobs employees are working on, what tasks they are performing, what materials they are using, etc. The Job Recorder option is designed for use by "production operators" (designers, prepress operators, press operators, etc.) to run while they perform their work, eliminating the need to try to remember how much time or materials were used for a particular job.

Customer Alterations Capture

Record and mark customer alterations in real-time to record and bill for the costs associated with customer changes. Customer alterations are summarized and dropped onto invoices automatically, where they may be edited or removed.