Automate Magazine Planning and Production with Mendix and SAP

The complex planning and production process of Sanoma Media’s 80+ magazine titles involves many internal and external stakeholders such as editors, marketers, paper vendors, printing companies and distributors. The printing and distribution services department is responsible for the entire process.

Sanoma’s fragmented process needed to be improved to avoid manual work and expensive inefficiencies.

Converting magazine configurations into orders for external partners created another challenge for Sanoma. This process could be improved by automating the translation of these configurations into products that are listed in the existing catalogue of partner contracts.

Solution

Implementation partner Magnus Technology Solutions used the Mendix development platform to quickly build an initial prototype to demonstrate the potential of the application. This prototype would become the first iteration of a new Magazine Production Portal.

Its functionality was implemented based on existing processes together with newly designed functionality:

  • Standardized and automated information flow to suppliers
  • Fewer errors
  • Clearer status reporting
  • Smooth invoicing

Configuration-specific production planning, forecasting, budgeting and calculation of material usage enabled Sanoma to better analyze the complex production process.

Extensive business logic was modeled in Mendix to support the many business rules required throughout the process. The Magazine Production Portal also communicates with the company’s central SAP system for financial settlement and control.

Results

Mendix allowed Sanoma to create a unique application that differentiated their business and made the production chain more transparent and efficient.

The Magazine Production Portal brings together all of the processes and communications concerning the production and distribution of illustrated magazines. Every order, including off-the-shelf print jobs like inserts, is now automatically booked.

Since its first version the app has been enhanced multiple times and now also includes management reports, a planning module and an external portal standardizing the process around requests for proposals. Recently, the Magazine Production Portal has been expanded internationally within Sanoma Media.

Efficiencies gained through the use of this application resulted in a 20% decrease in operational costs and delivered an ROI just eight months after going live.

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