By: Erik Vlietinck
Wed, October 24, 2007 - 4:12:00

http://www.gradual.com
Score:

PowerSWITCH 07 is the high-end member of Gradual Software’s SWITCH 07 family. And SWITCH 07 is the latest version of this workflow automation solution that is best known in publishing and prepress environments. PowerSWITCH 07 consists of a server workflow application and clients that log in to the PowerSWITCH. Users can easily set up a publishing workflow where the end-result would be a certified PDF or a scaled image in a specific file format. The LightSWITCH and FullSWITCH allow you to customise workflows in limited ways.

For example, LightSWITCH and FullSWITCH do allow for some applications outside a typical prepress, paper-based publishing environment to be workflow-automated, but full customisation, including AppleScript and Javascript programming are the realm of PowerSWITCH 07. The scripting capabilities of this high-end solution lift it far beyond the prepress task automation it was originally designed for. Using scripts, PowerSWITCH 07 can automate virtually any tedious, repetitive task, in any publishing environment.

PowerSWITCH 07 is an evolution of PowerSWITCH 06. Gradual deliberately did not want to create a break with the past. That is good news for users of the previous version who want to upgrade to the new features but don’t want to go through a learning curve again. Although that learning curve certainly isn’t steep, as I’ve experienced during my testing. PowerSWITCH 07 is a full-scale, heavyweight workflow automation system, which means it’s not suited for everybody. Let’s take an individually working web designer whose main concern is to scale batches of images, convert them to PNG and upload them to the FTP servers of his clients.

Such a web designer --and I’m sure there are a couple of million of those around the globe-- will benefit the most from LightSWITCH --or even FullSWITCH, if he’s also doing some other, paper-based design work. PowerSWITCH 7 really fits into a multi-discipline, multi-media, multi-user publishing environment. Its server-side application is where the admin will create the workflow, and keep an eye on the running processes, while users at remote locations --whether it be in the same office, or across the globe-- will feed their files through the system to get a desired end-result.

SWITCH 07 Supports Cross-media Publishing

To give an example: let’s say you are working in a magazine environment, and you are responsible for the proofing of QuarkXPress 7 or InDesign CS3 layouts on an inkjet proofer using the ProofMaster RIP software. The RIP is installed an a separate machine, which is hooked up to the inkjet proofer. With PowerSWITCH, you can have the admin create a workflow which allows you to drop files to be proofed on a hotfolder. The SWITCH system will pick up the file from your workstation and send it to ProofMaster.

The admin has control over the process by way of a new feature in version 07: the Dashboard where he can immediately see if something went wrong with your job. In that same magazine environment, the accounts department could do with an automated job ticket every time a job that can be charged to a department, is done. Through a bit of scripting, PowerSWITCH 07 can handle that ticket as well, and even in the format that is expected by the accounts department’s system (provided it works with open technology based software - XML for example).

In short, PowerSWITCH 07 is more than just a workflow automation product for creative environments alone. It can reach out to administrative environments too. The review that I have a chance of writing, will now concentrate on setting up a workflow and the many ways in which version 07 has improved the PowerSWITCH interface and way of doing things.

In the SWITCH 07 family, various things have changed to make creating workflow easier and more efficient. This translates into a better customisability of the interface and especially of the way you make workflow elements connect with each other. For example, connection lines can now be created in such a way that complicated workflows are visible in their entirety on one screen. Connections can be straight or with a bend, allowing you to make more efficient use of the screen real estate. I found this new feature to have beneficial effects to even simple flows as they became easier to understand.

Branding in SWITCH 07

Flows that belong together can be grouped, so that all flows in a group can be exported, activated, etc. Grouping makes for faster operations. Even more important is version 07’s ability to lock flows. This prevents you from accidentally changing a flow, a feature of which I didn’t understand why it was left out in the previous version.

The Dashboard is a great addition. By default, it’s part of the unified SWITCH window but you can drag the Dashboard to the desktop by grabbing its name bar and dropping it on the desktop. This enables an admin to better arrange those windows and get more visible information from the system.

Nice for branding purposes is that you can add a background or header image to a flow. I tried it out and came to the conclusion that it works well, although you must make sure your image has the correct size for the intended purposes. My high-resolution logo did indeed draw at top left when I chose to add a header image, but it was so big it was only visible for about a third.

To make the LightSWITCH and FullSWITCH products more customsiable, Gradual added the concept of variables. I was confronted with variables when I added the email node in my test flow. I could now set a subject using variables such as for job success, etc. This new feature enables users of LightSWITCH and FullSWITCH to benefit from small customisations, although the word “small” might be misleading. The Variables functionality has not been bolted on as an afterthought. It is accessed through an assistant which makes creating subject lines --and other information containers such as the files pane’s extra metadata column-- a breeze. You just select the variable from a long list of possibilities. If the list doesn’t contain what you need, you can customise your own variables as well.

For many people, this feature alone will make LightSWITCH and FullSWITCH a lot more compelling to use, while PowerSWITCH admins will like the ease-of-use.