Ziflow review

We currently use Ziflow to review medical figure redraws for publication in manuscripts, abstracts, journals or inclusion in scientific posters for both print and online. Ziflow allows us to track all amends and keeps all versions of a proof in one place. It limits who has access to these proofs so that people are aware who is responsible for them but it also allows me as a resource manager, to allocate and re-assign amends jobs when they come into my queue. This keeps workflow moving and ensures nothing is missed or lost in email as it may have been previously. Ziflow is currently utilised for about half of our workload at the moment. Most of our Presentations jobs don't get reviewed through Ziflow because the slides would have to be submitted as flat images and any complex interactivity or navigation would be not be accessible. However, recently we have started converting some complex animated slide decks to video files to review as a slide show on Ziflow, which makes it easier for agencies to add comments to specific points in the show without affecting or interfering with the background animations. This has proved very useful so far.

The content that my team reviews is limited creatively but I'm aware of other teams in the studio who use Ziflow to approve more creative concepts and pieces of artwork. I think it has given structure to projects overall and probably makes agencies more aware of a step-by-step process when briefing in creative work. It has forced an appreciation for clear timelines and allocating the correct budget and appropriate deadlines. For example, we were used to having slides briefed into our team with instructions to use creative concepts for template design that weren't yet approved from the graphic design team in our Studio. This would happen less now as you can clearly track when this has been signed off in Ziflow and is ready to be utilised by the next team.

Having the control over who has access to what has really helped as you can see who is yet to review a proof and with our specific process, there should only be one Decision Maker. This makes it really clear to our designers, what is outstanding and helps you plan your workload better too. Having multiple people's comments captured on one proof is also useful because there have been times when you would have conflicting instructions or a last-minute colour change that would go against template and this is always useful to be able to go back to, if challenged later. Likewise if work is passed from one designer to another, the new designer can track back all prior direction on a project and get up to speed very quickly.