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System 7 Workflow Management Released
System 7 Universal Rights Management Version 1.21
will be formally released at the Jaguar Design Council to be held 11-13
November in Pasadena, California. Design Council Members NBA, National
Geographic Society, Hallmark Entertainment and Sesame Workshop
will participate in a three-day prerelease review of Version 1.21 and
participate in setting the final detail vision for the upcoming Version 1.3
release in January.
Workflow Management will be the major highlight
of this release with additional excitement being generated by the delivery
of core Contract Builder custom form functionality as well. Version
1.21 also represents another major milestone for System 7, which now exceeds
1,000,000 lines of object-oriented code.
Contract Builder consists of two revolutionary
components. First and foremost it is a custom contract form designer that
offers virtually unlimited flexibility in laying out standard templates for
each type of agreement utilized in the company. The form engine is included
in this release. Second, a special contract data entry wizard has been
created (Version 1.3) that presents only those contract entry sections that
are required to fill out the specified standard form,
in the precise order of the form itself. The entry
process thus as closely as possible mirrors the order and appearance of the
paper contract form that will ultimately be produced for signature. Contract
Builder provides a dramatically superior entry environment to Word because
it draws upon System 7’s boilerplate language database, similar historical
contracts and predefined master tables to cut
actual entry keystrokes to the bare minimum.
Workflow Management Overview
Workflow Management is all about control. Large
organizations frequently involve numerous departments in key decision making
and operational processes. Tying those departments (and divisions) together,
particularly in a multi-national workplace, is difficult to do with just
email, voice mail and faxes. Workflow Management combines the power of a
comprehensive contract database with email
generation capabilities and a web
interface to integrate groups that could never collaborate
efficiently before. Contract approvals, licensee
product approvals, budget processing, servicing
operations, contract status reviews, digital delivery execution and
fulfillment scheduling, among many other possible applications, are
supported.
Workflow Management builds upon the proven Action
Management functionality incorporated into Contract Administration to
provide a level of visibility, reach and flexibility that are impossible
with traditional contact management and calendaring systems. Automatic email
generation lays out a predefined plan either prior to, or during, the
contract entry process to identify which individuals and departments will be
notified when a planned action starts, completes or is rejected. Rejection
enables the reviewer to instantly set the additional steps in the process
that will be required prior to resubmission to that reviewer.
External parties, such as customers, providers and
representatives, may not only receive appropriate email notifications, they
have access to secure websites that enable them to provide responses that
are incorporated directly into the workflow process, without expensive and
clumsy reentry. Submissions may incorporate digital artwork, documents or
links that become part of a permanent archive record of the workflow
process.
Within the system visibility to all of this power is
provided by a persistent Master Calendar function that if desired is
kept live and available at all times or is just a single button click away
on the system’s primary tool bar, which is always visible. This calendar may
be preset to highlight only desired workflow and contractual events.
Presented events are instantly accessible for approval, rejection,
suspension and updating. With appropriate security access entire workflow
projects, contracts and invoicing processes are immediately accessible
directly from within the calendar. Continuing refinement is underway to the
central control capabilities of the calendar to provide event-driven
triggering of additional financial and contract administration functions.
From PLAYBACK
DIGITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT
Jaguar Helps Film and TV Companies Turn Catalogs to Cash
August 5, 2002
By MARK DILLON
The Film and TV productions of Canada’s largest
entertainment companies maintain huge volumes of paperwork to conduct their
licensing businesses. Over the years, it is easy for vital information to
get lost in the shuffle. Being able to access business records instantly in
a digital format is crucial to enable these organizations to streamline
their administrative processes and maximize asset exploitation. It is these
advantages that Jaguar Consulting has brought to the likes of Alliance
Atlantis Communications, Lions Gate Films, Cinar and Nelvana. Each
company has approached the firm with varying needs and so has adopted
somewhat different sets of Jaguar modules.
AAC was the first Canadian installation for Jaguar, a
computer systems and service provider for contract administration and
accounting for Film, TV and Trademark licensing. Headquartered in Pasadena,
CA, Jaguar’s relationship with AAC began in 1994 and continues to this day
with software updates every three to six months and weekly technical
support, explains John Grubbs, Jaguar executive VP of business development.
AAC was keen on a system addressing contractual rights
and restrictions and accurate “collision testing.” For example, if a
distributor has a potential sales contract to license a program to air in a
foreign country, the system would allow them to access the show’s sales
history. It would inform them as to when a distributor’s program rights
expire as well as provide a regional breakdown of rights if they are
territorially divided with other distributors. It would also show whether or
not rights for that particular area have already been sold or optioned.
The program can help keep a distributor’s sales team
up to date on what productions in the company’s catalog are available to be
licensed, including the where and when. Users can access the information
through Web queries, and a multiple-window interface that allows several
licensing contracts to be on screen simultaneously. The system also
generates e-mail notifications of relevant events and reminders of upcoming
time-sensitive tasks such as contract renewal.
Although it can be laborious for a company to input
all this information into the system, once digitally available, the
resulting database greatly reduces future retrieval time, and, according to
Grubbs, allows a company to get the most out of its assets.
“It really helps them generate more revenue, because
they typically know the exploitation information about the big hits but tend
to lose track of the lesser titles,” he says. “As time goes on, you’ve got a
lot of contracts and the research gets much more complicated, so on the
lesser titles, where there is not a lot of value, sales start not getting
done. With a system like Jaguar, that doesn’t happen. You hit a button and
find out instantly that you can pick up a few thousand extra dollars, so you
do it. Otherwise you’d say, ‘Nah, it’s not worth it.”
These systems also reduce client expenditures and
physical storage space. Without this kind of digital system, a company is
likely to file a key piece of licensing information, either on paper or as
isolated electronic documents, anywhere from three to a dozen times,
creating extra need for clerical staff. But with these programs, anybody,
including those who may not have an exact understanding of the data, can
access information simply and quickly through web-based queries. In
addition, the information format remains consistent and is not subject to
the confusion caused by conflicting contract structures instituted by
successive company regimes.
The systems also facilitate the access to licensing
information for the overseas branches of film and TV companies, which are
especially prevalent in this co-production era.
Tracking Royalties
The Jaguar system keeps tabs on the royalties that a
distributor is due from home video and pay-per-view revenue. Nelvana, with
many spin-off products for its kid’s demographic, was particularly
interested in the system’s capabilities in the merchandise licensing area.
The program electronically downloads sales reports from merchandise
manufacturers so that the rights holder can later check the accuracy of how
much the merchandisers claim to owe, based on the terms of their contractual
agreement.
Jaguar continues to develop its relationship with
Nelvana both in merchandise licensing and in an on-line system for approving
the design and marketing plans for the licensed products being manufactured.
Meanwhile, rival animation company Cinar has been most interested in the
contract administration, as well as rights and restrictions functions.
The installation of Jaguar’s system requires client
training, so the company also maintains a New York office to service the
East Coast. The company will roll out its latest software version, System 7
Universal Rights Management, to its Canadian clients by year’s end. Grubbs
says the new version has broader applications and will be highly
configurable to support a wide variety of companies with intellectual
property rights concerns, such as networks and satellite operators.
Despite the fact that four Canadian majors have
embraced contract rights management, Grubbs acknowledges the industry-wide
adoption of digital asset management has been disappointingly slow over the
past couple of years. He believes that the key is for the software
companies, including Documentum and North Plain Systems, to present a
stronger business case to the entertainment industry. He foresees instant
digital clearance of stock footage as the next widespread application, and
is already in talks with MGM and NBC about adopting the process.
www.jaguartc.com
System 7 Overview
System 7 is a single interface, non-modular system
that brilliantly tames the beast of intellectual property acquisition,
creation and licensing contract and financial administration. System 7 uses
over 1,000,000 lines of
object-oriented code to put the intelligence where
it is needed, next to the contract data, not in endless Paper, Word and
Excel files managed by limited human memories and attention spans.
System 7 is a true native relational database
system that provides the reliability and performance inherent in this
technology. System 7 was the result of a clean sheet of paper approach that
eliminated all legacy system considerations in favor of the optimum design.
A conscious decision was made in 1998 to avoid the pitfalls encountered by
others in attempting to integrate the unique complexities of intellectual
property agreements with contract and finance designs that were originally
conceived of to support manufacturing and wholesale distribution operations
and accounting.
Major functions of System 7
Event-Driven Administration of Acquisition,
Development, Production, Component, Licensing, Royalty and Sub-Distribution
Agreement
Approval Workflow Facilitation of Contracts,
Products, Budgets, License Concepts, Marketing Campaigns
Granted Rights Analysis performing Contract
Authorization, Rights Exploitation Mapping, Disposition of Rights History.
Transaction Processing of Scheduled Contract
Invoicing, Cash Receipts, Royalty Collections and Royalties Payable.
General Ledger Recognition of Guarantee
Revenue, Royalty Earnings, Cash-Basis Revenue, Vendor Entitlements and Cash
Collections.
Sales Activity Support through Contact
Management, Marketing Coordination and Customer Performance Analysis.
System 7 Advantages
Comprehensive Functionality Suite
Event-Driven Contract Administration
Bi-Directional Rights Management
Asset Creation and Assembly
Royalty Earnings and Payables
Accounts Receivable/Payment Administration
Contract Revision Audit Trail
Efficient User Experience
Multiple Concurrent Functions/Documents
Anytime Batch Financial Posting
Interlinked Graphical Web Queries
System Navigation Designer
Crystal Reports Replication
Dynamic Master Tool Bar
Self-Customization Tools
Custom Rights Framework
Workflow Management Templates
Departmental Privacy Options
Royalty Import Translation Dictionary
Legal Document Assembly Guide
Contract Form and Entry Designer
Flexible Growth Support
Incremental Rights Reconfiguration
Expandable Data Filtering
Parallel Server Performance Acceleration
Oracle and DB2 Database Migration
Workflow and Royalty Extranets
Worldwide Sales Force Automation
Extensive Potential Interfaces
Enterprise Resource Systems (ERP)
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Customer Self-Service Extranet
Digital Asset Delivery
Digital Asset Management
In-House Custom Databases
High Performance Technology
Scalable n-Tier Architecture
4th Order Normalized Database
Remote Access Performance Tuning
Failed Transaction Rollback
Referential and Data Integrity
Conditional Source Code Access (300+ users)
About
Jaguar News
Jaguar News is published by
Jaguar Consulting Inc.
Pasadena,
California
Lincoln Center, New York
London, United Kingdom
For additional information: Visit http://www.jaguartc.com
Or contact
Nympha Singh 626/796-1955 x221
nsingh@jaguartc.com
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