Automated catalog production at COLTENE

Initial situation

COLTENE imports over 11,000 items from SAP into the crossbase database every day via an XML interface. This process includes the product hierarchy, product data and product relationships such as parts lists, accessories and packaging components. The aim was to use this centrally maintained data efficiently for print publications, digital media and other applications.

Procedure

The crossbase solution provides a central data source from which information is made available for various purposes. Agencies receive the data from COLTENE via the crossbase API server to use it for the website (in seven languages), the sales app for field sales support and the print data store.

More than 300 product features are maintained in the crossbase database at COLTENE, some of which are calculated automatically. Texts for price lists, catalogs or API outputs, such as information on sets and kits, are also generated automatically. In addition, the system manages around 6,800 media assets with replacement histories, including images, videos, logos and pictograms that can be assigned to products or marketing structures. Documents such as flyers, brochures and packaging documents are also stored centrally.

COLTENE's "Easy Print Publishing" module is used for the manual creation of print files in Adobe InDesign. Price lists are created fully automatically: Item and price data from SAP is added dynamically in crossbase, exported and then processed in Adobe InDesign using crossbase.list.

The product catalog was created completely automatically. Flow frames and universal tables are generated automatically, as are customer-specific tables, including accessory and reference matrix tables, which are expanded dynamically as required.

Result

With the crossbase solution, COLTENE was able to produce the catalog efficiently and automatically in high quality. Central data maintenance and multi-channel provision led to considerable savings in time and resources.