While working with an in-house print and mail operation, I was approached by one of the internal departments we supported. They had an annual project all planned out and only contacted me for help in acquiring some of the materials they wanted. They planned on doing the whole project themselves. I never would have known about it had they found a suitable paper source on their own.

After asking some questions about what they hoped to accomplish and getting samples from the previous year's efforts I could see why the last project was deemed a disaster. It was late, over-budget, and produced a lot of confusion and discontent among the recipients due to mixed documents. The design that was proposed included several personalized pieces to be printed and inserted. Among other things, the text of the letter referred to the offer printed on a personalized coupon. Once recipients returned the coupon, a separate personalized document was to be created and sent to them.

I suggested a few design changes that eliminated all the separate pieces and greatly streamlined the return process and follow-up procedures. Plus, we were able to use our automated inserting equipment and digital printers to produce duplex documents. Labor costs were nearly eliminated and the results were produced on time with zero errors.

The point of this story is to highlight just how important it is for document operations to get engaged in new print/mail projects early in the process. Specialized knowledge and experience helps document operations guide the development of projects and the design of documents towards items that are operationally workable.

In this case, I was working with average office people with no background in document design. But even design professionals can't be expected to be thoroughly aware of equipment capabilities and limitations, departmental workflow, or the myriad of postal regulations that document professionals deal with on a daily basis. There are too many variables to consider. Here are just a few:

• Paper grain
• Location of folds
• Perforations
• Envelope window placement
• Aspect ratio
• Tabbing requirements
• Equipment production and tracking barcodes
• Envelope design and capacity
• Postal endorsements and services
• Delivery standards and requirements
• Matching capabilities
• Machinability (both in-house and postal service)
• Toner or ink adherence

 We've had experience with all these factors before and have learned the lessons - some of them painful. Those are things you don't forget. I guess that's why customers call us to help implement new applications and workflows.

There are many, many other variables of course. Every project can be different. But failing to address any one of these factors in advance can result in unnecessary labor, postal surcharges, delays, excess damage to mail pieces, delivery problems, unanticipated expenses, and more.

Document operations professionals owe it to their customers to reach out to them in advance and share their knowledge and experience.