Converting Maximum Titles in Minimum Time

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Sept, 2000 by Gloria S. Adams

Impossible to convert 40 titles in eight months? Not if you have a team, a plan and a willingness to execute.

Changing fulfillment services is seldom an easy task, and the decision to make a change is usually one shrouded in dread of what will go wrong in the process. However, with proper planning, the whole conversion can go smoothly.

In early 1999, we decided to move the fulfillment for our controlled publications from an in-house system to a fulfillment service bureau. That meant moving approximately 40 titles before the end of the year. Just thinking about the challenges of moving a publication almost every week was scary, but we did it. And, hopefully, our experiences can be helpful to those of you about to go through conversion. The same lessons should apply whether you have one title or many.

The plan: Move 40 titles in eight months. To make the schedule flow, we did as much work as we could before the conversions actually began--immediately setting up file layouts and tests for each magazine, establishing procedures for every publication, going through each qualification card to make sure we knew what coding changes needed to be made, and establishing a schedule for these changes to be implemented. We also scheduled training for circulation managers and account reps as early in the cycle as possible.

The implementation: Following our schedule meticulously, as soon as a publication closed for an issue we sent the file to the new fulfillment company, the conversion having to be done in time for the next issue label production. With very few exceptions, we stuck to the schedule during the entire nine months. To add to the workload, we added a few new publications and closed down one or two magazines. With everyone's hard work and commitment, however, we made our goal and had everything converted by the end of December.

In the process, we learned 12 important lessons:

* The schedule rules. All planning and decisions have to be made based on the schedule. If you deviate from it, you won't make your deadlines.

* One person has to be in charge and control the schedule.

* Plan around audit cycles so you don't convert with an audit issue.

* Spread conversions among circulation managers. You don't want all of one individual's publications converting at the same time.

* Daily conversations are needed between the schedule controller and all parties involved. There should be formal weekly reviews on progress.

* Allow enough lead time to design and implement renewal and invoice series.

* Get other internal departments involved early on. Accounting needs to work on bank accounts, funds transfers, paid dollars sign-off. IT needs to work on hook-ups between you and your fulfillment house and printers, and on getting Web pages transferred, if necessary. Phone operators need to know the conversion schedule and appropriate phone and fax numbers for people to call. Postal/distribution needs to set up post office boxes and funds transfers for postage. Reader service needs to know the schedules and any requirements for file marriage, and so on.

* Get your vendors involved early-- magazine printers, telemarketing services, list rental, merge/purge houses, international distributors, forms printers, e-mail services, etc. All need to know forms requirements and file layouts, as well as any other requirements to ensure a smooth transfer.

* Plan for plenty of staff visits between the fulfillment house and the circulation management staff.

* Develop a glossary of terms, if necessary. Different words mean different things to each group.

* Watch your forms inventory prior to the move--print only what you'll need prior to conversion. You must watch this for codes pre-printed on forms, as well as addresses.

* Control issue inventory. Send only what you think you'll need to your current fulfillment, and start sending copies to your new vendor early. This will save expensive shipments of issues.

Regardless of the number of publications or the amount of time you have to get everything done, with proper up-front planning and commitment, you can achieve a smooth conversion.

Gloria S. Adams is circulation director for PennWell's Advanced Technology Division in Nashua, New Hampshire.