HLMSW is going through a number of major changes at present and so I thought you may be interested in some detail of what is coming.
HLMSW 7.3 (due late 2012)
New Features include:
- Updated Screens – Many of the screens in HLMSW have been updated with new icons to provide visual clues that are more consistent across the entire system and better represent the functions they are representing.
- A comprehensive messaging and reminders system – to cope with the complexities of managing today’s libraries HLMSW will maintain an internal messaging system that will allow you to communicate with your colleagues or provide yourself with reminders in ways that are not possible with email. These can be scheduled by date/time or by a HLMSW Action. An example of how this system could be used is that if you wanted to alert a department about a change of procedure, you could send a group message which is displayed immediately prior to the action being performed whether that is the same day or a month later. This messaging system will also be the basis for the delivery of system messages like the Important Note flag which could optionally be set so that you only are prompted to acknowledge a note the FIRST time you lock it every day.
- PDF Merging – Like the Word Merge feature recently introduced, we will provide a very simple and efficient interface for you to pre-populate form information in PDFs with data directly from HLMSW. PDF Forms are very useful because they are accessible on almost every computer platform also now have the possibility of electronic signatures and email distribution. Click here to read more about creating PDF Forms.
- Zinfonia Control Centre – To assist you manage the growing number of orders sent by Zinfonia, the Zinfonia Control Centre will allow you to quickly direct incoming messages to particular members of staff (using the new messaging system), to auto respond to enquiries with pre-defined text or with PDFs that have been customised with the details of the request (using the new PDF Merge facility).
HLMSW 7.4 (due in 2013)
New Features include:
- Universal Instrumentation Codes – as previously mentioned, HLMSW will adopt a new system (UIC) which will harmonise the instrumentation of ALL HLMSW systems so that you can share template and parts information with your publishing partners and customers. The UIC system will also provide, for the first time, a way for human-readable orchestrations that are generated on the fly using a format that is defined by the customer and not the publisher. Click here for more information about the UIC system
- RamReader Digital Markup – The tools required to turn your digital libraries into a form suitable for digital distribution via RamReader (or any other delivery service). Rather than having a bunch of individual PDFs, Sibelius or Music XML files, the RamReader Format will allow you to have just 1 DRM-protected file that incorporates all of the components as well as information to assist in the distribution and use with RamReader.
These are just some of the big things on my plate, but as always if you have requests for new features or suggestions of ways to improve the way you work now, then please let us know.