Cox Media Group (CMG) has deployed the QueManager graphics order management system (OMS) from Diaquest Products for its Apple Final Cut Server newsroom systems. The software add-on, which has been tightly integrated with the station group’s Avid iNEWS newsroom computer systems and Deko graphics systems, provides an efficient workflow for managing over-the-shoulder and other broadcast graphics.
The software gives CMG station production staff a way to quickly and efficiently search their graphics library for images to enhance its news stories.
CMG said that the QueManager software has been or will be installed in seven CMG stations and duopolies by the end of this month. They include: KTVU, San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose; WSB, Atlanta; KIRO, Seattle/Tacoma; WFTV/WRDQ, Orlando, FL; WPXI, Pittsburgh; WSOC/WAXN, Charlotte, NC; and WHIO, Dayton, OH.
According to Chip Reif, engineering manager for WFTV/WRDQ, CMG plans to implement QueManager in some of its smaller stations in 2011. He said the company could measure its return on investment (ROI) through efficiency and accuracy. The QueManager reduces the labor required for the people who have to interact with graphics, which frees up station personnel to perform other tasks. As a result, it also has reduced spelling and other human errors.
The QueManager software makes clip search and retrieval highly efficient by allowing CMG producers to search thumbnails of existing graphics and attach the finished graphics to stories in Avid iNEWS. When used with the Deko ActiveX plug-in, producers can also add titles to a graphic, which can be updated throughout the story’s life cycle without requesting new graphics each time from the graphics department.
QueManager provides a Web-based order system that can be integrated with ENPS or iNEWS newsroom computer systems via plug-ins. The software add-on offers easy access to the most needed tools for asset searches and browsing, as well as order requests, job assignment, review and approval and publishing.
In addition, QueManager offers new workflows that utilize Final Cut Server, including integration with Apple XSan and other centralized storage systems, as well as support for image sequences, editorial applications and a wide range of codecs.
