Deep Dive 01: Web to Print User Management

User Management

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Welcome to our first web to print deep dive where we discuss user management. This our first in a series of blog posts that go deeper into the details of an OOSys web to print online ordering system. The goal of these deep dive blog posts is not only to educate our prospective and current clients, but to provide inspiration as well. Perhaps there are uses of your web to print system that even we have not thought of. Enjoy!

What is User Management?

It is a system whereby users are authenticated and permitted to access and use features of a web to print system. It also allows for storing and retrieving information about the user.

What are the Benefits?

Having web to print user management, or user profiles as some call it, allows order management to happen. It allows for the automated tracking of who ordered what items and when. This, in turn, allows for users to view their order history and to easily place re-orders of identical orders or an item or multiple items from previous orders.

How Do I Get Started with Web to Print User Management?

Starting From a List

The most common way to start with web to print user management is to export a list. The benefits of this method is that you know exactly who has access to your private storefront even before it is officially launched. You can also standardize the spelling and formatting of the information stored in the users’ profiles.

User Self-Registration

But what do you do if you do not have an up-to-date list of users? The answer is to allow for users to self-register. Optionally, you can then have a user with a manager role who is set up to approve and even edit/correct these user self-registrations.

What are the Fields Used in a User’s Profile?

Standard Fields

Fields within a user profile can be used to populate information on a customizable marketing material item. This can drastically reduce the amount of typing and time it takes to create a custom piece. A user profile usually contains personalized information for the user. The standard fields can include:

Custom and/or Advanced Fields

It is also possible to pre-program user profile custom fields for use in the web to print system. This could be something like a budget field used to limit what the user can spend within the custom storefront. Or it could be a custom-named code for billing purposes. Or it could be an image field to store a photo of the user or a map related to a franchise location. Or it could be a default language selection for a user that toggles the display of a certain language on the storefront. (Requires multilingual option.)

Please keep in mind that any or all of these custom fields can be used in the creation of a custom marketing material item such as a flyer, postcard, business card, etc. Or they can be fields used on the order invoice or within email communications related to the order. You are only limited by your imagination!

What Roles Can Be Assigned?

With user management, you can also assign roles to a user. An OOSys web to print storefront has several roles that can be assigned to users.

Standard Customer Role

The customer role is the most common user role and allows a user to:

Manager Role

A manager can perform all the same above tasks as a customer but also view and manage those of the users within their company or group within the company. A manager can also manage company addresses, manage company assets, manage shared data, manage welcome messages and can view reports.

Approver or Gatekeeper Role

This is an indispensable role if your web to print system requires an approval workflow or approval system. A gatekeeper or approver can approve and, optionally, edit orders that have been placed within their company or within their same group within the company prior to releasing them for production or download.

Master Approver or Master Gatekeeper Role

A master approver is a second level of approval. Once an order is approved by the first approver, then the order will route to the master approver to approve.

Are There Alternatives?

If your company or organization already has an intranet where your users are already logging in, then there is an alternative to using the web to print user management. Using a technology called single sign on (SSO), your users can seamlessly, without entering multiple passwords, be authenticated as a user on your OOSys web to print system.

The Power of User Management within a Web to Print Solution

Regardless of which industry your business or organization belongs to, user management within a web to print solution will help you optimize the creation and ordering of custom printed marketing materials and a host of other items too!

As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us!

Until our next deep dive, happy web to print’ing!