ABOUT VNU BUSINESS PUBLICATIONSVNU Business Publications BV, based inHaarlem, Netherlands, is a major B2B pub-lisher specializing in recruitment, profession-al IT, consumer technology, managementand fashion publications. VNU BP publishescross-media brands (Intermediair, Intermedi-air Online, NationaleVacaturebank), IT/PCtitles (Computable, CRN, Emerce, PCM, Com-puter Idee) and business titles (ManagementTeam, Sprout).VNU BP is part of VNU Business MediaEurope (VNU BME), one of the leading B2Bpublishing companies in Europe. Specializedin areas such as technology, business &finance and recruitment, VNU BME pro-vides highly valuable information to thebusiness communities formed by readersand visitors to VNU’s exhibitions and websites. VNU BME is present in seven wholly-owned operating companies in the UK,Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands,Belgium and Spain and has approximately70 print titles. VNU BME has a leading on-line position in the IT industry in Europe viaits network of VNU.net sites that reach over10 million unique users per month.

PROJECT FOCUSAdvertising and Sales Management (ASM)Journal Sales and Distribution (JSD) Customer Care Management (CCM)

PROJECT TIMEFRAMEEarly 2005 – workshopsApril 2005 – phase 1 start (circulation)October 2005 – phase 1 go-liveJanuary 2006 – phase 2 start (advertisements)July 2006 – phase 2 go-live

PROJECT LOCATIONHaarlem, Netherlands

CONTACT Hans PlatschorreFinance & Operations Director VNU BP BVh.platschorre@vnubp.nl

Ernst Lopes CardozoManaging Director Klopotek BVe.lopescardozo@klopotek.nl

www.vnubp.nl www.vnubme.comwww.klopotek.com

In 2005 VNU Business Publications launched a project to replace its completeback-office systems. The idea was to have one central system that wouldstreamline its circulation system, its advertisement ordering process and itscomplete sales process as well as integrate questionnaire management withthe controlled circulation system. Finally, VNU BP wanted to have all of itsinformation in a single data system and be able to analyze this data via theKlopotek Business Objects Universes. The roll-out was planned in two pha-ses. VNU BP is proud to have reached this goal on time and within budget.Hans Platschorre (HP), Finance & Operations Director and Otto Korstenbroek(OK), Project Manager talked to Klopotek about their experience.

VNU BP successfully implemented the Klopotek

publishing solution. Why did VNU want to

replace its previous systems?

HP: In our legacy system, circulations andadvertisement management were based onseparate databases. This meant we had tospend a lot of time and effort compiling the data to get a market overview. Not onlyare there costs and risks associated with an internal development department, we

hoped that an integrated system from anexternal provider would bring additionalbenefits in assessing customers and sales.

What were your initial ideas for and expectations

of a new software application and supplier?

HP: It was clear to us that a generic ERP system could not meet our current needs but that we should look for an industry-oriented publishing application instead.

Hans Platschorre, Finance & Operations Director (left) and Otto Korstenbroek, Project Manager

Case study Klopotek implementation for VNU BP’sAdvertisement Management and Circulation Systems

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Klopotek won us over with its flexible andintegrated approach

What made VNU BP finally go with Klopotek?

HP: We opted for Klopotek after a thoroughreview of various suppliers. The main criteriain favor of the Klopotek system were theone database, its integration with BusinessObjects, its flexible setup and the fact that itmost closely reflected our current processes.Another factor in our selection process washaving experienced consultants from theindustry.

Did the Klopotek system meet your expectations?

HP: Yes. We expected to benefit from on-going support and the development of amedia ERP solution with a strong base in theindustry. This would have been beyond ourown development capabilities. The Klopoteksolution enables us to connect readers andadvertisers in an innovative way. This solu-tion, which is integrated into an IT infra-structure that serves a cross-media communi-ty, forms the back-bone of our processes.

Thank you, Mr. Platschorre.

The Klopotek publishing solution was imple-

mented in two phases. Mr. Korstenbroek, you

were project manager for both implementation

phases, what are the advantages of a step-by-

step process?

OK: The main reason was to minimize therisks a project of this size poses for VNU, thusensuring that the project impacted only onecore business process at a time. Because wehad two separate legacy systems, it was easyto break the project down into two phases.

How could you be sure that six months were

sufficient for each phase?

OK: In our experience with projects, we havefound that the only way to get a highlymotivated project team is to define a cleargoal within reach. The Klopotek project

implementation method played a key role in planning critical paths and tracking therequired tasks and their status.

Did the implementation projects meet your

expectations?

OK: Thanks to the excellent cooperation be-tween VNU BP and the Klopotek consultants,we achieved our goal of completing bothphases within the scheduled time frame. Weare very pleased that such a challenging pro-ject like replacing a circulation and advertis-ing system, while simultaneously changingsome of the business processes and introduc-ing new ones, was carried out so successfully.

Mr. Korstenbroek, thank you for the interview.

Extensive reader data pool built on circulation and questionnaire management

In a first phase the project teams implemen-ted the Klopotek Journal Sales and Distri-bution system (JSD) and Customer CareManagement system (CCM) for subscriptionmanagement and marketing. Using theKlopotek Web Application Server technologythey also integrated VNU BP’s web sites withquestionnaire management. The project wascompleted within the projected time of 168days and within the allocated budget. Thesystem went live following migration of onemillion subscription orders to JSD.

One major task was implementing full sup-port for VNU BP’s controlled circulation (CC)process. As opposed to paid subscriptions,controlled circulations require extensive questionnaire management. The answersprovided with each CC request have to bescreened to grant the reader free or dis-counted access to the respective publication.

“It was Klopotek’s integrated approach that convinced us – circulation and advertising, Business Objects as a business intelligencesolution, media-specific business processes engraved in the software,and experienced consultants who know the industry.”

Questions and potential answers are definedin the Klopotek system with custom-madetransactions so that they can be used eitherby VNU BP’s in-house customer service ortransferred electronically to the journals subscription site www.abonneren.nl.

In addition to questionnaires, the subscrip-tions web site is also supplied with publi-cation master data in XML format. Subscrip-tion orders, including all information for thereader and customer, addresses, subscriptiondetails and the completed questionnaires, areautomatically stored in the Klopotek systemusing web integration services.

The Klopotek JSD subscription system pro-vides all of the functionality VNU BP needsfor selling both print and electronic ver-sions of magazines: journal meta data,detailed pricing information for domestic

Hans Platschorre

All sides benefited from transparency in planning and implementation

and international sales, order entry, invoi-cing and fulfillment.

A sub-project to incorporate existing and newmarketing processes into the system was carried out. Marketing teams who want tomake use of the extensive customer databasehave to be able to store privacy opt-in andopt-out data. Readers are thus able to indi-cate the contexts in which they allow theiraddress data to be used. Multiple options for brand and publisher-specific contextshave been created in the Klopotek system.

The requirements for internal data transferto and from the financial system Navisionwere defined and standard interfaces imple-mented which also support deferred revenue.Finally, external data can also be transferredfrom third-party newsletters and web-basedjob databases.

The implementation of the basic services for reader and subscription/circulation management was followed by the inte-gration of the advertisement solution in a second phase at VNU BP. Within only seven months, the Klopotek solution foradvertisements was fully implemented at VNU BP.

An average of approximately 2,000 orders in the recruitment and display ad sector ishandled every month. In addition to adver-tisements in print magazines, the Klopoteksystem also manages period-based bannerads from the web and imports recruitmentadvertisement orders generated by onlinejob sites like www.intermediair.nl andwww.computable.nl.

More than 80 sales people at VNU BP aresupported in their day-to-day work by theKlopotek advertisement system. Complexcompany hierarchies, a common characteris-tic of corporate customers, can be easily viewed. Information about the agencies andrepresentatives an advertiser has a businessrelationship with can be discerned at a glance.The system supports the definition of collect-ive and group completions linked to parti-cular publication versions. Incoming and outgoing sales and customer contacts are monitored with transaction forms adapted

Sales force and market control with Advertising and Sales Management (ASM)and Customer Care Management (CCM)

VNU BP specializes primarily in recruitment, professional IT,consumer technology, management and fashion publications

to the individual needs of the VNU BP staff.Structured data stored with transactions inthe Klopotek system is available for furtheruse in marketing analyses and data miningwith the Klopotek Business Objects Universes.

The VNU BP staff maintains all publication master data required for advertisement and circulation management in the Klopoteksystem. Price lists are stored on an annualbasis and allow basic prices to be definedwith all types of surcharges e.g. colors, placement in special positions and formats.

Generating index lists for export in XML for-mat is a special feature for recruitment adsand available from Klopotek on demand atany point in the magazine production pro-cess. Being able to exchange data with a‘flat-planning system’ is essential in the inte-gration of advertisement management andthe planning and coordination of each issue’s print process. A bi-directional data

exchange to and from the Data Plan systemhas been provided accordingly in coopera-tion with VNU BP.

To close sales in a timely manner with custo-mers, the sales team needs to be able to re-spond quickly to each sales case. Offers can be created and calculated upfront. Electronicconfirmation e-mails for orders and offershelp the VNU BP sales staff speed up thewhole process. An offer can easily be turnedinto a final order once an agreement hasbeen reached with the customer. This orderis then invoiced with the next invoice run –or even invoiced immediately at the requestof the user. Should there be any reason for a customer complaint, a complaint manage-ment system logs all of the relevant details.

The Klopotek publishing solution stores large volumes of data created by publish-ers in their daily business. Using this as its starting point, VNU BP wanted tohave a powerful data analysis and reporting tool at its disposal that was bothstandard and easy-to-use.

Analyze and forecast with the Klopotek BusinessObjects Universes

Benelux and ScandinaviaKlopotek BVOostenburgervoorstraat 120 -1241018 MR Amsterdamwww.klopotek.nl

GermanyKlopotek & Partner GmbHSchlueterstrasse 3910629 Berlinwww.klopotek.de

UKKlopotek UK Ltd90 Long Acre, Covent GardenLondon WC2E 9RZwww.klopotek.co.uk

USA and Canada Klopotek North America, Inc.1540 Broadway, 10th FloorNew York, NY 10036www.klopotek.com

The Klopotek Business Object Universes for Journal Sales and Distribution (JSD) andAdvertising and Sales Management (ASM)provide answers to the questions the pub-lisher may have such as: How many customercontacts are necessary to achieve a certainlevel of turnover? Can I create a forecastbased on historical customer data that iscombined with prospect and market sharedata? What are the latest market trends?How can I efficiently measure the perfor-mance of my company’s sales force?

Klopotek’s new Business Objects Universesalso enable VNU BP to browse, explore andevaluate the comprehensive Klopotek busi-ness intelligence data set and develop itsown standard and ad hoc reports. VNU BPnow has in-depth knowledge of its completesales process.

Providing complete access to the key figuresin Klopotek ASM makes reliable forecastingeasier, thus giving managers a better plan-ning tool.

The same business intelligence idea appliesto the magazine subscription business: Everypublisher active on the magazine subscrip-tion market needs to be able to analyze thesubscription figures on a regular basis.

VNU BP creates typical reports based on theJournal Subscription and Distribution Universeof Klopotek detailing the number of new sub-scriptions per month or year cross-referencedwith publications, the number of discontinuedsubscriptions and the number of combinedor mixed media subscriptions. Trends areassessed by merging individual customer’sdata such as age, gender or region withanswers such as position, type of company,budget figures, etc. provided by the con-trolled circulation process.

The Klopotek Universes are used to analyzemarketing campaigns and allow forecastingof figures for future campaigns. The Uni-verses support financial key figures, includingdeferred revenue calculation of the subscrip-tion turnover, so that revenue can be accu-rately recognized.

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Circulations – Klopotek Journal Sales andDistribution (JSD)

Central customer poolCentral publication pool Order processingCollective ordersFlexible price modelsPromoter and premium managementEvaluation optionsInsert processingControlled circulations questionnaires

Advertisements – Klopotek Advertisement and Sales Management (ASM)

Order processingProof copiesSupport for pages, millimeters and online advertisementsPrint materialsCompetition observationOffers and completion management Printed and electronic offers, confirmations and invoicesSales funnel transaction managementComplaint management

Marketing – Klopotek Customer CareManagement (CCM)

Campaign managementMarketing selectionsProfile managementShipping pool managementSuccess checkSupport of rented and external addressesCall center options

Entrance hall of VNU Business Publications in Haarlem, Netherlands

Overview of products at a glance