Aptoma AS

The Pre-study

Every Aptoma project starts with a structured pre-study. We map your production process through interviews and analysis to build a shared understanding before any technical work begins.

The Pre-study

Our PoC project typically starts with a pre-study where the main focus is divided into 5 interview sessions:

  1. Strategy and vision (60 min): The media industry is talking about "digital first" and reaching for automation in print production to increase production and presence digitally. In this part our interview will focus on strategic planning and future direction. We're interested in understanding the media house expectations for a proof-of-concept collaboration, including anticipated ROI and success metrics.

    We'd also like to explore your strategic vision for integrating digital and print operations, considering both reader behaviour and organisational ambitions. Your perspective on where the industry is heading and how your publication plans to evolve will be extremely valuable.
  2. Workflow (90–120 min): Talking to the managers in the newsroom (business stakeholders, editors in chief, news editors, art director, etc) we seek to understand how your organisation manages the relationship between digital and print operations. We'd like to explore the structural dynamics, how teams coordinate, where decision-making authority lies, and how you leverage synergies between platforms. Understanding your current workflows and management's vision for future integration will help us appreciate the strategic approach your newsroom takes in balancing these two critical channels. Your insights into the similarities, differences, and collaboration models will be invaluable to our research.
  3. Planning (60 min): Understanding the practical aspects of content planning and production across platforms allows us to get some insights in how editorial decisions flow between online and print, how you plan and design print pages, and the collaborative processes involved in content creation. We'd also like to learn about your approach to adapting stories for print, including editorial decisions and how you handle visual elements like images and captions. Your day-to-day experience will provide crucial insight into your newsroom's operational rhythm. If the same staff attend Workflow and Planning, both can be covered in a single 120-minute session.
  4. Production (90 min): Last but not least we like to understand the print production workflow from content finalisation through to publication. We'd like to explore each stage — design, editing, and proofreading — and how your current systems support these processes. Understanding how you allocate time across different production tasks and manage deadlines will help us appreciate the operational realities of print journalism. The usage of templates and design criteria is also a significant part of this final investigation.
  5. Tech (60 min): We map your systems architecture surrounding print production — CMS, planning tools, ad systems, image management, output channels, and any integrations upstream or downstream. Understanding dependencies and data flows is essential for a realistic integration plan.

The pre-study culminates in a report summarizing our findings, identifying bottlenecks, and detailing areas of production inefficiency and proposals for change, where staff time is currently spent on repetitive tasks that could significantly benefit from automation and an optimized workflow. We will also highlight what is unique and well-functioning in your workflows, to make sure this is preserved throughout this change of technology and workflow.

What you need to prepare

What happens next?

The pre-study delivers a report identifying bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and opportunities — while highlighting what already works well. This forms the basis for a Proof of Concept.

For the full process overview, see How We Work.

Questions?

Contact Greta Bjerke, Head of Implementations, at greta@aptoma.com, or reach us at sales@aptoma.com.