"We are proud of our repro background, but now we're having discussions about a wider workflow that's more than just advertising and production," said business development manager Mike Palmer. "We have customers that don't use us for any repro, just automation and asset management."

New modules in the web-based package are project planning to handle editorial page production from commissioning photography, design and copy through to the sign-off of completed pages. The company has also added further tools in ad tracking and production to link it into a publisher's financial systems.

The use of an online pre-flight engine that still allows clients to submit files that failed the check after having flagged them up was what grabbed the attention of publishers' finance departments.

"It was that sort of information that got us involved in the finance people," said Palmer. "If an ad isn't paid for they can resolve a credit query in real time."

Additional advertising tools include drag and drop submission and automatic rule-based creation of classified pages. "Now it's an enterprise workflow," said Palmer. "We believe it is the most comprehensive magazine production workflow."

Atelier's publisher customers, which include Redwood, Dennis, Highbury House Communications and Centaur, originally used DPD as an ASP, but now publishers are talking about buying licences for the software, rather than taking the pay as you go route.

The new modules will be rolled out to customers over the next six months.

"We have a dream of building a magazine automatically in minutes," added Palmer.