In addition to improving the software for FMG's existing magazine, book and catalogue repro customers, VIP4 is designed to open up overseas markets.

It is the culmination of several years' development and a £750,000 investment.

"We took all we learnt from developing [digital editions package] Ceros to build a new product from the ground up," said FMG chief executive Simon Berg.

VIP 4 has a dedicated product manager Jamie Rose, a team of six programmers and a tester with upgrades planned every couple of months.

At the heart of VIP 4 is a new communications engine and an advanced flatplanning tool, which will extend the product's scope beyond production, upstream to publishing and downstream to the print site.

"The architecture is designed to support collaborative workflows," said group marketing director Dominic Duffy. "As many users as possible view the flatplan and all changes are broadcast."

New functions include automatically re-folioing all affected pages if a flatplan changes, and a 'send to production' button, which outsources tasks such as retouching or cutouts to FMG if required.

FMG's Colour Systems division has begun rolling VIP 4 out to its customers already, beginning with a section of Bauer's Peterborough-based magazines.