Contained in Switch 2018 Update1, Reporting Module is said to offer users of the software, which launched earlier this year, with more production transparency across their workflows and a fully customisable experience based on their unique production workflows.

The new tool can be used across a whole business and provides both management and production teams with an in-depth view of their live production, Enfocus said.

This means job files can be monitored, in detail, via the fully customisable dashboard at each stage of the production workflow.

A user can therefore quickly locate jobs and pinpoint bottlenecks in their business at any moment, while the module also stores historical data for future reference.

With customisable boards, users set their own KPIs to manage and optimise production, Enfocus said. Since the data that is presented is based on the user’s specific environment, it is easier to achieve faster turnaround times and enhanced production efficiency.

Switch 2018 Update1 also features three new APIs, including one in the reporting module that enables developers to access all the data from the dashboard.

As part of the Switch Core, another new API gives access to the job information used by the job boards.

Finally, Switch Client users also now have access to the Switch Helper application API, a feature request from users who developed their own solution using the existing Switch Job Client API.

“Customers were asking to have more visibility on their automation through Switch. In the past, we heard people talking about Switch as a black box and we want to hand out the tools to overcome this,” said Enfocus product management director Liesbet Olbrechts.

“With a more data driven approach we are now at a point where we can deliver all the data that is needed to manage the production via dashboards, either through our reporting module interface or via the APIs.”

She added: “The reporting module has great value to any customer using Switch because whether you are small or big, and whether you are a general commercial printer or a specialised one, every company benefits from knowing what is happening in production.”

Olbrechts said pricing for the new reporting module starts at £915 and customers have to be on Switch 2018 Update1 to be able to run the module.

It can be trialled for 30 days for free and customers can request a demo either via the Enfocus website or through the company’s official resellers or can download and trial it directly from within Switch.

Olbrechts said no further new modules will be released for Switch 2018, but that Enfocus will build further on the software’s data/visualisation journey in its next minor update release and provide an online intel dashboard for all maintenance customers.

“This dashboard will only contain historical data and will show the value of Switch on a higher level – how many jobs are processed, most used elements, how do customers submit files, which file types etc,” said Olbrechts.

“While the reporting module is aimed mostly at live production visibility and having a status overview of the jobs at all times, this online intel dashboard is more aimed at showing the overall value for the company of automation through Switch.

“We will continue to add features to these reporting capabilities in the future, this is not an end-point.”