A simple yet powerful way of recording vital information about your designs and prints.  See which computers a design has been opened on and how long it’s been worked on for.  Check that all pre-flight criteria was met, and what settings a file was printed with, to recreate these settings for a reprint.  And share custom palettes with colleagues whether they work beside each other, or oceans apart.  It’s all possible with Productivity Manager. 

Installation

Productivity Manager should be installed on a designated server.  If the application is not launched, it will not log activity and therefore it needs to be installed on a computer where no one will accidentally quit it, or shut the computer down.

It could also be installed on a station already used as a designated AVA Digital Print Rip station.

The installation process is very similar to installing the AVA Digital Print Rip.  Found inside the AVA 5.nn folder in your Applications folder, drag the Productivity Manager icon to your Dock (shown at the top of this article).

1. Download AVA onto your Mac® using the link provided in your Latest AVA Release email and copy it across to your Applications folder.
2. Go to AVA 5.nn > AVA Utilities and double click on the AVAInstaller.pkg file and follow the instructions to install the software.
3. Plug your AVA Eve Key into an available USB port, preferably in the back of your Mac®.  AVA do not recommend having your AVA Eve Key plugged into a peripheral device such as a USB hub or keyboard.
4. Go to AVA 5.nn > AVA Utilities and double click on the Set Install Code.app.
5. Click Get Code.  This will retrieve your unique key code from our server. Click OK
6. Go to AVA 5.nn > AVA Utilities and launch Productivity Manager.

Setup

Go to the Productivity Menu in the top left of your screen, and select Settings .  The following window will open;

Print Info

1. In ‘Job Print overhead’, enter the amount of substrate you waste on each print.  Consider space between prints, head tests and mechanical issues – all of which waste substrate.
2. Enter the cost of your ink.  Use the space provided to enter the cost of any special inks such as inhibitors, fluorescents and penetration fluids.
3. Enter your Delta E tolerances.  These will determine whether prints pass or fail when using AVA QA.
   
   

Users

Use the + and – buttons at the bottom of the pane to add and delete users.

When you add a new users, you will be asked to create a username and password for the user:

Ask the user to make a note of these credentials as they will need them to log their information to Productivity Manager.

Web Set Up

1. For the highest level of security, tick Use HTTPS.
2. Choose whether to use a dynamic or static IP address.
3. If you choose to use a Static IP address, you should enter that address at the bottom of the window.
4. A hyperlink will now appear for that address.  Click the hyperlink to see your logged information in your browser.