BOCA RATON, Fla., Aug. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Oce , a global leader in digital document management and delivery solutions, announces that testing leader ACT, Inc. has redesigned and enhanced its Student reports and other testing and reporting documents by using Oce Job Appropriate Color(TM), Oce VarioStream(R) 9000 highlight color printing, and Oce Document Designer Advanced Software. Color coding is also being used to reduce test administration errors and facilitate location of specific reports, saving time and supporting responsive customer service.

ACT, Inc. is a not-for-profit organization specializing in testing and research for education and workforce development. More than two million ACT(R) tests for college admission are administered each year, and ACT provides students and colleges with personalized reports detailing the results of each exam.

"Previously, we printed reports in-house as 8.5" x 11" documents on a Xerox device, but ACT wanted to double the form size for these reports to include more information about test score interpretation, improving performance, and academic planning. The existing Xerox solution didn't support the larger size or custom colors ACT wanted," explained Philip Levitt, Assistant Vice President, ACT Operations. ACT turned to the Oce VarioStream 9220 for high-speed highlight color and Oce Document Designer Advanced Software to achieve their objectives for ease of use, more informative results reporting, and faster document retrieval.

Job Appropriate Color Supports Color Coding Benefits

Each year, ACT selects a different color scheme for all answer forms and test booklets, administration manuals, and reports for students' schools, districts, and state departments of education. The right materials can then be located quickly in response to requests, and it eliminates confusion about which documents to use. As a result, ACT staff saves time and delivers better customer service. The versatile Oce VarioStream 9000 lets ACT change colors quickly and use Oce CustomTone(R) toner to print the special colors ACT needs.

"Job Appropriate Color ensures the right level of color for the purpose, and Oce hardware and software combine to give ACT the color they need for the student reports," said Joyce Virnich, Vice President of Marketing, Oce Digital Document Systems. "Now the reports can play a greater role in helping students determine how their near-term academic plans fit with their future potential college and career goals."

Software Flexibility Makes Document Design Easier

"We redesigned our largest in-house printed reports to an 11" x 17" duplexed highlight color application using Oce Document Designer software," Levitt explained. Oce Document Designer Advanced is a comprehensive composition tool that streamlines design, preparation, and pre-press activities for maximum workflow efficiency. "One of the most significant features is the flexibility of the Oce forms design tool, which lets my staff create background forms and workflow to merge variable data onto the form."

The redesign helped ACT boost the reports' value by increasing graphics and adding more information, so users are better able to act on the test results. ACT saved time and money by redesigning the form in-house, and the software's flexibility gave them more options for layout and usability.

Printing 100,000 Reports Daily During Peaks

The Oce VarioStream 9220 not only met ACT's needs for form size and various highlight colors, it also met their volume needs. "We produce up to 100,000 reports a day during our peak production cycle in the fall," Levitt said. "The Oce VarioStream delivers a powerful combination of 11" x 17" support and color versatility, along with the production-grade capacity and speed to handle the large volumes and a tight production window." ACT is delighted with the speed, performance, and quality of the Oce VarioStream 9000 system and plans to further expand the solution across more programs.

Today, Oce already helps ACT process all kinds of documents. "We can run high-volume student reports in highlight color, variable letters in highlight color, variable post cards multiple up on a page on a cut-sheet Oce VarioPrint 5160, as well as high-volume black-and-white letters, and 11" x 17" signatures for test booklets and administrative manuals," Levitt explained.

The Oce PRISMA-based workflow requires minimal operator intervention to produce black-and-white, one-color, or two-color output without changing paper, and replacing toner is easy and fast. This reduces labor costs and turnaround time and maximizes capacity for the Oce printers.

About Oce

Oce is a leading provider of digital document management technology and services. The company's solutions are based on advanced Oce software applications that deliver documents and data over internal networks and the Internet to printing devices and archives -- locally and around the world. Supporting the workflow solutions are Oce digital printers and scanners, considered the most reliable and productive in the world. Oce also offers a wide range of display graphics, consulting and outsourcing solutions.

Netherlands-based Oce N.V. , with a workforce of around 24,000 people and pro forma annualized revenues of nearly $3.7 billion, active in approximately eighty countries, maintains research and manufacturing centers in the Netherlands, the United States, Canada, Germany, France, Belgium, the Czech Republic, and Romania. Oce's North American headquarters is located in Chicago with major business units in Trumbull, CT; Chicago; New York City; Boca Raton, FL; Salt Lake City; Coventry, RI; and Vancouver, BC. North American revenues were $1.7 billion for fiscal 2005, and employment is currently 11,000. For more information about Oce, visit http://www.oceusa.com/ . Outside the U.S., consult http://www.oce.com/ .

Oce Job Appropriate Color, Oce Document Designer Advanced and Oce PRISMA are trademarks, and Oce VarioStream and Oce CustomTone are registered trademarks of Oce-Technologies B.V. All other product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks and are the property of their owners and are respectfully acknowledged.

CONTACT: Carro Ford Weston, Oce North America, Inc., +1-859-737-2816, or
carrof@earthlink.net

Web site: http://www.oceusa.com/
http://www.oce.com/