Working together: since 2005 · Catalog on Demand: a recurring service, still running · Industry: automotive aftermarket, parts manufacturing · Delivered by i4B
Optimal needed client-facing product catalogues built again and again from data spread across several systems. Since 2005 a three-person i4B team has run Catalog on Demand for them: each new catalogue is planned in Jira, scoped with Optimal's product managers, filled from the 1CP PIM, typeset in templates and exported to PDF. Eighteen catalogues have been designed, exported and published this way, including ranges for electric and hybrid cars.
Collaboration context
Optimal is a German manufacturer specialising in drivetrain, chassis and engine components of original quality for passenger cars and commercial vehicles. Its central warehouse holds more than 40,000 catalogue products, and its catalogues cover a wide range, including parts for electric and hybrid cars. i4B has delivered many projects for Optimal, and the first dates back to the origins of our company. Catalog on Demand is one example of how that long relationship works day to day, alongside the dedicated PIM we built for Optimal.
The team is small and stable: the head of our analytical department brings subject-matter expertise, a business analyst handles the technical side and a graphic designer typesets and designs the templates.
The challenge
Optimal wanted to organise its product data and produce client-facing catalogues repeatedly. Keeping data in several systems added work for product managers, stretched time to market and made it harder to present the product range clearly to customers.
Every catalogue had to dimension the products, add technical descriptions, be complete and export cleanly to PDF. The backbone of our approach was flexible, agile requirements gathering with several iterations on each catalogue, so Optimal always knows what result to expect and how far along the work is.
How a catalogue is made
Request and plan
Optimal asks for a new catalogue. The work is planned in Jira, which is also where the team reacts to any change during the project.
A scoped, scheduled catalogue that both sides can track.
Requirements
With Optimal's product managers we map product groups, producers, technical information and publishing languages. In the early years this meant workshops at Optimal's office in Germany; today asynchronous email is enough.
Technical requirements for the catalogue, agreed without travel thanks to a well-documented, repeatable process.
Data import
The required product data is imported through the 1CP system (One Component PIM).
Catalogue content drawn from the same source of truth that feeds Optimal's other channels.
Templates and typesetting
Catalogue templates are designed in Microsoft Access, the data is placed into them and the result is cross-checked against the client's expectations, over several iterations.
A consistent, professionally designed layout across every catalogue.
Export and hand-over
The finished catalogue is exported to PDF and handed over to Optimal.
A catalogue ready to publish, and a process that can be repeated for the next one.
Technologies and tools
Outcome
18 product catalogues designed, exported and published for Optimal.
Sales improved after the catalogues were introduced, and updates are easy to make, which keeps the workload low. The tool is integrated with internal and external systems including the ERP and TecDoc, scales without piling up technical debt, and gives customers complete information, so they call less and return fewer parts. You can download Optimal's catalogues yourself. If you want to improve how your range sells, talk to us.
Key terms
- Catalog on Demand
- The i4B tool and process for producing Optimal's product catalogues whenever a new one is needed, from request to PDF.
- 1CP
- One Component PIM, Optimal's product information management system, which supplies the catalogue data.
- TecDoc
- The aftermarket catalogue standard maintained by TecAlliance, one of the external systems the tool integrates with.
Frequently asked questions
Who works on Optimal's catalogues at i4B?
Three specialists: the head of our analytical department for subject-matter expertise, a business analyst for the technical side, and a graphic designer who typesets the catalogues and designs the templates.
Does every catalogue still need on-site workshops?
No. In the early years the team visited Optimal in Germany for workshops. With a well-documented, repeatable process, asynchronous email communication with Optimal's product managers is now enough.
Where does the catalogue data come from?
From the 1CP system, Optimal's PIM. Data is imported from there, placed into Microsoft Access templates, cross-checked with the client and exported to PDF.
