MAPPING CHANGE IN ARIZONA

By: Martha L. Stone Republic Uses Technology To Fine-tune All Operations



Efficiency is a favorite buzzword of publishers, but few have taken the
word to heart like Publisher and CEO John Oppedahl at The Arizona
Republic in Phoenix.



In the face of losing advertising business to competitors, and
declining classified revenues to the Web, the paper has rethought its
entire operation from marketing to circulation to press capacity to
editorial, and has implemented cost-cutting measures designed to
bolster the bottom line. In the annual operating plan, the
Republic's blueprint for the future, Oppedahl outlines a variety
of strategies that have succeeded to change the way business is done at
the media company.



'We were a command and control, top-down organization,' Oppedahl said.
'A great deal of what we're doing now is shifting resources. If a (new)
concept is more efficient for your product, then it's a smart thing to
do.'



The company identified dozens of 'processes' throughout the paper which
were 'mapped,' and then analyzed to see if manpower could be
distributed in a smarter fashion, Oppedahl said during a recent trip by
E&P Online to the Republic.



The mapping entailed the creation of painstakingly detailed charts of
newspaper operations, including the news production cycle from story
concept to newspaper distribution, and the advertisement cycle from
sales pitch to billing. 'Process mapping' analysts studied the methods,
the employees assigned to the work, and recommended better, more
efficient ways to tackle tasks and processes, including reassigning
workers to other duties and maximizing departmental efficiencies.



Last year, the company used its process maps to launch a companywide
improvement in the way things are done in each department and among
departments. Lest you think this is some 'Dilbert'-like exercise,
Oppedahl points to successes.



Human resources was replaced with an organizational development
department, which created 'employee development coordinators' (EDCs) in
each department. Employees with disputes now go to the EDCs to resolve
complaints. Toni Antonellis, vice president for strategy and
organizational development, reports that complaints are down, and
employee satisfaction is up because disputes get resolved faster. EEOC
complaints have dropped from 45 to 9 in the past year, which is
credited to the use of EDCs.



In the pressroom, it was a foregone conclusion before the process
mapping that the Republic needed to buy new presses. But the
analysis revealed a 35% more efficient process that enabled a delay in
buying new presses, saving the paper $7 million over two years,
Oppedahl said.



In circulation, paper carriers are using digital tablets to guide them
through their delivery destinations faster, and allowing them to
distribute other newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal and
USA Today on their routes. The Softbook Readers (originally
designed for electronic books) allow carriers to download their routes
each day, so that vacation stops and new subscribers are automatically
indicated.



'We save money because there are fewer communications mistakes,'
Antonellis says. 'There's less of a problem (finishing) the routes. You
can see the whole route (on the tablets).'



One of the biggest changes over the past few years is the employment of
geographic information systems (GIS) software throughout the company.
The software allows the Republic's direct marketing staff to
pinpoint competition and strong demographic audiences for targeted
direct mail.



In the editorial department, GIS is used to visualize virtually any
address-coded database on a map, such as recent shootings in Phoenix,
or areas hardest hit by a tornado or earthquake. The software also
saves the art department hours of manual labor by automatically flowing
database-driven election results into a map. Previously, these maps
were prepared entirely by hand.



The circulation department uses the same software to pinpoint
concentrations of subscription cancellations. Late last year, the
department noted a significant drop in circulation and traced the
problem, using maps, to the ultra-transient retiree community. The
staff concluded that mild weather in the north delayed the 'snow birds'
from flocking to the Valley of the Sun until later in the winter
season.



Five companies develop the GIS software, including front-runner ESRI,
MapInfo, Intergraph Corp., AutoDesk, and newcomer, Microsoft. The
Republic uses ESRI, located in Redlands, Calif.



(An upcoming issue of Editor & Publisher magazine will provide a
detailed report on the Republic's innovative use of GIS.)