Capture Office Online, a suite of Web-based back office software widely used by photographers, stock agents and photo buyers in the U.K. and Europe, has integrated the Picture Licensing Universal System into its pricing functionality.
Capture is an image-library management system designed to handle the creation and preparation of digital assets and associated processes, such as sales and marketing, invoicing, contacts, communications and distributing royalties. The software is a media management, business and e-commerce solution that streamlines workflows. The developers have utilized the PLUS system, offering ways to quickly disable sections that are not needed by a particular Capture software client, while still using factors and a base price to efficiently build a price book.
Capture’s functionality has also included PLUS Packs and made it possible to control, on a per-client basis, which usage categories the customer sees. For instance, advertising clients do not even get the option to view editorial prices, if this is what the site owner requires. Capture can be adapted to any pricing model, including royalty-free, while still maintaining the integrity of the PLUS code.
Since building a price book can be a daunting task, the software helps people get started by providing a separate spreadsheet with factors for pricing. In the near future, the company expects to have this function built directly into the software. Capture has also incorporated ways to bulk enter and filter data to speed the process.
On the list of things that need improving is a U.K. “translation” of PLUS terms. The language used to describe certain U.S. uses is very different from how those uses are typically described in the UK.
Capture Office Online with the PLUS package is currently being used by News International (News Corp in the U.K.), as well as some smaller players.
Capture managing director Abbie Enock said: “I am very keen that libraries do not waste time re-inventing the wheel, and if someone (PLUS) has already thought up all the usage categories under the sun and introduced them as an industry standard, we should be using it. It is then up to software providers like Capture to make this body of work accessible and workable in a management system.”
For more information on the system, send an email to vasb@pncgher.pb.hx.