Pension Brochures

The need to both create and maintain documents explain company pension schemes is both time consuming and costly. Big or small, standard or bespoke, each scheme requires highly individualised literature that details the specifics of the pension being offered

Production of these documents tends to be lengthy and typically falls into three stages:

1. Origination – either starting from scratch or modifying an existing document
2. Design – individual proposed layout and branding options
3. Compliance – content checking

Each of these stages has to allow for several rounds of amendment and modification by both the pension provider and the client company. Because each iteration of the document has to be produced manually it inevitably leads to delays as changes are incorporated into the layouts.

Once the document is agreed and printed it doesn’t stop there, the maintenance phase of keeping documents up-to-date begins. Revisions to tax laws, changes in corporate branding, legislative reviews, fund changes as well as the prerequisite annual fund financials, means that any pension brochure has to be reviewed at least once a year but in our experience, more often.

This process is not just time consuming and labourious but costly too.

Interlagos designed their APS system to address just these issues. By employing a series of templates designed at the outset, all the various documents required can be held in a generic format in a single file. A web browser interface then allows each document to be customised to accommodate the scheme specific information as well as the provider’s corporate style and branding. Standard text such as legal disclaimers, contents and page numbers are then automatically added to the template before a PDF proof copy is produced for approval. Because amendments can be made via the web interface, a revised PDF can be generated instantly.

The end product is a print-ready version, complete with bleed marks, crop marks and spot colour split ready for dispatch to the printer.

The template system employed by APS uses a generic approach to produce individualised responses thus it largely eliminates the need for repeated design phases, it radically reduces the delays caused through proofing and approval stages thereby significantly reducing the cost of production.

Whether it’s generating an entirely new brochure or maintaining a current publication the process and the benefits are the same. And, because the APS system is so easy and efficient it can be easily used by sales staff to provide potential clients with a highly finished presentation of the proposal.