View what's in this topicCustomer Expectation Document
This topic communicates customer expectations in the areas of system requirements, knowledge, skills and training in order to achieve the best experience and results with XMPie uProduce.
Software components
This section outlines the individual software components available in the full uProduce family. Each product configuration includes a specific subset of the components mentioned below, depending on the purchased license.
uProduce
The XMPie uProduce server acts as a production server, giving production departments a centralized environment with full control over organizing, proofing, prioritizing and producing every phase of variable production.
uChart
The server version of uChart allows customers to create charts and graphs directly on the server.
uImage
uImage allows customers to generate Photoshop and Illustrator templates directly on their servers.
Hot folder
Hot folders enable the automated submission of documents. Hot folders automatically trigger predefined processes when files are added, thus reducing manual effort and improving efficiency.
API
Development of custom applications with the XMPie API set.
System requirements
It is the customer’s responsibility to provide sufficient resources to the system, such as free disk space, data storage and memory. Falling too low on resources might result in system slowdown, failures and unexpected behavior.
PersonalEffect is available in two types of configurations:
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XMPie Turn-Key System: A single uProduce server that cannot be extended with any extension servers. uImage Processing Unit can be optionally added for processing personalized images generated in Photoshop and Illustrator.
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XMPie Enterprise Platform: Includes at least two uProduce servers: one Director (primary server) and one Extension (an additional uProduce server for print and email batch production) for intensive computing demands from uProduce Director. uImage Processing Unit can be optionally added for processing personalized images generated in Photoshop and Illustrator.
Turn-key systems
Possible configurations:
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uProduce server
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uImage Processing Unit
uProduce server
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Processor(1) |
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Memory |
20 GB RAM or more(1) |
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Disk Storage |
Two hard drives (SSD) in RAID 1 (mirroring) configuration with two partitions:
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Network |
Gigabit Ethernet adapter |
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Operating System(2) |
Windows Server 2025 Standard Edition |
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Additional Software |
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(1) Each InDesign composition instance requires 4 GB RAM and 1 CPU Core. Due to operating system and hardware limitations, the maximum number of composition instances per server is 16.
(2) All machines on which PersonalEffect System is installed must run on the same operating system. A combination of different operating systems is not supported.
(3) Provided by XMPie for Pro editions only. Customers must remain current on XMPie Maintenance and Support in order to continue use of the InDesign Server.
uImage Processing Unit (UPU, UPPU)(1)
It is the customer’s responsibility to obtain a Photoshop or/and Illustrator license from Adobe. Now that Adobe offers only a subscription-based license, XMPie can no longer provide Adobe licenses.
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Processor |
Intel Core i7 or faster processor |
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Memory |
16 GB RAM or more |
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Video Card |
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Disk Storage |
250 GB (SSD) |
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Network |
Gigabit Ethernet adapter |
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Operating System |
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3rd-Party Software |
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(1) uImage Processing Unit (UPU), uImage Photoshop Processing Unit (UPPU).
Enterprise platforms
Possible configurations:
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uProduce Director
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uProduce Extension Server
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uImage Processing Unit
uProduce Director(1)
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Processor |
Intel Xeon Series Gold or Platinum:
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Memory |
16 GB RAM or more |
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Disk Storage |
Two hard drives in RAID 1 (mirroring) configuration, 1TB (SSD) each, with two partitions:
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Network |
Gigabit Ethernet adapter |
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Operating System(2) |
Windows Server 2025 Standard Edition |
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SQL Server |
Microsoft SQL Server 2022 |
(1) It is advisable to extend the environment to reach higher availability.
(2) All machines on which PersonalEffect System is installed must run on the same operating system. A combination of different operating systems is not supported.
uProduce Extension Server(1)
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Processor(2) |
Intel Xeon Series Gold or Platinum:
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Memory |
32 GB RAM or more(2) |
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Disk Storage |
2 Hard Drives in RAID 0 (striping) configuration, 1 TB (SSD) each, with two partitions:
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Network |
Gigabit Ethernet adapter |
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Operating System(3) |
Windows Server 2025 Standard Edition |
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Adobe Software |
Adobe InDesign Server CC-2026(4) |
(1) It is advisable to extend the environment to reach higher availability.
(2) Each InDesign composition instance requires 4 GB RAM and 1 CPU Core. Due to operating system and hardware limitations, the maximum number of composition instances per server is 16.
(3) All machines on which PersonalEffect System is installed must run on the same operating system. A combination of different operating systems is not supported.
(4) Provided by XMPie for Pro editions only. Customers must remain current on XMPie Maintenance and Support in order to continue use of the InDesign Server.
uImage Processing Unit (UPU, UPPU)
Same requirements as listed above.
Fault-tolerant configurations
Customers that are interested in a High Availability (HA) system with no single point of failure should have all the necessary HA infrastructure components, such as Microsoft Cluster (SQL Cluster) as well as a fail-safe central storage solution.
It is the responsibility of the customer to purchase, install and maintain this infrastructure.
Read more about Fault-tolerant configuration.
Skill-set requirements
Implementing uProduce requires skill sets as outlined below. As a general statement, the degree of technical experience required is related to both design requirements and complexity of logic and business rules for individual campaigns. A significant amount of VDP design and implementation can be accomplished with intermediate level skills, but the higher degree of complexity for the design, business rules/logic, or data sources may require a greater degree of some skills.
You should not expect to offer very complex documents to your customers without taking the time to build or acquire these skill sets. This becomes a trade-off: the greater the skill sets of the operators, the more complex Dynamic Documents that can be created.
Training on non-XMPie products is a customer responsibility.
InDesign
An intermediate level of design skills will make for a much more productive experience. From the technical perspective, an operator at this level will understand InDesign concepts such as Text/Object Frames, Layers, Master pages, Object styles, Paragraph styles, Character styles, page layout effects and clipping paths including setting attributes and other properties.
Photoshop
uImage integrates uProduce with Photoshop. Intermediate design skills are necessary to create uImage document templates in uImage, depending on the types of uImage generated graphics the customer plans to create. An operator of this level will have a good working knowledge of all Layer types and styles, Smart objects, Effects, Filters and be able to create/use actions.
Data
To get started with variable data production a basic understanding of data and databases is necessary. Typically, your clients will send you a mailing list and perhaps other data in the form of Excel spreadsheets, and/or tab or comma delimited text files. These data sources are typically referred to as flat data files. Your operators will not only need to be able to open and work with these files, they may also need to understand how to handle mailing data. Simple understanding of how to work with data can be acquired during XMPie training, only if requested during the scheduling process.
Manipulation of data using text editors, MS Excel, MS Access or mail sorting applications such as CASS are not part of XMPie training. These are beginner level skills. The ability to accept and work with more advanced data sources, such as MS Access databases or query SQL servers would require more advanced data skill sets.
uProduce server automatically converts any file-based data source (CSV, MS Excel, MS Access, etc.) to a MS SQL data base. For campaigns with web touchpoints that have a complex database structure, or a large number of recipients, it is preferred to use a MS SQL database directly, or any server class database, such as Oracle or MySQL. While an in-depth understanding of this technology will be beneficial, the basic knowledge of converting flat data sources to SQL tables and working with SQL management tools is necessary. This type of training is not part of the XMPie training.
While a large number of customers are very comfortable with simple flat-file data sources, you will want to ensure that you acquire or build more advanced data skills before accepting or working with more complex data sources from your customers.
Programming logic
The level of required skills is directly related to the type of variable data work you will be receiving from your customer. A large number of variable data logic requirements can be met with very basic skills. The most basic of skills necessary for this type of work can typically be acquired during the XMPie training sessions, if they don’t already exist in your operation.
You will want to ensure that you acquire or build more advanced logic skills before accepting more complex work from your customers.
Operators require an intermediate to advanced level of programming skills. XMPie’s QLingo is a sophisticated programming language and will allow for very complex JavaScript type scripting. Advanced data extraction rules will be created using SQL and QLingo. SQL programming skills are strongly suggested for very complex projects.
Data and programming skills usually go hand-in-hand; the more complex the project or campaign, the higher the skill level required to work with the data. You will want to ensure that you acquire or build more advanced skills before accepting complex work from your clients.
Web administration
Understanding of IP addresses, domains, FTP, firewalls, DMZ, LAN, security and load balancing is required.
.Net programming
Development of custom applications with the XMPie API set depends on web and application development programming skills. Customers desiring custom application development using the .Net programming environment will require advanced programming skills in Microsoft .Net coding, REST API, Web Service API and XML, as well as an understanding of web services.
uProduce operating ranges
uProduce is a robust platform that allows you to have multiple projects running simultaneously. Each project can include multiple components. The list below represents uProduce’s operating ranges, which are the stress parameters by which the system can operate as expected. Using the system with values above these stress parameters has not been tested and may result in reduced performance or failure to operate properly.
The following is a list of uProduce system operating ranges:
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uProduce General |
Maximal value:
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uProduce Camaign Materials |
Maximal value:
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uProduce Hosted Data Sources |
Maximal value:
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Plan File |
Maximal value:
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Training
uProduce minimal training is two-and-a-half days of onsite training. However, extra training time may be required depending on the type of uProduce environment you’ve purchased and the number and types of add-on products. At the end of those sessions, attendees will have completed a series of variable data applications, experience the server-side interfaces, and should be ready to execute an application similar to the complexity of the training materials. API use and programming are part of Professional Service offerings.
Timeframe from purchase to live application
In the XMPie training course attendees will build a simple working VDP job. Because this is a training exercise, all of the necessary elements will be in place. Training does not include the creation of a live job. The creation of a live job for a current customer will be dependent upon having all of the campaign components necessary and the complexity of the campaign. The XMPie work necessary to build a VDP application or campaign from a basic flat-file data source with minimum programming logic can happen relatively quickly – in fact, the real limiting factor will not be the XMPie work required, but the time it takes to accomplish the design requirements within InDesign. Complex VDP applications and campaign timeframe depend on the campaign itself and your growing skills with XMPie software.
Support and maintenance
uProduce is supported for customers under a current Support and Maintenance agreement. As a maintenance and support plan customer you will have full access to the XMPie Support team and free product upgrades. The Support team is intended to provide problem resolution for system errors and software faults. For user error resolution, workflow development and optimization for campaign and job creation the help desk can assist in engaging Professional Services.
Note that normal Windows server maintenance tasks such as backups, installation of updates, and MS SQL server maintenance tasks should be performed regularly by the customer.
Plug-in connections to third parties
Support for third party software or services is limited to insuring successful uProduce connectivity to the software/services. XMPie does not support issues associated with these third-party services. The customer is responsible for establishing any business accounts required to connect XMPie to third-party software/services.
Security and privacy
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
XMPie supports GDPR compliance within its products.
The customer, who is the data controller, must take action in order to ensure compliance.
To learn about the steps a customer must take to comply with GDPR when using XMPie products, read GDPR guidelines for XMPie products.
Security
XMPie is committed to the security of its products.
Software patches for XMPie products will be implemented within a required minimum timeframe based upon criticality of exposure, impending risk to customer system resources and data, regulatory requirements and customer contractual requirements, but not to exceed:
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High/Critical (i.e., CVSS >=7.0) rated vulnerabilities will be remediated within 30 days
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Medium/Low (i.e., CVSS <7.0) rated vulnerabilities will be remediated within 90 days
Security fixes provided as a patch or as a version installation must be installed as soon as they are released.
Extended services
XMPie provides extended services for customers whose needs exceed the operability and functionality help covered by the Support and Maintenance plan. These services are:
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Professional Services include application development, programming services, color consultation, implementation services, web development and design services and more. Programming services may also include training and support or use of the XMPie APIs. Other Professional Services work may include error resolution, workflow development and optimization for campaign and job creation.
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Application Services provide XMPie customers with a tailor-made implementation strategy and service to successfully start working with their XMPie software. By using best practices within the industry, Application Services can help customers to identify where they want to go with the software and help them take their first steps. In addition, they can implement sophisticated projects, plan workflows, mark decision-points, develop custom configurations, or even supply visual and creative campaign elements.