Take my documents....please

FADE IN

INT. NEW YORK CITY OFFICE BUILDING – LATE FRIDAY AFTERNOON

A CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE stares out the window as a blizzard covers the city. She is preparing to go home when the PHONE RINGS. She answers.

CUSTOMER SERVICE REP
Hello?

MARTINDALE HUBBELL

(in a hurried, stressed voice)

This is Martindale Hubbell from Allister, Michaels and Crouch. I’m sending over 50 pages of heavily marked changes and 35 riders…in Cantonese. I need them back QTA. We want to file by 5:30 tonight.

Now, for many, three responses spring to mind:

1. “On what planet?”


2. “Define heavily marked?”


3. “Well I want a party with ice cream cake and a pony.”

But for a seasoned Customer Service Rep, this exactly what a great compliance print partner does every day. She responds with unshakable confidence,

CUSTOMER SERVICE REP
(calmly)
We are on it. Happy to be of assistance.

While this is an extreme circumstance, it doesn't mean it can't happen, and to better understand why the solution is possible, let’s hitch a ride with the document.

First, it arrives in Customer Service with the polish of a new comedian full of new ideas, but unsure how to present. (“Good Evening, Ladies and Germs. I just flew in from Boston and boy are my arms tired!”)

The Customer Service professional will take the document (this particular piece bears a slight resemblance to Shecky Green), which brings with it a mix of electronic files (knock-knock jokes), hard copy (limericks) and various riders (puns) and starts the rigorous process of “prepping for primetime.”

First, everything gets printed out. With precision, all the data is reviewed, poked and prodded. The Rep makes sure that the most current data has been submitted, and everything matches (or, to keep with the analogy, rewrite the material, make sure it makes sense and is topical).

They then open a cycle on their job control system, a complex integrity tracking platform program that follows every twist, turn, edit, and style change over the life of said document (like developing a ‘bit’ to get it from just a few chuckles to a full-on knee-slapper).

Once all this is done, it is time to take the show on the road to different “clubs” to make sure the whole routine is put together properly and works. Composition reviews the materials and breaks down the work between various Typesetters for the fastest execution turn times. The data is then converted, making it “Typesetter-friendly.” They implement the changes, the style, the EDGAR conversion to circumnavigate the jungle of thousands of type fonts.

Finally, the files are sent back to Customer Service where yet another QC check is completed before the electronic proofs are distributed to the working group…just in the nick of time, before the SEC filings need to be transmitted.

Like comedy, there is a lot more to this craft of document development than what most folks go through when they open Microsoft Word. So, in a world where composition ‘don’t get no respect,’ a little illumination on the process can help us all understand that what might seem like a walk in the park, is actually a painstakingly cautious tip-toe through a minefield.

You've been a great audience, and don’t forget to tip your bartenders.

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Tony Anzivino hails from the greatly misunderstood state of New Jersey. He's worked in Financial Shareholder Communications world from the age of 12, starting with Janitorial duties at his Father's firm. He likes biking, hiking and ketchup.