Like all complex systems, digital plate setters, also known as computer to plate systems, require suitable control aids in order to monitor output quality during daily production and to be able to guarantee production standards. The complexity of computer to plate systems is apparent in the large number of components involved in the process. The combination of digital data from various different application programs, with various different RIP and output device parameters, different types of plate and development conditions for plates as well as printing requirements for the transfer of tonal values place high demands on the control of the work as it progresses.