The description includes methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for detecting and handling changes to back-end systems. Operational metadata is comprised of ETL information; ETL task execution statuses, run number, definitions, control flow, and execution schedules. More preferably, image formation based on the bitmap image data having undergone halftone processing by the image processing unit is performed by electrophotography, and the image processing unit performs halftone processing by using as the predetermined direction a scanning direction in forming a latent image with a light beam.