Features | Tharstern Desktop MIS

CRM & Marketing

A print-specific Customer Relationship Management tool that helps you to unify your sales and marketing teams (we call it ‘smarketing’!)

Extensive customer-centric views of all estimates, jobs, sales orders, tasks, and marketing campaigns relating to a contact or company.
Profile your customers based on all the above and also on their activity with you e.g. profit margin, last order with you, etc.
Create targeted marketing lists based on these profiles.
Identify which marketing campaigns worked and which didn’t, and which ones gave you the best ROI.
View prepayment balances.
Use the task management features to ensure a follow-up is never missed.
Integrate with Hubspot marketing software to further align your sales and marketing efforts and enhance your smarketing superpowers!

Supported Integrations:

RFQs (Request for Quote)

Allow your customers or internal CSR team to request quotes quickly and easily from your estimators.

CSRs can use the MIS system to request quotes from estimators.
RFQs can be created by customers using online storefront software and sent automatically into the MIS system
Customers can also raise an RFQ directly within the MIS system through a dedicated online portal.
RFQs can be submitted directly from a website or other external sources using our API. (e.g. on a request for quote website page on your own website)
RFQs can be created remotely – no need to be in the office.

Supported Integrations:

Web Portal

Allow your customers or CSRs to create quotes and track jobs on any smart device in any location.

Device responsive web portal for any smart device.
Communicates with the core MIS system using an internet connection.
View all estimates and jobs stored within the MIS, wherever you are.
View or create a quote while on-site with customers, and even convert it to an order while you’re there!
Use our CRM and task management tools remotely.

Web-to-Print Integrations

Give your customers the power to create their own quotes and orders via your website.

Customers can create estimates and orders directly within Tharstern through your preferred storefront software.
The production solution for each estimate is automatically created by the MIS.
Set specific pricing for different customers.
Orders arrive with pre-approved production-ready artwork.
Use our established integrations with leading web-to-print providers.
Use our universal API to connect your own or other storefronts or speak to us about developing a custom integration.

Supported Integrations:

Estimating

An estimating engine dedicated to print, packaging, and graphic arts that helps you select the best option for your business, your customer and your profits!

You can use the intelligent estimating logic of our MIS to quickly compare production solutions and be presented with a list of the most viable manufacturing options, associated costs, and suggested selling prices. Choose the price recommended by the MIS software or select your own – the choice is yours!

A sophisticated set of algorithms are at work behind the scenes, meaning you can generate more estimates, more quickly, and amend existing ones at the click of a button.
Create one estimate and get multiple solutions.
Compare costs and pricing between all the available materials and methods of production (e.g. offset litho vs digital presses, or flatbed vs reel fed, or screen vs digital etc).
The estimating engine uses pre-defined product types and production routes to create estimates, which removes the guesswork out of estimating and keeps pricing consistent.
Using a simple and intuitive interface, estimators run through a predefined checklist of options for a chosen product, so even staff with limited print production knowledge can create complex quotes.
Use the estimate importer tool to automatically create estimates for entire projects from imported spreadsheets/CSV files.

Direct Mail*

The Tharstern Desktop Premium Plan provides a comprehensive solution for the Direct Mail sector, with specific estimating support. Each multi-cell mailing project is fully supported, with the ability to assign separate mailing dates, weights, enclosure sizes, and notes if required. You can add items to be manufactured, alongside items from the finished goods inventory, all from within the same platform.

Our Direct Mail features also allow you to select your preferred mailing service provider during the estimating process so that mailing costs can be accurately calculated at this stage. You can even profile these costs to a customer account to allow for separate billing.

*The Direct Mail feature is only available with the Premium Plan.

Supported Integrations:

Optimization and Nesting

Give yourself an edge over the competition by being more competitive with your quotes. Using our integration to the award-winning IMP imposition tool, estimators can create optimized and efficient layouts for rectangular and non-rectangular nesting.

Allows users to interact and influence the layout to fine-tune production decisions.
Optimize entire projects (for multiple products/estimates) using the Estimate Importer add-on tool.
Optional die library management system for those customers who want to take advantage of existing dies. The software will compare the costs of using an existing die or creating a new one.
Supports CF2 and PDF file import for interlocked non-rectangle solutions.
Supports both sheet and reel-fed devices.

Supported Integrations:

Campaign Management

Create multiple estimates in an instant by importing customer-provided spreadsheets for inquiries containing large multi-quantity price tenders or complex, multi-location distributions.

The MIS automatically pulls through product specifications, quantities, and store distributions, and calculates the best possible price for your company and your customer.
The MIS auto-assigns new SKU codes to each new product so they can become finished goods for future orders without any manual effort.
Using our integration with Insoft IMP, the MIS can also auto-impose each product onto an optimized, print-ready layout, alongside the price.  
Removes the administrative headaches caused by complex distributions by automatically grouping products for each destination.
See ‘Shipping’ for even more magic to help you manage campaigns.

Supported Integrations:

Order Management

Create a Sales Order manually or let our system do it automatically for you via a spreadsheet import or web-to-print storefront order. Our system is also able to handle orders from various external sources such as APIs and external procurement systems, making the process of managing repeat orders much more efficient.

Create an order for multiple products with individual delivery requirements and locations.
Sales Orders can be created for both manufactured and non-manufactured products as well as kits/packs/Bill of Materials.
Provides a single point for order status, dispatch, and billing.
Auto creates a job for each item in the sales order.
Customer and product-specific price lists for contract pricing.
Option to extend the functionality for picking, packing, and shipping with our Mobile Inventory feature.
Supports sophisticated warehousing and kitting facilities.

Supported Integrations:

Job Management

Communicates to the team everything they need to know about the job to get it out on time, while also capturing all the activities, costs, and status of the job from start to finish.

Displays all information about a job so your whole team can view shipping and billing information, material requirements and allocation, and status.
View actual vs estimated activities to evaluate profit or loss costing.
Takes care of automatic document creation for job tickets/works instructions, order acknowledgments, purchase invoices, box labels, shipping notes, extras, etc.
Sends automated customer updates for order acknowledgments, proof approval and shipping notifications.
Capture unexpected production extras/costs, giving you the ability to pass these on to the customer.
Create product-specific production milestones so you can track critical date constraints within your organization and provide key timeline plans to your customer.

Supported Integrations:

JDF integrations with various stages of the printing process, including prepress, press, digital, and post-press, as well as workflow applications.
Tharstern API - allows for the creation of custom job tracking and job view dashboards using software such as Trello.

Procurement

Ensure you’re utilizing existing stock, identify material shortfalls, and automatically initiate purchase orders for materials and outsourced items.

Purchases can be consolidated into single orders to take advantage of bulk buying pricing.
Assign spending limits to users for different types of purchased goods and services. When users reach their spending limits, future purchase orders are stopped until authorized.
Ensure your material prices are up to date by automatically highlighting and updating prices when processing supplier invoices.
Import supplier CSV files to create and update raw material prices.
Use our integration to the Zaikio platform for instant access to Premier Paper’s catalog and stock levels from within the MIS.
Enhance this functionality to automate and digitize purchase invoice processing through our integrations with Paperless Europe, V1, and Access Capture.

Supported Integrations:

Inventory

Manage the goods received into your warehouse and ensure you have the right balance of material in the right place at the right time.

View availability by product and/or location.
Multiple warehouses can be created with up to 7 dimensions to represent aisles, shelves and bin locations.
Move and track goods between locations including a quarantine facility.
Maintain audit trail of receipt allocation, issuing, returns, movement and adjustment of inventory.
Use any hand-held smart device to scan barcodes and further speed up inventory activities.
Streamline inventory checks and cycle counts.
Supports management of almost any raw materials and consumables as well as overprinted, manufactured finished goods and bought-in products for resale.
Support for different types, units and quantity of measure.

Job Costing

Increase the profitability of your jobs by tracking activities and costs so you can compare estimated against actual costs and identify areas for production efficiencies, cost reduction, and margin gain.

Record and track job-related costs such as material, outwork, and shipping.
Capture operator activities, factoring in wage rate and shifts, to allow accurate costing of jobs.
Analyze job, operator, and product type performance.
Automatically apportion job costs for labor, material, and outwork following production.
Link multiple jobs for consolidated reporting for cost sheets, profitability, and document production.
Track all production extras such as author corrections, with automatic reminders for inclusion during billing.
Ability to enforce authorization before progressing with a job that has extras.
Drill down into each aspect of the job to see the associated costs.
Break down a single production job into unlimited finished products, each of which can be delivered or invoiced to clients different from the parent ‘production’ job.

Carbon Footprinting

Through a pioneering partnership with CarbonQuota we have developed a link to provide instant and accurate carbon footprints on quotes and invoices. Once CarbonQuota has carried out a Carbon Footprint of your operation, the resulting database and algorithms are integrated with our MIS so that the carbon footprint of every manufactured job can be calculated.

Provides instant carbon footprints on quotes and invoices.
Give your customers the option to offset the carbon footprint of a job.
Provide carbon footprint reports to suppliers.
Integration available with other carbon footprinting providers.

Supported Integrations:

Accounts Integrations

Through our integration with accounts packages, Tharstern allows you to combine the power of your accounting software and your MIS, to remove rekeying and streamline processes.

Provides a mechanism to generate invoices for orders to send to your clients.
Allow validations of accounts on-stop, over credit limit or validation of main account details at key stages including estimate generation, job creation and dispatch.
Live synchronization of customer/supplier accounts within the financial and MIS databases
Comprehensive multi company support for organizations with multiple companies / divisions with shared production resources and separate accounting ledgers.
Streamline sales and purchase ledgers activity utilizing dynamic nominal assignment and automated posting routines.
Gain insight across all production processes using category-based sales ledger posting, to monitor cost centers/profit centers.
Integrate with multiple company ledgers from a single production database environment.

Our extended integration with Business Central Dependent also allows you to record values to general ledger accounts for:

Raw material inventory
Work in Progress 
Finished goods 
Costs of Goods Sold (COGS) for each invoice posted.

Supported Integrations:

*Please note that the integration with QuickBooks is only available for the US version and is currently unavailable for the UK version.

*Sage integrations are also country-specific:

UK = integrations available for Sage 50 and Sage 200
USA = integrations available for 100c
South Africa = No integrations available to Sage products

Traceability

Create tracking records for your manufactured jobs, so you can trace back each order to the raw materials, processes and operators used to produce it. Helps you meet the traceability standards required by customers in the pharmaceutical and food industries.

Create tracking records for jobs and sales orders.
Record and track raw material batches from vendors upon receipt and assign a warehouse location for each.
Quickly identify jobs affected by quality issues such as material recalls.
Allows the creation of traceability labelling for batches of raw materials e.g. paper/board, ink, pallets/skids, cartons.

Business Intelligence

Analyze the data in your MIS to identify trends and actionable insights, and use data visualizations to make these findings easier to understand and share.

Using our integration with Microsoft Power BI, you can create easy-to-understand dashboards based on the data in your MIS. Create simple charts, or highly complex illustrations that instantly respond to changes in context. The choice is yours!

Example dashboards include:

Sales Forecast
Growth Share Matrix (BCG matrix)
Estimate Analysis
OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness)
OTIF (On-time In-full)
Production WIP
Sales Overview

Reporting & Forecasting

No MIS system would be complete without all the tools you need for business reporting and forecasting. That’s why Tharstern Desktop comes with a set of management dashboards and a comprehensive library of business reports to give you the insights to analyze, understand and drive your business.

Supported Integrations:

Microsoft Power BI Integration Crystal Reports Integration

Proofing Integrations

Integration with Enfocus Switch allows you to create an automated proofing workflow.

Artwork is checked for errors and pre flighted before being sent to prepress.
Proofing status recorded for each job.

Supported Integrations:

Job Presetting

(You may have seen this feature previously referred to as Layout Library.)

Have your MIS automatically come up with the imposition layout that you would have selected manually.

Allows you to create personalized impositions for those exceptions to the rule layouts that don’t follow standard behavior.
Control what signatures are required and exactly where they must be positioned on the sheet, as well as control whether they are flipped or rotated so you can specify the head direction and/or low folio position. 
The finished size is agnostic, within tolerances, and so significantly minimizes the number of profiles required.
Communicates the imposition laydown to production and prepress workflows.
Independent signature positioning control allows for non-printable regions such as slow-down wheels and post-press requirements.
Teach your MIS which layout profiles you want to use in certain situations by assigning them product types and specifying other criteria that may change their suitability e.g. substrate, run length, orientation, grain direction, sheet size, and finished size.

Ganging

Gang similar jobs together, but without compromising the integrity of the financial billing and shipping requirements.

Costs captured against ganged job are automatically apportioned across all the components that go to make up the production job.
Offers seamless integration to the award-winning imposition software, IMP, allowing you to optimize sheets based on standard rectangles, 1-UP CAD files, and using PDF files.
Combined with IMP, jobs with common finishing processes like lamination, coatings, foiling, etc. are grouped on one side of the layout.
Jobs to be ganged have their print operations automatically removed from the planning board and replaced by a new ganged sheet.
Integrates the ganging process into the Prepress workflow, with MIS users retaining remote approval and receiving page-level impositions.

Supported Integrations:

Scheduling

Get full control of production schedules throughout your workflow, allowing your team to manage delivery deadlines, optimize capacity and react to ever-changing demands and priorities.

Increases transparency and visibility of production plans, job, and milestone progress from shopfloor data collection / JMF feeds and capabilities across the business.
Manage delivery deadlines, optimize capacity and react to ever-changing demands.
Create production snapshots to allow scenario planning in addition to 'what happened?' analysis.
Create complex production shift patterns including overtime and machine maintenance schedules.
Using Shop Floor Capture devices, provides operators with work-to schedules.
Plan jobs forwards or reverse plans from the required date, highlighting jobs that are not going to meet their required production date.
Supports multiple scheduling boards allowing different or interconnected parts of the business to be managed by specific users.

Workflow Automation

We help our customers integrate their workflow by connecting together the different software applications they use and automating business processes using third-party automation software.

Some of the technologies we use to achieve workflow automation for our customers:

API
JDF
XML
XMF
JMF
Middleware software such as Enfocus Switch, and Zapier.

Supported Integrations:

Job Tracking

Log the progress of a job in real-time using touchscreens, keyboard, and mouse, or mobile device. Barcodes can also be generated for individual jobs and operations and then scanned by barcode readers.

Provide operators with ordered work-to lists.
Using a simple intuitive interface, capture job activity and material costs in real-time. 
Capture extra production costs and alert CSRs to important production situations.
Operators can view detailed production requirements including the status of previous operations, allocated materials, estimated times, and the actual artwork.

Quality Control

Create product-specific print passports that allow you to sign off on operations and capture QA checks by individual operators.

Option to request mandatory feedback from the operator to complete a job.
Option to add job notes or log non-conformance at this stage. 
Ability to report on QA checks.

Receivables

Manage the goods received into your warehouse.

Use handheld devices to receive goods and assign them to locations.
Create goods received notes.
Match goods received to expected deliveries
Suggest put away locations for incoming inventory.

Production Device Integration

We help our customers integrate their MIS software with their production devices so they can automate the process of sending jobs to be manufactured on these devices.

Supported Integrations:

Warehousing & Fulfillment

Your warehouse operatives can use a smartphone, tablet or barcode scanner device to receive and move goods, log the receipt of unidentified customer-provided goods, access picking lists and carry out inventory stock takes. All data and task statuses are fed back into the MIS in real time, giving you complete transparency of your warehouse operations and stock levels.

Assign Purchase Orders to goods received via a mobile device, record the delivery note number, confirm quantities and assign a new location.
Received some unidentified goods from a customer and don’t know who they’re for? No problem! Enter the delivery details, attach a photo of the product and assign a warehouse location.
Assign picking lists for finished goods to warehouse operatives from a main MIS terminal.
Assign tasks such as moving stock to warehouse operatives, who can access these tasks on mobile devices.
Carry out stock/inventory takes via a mobile device. Scan warehouse locations and enter stock quantities. Anomalies are flagged within the MIS where users can take action to remedy these.

Auto-Packing

Helps manage the packing process for complex projects. Creates packing groups for each location, and suggests best packaging materials.

The MIS will analyze imported data to determine how many of each SKU is required per location and create unique packing groups for each.
The dimensions of each package are calculated by the MIS, and the most appropriate carton, tube or envelope is selected for packing from the options in your database.
The software identifies which SKUs can be packed inside another package to create a sub-kit.
Users can also manually select multiple SKUs and add them to the carton, tube or envelope without using the automated functionality.

Shipping

Organize shipping from within your MIS, using our integrations to leading courier services. Your operators will be able to quote for and arrange shipments for orders without leaving the MIS.

Smart Shipping*

When processing complex multi-location campaigns, Tharstern will automatically calculate the transit time for each location, and identify a ‘Ship By’ date that must be met in order to meet the ‘Due Date’ specified by the customer.

Tharstern Desktop analyzes the location data contained within customer file imports to calculate travel time, removing the need for manual entry.
The MIS will automatically calculate a Ship By date based on transit time for each location and the required by dates set by the customer.

*The Smart Shipping feature is only available with the Premium Plan.

Supported Integrations:

Financials

Tharstern Desktop allows for the creation and customization of Sales and Purchase invoices, credit notes, and proforma invoices. It also allows for purchase order limits and vendor invoice number entries, and includes support for settlement and line discounting.

Raise single or consolidated Sales Invoices and Credit Notes/Memos
Raise Proforma Invoices
Alter the default description, quantity, unit price, or value of line, tax & general ledger codes of the Invoice or Credit Note/Memo
Addition or removal of extra charges
Print and email Invoices and Credit Notes/Memos
Raise single or consolidated Purchase Invoices and Purchase Credits
Alter the default description, quantity, unit price, or value of line, tax & general ledger codes of the invoice/purchase credit
Profile purchase order limits per order by the user
Entry of vendor invoice number and references
Support for settlement and line discounting

Supported Integrations:

*Please note that the integration with QuickBooks is only available for the US version and is currently unavailable for the UK version.

Link Every department with end-to-end workflows

Features & Workflow

Connect every department in your print company

Download Workflow Diagram (PDF) →

SCALABLE FOR GROWING BUSINESSES

MULTI-SECTOR SUPPORT

FLEXIBLE HOSTING: CLOUD, ON-SITE, AND HYBRID OPTIONS

Tharstern Inc

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