Print software built from real print shop experience.
PrinTrace was built in the field, together with printers: it knows what a signature, a yield and a plate are. It puts that trade inside management software, with accurate quotes in a few minutes, jobs tracked department by department, and the real margin of every job always to hand.
The margin goes somewhere, between quote and invoice.
The “rule of thumb” quote, different every time
A price worked out in someone’s head, different every time and from person to person. The same customer calls back, gets a different figure, and credibility goes in an instant — pushing the price down just to keep the job.
The technical error found once the job is finished
Yield estimated by eye, a wrong paper weight, underestimated waste, an extra make-ready. On paper the job looked fine: once the real figures are closed, it turns out it was run below cost. But the job has already been delivered and the invoice has already gone out.
The “where has it got to?” on a paper job sheet
The job sheet moves between prepress, printing and finishing and, at some point, stops. No one knows where: someone has to walk the shop floor, ask around, while the delivery date slips.
The same data, rewritten three times
The quote in one place, production on a whiteboard, the invoice in another system: the same information passes from hand to hand and gets rewritten from scratch each time. And the technical know-how sits in one person’s head — if they’re away, no one else can put together an accurate quote.
Print expertise built into the software.
Generic management software cannot tell a signature from a yield. PrinTrace links quoting, production, stock and accounts in a single flow, with no data re-entry at any step.
Print-specific estimating
Automatic calculation of signatures, yields, paper, plates, ink, make-readies and waste, for offset, digital, wide and small format, cutting plotters, embroidery and screen printing. An accurate quote in a few minutes, the same whoever answers.
Jobs tracked
Every job has a status readable on screen — prepress, printing, finishing — and data is entered once, then follows the job through to delivery.
Integrated accounts and stock
Delivery notes and invoices generated from the same figures as the quote. Stock, consumables and waste monitored, with orders to suppliers placed at the right time.
Company dashboard and multi-device cloud
Revenue, consumables and productivity always visible on a single dashboard. Everything in the cloud, accessible from PC, Mac, tablet or phone, with nothing to install on site. And the end customer has their own access, from which they order and track the status of jobs.
From quote to margin, in a single flow.
Quote
The job data is entered and the price comes out already calculated, ready to send to the customer.
Job
The confirmed quote becomes a job with one click, with no data to rewrite.
Production
The digital job sheet accompanies the work through the department and updates as it progresses.
Stock & consumables
Every consumable recorded is deducted from stock, so the order to the supplier goes out exactly when needed.
Accounts & margin
Delivery notes and invoices come from the figures already in the job, and Actual job costs are compared with the original estimate to show the final margin.
PrinTrace in brief
How is an accurate print quote produced in a few minutes?
The price is built from the job’s technical parameters: format, print run, substrate, finishing. PrinTrace works out on its own how many signatures are needed, how much paper, how many plates and how much make-ready, for offset, digital, wide format, cutting plotters, embroidery and screen printing. The result comes back in a few minutes and is the same whoever answers the customer.
What is good management software for a small or medium-sized print shop?
What is needed is a tool built around the print cycle, not a generic application adapted to fit. PrinTrace covers quoting, production, stock and administration in a single cloud environment, sized for small and medium print shops and print service providers.
How is the real margin of a job calculated?
By recording working hours, consumables and waste department by department, PrinTrace compares the actual cost of each job against the quote, showing the real margin for every job and every customer.
How is a job’s progress tracked from quote to delivery?
When the quote is confirmed, the system opens the job and the job sheet and sends them where the work is to be carried out. From that point the status — prepress, printing, finishing — is read on screen, without walking the floor.
Does PrinTrace run in the cloud?
Yes. Work is done from the browser, with any computer or mobile device and an internet connection, even away from the site: there is no server to buy or maintain.
Can the end customer order and track the job on their own?
Yes: from an online portal the customer places the order and checks its status, without calling the print shop. What arrives from there enters directly into the production flow.
A real quote, in front of you.
In a short session, a quote is built from scratch and a job is followed through to the margin, with the working logic of a print shop.