Print Shop Setup Guide

This guide is written specifically for printing companies using Excelsus IQ as their estimating, job, scheduling, purchasing, invoicing, and reporting system.

It is intentionally detailed. The goal is to give you one setup order that makes the program work the way a real print shop works.

What This System Should Be The Source Of Truth For

For a print company, this system should become the source of truth for:

customer defaults
estimating inputs
production rates
machine and finishing costs
production sequencing
rush and prepress charging
order scheduling
operator actual labor cost
purchasing and receiving
invoicing and reporting

If the same information is entered differently in multiple places, the system will feel inconsistent. The cleanest setup is:

Build the shop structure in Settings first.
Create clean customer records with correct defaults.
Quote from the catalog instead of typing ad hoc values whenever possible.
Convert approved quotes into orders.
Let scheduling and time tracking run from those orders.

Recommended Setup Order

Set the system up in this order:

Company settings
Team members and roles
Accounting basics
Catalog categories and vendors
Materials
Machines
Processes
Hardware
Labor rates and margin groups
Prepress charges
Rush charges
Production departments
Shop hours and resource availability
Operator skills
Job flow rules
Process sequences
Estimating defaults and volume discounts
Customers and contacts
Optional inventory
Purchase orders, scheduling, time, invoicing, and reports

Do not start by building quotes first. Quotes work best after customers, materials, machines, processes, prepress, rush rules, and departments are already in place.

Before You Start

Gather this information before setup:

company legal name, display name, slug, timezone
logo URL and primary brand color
order, PO, and invoice prefixes
shop working days and hours
holiday closures
list of departments
list of machines with pricing model and speed
list of finishing processes
list of operators and their actual hourly cost
customer tax defaults, commission rules, discounts, and quote loading rules
material purchasing data
margin targets
tax rates
overhead values
default prepress charges
rush policy

1. Company Settings

Go to Settings > Company.

Company Info

Use Company Info to set:

Company Name
Company Slug
Timezone

Recommendations for print shops:

Use the real operating company name that should appear on documents.
Use the timezone the production floor actually runs on.
Do not leave timezone generic if your team, due dates, and schedule are local.

Branding And Logo

Use Branding & Logo to set:

Logo URL
Primary Brand Color

This matters for customer-facing documents and future white-label output. If quotes and invoices should look like your shop, set this early.

Document Numbers And Defaults

Use Document Numbers to set:

Order Prefix
Purchase Order Prefix
Invoice Prefix
Show Cost On Internal PDF
Show Margin On Internal PDF
Require Proof Approval Before Production
Auto Generate Schedule On Order

Recommended starting values for most print companies:

Order Prefix: ORD or JOB
Purchase Order Prefix: PO
Invoice Prefix: INV
Show Cost On Internal PDF: on
Show Margin On Internal PDF: on
Require Proof Approval Before Production: on if customer proof approval is mandatory
Auto Generate Schedule On Order: on

If your shop never wants production scheduled until someone manually reviews the job, turn off auto-generate schedule. Otherwise leave it on.

2. Team Members And Roles

Go to Settings > Users & Access.

Create every real person who affects quoting, customer ownership, production, or reporting.

Available roles are:

Owner
Admin
Production Scheduler / Manager
Sales Rep
CSR
Sales Rep + CSR
Operator

Actual Labor Rate Per Hour

Set Actual Labor Rate Per Hour for each person if you want time tracking and actual costing to reflect real labor cost.

This is important for print shops because:

operators often have different actual wages
installers may cost more than production helpers
prepress staff may cost more than general operators

If you skip this, the system falls back to broader labor-rate assumptions instead of using person-specific actual cost.

Recommended Initial Role Mapping

Use this as a practical starting point:

Shop Role	System Role
Owner / GM	Owner
Office admin with broad access	Admin
Production lead or scheduler	Production Scheduler / Manager
Outside or inside sales	Sales Rep
CSR / project manager	CSR
Salesperson who also runs jobs	Sales Rep + CSR
Press operator / finisher / installer	Operator

Report Access

Turn on report permissions only for people who need them:

Standard Reports
Report Builder
Accounting Reports
Dashboards
Invoice Reports

3. Accounting Basics

Go to Settings > Accounting.

Do this before heavy quoting so tax and profitability behave correctly.

Tax Rates

Use Tax Rates to load or enter the tax rates you actually charge.

Each rate can include:

county
municipality
state rate
county rate
city rate
combined rate
effective date

Best practice:

build tax rates before customer setup
assign the correct default tax rate on each taxable customer
use tax-exempt only when the customer truly is exempt and the exemption number is on file

Accounting Preferences

Use Preferences to set:

payment methods accepted
late fee percent
grace period
fiscal year start month
export format
default income account
default COGS account
aging report email settings

This is mostly accounting behavior, but printing companies should still set it up early so invoices and reporting are consistent.

Overhead And Profit

Use Overhead & Profit to enter the real monthly burden of running the shop:

rent or mortgage
utilities
insurance
admin and office salaries
sales base salaries
management salaries
software
marketing
other fixed cost
total production floor square footage
total shop power
working days per month
working hours per day
labor burden factor
target monthly revenue
target gross margin
target net profit
unassigned overhead allocation method

For print shops, this section matters because machine cost analysis and profitability are only credible if these values are not fake.

Good starting principles:

use realistic wages, not ideal wages
use conservative throughput
use actual occupancy cost
use a labor burden factor that includes payroll burden and benefits

After overhead is set, review each major machine in its cost calculator and compare the current sell rate against the suggested rate.

4. Catalog Categories

Go to Settings > Catalog > Categories.

Categories are for organizing the catalog. They are not the production department.

Use categories for reporting and catalog structure, such as:

Materials / Vinyl
Materials / Banner
Materials / Rigid
Materials / Paper
Machines / Wide Format
Machines / Digital Press
Processes / Cutting
Processes / Laminating
Hardware / Grommets
Hardware / Frames

Important:

Category is catalog organization.
Production Department is scheduling.

Do not try to use category as your job-flow department.

5. Vendors

Go to Settings > Catalog > Vendors.

Create vendors before materials, outsourced processes, or hardware so those records can point to the right supplier.

Recommended vendor data:

vendor name
account number
terms
primary contact
email
phone
address
notes

Typical print-shop vendors:

media vendors
laminate vendors
substrate vendors
hardware suppliers
outsourced finishers
freight and installation partners

6. Materials

Go to Settings > Catalog > Materials.

Materials represent the physical stock you buy and consume.

The system supports two stock types:

Sheet
Roll

Laminates are usually created as Roll materials, not as a separate stock type.

What To Create As Materials

Common examples:

adhesive vinyl rolls
banner rolls
canvas rolls
poster paper rolls
foam board sheets
coroplast sheets
ACM sheets
styrene sheets
magnetic material
laminate rolls

Key Material Fields

Set these carefully:

Category
Name
SKU
Vendor
Stock Type
Sheet Width, Height, Cost for sheet stock
Roll Width, Length, Cost for roll stock
Unit Of Measure
Waste Factor %
Bleed
Gutter
Trim Margin
Weight Per Sq Ft
Color
Finish
Thickness
Notes

How Print Shops Should Think About Material Setup

For wide-format shops:

create separate materials for each common roll width and finish
do not combine different widths into one record
create separate laminate material records by finish and width
use realistic waste, especially for short-run jobs

For sheetfed shops:

create each sheet size separately
create separate coated, uncoated, synthetic, and specialty stocks
use actual sheet cost, not carton cost unless you convert it

For rigid-media shops:

create each substrate thickness and size separately
do not combine 3 mm and 6 mm board in one material

Inventory Note

If you plan to use the Inventory module, mark materials for inventory tracking and maintain accurate receipts and adjustments. If you do not track stock, you can still use materials for quoting only.

7. Machines

Go to Settings > Catalog > Machines.

Machines are the main production-cost engine for print shops. Build these carefully.

Machine Setup Should Include

Category
Production Department
Name
Machine Code
Active flag
Pricing Model
Rate Per Hour, Per Click, Per Sq Ft, Minimum Charge, or other pricing inputs
Setup Time
Max Print Width
Max Print Length
Speed in the throughput unit that makes sense
Requires Operator
Operator Rate Per Hour
Notes

Category Versus Department

Use them differently:

Category: how the machine is grouped in the catalog
Production Department: where the machine belongs in scheduling

Example:

Category: Wide Format Printers
Department: Printing

Choosing A Pricing Model

Use the pricing model that matches how you actually sell and estimate:

hourly for machines quoted by time
click for click-based devices
sqft for square-foot pricing
per_piece for equipment where per-piece logic makes more sense
flat for flat setup-style charges
lnft when linear-foot pricing is the right basis

Choosing A Speed Unit

Use the speed field that matches how the machine actually runs:

Speed (sq ft/hr) for many printers, routers, laminators, and broad-area finishing equipment
Speed (linear ft/hr) for roll workflows where length is the better driver
Speed (pieces/hr) for cutters, folders, pack-out stations, or any piece-based step

If a printer is charged hourly and output is really based on square feet, do not force pieces/hr. Use sq ft/hr.

Good Machine Examples

Wide-format printer:

Department: Printing
Pricing model: hourly or sqft
Speed: sq ft/hr
Requires operator: yes

Roll laminator:

Department: Laminating
Pricing model: hourly or lnft
Speed: linear ft/hr or sq ft/hr

Flatbed cutter:

Department: Cutting
Pricing model: hourly or per_piece
Speed: pieces/hr or sq ft/hr depending on how you sell it

Pack-out bench:

Department: Packing
Pricing model: hourly
Speed: pieces/hr

Machine Cost Calculator

For each major machine, open the cost calculator and fill in:

purchase price
salvage value
useful life
maintenance
equipment insurance
machine footprint
power draw
utility rate
voltage

This helps determine whether your machine sell rate is actually covering burden.

8. Processes

Go to Settings > Catalog > Processes.

Processes are non-material production charges and production steps.

Common print-shop processes:

lamination
mounting
contour cutting
trimming
sewing
hemming
grommeting
drilling
weeding
transfer tape
kitting
packing
shipping prep
installation
design
file repair
press proof

Key Process Setup Fields

Category
Production Department
Name
Process Code
Pricing Model
Rate
Setup Charge
Minimum Charge
Time Per Unit
Is Outsourced
Vendor
Outsource Cost
Notes

Department Assignment Matters

If you want auto-scheduling to run by department order instead of by machine-specific logic, assign every machine and every schedule-relevant process to a production department.

Examples:

contour cut process -> Cutting
laminate process -> Laminating
hand apply tape -> Handwork
kitting process -> Kitpacking
boxing process -> Packing
delivery staging -> Shipping

Outsourced Processes

Use Is Outsourced for work such as:

trade bindery
outsourced installs
specialty finishing
embroidery
outsourced die cutting

If it is outsourced, set the vendor and outsource cost.

9. Hardware

Go to Settings > Catalog > Hardware.

Use hardware for non-stock accessories or attachable billable components such as:

grommets
standoffs
easel backs
frames
hooks
pole pockets if priced as an add-on piece
cable kits
mounting brackets
zip ties if you bill them

Set:

category
name
vendor
unit of measure
cost per unit
optional sell price per unit
minimum quantity

10. Labor Rates

Go to Settings > Catalog > Labor Rates.

Use this for role-level labor assumptions and defaults.

Examples:

Prepress Artist
Press Operator
Finishing Operator
Installer
CSR

Then, for higher accuracy on actual time cost, also set Actual Labor Rate Per Hour on each user record.

The clean model is:

labor rate table = shop-level standard assumptions
user labor rate = person-specific actual cost

11. Margin Groups

Go to Settings > Catalog > Margin Groups.

Create margin groups that reflect how your shop prices different work.

Example structure:

Margin Group	Use For
Standard	Normal retail work
Premium	Rush, specialty, complex work
Wholesale	Trade customers and resellers
Custom	Special-account pricing

Each margin group should have:

margin percent
minimum dollar margin
description

These can then be assigned to customers and used as the base estimating posture.

12. Prepress Charges

Go to Settings > Catalog > Prepress Charges.

This is where you build reusable quote-time prepress options.

Recommended Core Prepress Types

At minimum, most print shops should create:

Standard Prepress
File Prep

Recommended setup:

Standard Prepress
pricing model: flat
auto apply to each item: on
show separately on quote: based on your preference
File Prep
pricing model: per_version
auto apply to each item: on
show separately on quote: based on your preference

How it works in the quote builder:

standard prepress applies once per quote item
file prep multiplies by the number of versions or files on that item

You can also create optional prepress types for:

color correction
variable data setup
straight reprint
reprint with change
CNC file setup
proof creation
design time

Best Practice

Make the default automatic charges represent what truly happens on almost every job.

Do not auto-apply rare charges. Only auto-apply the baseline shop behavior.

13. Rush Charges

Go to Settings > Catalog > Rush Charges.

Rush rules are order-level or quote-level urgency charges.

Each rush rule has:

name
description
percent charge
minimum charge
sort order
active flag

The rule uses whichever dollar value is higher:

the percentage-based rush amount
the minimum rush charge

Example rush policy:

Rule	Percent	Minimum
Same Week Rush	10%	$150
48 Hour Rush	20%	$300
Next Day Rush	35%	$500

If your rush policy depends on promise date, create the few standard rules you actually sell instead of making every quote unique.

14. Production Departments

Go to Settings > Production > Departments.

Departments are now the right place to define production flow at a print-shop level.

This is where you set the departments the scheduler should sequence through.

Recommended department list for many print shops:

Printing
Cutting
Laminating
Mounting
Sewing
Finishing
Handwork
Kitpacking
Packing
Shipping
Installation

Set Sort Order in the order you want work to generally progress.

Example:

Sort Order	Department
10	Printing
20	Laminating
30	Cutting
40	Mounting
50	Finishing
60	Handwork
70	Kitpacking
80	Packing
90	Shipping

Important:

categories organize records
departments drive production flow

15. Shop Hours

Go to Settings > Production > Shop Hours.

Set:

shop open time
shop close time
working days

Then add closures for:

holidays
planned downtime
maintenance windows
plant shutdowns
resource-specific blackout dates

If your shop runs a real second shift but the system is only set to daytime hours, scheduling will look wrong. Set hours to match reality.

16. Production Resource Schedule

Go to Settings > Production > Production Resource Schedule.

Use this to override default availability for:

machines
schedule-relevant processes

This is where you reflect that a specific cutter, laminator, or process is only available on certain days or times.

Examples:

install crew only available Monday through Friday
second cutter only runs during first shift
outsourced process unavailable on weekends

17. Schedule Settings

Go to Settings > Production > Schedule Settings.

Set:

auto-schedule new orders when converted from quote
auto-assign primary operator when scheduling
respect operator skill level
default view
start hour
end hour
time slot size
show completed tasks
task overrun alert minutes
warn if unscheduled days before due

Recommended starting settings:

auto-schedule on: on
auto-assign primary operator: on if your operator assignments are maintained
respect operator skill level: on
slot size: 15 or 30 minutes depending on shop complexity

18. Operator Skills

Go to Settings > Production > Operator Skills.

Assign operators to the machines they can run and set:

skill level
whether they are a primary operator

This matters if you want scheduling to assign the right person to the right equipment instead of treating every operator as interchangeable.

For example:

Operator A: primary on flatbed printer
Operator B: primary on roll printer
Operator C: skilled on Zund, backup on laminator

19. Job Flow Rules

Go to Settings > Production > Job Flow Rules.

This is where you define the default production sequence.

Rules can sequence by:

department
machine type
process category

For most print companies, department-based rules are the cleanest setup.

Example rule for a wide-format shop:

Printing
Laminating
Cutting
Handwork
Packing
Shipping

Example rule for rigid board work:

Printing
Mounting
Cutting
Finishing
Packing
Shipping

Best practice:

use department steps for most of the flow
only use machine-type or process-category steps when you truly need more specific logic

20. Process Sequences

Go to Settings > Production > Process Sequences.

Use process sequences when a specific kind of item needs a special flow that differs from the default rule.

Sequence templates can step by:

department
machine type
exact process

Use this for recurring special workflows, such as:

print -> laminate -> contour cut -> weed -> transfer tape -> pack
print -> mount -> trim -> crate
prepress -> proof -> print -> install

Do not overbuild this area at the start. Create the common default first, then add templates only for recurring exceptions.

21. Job Statuses

Go to Settings > Production > Job Statuses.

Set the shop language you want your team to use for orders and production states.

Keep statuses simple and operationally clear. Too many statuses usually create confusion instead of control.

22. Estimating Defaults

Go to Settings > Estimating > Default Values.

This page controls the quoting posture the system assumes when estimators start a new quote.

Set:

Bleed
Gutter
Trim Margin
Waste Factor
Quote Valid For
Default Margin Group
Quote Loading %
Auto-calculate imposition
Show material cost breakdown in quote builder
Show machine time in quote builder
Warn when margin falls below minimum
Require a machine selection on every quote line

Recommended starting point for many print shops:

set bleed, gutter, and trim to your common production assumptions
set waste to a realistic shop average, not a best-case guess
set quote validity to what sales actually promises
leave warning below margin on
require machine selection if you want disciplined estimating

23. Volume Discounts

Go to Settings > Estimating > Volume Discounts.

Use volume discounts when your shop systematically discounts by:

quantity
square footage
a specific customer
a specific material or process context

Only build structured discounts you actually intend sales to follow. If everything is custom, this area becomes noise.

24. Customer Setup

Go to Customers > New Customer.

Customer setup is critical because quotes and orders inherit customer defaults.

What Quotes And Orders Pull From The Customer

The system uses the customer as the source of truth for:

sales rep
CSR
default customer contact
tax rate
tax exempt status
margin group
commission percent
automatic discount percent
quote loading percent
volume discount rule

If those values are wrong on the customer, your quotes and orders will start wrong.

Customer Record Best Practice

Set the following:

Company Name
Account Status
Account Code
Category
Website
Billing address
Shipping address
Sales Rep
CSR
Credit Terms
Credit Limit
Default Currency
Default Sales Tax Rate
Tax Exempt and exemption number if applicable
Requires PO Number if the customer needs it
Invoice and statement delivery rules
Filing number if you use it
Margin Group
Margin %
Minimum Margin $
Commission %
Automatic Discount %
Quote Loading %
Volume Discount Rule if applicable
Notes

Contacts

After creating the customer, add customer contacts and make sure one is the default contact.

That default contact is what quote and order headers will use.

If you skip contacts, the quote can still exist, but the communication side of the record will be incomplete.

Practical Customer Types

Retail customer:

standard or premium margin
normal tax rule
no automatic discount unless intentional

Trade reseller:

wholesale margin group
maybe no sales rep commission
maybe automatic discount

Large corporate account:

default CSR assigned
requires PO number
statement delivery configured
agreed quote loading or account-specific discount if applicable

25. Creating Quotes The Right Way

Go to Quotes > New Quote.

Header Setup

At the top of the quote:

choose the customer first
confirm the correct default contact appears
confirm the inherited sales rep and CSR
fill in Job Name

Job Name is the overall quote name. It should describe the entire job, even if the quote has multiple items.

Examples:

Spring Window Campaign
Trade Show Booth Package
Fleet Graphics Rollout
Restaurant Menu Reprint

Line Item Setup

Each quote line is an item within the overall job.

Use:

Item Description for what that specific item is
printing selection
size
quantity and versions breakdown rows

The system totals quantity from the quantity/version rows. Build those carefully.

Examples:

500 qty x 2 versions = 1,000 total units
5 signs x 4 files = 20 total units

Prepress In Quotes

If prepress types are set to auto-apply:

standard prepress is applied once per item
file prep is multiplied by versions or files

This is the correct behavior for many print shops and should be part of the default quote build if that reflects your real operation.

Materials, Machines, Processes, And Hardware

Use the catalog records you created earlier:

material for stock
machine for production charge
processes for finishing, outsourced work, or production steps
hardware for billable accessories

Try not to estimate with one-off numbers when a reusable catalog record should exist.

Rush In Quotes

If a rush rule applies, select the correct rush option so the quote reflects the urgency premium.

26. Converting Quotes To Orders

When a quote is approved:

convert it to an order
confirm the order due date
confirm the shipping plan
confirm the production sequence

If Auto Generate Schedule On Order is on, the schedule should build automatically from the order.

27. How Scheduling Should Work For A Print Shop

The clean intended flow is:

quote line uses machine and process choices
those records are assigned to production departments
job flow rules sequence the departments
the schedule creates tasks in department order
operator skills and availability influence assignment
operators clock time against those tasks

To make this work well:

every important machine should have a department
every schedule-relevant process should have a department
shop hours must be real
machine and process availability must be maintained
primary operators should be assigned

If you leave department blank everywhere, scheduling falls back to older machine-type and process-category behavior. That can work, but department-based setup is the better shop-wide model.

28. Time Tracking And Actuals

Go to Time.

Operators can clock into scheduled tasks and clock out when they complete or pause work.

This is how the system captures:

actual time
actual labor cost
actual task progress

For good actuals:

make sure operators are assigned correctly
make sure each operator has the right user role
set actual labor rate on each operator if you want true labor cost

This is especially useful for:

finding underquoted steps
proving a department bottleneck
checking whether setup assumptions are wrong

29. Inventory

Use the Inventory module only if you want stock-on-hand tracking.

Inventory becomes useful when you:

buy common media in volume
receive stock against POs
want low-stock alerts
want on-hand visibility by material

Inventory includes:

dashboard
tracked materials
material detail
manual adjustments
low-stock and out-of-stock alerts

If your shop does not want perpetual inventory, you can ignore this module and still use materials for estimating.

30. Purchase Orders

Go to Purchase Orders.

Use POs when you need to buy:

materials
hardware
outsourced production

POs can be linked to jobs and order lines, and received quantities can feed inventory and job costing.

Good use cases:

special substrate for one customer job
outsourced install
trade bindery work
custom hardware package

31. Invoices And Accounting Flow

After production and shipment:

create invoice from the order
confirm taxes and totals
send using the customer's delivery rules
record payment

Make sure:

customer tax status is correct before quoting
invoice prefix is set
payment methods are configured

32. Reports

Use Reports after the operational setup is clean.

The report builder supports datasets for:

jobs and orders
invoices
payments
customers
quotes
purchase orders
vendors

Practical reports for print companies:

quotes won vs lost
orders due this week
revenue by customer
balance due by customer
purchases by vendor
tax-exempt customers
sales rep activity

For dashboard interpretation, quote intelligence, report-builder usage, and how to act on reporting data, use the separate Reporting And Intelligence Guide as the operating reference.

33. Recommended Department Model For Common Print Shops

Wide-Format Sign Shop

Recommended departments:

Prepress
Printing
Laminating
Cutting
Mounting
Finishing
Packing
Shipping
Installation

Digital Print And Copy Shop

Recommended departments:

Prepress
Digital Printing
Cutting
Folding
Binding
Packing
Shipping

Trade Show / Display Shop

Recommended departments:

Prepress
Printing
Laminating
Cutting
Sewing
Assembly
Kitpacking
Packing
Shipping
Installation

34. Recommended First Pass Setup For A Typical Wide-Format Shop

If you want a practical first-pass setup instead of perfect data, do this:

Set company info, branding, prefixes, and auto-schedule on order.
Add all employees and put actual labor cost on managers, prepress, operators, and installers.
Add tax rates.
Add vendors.
Add your top 20 materials only.
Add your main printer, laminator, cutter, and pack-out area.
Add the core processes you sell every week.
Add Standard Prepress and File Prep.
Add 3 rush rules.
Add departments.
Build one clean default job flow rule.
Set shop hours and closures.
Add operator skills.
Add your margin groups.
Set estimating defaults and overhead.
Add your top customers and contacts.
Build test quotes and one full test order.

That is enough to go live without overengineering phase one.

35. Common Setup Mistakes

Avoid these:

using category instead of department for scheduling
not assigning default customer contacts
leaving customer tax and commission defaults blank
creating materials without real dimensions and cost
using unrealistic machine speeds
forgetting machine departments
forgetting process departments
not creating a default job flow rule
putting rare prepress charges on auto-apply
skipping operator skills but expecting smart scheduling
skipping overhead but expecting reliable profitability
treating every exception as a permanent catalog record

36. Go-Live Checklist

Before your team starts using the system for real jobs, confirm all of this:

company info is correct
branding is correct
numbering prefixes are correct
tax rates are loaded
overhead is entered
payment preferences are entered
all active staff are created
operator labor rates are set
main vendors are loaded
key materials are loaded
main machines are loaded
key processes are loaded
standard hardware is loaded
margin groups exist
prepress charges exist
rush rules exist
departments exist
shop hours are correct
closures are entered
operator skills are entered
at least one default job flow rule exists
customers are loaded
contacts are loaded and default contacts are set
one full test quote has been created
one quote has been converted to an order
schedule generation has been tested
one time entry has been clocked
one PO has been created and received if using purchasing
one invoice has been created
one report has been reviewed

37. Best-Practice Operating Rules

Once you are live, keep these rules:

Customer defaults are maintained by sales or CSR ownership.
New materials, machines, processes, and hardware are added to the catalog before estimators improvise them repeatedly.
Department assignments are mandatory on new machines and schedule-relevant processes.
New recurring rush or prepress behavior is configured once in Settings instead of manually recreated on every quote.
Operators clock into real tasks instead of using generic time buckets whenever possible.
The shop reviews actuals against estimates every month and adjusts speeds, setup times, or rates when needed.

38. If You Want The Simplest Mental Model

For a print company, think of the system like this:

Customers define who you are selling to and what defaults apply.
Catalog defines what you can sell and how it costs.
Estimating defines the default quoting logic.
Production defines how work flows through the shop.
Quotes define what the customer is being offered.
Orders define what the shop is actually making.
Time, purchasing, inventory, and invoicing define what actually happened.
Reports tell you whether the business is working.

If you keep each area clean and do not mix responsibilities between them, the system will stay understandable as the shop grows.

39. Recent Platform Additions

The system has expanded materially since the earlier manual sections were written. The most important additions are below.

Production Library And Product Catalog

Catalog is now presented as Production Library.

This area now covers:

materials
laminate
hardware
machines
processes
import center
product catalog templates

The Product Catalog is for prebuilt sellable products. A product template can now:

prefill material, machine, process, hardware, and sizing assumptions
support customer-optional or customer-locked usage
support calculated pricing, fixed total pricing, or fixed unit pricing
launch directly into quote or order entry

Use this when the shop sells repeatable items such as standard banners, posters, yard signs, kits, or recurring programs.

Inventory Control

Inventory now supports:

on-hand quantity by material
manual adjustments
PO receiving into stock
job allocations / reservations
actual material usage capture
spoilage / overrun capture
cycle counts
valuation reporting

The main daily planning report for materials is:

Inventory > Daily Requirements
direct route: /inventory/requirements

That report shows, per job and component:

job number
customer
due date
component type
material / laminate / hardware
quantity needed
job allocated quantity
inventory reserved quantity
current on-hand quantity
current available quantity

Use this report every day for purchasing, staging, and production planning.

AI Platform

There is now a reusable AI layer with:

provider and model settings
prompt templates
request / response logging
structured JSON validation
retries and fallback behavior
human review queue
feature-by-feature enable / disable controls

Current AI consumers include:

natural-language quote intake
win probability explanations
promise date reasoning

AI setup lives in:

Settings > AI > Infrastructure
Settings > AI > Prompt Templates
Settings > AI > Review Queue

Predictive Promise Date

Promise dates are no longer only manual commitments.

The system now supports:

optimistic date
recommended date
high-risk date
capacity-based reasoning
risk level
manager override notes when committing earlier than recommended

Related settings live in:

Settings > Production > Schedule Settings

Dashboard And Production Meeting

The main dashboard is now a live operations command center.

It includes:

KPI health strip
production war board
bottleneck / risk panel
financial pulse
fast links to due-today, due-tomorrow, all-orders, and production meeting

The daily review screen is:

Production Meeting
direct route: /production-meeting

Use that screen at the 9:00 AM meeting to review all work due today and tomorrow.

Customer Portal

The customer portal now supports:

live order stage tracking
milestone timeline
customer file upload
reorder requests

Portal admin settings live in:

Settings > Customer Portal

Accounting Sync

Accounting integrations now have a dedicated framework for:

QuickBooks Online
Xero
customer sync
invoice sync
payment sync
invoice status sync
reconciliation and conflict review

Settings live in:

Settings > Accounting > Integrations

Treat accounting sync as a controlled rollout until sandbox testing is complete.

40. Current System Setup Requirements

The sections above still describe the core shop setup sequence. The items below are the current platform requirements that must also be configured if you want the whole system to behave the way the code now supports.

For production or owner use on the real deployed system, staff access should be configured through:

Settings > Team Members

Important rules:

the owner should have an active username and password
the owner should confirm the organization workspace slug before first staff login
all real staff logins should be assigned to named users instead of sharing one login
dashboard, reports, accounting, and admin access should be granted intentionally by role

On development systems, login can be relaxed temporarily. On real deployments, use staff login.

Enabled modules and add-ons now appear as their own sections in the far-left workspace navigation.

That means staff should be trained to open module workflows from the left nav instead of hunting for scattered launch buttons inside settings pages.

Examples:

CRM
Planning Impos
Wegmans Small Format

Owners and admins should confirm that only the modules intended for the account are enabled, and that the team knows where each module now lives in the workspace shell.

Owner-Only Business Data Import

The system now includes an owner-only import center for initial data loading.

Use:

Settings > Business Data > Import Center

Supported bulk uploads:

customers
contacts
quotes
quote lines
orders
order lines
invoices
invoice lines

Recommended import order:

customers and contacts
quotes
orders
invoices

Do not start production work until the owner has confirmed that imported customers, contacts, open work, and invoices match the source system closely enough to operate from.

Microsoft 365 Outbound Email

Outbound email is now configured through Microsoft 365 Graph for the whole MIS.

Use:

Settings > Notifications > Email Delivery

Required values:

from address
quote request recipients
Microsoft tenant ID
Microsoft client ID
Microsoft client secret
Microsoft sender mailbox

This configuration is used across:

quotes
invoices
CRM quote requests
portal notifications
digest-style system mail

Do not invite staff until a test email succeeds from this screen.

Job Status Setup

There are now two different status layers in the system:

order lifecycle status
production status

Order lifecycle status covers the whole job:

new
in_production
on_hold
ready
shipped
delivered
invoiced
cancelled

Production status is process-specific and comes from live tracked tasks:

Printing In Progress
Printing Paused
Finishing Done
Proof / Approval

Production status setup lives in:

Settings > Production > Process Statuses

Use that page to map shop-facing production statuses to actual production processes. The order status remains the lifecycle rollup for the whole order.

NCR / Quality Setup

The MIS now includes NCR tracking.

Use:

Production > NCRs

NCRs can also be launched from:

order detail
item detail
live task work ticket

Before using NCRs in production, confirm:

the NCR schema is applied
the NCR template PDF exists on the app server
the upload root for NCR PDFs is writable
the team understands when to use an NCR instead of just writing a note

Production Command Screens

The system now expects the shop to use the command-center views operationally, not just as office summaries.

Core screens:

/dashboard
/orders/due-today
/orders/due-tomorrow
/orders/all
/production-meeting

These screens now show both:

order lifecycle status
live production status

That allows the team to read a row as:

Order In Production
Production Printing In Progress

instead of only seeing the broad order-level status.

Report Builder

The report builder now behaves more like a database-set ad hoc reporting tool.

Users with report-builder permission can:

choose a report base
choose exposed fields from that base and related records
order the selected columns
save the report definition
save runtime search prompts such as date, date range, customer, and PO number

Before relying on it operationally, confirm that the owner or reporting lead understands:

which bases are available
which staff should have report-builder permission
which saved reports should be standardized for management use

Planning Impos

Planning Impos should now be launched from MIS jobs instead of relying on external job imports.

Use:

the Planning Impos button on order lines
the Planning Impos button on item screens
the Planning Impos button on live work tickets

The planner can also load a job by typed job number and item letter.

Wegmans Small Format

If the Wegmans Small Format module is enabled, the MIS now expects staff to use the module from the left workspace nav instead of treating it like a separate app.

The module includes its own workspace screens for:

order entry
tracking
order status
press files
materials and processes
store directory
settings

Do not migrate historical tracker data until the MIS module is fully validated with live-safe test data.

CRM

The CRM module is now part of the platform when enabled.

Use:

CRM > CRM Dashboard

Before using CRM in production, confirm:

reps are assigned correctly
follow-up ownership is clear
Outlook / Microsoft calendar connection expectations are documented internally
quote request review responsibility is assigned to estimating or management