Integrating your Q&P MIS adds value and cuts costs

Many medium and small businesses underestimate the advantages and cost savings offered by having an integrated management information system, according to Alan Alexander (pictured). Getting the different Quote & Print modules to link up and communicate one with the other can create a value chain that is far greater than the sum of its parts.


Integrating the accounting modules of Quote & Print with other parts of the management information system, such as the quoting and production modules, provides solid advantages to the owners of small to medium size printing businesses. One of the most obvious is the ease of maintaining the vital data file of customers’ names and addresses.

While this may seem to be obvious, most companies do not keep a single listing of customers’ names and addresses up to date. Maintaining dual listings of the same data takes twice as much effort, especially when the two lists must match. The same can be said for suppliers’ addresses, which need to be in the production modules for the purposes of outwork and purchase ordering. In a standalone accounting system these names and addresses would also be duplicated


Credit control is improved

Customers may be put on ‘hold’ or given a credit limit in a standalone accounting system but this does not prevent a job from being created in the estimating /production system. In Quote & Print, the value of unfinished jobs as well as outstanding debt is checked against the credit limit before a job can be created.

The value of this cannot be over emphasized, as once work is done against a job for a bad customer it is too late and the work becomes another bad debt.
Just having a customer that doesn’t pay on time can have a detrimental effect on cash flow, not to mention the extra interest on the overdraft. If time and money is spent on further quotes or jobs before addressing the payment backlog the impact on the business is compounded.

Streamlined purchase ordering

In Quote & Print it is possible to check creditors’ invoices directly against purchase orders received through the system. This alleviates the need to manually match invoices against the large numbers of paper delivery dockets. Reporting on the jobs includes both order number and Invoice number enabling follow up with the supplier if a problem exists.

Reduction of the hidden costs of standalone accounting

Most off-the-shelf accounting packages may be cheaper to buy but they do not include installation, training or upgrades. Advanced support for these packages is typically expensive and also difficult to get. Such packages usually require either training or staff who are already trained in their use. Quote & Print accounting modules include installation and training. The standard support is free for the first year and includes phone support and free upgrades.

Cost Recovery

Linked in with the General Ledger there is a module that helps decide what hourly rate the machines should be charged at. This is often not done or may be done once and never updated. The Cost Recovery Planner module can be used to calculate these costs and store them for future review as the users’ mix of machines and costs change over time. It can also be used to determine the effect a change in the number of shifts will have on hourly rates.

Software consistency

The accounting and production modules in Quote & Print are all part of the same package and therefore have the same feel about them. Staff train more easily and are more quickly competent in new modules when they are already adept with other modules in the package.

Reporting is easy

There are a large number of reports available in all modules as well as some easy user-definable reports that you don’t have to be a programmer to use. Once the user can write the user-definable reports in one module, no training is necessary to use them in another.

Rest assured, security is solid

With the Security module each user in Quote & Print has a security profile when they sign on. This profile controls what level of access a user can have in each module. This allows some users to perform general maintenance tasks or enquiries without giving them access to financial transactions or reports.


Full functionality

Quote & Print offers accounting modules with up to date features such as BAS reports, export to internet banking, BPAY for customers, emailing and plenty of flexible reports.

In all, a quoting/production system with integrated accounting, such as Quote & Print, can improve efficiency. This will both improve cash flow by tighter debtor and creditor controls as well as save money by reducing expensive mistakes, reduce costs; or freeing up resources that can then be better used in other areas.


Alan Alexander is director of Calprint Systems, the Queensland dealer for Quote & Print software.