How to choose print ERP for your print shop
How do you choose print ERP, often called print MIS, for your print shop? Start with four criteria. It covers the whole flow from quote to invoice. It calculates your print technologies. You can use it from any device. The price is public. The brand comes after that. Here you’ll find alternatives compared and ten questions for suppliers.
What’s the best print ERP for a printing company?
The best print ERP for a printing company isn’t a brand name. It’s the software that covers your whole flow with no gaps, and that your people actually use every day. Anyone who answers with a brand name, without knowing your business, is selling you something.
Five criteria apply to every print shop:
- Flow coverage. Quote, job, job ticket, delivery note, invoice, payment. One piece of data entered once and reused across every document.
- Print technologies. Offset, small-format digital, large format. If you also do signage or personalised clothing, you’ll need cutting plotters, embroidery and screen printing.
- Daily use. In the office, on the shop floor, from the owner’s phone. If it’s hard to use, it stays closed.
- A public, complete price. Monthly fee, onboarding, support, modules. All written down before you sign.
- Who built it. People from the industry, or just programmers. How many years, for how many companies.
How to choose print ERP: start from your own workflow
Before you look at any software, write down how you work today. How many quotes you produce a month. How many job tickets. How many invoices. Where you rewrite the same data. How many times a day someone asks “where’s my job?”
These numbers are useful for two reasons. They tell you what your current method costs. And they let you assess every supplier against the same cases.
The PrinTrace Mini Analysis uses simple reference times: 10 minutes per quote, 5 for a job ticket, 5 for an invoice. With 10 “where’s my job?” requests a day, at 5 minutes each, you lose 242 hours a year. That’s €6,042 at €25 an hour. Source: PrinTrace Mini Analysis on 30 companies, 2025. All the figures →
Three alternatives compared
Print shops without industry-specific print ERP work in three ways. Spreadsheets and word documents. Generic business software, built for any sector. A large generalist system, ERP designed for industry and distribution. Here are the pros and cons, no punches pulled.
| Alternative | Pros | Cons | When it makes sense |
|---|---|---|---|
| Excel spreadsheets and Word documents | Near-zero cost. You already know them. Maximum freedom. | Quote, job ticket, delivery note and invoice are rewritten by hand. Formulas break and nobody notices. No shared history. The price depends on who does the work. | One person does everything and volumes are minimal. |
| Generic business software | Solid e-invoicing and accounting. Low prices. Plenty of suppliers to choose from. | It doesn’t calculate a print quote: sheet yields, make-readies and square metres stay on Excel. No job ticket. Every industry adaptation costs extra. | Quoting isn’t your problem and you only need the admin side. |
| Large generalist system | Covers everything, from production to finance. Handles large, complex companies. | Expensive licences and onboarding. Months of project work. External consultants for every change. Print-specific logic has to be built from scratch. | Beyond 50 employees, or when printing is just part of a different industry. |
There’s a fourth path: industry-specific print ERP. It calculates quotes by technology, generates the job ticket and carries the same data through to the invoice. Here too you need to pay attention. Some are sold in modules, some aren’t cloud-based, some don’t publish their prices. The ten questions below help you tell them apart.
The 10 questions to ask any supplier
Ask them of everyone, in the same order. Write down the answers. The comparison follows on its own.
1. Does it cover everything from quote to invoice, or do you need other software?
Ask to see the same data move from quote to job, to delivery note, to invoice. If there’s an export or a copy-paste step in between, it isn’t all-in-one.
2. Which print technologies does it calculate?
Offset, small-format digital and large format at minimum. If you need them, also cutting plotters, embroidery and screen printing. Each technology has different costs: one formula isn’t enough.
3. Is it cloud-based? Where is the data held?
Ask which country the data centre is in, and who manages security and updates. Ask whether it works from a smartphone with no installation.
4. Is it sold in modules, or bundled together?
Ask for the full price list. How much it costs to add inventory a year later. And accounting. The starting fee is often not the final price.
5. Is the per-user price public?
If it’s on the website, you already know whether it fits your budget. If it isn’t, ask why. A “price on request” usually changes from customer to customer.
6. Is there a portal for my customers?
A private area where the customer orders, sees the status of their jobs and their invoices. Every time they use it, that’s one less phone call for you.
7. Is support included?
What hours, by phone or email only, and what it costs after the first year. Ask who answers: the people who built the software, or a call centre.
8. How long does it take to get started?
Who loads the records for customers, suppliers and materials. What you need to prepare yourself. When you’ll produce your first real quote. And how long it takes to train four people: if the answer is months, that’s the real cost.
9. How do backups work?
How often, where, and who does them. Ask what happens if the office PC breaks down tomorrow morning.
10. Who built it?
People from the industry, or just programmers. How many years it’s existed, how many companies use it today. Whether the company that makes it holds a quality certification.
How to assess print ERP in a demo
The demo is when the supplier shows you what they want to show you. You need to see what you actually need.
- Bring one of your own quotes. A typical job, not the supplier’s own examples. Ask them to redo it from scratch, in front of you.
- Follow a job right through. Quote, job, job ticket, delivery note, invoice. Count how many times something gets rewritten.
- Ask for the smartphone. Open the status of a job from the phone. If you can’t, you’ll find out immediately.
- Ask for the actuals on a closed job. Quoted against what was really spent, with time and materials. This is the point where many systems promise and don’t deliver: those who found that out after buying have cancelled.
- Ask the uncomfortable question. “What doesn’t it do?” A serious supplier has a ready answer.
- Ask who will support you afterwards. If it’s the same person as in the demo, all the better.
- Ask for a written quote. Monthly fee, onboarding, support, and the list of what’s left out.
Forty-five minutes is enough to see all of this. If it isn’t, ask yourself why.
What changes after: the numbers
Industry-specific print ERP mainly removes repetitive tasks. The PrinTrace Mini Analysis on 30 companies, 2025, measures three of them:
| Activity | Time saved |
|---|---|
| Quotes: calculating, drafting, sending | -40% |
| Job tickets | -50% |
| Invoices: compiling, checking, sending | -60% |
At €25 an hour, adding in the “where’s my job?” requests too, the three typical cases recover:
- a family business: €3,463 a year
- a company with 8-15 employees: €12,617 a year
- a structured company: €24,663 a year
These are averages recorded on the sample, not a guarantee. Results vary with volumes, processes and real-world use of the software. The full method and disclaimer are on the Results page.
In 2025, active PrinTrace customers saved roughly 11,007 hours on quoting and 4,271 on invoicing. Estimate based on time with and without print ERP, aggregated 2025 data.
Where PrinTrace fits in
PrinTrace is a cloud print ERP for print shops and digital printing companies. It’s made by DPS Soluzioni Informatiche of Rome since 2010, and used by over 250 companies. Here’s how it answers the ten questions.
- Coverage. Quote, job, job ticket, delivery note, e-invoicing, payments and payment schedule in the same system. One piece of data entered once.
- Technologies. Offset printing, small-format digital, large format, flatbed cutting plotters, embroidery machines, screen printing.
- Cloud. No installation, from PC, Mac, tablet and smartphone. Data held in data centres in Italy, security and updates managed by DPS.
- Add-on packages. Some are purchased separately: ask for the list at the meeting, along with the fee and onboarding cost.
- Published starting price. You’ll find it in the FAQ, along with what the monthly fee includes.
- Customer portal. An add-on package, within the same system. Your customers log in with private credentials, order products, and see their jobs and invoices. Explore the portal →
- Support. Included in the monthly fee, by phone and email, during office hours.
- Onboarding. Includes initial basic setup and loading your records, together with you. Timing depends on your data: we’ll tell you in the demo.
- Backup. Every night, managed by DPS, with business continuity. Cloud and security →
- Who built it. Print industry entrepreneurs together with DPS’s IT experts, a company since 2002, ISO 9001 certified and a Microsoft Certified Partner.
Who it isn’t for. PrinTrace is built for companies with 5 to 50 employees. If you’re much bigger, or printing is just part of a different industry, also consider the large generalist systems. The most honest way to find out is a 45-minute demo on your own jobs. Book a meeting →
Frequently asked questions
What’s the best print ERP for a printing company?
The one that covers your whole flow from quote to invoice, calculates your technologies and has a public price. There’s no single best brand for everyone. Assess every supplier with the ten questions in this guide, and with one of your own quotes redone in a demo.
Excel or print ERP for a small print shop?
Excel is enough as long as one person handles quoting, production and invoicing at minimal volumes. As soon as data passes between hands, it gets rewritten and gets mistakes. The PrinTrace Mini Analysis on 30 companies, 2025, estimates €3,463 a year recoverable for a family business with print ERP.
Is generic business software enough for a print shop?
It’s enough for invoicing and bookkeeping. It doesn’t calculate a print quote with sheet yields, make-readies and square metres. It doesn’t generate the job ticket. The quote stays on Excel and the data gets rewritten. If quoting is your problem, you need industry-specific print ERP.
How much does print ERP for a print shop cost?
It depends on the supplier and the model: sold in modules or bundled as one package, with or without support. Always ask for the monthly fee, onboarding cost and what’s left out. PrinTrace publishes its starting prices: a monthly fee from €59 per user, excluding VAT, onboarding from €2,540 as a one-off, support included. FAQ
How long does it take to get started with print ERP?
It depends on how many records you have and who loads them. Ask the supplier what they do and what’s left to you. At PrinTrace, onboarding includes basic setup and loading your records, together with you. You produce your first quote with us.
Want to test PrinTrace against the ten questions?
Bring us a typical quote from your business. In 45 minutes, online or in person, we’ll redo it in PrinTrace and answer all ten.
Tel. +39 06 5290689 · info@printrace.eu
DPS Soluzioni Informatiche, Viale Giorgio Ribotta 11, 00144 Rome, Italy