With more than 20 years in business and 600 sites in the UK alone running its Accura MIS, DDS has been a silent success story. It has a simple aim: to offer users the quickest and most cost-effective way to manage their business processes.
According to international sales manager Alan Potter, the process begins before installation with an audit using its cost-rate calculator to establish the rates the customer should use for calculations in the system. "To my knowledge none of our competitors have that," he says.
The cost-rate calculator runs in Microsoft Excel. You enter your overheads, direct costs and productivity and the software calculates an hourly rate for each bit of kit, department or process based on the actual operating conditions.
"We then work in Accura on the basis of cost plus, which is that every cost centre needs to recover its costs," says Potter.
You may argue that while it's all very well working that way, in the current climate where the market determines the price of a job, it's naïve to expect to be able to work using such a theoretical formula.
"We can take into account market forces," counters Potter. "If the market determines the price, our customers can go back and work out what they need to do to make their business more efficient.
"In the current climate, it has become more important to know your actual costs and your profit margins on a day-to-day business. It's not like it used to be when managers could say, ‘If I can hear the presses running I know I'm making a profit'. A lot of printers come to us now because their bank or accountant has told them to get a better control of costs."
Flexibility
One of the strengths of Accura is its ability to support a wide range of print processes, as well as straightforward sheetfed litho. It's especially good for digital and wide-format, with the ability to price work by click, linear metre or unit area.
Potter says Accura is suitable for a wide-range of different sizes and type of print shop, with customers ranging from
single-user systems at quick printers through to huge publication printers, although he adds the firm's strongest market is with middle of the road printers.
However, Accura doesn't offer each user bespoke additions to the system. "We don't customise our software for anyone," says Potter. "If we believe a feature request is valuable then we will integrate it into the next version. The benefits are that it lowers our support costs and we also promise to upgrade the software at least twice a year."
The core MIS module carries out quote creation and generation of job tickets, proof notes, delivery notes, labels and invoices. It can also integrate with one of 13 common accounting packages, such as Sage. Additional modules include CRM, purchase ordering, stock control (raw materials and finished goods), job costing (including shopfloor data collection) and e-commerce.
E-commerce focus
The firm has focused its recent developments on e-commerce rather than one of the other MIS hot topics: JDF.
Potter says: "We're sitting back and waiting to see which way the market goes. A lot of customers ask for it, but don't really understand what it is.
"We surveyed our customer base asking what they wanted and, as a result, focused our efforts on e-commerce. We haven't lost any orders as a consequence and if the market demands it then it is something we can develop quickly."
While the lack of JDF isn't causing Potter any problems, he adds that the focus on e-commerce is definitely paying off.
"As an Accura user you don't even need to have your own website as it's hosted by us," he says. "As soon as you switch on e-commerce, everything is there."
You can choose what functions you offer to your customers. The options include: request a quote, review quote history, place a quote, order confirmation, remote soft proofing and check job history. There's also a storefront that can be used to call off finished stock.
"If someone wanted to buy an e-commerce solution, then we believe they could easily justify buying the complete Accura system," says Potter.
The customer relationship management (CRM) module was written by DDS, which Potter says ensures it is seamlessly integrated with the rest of the MIS. It can also be integrated with general business tools, including Outlook and other diaries and with communication systems that enable communication by VOIP, SMS and mobile.
Another area where the system excels is in linking together tasks and either automating the process in the background or prompting staff to follow a set of procedures.
Potter cites the example of a poster printing job, where the system will know to include the cost of a tube for despatching the poster and build in the steps to roll it up, place it into the tube, label it and despatch it into the workflow. He adds: "The software is compliant with ISO 9001, and we used to promote its ability to provide the necessary audit trials."
Accura also includes a built-in report writer function, or alternatively it can be integrated with third-party products. Another option is what Potter calls ‘query wizards', which allow a user to easily quiz the system about an aspect of the business over a period of time.
Although it is suitable for small firms, Accura can also support multiple sites and can be configured to support divisions or multiple companies separately within the same core MIS.
"The multi-company facility is becoming more and more popular," says Potter. "For example, if you have design, digital and litho facilities, some companies may choose to run those elements separately."
Multiple databases
Accura supports up to 100 databases on the same system, so can handle some very complicated business set ups.
DDS sells Accura as a package with a per seat charge and the upfront cost includes installation, training and the first year's support contract. The core module for a single user costs £5,177 and then extra seats are a flat £900 each. Additional modules cost £530 for purchase ordering, £1,400 for stock control, job costing is £1,900 and the e-commerce module is £6,500 upfront with a £40 per month hosting fee.
Ongoing support costs are £490 per year for the first user and £175 per user for each additional user. Ongoing support costs are a flat rate with no additional cost for each module.
"We charge by module, not seats, but we support by users not by module," says Potter.
The average configuration is for a three-to-five seat system and the majority of customers lease the system on a weekly basis. For firms considering investing in a new MIS or switching, the firm has some costing sheets to show the return on investment.
It is also, following interest from customers in the US and Canada, looking at whether to produce Accura on a software as a service (SaaS) model.
Overall, Accura's cost-plus focus and the no-nonsense approach of developing what customers want and keeping everything simple is a good way to get a system that keeps tight control of your business and that keeps you in control of the purse strings. In the current economic environment, this could prove very useful.
SPECIFICATIONS
Platform Windows
Price
Core module for a single user: £5,177
Extra seats: £900 each
Modules -
Purchase ordering £530,
Stock control £1,400
Job costing £1,900
E-commerce £6,500 (£40 per month hosting fee)
Support costs £490 per year for the first user £175 per additional user
Contact
Data Design Services 023 8024 0470 www.accuramis.com
CrimsonWing PrintVis
A print-tailored ERP system based on Microsoft Dynamics NAV. CrimsonWing argues that the inclusion of the finance package (which is what make it an ERP rather than an MIS) is crucial to efficient operation. Usage models include licensed, financed or Software as a Service (SaaS).
Platform Windows
Price Licensed from £2,000 per concurrent user SaaS from £80 per concurrent user per month
Contact CrimsonWing 020 7367 4300 www.crimsonwing.co.uk
Optimus 2020 Vision
New developments include integrating the MIS with alternative pricing engines. The iX module is for spreadsheet pricing and the iW module for websites. The system dashboard Optimus Analysis is also configured to present KPIs suggested by Vision in Print's MIS report.
Platform Linux, Windows, Solaris
Price From £5,000
Contact Optimus 2020 01483 740233 www.optimus2020.com
Shuttleworth
One of the leading suppliers of MIS in the UK, Shuttleworth highlights its 28-year heritage thanks to the integration of JDF and JMF that sits at the heart of the package, in addition to its customer support and training package.
Platform PC
Price £2,000-£3,000 per user
Contact Shuttleworth 01536 316316 www.shuttleworth-uk.co.uk
Tharstern SmallPrint v4
SmallPrint is used by more than 100 print businesses and the current version includes around 40 new features and improvements including outwork management, improved digital estimating and roll label support. SmallPrint v4 is aimed at smaller printers.
Platform Windows
Price £4,995 for 3 user package including training, install and support
Contact harstern 01282 860 660 www.tharstern.com
