BOSPrint has robust Estimating functionality that gives your estimators the information they need to produce fast, accurate estimates. BOSPrint automates so much of the estimating process, you reduce the risk of errors, and improve overall efficiency.

A Printing Estimate gives you built-in functionality for every possible Printing scenario - NCR, Digital, Litho to name a few.

Print Estimate Interface

Navigation

Main Menu > Customers > Quotations > Select Type EST > New > Print Estimate

Main Menu > Customers > Quotations > New - Quotation > Select Customer > Add Estimate > Printing

Discover Print Estimates Setup

Complete the following tabs to accurately create a Print Estimate:

1. Header
2. Pre-Press
3. Printing
4. Finishing
5. Material
6. Despatch
7. Costs
8. Pricing
9. E-mails
10. History
11. Overrides

1. Header

This is where you enter all the basic information of the Customer.

1. Details - Capture the Customer, Contact and User Fields details here.
2. Category - The category list consists of the types of print work the organisation offers, each of which is linked to the relevant machines, overheads and productivity models that will inform the rest of the estimate.
3. Size - You can select the appropriate size from the dropdown list or input a custom size. This field indicates the finished and flat size of the job and can be populated from a lookup list.
   • To edit the Size Lookup list simply click on the Menu button (7) and select Edit Size Lookup.
4. Quote Description - This is where the details that are captured throughout the Quotation process are automatically displayed. The Quote Letter description is automatically generated from the services and materials that are added to the estimate. The Quote Description is generated using a Stored Procedure in the database - QT_UPDATE_DESCRIPTION.
5. Add Qty - Type in the value of the quantity needed on the print job. You can add multiple quantities and select the desired quantity by checking the check box in the data grid.

6. Summary - This section automatically updates costs, Materials and Services based on the quantity and selections made in the Estimating process.

7. Menu - The Menu button provides additional functionality such as:

• Update Estimate from Setups - When Setup information has changed, this will update the Quote applying the changes.
• Revert to Default Adjustment - This allows you to reset the Adjustments back to the Default settings set in Branches.
• You can Edit and Add Customers from the Quotation Menu button.
• Copy to Material - You can create a Material Item from an Estimate, using the Estimate to calculate the Costs and Pricing, allowing you to create Fixed Price Lists.

2. Pre-Press

The application guides you through the job specification, starting with Pre-Press. Pre-Press is everything that the person handling the job might need to know before starting the job, such as ‘artwork provided’ or if the design-work needs to be done in-house, if the client requires a proof to be done before approving the print job, and so on.

1. Item - Select the Pre-Press items required for the job.
2. Quantity - Enter the number required.
3. Exclude check box and Add - Check the Exclude box if you wish to exclude this Items cost from the overall Quote price. Click Add to Add an Item, Add and Edit, or Update the selected Item.
4. Green - If the item is performed in house then it will show as green. Red - If the item needs to be outsourced then it will show red.
5. D - This check box allows you to determine if it will appear on the quotation letter or not.
6. Section - This shows the section that the Pre-press item applies to.
7. Direct - This field shows what the direct costs are for the service. Knowing direct costs has its advantages: Direct costs are typically for Materials and output required to fulfill that job, that have a cost implication. It reasons then that if the job has to be reprinted, and the direct costs are more than 50%, that the reprint costs more than the profit of the job. It is therefore best practice to try keep direct costs to 40% and less. Direct costs can also be used as a gauge to see how your quote compares with your competitors, as most printers have the same direct costs, with the difference primarily being in labour rates.
8. A - This field shows whether or not the Pre-press item is to be included in the total price (A), or shown as a separate cost (E). To specify this, right-click on the Item and select Edit Item. The Pre-Press Setup window will appear, then select from the Adjust normally drop down field. See image below:

Navigation

Main Menu > Customers > Quotations > Select Type EST > View > Edit > Pre-Press > Edit Item

3. Printing

This section guides you through the printing process and filters the available selections according to the selected printing type.

1. Add - Select the Printing Type from the drop-down list.

2. Select Section - This window offers a selection of Section sizes. Select the appropriate size and click Select.

3. Edit Section - If required the Section can be edited in this popup window. You can also specify the quantity to be either 100% of the quoted quantity, or a fixed item quantity, or a set imposition quantity. You can also specify the bleed and the Depth and Height of the job, but these are usually linked to the category and size that you selected in the Header section. Click Next to continue.

4. Select Press and Ink - Choose the Press and Ink needed for the job specifications. Click Select to Continue. If there is a Default Pre-Press Option applied to the selected Press, it will be added in the Pre-Press tab.

6. Edit Printing - This screen allows you to make changes to the Imposition, Press, Material and add any Notes that might be useful during Production. Click Next to continue.

• Impo - Check if the Printing Imposition diagram is correct.
• Press - Check that the rate per hour, station front and back, Make Ready details, Speed, Wash Up, and Make Ready Overs details are correct. These are all pulled through from details specified in the Setup stage of installing QuickEasy BOS in the business, and are linked to the machine and job spec in the back end.
• Material - This used to be called ‘Other Material’ and includes any Material needed to complete the job, over and above your paper and ink. For now it is blank, as we have not clicked to the main Material tab yet.
• Note - You can make notes in this section.

7. Select Paper - Select the Paper, Paper size and Supplier. Click OK to continue.

A. Data Grid - All the Paper available for this Printing Type will be listed in the data grid.

B. Unit - Once you selected the desired paper, you can select the desired size. This will prevent wastage.

C. Supplier - All the suppliers who supply this specific paper, will be listed here. If the Paper Price has not been updated within thirty days, this field will be marked red to alert the user. For more on Paper Price Updating, click here.

8. Edit Paper - This is a final check over the Paper selection, price, quantity, cut out and size specifications. If a special paper price has been negotiated, the List price can be updated or an adjustment can be added. Add a Note to remind the buyer who the price was negotiated with. Check that the cut out diagram looks correct. Check that the waste percentage (W%) is within limits. The Maximise checkbox will change the worksheet size to match the full size of the stock sheet or the maximum size of the press, whichever is smaller. This is done to eliminate unnecessary pre-cutting. Click Next to continue.

9. Summary - Review the Summary page with the summary of the job spec. Click Finish if you are satisfied.

Once you clicked Finish the Section, Printing and Paper fields in the Printing tab will be populated. See image below:

4. Finishing

Finishing Services are added here. At this point, there may be some Finishing Services already added - this is because these are linked to the Section that was selected.

If anything else needs to be added

1. Click on the Item drop-down list and select a service.
2. Click on the Qty Types drop-down list and select a Qty Type.
3. Enter the qty.
4. Click Add.

Services are created in Printing Setups.

• Finishing - Qty Types - The Section sq.m and Section m quantity types no longer require the finishing service to be linked to a Section. When the Service is not linked to a Section, the Qty will be set to the combined area of all the Sections.

Note: For Section sq.m, the area is actually calculated on Worksheet size and Worksheet qty to allow for bleed and overs.

5. Material

This is the section where any Material needed to complete the job, other than paper and ink, will be added by the system, or can be manually added or updated by clicking Add. All services needed to complete the job are linked to the Materials section and will update this section if those Services have been specified previously.

Estimate > Copy to Material

This function allows you to create a Material Item from an Estimate for quick and easy quoting on regularly occurring Estimates.

From the Estimate window click Menu > Copy to Material and select the category.

When you create a material from the Estimate, all the Quantities, including the Cost and Selling price will be added to the material.

6. Despatch

Specify how this order will be delivered to the client. Click the Packaging drop down menu and select what the work will be packaged in and select the Destination with its Delivery Option and click Add.

7. Costs

The Cost tab in Accounting provides a summary of all the costs on the estimate. See image below:

8. Pricing

View the list of all quantities, costs and profits here. Quantities (Qty) and markup (MU %) can be changed manually in this tab. You can also override and fix a price or a unit price by double-clicking in the appropriate field. When prices are fixed they are displayed in red to alert you of this.

9. E-mails

The E-mails tab will list all the E-mails linked to this Estimate. For more about sending E-mails, click here.

Once your quotation is complete you can simply click Close. The quote is now saved as Pending and will remain on your Workflow and on your listed quotations pending further action.

10. History

When a Quote is copied, the Quote No. of the parent Quote is stored in fields named FROMQUOTEID and FROMENQID. The full copy history of a Quotation can then be found in the Quotation > History tab - the history is displayed top down and drilldown functionality is provided.

11. Overrides

This tab lists all the variances between the production parameters and costs on the Estimate compared to those in the setups.

• You can Open linked Material Item and to View Material Summary from Materials listed in the Estimate > Overrides tab.

How to create a Print Estimate

Watch this short video on how to create a basic Print Estimate. For an example of how to create a Quotation, click here.

Here are examples of how to create the following Estimates:

• Magazine Estimate
• Poster Estimate
• Business Card Estimate
• Folder Estimate