MIS Improves Efficiencies at Ashland University

BEFORE LAST July, managing the print workflow at Ashland University Printing & Imaging Solutions was, let's say, a bit cumbersome.

"We would print out our job tickets, and then we would enter it in a system, print out a separate copy [and] take it to our business manager," recalls Paul Jones, director of the Ashland, Ohio-based in-plant. But that wasn't the end of the paper trail. The business manager would then prepare an Excel spreadsheet to send to the business office. There, someone would key in this information yet again, this time into the university's main administrative software, so money could be transferred from departmental accounts.

The inefficiency of this Excel-based system was wearing down Jones and his staff. So with the support of the business office, the in-plant secured funding last summer to acquire EDU Business Solutions' Print Shop Pro Manager software, along with WebDesk, Document Converter and Template Builder.

Since then, life has been so much simpler for the in-plant's six full-time and four part-time and student workers. Customers can now pull up previous jobs and review the details, sparing staff from fielding their calls. Productivity has improved as a result of orders being placed online through WebDesk. And Jones can now quickly call up accurate, reliable job data to create reports for management—something he now does weekly, compared to just two or three times a year with the old system.

"Just a couple of clicks...and you're done," he remarks, adding that he recently created a report in five minutes that would have taken him an hour previously.

Having all this job data so close at hand is helping to ensure the shop's survival in tough times.

"We use it...to justify our existence," Jones affirms.

A Busy In-plant

Founded in 1878, Ashland University is a mid-sized, private, non-profit university located on a 135-acre campus in north central Ohio. Printing & Imaging Solutions serves all campus departments, as well as students, local schools, private businesses and non-profit community organizations. In 2011, Jones says, almost 20 percent of the in-plant's revenue came from outside the university.

The shop provides both offset and digital printing, using a four-color Heidelberg Speedmaster 52, a Canon C1135 and a Canon imagePRESS C6000. Other services include wide-format printing using an Epson 9900, laser/rotary engraving and T-shirt printing. The shop added this last service three years ago, and has so far printed 80,000 shirts. The in-plant handles between 300 and 500 jobs a month for its more than 700 customers.

"Short-run four-color is pretty much our niche market," says Jones, who has been with the in-plant for 14 years. Typical jobs include post cards, newsletters, recruitment brochures and product spec sheets.

When he started his search for an MIS system, Jones had several objectives. He wanted a cost-effective solution that would fit an operation with both offset and digital equipment. It had to provide easy-to-use online order submissions. He wanted the ability to easily search the entire database and locate past jobs. And, most importantly, it had to eliminate time-consuming data entry for both the shop personnel and the business office, which manages the chargeback process.

Jones first saw Print Shop Pro at an In-Plant Printing and Mailing Association (IPMA) conference a few years back. He and his colleagues at Ashland University were particularly impressed with its WebDesk feature, which would let clients pull up previously submitted jobs and see all the details, such as each job's cost. The system also boasted robust reporting capabilities, and allowed data to be easily exported for managing the chargeback process. In the end, he was sold.

"The digital part of our operation was a breeze to set up and runs very efficiently," notes Jones. "The offset side required more configuration, but now that it is set up, even complex orders are easy to enter into the system."

Online Ordering a Hit

Customers have embraced online ordering, he says. Job files up to 100 MB can be sent through the system.

"Probably three quarters of the jobs are coming through...with the files attached," he reports. This saves the shop a lot of time compared to the old e-mail attachment method. "We spend a lot less time searching for the file," he says.

The system is user-friendly for customers, Jones says.

"I really like the images presented for selecting collating, stapling and punch options. It really helps the customer understand just what it is they're asking us to do for them," he notes. "I also like the built-in validation for ensuring all required data fields are completed before the job is submitted."

While having all job information available on the same page, having all the stock in the system and being able to search all jobs in the system are seen as some of the biggest benefits, Jones is especially happy that his customers can now upload electronic file attachments and have an archived and historical database.

"You can see who changed what...and when," he says.

Once Print Shop Pro's Template Builder is implemented, customers will be responsible for proofing their business card and letterhead orders before they are submitted. Jones likes the increased accountability of the customer, and the streamlined process for the designer to make changes, upload the new file and, using the e-mail tools within Print Shop Pro, send the file to the requester for approval prior to printing.

"Now we will have a good file attached to the order in the database," he notes.

He lauds EDU for the guidance and support the company provided throughout the configuration and implementation processes.

"EDU's customer support has been outstanding. They've been very responsive to our questions and needs, and receptive to suggested enhancements." In fact, EDU even incorporated some new features into the software based on his suggestions, such as the ability to export a list of stocks into an Excel spreadsheet to better track inventory.

"It now feels like a custom database," Jones says.