At Print 01 in Chicago, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) plans to expand the business management components of its Prinect concept with the Prinance management information system. Prinect captures the concept of print and "connect" and is the umbrella term for all Heidelberg digital workflow modules designed to support process integration for media service providers and printers. Prinance, the professional industry software for printing companies, connects all jobs from start to finish – from preliminary estimating to order processing, invoicing and post-calculations. Open interfaces with other Heidelberg software products ensure end-to-end process integration. The flow of information is bundled over the entire value-added process. Prinance supplies order-related data to all applications involved in the process. Once the production process is complete, Prinance pro-vides information for post-calculation and statistical analysis from other Heidelberg software products embedded in the prepress–press–postpress chain. Users can check costs and receive information to determine which print jobs are profitable and whether the business is competitive. Prinance will be launched in the Ameri-can market during Print 01. John deLoach, Managing Director of Crowson Stone Printing in Columbia, SC, USA, is already field testing Prinance. "Prinance is a key factor in our workflow. We use it to generate an electronic job ticket which sends the relevant data to the prepress, press and postpress," said deLoach. "This means that we always have the information we need at the place and time we need it." Customized estimating Orders are rarely identical or processed in exactly the same way, which is why Prinance is flexible and adaptable, offering more than 35 possible pre-defined estimating templates. Each individual order can be estimated rapidly and reliably depending on the particular requirements. This allows the estimating process to be adapted easily to company specific conditions. The program asks for product-specific details and guides the user through the process of estimating the prepress, press and postpress tasks. When the order is completed, Prinance delivers precise and reliable post-calculation. Transparent order processing Prinance provides support throughout the print process – from order processing to invoicing. It ensures a precise overview of the current status of quotes, orders and invoices at all times. Integrated capacity planning informs the user whether an order can be completed within the deadline and ensures that deadlines are met. The print shop can produce all its customer correspondence such as quotes, delivery notes and invoices automatically in Microsoft Word, using a layout customized to its own specific requirements. In addition, Prinance also takes care of materials management and supports the ordering process. It generates relevant customer information and statistics, thereby helping to ensure the print shop's success. The software is user-friendly and easy to learn.