The Print MIS transition is not many printers’ idea of a holiday or any fun at all. In fact, something we’ve never heard a printer say is: “I’m really looking forward to transitioning my Print MIS solution.” There seems to be a dark hole in the print universe that sucks print businesses in during their Print MIS transition and doesn’t let them out until they’ve given up lots of time, lots of money, some blood, their first born, and generated a lot more gray hair.

This is why I’m constantly asking Jane why she loves this work? Lucky for the rest of us, Jane is weird and she does love this work—I can hear it in her voice when she patiently explains to a printer how workflow will work and why it's important to their business. Print MIS transitions are difficult, are often stressful, and, yes, they do require technical knowledge. But more than anything, they require people skills to move an entire organization to a new way of working. Jane likes people. I prefer software; it talks a lot less and has absolutely no resistance to change. 

Jane and I have been saying this to anyone who was willing to listen for the last five years: “Your Print MIS transition is a golden opportunity to get your data right.” Some printers have never had trusted data, ever. They have been running their business by intuition because they know the data coming out of their Print MIS is inaccurate or incomplete or simply misunderstood. In this article, we want to talk about a specific area of the Print MIS transition because of its importance and because of the challenges associated with getting this area “right.” The most critical area of your Print MIS is the estimating module. The most challenging area to implement in your Print MIS is the estimating area.