Our administrative process was always the lagging function within the company - with Tharstern we have managed to get our booking in process (Quote Request to Artwork Approval) down from an average of 4 and a half days to 12 working hours.

An easy to view dashboard allows for easy training and knowledge gain from everybody who uses the system. Once set up, the system is almost fool-proof and anybody with a basic knowledge of print can do an estimate.

The Planning Board could be more automated, but I do acknowledge we are a production house that relies on the Planning Board more than most companies.

Tharstern has allowed us to zero in on the profitability of our business. Down to the specific level of machine profitability or job profitability - we now have a cohesive place to see all this information to allow us to make educated business decisions. The company is great to work with. They are a team of growth-minded individuals that are customer oriented and have a shared internal goal of helping customers achieve their goals.

The integration process was great! The team held our hands throughout the whole process, helped us map out a plan in detail on how to cover all bases and checked in with us regularly to ensure we were using the software without hiccups. The organized structure of the software really helps a user navigate to their specific destination. Estimates, Invoices, Jobs, Shipping, Estimate Requests - all have very defined areas. One of the best things about the software is the freedom to come up with creative solutions. There's an abundance of custom fields, custom statuses and products and the flexibility to make the software conform to your company's specific needs. If you need a custom field defined to act as a flag for a special circumstance to alert all users - that's an easy addition! As a software developer, this software has leveraged a stable database with an unlimited capacity to create adjacent solutions that work for your company. Integrations with major software and manufacturer affiliations are usually always possible. Their API is a must if you are looking to develop custom solutions. Their support team always has a solution and follows up with each request.

Tools that are mobile to specifically work with our mobile staff (i.e. Sales) is a bit lacking. Also, the UI could use some modernization, but it's still very functional.

I can't say I felt an improvement in my productivity at all while using Tharstern. I'm not blaming the good folks we met at Tharstern, but you really need to make sure Tharstern is the right solution for you. Tharstern was initially deigned for the offset printing world. If you are fully digital and extremely varied then Tharstern may not suit your needs. I had hoped to become an advanced user with Tharstern. Lot's of nice little animated videos out there showing the capabilities, but no user manual as such.

Being able to group jobs into a single work instruction was a plus

Very "clicky". Almost 10 mouse clicks to perform one operation. Constant timeouts due to our restricted license of 4 users. It generated an enormous amount of paperwork. Filtering information was time consuming compared to single clicks in MS access. Installation process is quite time consuming and complex for a windows program.

Tharstern is now the heart and entire circulatory system of our business operations. It is a powerful system that provides unlimited reporting to monitor key business performance metrics. But this depends on accurate input from users throughout the company, in other words a full commitment to optimal use of the software at every level of the organization.

Interconnected feature-rich modules. Highly customizable with open access to core MSSQL database. Robust reporting functionality (Crystal Reports). External software connections via API, Tharstern developed integrations along with full API access for customer integration development. Customer support in second to none, in my experience. Tharstern is staffed with a broad range of responsive experts who are available to help customers through any level of implementation, integration, and development. Handles multiple facilities, departments, and product lines. We are a commercial printer with 3 facilities, 6 warehouses, operations in offset (litho), digital, wide format, and a range of finishing capabilities. Integrates with web-to-print software and Enfocus Switch for creating fully automated workflows.

There is not currently a good solution for handling liquid inks for wide format and inkjet press technology (ink consumption based on weight). CRM module is limited in functionality when compared to stand-alone CRM software and full ERP solutions. This is the most versatile and open MIS I have worked with, which equates to a high degree of complexity. To get the most out of the software, company executive leadership must be willing to commit the necessary resources to implementing and operating the software.

We are still in the implementation phase but my overall experience has been very positive. The implementation team and support staff is responsive (about as well as expected, considering they are 5 time zones away).

The estimating system seemed to fit our processes better and it flows directly into the job to create proper specs for the production team. It has modern apis for integration with our other applications and actually already had integrations built for our CRM and accounting software.

There were a few areas where it didn't seem to be as flexible as we would have wanted - one example is with inventory units of measure and pricing units. However, I understand that it is necessary to make the estimating system work well and feed the requisitions to the jobs.

Generally I have found it a reliable platform to run our day to day production and it has been invaluable in analyzing our efficiency overall.

Its reliable, flexible to suit multiple production processes, regularly updated and improved. The online Customer Happiness Portal is an invaluable resource for learning the software and looking to add new features. Interface is simple to navigate and easy to use. Have been using for over 10 years.

There some very specific limitations that arose when trying to perform some particular combinations of production processes but there is usually a workaround. The modular/per user pricing structure can get high with more users involved but they have historically waived certain fees in consideration of the big picture of what we use.

Got to give a special mention to [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN] who have been excellent in all dealings with them.

The fact that it can integrate with Hubspot and the support from Tharstern.

I'm only involved with estimating and CRM and I like all the features within there.

We hope that the result will be more efficient production that isn't hampered by traditional thinking and assumptions. To me, personally, there's a great deal of complexity involved and the need to input lots of data for your whole business (manufacturing) operation. The volume of this obviously depends on an individual business, with smaller, simpler companies needing a much easier level of implementation. I think you need a clever person or two who can get their head around the whole thing end-to end. It's more complicated than you think. We have been lucky enough to benefit from a couple of really good, helpful, patient and knowledgeable experts in Tharstern who have helped with the many issues we've come across. Without these people and their cheerful enthusiasm for the products, I think it may have been impossible to get where we are now or it would have taken a lot longer. Calls logged on the online Helpdesk can take a long time to be answered. However, this is probably because the really helpful expert that you lean on quite a bit has a backlog of such calls and will get to it eventually. Tharstern should devote some more people to enable quicker responses of logged issues. Be very careful to understand the products (difficult because there are many) and what questions to ask to make sure that these products are the best for your business.

So, this review is mostly about the IMP software, Layout Library and Die Library modules. The ability to quickly achieve an imposed layout with interlocked die-cut shapes using IMP is superb. Very quick to process, easy to output with any press marks you wish. Obviously, there is a huge amount of work required to set up the devices in the first place and it does take a while to get ones head around how this needs to be organised. In terms of ganging items for print, this does the job quickly and efficiently, producing safe output of imposed pdfs and cutters. I can appreciate the point of Layout Library for your specific, specialist laydowns and again, there's a major head puzzle getting to grips with the way sheet and layout profiles are created, which suddenly seems to come together after a period of uncertainty; perhaps it's trying to be too flexible or too clever? Die Library is in its first weeks of implementation and although it appears clever and configurable (to a degree), be sure you understand how it could work in your business. Jury still out...

Overall, I do find the PRIMO and IMP interfaces confusing and it takes a while to understand how it is laid out - think Word or Excel messiness; if you like those GUI's then this'll be right up your street! With regard to Layout Library, the point of this software is to cope with non-standard laydowns. There is some serious brain work involved in aligning with how it is setup and needs to be configured, which won't be for everyone. I think most people will think this more complicated than it needs to be. Die Library looks perfect on first view, but ensure you understand what exactly it will do and how your people might interact with it. I think it has lots of potential but does need some further input from the software people to make it a top product.

it is very good and ticks all the boxes that we need from estimating to purchasing ,sales and customer relationship management the Implementation staff are very good with all aspects of the program and training

The ease of use on estimating when you set it up with a tharstern professional who will set up all the possible print and finishing options that your company has at its disposal the estimates will be very accurate with the more information that you supply the overall software is fantastic to the printing industry we could not imagine trying to work without it

it can be difficult to set up at first Because we are in Ireland we had to wait for a consultant to come over

I have worked with Tharstern now for over 15 years and would not consider looking for an alternative solution for our business. The support that is provided by the support team and also by using the Portal is prompt and is an excellent service

The software is easy to use and in my experience can be integrated with most other applications which is essential for streamlining services. I particularly like Estimate Pro. The ease of use means that providing an estimate for approximately 90% of our products can be done by our Administration Team and saves critical time when working to tight deadlines.

Although I rate Estimate Pro I do find that there are certain processes that I would like to follow that are a bit rigid and I have to use a workaround. I did find that setting up and testing Estimate Pro was quite time consuming and if I had the time again I would definitely invest in a professional consultant from Tharstern to provide a service for doing the initial set up.

Exceptional - customer service and tech support very knowledgeable indeed. Not just of the system either (which is all too often the case elsewhere) but with actual print and its processes too.

Tharstern provides a very dynamic and forward thinking environment in which to work; it encompasses all of the cutting edge elements a print business now requires (Web-to-Print, Automation, Ganging of Jobs, JDF integratable etc.) which has allowed us to streamline our workflow significantly.

Personally, I haven't really found anything that i would say is something i don't like! A Mac compatible version would be REALLY useful though; a lot of people in our industry use Macs of course; and requires use a Microsoft RDP to use.

I was involved from day 1, I played a leading role in the decision to go with Tharstern, I was and still am the implementation lead and administrator of the software. Implementation/Deployment was long but Tharstern are with you all the way through implementation. The Tharstern support desk is excellent, all agents are very knowledgeable and extremely helpful.

Very structured software, functionality, ease of use, open database, customizable. Ability for custom development which we needed. We were able to import almost everything from our previous software via csv files.

Licensing for the shop floor users but that would probably be the same with most software packages.

It is ok, the guys on support are good, some more knowledgeable than others but they are happy to pass on to those that know. [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN] is awesome, so patient and your star player.

It is quick and accurate when something is straightforward.

When you are midway you cannot change the Classicafication When you are midway you cannot change the customer or edit the customer details When you start a quote in the customer section you cannot add a customer in that area, you have to go into the customer tab, we have prospective customers call and they ask you for a quote who are not on the system, there is not a quick way to add them. I am finding that I have to save the quote, close down, go into another part, then open back up and all this takes time, I find it frustrating. I have been using Tharstern for years and there is no improvement in this.

Delighted with our decision to go with Tharstern. Brilliant team, extremely helpful and knowledgeable.

Great piece of software that is feature rich. Yes implementation is not quick but you are setting the foundations for a a system that will run every aspect of your business for years to come and the Tharstern team carrying out the implementation are brilliant. Estimating is super quick & consistent & you trust the figures it gives you. We have our system fully integrated with our accounts package and our web2print / workflow software removing a substantial amount of data entry.

It is a complex system so there is a learning curve. You can't cancel invoices you can only issue credit notes which can be a pain as mistakes are made sometimes.

We manage to get through a large number of jobs with us having tharstern. Helps keep jobs very organised by being able to track the progress.

Estimate Pro once setup is very easy to use. I liked the integration to web2print when we were using it. I generally like the overall usability.

I would like to see a more user friendly way of setting up machinery for costing jobs. Often forget different steps as only do it every so often. Pricing large format doesn't give us an accurate price when we are cutting shapes. Being able to quote lots of different sizes of correx or posters and tharstern would be helpful rather so it nests them all and gives a ore accurate price.

Tharstern Layout library is helping us speed up pre-press imposition and ensure they our planned correctly for our finishing dept. The planning boards are helping to improve our OTIF rates by ensuring a specific running order on press

If set up correctly it can be very simple to use. The flow between estimating/job creation/planning/production works well. Integrates with a variety of other systems, oneflow/apogee etc.

It can be very difficult to set up correctly and the updates can take production down for hours at a time. Warehouse functionality has too many steps resulting in it rarely being used correctly. This creates lasting issues throughout the rest of the system as it becomes impossible to complete sales orders, delete obsolete stock etc. It's very difficult to delete old machinery due to them being ties to existing products

My overall experience with Tharstern has be very good the guys in support are alway very helpful and go out of there way to help which mean a lot to a company of our size without an IT department .

We have been using this software now for 5 years and since then it has made processing our jobs and quotations so much quicker. It makes it easy to find a previous job and repeat the order without having to change any details .

We run the Primo Light version and it would be great to have automatic job confirmations being sent to the customer i don't think this is possible at the moment ?

Very comprehensive and covers pretty much everything we do, which makes life easy. We've worked really closely with them on our JDF integration project and we're really pleased with what we've achieved. Can't fault the team and their knowledge of print and integration is what made our project so successful. First class product, first class team.

Because it's a very comprehensive system, the implementation process does need a fair bit of time and attention. You need to spend time collecting data and inputting it into the system properly. This can take up quite a lot of time but it was worth it because we knew we wanted to get a good ROI on our investment. So a word of advice - make sure you make the time, make sure your team make the time or bring in additional resource if you need it.

The Print Estimating and Jobs Costing modules are the areas we use the most within the software. The ease of estimating has allowed us to expand who within our business is able to estimate jobs accurately and with the correct production information. Secondly the ease of being able to get the data out of the system to analyse is extremely beneficial to us.

Throughout the system the wording can be confusing, they frequently use the same terminology for different parts of the system. This is confusing for users as they have to remember what the same word means in two different areas of the system. While the system allows for easy access to the data - there is no database schema therefore it's challenging to learn the database to access. Once we figured the basics out it has started to become easier.

Impressive from installation, training, implementation and follow-up. No short-cuts taken. We know we are in safe-hands and can rely on the Tharstern customer service and technical personnel to help when needed.

Simple, quick & consistent quotations converted to job dockets on approval and invoice once complete. Very intuitive, offering up multiple machine configurations to best suit the bespoke product. All vital information is at hand.

The majority of machines and processes could be inbuilt for selection rather than having to be set-up from scratch.

Great. Software is very good and support is excellent, as they have full knowledge even on back end functionality such as SQL, Crystal Reports, Stored procedures and the lot. We are very glad to have purchased Tharstern as this radically changed the way every department works.

All estimates we create are done through Tharstern which gives us accurate costs and helps us keep an eye on unconfirmed orders. Confirmed orders are turned easily into jobs, materials allocated and all labour is captured. If materials are missing, we raise PO’s for all materials. System tracks stock, movements, sales orders, deliveries and gives us full history and audit trails. All of our departments, including prepress and tooling use the system.

We wish for a couple of features to be included in future releases; these were posted on the very good Wish Wall with Tharstern.

Overall we are a happy customer, it does what we need it to and if we ever have any issues or are just unsure about how something works, the knowledgeable support team are always happy to help, over the phone or by email.

The fact that all departments of the business are connected via Tharstern from purchasing to finance, giving any individual easy access to the information they need. Also the ability to connect with different API's and software packages such as Sage etc.

My only negative comment about the software would be that as a new user it can be quite overwhelming at first when learning how everything connects together, but you don't need extensive IT knowledge in order to use it.

overall Tharstern is a good experience and once you know where things are it is easy to use.

I like that Tharstern is fairly easy to use and can be linked with other software to make workflow easier

I know there has been work on and a release for the packaging sector, but this caused headaches in the past. I'm not over keen that everything is a separate paid for module, but I understand that this give flexibility for companies to purchase the items they want. The naming of some items within Access Rights is a little odd!

We are pleased with how the implementation and support teams have helped to address our objectives and challenges outlined at the start of the project.

the number of features available and the volume of data it can produce combined with the availability of the API; practical specialists in implementation who understand client scenarios

training remotely during COVID - t 1 hour on Zoom is less productive than 1 hour in person

Communication from account manager on specifics could be improved.

Covers entire business from estimating through to invoicing and reporting. Easy to use when set up correctly. The support team are really helpful.

Certain features of Estimate Pro not dynamic enough. Some areas are over complicated to setup and clearer guidance in terms of simple flow charts to refer to would be helpful.