FAQs
Impress™ handles Order Entry, Invoicing, and Accounts Receivable. What about General Ledger, Payroll and Accounts Payable?
Why is Impress™ so much better than QuickBooks Pro® or other general accounting programs for Invoicing and Inventory?
How does the Impress™ pricing module work?
Impress™ looks like it works well for companies with stock designs, but most of our business is custom. How does Impress work for us?
Can multiple sizes be entered on one line and print on one line on the Invoice? What about different prices for 2XL and 3XL?
Will Impress™ handle split commissions on an invoice?
Sometimes my customer will supply their own stock. How does Impress™ handle this?
In the demo of Impress™, I see an image of the design on the screen. Can I print this on the invoice and how do I get my images in Impress™?
How does "security" work in the multi-user version?
Does Impress™ have a contact management module?
What if we need to create special reports? Can users create their own reports?
What kind of Technical Support is offered?
How do Product Upgrades work?
What are the technical details of Impress™?
HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS
Impress™ handles Order Entry, Invoicing, and Accounts Receivable. What about General Ledger, Payroll and Accounts Payable?
Impress is integrated with QuickBooks, and ties into MAS 90, Accountmate and Peachtree accounting systems. Impress does not lock you into a particular accounting system. You are free to use whatever accounting system you like. There is no need to change if you are happy with your current system. We can also support interface to any accounting package that is able to import from a comma delimited text file.
(back to top)
Why is Impress™ so much better than QuickBooks Pro® or other general accounting programs for Invoicing and Inventory?
Other programs force the part number or SKU number to include the design, style, color, label and size in one field. This makes SKU number very large and difficult to use. Impress treats these as separate fields in entry, reporting and inventory control. Other programs require each size to be on it's own line. Impress allows up to six sizes to be entered on the same order line. Other programs require each design, style, color, label and size combination sold to be entered as a separate inventory item, making the inventory very large. Impress allows up to six sizes to be setup as one inventory item and custom prints do not need to be set up as an inventory item. We will also pre-load the catalogs for many vendors, such as Broder Bros., Sanmar, making the initial setup of inventory much easier. Impress supports up to two name drops and locations per order line. Impress produces reports by design, style, color and label while other programs don't have a clue. Quantity pricing is another big feature of Impress that other programs can't touch.
(back to top)
How does the Impress™ pricing module work?
There are several methods that can be used to calculate selling prices. The most common is to assign a selling price to a design and to assign a selling price or markup to a garment. When an order is entered, Impress will calculate the price for the design and the price for the garment then add them together. Prices are assigned to name drops, and they are automatically added as well. Prices are assigned through a price table that has 12 quantity discount levels, 10 tiers of prices (retail, wholesale, special), and separate commission rates for each price. Prices can be a percentage markup over cost. Price Tables for screen-printing and embroidery are also built in. Designs, garments and name drops are assigned a price table so when prices change for a garment style, only one or two price tables need to be changed, not one for each garment or SKU. Prices can always be manually changed at order entry.
(back to top)
Impress™ looks like it works well for companies with stock designs, but most of our business is custom. How does Impress work for us?
Impress was designed for companies that do custom/contract screen-printing or embroidery, have pre-print lines, or do a combination of both. In Order Entry you can enter the number of colors/screens or stitches and Impress will calculate the correct selling price.
(back to top)
Can multiple sizes be entered on one line and print on one line on the Invoice? What about different prices for 2XL and 3XL?
Yes. Impress allows up to six sizes to be entered on one sales order line. The price for each size is automatically calculated and displayed. All sizes will print on the invoice on the same line as long as the price for each size is the same.
(back to top)
Will Impress™ handle split commissions on an invoice?
Yes. Commissions on an invoice can be split between two sales agents. Sales agents and commission rates are set up by customer, but can be modified by order in order entry. Commission rates can vary for each order line to support lower commission rates for higher discounts, or to make a line such as art, or shipping non-commissionable. In addition, sales agents can be paid when the invoice is printed, partially paid, or fully paid.
(back to top)
Sometimes my customer will supply their own stock. How does Impress™ handle this?
You are able to specify the stock source for each order line. The options are: Inventory, Special Order, Separate P.O., and Customer Drop Shipment. There is a special Customer Stock Receiving function that receives and tracks customer supplied stock and emails them the status after each receiving.
(back to top)
In the demo of Impress™, I see an image of the design on the screen. Can I print this on the invoice and how do I get my images in Impress™?
The image is stored as a BMP, JPEG or PNG file. Most graphic programs can save an image as a BMP or JPEG file. Your art department can save a design as a JPEG image with a low resolution to minimize disk usage, yet still suitable for viewing and printing. When a design is set up in Impress, you tell it where the saved image file is found. Design images can be optionally printed on Order Quotations, Order Acknowledgements, Pick Tickets, and Invoices.
(back to top)
How does "security" work in the multi-user version?
The security features that are built into Impress multi-user are sophisticated, yet easy to use. You have complete flexibility to control who will have access Impress, right down to the field level! A user must login to Impress with a name and password that can be different than the windows login. Users can belong to "groups". Each menu option, entry field and button can be assigned to a set of groups. Once assigned, only users that belong to that set of groups will be able to select the menu option, change a data field or to press a button (to save or delete for example).
(back to top)
Does Impress™ have a contact management module?
Yes. We have integrated Goldmine™ with Impress. Goldmine consistently gets PC Magazine's Editor's Choice award. Impress updates Goldmine whenever a customer's address or related information is changed, and Impress can import or export customers directly to or from Goldmine.
(back to top)
What if we need to create special reports? Can users create their own reports?
Using Microsoft's ODBC interface, Impress data can be accessed directly by Microsoft Access, Word, Excel and Crystal Reports.
(back to top)
What are the technical details of Impress™?
We believe high quality technical support is critical to a successful installation and the continued operation of Impress™. We provide unlimited telephone support because we believe in our product, and never want you to be afraid to call us for fear of extra charges. Some of our competitors restrict support to a few hours, after which the meter is running.
The first three months of technical support (and upgrades) is included with the purchase of Impress. After the first three months, technical support and upgrades are 15% of the purchase price.
(back to top)
How do Product Upgrades work?
Whenever we make a planned enhancement or a change for a customer, the change is provided to all our customers in the next update, at no additional charge. Updates are released about twice a year. Enhancements are added as a new menu option, report option or a configuration option to maintain compatibility with previous versions of Impress™.
(back to top)
What are the technical details of Impress™?
Impress™ is written in C++, which is widely recognized as the superior object oriented language for application development. C++ is unparalleled for performance and flexibility. No other language is as widely supported or as flexible as C++. Precise is dedicated to continual improvement of Impress™, and object technology is key to its long-term growth.
When it comes to software needs that are not industry specific, we prefer to not "reinvent the wheel", and choose "best of the breed" packages to integrate with. Some of our competitors have written their own general ledgers, accounts payable, payroll and contact management software. The simple fact is that there are many commonly available packages that do a much better job for a lot less money. Intuit has spent millions to develop QuickBooks and continue to spend millions each year improving them (easy to do when you have millions of customers). We have chosen to integrate with QuickBooks, and tie into Peachtree, Visual AccountMate and MAS90 for general ledger, accounts payable and payroll; plus Goldmine for contact management.
(back to top)
|