The calculation tab

This tab is undoubtedly the most powerful part of the entire PrintSum system. Although it's complex, it's also very intuitive and easy to use.

The left hand side is usually called the 'build-up' window. This is where the value of the job or estimate is 'built up'. The top left pane contains data for the currently selected component part. The middle and bottom left hand panes contains figures for the job as a whole.

In the build-up window you can see the press name and the paper. If your screen is slightly compressed these may appear truncated with ''...' after them, but hover the mouse over either and you should see the entire name. If the press has been selected by the calculation engine from a selection of presses, the number of other presses is put on the end of the name - e.g. "B3 Litho press (+2)" would indicate that 2 presses in addition to the chosen one had been considered.

After the press name you may see this icon:

. Clicking on it reveals the net cost of using each press (including the other costs for this component part) so you can see how they compare.

Clicking on one of the links (details of the part, press, paper etc) in the build-up window launches a sub-window which allows you to inspect and change elements of the calculation. Details, press, paper, and plates are specialized windows for that task only. Ink, origination and finishing are all treated in the same way in a general purpose 'Task' window (In Origination and Finishing you are first asked to select specific sub-tasks).

If you change the final total or the price each, the markup will be recomputed to the figure required to achieve the final total.

Why do we show both markup and discount? The answer is that the markup is hidden from the customer, but the discount is shown to him on the estimate. And if the 'customer present' icon is clicked so the customer is 'looking', the markup will even be hidden in this panel!

The ghost that sometimes appears in the list of estimated costs means that the cost figure or one of the components of a cost figure has been 'ghosted'. The concept here is that a task (say in-line folding) that a press might be capable of performing for no extra cost (other than extra set-up minutes) will have a zero cost. In this case the requirements for that task are remembered ('ghosted') so that if you recompute or need to compare with a different press without that capability, PrintSum will know how much to add in.

'Calculate this part' does just that. In fact it's usually not necessary to click it because making changes elsewhere will usually initiate any new calculations that may be required. The only exception to this is when you have added a task line to an existing calculation. If that line needed to be changed to another line in its group (say you had accidentally chosen an inappropriate line), the required change wouldn't happen till you recalculated.

Automatic and manual mode require a little more explanation. The default is "automatic". In manual mode, PrintSum will not automatically decide the best way to print, but instead lets you fill in details like pages to view, or number of passes, and calculates the appropriate answers. Paper size is still optimized. and the tasks are properly pro-rata'd and grouped. Trying to change (e.g.) the number of plates can also switch you into manual mode to stop PrintSum reoptimizing (and thereby overwriting your amendments). You will be asked your reason for being in manual mode, and PrintSum will remind you of this the next time you access the job.

This control allows you to quickly limit the choices open to the calculator. It corresponds with the choices in the details window. 'Sheetwork only' means that work and turn (or tumble) is not used. 'Work and turn' (which includes tumble) means that regardless of cost, work and turn or tumble will be used (for jobs containing more than a plateful, the w/t may be for just the left-overs) and and 'Either' means means that work and turn or tumble will be suggested only if it offers a cost benefit.

If this is 'on', the added value (contribution to overhead, which is what you have left after paying the job-specific external costs) represented by each task will be shown to the right of the main build-up. If you double click the column header you'll see this in percentage terms.

If rounding is 'on' then the final (i.e. before any discount) price is rounded to the nearest whole monetary unit (for decimal currency) or to the nearest 100 (for non-decimal currency). This is because although customers like to see round numbers, they are usually jealous of the smallest fraction of discount! If rounding is 'off' then prices are calculated accurately.

This switch changes the 'price each' figure on the right of the bottom row of the screen to a 'per impression' figure - useful for digital printers.

Allows you to see all of the factors of production used in determining pro-ratas and group positions for tasks when calculating the job.