Mission Control in action: See all the details for any job

If you run a print shop, you know these problems: Jobs come in from multiple sources. Systems are not integrated, and are made to communicate by manually transferring data. Even with interconnected systems, establishing data exchange can be a pain, and integrations require a lot of maintenance.

When faced with a large volume of jobs, it can be difficult to keep track of progress, efficiency, customer service, and competitiveness.

We have solved this problem with Mission Control. It is a browser-based app for managing and planning all of your jobs and tasks, based on process and job data from your systems and machines. It gives you a complete picture of everything in one easy-to-use interface.

In this blog series, we explain how you can use Mission Control to manage high volumes of print jobs and make your print business significantly more efficient.

In the first article in this series, we looked at how Mission Control enables you to always keep an eye on all the jobs in your print shop.

This article is about how to quickly get to all the details you need to efficiently produce and manage any given job. After all, the current status of each job is something you always want to have speedy access to. Mission Control gets all this information from the various apps and machines in your print shop.

In the list of all jobs, simply click on the job you're interested in. In the first article of this series, we already explained how you can filter this list. Mission Control displays the details for the job in the “Overview” tab. There, you'll see the job type, dimensions, colours, customer, order date, contacts on the customer side, and more. Here you will also find information about the production progress and the delivery date.

Using multiple tabs, you can easily access further information about the job.

Click on “Specification” and you'll find information on the type of job, the colours, and dimensions as well as the number of pages. Here, Mission Control also visualises the job.

Click on the “Milestones” tab, and Mission Control informs you about all the steps the job has to go through. From estimation to logistics, each with the expected start and duration. The level of detail extends to the individual sub-steps like, for example, finishing, cutting, folding, and laminating. 

This means you always have a full picture of the production progress for all jobs. This is great for internal operations planning, but also makes for a great customer experience, as you can quickly answer any question about any job when a client comes knocking.

The work steps view lists all steps required to complete any given job. You can also opt to see the work steps in a flow diagram.

For every work step, Mission Control has a comprehensive set of details. See which means of production is used for this step and which staff members are working it. Also, keep up with the progress and the planned and real numbers for amount, waste, and duration. 

All this information is not just important for controlling the process, but also for swift and exact final costing. So you have full operational transparency throughout the entire production cycle, and avoid unpleasant surprises.

In the next article of this series, we will explain how you can integrate Mission Control with the systems you already use in your daily work, for example with Keyline. If you would rather not wait that long, just schedule a call with one of our team. We're be happy to show you Mission Control in comprehensive detail and answer all your questions.