Tharstern
Print management solutions
- Features
- Ease of use
- Ease of management
- Quality of support
- Affordability
- Market presence
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What is Tharstern
Tharstern is a management information system (MIS) for print and packaging businesses that supports estimating, job costing, production planning, and order-to-invoice workflows. It is used by commercial printers, labels/packaging converters, and print service providers to manage jobs, materials, and shop-floor operations. The product includes modules for quoting, scheduling, purchasing, inventory, and reporting, and is commonly deployed as an integrated operational system rather than a pure end-user print policy tool.
Print-specific MIS functionality
Tharstern focuses on print production workflows such as estimating, job costing, and production scheduling. It supports managing complex jobs with multiple operations, materials, and finishing steps that are typical in print and packaging environments. This makes it better aligned to print business operations than tools that primarily manage end-user printing rules and queues.
End-to-end job lifecycle coverage
The system is designed to connect quoting through production, dispatch, and invoicing within one operational platform. It typically reduces reliance on separate spreadsheets or disconnected systems for estimating, planning, and costing. This can improve traceability from quote assumptions to actual job performance and margin analysis.
Operational planning and reporting
Tharstern includes capabilities for production planning/scheduling and management reporting around job status, costs, and throughput. These functions support day-to-day shop-floor coordination and management oversight. The emphasis is on operational control and profitability tracking rather than only device-level print governance.
Not a pure print policy tool
Despite being related to print operations, Tharstern is not primarily an output-management platform for controlling user printing, drivers, secure release, or device fleet policies. Organizations looking mainly for centralized print queue management and end-user print governance may need additional software. Fit depends on whether the requirement is print business MIS versus enterprise print control.
Implementation and data complexity
MIS deployments typically require significant configuration of products, price lists, routings, and costing models to match a specific plant. Data migration (customers, items, historical jobs) and process standardization can be time-consuming. Smaller teams without dedicated operations/IT support may find rollout and change management challenging.
Integration needs vary by stack
Print businesses often require integrations with accounting/ERP, web-to-print, prepress, and production equipment systems. The amount of integration work depends on the existing application landscape and desired automation depth. Buyers should validate available connectors/APIs and the effort required for bidirectional data flows.
Plan & Pricing
| Plan | Price | Key features & notes |
|---|---|---|
| Standard (Desktop) | Not listed — contact sales | SaaS monthly subscription; basic Desktop feature set; Tharstern states Desktop has two subscription levels (Standard and Premium). Minimum of 5 user licenses for Desktop. Pricing is tailored to customer needs (functionality, automation, integrations). Source: Tharstern product page and Pricing page. |
| Premium (Desktop) | Not listed — contact sales | SaaS monthly subscription; advanced Desktop features; minimum of 5 user licenses for Desktop; tailored pricing (contact sales). |
