How to Evaluate Shop Management Software for Your Print Shop

The right shop management software is the one that solves your biggest operational bottlenecks, fits your workflow, and is realistic for your team to adopt. 

These components matter because most print shops are already using a mix of strung-together solutions and need something that will simplify their workflow rather than complicate it further or require weeks of training. New software only helps if it reduces that friction instead of adding another system to manage.

If you are comparing options, use this list: 

• Identify your bottlenecks
• Ask every vendor to walk through a real order
• Confirm how integrations actually work
• Evaluate support and training
• Build an onboarding plan before you switch

 

Why Choosing Software is Harder than it Looks

There are more shop management options than ever. Some are better suited to small teams, others for larger operations. Some excel at quoting, scheduling, or online stores but fall short in other parts of the workflow. 

And even the best software won’t be the perfect solution to every hurdle in your shop’s production and order management processes. If your team is still working through disconnected steps, it helps to first understand what a clean, software-supported workflow looks like. 

For a deeper look at what creating long-term workflows requires, read this shop owner’s story.

Identify Bottlenecks First 

Before you book software product demos, identify where your team is getting stuck. 

Common problems include:

• Inconsistent quoting
• Missing order details
• Slow approvals
• Unclear production statuses
• Scheduling slowdowns 
• Clunky reorder process 
• Too many disconnected tools 

This step matters because feature wishlists grow very quickly, and if you lead with them, every solution will look incomplete. 

If your first bottleneck is around quoting consistency or getting invoices out faster, check out this companion guide. 

Walk Through a Real Order 

On every demo you book, ask the rep to walk through a real order from start to finish.

Use one example order and follow the full workflow:

1. Create the customer
2. Build the quote
3. Enter quantities and pricing
4. Send for approval
5. Attach artwork
6. Prepare production details
7. Move the job through statuses
8. Schedule production
9. Invoice and collect payment
10. Ship or Arrange Pickup 
11. Set Up a Reorder

This is where flaws in various software solutions show up. Watching the full order journey helps you see whether the software supports your actual workflow or just leans on flashy features.

Pay attention to:

• How many clicks common tasks require
• Whether information stays attached to the job
• Whether statuses are clear and usable
• Whether handoffs between departments seem practical 

If you want examples of what strong job visibility looks like after implementation, read our guide on print statuses.

Check Integrations Before You Buy

Your software should fit into the rest of your operating system. During any demo, ask about the tools that matter most to your business, such as:

• Shipping
• Payments
• Accounting
• Online stores
• Art workflows
• Reporting
• Data export

If you use third-party integrations to run your shop, make sure you ask if that software works with your preferred APIs.

Strong integrations reduce copying, re-entry, and interpretation errors.

Evaluate Support

Any software program will only be as good as its support team. When something breaks, gets delayed, or confuses your team, you’ll need to know how to get help quickly and how to reach out.

Key things to look for:

• Response times
• Contact options: phone, email, or chat access
• Onboarding & training resources
• Help center quality (check other reviews rather than relying on the rep’s response) 

A strong user community can also be a real advantage. Seeing how other shops structure statuses, approvals, automations, and workflows can help your team get more value from the system faster. These groups are often on popular sites like Discord, Facebook, and Reddit. 

If customer communication and approvals are one of your biggest friction points, read this.

Software That Grows With You

It’s important to pick software that accommodates your current team, and it’s equally important to work with a solution that is flexible enough to scale with your operation. As you add more staff, more order volume, more stores, or more workflow complexity, you need a program that can handle these changes. 

When evaluating software, ask:

• Will this still work if we double our volume?
• Can it support more team members?
• Will it help us standardize our processes?
• Can we connect more integrated tools as we scale? 

Look for a system that fits your current operation and gives you room to expand without forcing another painful transition too soon.

 

Build an Onboarding Plan 

A good software decision can still fail if you don’t have an implementation plan and time allotted for training. That is why ease of adoption matters. Whether your team can learn it relatively quickly and use it consistently will make a huge difference. 

Your plan should include:

• A cutoff date: Choose a date when all new orders start in the new system. Leave older orders in the old system if needed.
• Clear ownership: Assign responsibility for setup, training, migration, and issue tracking.
• A training sequence: Train by role, not all at once. Sales, art, production, and admin teams may each need different workflows.
• A simple first workflow: Start with your core process before layering on complicated processes.
• A feedback loop: Collect questions and feedback from your team during the first few weeks to address any initial friction or challenges. 

 

Shop Management Software Evaluation Checklist

Wrap up your process with this checklist during demos and internal review: 

• Have we identified our top three bottlenecks?
• Did we see a real order move through the full workflow?
• Do the integrations we need actually reduce manual work?
• Do we trust the support and onboarding process?
• Can this system scale with our team and order volume?
• Do we have a practical rollout plan with a cutoff date?

If you can answer “yes” to most or all of these questions, you’re ready to go. 

A Shop Can’t Live on Features Alone

Buy based on the problems you need to solve, the workflow your team actually uses, and the reality of implementation. The best system is the one that makes quoting, approvals, production, scheduling, invoicing, and reorders easier for your shop while giving your team a path to adopt it successfully.

That is what makes software useful in practice.

See Printavo in Action 

Want to see what this looks like in a real shop workflow?

If you are comparing systems, book a demo to walk through a real order journey from quote to production to invoice, and see how your team’s bottlenecks map to the software.