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FAX: (905) 634-4039
TOLL FREE: (877) 707-7755

info@Questica.com

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ETO manufacturers have very different challenges than other manufacturers. One common trait that is unique to all ETO businesses is the need to deal with constant changes throughout the life of each project. Design changes, order changes, delivery changes, all stall projects in Engineering, complicate material ordering, delay manufacturing and increase project costs. If this describes your business then you need a software system that breaks down your productivity roadblock by simplifying the handling of on-the-fly changes. Questica SE is that system. Our powerful business solution accommodates the unique challenges of custom design manufacturing by integrating all stages of custom design manufacturing from:

Questica SE’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) feature helps your Sales team find, track and close new business more efficiently. Search Wizards allow staff to easily search historical information on any company, past projects, previous orders and equipment specifications. Sales can quickly identify key contacts, create new projects and jobs, schedule follow up activities, rank projects and forecast orders. Our ETO software solution not only interfaces with MS Excel, MS Word and MS Outlook but also includes linking of all electronic documents to the project. Tagging clients and projects enables Marketing to prospect new business and personalize client relationships. Customizable reports allow Management to gage Sales activity, prospective orders and projected profits.

In addition, Questica SE’s CRM capabilities allow Sales, Engineering, Estimating, Designing, Buying, Production, Service and Accounting staff to view and add to client activities, conversations, personal notes and documents. Quotations, estimates, past project activities and scheduled calls are easily accessed throughout the firm.

Questica SE provides you with the key information and tools to create quotations with greater accuracy. Using our powerful Search Wizards you can find similar past jobs and use their estimates and actual costs to build new estimates. You also have the flexibility to create summarized or detailed estimates from past jobs, or load pre-designed estimate templates. Estimators can also build a detailed and costed Bill of Materials in the Engineering area. Questica SE automatically rolls up estimated material and labor to a job total cost.

Using our Docu-Link feature, you can link all your documents (estimates, letters, drawings, photos) to the job for future reference.

We feature “what if” versioning, allowing you to record alternative estimates for a job. Simply turning on or off each version produces a new estimate total for that job, with all job estimates rolled up to a project total.

Estimation to quotation is a simple step. The graphic project ‘tree” created during estimating, which links together all the jobs, provides a visible and easily understood project overview for Sales. You can set individual margins or sell prices for each job estimate, which Questica automatically rolls up to a project level total. Our “what if” versioning allows you to construct alternate quotations for a project. Simply turning a job “on” or “off”, or modifying the price or margin on any job, rolls up all costs, sell prices and overall margins to the project total.

Our ETO software helps Sales during negotiations. Our “what if” feature allows management to experiment with price and margin changes at the Project level. Questica then automatically cascades the effect to each of the jobs in the project eliminating unnecessary estimating rework.

Because Questica SE’s system integrates all the project information in a central file, the client Order is a simple addition to this data. Sales can activate the winning job ‘versions’, open the order screen and enter the key order information. All estimate and pricing is then automatically rolled into the order. You can also add additional Purchase Orders and revisions as change orders occur.

Our Engineer-to-Order software also includes a date and event activated payment schedule, which alerts accounting to send invoices as milestones are reached. Pre-designed reports are automatically available for management and Project documentation.

Order entry launches Questica SE’s workflow Queue system presenting the project for contract review and acceptance. Management sets project milestone dates for key events such as Engineering completion, Manufacturing start and progressive shipments. Questica allows staff to link your electronic binder to the project for the technical launch meeting, staging and progress tracking.

Questica SE offers your design team outstanding flexibility, power and versatility in creating, modifying and controlling the flow of information to and from Purchasing. Questica SE integrates your Bill of Material (BOM) with AutoCAD, Inventor and SolidWorks eliminating the need to reenter data.

Our one screen work area provides designers with a graphical overview of the entire project structure, the indented bill of each job as well as the detailed BOM items for each assembly. Each designer can customize the work area to suit their preferences. Our ETO software allows you to build a new BOM in record time. Use the Copy to Assembly Wizard feature to bring in complete or partial BOMs from past jobs or the Pick Parts Wizard to quickly find and import existing parts. New parts are easily added to the BOM and automatically added to the Parts master.

Questica SE’s unique “hold and release” system provides designers with unparalleled control on the release of BOM items and assemblies to Purchasing. Color coded visual “tagging” gives the designers the ability to pre-release data with confidence.

Convenient features include the ability to create Requests for Quotations for BOM items; issue Non Conformances; record, date and track drawings and documents sent to clients for approval; revision control and automatic parts summarizing, and designer notifications to Purchasing.

Design staff workload is reduced with Questica SE’s standard reports such as; job cutting list, BOM costing, spare parts list, drawing lists, list of Items with drawings, where used search, parts lead time and others.

Demand for materials from Engineering, the Shop or Parts and Service is automatically received to Purchasing without double entry. A customizable single screen work area provides buyers with a full view of all requests, the ability to group and sort by multiple fields (project, job, category, preferred supplier and others), view item quantity, distribution, available inventory, part lead time, purchase history, required dates and designer alerts. Design changes that result in negative demand display in “red’ for immediate action.

Our Engineer-to-Order software lets you create Requests for Quotes quickly, evaluate bids, issue Purchase Orders, modify and revise Purchase Orders or assign inventory, all with a few keystrokes. Buyers can purchase parts for single or multiple projects and jobs on a single purchase order, purchase to inventory or to indirect accounts (shop supplies, R & D, MRO).

View, expedite and track all Items on Order from a single area. Integration with Receiving and Inventory assures complete visibility on all transactions. Powerful reports provide you with the ability to evaluate supplier performance, order status and even forecast cash flow. Questica SE features Commitment Costing in addition to Actual Costing, providing managers with advance information on material costs compared to the estimate.

Questica SE simplifies the staging of materials for production. Receiving can quickly view Purchase Orders, log received parts, generate data and Bar Code labels, produce quality inspection reports or initiate Non Conformance issues. Questica SE provides information to allow purchases received directly to the job to be kitted by assembly. As items are received or issued from allocated inventory, Purchasing is instantly updated on the status of materials by job.

Our ETO software solution allows you to issue items to a job that are not on the Bill of Materials, return items from the shop floor back to inventory or requisition materials not in stock with complete integration with Purchasing, Costing and Accounting.

Inventory management includes, multiple inventory locations, cycle counting, minimum reorder point monitoring, reports identifying inventory activity, discrepancies, valuation and log management of all transactions.

Questica SE provides practical real time information for shop planning and management. Manufacturing’s workflow queue tracks all jobs in production; specifically actual against estimate with direct links to all project information, key documents and technical history. Questica SE provides pre-production reporting on materials availability and project schedule reporting on job progress. Use Advanced Assembly Management for “on the fly” separation of key assemblies, sub assemblies or parts for detail tracking of labor and materials.

Manufacturing data collection includes materials, labor, and shipment tracking. Questica SE identifies all material costs including non-BOM requisitions, stock pulls, material returns and non-conformances by project, job or assembly. Time and attendance alternatives include simple timecard entry, data collection services and bar code readers. Our ETO software accommodates single or multiple shipment releases. All manufacturing information is automatically integrated into accounting, costing, payroll and project files. A host of reports provides Management with clear summary and detailed information on progress and results.

Frequently Custom Design manufacturers include in their contract supervision of installation or on site services. In these cases, you simply create a job, as part of the project, to enter the order, estimate and track all costs, activities, documents, notes and transactions. When the request for service or warranty occurs after the project is complete, Questica SE allows you to create a new project with jobs that are referenced to the original contract. As needed, reports can present a history of activities and rollup all estimates of costs and actual costs for all jobs tied to the original project.

Every ETO manufacturer sells spare parts or products (standards) where design is not required. Being able to respond to a client order quickly is of particular importance for parts orders. Questica SE features a fast track system, eliminating any need for staff to interrupt your designers looking for BOM information or your buyer looking for historical purchase information. The entire transaction, from estimate to order entry is done from a single working screen. From there you can find search any BOM to find the parts you need, quickly import them to this project, check purchasing history to verify costs, apply a margin or markup, detail special costs, attach all necessary client data and commercial terms, add notes and enter the order. Quick release automatically sends the parts to Procurement for ordering or allocation from stock. Our ETO software provides not only an order acknowledgement report for the client but also a packing slip to include with the shipment. Parts and Standards orders flow through your company with minimal disruption and maximum profits.

Questica SE offers two accounting alternatives to our clients. Questica SE can be used by firms needing a system that can work with their existing accounting package or for firms needing a new accounting package integrates with Questica SE. With both alternatives the workload for the financial staff is greatly reduced.

Questica SE features both commitment costing and actual costing. Custom manufacturers need to manage every order to ensure it is made on or below budget. Although actual costs are reported by Questica SE as materials are received or released to the job, it is provided too late to help management during production. Our Engineer-to-Order software provides a powerful management tool with an early warning system called commitment costing. As your staff places orders, allocates stock or logs hours to a job, these costs are reported, real time, against the budget. Questica SE even allows designers and buyers to cost out the BOM before purchases are made, allowing changes in design or suppliers to meet budget. Costing information is available in minute detail such as BOM costs, non BOM costs, non conformance costs, other costs, labor costs by project, job, work group, task and individual as well as material costs by assembly, by category of materials or line item. This information is readily available for authorized Sales and Estimating staff to use in securing and quoting future projects.

In the dynamic world of custom design manufacturing, managers need fast access to important information in order to spot problems quickly, resolve them, analyze operations and make better decisions. Questica SE is an integrated system that provides key staff with easy access to this information. Executives have live viewing of project and job progress, progress costing versus estimate with drill down analysis capability.

Questica SE features a Crystal Reporting engine that allows you to obtain any information you need. In addition our ETO software solution includes more than 100 pre-deigned reports on all aspects of the business. You can customize every report to suit your company or add new reports. Overview reports included, such as monthly Orders Booked and Orders Shipped by period and group, instantaneous Backlog distributed by month of delivery, Estimate and Actual margins and dollars per period, cash flow information give your executive the power of information. All reports integrate directly to Excel, Word or used to create an email.