For shops on legacy desktop software
Your estimating software shouldn't make you wait.
Legacy desktop software was built for a shop that doesn't exist anymore: one server, one office, one person at a time. INNERGY® ERP is cloud-native and built for millwork, so estimating, engineering, purchasing, the floor, and job costing all run off the same live data.
Purpose-built for architectural woodworking, custom millwork, cabinet, and stair shops.
What we hear
Three complaints we hear on almost every call
Not from us. From estimators, PMs, and owners who moved off a server-based system.
"I spend more time waiting than working."
Estimates that take minutes to open. Screens that hang while the server catches up. Multiply that by every estimator, every day, and you've bought yourself a part-time employee who does nothing.
"The big jobs are the ones that break it."
The estimate you most need to get right is the one that slows to a crawl or drops out entirely. Shops tell us they split large projects into pieces just to keep the software upright.
"Nothing talks to anything."
Estimating here, CAD over there, scheduling in a task app, costing in a spreadsheet. As one cabinet shop owner put it on WOODWEB: none of the software is connected, and "it gets messy very quickly."
Quoted frustration from a 25–30 employee cabinet shop, WOODWEB Business & Management Forum, August 2024. Performance observations reflect what INNERGY customers report about their previous systems.
Side by side
Legacy desktop software vs. INNERGY ERP
Same industry. Two very different decades of architecture.
| Legacy desktop software | INNERGY ERP | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | Windows application tied to a shared server. Off-site access depends on which seat type you bought, and some integrations don't come along. | Cloud-native. Any browser, office, jobsite, or shop floor. No server to buy, back up, or babysit. |
| Engineering and CAD/CAM | Not included. License a separate desktop CAD package and connect it with a paid add-on. | INNERGY Engineering is cloud-based CAD/CAM that runs inside the same platform as your estimate, your schedule, and your job cost. No second server, no separate connector to buy. |
| Getting engineering data in | Separate paid connectors, and unavailable on some seat types. When the link isn't there, BOMs get re-keyed by hand. | Engineering Sync ingests data from CAD/CAM and maps parts straight to materials and labor. |
| Estimating | Desktop estimating that slows as the project grows. | Takeoff for on-screen estimating, Compare Sheets for revision-to-revision review, and snapshot pricing so an estimate holds the numbers it was built on. |
| Knowing your margin | Reconcile after the fact. You find out how the job went once it's over. | Job Costing, Cost Transaction History, and an Executive Project Summary with contribution margin, while the job is still running. |
| Finding what's stuck | You walk the shop and ask around. | A Bottlenecks dashboard across workflow, labor, PM load, and projects, plus a Released % metric and logged Impediments. |
| Shop floor | Job management, not manufacturing execution. Limited real-time visibility of operations. | A real MES: Labor, Sorting Rack, Gemba Board, Damaged Parts, and Shipping, plus a Shop Floor Kiosk with time tracking and material requests. |
| IT burden | Server hardware, backups, updates, and someone to own all three. | None. Updates ship continuously and everyone is always on the current version. |
| Vendors to manage | ERP vendor, CAD vendor, the add-on that joins them, and your IT provider. | One platform. One subscription. One phone number. |
Comparison reflects publicly documented architecture and packaging of server-based millwork software, plus what shops report during INNERGY evaluations. Your configuration may differ. Bring your current stack to a demo and we'll walk it line by line.
Engineering, built in
CAD/CAM that lives in the same cloud as everything else.
Most millwork ERPs don't do engineering. They ask you to buy a desktop CAD package from somebody else, then sell you an add-on to join the two together. INNERGY Engineering is different: cloud-based CAD/CAM that runs inside the platform your estimate, schedule, purchase orders, and job costing already live in.
That's the difference between an ERP that talks to engineering and an ERP that is engineering. When something changes upstream, everybody downstream knows immediately. No export, no re-import, no spreadsheet to reconcile.
Already running Microvellum? Then you're already inside the INNERGY family, because Microvellum is an INNERGY product. You're just paying two vendors to connect it to your ERP from the outside.
Quote to cash
One platform, from the first takeoff to the final invoice
Profitability in a millwork business is made upstream of the saw. INNERGY exists to make the front office visible, because that's where the constraint usually lives.
Estimating
Takeoff, Compare Sheets, snapshot pricing, Opportunities, Bids, and a Sales Forecaster for the pipeline behind them.
Engineering
INNERGY Engineering, our cloud-based CAD/CAM, plus Engineering Sync to bring in data from the CAD systems your team already runs.
Project management
Projects, Change Orders, Work Orders for drafting, production, and installation, Date Management, Submittals, RFIs, and Impediments.
Purchasing and inventory
Materials To Buy, Purchase Orders, Added Expenses, Returns to Vendor, Master Inventory, and Material Requests and Fulfillment.
Manufacturing
Labor tracking, Sorting Rack, Gemba Board, Damaged Parts, Shipping, and a Shop Floor Kiosk your team can actually use with gloves on.
Finance
Progress billing on a draw and schedule of values, retainage, Close Period, Projects without Invoices, and Sage Intacct receipt export.
Reporting
Bottlenecks, Job Costing, Executive Project Summary, Report Designer, Label Designer, and Ad Hoc Reports when the standard set isn't enough.
From an INNERGY raving fan
"We switched from a hodgepodge of software into INNERGY about 2 years ago and we are never looking back. We use it from Estimating to Installation and everything in between. The software is great and has great user interface. The education you receive from INNERGY is even better."
Before you compare price
Add up what you're actually paying
A low software line item isn't a low cost of ownership. Most shops evaluating INNERGY are surprised by what the full picture looks like once it's on paper.
Your ERP subscription or license
Your separate CAD/CAM licenses
The paid add-on that connects them
Server hardware and IT support
Implementation and training, billed separately
The hours your team spends re-entering data
Bring that number to a demo. We'll put it next to a single INNERGY subscription and you can decide what the honest comparison says.