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Compare Solutions

MHC NorthStar CCM is available in three license tiers: Essentials, Enterprise, and Enterprise Plus. Each tier builds on the last with more applications, automation, and administrative capability. Every tier shares the same core document generation engine, so moving to a higher tier extends what you can do without requiring any migration.

MHC Studio is a separate suite of desktop authoring tools that can be combined with any NorthStar CCM license.

Solution Comparison

Capability Essentials Enterprise Enterprise Plus Studio
API-based document generation ✅ ✅ ✅ —
Centralized project, template, and asset storage — ✅ ✅ —
Communications, Tasks, Workspaces, and Admin apps — ✅ ✅ —
Browser-based template, email, form, and workflow editors — ✅ ✅ —
Accessibility verification reports — ✅ ✅ —
AI-assisted authoring and translation* — ✅ ✅ —
Journeys, People, and Promotions apps — — ✅ —
Recipient document portal (Customer Portal) — — ✅ —
Desktop template design (Publisher) — — — ✅
Data modeling (Modeler) and dashboards (Analyst) — — — ✅
Asset synchronization with the platform (Drive) — — — ✅
Available on cloud ✅ ✅ ✅ —
Available onPrem ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
anyPrem flexibility — ✅ ✅ —

* AI features are available on cloud deployments only.

For details on where each solution can run, see Deployment Options.

Essentials

Essentials is the entry-level tier, built for organizations that need reliable, on-demand document generation without the overhead of a full enterprise deployment. Your application calls the Essentials API to render individual, customized documents, such as PDFs, in real time.

Essentials is well suited for developers integrating document generation directly into an existing application or workflow. It doesn't include centralized storage, project management, browser-based editors, or AI-assisted authoring. Templates can be designed with the MHC Studio Publisher tool.

Essentials Overview

Enterprise

Enterprise adds a complete environment for storing and managing projects, giving teams a central place to organize templates, data connections, and generated output rather than handling documents one API call at a time.

Enterprise includes browser-based template, email, and form editors, workflow automation, accessibility verification, and AI-assisted template generation and translation.

Note: AI features are available on cloud only.

Enterprise Overview

Enterprise Plus

Enterprise Plus includes everything in Enterprise, plus additional applications to extend NorthStar CCM beyond one-off document generation into ongoing, personalized customer communication:

  • Customer Portal: Provide customers with a self-service place where they can access their documents.
  • Journeys: Manage and automate customer engagement over time.
  • People: Provide more visibility into customer actions, leads, and engagement.
  • Promotions: Integrate promotional campaigns across document channels to generate leads.

Enterprise Plus Overview

Studio

MHC Studio is NorthStar CCM's desktop design and authoring suite. It includes four applications:

  • Publisher: Design document templates, including layout, content, and data-driven formatting.
  • Modeler: Build data models that combine, clean, and transform data for templates and dashboards.
  • Analyst: Design interactive dashboards that visualize and filter data.
  • Drive: Synchronize templates, data models, and dashboards between your computer and the NorthStar CCM Platform.

Studio is installed on Windows workstations and is available onPrem only.

Studio Overview

Choosing a Solution

The right solution depends less on company size and more on how document generation fits into your broader workflow.

If you need to... Choose
Generate documents on demand from your own application, without a central place to manage templates Essentials
Manage templates and projects centrally, design in the browser, automate workflows, or use AI-assisted authoring Enterprise
Run ongoing customer journeys, manage recipient data, deliver promotions, or give customers a document portal Enterprise Plus
Give template designers, data modelers, or analysts dedicated desktop tools Studio, alongside any tier

Not sure which tier you have?

Check your NorthStar CCM admin console or contact your account team. If you're using an Ecrion or EngageCX product, see Find Your Edition.