Software for Estimating *only* ???

[Professor_John]

Hi there.

I guess I have an all set solution for you. I'm using Saldoinvoice for the invoicing purposes.
The software has templates with detailed information and it guides you through a simple process.
For a cheap monthly price, it really helps my small business.

Hope it will work out for you.

 

[Pauly]

I know I’m late to the party.
But there are systems out there OP can easily use for his product range.

When I was searching for web2print solutions, I found so many different systems and storefronts.

Every system takes some time to set up your products. But from there, it’s easy.

Fact is though, you still need a base to create your product pricing. For example, having a spread sheet with formulas to create your base pricing. Then you’d enter your variable pricing into the system.

There are systems out there that can not only integrate with your accounting software, but many other software also.

you just need to search for printing MIS systems. And find the one that works for you.
As mentioned earlier, some are designed for more specific products or workflows.
But there are some that have a lot of customisation.

 

[netsol]

I like portability between solutions, needs change and relationships with software vendors change. While on one hand having in house APIs is great and provides a lot of power for those that are able to keep up with development of said API, but having things that are unique to one business (while great for the business) is not so much for the end user if their situation changes. I always like having a back door.

I have switched from one platform to another due to changes with 2 major companies and how they did things, however, anything I use on my current system, if that changes, I have to be willing to look at another option or go back to the first platform that I left. I don't rule anything out. Always like to have a "just in case" plan. But I am weird that way.



SQL is actually the language not the database itself. SQL I believe has been around 40+ yrs as well.

Database "engine" usually denotes 2 components, database itself and the language (or languages) used to query the database.

Regardless if it's more powerful or not, isn't my main concern as long as the less "powerful" option does do what I need for it specifically do or extend something to do what I need. If it doesn't do that, then obviously, the more powerful works. I fear lock in more then anything and I'm willing (and able) to do hacks to make something work for me in order to give more more "maneuverability" to prevent that.

That's why I said it was to bad.

Think about how many software solutions people have switched on here over the years, not just CRM type solutions, but other solutions as well. The more portable that everything is, the less painful that it is.

Just reading this post from the beginning. I first encountered SQL while working with a "new" at the time pro duct QA4. Might have been 1992

 

[Notarealsignguy]

Hi there.

I guess I have an all set solution for you. I'm using Saldoinvoice for the invoicing purposes.
The software has templates with detailed information and it guides you through a simple process.
For a cheap monthly price, it really helps my small business.

Hope it will work out for you.

I love spam. Did you know that 100 million pounds of Spam was eaten by allied troops during WWII?

 

[CanuckSigns]

As I'm still trying to figure a solution that works for me (still doing Trello+QBO for now) I am starting to think it might be worth it to try hiring a developer to create a couple of custom Trello power-ups to add some of the functionality that I feel like I'm missing and connect the two a little better as well (I know Zapier can "connect" them but it's really limited in functionality and then when I had rules set up and looked at the pricing to continue past the trial it was too much to justify considering the limitations).

Has anyone here had any success hiring a small development company or freelance programmer for this kind of a thing? Would you be willing to refer me to them (DM me if you don't want to publicly post their info).

I have hired a filemaker developer to build a order management database for our shop, it will be ready this week, but from what I've seen it's going to speed up order creation and tracking significantly for us, as well as having a database of past orders to refer to when a client orders again 2+ years later.

I asked him about adding a quoting module and he has been very optimistic, the hardest part will be to explain my quoting process to him so he can make sense of it lol.

Also his fee was more then reasonable, I found him on upwork and English is his native language, which helps when explaining the nuances of what I'm looking for.

 

[Geneva Olson]

I have hired a filemaker developer to build a order management database for our shop, it will be ready this week, but from what I've seen it's going to speed up order creation and tracking significantly for us, as well as having a database of past orders to refer to when a client orders again 2+ years later.

I asked him about adding a quoting module and he has been very optimistic, the hardest part will be to explain my quoting process to him so he can make sense of it lol.

Also his fee was more then reasonable, I found him on upwork and English is his native language, which helps when explaining the nuances of what I'm looking for.

does the database hold the artwork as well?

 

[CanuckSigns]

does the database hold the artwork as well?

Ours does not, however it can we just choose to store our artwork files on on our file server since that's where we've been storing them since 2006, it's all set up with backups etc.

We link to the networked location so the database user can click to open the file.

 

[ColorCrest]

Ours does not, however it can we just choose to store our artwork files on on our file server since that's where we've been storing them since 2006, it's all set up with backups etc.

We link to the networked location so the database user can click to open the file.

^ ^ ^ ^ This! That's a smart and safe way to handle the process. Databases can be very lean because their fields hold relatively small amount of text & number volume compared to storing large file sizes of large format documents.

Also, one only needs a reference such as the job number found in the database and the work folder of art files found somewhere on a network in an archive of some type.

 

[ColorCrest]

I have hired a filemaker developer to build a order management database for our shop

Good to know and good luck with the project!

 

[ColorCrest]

the hardest part will be to explain my quoting process to him so he can make sense of it lol.

Is there complications, particularly?

 

[GB2]

I have hired a filemaker developer to build a order management database for our shop, it will be ready this week, but from what I've seen it's going to speed up order creation and tracking significantly for us, as well as having a database of past orders to refer to when a client orders again 2+ years later.

I asked him about adding a quoting module and he has been very optimistic, the hardest part will be to explain my quoting process to him so he can make sense of it lol.

Also his fee was more then reasonable, I found him on upwork and English is his native language, which helps when explaining the nuances of what I'm looking for.

I hope you will be so kind as to give us a full report on your experience with hiring a Filemaker designer and how the end result is working for you.

 

[CanuckSigns]

I hope you will be so kind as to give us a full report on your experience with hiring a Filemaker designer and how the end result is working for you.

I've been using the filemaker solution for about 3 weeks now, so far its just me and 1 other person in the shop using it while we iron out the bugs. I'm hoping to be able to roll it out fully in the coming weeks.

The system currently handles order entry and project workflow/management. We have a customer centre that allows you to view all past workorders for each customer, you can search for them based on a bunch of criteria (job name, po#, job # etc.) There is also a thumbnail photo of each job so you can find it quicker (I'm a visual person)

From the customer area, you can create a new workorder using templates, we currently have 5 preset templates set up, engraved tags, large format printing, bronze plaques, ada Signage and generic. Each template uses drop downs for things like materials, for example the large format has drop downs for media, laminate, substrate, single or double sided, finishing and a bunch more, this allows us to create an order extremely quickly.

Once an order is created, it's assigned a status, waiting for client, parts to order, waiting on materials, in production, waiting to install, ready to invoice and archive, you can then view the jobs by either status or by machine on a trello like job board.

Overall I'm very happy with the system, I'm excited to add on to it in the future and be able to manage even more with it.

We hired a developer from the UK on upwork he has even really good to work with, extremely responsive and he makes small changes to the system even now after he has been paid if we notice something. If anyone is interested I can DM you his info.

The hardest part was trying to communicate all the ideas in my head to someone who wasn't in the sign industry, but he did a really good job, everytime I asked if something was possible, the answer was yes.

 

[ColorCrest]

I've been using the filemaker solution for about 3 weeks now, so far its just me and 1 other person in the shop using it while we iron out the bugs. I'm hoping to be able to roll it out fully in the coming weeks

Very good to know.

I don't know if I've ever mentioned it before here on the boards, but have you been sure to name your custom solution specifically for your business to save it from being referred to as "FileMaker?" Also, be sure to assign version numbers as the solution(s) grow.

Forward ahead!

 

[CanuckSigns]

Very good to know.

I don't know if I've ever mentioned it before here on the boards, but have you been sure to name your custom solution specifically for your business to save it from being referred to as "FileMaker?" Also, be sure to assign version numbers as the solution(s) grow.

Forward ahead!

Yea I've been trying to think of a good name, but everything I've thought of so far sounds pretty dumb when I say it outloud lol

 

[ColorCrest]

Yea I've been trying to think of a good name, but everything I've thought of so far sounds pretty dumb when I say it outloud lol

Well, maybe delegate the naming to someone who will use it most. Consider that when a person needs to yell across the shop; "Look in The System!" that everyone will understand what that means. Also consider you will very likely to have more that one app or tool you've built with FileMaker. That's another reason giving them unique names will help.