Subscription only software - would you?

[jasonx]

So in essence, if you stop your subscription you end up with nothing but a search-able history file.


You left of the rest of my quote which was
and I see that in the marketing for the new release. "Application / feature creep". I want my quote/job management software to do one thing - quote and job management. I don't need/want another contact information manager or financial analysis tool - I have those. I don't consider those enhancements to the core product - I consider them bloat.
To me, enhancements to the core product are thing like:

• The ability to fully customize my quote reports without having to do a lot of manual typing - right now I have to manually edit item descriptions every time I do a banner quote to include up-charge items like hem and grommets. You all made the decision that up-charged don't go in the description, but if I don't type it in, I get a phone call - "does this price include hem and grommets?"
• The ability to generate a discounted quote and not show the retail and the discount - just the net price.
• Be able to quote multiple scenarios in one quote - 10/20/30 24 x 36 posters with and without mounting / lamination and show the retail/discount/net for each line item without doing 7 separate quotes.
• Seamless invoice transfer to quickbooks - Define a status such as "completed - billing" and have the invoice generator go through and pick those jobs up and export them to quickbooks without having to remember all the individual job numbers and 4 steps.
• Freeform report generator so that I can (for example)define a report of all the productions jobs due tomorrow or this week or whatever and have my shop guy run it, print it and put it on my desk at the end of the day so I can tell at a glance what's going on. What materials are needed for jobs due tomorrow? This sort of thing.
• A linear foot generator for the wide format plugin so when I generate a job it will put on the job sheet how many linear feet of material as defined on the material database I need for a job - same with laminates and substraits. - we've been asking for this since Version 1
• Security levels. I'd like to be able to have office people do quotes without having them be able to access the profit margin calculations or the materials cost database.
• The ability to combine different plug-in items for example be able to include H stand costs into Coroplast signage and only show the finish product price vs all the components as separate line items.
• Be able to define an up charge as a fixed dollar amount, or a square ft charge as well as a percentage of cost or unit of time.
• Be able to apply different discount rates to different products or only selectively discount items. For example when I do a wholesale quote say a retractable banner stand and print. The print might get discounted 30% but I don't have 30% margin on the stand itself - It needs a separate rate.
• Fix the 2 sided print / mount calculator (another thing users have been asking for since V1) so that you can show the correct number of finished pieces on the quote
• If I'm paying a monthly service fee that includes tech support than I expect real tech support, not a user forum, or email us and we'll get back to you. If there is a bug, I want a speedy resolution.

These are just off the top of my head, but I'd much rather see these items added / fixed to make the core produce work better / correctly than a bunch of extraneous bells and whistles.

Mark I've been with you guys from the beginning and I'm not trying to beat you up here, but I see a solid tight core produce drifting off it's path.

You do know there is software out there that does this? But it costs 20x as much?

 

[Mark Smith]

Slamdunkpro, I hear you about feature creep. That's why we only focus on new features that we get many, many requests for. It helps round out the product without unnecessary extras.

I'm sorry to hear you feel we're drifting from our path. I actually feel we are finally bringing to fore a lot of what people have been asking for - in big terms - from the beginning.

That said, a lot of what you ask for is already available to you in EstiMate 2 (I assume you are using EstiMate 2).

The ability to generate a discounted quote and not show the retail and the discount - just the net price.

You can accomplish this by overriding the line item itself.

Be able to quote multiple scenarios in one quote - 10/20/30 24 x 36 posters with and without mounting / lamination and show the retail/discount/net for each line item without doing 7 separate quotes.

You can do this as follows: create a separate line item for each option (it's really easy if you create one then duplicate it 7 times). When you go to print your quote, un-check "Print totals on estimate." Then add a note to the customer that says "Please select which option you want, circle it, fax it back." Then you can proceed with a final formal quote.

Security levels. I'd like to be able to have office people do quotes without having them be able to access the profit margin calculations or the materials cost database.

Click Configure & Manage > Set Up Users and you can create as many "General Users" as you like. General users cannot see the profit margins or any information on material costs.

The ability to combine different plug-in items for example be able to include H stand costs into Coroplast signage and only show the finish product price vs all the components as separate line items.

This you can do with the Line Item Groups plugin. Create a new line item group, then add your signs and stakes. The group will show up as a single item on your quote.

In addition, the following are included in EstiMate 2011:

Seamless invoice transfer to quickbooks - Define a status such as "completed - billing" and have the invoice generator go through and pick those jobs up and export them to quickbooks without having to remember all the individual job numbers and 4 steps.

EstiMate 2011 adds the "status" column to the list of jobs in the QuickBooks link. You can click the header, sort by status and export just those jobs.

Be able to define an up charge as a fixed dollar amount, or a square ft charge as well as a percentage of cost or unit of time.

The fixed dollar amount option has been added to EstiMate 2011.

Be able to apply different discount rates to different products or only selectively discount items. For example when I do a wholesale quote say a retractable banner stand and print. The print might get discounted 30% but I don't have 30% margin on the stand itself - It needs a separate rate.

EstiMate 2011 includes "discount" line items that affect the item(s) directly above them on the quote, but not those below. The discount also stops if it hits another discount line item above it, so they don't cascade into one another.

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As for the rest of your requests and suggestions, thank you. I definitely appreciate the input. Obviously, my goal is to improve EstiMate.

Tech support: it sounds like you've been less than happy in the past - that's not our usual style so I suspect it was at a crunch time. We are usually extremely prompt about contacting our customers for resolution of a problem. Please accept my apologies, and I hope next time it's quicker for you.

 

[Slamdunkpro]

You do know there is software out there that does this? But it costs 20x as much?

That's kind of my point - if you're going to step up and price your product in the big leagues, it should play like the big leagues.

 

[Mark S. Adams]

I am currently in the market for estimating software, and have been looking around for the last few months. Estimate was one of the pieces of software I was seriously considering. As 'subscription only' based software, it is now NO LONGER an option. If I have to, I'll pay more to be able to "own" the software outright.