Work Orders

[Craig Sjoquist]

Good idea is to have that you can remove signage for safety repairs till paid in full and signed in some wording like that

 

[David Wright]

this is old but we still use it. I like the part down the bottom about art and sketches.

I used to use this one, got it from NEBS.

 

[thinksigns]

Do you also link your Filemaker system to Quickbooks by any chance?

I do not have them linked. I've heard you can invoice through Quickbooks, but I think I would rather have the order input and payments all in one system. Not sure if that answers your question.

 

[cartoad]

I just got thru rewriting the procedures for using our POS program to sell signs, and after reading all this, see I need to revist the work orders we fill out as the customer tells us what they want.
Also years ago, think it was Threeputt suggested using different color paper for the work order, we adopted that and continue to use it, works well to quickly grab wo with all the estimate copy, invoice emails, material bills, ect that build up on a lot of jobs.

 

[Skye]

Access

We have developed our own system using ms access and ideas from filemaker and other places. One thing we really enjoy is having a direct link to the file(s)
We browse where the file is located and it saves with our work order. When we reopen this order we just double click the link and it opens the appropriate program.

Skye

 

[JR's]

that is a good idea. dues it work in your design programs.

JR

 

[phototec]

Great thread

This is a great thread guys, I would like to thank all those who posted up samples of the work order forms they use. I will use ideas from all of the examples to deign my own.

Again thanks to all the sign brothers here for there sharing!

:U Rock:

 

[signdesignms]

Thanks for all the useful responses.

 

[KudzuKenny]

Work Order/Sales Order through Quickbooks

Hey all, I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to ask a couple of questions since my business went a little different direction than I expected.

I started out on the design sign then got into brokering large format print. Over a couple of years, that turned into buying a large format (8300s) Aqueous machine for doing proofs, art prints and a few high end banners/posters. I have since evolved and have decided to open a full sign/print retail shop, splitting it off from the creative side completely. Now I have the wide format, as well as a print press. I'm using Quickbooks for my books, and a simple job jacket/ticket system with "Incoming", "In Progress", and "Ready for Pickup" separation of the tickets.

Does anyone have suggestion for a better system for tracking numbering and intake for these jobs? I'm really worried about getting overwhelmed - QUICKLY!! I want to keep using Quickbooks, but I think I probably need a better intake and filing system. Thoughts?

 

[James Burke]

There's been a lot of buzz here about Sign Vox...perhaps it would be worth checking into. JB

 

[jfiscus]

My old one was a bit simpler than most posted here, but it did the trick for the small shop I was at.
The bottom was formatted to match a quickbooks invoice, so I could just give it to accounting to have them make up the invoice.

 

[legacyborn]

Hey all, I know this is an old thread

Thank you! I had never seen this thread and it is exactly what I needed today!

 

[Brad147]

We wrote an Access database for Job Orders. It's a huge benefit to have the order in a digital form so that we can look up old orders quickly, and have customers contact info/billing info fill in automatically. The drawback is that we could not figure how how to have each one assigned a unique permanent number. We have managed fine, but there are times that I wish we had that feature.

Hello,
Can you share it? I am new to this and we have limited resources here in SA.

 

[Ron at Forest Litho]

Work orders are very specific to each company. It has to have on it the actual stuff and nuances of the stuff that the company actually does.. So you must design your own. and in that way you can have the sequence and arrangement of items in the positions that work best for you. A good work order is one that the company workers can see at a glance what is to be done. Two companies, say Plumbers, might have very different work orders due to what they specialize in, what they do most and how their operation works.

 

[Signarama Jockey]

"A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."
-Antoine de Saint-Exupery

I think the point to these kinds of forms (and forms in general) is to differentiate between what information you need, and the information you just thought about and added to fill the empty space.

Case in point. The POS system we use has a system for adding customer information; here's what it asks for:

I know that one could argue that this is all useful information. But, come on. Do we really need an office phone number, cell phone AND an additional phone number? Is job Authority critical information? When has country ever been anything but the US? Is Industry type relevant? And what do we need a birthday for? Anyone here want to ask their female customers what their birthday is? How about we add a field where we can enter the weight of the customer (why not)?

Almost all of this we leave blank, and that's why I say that it is poorly designed and a waste of time.

Whatever you do, take the time to really ask yourself if the information is useful. Is it really useful? Why?

The goal (in my opinion) is to make any form sleek and efficient - easy to fill out, has the info you'll need, and nothing else.

 

[Signarama Jockey]

Work Order/Sales Order through Quickbooks

Hey all, I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to ask a couple of questions since my business went a little different direction than I expected.

I started out on the design sign then got into brokering large format print. Over a couple of years, that turned into buying a large format (8300s) Aqueous machine for doing proofs, art prints and a few high end banners/posters. I have since evolved and have decided to open a full sign/print retail shop, splitting it off from the creative side completely. Now I have the wide format, as well as a print press. I'm using Quickbooks for my books, and a simple job jacket/ticket system with "Incoming", "In Progress", and "Ready for Pickup" separation of the tickets.

Does anyone have suggestion for a better system for tracking numbering and intake for these jobs? I'm really worried about getting overwhelmed - QUICKLY!! I want to keep using Quickbooks, but I think I probably need a better intake and filing system. Thoughts?

So, you're entering the job into quickbooks, tracking it there and then billing it out?

Is that slowing you down?

 

[Stacey K]

I think the point to these kinds of forms (and forms in general) is to differentiate between what information you need, and the information you just thought about and added to fill the empty space.

Case in point. The POS system we use has a system for adding customer information; here's what it asks for:

View attachment 171236

I know that one could argue that this is all useful information. But, come on. Do we really need an office phone number, cell phone AND an additional phone number? Is job Authority critical information? When has country ever been anything but the US? Is Industry type relevant? And what do we need a birthday for? Anyone here want to ask their female customers what their birthday is? How about we add a field where we can enter the weight of the customer (why not)?

Almost all of this we leave blank, and that's why I say that it is poorly designed and a waste of time.

Whatever you do, take the time to really ask yourself if the information is useful. Is it really useful? Why?

The goal (in my opinion) is to make any form sleek and efficient - easy to fill out, has the info you'll need, and nothing else.

You forgot gender!

 

[Stacey K]

Free Sign Shop Forms

For the FREE SHOP FORMS just click an image below, when the page loads you can right click to “Save Image As” and save it to your computer. These forms are free to use in your shop as you develop,…

thesignexpert.com

Here are some decent starter forms. IMO, if you don't have some kind of sign estimating program, just create a form in Excel, or create a fillable Adobe PDF or use your sign program to create one. Totally agree with Signarama - skip half the contact info crap. Keep it as simple as possible!

 

[Geneva Olson]

Good idea is to have that you can remove signage for safety repairs till paid in full and signed in some wording like that

what exactly do you mean?

 

[JBurton]

what exactly do you mean?

I think they mean, if there were an issue with follow up payment, then the sign company could become concerned at a necessary repair on their new sign, and the contract allows them to remove it for repairs at their discretion, perhaps the customer will then pay for the sign...
This is actually a really interesting take on avoiding a mechanic's lien...