Best Shop Management Software for Working with Multiple Product Catogories

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

Christian,

Without dissecting the many points of your post, I can say that I fully understand them all and can confidently say I likely have an existing solution so far as manually updating the necessary data points you're looking for. It's not "automatic" at this time simply because live data links to machinery are not yet available, as far as I'm aware. Of course it runs using FileMaker and the current form factor is basically a single (non-scrolling) screen layout of all the mixes of unit of measure, can be used via touch screen by operators if need be, and may be vastly customized. Apparently, its form is one you may not have been exposed to by any other solution.

So, would you be happier to "find" this or "build" this?

Let me know.

Finding is always easier! That's why I originally stated that I'm interested in your solutions.

 

[GB2]

ColorCrest is now a Merchant Member.

This is very exciting...you have finally crawled out of your underground vault to see the sunlight! You really need to start a new thread to announce this, give us some background and tell us all how and what you will offer as a Merchant Member. If anybody can make this work, I have faith that you will be able to do it. I also currently am running version FM12 and I know what can be done with it to create the finest Sign Business Management program out there but I just have not had the time to re-learn all the latest features to attempt to do it myself. I am very anxious to follow along on this journey of yours however. Good Luck!

 

[ColorCrest]

What do you all use for shop management software when working with multiple product categories

Care to say what you have been using so far?

 

[ikarasu]

ColorCrest is now a Merchant Member.

View attachment 166663

Are you going to offer an off the shelf solution, or a custom, or a mix?

any idea on costing?

I'm guessing built in FileMaker... I haven't played with FileMaker much, but is whatever you provide going to be "open source" in the sense we can edit it / customize it to our liking, if we have a bit of coding experience?

I don't want to build something from the ground up, I wouldn't know where to start. But I also feel like if there was an off the shelf that I could edit via FileMaker, I could make something that'd work for our shop.

 

[ColorCrest]

Are you going to offer an off the shelf solution, or a custom, or a mix?

any idea on costing?

I'm guessing built in FileMaker... I haven't played with FileMaker much, but is whatever you provide going to be "open source" in the sense we can edit it / customize it to our liking, if we have a bit of coding experience?

I don't want to build something from the ground up, I wouldn't know where to start. But I also feel like if there was an off the shelf that I could edit via FileMaker, I could make something that'd work for our shop.

All good questions.

I'm considering offering multiple options; a rather ready-made lite, an unlocked "starter lite," stand-alone tools, and coaching certainly.

The only thing I might say about costs right now is "Whatever the market will bear if I can agree with the market." There is a good, better, and best value to various solutions.

I know "time," more than say, a learning curve, is the tallest order. So, yes, I hear you about wanting to customize a boiler plate so that's goin to be first-up, very likely.

 

[ColorCrest]

This is very exciting...you have finally crawled out of your underground vault to see the sunlight! You really need to start a new thread to announce this, give us some background and tell us all how and what you will offer as a Merchant Member. If anybody can make this work, I have faith that you will be able to do it. I also currently am running version FM12 and I know what can be done with it to create the finest Sign Business Management program out there but I just have not had the time to re-learn all the latest features to attempt to do it myself. I am very anxious to follow along on this journey of yours however. Good Luck!

Thanks for the kind words and wishes.

My first inclination and motivation was to provide a possible stop-gap for those who seem to be in a pickle over the potential loss of the EstiMate solution as mentioned in other concurrent threads. Whatever has or has not occurred with EstiMate, I feel both sides of those pains but I also know shops do have options that may not show up on the typical radar.

Still gauging an appetite.

More later.

 

[CanuckSigns]

Thanks for the kind words and wishes.

My first inclination and motivation was to provide a possible stop-gap for those who seem to be in a pickle over the potential loss of the EstiMate solution as mentioned in other concurrent threads. Whatever has or has not occurred with EstiMate, I feel both sides of those pains but I also know shops do have options that may not show up on the typical radar.

Still gauging an appetite.

More later.

A quoting solution similar to EstiMate built in filemaker would be amazing! We hired someone to build our filemaker solution but it does not handle estimating. It's been on my list of things to add, but the prospect seems daunting to me. A premade solution I can customize would be amazingly helpful!

 

[Humble PM]

A quoting solution similar to EstiMate built in filemaker would be amazing! We hired someone to build our filemaker solution but it does not handle estimating. It's been on my list of things to add, but the prospect seems daunting to me. A premade solution I can customize would be amazingly helpful!

An estimating engine that could be added into an existing solution would be amazing. Gets converted into, and tracked through a job, then through to an invoice. Bonus point$ for help exporting this to Sage, Xero, etc!

 

[Bikeson22]

We are using a combo of QB and a custom-built software called PacketPal.

Care to say what you have been using so far?