Organization Help

knightsarmore · Sep 1, 2014

emails..

what about signing into his email on another computer so that there will be another person that can monitor it and print up the email so there is another paper trail.. what about saving each customer in their own folder over a shared network so it can be accessed from any computer..

Jester1167 · Sep 1, 2014

FireSprint said:
To each his own....

We are upgrading our software right now, but for the longest time we use a paper system with a clear plastic sleeve.

Job Tickets:
We build an invoice in quickbooks and print a special version of that as a job ticket. It's easy to do with templates. We then print that off and put that in a clear plastic sleeve. Most of the order details go into the invoice but whatever's left, including a proof gets printed off and put in the back of the job ticket sleeve. So one side is the order information, the other has a proof and maybe measurements.

Status Updates:
We have wall pockets or trays at every workstation. To change the status of a job, we simply move it to that tray. When the first step is done for instance, we simply walk the job ticket and whatever materials are part of that job to the next step and drop the ticket into the tray there.

We also list all our jobs in an access database and print off a report of everything that is due that day.

It's not a high tech system yet (that's coming) but we have processed over 10,000 jobs that way and have not really lost one. Once the job ticket has been created, it's a pretty solid system.

One note though, it does take someone (or a few people in our case) to be anal about making sure the job tickets don't get left on a workbench or something. They need to be in one status wall pocket, or at very least in someone's hand. A job ticket sitting on the ground or left on a workbench causes a big ruckus around here.

I worked in a shop where I implemented something like this. We had a master location to track all the jobs in clear plastic sleeves. We printed copies of the work order and distributed them accordingly. If a job was cut vinyl only, one copy was delivered to the person running the plotter. That copy followed the job until it was shipped or installed. If it had routed components, cut vinyl, and printed vinyl we would print a copy for each machine and they would stay with the components until they got shipped or assembled.

The reason for the copies on the wall were to make sure all jobs got invoiced. Our boss was worried if the only printed copy of the work order went out with the installers, it may not come back and get invoiced.

The plastic folders on the wall contained everything about the job including, materials ordered, pieces of special ordered materials or paint color chips.. When the job got invoiced the paper work was pared down so we only retained what we needed if we had to repeat the job.

All our design work was done full size if possible so there were no scaling errors during production.

Just like any system, it relied on people to follow through. In some ways it creates more work, but in the end, not have as many SNAFU's, knowing where a job is in production, and knowing everything is getting billed was worth it.

Sounds like the company grew past the owners abilities and he doesn't trust his employees. If he can't release the rains and delegate the company won't be able to grow and neither will you.

Kevin-shopVOX · Sep 1, 2014

Z SIGNS said:
Tracking software like sign vox is great if your are a producer or broker of commodities.Sorta the way they keep track of things at home depot.

If you are a sign artist that creates and produces unique one of a kind custom signage that caters to the discerning I don't think the app is out there.
I get annoyed when salesman approach me with these kind of products

I wonder how people like Maxfield Parish survived without signvox

The main issue with shops such as yours is that you are the core "value" of the business. If you step away it ceases to run effectively if at all. Systems are what really make a business valuable. Be it software or paper. You business needs a system that if you step away it can continue to run in all facets. If it can't and all of this organization, factors of importance, price considerations etc are all in your head, your business is of zero value in the long run. It can't run for a substantial period of time without you.

You need signVOX if you want to have a sign business system workflow with all aspects under one umbrella. Running a custom shop is more than making top notch custom signs and it has nothing to do with "commodity" signage or brokering. There are leads to follow up on, quotes to write, quotes to follow up on, orders and jobs to manage, due dates to meet, orders to invoice, invoices to send, invoices to follow up on, taxes to pay, business analysis to perform and improvements based off of that data to make, reorders to refer to, proofs to send etc etc. All of which are handled by signVOX.

Bottom line, if you run a sign business of any type, then signVOX is certainly an option for you.

jrsc · Sep 1, 2014

The only way you are really going to know if signvox is something that will help you is to try if for a month. There's no contracts so just pay for a month and play around with it. We use it here and it helps keep us organized.

An option for your email situation at least if you use gmail based email would be a plug in like streak. https://www.streak.com/. Basically you create a workflow of status that a job moves through. Then you add boxes for each job that would contain all linked emails and notes you add. Boxes are shared with everyone on your team so you can all see the emails related to a specific job. For your boss its as easy as clicking the add to box button on the top of the screen. And its free. It would be great if signvox would add some type of email linking like this to orders.

thesignexpert · Sep 1, 2014

We have a bunch of free sign shop organization forms on the website. Here is the link to the page. http://thesignexpert.com/free-sign-shop-forms/

They will help you get the various parts of the process in order and keep your various shop activities organized. Definitely not some sort of cure-all but hopefully helpful.

peavey123 · Sep 2, 2014

Thanks for the input everyone. I literally thought this thread would end up being a disaster.

I like the envelope idea, at least for the time being. It still involves my boss having to write things down, but I'm thinking that's unavoidable until telepathy becomes legit. lol

I still think something like signVOX is the way to go down the road. Especially since you can apparently access signVOX from anywhere so that could really help my boss out, but like others have said initially it will take more time to set-up. I think for now we just need to get a simple organizational system in place with a funny name like "hot potato" or "clear thingy" then we can consider moving to something else. lol

We shoud be having a meeting this week, so fingers crossed we can agree to be more organized. :peace!:

peavey123 · Sep 2, 2014

thesignexpert said:
We have a bunch of free sign shop organization forms on the website. Here is the link to the page. http://thesignexpert.com/free-sign-shop-forms/

They will help you get the various parts of the process in order and keep your various shop activities organized. Definitely not some sort of cure-all but hopefully helpful.

umm Thanks, but what is up with that site man!?! It's like trick-link city. Do not like.

thesignexpert · Sep 2, 2014

peavey123 said:
umm Thanks, but what is up with that site man!?! It's like trick-link city. Do not like.

We recently rebuilt the whole thing after 7 years. What do mean "trick-link"? We want everything to be as easy and honest as possible so please let me know if you found something funky.

thesignexpert · Sep 2, 2014

I took another look at the page and I think I see the problem (please correct me if i am wrong). In our quest to cut down on verbiage & make the everything more simple, we messed up the explanation of the page. I have modified it to read "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, organize and grow."

What do you think?

...and yes, I realize what I just did to your thread :thread

Sorry. Didn't want you to feel bamboozled.

Billct2 · Sep 2, 2014

The biggest problem with any organization system is getting the humans involved to use it correctly & consistantly. Especially the boss (hmm I resemble that remark).

CES020 · Sep 2, 2014

Billct2 said:
The biggest problem with any organization system is getting the humans involved to use it correctly & consistantly. Especially the boss (hmm I resemble that remark).

I spent many years in manufacturing, studying eastern and western manufacturing techniques and process flow. I'm convinced that most anything will work if you use it. The problem where all processes fail is when people don't use them. Index cards work fine. If you use them. Software works fine. If you use it. Dry erase boards work great. If you use them. None of them work well if you don't use them.

If you're really interested in job flow, study the Japanese systems out there. They don't use flashy LCD screens or even computers. They don't use any electronics (you could if you wanted to), but overall, they do a lot of stuff manually and it works very, very well. But it only works well because they use it

peavey123 · Sep 2, 2014

CES020 said:
I spent many years in manufacturing, studying eastern and western manufacturing techniques and process flow. I'm convinced that most anything will work if you use it. The problem where all processes fail is when people don't use them. Index cards work fine. If you use them. Software works fine. If you use it. Dry erase boards work great. If you use them. None of them work well if you don't use them.

If you're really interested in job flow, study the Japanese systems out there. They don't use flashy LCD screens or even computers. They don't use any electronics (you could if you wanted to), but overall, they do a lot of stuff manually and it works very, very well. But it only works well because they use it

Thanks, I will check it out! Although, I'm kind of scared to google anything Japanese related. Especially at work. Those Japanese can be twisted people! lol

SignVOX · Sep 2, 2014

The answer is shopVOX Express - Check out the videos and try it free for 15 days!

peavey123 said:
Thanks for the input everyone. I literally thought this thread would end up being a disaster.

I like the envelope idea, at least for the time being. It still involves my boss having to write things down, but I'm thinking that's unavoidable until telepathy becomes legit. lol

I still think something like signVOX is the way to go down the road. Especially since you can apparently access signVOX from anywhere so that could really help my boss out, but like others have said initially it will take more time to set-up. I think for now we just need to get a simple organizational system in place with a funny name like "hot potato" or "clear thingy" then we can consider moving to something else. lol

We shoud be having a meeting this week, so fingers crossed we can agree to be more organized.

J Hill Designs · Sep 2, 2014

I use the 'clear thingy' approach here, with the addition of a tiny php written 'job list' that I wrote from scratch.

JohnBFryJr · Oct 23, 2014

We do signs, tshirts, promo items, engraving, and embroidery. When I was in IT we used Remedy to sort through tickets. We currently have a colored work order for each department and it always looks like a rainbow threw up on the desk. Most everything gets accounted for. Every now and then something gets overlooked. Will sign tracker or signvox be able to tell the difference between the departments? I don't need to scroll through all the other departments to find my ticket do I? I would also like something that acted like a POS system so that an invoice gets spit out. Half the time someone orders something they don't know what it costs until they pick it up. They might order sign A then call back and want us to paint the sign, then call back and need a digital print.
I know there is money left on the table to be collected at the end of the day that this software would help collect.

SignVOX · Oct 31, 2014

JohnBFryJr said:
We do signs, tshirts, promo items, engraving, and embroidery. When I was in IT we used Remedy to sort through tickets. We currently have a colored work order for each department and it always looks like a rainbow threw up on the desk. Most everything gets accounted for. Every now and then something gets overlooked. Will sign tracker or signvox be able to tell the difference between the departments? I don't need to scroll through all the other departments to find my ticket do I? I would also like something that acted like a POS system so that an invoice gets spit out. Half the time someone orders something they don't know what it costs until they pick it up. They might order sign A then call back and want us to paint the sign, then call back and need a digital print.
I know there is money left on the table to be collected at the end of the day that this software would help collect.

Yes shopVOX does. You can also configure your own "stages" which could be your "departments" and even have due dates when a given stage should be completed for a give job. Also you can assign machine resources and human resources for each step and schedule date and time allocated to the jobs. http://try.shopvox.com/express-signs101/ for a free 15 day trial and take if for a spin.

jrsc · Oct 31, 2014

SignVOX said:
Yes shopVOX does. You can also configure your own "stages" which could be your "departments" and even have due dates when a given stage should be completed for a give job. Also you can assign machine resources and human resources for each step and schedule date and time allocated to the jobs. http://try.shopvox.com/express-signs101/ for a free 15 day trial and take if for a spin.

Is there a way to do this in signvox? That would be very helpful.

SignVOX · Nov 1, 2014

jrsc said:
Is there a way to do this in signvox? That would be very helpful.

Hi it is not in signVOX since signVOX was not designed with this in mind. Here is how we are going to enable current signVOX users.

Either

1. You can integrate your "production" worklfow from signVOX orders so when you create a job for an order then it will create jobs in shopVOX Express.
or
2. In about 6 months (after shopVOX is a bit more stable and kinks are worked out) we will provide a migration path to signVOX users to move to shopVOX Pro which will have all these features.

jrsc · Nov 2, 2014

SignVOX said:
Hi it is not in signVOX since signVOX was not designed with this in mind. Here is how we are going to enable current signVOX users.

Either

1. You can integrate your "production" worklfow from signVOX orders so when you create a job for an order then it will create jobs in shopVOX Express.
or
2. In about 6 months (after shopVOX is a bit more stable and kinks are worked out) we will provide a migration path to signVOX users to move to shopVOX Pro which will have all these features.

Is shopvox pro going to be replacing signvox?

SignVOX · Nov 3, 2014

jrsc said:
Is shopvox pro going to be replacing signvox?

Yes and NO...

Yes - for all new signups they will be only getting shopVOX (Express or Pro)
No - Because signVOX will be supported for atleast the next 24 months and see how many of our current customers want to keep using signVOX or move to shopVOX. If the majority want to keep using signVOX we will keep signVOX around, if not provide the migration path to shopVOX Pro.

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