Work Order / Job Flow Software or Process, what do you do?

[Christian @ Visual Graphx]

Those are all really good examples of what I'm trying to accomplish. One question though that is my biggest struggle, communicating the required materials and process from sales (me) to prepress/design to production without assumptions or confusion. I'm starting to build all my quotes in SignVox based off the quicksets we use in Onyx so that there is a direct translation, but short of retyping everything in the description in SignVox or jumping through 15 steps in their job manager there is no clear way to communicate it in SignVox.

My biggest concern is efficiency and accuracy, it seems like with our current methods its a trade off and to me it seems like there is a simple solution I'm missing.

 

[Zendavor Signs]

I agree with a lot of the wisdom that has already been said. When you are small and used to doing things yourself, it is hard to spend the time to document all the details. We include a "blurb" on all of our artwork files that includes all the details (vinyl and lam used, substrate, etc). Yes it is redundant, but I don't know of anything (that's not horribly complex) that will tie the estimating system in with artwork files and details. We have an approval process then for the artwork with the blurb. That way the salesperson/CSR/whomever can check to make sure everything looks right. It's not perfect. I have a colleague that runs a much larger shop, and they have a very fancy workflow setup, but they still have issues. A lot of it comes down to having good people that can use common sense (I am always impressed when one of my employees says "I know you wrote this up this way, but it doesn't seem right...."). Our duplicate work order and artwork detail system acts as a check/balance system. Something that has helped for us is simplifying our offerings, at least where we can. We have never offered "high-quality" or "standard-quality" prints. Everything is high-quality prints. Keeps things simple - the graphics will always look good and you never have to track print modes, etc. But we are not a high-volume print shop.

2CT - I would encourage you to stick with Signvox and upgrade to Shopvox when available. I think it will address at least some of the concerns you have. I know they are not the greatest PR company, but I think they have a solid product. The Shopvox videos look pretty impressive. Every time I get frustrated with Signvox, I remind myself of where I came from (10+ years with Cyrious, so little progress there, infinitely complex software program).

 

[neil_se]

Do you have all of your available materials entered into Signvox? In my shop the materials get spec'd up front in the quote and the printer simply selects whatever material has been spec'd. I've got 27 different vinyls, 11 laminates and 45 substrates on my list so there's never any confusion about which is required (or about what was used in the past). Anything in production that is outside our norm has a note entered by the salesperson in the production notes section, eg "Hemmed with pockets top & bottom", "Eyelets in top corners only", "Reverse for second surface mounting", etc. The designer also puts the name of the approved print file here for the printer to locate on our server.

Signvox has been getting a bad rep on here lately but it's been a pretty comprehensive solution for us for 3 years. Yes there's things we'd like to change but it's a 95% match for our needs, we've had 350+ jobs in the system and still been able to function well. I'm not sure that some critics realise that large companies spend millions for tailored ERP packages and implementation, whereas Signvox is only about 0.1% of our monthly expenses. It's a system where you've got to be all-in for it to work smoothly, and even a few years on we're still fine tuning the way we use it and utilizing different aspects more. We could still be a lot better at using the scheduling calendars (which looks exactly like jfiscus's calendar above), at the moment we've still got a large whiteboard wall to plan major jobs for the week. Our current focus is on entering sales leads and uploading all relevant assets.

If one staff member couldn't be sick for a day or on holidays for a week without causing confusion for the rest of the shop, then the system isn't being used well enough.

 

[Aaron Clippinger]

I am reading this thread and I agree that there are aspects that are needed in the sign industry. Keeping track of what products you used on which job is important for repeat business and for teaching new employees how to make the same sign later on. Being able to track the costs to make sure you are charging the right amount and making a profit is a necessity. I am guessing you are a "For-Profit" company.

V Sign Software was created about 6 years ago for a sign company of 25 employees to handle all the aspects of a job from the second the phone rang, through to the invoice, and then job costing afterwards. It was made into a company 2+ years ago for resale out to the sign industry. When V was at the ISA expo in Vegas this year we saw a lot of smaller 3-5 employee shops coming and wanting to learn about our software. V was originally created for a shop that has enough work to need a project manager along with a sales staff. The smaller shops actually disagreed with us and said that this was a great tool to help them organize even for a smaller shop so work did not slip through cracks.

There is no magic bullet for organization and work flow to help squeeze every last drop of profit out the job. Each system is as good as what you put into it. If you are looking to purchase software to run your company, I would like for you to set up a 30 min demonstration of V Sign Software after perusing the website. The points I would like to point out when picking a software solution for your organization is: Does the software fit with the culture of my company? Do I need to make the company function differently in order for the software to be useful? Does this help me in getting the work out the back door, or do I spend more time keeping score then I do making money?

These questions are paramount when picking a software solution, as it will create a culture in which the job flows through your shop.

I am always available to answer questions. V might be the answer that you are looking for, and it may not. I look forward giving you a demo so you can decide.
www.vsignsoftware.com

 

[Gene@mpls]

GraphixCALC Sign Estimator was established in 2003 and is available for a Free 14 day Trial with an additional Free 30 minute walkthrough. We are reasonably priced, Not subscription based, Sync estimates on licensed computers and our UI is user friendly .

Please feel free to get your 14 day Free Trial @ http://graphixcalc.com/gc_downloads.html. Please contact us with any questions or concerns.

Didn't I read that you have a new update coming out? The release date on your website is 2012. I would like to trial the new version. Gene

 

[signcrafters]

have you looked at vTiger?

 

[Signed Out]

Does anybody use quickbooks for this?

 

[Sidney]

Work Flow and details

I know some sign estimate software products have work flow input areas for just about every possible aspect from conception to completion. Yes, I can put in estimated variables such as.....5 minutes on phone with customer, 5 minutes to load machine,10 min to rip, 20 minutes for print run, 15 minutes to remove material and apply to 4x8 substrate etc. etc. All that input would be great if it was a perfect world in the sign business. We can have 3 customers walk in at the same time, 2 phone calls come in and the printer gets jammed for some reason and the estimate goes out the door after all that time I just spent.
GraphixCALC Pro has a simple work flow that allows everyone to know what stage the project is at (and you can customize stages to verbiage you use). It also allows you to make notes to communicate issues or simply to communicate to each other. GrahixCALC Pro has a behind the scenes input area where you can input printer speed, dpi and time for runs once and it will adjust the actual expense accordingly.
GraphixCALC Pro may look simple but, don't let that fool you... it is a great sign estimator for any sign business.
I welcome your input and look forward in showing you what GraphixCALC Pro offers.

 

[Sidney]

GraphixCALC Work Flow

GraphixCALC Sign Estimator (GSE V3) offers a detailed yet easy to use Work Flow. Please visit us @ GraphixCALC.com and go to the download page for your free 14 day trial.