Project Management Programs for Small Photographic Companys
For my business I use Quick books online to keep track of my financials. I am quite happy with this online program.
What I feel I need is a program that we can access and track all the different projects we are working on. As a gallery and printer we are being commissioned months even year in advance and
keeping track of details on various fronts is getting to become tedious.
Does any one here use a program that two or more people can access , update and garner reports at a moments notice a complete snapshot where each project is. This program should be able to hold not only word documents but as well quotes and also folders which could contain marketing, JPEGs , drawings , layouts and such that are part of customers or special projects.
Almost like a huge journal that can be easily managed and seen.
hope this makes sense.
Bob
Re: Project Management Programs for Small Photographic Companys
Don't know if any of these are any good as I don't use them but we had similar when I worked in Financial Services. I am retired incidentally and have no affiliation with any of the programs or makers/manufacturers!
http://www.capterra.com/project-management-software/
Re: Project Management Programs for Small Photographic Companys
Check out google apps and try some of the 3rd party options out. These are web-based apps you can connect to your (and others) gmail accounts for collaboration. The upside of this is that it will integrate well with online calendar/scheduling/file storage/notifications, etc...
Re: Project Management Programs for Small Photographic Companys
Try Asana for free.
https://asana.com/
Re: Project Management Programs for Small Photographic Companys
you might also want to look at "Customer Relationship Management" software (CRM ). SugarCRM seems to be at the top of most lists and there is a free version.
CRMs are as much about keeping everything about your clients in a client account as they are about marketing. I think it will do what you want unless you are thinking more about time management of your staff but I think you can maybe do that too.
Re: Project Management Programs for Small Photographic Companys
I am sure that these (previous) are better suggestions but I first thought of computerized medical charting. If that sounds worth it check with OHIP.
Re: Project Management Programs for Small Photographic Companys
Re: Project Management Programs for Small Photographic Companys
I just installed sugar and it looks pretty good. Definitely worth taking a look at. You can get the "Communuity Edition" for free.
The blue button on the right. The green button is for a trial version which expires unless you pay.
http://www.sugarcrm.com/download
You can definitely upload documents and images but I'm not sure if there is an option to view image thumbnails inside SugarCrm.
It also serves as a marketing tool where you can email all your clients with new services etc.
Re: Project Management Programs for Small Photographic Companys
That captera site that Melonian posted has a lot of other software categories that may be worth a look as well as project management and CRM
http://www.capterra.com/photography-studio-software/
bear in mind that any cloud based service will require you to upload images to the cloud which if you are working with big high res images might be pretty slow unless you have fast upload speeds from your studio/darkroom/office.
Re: Project Management Programs for Small Photographic Companys
Bob,
I own an advertising agency that deals with clients, partners and vendors from around the globe on very complex assignments that require attention to detail and easy access and tracking at a moments notice. We have been using an on-line application called Basecamp (https://basecamp.com/). It is simple, flexible and you can track/manage and follow projects from anywhere with a few clicks or even on your phone. File management is also simple. We've been using this for 8 years now and are quite happy with how it has worked for us. Happy to give you more info if you'd like. No affiliation whatsoever. Just a satisfied customer.