Jeff Mottle Posted January 21, 2005 Share Posted January 21, 2005 Most of you likely don't know yet, but I have left Smoothe and am now working for a new company. I was hired to help Chris Bullen (some of you might know hom from the AU sessions he does every year), to lauch a new CG marketing company from an internal graphics department at a local architectual firm here in Calgary. Tentatively the name of the company is Element2 (pending government approval for the incorporation) Anyway, amoung many other things we are investigating software to manage the many aspects of day to day operations. While we do have access to the resources and software already implemented by the parent architectural firm, we are doing some due diligence to make sure we have the right solution moving forward. At Smoothe they had programmed an in-house intranet app to do much of this to a lesser degree, but we would like to find a solution/solutions to handle the following: - Project Management/Scheduling (Like Microsoft Project) - Timesheets and project hours (We use Wind2 Now) - Business/Finanacial analysis tools for projections, project fee tracking and budgeting (We use Wind2 and Simply Accounting) - Asset management (Like AlienBrain) - Contact Management - Project Correspondance and files I am curious what some of you guys use to do the above. I'm more intersted in enterprise level apps and workflows as every intention is to grow the company from the 4 person team we have now to a full service design communication and marketing firm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Cassil Posted January 21, 2005 Share Posted January 21, 2005 This may not be much help to you since I know so little about this sort of thing, but we use Deltek Advantage. I only use it for timekeeping and an expense report every now and then, but I believe the "bean counters" use it for many of the features you are looking for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtutaj Posted January 21, 2005 Share Posted January 21, 2005 just started looking for the same info a few days ago.. take a look at captureworks.com I had used a program a few years ago with a firm that I was working for that had some sort of timesheet package, just cant remember what it was, but it was a pain in the butt.. I will post what I find out after I make a few calls.. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
O+ Posted January 21, 2005 Share Posted January 21, 2005 after using a lot of other timekeeping methods, I'll second the Deltek timekeeper/management/billing/etc choice. very easy, very flexible, good organization, ease of off site management too. don't use it now because i'm solo, but it worked great, small or large teams. web: http://www.deltek.com/deltekweb.asp?id=7 As far as the asset/content management, that's a lot harder, i hear really good things from Arup + associates about their document management system, called 'columbus'. It is fairly inexpensive, but offers a very customizable system of management/standards/etc.. they developed it to help control file management in their hundreds of diverse offices around the world. It runs on top of your own file system, so it is really a simple and very effective way of organizing global standards while allowing personilized storage. web: http://www.oasys-software.com/product/dm/columbus/features.shtml just my 2 loons.. good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moshenko Posted January 21, 2005 Share Posted January 21, 2005 Not focused on the accounting side, but Basecamp (http://www.basecamphq.com) is a great project management service. Tried Project for a while and got really tired of it's "ability" to customize the hell out of everything. Basecamp works well for me for creative-type workflow: setting out milestones, team members, contractors, tasks and file sharing. Service pricing is amazing, to boot. Good luck - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nisus Posted January 22, 2005 Share Posted January 22, 2005 Hi Jeff, We use the network version of Timesheet to keep track of our working hours... This combined with a list of the amount of hours to work is great to keep projects profitable ,-) As an administrator I can see timesheets of all members of the drawing team, so I have an update about the production hours that are left at any time without calculating much... http://www.entrysoft.com/Timesheet_Constructor.15.0.html I also use it as a planner... i.e. future events are input whenever necessary... rgds nisus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 This project management package was just mentioned on the SketchUp Newsletter. I remembered this thread and thought you might wish to take a look: http://www.sharedplan.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtutaj Posted January 28, 2005 Share Posted January 28, 2005 Jeff, talked to a couple of different type of firms here in chicago today.. Most of them use Deltek Vision.. even the big firms like HOK and RTKL. Left a message for the sales rep, we shall see what they say. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Mottle Posted January 28, 2005 Author Share Posted January 28, 2005 Thanks Mike and everyone else as well. I'm passing this info along to our accountant to review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cullen Posted January 28, 2005 Share Posted January 28, 2005 has anyone used archioffice? http://www.archioffice.com/main.html Our firm is looking at it right now and are pretty pleased so far. It is based off of the filemaker pro platform. If anyone is, I'ld like to hear your imput on it. Thanks, crw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now