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Author Topic: Rental Management Software?  (Read 31180 times)

eric lenasbunt

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Re: Rental Management Software?
« Reply #30 on: August 25, 2016, 11:24:56 PM »

So Riley, you have me thinking now too. I use Quickbooks Online for quotes and accounting, etc. I'm fine with our company shared google calendars for scheduling and we use Drive to share riders and docs related to shows. We currently manually do pull sheets in excel. You have me thinking something like what you have done in FileMaker might be the ticket for inventory tracking and pull sheet creation.
My biggest problem with picking a solution thus far is I don't want to shift away from Quickbooks. My accountant loves it, my guys are all used to it, I'm used to it.

Change is hard...
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Scott Holtzman

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Re: Rental Management Software?
« Reply #31 on: August 26, 2016, 02:47:15 AM »

Riley with all due respect on the production side I defer to the experience and wisdom here without question.  To compare some code wonks hacking in Filemaker to a purpose built package created with "group think" generating the requirements is akin to the amatuer production processes everyone critiques.

15 years ago it was unthinkable to move phones service to the Internet let alone to an Open Source solution.  Today FreePBX is one of the most popular vertical packages with 20 million active systems.   A lot of folks told us it could not have been done.  Not only did we do that but we built an ecosystem with 100's of small companies producing value added enhancements and tens of thousands of individuals earning a living supporting the system.  The Open Source model works.

I am not talking about hosting the system on a homemade server in a basement.  Open Stack cloud platform provides a distributed platform for application deployment.  It runs on hundreds of servers with multiple Internet drains. 

I am not claiming I can snap my fingers and build another project, this is a thinner vertical.  However I can leverage some developer friendships and my hosting platform. 

Let's take this one step at a time and put some specs to paper.  Craig has offered us a forum with some specific rules of engagement. 

I believe we can put together an awesome system that complements our workflow and enhances process. 

With a properly written Open Source application you can choose to run it in the cloud hosted, in an Amazon EC^2 instance or on your own server.  That's was the "free" is all about.






No sad tale of computers crashing and burning and years of work lost forever just the admonition that this is my livelihood and likely that of others on the board if they are looking into dedicated rental and booking software.  As such I suggest keeping the heart and soul of your business in a warm and cozy LAN.  One not insignificant issue is privacy.  It may be necessary to keep personal information about employees in your database, SS numbers,drivers licenses, Med cards etc.  On a LAN its a non-issue, on a server over the net, well how big is your legal department?  Customer credit cards?  Lets not even go there.

I did roll my own a long, long time ago in a land far, far away ( seems that way at least ) and there have been more than a few times over the years that I was able to stay in business on the information level when a lack of net access would have had me twiddling my thumbs at crucial times of the year ( seems like hurricane season always comes just before the fall crush of work in the Mid Atlantic ).  My in house database comes in at just a little under 100 MB which is both data and structure because thats how Filemaker works.  Thats a lot of data to push around over the net in a browser window on a phone.  I use cloud storage for show docs in things like Evernote, Smartsheet and ShoFlow and they work fine, they fuck up occasionally and then they work fine again.  They all have a lot more resources behind them than I have as a small event production operator or that I'd expect a small consortium of production operators could likely muster and none of those cloud operations hold the core of my business data. 

If you're looking forward the digital Nirvana of getting a client email on your phone while you're waiting for headline act to go on and thinking that you can log into your cloud data,whip out a quick pre-chewed quote form and send it off before the truck gets back to the barn then you can likely do that already with existing and much cheaper cloud tools.  Of course if you can do quotes with your phone and a pre-chewed proposal form letter then you probably don't need dedicated software in the first place.  Booking software is really only an improvement on a copy of Excel and your computer calendar when you have multiple people booking multiple complex shows and rentals on top of each other with lots of moving parts in inventory, crew, transport and cross rentals. If you're simply booking the A rig or the B rig it's not worth the effort or the expense.  More than that can be a real  straightjacket on your work flow as anyone who lives with it 60 hours a week will tell you.

Not that I want to dissuade anyone from having a good time playing with their computers.
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Cailen Waddell

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Re: Rental Management Software?
« Reply #32 on: August 26, 2016, 08:14:46 AM »

Also the FileMaker 15 licensing model is disappointing in a number of ways....


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Rob Spence

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Re: Rental Management Software?
« Reply #33 on: August 30, 2016, 01:55:48 PM »

At this time I avoid cloud based dependencies due to the law being way behind technology.

Most of the cloud based services will only commit to billing you and that pretty much sums it up.  They do require you to do plenty.

When they
1) lose your data
2) corrupt your data
3) share it improperly
You have no legal recourse at this time.

So, a good design, in my opinion would allow for a variety of back end storage solutions.


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Kevin McDonough

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Re: Rental Management Software?
« Reply #34 on: August 31, 2016, 10:22:51 AM »

I’m not sure if someone had maybe PM’d you, but since no one seems to have started off the list of requirements at least on this screen, let me be the first to get the ball rolling. People can feel free to add or comment as they see fit.


Inventory page
Obviously we’d need a page for entering and maintaining our stock of equipment. This would be a large database of items and all the relevant information would be able to be entered.

Basic information like the name of each item, manufacturer details, serial numbers, dates and costs of purchase, daily/weekly/monthly rental prices. For items that you had more than one of, you could just enter a quantity of the items for basic things (such as a number of each size of cable) or enter individual info for each one if they had their own serial numbers, barcodes etc.

If you have a barcoding system you could link into that and scan the items, and a facility to attach files such as user manuals and spec sheets would help (the software wouldn’t necessarily be able to read all the formats, just attach a link to the files and launch it in whatever program was suitable when clicked).

There would be a facility for marking it as away for repair and logging the details and progress, and a notes section to make more general notes such as previous service information or unique characteristics.

There would be the ability to add items to a group, for example different rack items to a rack case or a selection of cables to a trunk, and these should be able to be done fairly quickly on the fly for one off shows, or saved as a common grouping if it’s something used regularly such as an amp rack with processor, several amps, and patch panels etc.

And finally a stock check function would be good, so that every six months or year or whatever you can run through everything, and by scanning barcodes or entering quantities it’ll go through your inventory (taking into account what is currently on hire or out for repair) and make sure the quantities match.


Client/venue/staff database.
Databases to be able to store all of the relevant details for both clients with their names and addresses etc, and also venues. As well as all the basic info, a notes section would be handy for miscellaneous info or reminders, and there should be able to attach files such as tech specs or riders for long term clients, technical drawings or specs for venues, line array software files etc etc (again, the software may not be able to open the file itself, but should launch the relevant program to do this.)

It should also show the last few quotes/systems that were used at this venue or with this client, and have an easy way of just retriggering a new quote using the same info if you’re just repeating the same system or set up again.

If there was any especially important information, you should be able to set it up as a pop up when added to a quote. So for example if a venue has any especially restrictive vehicle access and you can only use certain trucks, or you need to take into account a specific requirement, you can set that to trigger a pop up reminder when you add it to a show/quote.

A staff database would also be good, adding in common staff and a database of your freelancers. There would be all of their usual details, any skills they have (particular knowledge of certain systems or whatever) and a way of marking their availability if they left you know they are either actively looking for work over a specific period (perhaps a gap in between tours) or if they are unavailable at certain times (either one off, or set to recurring weekly or monthly etc).


Show build page
You would be able to search through your inventory and add items to a show and build a quote.

Common groups of items such as prebuilt racks or cable trunks can be quickly added as pre-saved groups, or you can quickly build a group item on the fly if this is a one off rack or case etc.

It would be handy if you could set it to prompt you with questions and reminders when you add items to quotes, and then based on these answers it then populates the quote with the accessories needed.

For example you add an amp to a quote it could pop up asking you if you’re using the 16a power cable or the 32a power cable so you remember to check and take the correct one. You add a desk to a quote and it asks you if you’re taking the small stage box or big one, and then adds the small or big stage box on to the show file and the appropriate multicore cable to go with it. Or when you select speakers it asks ground stacked or flying, and either adds the ground stack adaptors and accessories, or flying frames and flying accessories as needed per your selection.

There should be a space to link into your client/venue database to add to the quote who the client is and the venue, and there should be a space to attach files such as tech specs, copies of emails and all other relevant documentation for the show. 

It should also link to the files stored for the venue or client in the contacts database so they are included. When you add a client, if it’s a long term touring client and you already have previous riders saved in the client info database, it should get added to the file repository for that show/quote, and similarly if you have venue details stored that includes technical drawings or specs, or previous line array calculation files etc, they should also be added to the file section for that quote.

And you should also be able to assign staff to the show, and have that be reflected in the calendar and staff database so you know they’re not available for other shows.

Once the show it built and all the information is added, notes etc etc, you should be able to generate a quote to send to the client and a pick list for the warehouse.

Calendar View
You should be able to look at all of this as a simple list, but also on a calendar view to see your upcoming week, month, quarter etc.  If common staff are marked as out on tour in your quote, or if they’ve indicated they’ll be on holiday or otherwise unable to work, this could also be shown when clicked. Some sort of colour coded system would be handy to quickly show what stage the show is at: when the enquiry has been received, when the quote has been accepted, deposit paid etc.




k
« Last Edit: August 31, 2016, 10:25:53 AM by Kevin McDonough »
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James Feenstra

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Re: Rental Management Software?
« Reply #35 on: August 31, 2016, 01:20:44 PM »

being able to make packages (ie. A rig, B rig, stage cable kit, etc) from existing inventory and having it note in the inventory page that X is assigned to Y would be useful

ie.

I have 200 15' XLRS in inventory, I put 40 into a 'stage patch' kit that goes out as a stage patch kit

Inventory says I have 160 available, with 40 assigned to 'stage patch'

If I open up the 'stage patch' item, it gives me a list of all the stuff included in that kit

Also;

The ability to search by show
Assign technicians to the show (so like a 'serialized' inventory of staff, so when I assign two techs to a show it pops up a list of available technicians that can be assigned). Automatically updates a calendar as people are added to shows. This would assign based on a confirmed show, not just a quote, same way you'd assign equipment.
Subcategories for equipment, user assignable, ie. lighting, video, rigging, audio
The ability to do multiple price structures, ie day, weekend, week, month, purchase
Would be nice to have an accounting add on that does things like depreciation, allows you to enter expenses vs shows, etc
Something that creates data on what gets rented to easily calculate ROI/what your hot items are/etc. This could be sortable by the user created categories, and also do a 'category overview' that shows generally what generates you the most business. Helps in forward planning- if you're doing a ton of lighting rentals it would make sense to invest more in lighting than buying that new PA system/etc. Being able to see # of total rentals, total revenue and total profit per category would be useful.

I probably have more suggestions that I can't think of at the moment....
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Scott Holtzman

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Re: Rental Management Software?
« Reply #36 on: September 01, 2016, 01:51:18 AM »

Great stuff guys, keep it coming.

I am not ignoring the thread.  Just going to wait until after the holiday weekend to kick this off.  I still need to have my conversation with Craig Leerman so I follow the rules of engagement.

Thanks again....

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Scott AKA "Skyking" Holtzman

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Aisle 6

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Re: Rental Management Software?
« Reply #37 on: September 26, 2016, 02:27:07 AM »

I recall from a few years ago when this topic came up, that a few LABsters who were familiar with the FileMaker Pro database design platform, suggested using it as an alternative to purchasing an off-the-shelf s/w package.

Did anyone ever report here that they were building their own system in FM Pro?  If so, was it in a recent FM version?  They're up to FM v15 now.

File Maker Pro 15 sure looks the goods. It is a little beyond me in terms of learning curve vs time though. : P
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Scott Holtzman

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Re: Rental Management Software?
« Reply #38 on: September 26, 2016, 03:08:38 AM »

File Maker Pro 15 sure looks the goods. It is a little beyond me in terms of learning curve vs time though. : P

I am sure there is nothing wrong with FileMaker 15, the software has been around forever.

However if I am going to do this it's not going to be done with proprietary software.  What we are talking about doing is creating the software using modern Open Source tools that facilitate community development and re-use of libraries.

The LAMP stack (Linux-Apache-MySQP-PHP) is for all intents are purposes ubiquitous.  You can run it on your own server, from a Raspberry Pi to a cluster managed by Open Stack or host it in the cloud.  Configuration and Data will all be held in the DB so backup/restore and migration is painless.

Code Ignited is my preferred environment https://www.codeigniter.com/ although some of my other project is moving to bootstrap http://getbootstrap.com/

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Scott AKA "Skyking" Holtzman

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Andrew Henderson

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Re: Rental Management Software?
« Reply #39 on: September 26, 2016, 09:01:00 AM »

Something that creates data on what gets rented to easily calculate ROI/what your hot items are/etc. This could be sortable by the user created categories, and also do a 'category overview' that shows generally what generates you the most business.
This would be great.

It would be nice to be able to view this along with what you originally paid for the item(s), and approximate current resale value.



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ProSoundWeb Community

Re: Rental Management Software?
« Reply #39 on: September 26, 2016, 09:01:00 AM »


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