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Author Topic: Need software idea for a business Kyle Watkins Expert Film Handler Posts: 185 From: Stuart, FL, USA Registered: Sep 2001 posted 12-07-2004 09:05 PM                     I need some sort of software to kept track of customers. I do car alarms and remote start installs. And want to kept all the info on a computer. i need to be able to search from differt fileds, such as car make, model, or what i install in the car. what i have now is all done by paper work. Any one have a idea.  |  IP: Logged Ben Holley Film Handler Posts: 65 From: Texas Registered: Feb 2004 posted 12-07-2004 09:47 PM                    you probably wouldnt even need to buy any software, just pay some computer science student\rouge programmer to do something simple for you. It sounds like a mock program the keep us doing over and over question, how many clients do u plan on having in your system?  |  IP: Logged Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 12-08-2004 01:21 AM                        It's called Microsoft Excel.  |  IP: Logged Dustin Mitchell Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1865 From: Mondovi, WI, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 12-08-2004 03:27 AM                     Access would probably be more appropriate.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-08-2004 04:18 AM                        Filemaker would be even better.  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 12-08-2004 04:35 AM                        From the information you give, any off-the-shelf database package could be configured to store that information and let you search it in the way you describe. You probably wouldn't even need all the features of Access or Filemaker - the database component of MS Works or the spreadsheet component of the totally free Open Office may well be enough. It boils down to what features you need specifically and whether you're prepared to climb up the learning curve of programming the structure yourself. If you're going to pay someone else to do it, I would suggest making a detailed, accurate list of the information you need it to store and how you need to retrieve it. Don't leave out any detail, however trivial, because it'll be a lot more complicated and potentially cost a lot more to add in extra facilities later.  |  IP: Logged Chris Medley Expert Film Handler Posts: 180 From: McKinney, TX, USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 12-08-2004 06:26 AM                        IMHO ACT would be better because you could keep track of your customers and any coresspndance with them, as well as meetings and appointments  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-08-2004 10:01 AM                     I vote for FileMaker. It's a bit of an expense at first but it blows M$ access away. Further, it's cross-platform and you can include all kinds of multimedia content if you need to. (e.g.: You can take photographs of your work and store that along with each record.) You can build a custom interface with it if you want to and you can even publish databases to the internet. (Or your intranet.) The learning curve is a lot less steep than Access. In just a few days you can be WELL on your way to building a database that you can start using right away. Yes, I like Open Office too. But the problem I have with it is that, if you have trouble with it, you're pretty much on your own. IF you know enough about computers that you can handle your own tech support or research the internet for it, then I say OK. If you want to be able to rely on the company for at least some small measure of support then go with the commercial product. The short answer is, "You get what you pay for."  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 12-08-2004 12:54 PM                        Agreed completely. I've had almost 100% good experiences with Open Office. The one real drawback I've found is that its Powerpoint equivalent is more clunky and less straightforward for editing the content of slides. But even so, it still does the job. And the wordprocessor has a lot of useful features that MS Word doesn't - exporting straight to PDF without the need for Acrobat, for one thing. I've also found it very stable - no unexpected program terminations so far. But as you say, there's no 'phone support service and no 'Open Office for Dummies' type book you can get from your local W.H. Smiths. But for a fully featured package which has most of the features of MS Office, some which it doesn't, which is almost as easy to use and is totally free, Open Office is still quite an achievement, IMHO.  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-08-2004 01:08 PM                     what about star office that is what I use still (the os2 version)  |  IP: Logged Chase Hanson Expert Film Handler Posts: 172 From: San Diego, CA Registered: Oct 2004 posted 12-08-2004 02:16 PM                     If you want to learn SQL is teh shit.  |  IP: Logged

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