Reply To: Odds and Ends
Good Saturday Morning!!
Happy to answer your questions!
1. COM, CFA’s. we have the picture of fabric attached to the estimate (i’ll show you in the next class). So that’s your permanent record of what it looks like.
Once the order is complete, is there a need to hang on to COM’s and CFA’s?
2-3. we, too, cut off a little piece and attach it to a packing slip or whatever label vendor inserts into the bolt. We keep those in the folders. we now have 3 filing cabinets of these folders, accumulated over the last 16 years. my plan was to go through them and have my 12year old son scan them in. as i think through more, i do wonder the validity of doing it though: for the 1-2 instance where we would refer back to a physical snippet, he would spend hours scanning. is it really worth it? I’m coming to a realization that perhaps the physical snippet is not needed at all, provided the fabric spec and picture is captured either in the estimate or in the PM system. Would love to hear everyone’s thoughts.
4. We use an app called Measures. It’s been working great, however, it does not sync with OneDrive. So in order to get it off the ipad, we have to manually upload it. It is one part of the process that i’m not happy with. while i have one person creating estimates, it’s been ok. but it will rear it’s ugly head, when one person takes measurements and another has to put together an estimate
5. Airtable is a central repository of information. You can upload images, files, etc. So keep on drawing, then upload it: either in AT or OneDrive (or where you keep your files).
Let’s talk about paperless for a second. i do not hold ourselves to a super high standard of paperless. i know some do. i don’t. i just take this unrealistic expectation off the table. Make it easier for myself. if i don’t need to print, i don’t. if i do need to print, i just do. i will be making an better effort to scan all future paperwork, so that we don’t accumulate files, once the order is complete. but while, it’s pending, having physical snippets, CFA’s, confirmations sometimes is helpful.
where i feel strongly about paperless is with Project Management System. As many details as possible, should be cloud-based. Primary reason is so that someone else, NOT YOU, can update, manage, follow-up, etc. YOU, as the CEO, can keep track on what’s happening, while you’re vacationing in Paris 🙂
hope this makes sense!
xo, v.