need some advice

[Sparky903]

i need a database that will track customer information, machine information, "check-in/Drop Off", work order, invoice, payments, quotes, work history. i forgot how to build the tables and link them together. I need to be able to just enter the customer ID and/or machine serial number and pull up the work history.. I'm lost here and its driving me crazy plus if anyone could help me make a checklist for an inspection before i power up the computer that would be great

Any table names and fields would be a great help.

I'm using Open Office because its simpler for me i would like to be able to build this database with "O.O." I dont like using access because it gets too complicated for me.

 

[Kitten Kong]

Why reinvent the wheel. There are multiple trackers out there. Search the forum, and you will find a large number.

Which will do what you require, and far more besides.

 

[freedomit]

Why build a system when you can buy one off the shelf? I always steer people away from custom software/databases coz in the long run it will become a nightmare.

Check our RepairShopper, CommitCrm etc

 

[dombooth]

What your describing is PC Repair Tracker

 

[rsarceno]

Im using CommitCRM and like it a lot. They might have a demo version you can try,

 

[Mainstay]

We use quick books for invoicing and crm and Google drive for repair tickets

 

[gadgetfixup]

If you're looking for a free solution, we used OsTicket for years before moving to RepairShopr. If you have webhosting already with Cpanel there is a good chance they have OsTicket script you can just install.

 

[drnick5]

There are plenty of options that already exist.

The big ones talked about on here are

Repair Shopr - designed for our industry, I just recently signed up and in the process of testing and migrating user data to start using it. The biggest short coming I've found is there aren't any sort of Queues you can set up (ex. a bunch work queue). It also doesn't have any easy way to alert someone (say a secretary) that an estimate is ready to be delivered to a client. (only solution here is to manually assign the ticket to that worker, I'd like a system that once an estimate is made its passed off to whoever is going to be making the call).

Mhelpdesk - This is a more general piece of software designed to work with a multitude of industries. It has some pre configured templates, one of which is for computer repair. They just launched Mhelpdesk 2.0, I can't really comment on that as I only reviews the original version and decided on repair shopr.

PC Repair Tracker - this is pretty popular on technibble. You can buy a license for a 1 time fee and run it on a server in your shop, or I believe you can now run it in a hosted model and pay monthly. when I looked at this, it seemed PERFECT for in store jobs and repairs, but lacked in other areas, I haven't looked at this package in a while either, so things say have changed.

CommitCRM - a general CRM package that will track customers and tickets, not specifically designed for our industry but ti can be configured that way.

 

[gadgetfixup]

Repair Shopr - designed for our industry, I just recently signed up and in the process of testing and migrating user data to start using it. The biggest short coming I've found is there aren't any sort of Queues you can set up (ex. a bunch work queue). It also doesn't have any easy way to alert someone (say a secretary) that an estimate is ready to be delivered to a client. (only solution here is to manually assign the ticket to that worker, I'd like a system that once an estimate is made its passed off to whoever is going to be making the call).

We struggled with the same issue as we have a clerk, usually the same one that did the intake of the computer call with the estimate for repairs. What I did was set up each clerk their own account. When a tech finishes diagnosis he has a canned message on the hidden side where he sends the clerk an email telling her the ticket is ready to call the client. He also changes these status to Waiting for Approval and changes the assignment to the clerk. When it works as it should, the clerks get their emails, find the tickets and makes the call to the client. Once she gets the approval the system is about the same. She marks it approved, changes ticket back to the tech and fires an email to the tech. Each tech and clerk have their own machines for emails and such.

What I think would be better in our case is if we could fire messages instead of emails to alert the tech or clerk of a ticket status change. Some times the customers call the clerks wanting to talk about the tickets because they saw the emails before the clerks. The Clerks recover well but it would be nice to just fire text messages back and forth from the Repairshopr system.

We're constantly looking for a better system but that's what we've come up with for the time being.

 

[drnick5]

We struggled with the same issue as we have a clerk, usually the same one that did the intake of the computer call with the estimate for repairs. What I did was set up each clerk their own account. When a tech finishes diagnosis he has a canned message on the hidden side where he sends the clerk an email telling her the ticket is ready to call the client. He also changes these status to Waiting for Approval and changes the assignment to the clerk. When it works as it should, the clerks get their emails, find the tickets and makes the call to the client. Once she gets the approval the system is about the same. She marks it approved, changes ticket back to the tech and fires an email to the tech. Each tech and clerk have their own machines for emails and such.

What I think would be better in our case is if we could fire messages instead of emails to alert the tech or clerk of a ticket status change. Some times the customers call the clerks wanting to talk about the tickets because they saw the emails before the clerks. The Clerks recover well but it would be nice to just fire text messages back and forth from the Repairshopr system.

We're constantly looking for a better system but that's what we've come up with for the time being.

It sounds like you work in a similar way that we do. It sort of boggles my mind that software designed for a computer repair shop has a glaring shortcoming of having no real workflow to automate this. (Our current CRM system, we have a "bench queue" that everything gets signed into, with a "diag job". once the diag job is approved it emails the front desk and lets them know diag is ready for the customer. if she gets approval, she marks it as approved which then creates a "bench job" for us to actually perform the work. When thats done, we put the billables in this and save, which is assigned back to front desk to call for pickup.

what you've come up with for is similar to how i'm going to approach it in repair shopr. My big problem is having too many things for my techs to do for this to be done correctly (make sure to click this check box, and assign this, and put this here, then stand on one foot and click save). the more clicks a tech has to do, the more apt they are to miss one, leaving the ticket in limbo until someone notices it hasn't moved in a while.

Supposively they are working on queues that you can assign work to, but no word on when/if that will make it live.

 

[gadgetfixup]

I definitely agree it's too cumbersome. We are integrating this switch during our slow season but if this were later in the year, we probably would have bailed already. Way too many processes for something to go wrong and have a ticket fall through the crack.

Although RepairShopr was supposedly set up for computer shops it seems as though it was set up for a one man shop where one person knows every ticket and every customer. Very hard to imagine this software implemented in a shop with even 20 employees. We're small with just 10 employees and having a difficult time streamlining the workflow where nothing can fall through the crack, everything is documented and redundancy is minimal.

 

[drnick5]

I definitely agree it's too cumbersome. We are integrating this switch during our slow season but if this were later in the year, we probably would have bailed already. Way too many processes for something to go wrong and have a ticket fall through the crack.

Although RepairShopr was supposedly set up for computer shops it seems as though it was set up for a one man shop where one person knows every ticket and every customer. Very hard to imagine this software implemented in a shop with even 20 employees. We're small with just 10 employees and having a difficult time streamlining the workflow where nothing can fall through the crack, everything is documented and redundancy is minimal.

We are a bit smaller shop with 4 total employees, we've been transitioning from break fix to MSP (still doing sort of a hybrid right now). I've spent hours and hours looking up systems, and they ALL have shortcomings. I looked at PC repair tracker, m helpdesk, commit CRM, even looked at the big boys like Autotask, while each system has its strengths, they all have glaring weaknesses. Its very surprising to me someone hasn't built a better system by now, I'm sure TONS of shops are in the same position we are in, having to pick the lesser of all evils.

 

[gikstar]

There is also Connectwise which was built by an IT company and the program is very detailed orientated, but very expensive and time consuming to setup properly.

 

[glennd]

I still haven't found a nice ticket system for a one man shop that is not client-server but a simple windows program with a database and some workflow.

 

[pcpete]

We're small with just 10 employees

That is small? I doubt many repair shops have that many employees. I would guess you are doing 700,000 to 1,000,0000 per year in business.

 

[Oglshrub]

We use RepairShopR, but our work flow is definitely a little different. We use a separate bench dedicated to diagnostics, and custom repair statuses for in progress diagnostics, and complete diagnostics. When the diagnostics are complete we add it into the public comment field, make a repair estimate, email the estimate to the client, and move the status to diagnostic complete. From there the client can respond to the email and approve the estimate, or once room on our repair bench opens up we give them a call.

 

[SprinterTech-WI]

That is small? I doubt many repair shops have that many employees. I would guess you are doing 700,000 to 1,000,0000 per year in business.

we do that much or more with 6 employees and we are still small imo.