Subscriber Discussion

App/Tool/Process For Tracking Minor Project Related Tasks For The Entire Company

JH
Jay Hobdy
May 30, 2018
IPVMU Certified

We are a small company and do mostly 10-30 camera installs, with some access control, and intrusion mixed in.

I do not have a dedicated project manager, and ultimately it falls on me. But I am trying to sell.

We use Insightly as our CRM package, and we have project related tasks that automatically pop us such as issue COI, contact IT department to get IP address, complete training etc. But my techs do not have access to this. This is more for the office manager to check off that the standard items are completed.

 

But small stuff comes up. On our most recent project, a monitor mount broke during install. Also, there was a question of whether some old cameras should come down. This was all conveyed in a group text message. Guess what? The mount was never ordered, and the old cameras were never addressed. The old cameras came from a kit so there was a huge pile of cable at the DVR and it looked like crap. The client sent me pictures... uggh

 

So any suggestions on an app where everyone can put project notes in and we can keep track of what needs to be done? We use Asana for internal projects such as marketing, trade shows etc. I wonder how well it would work for this.

Avatar
Brian Rhodes
May 30, 2018
IPVMU Certified

It's an interesting question and I suspect the answers vary even within individual integrators.

Do you have a ticketing or job order system?  Specifically, is there a system to get customer 'sign-offs' when a job is 'done'?

JH
Jay Hobdy
Jun 03, 2018
IPVMU Certified

Brian, not really. It is all part of our growing process. We are supposed to have a sign off sheet for people to sign that xx ,yy etc was done but there is no enforcement of that. I have someone helping me the next couple months get that organized. I am great at organizing but all of my time is spent selling/marketing I can not focus on those items.

 

For service work, we have a service program, Alarm Biller. Only our office and service tech are using that.

 

I know there are apps specifically for this, I figured there would be more feedback on this. I was really looking for an app that allowed us to group conversations and tasks by project.

MM
Michael Miller
Jun 03, 2018

We use D-tools, Connectwise, and ITglue.  D-tools might be a good solution for you depending on if you want to switch quoting tools as it can handle quoting, design and project management.  They have a Mobile Install tool which you can use with your techs to manage the install process.  This tool allows you to push info out to your techs in the field and them to push info back into D-tools so you can see in real time as things get completed. 

The quoting/design side if D-tools is very impressive.  Everything starts with systems and locations.  You can also build accessories into your products so everytime you install your favorite camera all the accessories for that camera are right there for you to pick which helps eliminate missing the extra parts on a project. Also, you can build the install labor into your products so you don't have to think about labor when quoting projects.   We added the labor for so it matched a basic install with drop ceilings and we can add more labor when needed but it makes it much easier for non-engineers to quote projects. 

(1)
UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #1
Jun 04, 2018

you can try https://trello.com/ and see if it works..

(1)
UI
Undisclosed Integrator #2
Jun 05, 2018

There are hundreds of project management tools / apps that I’ve seen and used. Depending on your needs and level of complexity many of them would not be the right fit.

in my experience any platform you choose, you’ll have to live in it day to day, otherwise information is stale, or no one catches the updates they need to get jobs done. So, choose wisely. Per using costing gets expensive in a hurry if this tool isn’t core to your business, so kight not be worth it. 

For your size something like basecamp might be a great fit. Cheap, not per user costing, and you can create templated project to do’s for your 10-30 canera jobs. These to do’s can be auto assigned to people / groups, etc. Has a spot for files and you can forward emails into the platform. 

Or something much simpler could be todoist. Great light project management / project management tool. Also inexpensive. 

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