How Do You Keep Track Of Customer Configurations?

It would be nice if there is, maybe there is...a software that can link your data back to your accounting, invoicing software with a QR code. You can then label the devices with your own QR sticker for future reference. The data will still need to be entered into the customer account, but what if that software also help with some default configurations? 

Hrm...

Eugene,

Great question, hopefully you'll get additional feedback from other integrators here.

The spreadsheet method is pretty common and was how I tracked/managed even multiple hundred camera installations as an integrator.

In some cases, a project management software (Integrator Top PM Software) will have templates that can be created and then filled in by technicians in the field.

Additionally, as an integrator, I used the Camera Calculator to lay out cameras for sales/designs and used the CSV Export to build the base spreadsheet because it includes the camera names, models and a reference location on the print. I would add a couple additional columns for IP address, server names, etc and fill those in manually.

As a side note, a good general checklist that can be customized for your use is our Video Surveillance Commissioning / Install Checklist

Typically spreadsheets are used. The most important part to remember is exporting the customers information from their system. This way in case of a catastrophic failure you can get the system up and running in a matter of minutes. Of course remember to copy to another location.

If you have the money and inclenation you could go with something like ITGlue. I used while working for an MSP. 

You can securely share data with your customers and encrypt important data - passwords, etc. 

Or you could go with a PSA - like Connectwise - if your feelibg adventurous. That way your front end can connect to your accounting and you can have 100% visibility of your customers, projects, equipment...

I’m often surprised how few of integrators are interested in investing in the right tools to scale their business while they are small. The justification is often that it is too costly or too complicated for currebt needs. The issue is, once things get complicated enough to justify the tool it is often very costly and time consuming and difficult toput in place. 

These types of tools often dictate process, given how they function. It is a lot easier to adapt to process when you’re small and nimble vs. When your medium sized and stuck in defined process.

just my 2 cents. 

I've been using Airtable a lot for making mini databases, particularly for stuff that is shared (eg: across multiple techs). It is pretty flexible and has some easy options to allow you to share a read only version of something (like to give your customer access without being able to accidentally mess things up), or read/write versions.

There is a subscription cost (and you get decent credits for referrals, but I'm not posting my referral link, just the straight URL to their website).

It probably wouldn't scale well to a super large customer base, but for something in that "in between" stage, it might work well for you. The major downside being that you have to do the initial setup (though they do have a lot of templates).

I've had the same requirement for years and use Neptus (disclaimer: I made it). It consists of a Droid you can install on a client site and it monitors devices, takes camera snapshots at custom intervals, manages passwords, monitors RAID, network topology and is pretty much an asset manager and alert system. It also stores all parameter changes to history so you can see changes over time or when an issue happened.

Bear in mind it's beta but will be going Prod soon:

Mylus Systems - Neptus

We use a combination of Spreadsheets is a program called Maintenance Connect. But I work directly for a large end user with their own integrators. The maintenance Connect was not our choice but sort of forced onto us for asset management.

Otherwise we just have master tracking spread sheets for each individual site we look after, containing camera number (call up number in our VMS), patch panel number, switch port number, switch IP address, asset number (self generated number for our asset management for auditing purposes) MAC address, IP Address, Serial number, Model, brief description of location, etc.

We basically use the same series of password across our company for cameras, depending on the complexity required (some newer firmwares have forced us to use more complex passwords). But when I worked for private integrators I did include user name and password as well.

I did this for intrusion systems and access control as well. I'd have a template on my OneDrive, or Google Drive and edit as I got while doing the job. I thought it worked out quite well. Saved me from having to decipher my chicken scratches, or losing papers and such.

I second IT glue, just started using them this year and I like we have a cloud database of all our clients info instead of excel sheets and dropbox accounts

ITglue is awsome which we have been using for awhile.  Great solution for documection and password managment though it is not cheap. 

Until you migrate to one of the more powerful suggestions above. Microsoft Onenote is good for categorizing and searching notes. It can be shared easy. If you have Office 365 it's already included.