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Take a look at FrameReady. I've been using it for 4 years. It's the most intuitive on I've seen. It was designed by the husband of a custom framer, so it's in his best intrests to make it good! They have a downloadable demo at www.frameready.com
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Wal-mart...the Ferengi of our times.
I found the difficulty of framing software is in the dynamics of a frame shop. Framing software that I considered handled many facets of the framing business but did it on one computer in one place in the shop. This didn't work in my shop. It is possible to install a number of computers running the software on a network but being unsure of system success it's hard to spend 5 or 10 thousand dollars. I took a long look at the paper driven system that we used in our shop which had evolved over 20 years. We needed a computer pricing system at the design tables to give accurate prices easily as we were selling. It also had to be convenient to keep cost and prices up to date. Secondly we needed a computer in the back shop to keep the real data. By real data I mean after we have done final measurements and details and to complete the customer information. We don't want to do all this data entry at the design tables while the customer is waiting. At the design table we want to concentrate on the customer and selling not pushing a mouse and keys. Besides I walk around a lot when I sell. Another data point is the payment and in our shop there is a separate cash counter and we are using a POS computer. At the end of the day this is rung off and the data is entered in the office book keeping computer. So at this point we are running a number of systems which are spin offs of our old paper system and this will continue to evolve but at this point I can't seem to find a package of software that can handle the dynamics of our shop. I think this brief babling of mine covers why many framers are having a hard time finding software they like.
On the wall in our work area is a card file. Each job has a file card and this card moves around the file board according to the job's progress. There are color coded stickers indicating special things like promised completion dates. If it's in a short of materials column a glance at the card will tell anyone what we're waiting for and when it's expected. This board and these cards can be seen from anywhere in the shop. This progress system works so well I wouldn't even think of trying to put a computer in it's place.
We have 6 computers including the Fletcher F-6100 CMC.