Post: #1

If anybody here is very familiar with a good, cheap Small Business Database sfotware, i will really appreciate your input.

I am currently in the middle of scaling up my sidebusiness, inventory processing is increasing and right now, simply using excel as a database managing software is not good enough anymore.

Before i go into what exactly my database needs are, here is the structure of the business:

Obtain used computer/parts -----> cannibalize them into different parts, test their functionality -----> sort and categorizes the functional parts -----> Use these functional parts to build refurbished computers from scratch -----> sell these refurbished computers.

That is the general structure of the business. The business is expanding and i need a cheap, solid small business database software that meet these criteria:

• Automatic detailed tracking of inventory levels, with alert features.
  

• Detailed tracking of cost per item. I also want it to be able to do billing, invoices, and payroll.
  

• Detailed tracking of workflow across different employees workstation. To keep track of turnover time for each different tasks, to help me keep my eye on lazy good-for-nothing university student employees.
  

• Different degree of access levels for different employees rank.
  

• Time sheet capabilities.
  

• I want the database to be linked to a scanner, because i need different computer parts to be scanned during the workflow process.
  

• I need the database software to be very customizable, where i can add different subcategories/subfields as i see fit.
  

• Speaking of which, i need a solid DBMS to run queries on data, to catalogue, capture data and sort them on different criteria that i specify. I need one with a solid CMS, i couldn't care less about CRM. My own inter-personal relationship skills is all the CRM that is needed.
  

• I dont need a NoSQL
  

• Supports PC and MAC.
  

• Preference is for web-enabled database; strong preference is for Desktop based database; the strongest preference is both desktop and web-enabled database software.
  

• Does anybody have any experience with filemaker pro or QuickBase or Access 2013 or BrilliantDatabase?
  

• What do you lads think of these lists of small business database software? any experience with them?
  

That is the general idea of what i need. I appreciate any help that i can get.

regards,

Nemencine

Post: #2

Not sure if this can help, but there's a free open source ERP source called Odoo

https://www.odoo.com/

Post: #3

Check out matrify.com

It's in beta but i think it will meet all your needs, is very well designed and priced reasonably.

Post: #4

CRM is not one of my areas of expertise, but you should try to get prices or quotes on either:

1. Microsoft CRM Dynamics
2. SalesForce
3. Oracle's CRM

All 3 have cloud versions. SalesForce has almost always been on demand/cloud. I would start with SalesForce first. They been doing it longer in a way, have the best layouts, cheaper, and more sales folks round the world have used it compared to many others. I think all of them have mobility parts/access too. Just try to get a quote. at worst it could be 400 a month or 30 bucks a month at the cheapest. The more employees you have the more seats/users accounts you have to buy. Lots of times there is a 5 seat minimum buy in. If you get quotes from all three, let their sales persons fight for your business over what you have. Start here: http://www.salesforce.com/crm/editions-pricing.jsp

Without going to a solution like these, playing with Access, MySQL, and other stuff will kill your time quite frankly. I doubt you know how to run your own reports in SQL either. If you know pivot tables, graphing, and reporting, by all means go for it, but if you did I doubt you would have started this thread.

Post: #5

Probably Access is your best bet to cover most of the above.

Post: #6

I hear good things about https://basecamp.com it may be able to do some of the things you want. But cheap usually means non-customizable.

Post: #7

Access

Post: #8

Not really my area of expertise, but you won't find any off the shelf software that can do everything you want. Just find something close enough and pay someone (or the vendor themselves) to customise + add the rest.

Or find a few apps that can technically interact with each other and get someone to hook them up.

Quote:Does anybody have any experience with filemaker pro or QuickBase or Access 2013 or BrilliantDatabase?
What do you lads think of these lists of small business database software? any experience with them?

As TravelerKai said above, playing with those database systems will kill your time fast, and that is even if you know how to work with them.

Post: #9

PMed you @Nemencine.

Post: #10

I've got tons of Filemaker experience but not the web features.

If I were you I'd try to get a cloud based system so everyone can use even their cell phones to look at stuff. Forget local drives except to back up what they are storing in cloud.

But you should be able to download all your tables in case they go belly up or triple their prices.

Here's a set of reviews of cloud inventory software,
Some are $25 per month plus 5$ per month per user. If you're using it you're making a lot more than that so although I can develop stuff like that this is ready to go, why pay someone to do it all over again?

http://www.capterra.com/inventory-management-software/

Post: #11

Thanks everybody for the advice. I appreciate all your input. It means a lot to me. afterall, you dont have a stake in my business, and you are all generous enough to contribute your knowledge to assist me.

I will look more into these suggestions to see what i can do.

@functionalpsycho, i have replied to your pm. thanks

regards,

Nemencine

Post: #12

Quote:

• Does anybody have any experience with filemaker pro or QuickBase or Access 2013 or BrilliantDatabase?
  

I'm not familiar with QuickBase or Brilliant, but unless Filemaker or Access have changed radically in the last 10 years, they are not appropriate databases for multi-user, high concurrency situations. Basically if you want a web based solutions, they'd be disastrous choices. Postgres is pretty much the leader in that area these days. MySql is falling out of favor because it's got some really flaky behavior and people flat out don't trust Oracle to keep MySql relevant. SQL Server is an excellent DB but quite expensive to run. I don't have experience with Oracle, but again, it's a commercial product and not cheap.

Quote:

• What do you lads think of these lists of small business database software? any experience with them?
  

That list is kind of all over the place. You've got DB engines like Postgres along side higher level analytics packages, NoSQL alongside SQL, Document Databases, website builders... it's a long list but not very organized.

(08-22-2014 04:15 PM)Nemencine Wrote:  Before i go into what exactly my database needs are, here is the structure of the business:

Obtain used computer/parts -----> cannibalize them into different parts, test their functionality -----> sort and categorizes the functional parts -----> Use these functional parts to build refurbished computers from scratch -----> sell these refurbished computers.

That is the general structure of the business. The business is expanding and i need a cheap, solid small business database software that meet these criteria:

• Automatic detailed tracking of inventory levels, with alert features.
  

• Detailed tracking of cost per item. I also want it to be able to do billing, invoices, and payroll.
  

• Detailed tracking of workflow across different employees workstation. To keep track of turnover time for each different tasks, to help me keep my eye on lazy good-for-nothing university student employees.
  

• Different degree of access levels for different employees rank.
  

• Time sheet capabilities.
  

• I want the database to be linked to a scanner, because i need different computer parts to be scanned during the workflow process.
  

• I need the database software to be very customizable, where i can add different subcategories/subfields as i see fit.
  

• Speaking of which, i need a solid DBMS to run queries on data, to catalogue, capture data and sort them on different criteria that i specify. I need one with a solid CMS, i couldn't care less about CRM. My own inter-personal relationship skills is all the CRM that is needed.
  

• I dont need a NoSQL
  

• Supports PC and MAC.
  

• Preference is for web-enabled database; strong preference is for Desktop based database; the strongest preference is both desktop and web-enabled database software.
  

Breaking down your needs, I see
* Inventory tracking
** Detailed tracking
** Ability to scan barcodes
* Timesheet, workflow, productivity tracking
* Invoicing
* Access controls
* CMS / document management

Like StrikeBack said, you will probably need to integrate several systems to do all this. Building something custom is going to be a massive time & money sink; there are tons of low cost products out there and the main challenge is integration. I'm also a big fan of cloud based stuff, why do you want desktop so much? I'd much rather use a web based solution.

For instance, Shopify does inventory tracking and seems to do it well, it can also process payments and do some limited invoicing, it also supports a barcode scanner. Freshbooks is a much more complete accounting solution. Something like Trello or Basecamp is more about project management and you could use it for task management & time tracking, but these may not be exactly what you're after. I'm curious about your CMS needs, lots of systems provide some sort of document management, at least the ability to attach files to items, what do you need specifically there?

I think my approach would be to attack this piecemeal. I'd go after the inventory management first of all since that seems to be core, and then try to find additional pieces to cover what other needs you have. You can use an integration service like Zapier or Itduzzit to move data where you need it.

Post: #13

I'd be interested to know what solution you settle upon, Nemencine. While none of my business ventures are similar to yours, I would like to build a (probably not-for-profit) hackerspace someday, and would need a system with many of the same features you describe.

Post: #14

I did a little research and inventory management has at least a half dozen reasonable options. Most of them include some of your big hits like per-user access controls, scanner integration. They all allow uploading inventory thru a spreadsheet or CSV, some will allow you to upload through dropbox, if that makes a difference. A couple have integrations pre-built in itduzzit, which I think is huge - having the ability to trigger actions in other apps is a gigantic time-saver.

Brightpearl looks like the market leader. They're a bit expensive - $99/mo/concurrent user. It looks extremely full featured however and might solve most of your needs in one app
https://www.brightpearl.com/
Integration to external apps through itduzzit
Integrated accounting & CRM
Integrated channels (Amazon, Shopify, Ebay, etc)

http://www.clearlyinventory.com/product/features
Clearly Inventory runs $80/month, but they're currently running a sale at $25/mo+$5 per user.
Integration to external apps through itduzzit
Strong user access controls
Cost tracking

http://www.asapsystems.com/barcloud/?locale=en_US
Online backup through Box
Integrates through Quickbooks
Alerts
Barcode scanning

http://tradegecko.com/product-tour/inven...-software/
Integrates to Xero (bookkeeping)
Integrates to Shopify
Multi-user - They advertise specifically the ability to see "who did what when", which might get you part of what you want with productivity tracking.

http://www.salesbinder.com/tour/online-i...anagement/
Strong user permissions
They have some sort of API that might be usable via Zapier or Itduzzit
Integrated CRM

https://www.fishbowlinventory.com/articl...anagement/
Quickbooks integration - actually, this looks like it might be more of a quickbooks add-on than standalone.
Barcode scanning
Serial number tracking

Some of these features may mean less to you - I don't know if you're doing point of sale, online storefront, wholesale, whatever.

I think that for accounting, you'll need to settle on something there early. Quickbooks, Freshbooks, Xero are some of the big ones. Which system you pick there might guide your choice of inventory management.

I'd also recommend only attacking certain parts first. I understand that you want to be able to track your employees, but I think you might have to take a leap of faith there for a bit until you can get a good time tracking system in place. Really address the core parts of the biz (the inventory management, accounting is always a core part) and then address the other issues as they become pain points.

Post: #15

Fucking Outstanding!

10/10. would dive into it. Exceptional work, and rock solid advice.

+1 rep from me.

I owe you one.



regards,

Nemencine

(08-25-2014 11:47 PM)RockHard Wrote:  I did a little research and inventory management has at least a half dozen reasonable options. Most of them include some of your big hits like per-user access controls, scanner integration. They all allow uploading inventory thru a spreadsheet or CSV, some will allow you to upload through dropbox, if that makes a difference. A couple have integrations pre-built in itduzzit, which I think is huge - having the ability to trigger actions in other apps is a gigantic time-saver.

Brightpearl looks like the market leader. They're a bit expensive - $99/mo/concurrent user. It looks extremely full featured however and might solve most of your needs in one app
https://www.brightpearl.com/
Integration to external apps through itduzzit
Integrated accounting & CRM
Integrated channels (Amazon, Shopify, Ebay, etc)

http://www.clearlyinventory.com/product/features
Clearly Inventory runs $80/month, but they're currently running a sale at $25/mo+$5 per user.
Integration to external apps through itduzzit
Strong user access controls
Cost tracking

http://www.asapsystems.com/barcloud/?locale=en_US
Online backup through Box
Integrates through Quickbooks
Alerts
Barcode scanning

http://tradegecko.com/product-tour/inven...-software/
Integrates to Xero (bookkeeping)
Integrates to Shopify
Multi-user - They advertise specifically the ability to see "who did what when", which might get you part of what you want with productivity tracking.

http://www.salesbinder.com/tour/online-i...anagement/
Strong user permissions
They have some sort of API that might be usable via Zapier or Itduzzit
Integrated CRM

https://www.fishbowlinventory.com/articl...anagement/
Quickbooks integration - actually, this looks like it might be more of a quickbooks add-on than standalone.
Barcode scanning
Serial number tracking

Some of these features may mean less to you - I don't know if you're doing point of sale, online storefront, wholesale, whatever.

I think that for accounting, you'll need to settle on something there early. Quickbooks, Freshbooks, Xero are some of the big ones. Which system you pick there might guide your choice of inventory management.

I'd also recommend only attacking certain parts first. I understand that you want to be able to track your employees, but I think you might have to take a leap of faith there for a bit until you can get a good time tracking system in place. Really address the core parts of the biz (the inventory management, accounting is always a core part) and then address the other issues as they become pain points.

Post: #16

I agree - that's got to be most useful non-game post of the month!

Post: #17

Nemencine,

I'm not going to go into Inventory Management software because these guys already gave you some GREAT information. What I will do is give you (hopefully) some solid advice based on my extensive experience with Inventory accounting. This may already be things that you are thinking of but maybe not or maybe you may not be focusing as much on them. So I will highlight a few key aspects of Inventory that you should be able to analyze with ANY software you use.

Capitalization: How are you tracking operational expenses that can be associated with an individual product? For example, storage costs, rental, utilities? Do some products use up more operational expenses than others? The reason I ask is that for certain businesses operational expenses end up "sitting" in the inventory until its sold. Therefore, your costs are really only incurred (or recovered) when you sell that inventory, not when you use the storage space. If you're already not thinking of it this way, re-framing these somewhat "fixed" costs and allocating through some kind of cost allocation methodology may HELP your inventory tracking. Make sure you have software that can do that. Cost allocation is very important as your business grows. Otherwise, you will lose the ability to price your products properly and analyze margins effectively. For example if product A is sitting in inventory longer using up labor and space, obviously it's costing you more but if your software doesn't show you how much and where, you may screw yourself over. That brings me to inventory turnover.

Turnover: This is something a lot of businesses should focus on but don't, albeit the concept being simple. I'm talking about how long it takes for your inventory to turn over completely into a customer's hands. Some large consumer products companies have inventory on hand for about 3 months worth of sales (at any given time, give or take). If you track this on a monthly basis, it will show you trends in how a certain piece sells faster than other pieces. It will also give you a better idea of how much operational expense that inventory is eating up by taking up labor or space. You can use it as a method to allocate costs as well. The formula is basically taking cost of goods sold divided by average inventory on hand. For example, if you have $100 in costs for the month and average inventory on hand at any given day of that month is $50, you had inventory turn over 2 times that month. Get it?

Analysis: Make sure you analyze product costs every month against the previous month and your budget or forecast. Not sure you develop a sales and cost forecast, but you should. You should also analyze margins every month. It'll help you understand what you did this month versus last month and why your margins end up being fucked. This way you can hone it down to product cost or operational costs.

This is just some basic stuff and maybe stuff you know but if not I hope it helped. Or if it doesn't help you, maybe it'll help a few other folks.

Post: #18

Just a small update thanking everybody for all their suggestions. It has been immeasurably helpful.

Been looking through the various software suggestions above, and also, building the physical structure for the scaled up version of the business.

Going forward, one of the critical equipment to the business will be the barcode printer-- this will allow me to tract workflow and inventory levels.

I had a lucky break in this regard: I got my hands on ZEBRA S4M thermal printer. Nice steal too, i got it from a garage sale.



Here is a youtube video on how this baby works:






Still looking for used time card machines, etc ...the current evolution of my thought process is this: get all the equipments that i need together, as cheaply as possible, then try and find ways to make then work together.... this includes finding the best and cheapest software that works with all or at least, most of them.

regards,

Nemencine

P.S. again, i thank everybody for their generous contribution of ideas.

Post: #19

Why bother with time card machines when you can have most of that software based? Surely ADT, Deltek or somebody has a plan for timekeeping, no?

Post: #20

(09-30-2014 04:09 PM)Nemencine Wrote:  Still looking for used time card machines, etc ...the current evolution of my thought process is this: get all the equipments that i need together, as cheaply as possible, then try and find ways to make then work together.... this includes finding the best and cheapest software that works with all or at least, most of them.

By time card machines, do you mean cards that you punch to clock in and out?

Instead of cards, have you considered using NFC tokens and an NFC reader?

Post: #21

@jack198 @ tigre.

I should try to not make everything perfect from the beginning, while it is good to have a clear vision of what your needs are, one should make allowances for unforeseen developments.

I wrote these software requirements because that is what i need; but like "strikeback" and "rockhard" said, this will require integration of different things.

Why not get a database software that execute my most critical tasks(inventory management, cost tracking, etc) and the rest of my requirement? for now do it the old fashion way. After i have scaled the business to a really large size, then i can always upgrade to a more complex software that integrates everything that i need.

Post: #22

removed

Post: #23

Those Zebra printers are fantastic and indestructible. We have the Z4M all over the place at my day job and they work hard. Also it's worth noting that Zebras are the printers that UPS sends out to people for printing shipping labels (with modded firmware so they only work with UPS' drivers).

Random software that you might find useful:

http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

It's like a new and free version of Ghost, it's able to build bootable ISO images and USB memory sticks with various versions of WinPE on them, either the Vista version, Win7 or Win8.1. Plus with UEFI support you can work on devices that lack BIOS completely. I used the UEFI one to image my Lenovo 7" tablet before sending it in for repair.

Post: #24

I have been gone for a couple of months working on the business, this week I quickly stop by to check my numerous unread PM messages, and at the end of this week, unfortunately, i will be gone for a couple more months... probably till the end of the year. The demands of the business are escalating.

Thanks for the questions, mr. 456

(is your name a "doctor who" reference? or is that in reference to the ferrari 456?)

I am deep in the thick of it right now. Things are shifting rapidly and i am progressing... but as to be expected, i sometimes make mistakes every now and then too... of course, while also learning from the experience and making the necessary adjustment as i go along.

Right now, it will be premature to write about specific technical solutions because in a few months, i will probably be using a highly modified version-- having adapted to my increasing business needs. It has gotten to the point where i need at least two managers. Right now, i am the one supervising and handling (#1) the raw, technical aspects of the computer refurbishing business + (#2) the general management/workflow of the business + (#3) the critically important acquisition of new clients, price negotiation and sales. I cannot keep doing all three by myself. I need at least two people with managerial talent to lend some sort of assistance with #1 and #2.

Even for #3 function(clients/sales) which critically requires my personal touch, afterall, clients are the lifeblood of my business. Even for this #3 function, i will eventually need to train a multilingual, ethnically diverse sales team representing the faces of third world countries. Almost half of the continent of Africa-- that is where the bulk of my sales come from -- speaks french. In fact, i just closed a big client from Senegal, Africa, and I had to brush up on my french for that one. Having people on the team that speaks local dialects, different languages, and fraternizes at ethnic enclaves goes a long way in bringing clients in. Because this is also a word-of-mouth business. Yes, i have randomly had two heavy hitters clients contacted me directly from a craiglist ad i posted, wanting to do business. But the rest of my clients are from who knows whom knows who knows whom type of thing... six degrees of separation scenario. The raw fact is that, people in general are more likely to do business with their own kind.

These are the developing situation that i am in right now... with increasing duties and responsibilities as the business expands... and the question of finding the right talent, training and building them up, motivating them, designing incentive structure for them, delegating to them, and managing them... doing all these while making sure all these expanding, different moving parts are well integrated together to function like one, single organism is the task. You learn a lot about your strengths and weaknesses.

The next 3 months is supremely critical to the business.

Again, it will be premature to discuss *the solution* that i have now... because in a few months, that specific solution will be outdated as i adjust to reality on the ground. Case in point, even though 4 months ago i just finished building a Garage structure for the business(wrote about it/posted some pictures in this thread); but given our current rate of expansion, i am beginning to consider actually moving into a warehouse. Volume, volume, volume.

Again, with apologies beforehand, i won't be able to reply to messages in threads and in PM after this week-- i will gone for many more months, most likely till the end of the year.

regards,

Nemencine


P.S. thanks DJ-MATT for the info about the thermal printer. Yes, those things are a beast. I will look into the software you recommend. Thanks for taking the time. I appreciate it.

(03-05-2015 03:33 PM)456 Wrote:  Nemencine -- any updates on the infrastructural side of the business?

Would be great to hear how you may have had to rig up various 3rd party solutions together to fit your workflow. Also, any progress on the timeclock front / managing your workers?

I've seen a lot of business infra automation, via custom software "glue" to connect / control / analyze all the moving parts (usually 3rd party systems / softwares / workflows).

It's fascinating because as a given software solution's customizability goes up, so does the complexity. There's a lot of opportunity therein for developers, consultants, etc.

Post: #25

removed