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@Peter Graham ,

As an ex-software engineer that started life working on retail management (stock tracking, cost tracking etc. software) I have a few questions...

How do you manage this at the moment? Do you have a process in place? Do orders at the wholesalers get unique order references that can be tied to a particular job? Do you order consumeables like sealant, screws, cable clips etc. on a separate order code or on the customer jobs? Does stock pass through a central location (your offices) or is it just picked up by the guys doing the work? Do you hold stock of common items (I have a stock holding of certain accessories etc. that I try and maintain for call outs for example)? How do you bill for cable? How do you bill for consumeable items such as sealant that may span multiple jobs (another example is a bag of gromits, or a box of screws)?
 
You need a software package like Quickbooks Pro or similar ... I somewhat doubt that any off the shelf packages would do exactly what you want....
 
@Peter Graham ,

As an ex-software engineer that started life working on retail management (stock tracking, cost tracking etc. software) I have a few questions...

How do you manage this at the moment? Do you have a process in place? Do orders at the wholesalers get unique order references that can be tied to a particular job? Do you order consumeables like sealant, screws, cable clips etc. on a separate order code or on the customer jobs? Does stock pass through a central location (your offices) or is it just picked up by the guys doing the work? Do you hold stock of common items (I have a stock holding of certain accessories etc. that I try and maintain for call outs for example)? How do you bill for cable? How do you bill for consumeable items such as sealant that may span multiple jobs (another example is a bag of gromits, or a box of screws)?
 
Hi the guys just pick up the stock and keep it in the vans. There are a wide range of sockets switches etc which we like to keep each van (3)stocked up with.
We don't allocate stock to certain jobs as its jobbing for housing associations and we can have 20 small jobs per day.
We have a mark up on materials which we expect to cover the likes of sealant, screws , grommets etc which span various job. Though this doesnt seem to be working.
 
I guess what I'm really interested in is the business processes you have in place currently to support/manage the business, and I'm asking because I'm in the process of writing some software to help me with the same sort of things.

I've got a process, but it's not great and I know I spend far too much time on the paperwork side of the business (particularly quoting and invoicing - where I'm constantly looking up prices and such like).

Part of the problem I have is the volatility of pricing, and trying to ensure I've not just charged someone less than I paid for something.

Ultimately, I'd like to be in a position to possibly sell my software and actually you posted when I was thinking about the kinds of questions I was going to ask the regulars about what features they might like to see in software to help them. I've looked at some of the job management type applications and whilst they do seem to do quite a lot, they also come with quite a price tag... certainly more than I'm willing to pay at the moment.

If you'd prefer to have an in-depth email exchange away from a public forum, feel free. My contact details are available on my website, the address of which you can get from my profile page.
 
I wonder if the op has thought this through thoroughly?

If there are issues about parts being charged, then that is down to the people in the field. So rather than comparing stock bought to what's invoiced, maybe concentrate on having a better "mobile" system of reporting jobs .... And making it easy to use?
 
not sure if it would help but as others have said I usually order my materials for each job.
each job has a unique reference number with materials listed
that way I can match what's been used on the job.
although sometimes cable bought for one job, the leftover is used on another job.
I just work out a price for that full run of cable or socket and that's the price for every job .
Unless the price goes up

cant you use excel or similar with a item bought ... item used/sold section?
 

Reply to Hi I,m new to the Forum. I,m looking for Stock software .Can anyone help? in the The Welcome Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

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