I just need some suggestions.. Getting real tired of out-of-the-box computers.. I have a total of 6 employess, 9 computers, 4 plotters, 1 versa cam. I have monkeyed around a system of old and new, have a network to a 500gig mirrored external hard drive .. have 45,000 files just abouton each computer, all different, trying to get everyone to save on external drive, but that does not happen... so I could have 5 files all different with the same name... Each computer has it's own security dongle and each has different programs from gerber, flexi, photoshop, corel 9 & 11 ... I try to save every comupter on another external hard drive that I can take home .. once a week or two.. I need to know from you guys what type of computers do you purchase? I normally go and buy the newest biggest CPU on the market from the computer store... of coarse it is like a home computer... ever so often one takes a dump and I have to get a new one.. transfer files reload programs and so on... right now I got a 5 year cpu giving me problems. I would like to get a SYSTEM just for what we do.. GRAPHICS not games and all that other stuff.... what would you guys suggest? I know someone has had the same growing pains.How did you fix the problem? I am looking into a server type system, but problems with dongles, may exist.. I have had it and I need help... any suggestions would be fantastic... thanks... chuck coupland Coupland Signs...
Posted by Tracie Johnson (Member # 6117) on :
I bought my computer from these guys: Micro Express after seeing one of their computers on the Consumer Report Best Buy List. They're not available in stores and they build them to suit your needs. I also liked that it wasn't preloaded with a bunch of junk like a Dell. Those pop-ups can be very irritating.
They also have lifetime free tech support.
I intentionally purchased mine right before Vista came out though. If you want to get a new system, it might not be a bad idea to wait a few months 'til the kinks are worked out.
Posted by W. R. Pickett (Member # 3842) on :
I suggest you get a MAC.
Posted by Checkers (Member # 63) on :
Hiya Chuck, I may be reading too much into you comments, but, it sounds like you're now in the situation I was many times with former employers. You're probably struggling with technology and it's become more of a headache or hinderance than a way to run your business efficiently. Everytime something goes wrong with technology, it becomes an emergency to get things workable again just to get a job done on time. And although you get the project completed on time, it's just a matter of time before the next issue arises. If I'm correct with my assumption, I can go on and offer suggestions on how it can be fixed. If I'm way off base and you're on PC platform and you don't want to switch to a MAC, I would suggest getting a custom built Dell, but stay away from Vista
Havin' fun,
Checkers
Posted by Paul Luszcz (Member # 4042) on :
I don't think you need to spend any money to solve your problem.
All you need is a naming convention for your folders, a folder structure to organize your external drive and employees who follow the rules, period, end of story.
I'll describe our naming convention and folder structure, but it's not as important what you use. What's important is that you all use the same system all the time.
Here's a quick description of our system.
No customer files are stored on individual hard drives. We have nine computers also; five PC's and four Macs. They can all access the server, which in our case is a seven year old PC running NT Server, but in your case would be your mirrored external drive.
When we start a proposal, we set up the Client folder under "New Projects", create a job name folder, ("blade sign") and copy a set of predefined folders into that; folders like "original files", "final output", etc.
If we get the job, the job name folder ("blade sign") is changed to the job number ("pli09786), and the whole thing is moved to the "Work in Progress" folder.
When the job is complete, the whole thing is dragged again, this time to the "General Archive" folder, where our archiving software (Retrospect) archives it automatically every Friday night. We check that the archive was successful and then delete the files every Monday morning. This keeps our hard drive from filling up.
The part that makes this work is not the names you use and you don't have to move the folders as the job progresses if you don't want to. We do it because it further organizes the hard drive and makes jobs easier to find.
What makes this system work is making it the ONLY way and place that everyone saves their files.
Every one. Every time. No exceptions.
If you have an environment where people follow the rules of the organization, this is pretty easy to implement.
And once it's in place, you'll never wonder where a file is again.
[ April 04, 2007, 09:06 AM: Message edited by: Paul Luszcz ]
Posted by Joe Sciury (Member # 4653) on :
Chuck, it sounds like you need to hire one more person, an IT guy That way you can get back to being the boss, rather than the computer wiz.
Posted by Curtis hammond (Member # 2170) on :
quote: All you need is a naming convention for your folders, a folder structure to organize your external drive and employees who follow the rules, period, end of story.
I agree.
You can set your systems to save in only one place. Setting permissions and policy will do the trick. Once set they are there forever unless someone changes them back. If they insist (rarely needed) on a local copy for whatever reason they can secondary save to a key drive and move around form station to station.
Posted by ChuckCoupland (Member # 67) on :
That all sounds good... BUT, let me explain. sometimes I may create 6 files just for 1 job... like this... I will start in corel and design a wireframe images, then export parts to photoshop and create 1,2, or 3 versions with different colors.... then I will save them as a photoshop and a pdf form and then export that tomy flexi where I will print... just that creates the 6 diff files... Like joesracing, joesracing 1, joesracing1a 2a 3a and so on... now the guy makes some changes and now I create more files... Now all that said... I will do this 20 times a days for 20 diff customers with 6 diff employees.... so you are saying you make a folder for each situation? and then drag folders around untill you have a final folder, and you would name it some random number? what it you want to find it later in life and you do not remember the number? Now I can type in my search "joe" and find 20 files..... My shop I have multiple customers a day and they come back next weekfor more,so I have to have fast access for files... Am I a different type of sign shop from the "norm"? do you guys have people who come in for boat letters, shop sign, mags and small quick sale items... Or are we talking about one sign 20 grand and and huge signs jobs...I guess it's hard for me to explain. What I am looking for is should I impliment a server system or should I stay with single PC's and if I do stay PC is there a better system configuration..... I have a computer guy who gives me same style of answers.... I ask,he dances around verbally to avoid pin point "this is what I need" type answer... I just thought maybe since we all deal with memory, gpahics, large programs, massive customer graphics heavy files..that we as a sign community would have a better handle on what WE should need/us... becuase my computer "expert" is a moron as far as I am concerned and I am trying to educate myself and do research to better serve my customers and getmy system running faster... sorry if this is too drawn out...But this is a growing problem and I am falling deeper into the technical black hole..... thanks for all the relpiesplease keep them comming.... thanks chuck coupland ...
Posted by Curtis hammond (Member # 2170) on :
quote: I ask,he dances around verbally to avoid pin point "this is what I need" type answer.
Thats because your computer guru is like any other computer tech. Some are real good with trouble shooting, some are good with OS's and others are great with networking. Very few are good at it all. There is just too much to know to be good at all of it. Your tech,,he is very good at some hardware and basic configs and weak in others such as IT workflows. IF he knew he would set you up tomorrow. He has no idea what he is doing when it comes to setting up work flows. You need a another IT technician who can analyze your work flows, stream line it and get you running. And yes in may include a work folder for every customer..
And you will need some type of customer data base. For example. Jon comes in every 8 days for a new job. The data base will have assinged a him number key. That key will have a folder assinged to it with every job he ever done with a date listed for every time a job was ordered. He could have 38 different dates each assigned to a job.
All you have to do is type in his name, bring up his data base and look thru the date lists, then look for that file number on the server.
Each job has a date on it. Each job will be assigned that date as its work number and you will find that job stored and cataloged accordign to date in a sub folder in his main folder. All of that is stored on a main hard drive on a server all centrally stored. Each time a technician access that folder he saves to that folder.. its always there. Always. Each part of that job could be opened by any number of techs. But the one who opened it first gets priority. All others can look at it but not change it.
Yes it sound complicated to some. But a good Relational DATABASE technician can set this up as if it were drinking water. There my be software already doing this. Could cyrious be the one. I don't know because I've never worked with Cyrious.
The good part is that you can do it all on a PC. Then whenever a part breaks any old schmoe can come in and replace that part and your back up and running. A MAC would need a technician and I personally do not a single MAC technician nor have I ever actually met one.
[ April 05, 2007, 04:10 AM: Message edited by: Curtis hammond ]
Posted by Stephen Deveau (Member # 1305) on :
Chuck I think this may help you out! I work in different platforms and save many file for the final image.
Create customer folder. (CompanySigns)
Inside say like today date I would save the first file as
CompanySigns_05_007_001
Next entry would be tomorrows...
CompanySigns_06_007_002
ETC!
Always knowing that the last number is the final design for the customer.
Works for me.
Another good idea would be to have the graphic artist sign each file they create such this
Ok I am RavenGraphics.. the file name would look like this
CompanySigns_06_007_003_RG
[ April 05, 2007, 05:15 AM: Message edited by: Stephen Deveau ]
Posted by Checkers (Member # 63) on :
OK Chuck, It's time to take control of your business again. As the others pointed out, there are solutions for your problems and they can be relatively easy fixes, but they probably won't come cheap. However, if you work up a plan, you may find that upgrading and then maintaining your technologies can be affordable if you budget and plan properly. It sounds like your company can benefit from a centralized server to gain control of your files. From there, just about anything can go. I think a good way to approach this is to look at the computers as tools. The better tools your employees have, the more efficiently they can work. However, not every program or computer needs to be the fastest, latest and greatest. When I came up with a program to manage the computers at my old job, I came to the conclusion that our raster designers (Photoshop) would benefit the most from "fast". So, they were the top priority when it came to getting the new computers. Everyone else got the "hand-me-downs" from the designers in a specific pecking order. The pecking order I established is this. Every 18 months or so, the designers got new computers. The "old" design computers would be handed down to the rip station or designers that neede less horsepower, and so on down the line. At the end of the line was the shipping computer that only needed internet access and a printer. Once we implemented the plan and systems, our downtime because of technology issues were almost nonexistent. We ended up going with Dells across the board because they could affordably provide us with the systems and support we needed. We tried to find someone local, but they just couldn't compete with Dell's pricing and service. If you want to pick my brain, please feel free to contact me.
Havin' fun,
Checkers
Posted by Ricky Jackson (Member # 5082) on :
Get Cyrious POS and it will generate an invoice number. We name all of our files with the job invoice number which makes it a snap to look up. When Jim's Racing comes in to re-order "just like the one you made two years ago" it's a piece of cake and takes only 5 seconds to find ALL of their orders at once. They actually believe you remember doing it - like you are their only customer! When we have a couple hundred numbered jobs in the "Jobs" folder, we drag them into the "Archive" folder; it's broken down into files of 1,000 with subfolders for each hundred. I have at least half a dozen DVD's with my archive on it and I back up my Jobs folder to a portable USB hard drive every Friday when I back up my POS files. We do use named jobs too but we try not to use them any more than absolutely necessary. When we do name a job like "Jimbobsracing3", we rename it as soon as it gets an invoice number. Sometimes I'll have a cutfile as well as the original file so I'll save it something like "4837b". If you have multiple files you can save them with a letter suffix; that keeps them together and you still have control - MUCH more than ambiguous naming. Every minute you waste looking for a prior job is a buck down the drain. If Jimbobs Racing wants another sponsor cut with the same font you used on the back quarter three years ago, the red one not the blue one, and it takes you 15 minutes of your time with the customer, looking for the prior job, and finally cutting, weeding and taping the pia job, you've lost money if you charge him $15. He's gonna think you're Jessie James if you charge him $15 because he's only going to look at the end product, not realizing that it took you 12 minutes of wasted time just to get to the point of actual production. End of lecture. Posted by Jon Jantz (Member # 6137) on :
Chuck, where I work we do pretty much like Paul says.... we used to save all the files in several directories on a bunch of separate computers, but now we save everything to our server... and put most in folders named by the job. We also have all our My Documents folders from the different computers set to save all the files on the server.
Here's a breakdown of what we do..
We separate the files by year.... so we have a '2007 Jobs Sold' folder. In that folder we have it broken down by customer, and have all their information in their folders... we have several 15 PPM doublesided sheetfed scanners that scan to PDF and we run EVERYTHING through the scanner and save it in their file. Sketches, worksheets, estimates, permit apps, permits, anything we might ever look for at a later date.
After scanning in their paperwork, we throw the papers away... we also get all our faxes by email as PDF's so they go in the folder as well... I guess we're trying to go semi-paperless, but that's a different subject..
Anyway, then for all the misc stuff we have folders under the '2007 Jobs Sold' folder. You could have 'Magnetics', 'Banners' etc for those random customers that walk-in and will probably never be back. We also name our files with the customers first name and last name and sometimes with the company name and the date in the filename. If you are from back in the 8 character filename days, it's kind of hard sometimes to use long filenames, but it sure makes it easier to find a file later on by using search.
We use Google search on our server so you can do almost instantaneous searches for files.
You say it takes too much time to use a organizing and naming system, but think about a couple things...
How much time do your people spend looking for files that were done in the past and saved on various machines? Add all that up, and there's your time for them to do it right to begin with. I believe it actually saves us time, now that we're used to it and know exactly how to find our files.
So..... here's the benefits..
1. If everyone saves to customer folders on the server, there are not duplicate files spread across all your computers... if different designers are working on different jobs for the same customer, have multiple folders under the customer name...
2. Your file system will be much more manageable. You will know that all your data is getting backed-up on a regular basis and one of your employees isn't going to lose a couple years worth of designs when their hard-drive breaks a spindle.
3. Even their My Documents gets backed up on a regular basis, since it is saved on the server. If a computer crashes and they have to work on a different workstation, their info is available from any system...
4. Everyone knows exactly where to look for a customer file. They don't have to spend 15 minutes asking around the different employees, stopping their work to search their folders and then save it over to the server, so employee A has access to it...
5. WORTH REPEATING: You can have a reliable back-up system. You only have to back up your server, and know that ALL your data is safe. Fix up a system where you can remove the media and take from the site at least once a week to keep an off-site backup.
Wow.... didn't mean to type a book.... hope that was clear enough without being too confusing...
Posted by Nevman (Member # 332) on :
I'll try to explain how I do it...
I mainly work in Corel, SignLab, and VersaWorks.
All of our files are saved on one drive.
On that drive I have I have folders called COREL FILES, SIGNLAB FILES, and EPS VERSACAMM FILES.
In each of those folders I have our work in sub-folders by year: ie CDR05, CDR06, CDR07 etc.
I also have a GRAPHICS folder with sub-folders: AI, EPS, PDF, JPG, PSD, GIF, BMP etc.
In each of these folders I have our work in sub-folders by year: IE AI05, AI06, AI07 etc.
Each new file is give a unique name for the client and project - TUCKER PLUMBING VAN.CDR. If I then work part of that file in PhotoPaint then that file gets saveD in GRAPHICS/CPT/CPT07 as TUCKER PLUMBING VAN LOGO.CPT and TUCKER PLUMBING VAN SIDES.cpt etc.
Once the file is approved and ready for output, the final file is saved with the first three letters of the client name with our four digit invoice number TUC1234.EPS in the appropriate folder (in this example) EPS VERSACAMM/EPS07/TUC1234.EPS.
I can look up old jobs by date in QuickBooks and find the corresponding file(s) quite easily.
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![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
That way you can get back to being the boss, rather than the computer wiz.
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