Glass Office Software

Smart Toolbox is a powerful job management tool which addresses many common challenges office staff face

Our clients are made up of glass businesses of all sizes and often it is the office staff who we work with on a regular basis, rather than management. Some of the common challenges they tell us about are:

• Too much reliance on paper records which can get lost or destroyed
• Processes and information are often stored in one person's brain
• The same paperwork for a job is often entered by multiple people in multiple places

Sound familiar?

When implementing glass office software, reduced paperwork, clear process and eliminating double handling are all outcomes you should expect from the outset. Smart Toolbox addresses all of these and more.

Scroll down to see how Smart Toolbox solves these problems and more.

Difficulty keeping track of paper records

For many of the office staff we talk to, difficulty keeping track of job information recorded on various pieces of paper is the biggest obstacle they face. Even the most organized paper system is open to risk — paper is misplaced on the way from the site back to the office and without a backup, that information can be lost forever.

The office staff are often the first adopters of Smart Toolbox when it is implemented in their glazing business and we get excellent feedback on how organized and efficient it is compared to their old paper-based systems. From the Work-In-Progress screen, the user can access quotes, work orders, invoices, the scheduling tool and more. Clicking on one item highlights linked documents so if you click on an invoice in the Work-In-Progress list, the associated quote and work order will be highlighted, making it easy to see the whole progression of a job at a glance.

Processes rely on one person

As a glazing business grows, processes that were once managed effectively by one person start to fall apart. For example, when we ask the office staff how site visits and installation jobs are scheduled, they'll often say something like "John handles that". John may be using Excel, a whiteboard in the office or even just a paper diary he keeps on him, but whenever he's away things inevitably go wrong.

This is where glass office software can help. With Smart Toolbox, office staff has a system they can customize to suit their needs and a way of standardizing their input and storage of data. Tasks like scheduling are no longer restricted to one or two team members and information visible to anyone in the business.

Jim's Glass in Australia provides one example of how to use this functionality to its full potential. Their installers use iPads to access Smart Toolbox and are able to check their daily schedule from home before heading straight to their first job, rather than stopping by the office. Once on-site, they then use Smart Toolbox to generate a quote or update job details, and that information is synced via mobile data so the team in the office can see it right away.

Information is entered multiple times

Nothing slows the administrative process down like double entry. Not only does it add an extra step to your job entry process, but it is also the perfect opportunity for something to go wrong — measurements can be entered incorrectly, details logged against the wrong job, names are spelled wrong, records aren't updated resulting in conflicting information, the list goes on...

Double entry is almost always cited as a challenge for the office staff we talk to, usually in the context of entering information into their internal job system (often an Excel spreadsheet) and again into their accounting software for invoicing. Smart Toolbox integrates with a range of popular accounting programs including QuickBooks Online, Xero, MYOB, SAP and Sage. Not only does this remove the need to enter information twice, but you'll also have an up-to-date view of outstanding invoices and jobs that need billing by syncing between the two programs.