Does anyone uses Bento? I am trying to figure out how can it be use to help on a Studio setting, and if anyone here has made it work I would love to hear about it.

i bought it and gave up on it shortly afterwards. i ended up biting the bullet and joining up with ShootQ which is the best thing i've done for my business this year!

On a completely unrelated note, if anyone wants to buy my copy of Bento, I'm willing to make a deal! ;-)

Used it for a while and also gave up. The integration with Apple isn't as tight as it could be. Mostly I saw it as a way to waste time creating pretty views of your database. No real way to get stuff in or out of the database in a useful way. Just try to print labels, or send a mass email. If it isn't easy, I don't want it.

I have been using it for a while with fairly limited success. I've done a lot of experimenting with different ways to try to integrate things in it. I haven't tried to output labels or do a mass mailing through it. Mostly I'm using it to keep track of basic expenses, milage and extra information attached to my calendar.

there is a thread here with someone who was working up a full dbase with Filemaker pro.

What are you thinking of doing with it?

Thanks guys...

I also downloaded the trial. It looks nice but could not figure how can I make it work for me. I also expected better integration, specially with Ical. I a way I guess I was hoping it was something like Entourage.

I am also waiting for the one someone at OSP is working.

I like the idea of ShootQ but I don't like that is a subscription nor that it is web based. I am sure they have good reasons for doing it that way, but I want a solution that I pay only once and reside on my computer or server.

Mostly I need a quick way to handle client info, scheduling and status of the jobs.

Well... just my ¢.02!

I was looking for a contact manager app and tried Bento too. It seemed promising, but after I integrated it for a couple of days I was left scratching my head... ("This is is just a fancy coat on top of my Address Book app" is what I was really thinking.)

I ended up with Contactizer Pro- which is really killer! It can track all contact with clients back and forth with emails, chats, and even Skype calls!

One feature I like is the project management. You can set up projects with priorities, attachments, links, update the status, etc...

Check the fully functional trial version:

http://objective-decision.com/

Have fun!
-Leon

Thanks Leon.

You're welcome, David- If you have time, report back on your experience... I'm not expert with it yet, so you may see/learn/use things that I haven't found yet.

-Leon

I just finished developing something that might be of interest. You can download a demo here.

Photography Database Management

Regards,

Hugh

Hugh- can you tell us a bit about the features of the software? The site has little information about the form, function or purpose it serves. I'd like to know a little more before just downloading and installing an app.

Thanks!
-Leon

+1 More details of this would be great. As would screenshots. If I can't learn more about things before downloading, 99.5% of the time I move on from it.

Hi, thank you for the input - good points about knowing more before downloading.

First let me say, this is a stand alone application. In other words, it WILL NOT install anything into your system. If you look at it, then throw away the folder, nothing will be left behind.

I will upload some screenshots in the next hour or so. Also currently working on some online video to show what DataSafe does.

Best wishes,

Hugh

DataSafe is a database that will store all of your customers details.

Bride's name
Grooms's Name
Both addresses
Phone numbers
Emails addresses
Event locations
Maps to events.
Sales
payments

and much more.

This thread started out asking about Bento. Bento is a scaled down (very) version of Filemaker Pro. You would use Filemaker pro to build a much more capable solution, where as Bento is more useful for storing details of your own stuff - the website describes it as a "personal" database.

DataSafe was built in Filemaker pro.

One other thing - you DO NOT need Filemaker, or Bento to run DataSafe. As I said, it is a standalone file, with the Filemaker engine bound into itself.

Thank you for your interest. Please keep the feedback coming. The website, as well as the final product, is scheduled for completion on Monday April 20th.

Best wishes,

Hugh

Ok, here are some screen grabs.Hugh.2 more.

Hugh, Thanx so much for taking the time to build this. I got it last night and although I have not had much time to play with it, I will do so this week. And I promise to be either be stupid with it or get my 4 year old to play with it in the hopes of breaking it, as a means to find issues or bugs with it and pass those along to you. So far just browsing the different tabs, it looks really good. I will let you know if I find anything or if I see anything I can suggest. But awesome work!!

When will be available for purchase/use?

Hi David, you can download it and use it now, but I don't know what the limitations of the demo are, since I didn't have time to go into detail in reading what he posted there. I am starting to use it and what I have seen so far I really like.

I am glad to hear it. Hopefully we will get a "special" price for OSPers

I really need something I can use to keep track of the steps of each job.

Hi, the demo is restricted to 5 records. I thought about making it 20 records, but figured that people would not want to enter that much data into a demo.

I too had been thinking about an OSP discount.

Hugh

I am looking at it right now and it looks very promising. Good job!

David
Have you thought about Daylite by Marketcircle.
I love it - allows me to track all my inquiries, link those as they become sales etc. I then create a project for each wedding or client - and it keeps everything on track. I can even back date a series of tasks as an action set to remind me to send invoices at a certain number of days before the wedding etc. I love it and at 150.00 with no subscriptions , it;s a great value. Also I have it networked so anyone who does production on a project or emails that client - everything can be seen and the job tracked all the way through. It's great for mailings too. If you haven't checked it out before I would - plus it's simple!

Hugh:

I like what I see. Lots of nice feature.

But what I am looking for most is a way to keep track of the job's progress. Sort of things to do and status of job.

A way to list all the steps of the project, its status, deadlines, etc. and a way to have a overall look of all my jobs status.

Hi David,

there are some things there to track status. If you look at the top right of the main Data Entry layout, you will see a field called STATUS.

Currently, there are only 2 options listed, Quotation and Confirmed Booking. But you will also see an Edit option. You can go in there and type anything you want. So, if your workflow had basically 5 steps, you could list them in that area.

Now, lets say that you have several clients listed as, for example, "Pending" , and you wanted to see them all. You could do the following:

Click the FIND button
Click into STATUS and select the word you want to search.
Click CONTINUE on the left of the screen.

What will be returned is only the records that matched your search criteria. If you had 500 records in your database, and there were 15 Pending, on the left of the layout it would show the total number of records AND the number of records in the Found Set, the ones you searched for.

Every field that can have data entered into it, including drop down menus, can be used with the Find function. I have set the titles in the reports sections to all have sort capabilities.

For example, if you have some records and you go to perhaps the Client List (or any other report) you can click on the word DATE, and the records will be sorted in date order. Click Client ID, same thing, they will re-sort based on whatever you click.

David, if you meant something else, or you would like another feature to be considered, I am working on the software right now and maybe I can add some stuff. Please let me know.

Thanks for your input.

Hugh

Thanks

Couple of questions...

In the top I see an "outstanding" what is the purpose of that?

Would it will be able to track expenses per project as well as Cost of sale?

Is that it looks like you are having some accounting functionality too and was wondering how involved would it be. For example, I use AccountEdge. Will your solution replace it, work with it or be separate from it?

Will you have integration with ical and address book?

Sorry for all the questions... Hope they make sense

Hi,

no problem - questions are good!

Outstanding - Let's say you create a New Client. They buy a $5,000 package from you, and pay a $2,000 deposit.

First, you would click the Sales tab and Create A Sale for $5,0000. Then you would click the Payments tab and Create A Payment for $2,000 (the deposit)

Now, in the main Data Entry layout, on the bottom right, the boxes would show the sales amount, the paid amount, and the outstanding amount.

If you click the Outstanding icon you asked about it will show you, in list form, all outstanding payments.

There is no cost per job facility. I considered it, but decided that all costs are not assigned to one job. Some items are bulk purchased for example. But I suppose you could work it out. If it is a request that comes up enough, I will add it to a free upgrade.

I don't know anything about AccountEdge, so I can't answer your question. I am using DataSafe to send out accounts. Did you see the drop boxes in the email section? Anything you drop in the four boxes is stored there, under the record you are in at the time.

With Photocart invoices, I simply paste the invoice text into the client email. The link is then able to be clicked by the client for payment. Same with Paypal, simply drop the details into an email.

You can also store .pdf's, contracts, etc., in the email drop boxes for delivery to your clients.

No integration with iCal, but likely in an upgrade.

Regards,

Hugh