[C Senor]

Hello again,

I'm due to go out into the cold world of canvasing tomorrow after spending the last couple of weeks getting all my gear together.

I was just wondering though, how all of you guys keep your records of customers and how do you sort out when they are due to be cleaned ? Is it simply a case of going through the main list each day and making a sort of 'job list' for the next day ?

I've been reading about 'george' and a PDA which sounds great, i may well go that way in the future but at the moment i'm going to be a pen and paper bloke, so any tips would be more than welcome..

Thanks again !

Carl.   

[Trevor Knight]

Hi Carl,

To be honest, the quicker you can get George the easier your life will be!!!

If you have to maintain paperwork then I suggest a book with 12 columns across and as many down as you wish.

Input the customers name/address and then name each of the 12 across colums Jan - Dec

As you clean mark a \ in the month if you have cleaned them and not paid and mark a X if you cleaned and they paid. Block the square out if they are not due.

This will tell you if they owe or not and if you have cleaned them. For 2 x monthly etc... block out the months they are not due.

Hope this helps although not as much as George will ! You can run george without a PDA and just use your PC and printer, just a thought?

Best wishes,

Trev

[C Senor]

Thanks Trevor thats great.

I'd love to hear from anyone that uses 'George' - Please let me know how you all find it, good or bad.

Carl   

[supernova77]

Hi Carl,

I have used George for ages and couldn't live without it now!

I also started using Pocket George about a month ago - I would never go back to paper and a pen.

Andy

[Davie T]

George, for the money is an excellent buy that will cover all your requirements. The updates are free and response time to queries is excellent. When you compare against say Quickbooks / Sage it is excellent value.

[spotless2000]

Download the FREE trial and check it out.  You've got nothing to lose.
Makes the day to day organising very easy.
Good luck!
Steve

[baldeagle]

I've used George for just over a year.

My round is small, [I'm only part time], and there are quite a lot of the features, such as generating invoices, that I don't use.

I wasn't sure whether to get one, or not, but it's turned out to be a good buy.

I find it worth it simply to keep all the customers "herded up" into one place, for printing off the worksheets each week, and for keeping track of who's paid, and who's not.

Baldeagle

[ianhannaford]

HI Carl,

We alos offer a free trial of our software to manage your window cleaning business. You can download at www.windowcleanerpro.com.

Let me know if you need any help installing or using.

Cheers

Ian

[C Senor]

Hello,

I've just ordered the Window Cleaner Pro Software.

I like it, nice interface and simple to use. However, i've just emailed Ian because i'm not sure if you get a 'stand alone' full version so that you can save it to a CD for future use.

At the moment it looks like you have to download a setup file and then it installs from the server.

I must admit, i won't be very happy if this is the case - If i've just paid £55 quid just for a licence key and not the full product then i will wanting my dosh back.

I'm just waiting for a reply from Ian though, he seems like a nice guy - i'm sure he'll understand the problems that arise of not having a full version to install whenever i want to.

[ianhannaford]

Hello,

I've just ordered the Window Cleaner Pro Software.

I like it, nice interface and simple to use. However, i've just emailed Ian because i'm not sure if you get a 'stand alone' full version so that you can save it to a CD for future use.

At the moment it looks like you have to download a setup file and then it installs from the server.

I must admit, i won't be very happy if this is the case - If i've just paid £55 quid just for a licence key and not the full product then i will wanting my dosh back.

I'm just waiting for a reply from Ian though, he seems like a nice guy - i'm sure he'll understand the problems that arise of not having a full version to install whenever i want to.

Hi Carl,

I just replied to your mail but thought I would also post here for anyone whos interested.

Due to the nature of the software and the way that it was developed your right in saying that you install from the server. The program also automatically updates itself like Windows XP does so you will always have the latest version.

Since the software features will be updating constantly it makes no sense to have a CD version. It would mean that you will get left behind very quick. For example, Im adding features to enable it to work with pocket PC, once I upload a new version everyone will get this features automatically.

We were going to offer the software on CD but then it would mean people having to wait for software and payong for upgrades (which in traditional software can mean waiting ages for new additions or bug fixes).

We were alos thinking of offering a demo version with limited functionality but decided to offer the fully functional program with a trial period. This way people can explore and use all the features of WCP.

I would be more than happy to refund your money if you so wish but the license key is what you need to unlock the software, if you need to re-install for any reason then simply install from the site.

Let me know what you want to do?

Cheers

Ian

[Trevor Knight]

Hi Ian,

I have emailed you but thought I would post on here as had no reply yet.

I run 3 computers that i would need to software for.

1 main workstation - Office Based
1 Laptop for when I am away on business or not in my home/office
1 Home PC for working from home occassionally.

My question is how do I back up and restore date to each PC?

Do I have to apy for 3 versions to enable me to operate on several computers??
Regards,

Trevor

[ianhannaford]

Hi Ian,

I have emailed you but thought I would post on here as had no reply yet.

I run 3 computers that i would need to software for.

1 main workstation - Office Based
1 Laptop for when I am away on business or not in my home/office
1 Home PC for working from home occassionally.

My question is how do I back up and restore date to each PC?

Do I have to apy for 3 versions to enable me to operate on several computers??
Regards,

Trevor

Hi Trevor,

Just replying now 

Ian

[squeaky-clean 1]

Hi Ian

could you reply in a post on here as i would also like to use the program on more than one pc

 and have not had reply for my error and could not use my full 15 day trial i was kicked out with program error after trying to update only 8 days in.

Belinda

[ianhannaford]

Hi Ian

could you reply in a post on here as i would also like to use the program on more than one pc

 and have not had reply for my error and could not use my full 15 day trial i was kicked out with program error after trying to update only 8 days in.

Belinda

Hi Belinda,

Did you not get my mail about your error? I sent it on 08/07 @ 11:23, I have just forwarded now in case.

As for the multiple installs, this seems to be a bigger issue than I first thought. We assumed that people would use one computer to run WCP on but it seems that people require it to run on different machines and move the database between them i.e. work at home on laptop, bring into work and continue working on a desktop.

WCP is not an enterprise edition piece of software and each install has its own database. Currently it is not possible to have multiple installs all using one DB at the same time.

You would get around this by backing up the database onto removable storage and then importing again in another version of WCP. If there is the need to have multiple WCP's using the same DB at the same time then I can look into creating an Enterprise Edition.

Hope that answers your question and let me know if you get my other email from above.

Thanks

Ian

[George Systems]

Hi Belinda

Our software can run on more than one PC - it has a built in system for transferring data between them.

We also provide a utility that allows more than one database to run on the same PC.

Paul Sanders
GeorgeSystems
http://www.georgesystems.co.uk

[C Senor]

Hello,

Nice guy that Ian.   

I emailed him earlier just to mention what i believe to be, the severe limitations in providing a server only install.

I still believe its the case, i myself have 2 computers and now i've bought the software i can only run it on one with an internet connection.

I for one, would much prefer a install/uninstall option with the option to connect to the server to retreive updates as required.

I am happy with the software though, Ian's done a very good job and i will definately recommend it, it is a nice looking interface and very easy to use.

I was thinking about buying 'george' but it seems to me to be a bit outdated, i dont know if its just me but it reminds me of software from the 80's.   


Carl.