Photo Lab Management Software

I run a small custom lab and business has been growing - so much so

that the system of logging in printing jobs in a book is becoming

cumbersome.

 

I've searched the archives for someone with a commercial software

program that will log in the jobs, track them, print the invoices,

then provide a monthly statement. So far, all I've found is one link

that doesn't work and a recommendation from 1999 to write my own

software.

 

I'd really rather print than write software, so if anyone can

recommend a commercial program, I'd really be grateful.

 

Thanks

I owned and operated a successful strictly custom lab for over 30 years, and my operation included shooting gigs, a small studio, and a token retail operation. I had one full time lab tech, and part-timers as needed, and all this before computers were popular. I never found the paper work to be cumbersome. Just how many orders do you average in a normal month?

Dear Art:

 

At this time, we don't averge that many orders - probably somewhere around 75 - 150/month depending on the time of year. My problem is that, if I grow the business, it will get worse, so I'd like to work out the kinks while the problem is still manageable.

 

Also, we do mostly custom work, so there is a lot of detail involved. Most of our customers are repeats, and each has his/her own preferences for developers, contrast, exposure, etc. We've been keeping track of that so far with a notebook, but again, it's not easy to search.

 

What I'm hoping to find is something that will let me see how a particular customer wants work done by entering the name and check to see if there are departures from that base for this job. Also, I'd like to be able to tell how much business a given customer is doing with us. Finally, I'd like to ensure that each job is done on time, something we occasionally miss.

 

Sorry for the long winded answer, but thanks for the response.

Try Quickbooks + Quickbooks Customer Manager for keeping all that extra info handy.

Update:

 

Thanks for the replies. In my search, I've located a commercial product called Lablogics (www.lablogics.com). I've had a demo and it looks pretty good - but it's also pretty expensive. The software was developed by a photo lab group, so it's pretty well tuned to that need. I'll keep looking and if I find anything else, I'll post it here.