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Computers and Software => Business/Shop Management Programs => Topic started by: AMBRO_MFG on March 13, 2018, 04:03:32 PM

Title: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: AMBRO_MFG on March 13, 2018, 04:03:32 PM
Original Message Removed By Author.
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: T Shirt Farmer on March 13, 2018, 04:19:37 PM
Ahhhh Shopworks... one of the most painful experiences of my 35 year carrier... i could add volumes to your post but revisiting the experience would make puke, go on a drunken binge or possibly have a stroke .... 3 years latter we pretty much love it for the most part. In this day and age I cannot fathom that we do not have a better app than Impress or Shopworks available to us.
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: blue moon on March 13, 2018, 04:21:07 PM
Generally we are not to happy to get reviews, especially such tough ones from ppl we don't know. I think it would be a mistake to remove it, but also it does not sit well with me to just leave it up as it is. These thoughts carry a lot more weight from ppl that actively participate on the board so we know it's not just a competitor leaving bad reviews.
As it is, I'll leave the review up under the condition that you start participating in the other activities and if after few weeks we are comfortable that this is not a scam, the post will stand. 'just trying to be fair.

It would also help to post some more info on your shop with a name so this is not a post from an anonymous contributor.

thanx for taking the time to let the potential users know.

pierre
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: ebscreen on March 13, 2018, 04:39:35 PM
No experience with Shopworx, but I did want to stick my neck out and defend Filemaker a bit though.

It is a "rapid deployment user friendly" solution, but is far far more than robust enough to handle %99 of a
shops' needs. Custom Ink, no, but literally everyone else. We have our local FM database interact
with a hosted SQL db to handle customer payments, approvals, and eventually, customer accounts.

I read through your complaint page, and all of your issues that you have attributed to FM are actually solvable,
in FM. No bones about it. Your "blank" issue is literally as simple as 'substitute(field; ""; 0)'.

My best guess is that coding solutions for every single user becomes absurd at some point and the developer prefers
that the client learn to work YOUR WAY. (and in the reality of out-of-the box software, it is better to do so)
This DOES NOT excuse them for not helping you through any of this. At $20k for a piece of software I had better have your cell #.

I actually know the above to be true, I have stupid functions in our FM database that are literally named after employees
because I couldn't get them to do something the way it needed to be done. IE not putting control characters in a clients
name. I think they'll be okay without the exclamation point. Nope, have to write a function to escape control chars in any input.

The end all be all is that almost no shop will find an off the shelf solution that will work the way they want it to.You either change
the way you work to fit that workflow or you make your own solution.
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: T Shirt Farmer on March 13, 2018, 04:41:11 PM
Pierre,

I agree with your comments but do realize the poster is spot on with there assessment of this product and company which I can personally testify to as well.
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: Frog on March 13, 2018, 04:44:16 PM
Agreed, just could be perceived as a bit of a clumsy, negative introduction to the neighborhood.
In fact, Ambro, why don't you drop on by the introduction section and let the folks here know a little about yourself and/or your operation. Sounds like you'll have a lot to offer as you've been 'round the block a few times.
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: ZooCity on March 13, 2018, 05:50:08 PM
I say leave this up.  The experience seems bona fide and we have another, established, member backing it up.

What strikes me about this post is that the buyer offered to cover all of the expenses that shopworx incurred setting this up, matching what a monthly costs would have been and only asked for a refund of the software itself.  If this is true, shopworx's denial of a refund is damning.  What would shopworx be losing if they refunded?   

Caveat emptor perhaps applies here.  I trialed shopworx and when they couldn't install and run a trial on osx easily well that was about enough of a red flag for me- hasn't fm been primarily an osx developed app since the mid eighties?

Agree that much of this is related to the fm platform. 

I think the sales rep here probably sees a lot of push back from shops adopting this software and initially tells them to keep at it.  Maybe try asking again?

AMBRO_MFG I think you would be much happier with a web based app but at your size there's no web based solution anywhere near robust enough for you, it's not even close right now.  For the upfront cost of shopworx I think you could have had the right person pull a number of web based apps together into a nice gui on azure for your company.  Ongoing costs would have been much higher but you would have been happier I think since the experience would be what we consider normal in this day and age. 

Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: T Shirt Farmer on March 13, 2018, 06:12:17 PM
Shopworks in reality is a great ERP platform the problem is you need to be part coder, part accountant and part system analyses to understand and setup the system. The amount of information you can access with FM is incredible to the point it is way too advanced and cumbersome for the average user to wrap there head around. Once you nail down the functions you can retrieve past orders and process new orders with ease, it will just take you a year of time and 5 years off your life span to get there and even then you will not have conquered the beast. BTW FM/Shopworks does not play nicely with any other apps ie. importing webstore orders.
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: mk162 on March 13, 2018, 09:49:11 PM
So the tales of shop management software goes...or whatever the heck I'm trying to say.

For all of it's flaws, T-quoter is built on an SQL database.  It hasn't been updated since at least 2013.  It's a terrible option at this point for someone to move to.  I am suprised it's still supported at all.  It occasionally has to reverify the licenses, and I'm waiting for that to crap out one day.

I have been touring all of the programs out there and frankly, they are all lacking. Printavo and deconetwork both look pretty good but they have some basic flaws that make no sense to me. 

We started work on an online custom built solution, but I got distracted and it died.  I honestly wasn't sure the person I was working with could have handled it.  My brother in law is a programmer, and he really wants to get something of his own up and going.  He's also unemployed and has a lot of free time, so maybe he's the guy to do it.

Homer and I have been emailing back and forth about this...it's mainly complaints about how nobody has a truly great solution out there.

My biggest gripe with Shopworks is why did they eliminate QB?  It's a perfectly fine accounting program.  I do't use it for invoicing, I use it for payables and our accountant.  They spent a lot of time re-inventing the wheel.  Just batch sales info over and be done with it.

I say leave this post up, but the OP needs to get a little more active here or it would seem like he's selling something by slamming a competitor.
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: merchmonster on March 14, 2018, 12:08:15 AM
When I got a demo they pitched it as a replacement for quick books at which point I knew they were obviously looney. Just do what you’re good at and leave accounting to quickbooks which has so much money invested in it.

So the tales of shop management software goes...or whatever the heck I'm trying to say.

For all of it's flaws, T-quoter is built on an SQL database.  It hasn't been updated since at least 2013.  It's a terrible option at this point for someone to move to.  I am suprised it's still supported at all.  It occasionally has to reverify the licenses, and I'm waiting for that to crap out one day.

I have been touring all of the programs out there and frankly, they are all lacking. Printavo and deconetwork both look pretty good but they have some basic flaws that make no sense to me. 

We started work on an online custom built solution, but I got distracted and it died.  I honestly wasn't sure the person I was working with could have handled it.  My brother in law is a programmer, and he really wants to get something of his own up and going.  He's also unemployed and has a lot of free time, so maybe he's the guy to do it.

Homer and I have been emailing back and forth about this...it's mainly complaints about how nobody has a truly great solution out there.

My biggest gripe with Shopworks is why did they eliminate QB?  It's a perfectly fine accounting program.  I do't use it for invoicing, I use it for payables and our accountant.  They spent a lot of time re-inventing the wheel.  Just batch sales info over and be done with it.

I say leave this post up, but the OP needs to get a little more active here or it would seem like he's selling something by slamming a competitor.
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: Prince Art on March 14, 2018, 12:33:02 PM
Not about Shopworks, but about the original post: It has the ring of someone who got burned big time by a vendor wouldn't make it right, and they felt their only recourse was to respond with a "Yea, well, if that's the way you're going to be, I'm going to take it to the public as fully as I know how." And if they really were willing to work with the vendor on paying in part, but the vendor wasn't willing to work on it at all, then perhaps this is the way to handle it. If that's really how it played out, it seems others should know.

Nonetheless, I think anyone who reads this thread trying to decide if Shopworks is for them would be well-advised to consider it one shop's experience, to consider that there are usually 2 sides to every story (or was that 3 sides?), and then weigh it with other people's experience, too.
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: T Shirt Farmer on March 14, 2018, 12:46:37 PM
I think the OP is a bit more than upset to take the time to do this, more than once during our ramp up with SW i felt this aggravated as well. SWis a great platform you just have to want to learn it and work it.

http://www.shopworks-software-review.com/category/shopworks-software/ (http://www.shopworks-software-review.com/category/shopworks-software/)



Title: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: Jepaul on March 14, 2018, 02:22:52 PM
Jesus, if I was shop worx I’d give this man his purchase refund back and ask for this to go away.   

As far as leaving the post up the credibility is in the removal of anonymity.  At the least having the name of the shop in the bio along with their website.

This is posted on the website which is good:


We are AMBRO Manufacturing of Flemington, NJ, we have 19 employees, and we serve our local community and a few surrounding counties.  You can contact us by phone (908) ???-???? (Edited for forum post) or via any of the contact email forms on this review site.
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: KevinO on March 14, 2018, 02:37:05 PM
Wow, an entire blog page created, that is a true disgruntled customer. Shopworx should have just bit the bullet and returned their money!
However in Shopworx defense, it seems like this customer has visions of grandeur in regards to shop software that I am afraid doesn't exist at this point. Printavo looks nice and they are definitely forward thinking and will be on lookout for their future products, but I don't think it is as powerful as Shopworx at this point. What I think has been lost on this person is that it is a long game when you look at Shopworx in regards to the reports and the data you can collect. I can attest that shopworx phone support is garbage and they are pretty set in their ways as a company, but through research you could have found that out. Also this person should have been able to figure out the things they don't like from the free trial Shopworx offers.
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: GraphicDisorder on March 14, 2018, 03:05:28 PM
Whoa, this guy went full out on his review and page, truly not playing games with this I see.

I still use Fast Manager, it's buggy and not perfect but it does work for me. I was sure Printavo would be better for me but it wasn't. I haven't tried any of the others yet as each time I look into one there is a glaring reason not to.
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: Homer on March 14, 2018, 03:39:03 PM
bitter? yeah I could see that....

I've spent months going over everything I could get my hands on...trials for days....I hate them all  ;D

Printavo had the most promise but we can't have separate price structures on one invoice. So billing for vehicle graphics and t's on the same invoice is a no go, we can do it on separate invoices but that's just not going to work. So nuts to that program.

EstiMate was made with windows 95.

Graphix Calc - work flow was all whacky

T-quoter is old...too many issues to deal with

Price-it doesn't offer anything for the sign department.

Teecal was cumbersome and too many steps to get to the price.

Fast manager - nope

there were a few others I tried, can't think of them at the moment...

...and then there was ShopVox.....ready to smack your computer with your keyboard? Do you like taking the space shuttle to get your mail? download the trial today!

I can not possibly be the only guy offering screen printing, embroidery signage, vehicle graphics and promo stuff. That's like our entire industry....Printavo may have it in the next few years but until then....I'll keep banging my face on the screen
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: ericheartsu on March 14, 2018, 03:56:05 PM


Printavo had the most promise but we can't have separate price structures on one invoice. So billing for vehicle graphics and t's on the same invoice is a no go, we can do it on separate invoices but that's just not going to work. So nuts to that program.

Really? that seems weird. We don't use the pricing calculator, but when we did, we could pull from different price charts.
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: mk162 on March 14, 2018, 04:23:37 PM
bitter? yeah I could see that....

I've spent months going over everything I could get my hands on...trials for days....I hate them all  ;D

Printavo had the most promise but we can't have separate price structures on one invoice. So billing for vehicle graphics and t's on the same invoice is a no go, we can do it on separate invoices but that's just not going to work. So nuts to that program.

EstiMate was made with windows 95.

Graphix Calc - work flow was all whacky

T-quoter is old...too many issues to deal with

Price-it doesn't offer anything for the sign department.

Teecal was cumbersome and too many steps to get to the price.

Fast manager - nope

there were a few others I tried, can't think of them at the moment...

...and then there was ShopVox.....ready to smack your computer with your keyboard? Do you like taking the space shuttle to get your mail? download the trial today!

I can not possibly be the only guy offering screen printing, embroidery signage, vehicle graphics and promo stuff. That's like our entire industry....Printavo may have it in the next few years but until then....I'll keep banging my face on the screen

We were working on our own for a while, but it kind of died.  I am talking to the "architect" again and I've added a couple more to the team.  I think we have a decent shot at something that is simple, yet easy to use and can keep track of everything.  Printavo looked the best, but the deeper I dig, the more stuff really makes no sense.
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: ericheartsu on March 14, 2018, 05:44:16 PM
All of these software systems are being built by developers that have a little bit of a background in printing.

Stokkup looks really promising, but it's very very strict. you have to work exactly like the shop that built it, in order for it to function. I'm working really hard with them, to break that.

Printavo has a bunch of updates coming out, but i feel they aren't really production driven.
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: LuckyFlyinROUSH on March 14, 2018, 07:22:19 PM
We settled on Printavo a couple months ago. The only thing that really irritates me is the quickbooks sync to Quickbooks Online only. We used to have Quickbook Enterprise...which was much more robust than the puny Online version. It constantly has syncing errors.

They need to add a bigger picture of the art proof to the Work Order.

Other than that it's really nice for the production side.
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: trebor on March 14, 2018, 09:22:04 PM
Whoa, this guy went full out on his review and page, truly not playing games with this I see.

I still use Fast Manager, it's buggy and not perfect but it does work for me. I was sure Printavo would be better for me but it wasn't. I haven't tried any of the others yet as each time I look into one there is a glaring reason not to.

We have used Fast Manager almost since the turn of the century.
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: ericheartsu on March 14, 2018, 09:32:54 PM
We settled on Printavo a couple months ago. The only thing that really irritates me is the quickbooks sync to Quickbooks Online only. We used to have Quickbook Enterprise...which was much more robust than the puny Online version. It constantly has syncing errors.

They need to add a bigger picture of the art proof to the Work Order.

Other than that it's really nice for the production side.

I'm curious how your production team is using it. IMO, the production aspect is lacking big time.
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: mk162 on March 15, 2018, 08:37:21 AM
All of these software systems are being built by developers that have a little bit of a background in printing.

Stokkup looks really promising, but it's very very strict. you have to work exactly like the shop that built it, in order for it to function. I'm working really hard with them, to break that.

Printavo has a bunch of updates coming out, but i feel they aren't really production driven.

I disagree, I watched a few videos on Stokkup and ended up just shaking my head.

Flexibility is key.  If there is one constant theme of this forum it's that everybody does things a different way and still ends up getting the job done.  Also, what a lot of these programs overlook is one simple factor.  Information is hands down the most important part of this industry.  If a customer orders polos 3 years ago and needs to reorder them, the order should be saved with every piece of info needed to re-run that job and have it turn out the exact same.

When I go into a fast food restaurant I expect the food to be the same whether I am at the store down the street or the store across the country.  Our customers expect the same, they want the same exact order they placed years ago to be exactly the same.

Most programs overlook this.  I think it's a central piece to the whole system.

I am working on assembling my team to see what we can do.  We'll see if it goes anywhere...it may just end up like The Vindicators from Rick and Morty
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: Dragonfly on March 15, 2018, 08:51:18 AM
Been using PriceIt since 2006. It is a bit manual when it comes to signs and promo stuff but my people work through it. We have it on 12 computers through the shop and I cant imagine being with out it at this point. I think programs like this require a real committment by the user to make it work. Not sure the perfect solution exists yet but PriceIt is constantly upgrading their software.
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: dirkdiggler on March 15, 2018, 10:55:51 AM
I used Shopworks for 14 years, FILEMAKER is the problem!  I agree with most of what he said.  Support I would imagine is getting worse as they sign up new customers.  I left Shopworks in the dust 7 years ago and never looked back!  My opinion, some people love it and I may would revisit it down the road if it ever gets a new platform.
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: ericheartsu on March 15, 2018, 11:15:33 AM
All of these software systems are being built by developers that have a little bit of a background in printing.

Stokkup looks really promising, but it's very very strict. you have to work exactly like the shop that built it, in order for it to function. I'm working really hard with them, to break that.

Printavo has a bunch of updates coming out, but i feel they aren't really production driven.

I disagree, I watched a few videos on Stokkup and ended up just shaking my head.

Flexibility is key.  If there is one constant theme of this forum it's that everybody does things a different way and still ends up getting the job done.  Also, what a lot of these programs overlook is one simple factor.  Information is hands down the most important part of this industry.  If a customer orders polos 3 years ago and needs to reorder them, the order should be saved with every piece of info needed to re-run that job and have it turn out the exact same.

When I go into a fast food restaurant I expect the food to be the same whether I am at the store down the street or the store across the country.  Our customers expect the same, they want the same exact order they placed years ago to be exactly the same.

Most programs overlook this.  I think it's a central piece to the whole system.

I am working on assembling my team to see what we can do.  We'll see if it goes anywhere...it may just end up like The Vindicators from Rick and Morty

Right...that's what I was saying. It's to strict, and NOT flexible. I'm working with them on fixing this.
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: mk162 on March 15, 2018, 11:20:46 AM
Sorry, I wasn't too clear.  I don't think it looks promising, unless they can rework the entire order entry system.  I don't like the approach of most of these programs in regards to how they treat invoices vs. individual jobs.
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: Printwizard on March 17, 2018, 06:49:34 PM
All of these software systems are being built by developers that have a little bit of a background in printing.

Stokkup looks really promising, but it's very very strict. you have to work exactly like the shop that built it, in order for it to function. I'm working really hard with them, to break that.

Printavo has a bunch of updates coming out, but i feel they aren't really production driven.

I disagree, I watched a few videos on Stokkup and ended up just shaking my head.

Flexibility is key.  If there is one constant theme of this forum it's that everybody does things a different way and still ends up getting the job done.  Also, what a lot of these programs overlook is one simple factor.  Information is hands down the most important part of this industry.  If a customer orders polos 3 years ago and needs to reorder them, the order should be saved with every piece of info needed to re-run that job and have it turn out the exact same.

When I go into a fast food restaurant I expect the food to be the same whether I am at the store down the street or the store across the country.  Our customers expect the same, they want the same exact order they placed years ago to be exactly the same.

Most programs overlook this.  I think it's a central piece to the whole system.

I am working on assembling my team to see what we can do.  We'll see if it goes anywhere...it may just end up like The Vindicators from Rick and Morty

What if a bunch of shops built a check list for a platform that was flexible, workable, managed jobs, held information.  I would put $5k in towards.  There must be 100 plus companies here struggling.  Big systems trying to clumsily re-invent accounting packages or CRM platforms and creating huge platforms - not streamlining the information process.  I dont need Email Marketing, I have Mailchimp, I dont need accounting - I have Xero, I dont want to be inputting 300 pieces of information that may not be required.  I kind of like some of the parts of wheresmyjob.com - it works for me as a contract decorator that vendors could self populate job sheets to a point, search and manage their own artworks, see where their jobs are at in the schedule.  But its too small and lacks a lot also, but it does do scheduling and production management.  There is room for coding something that is decorator driven and selling it in a modular system according to requirements.  That you can turn off or purchase functionality.  Why sync into a secondrate or light accounting package if you have a good package, or crm or email platform....  Why re-invent existing wheels and not cover other basic functions...
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: merchmonster on March 18, 2018, 12:29:22 AM
bitter? yeah I could see that....

I've spent months going over everything I could get my hands on...trials for days....I hate them all  ;D

Printavo had the most promise but we can't have separate price structures on one invoice. So billing for vehicle graphics and t's on the same invoice is a no go, we can do it on separate invoices but that's just not going to work. So nuts to that program.

EstiMate was made with windows 95.

Graphix Calc - work flow was all whacky

T-quoter is old...too many issues to deal with

Price-it doesn't offer anything for the sign department.

Teecal was cumbersome and too many steps to get to the price.

Fast manager - nope

there were a few others I tried, can't think of them at the moment...

...and then there was ShopVox.....ready to smack your computer with your keyboard? Do you like taking the space shuttle to get your mail? download the trial today!

I can not possibly be the only guy offering screen printing, embroidery signage, vehicle graphics and promo stuff. That's like our entire industry....Printavo may have it in the next few years but until then....I'll keep banging my face on the screen

We had to build a workaround in printavo for multiple jobs on same invoice. We just have master invoice status & throw 1 line item per job there. Then I create a Child invoice that is work order for each specific job. Sometimes production does get confused if a job is paid because only 1 invoice reflects the payment usually master.
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: Mystery on March 18, 2018, 02:51:51 AM
Is anyone using Deconetwork?
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: TCred on March 18, 2018, 05:54:40 AM
Is anyone using Deconetwork?

Yes, and after two years using it we are going elsewhere.

The quoting system is unstable to the point that on numerous occasions in the last six months a quote was raised and sent to the customer, but when the customer approved and paid on-line for the job the price had mysteriously changed. Needless to say the new "lower" price didn't cover the job and we are then faced with going cap in hand to the customer to ask for more (although correct) money.

Customers are hard enough to come by as it is, to be forced to call a customer and tell them that our computer system under charged them and we can't print their job causes stress that I can do without.

If you want ECommerce though their long awaited V8 is about to go live, it looks pretty good.
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: mk162 on March 18, 2018, 03:34:32 PM

What if a bunch of shops built a check list for a platform that was flexible, workable, managed jobs, held information.  I would put $5k in towards.  There must be 100 plus companies here struggling.  Big systems trying to clumsily re-invent accounting packages or CRM platforms and creating huge platforms - not streamlining the information process.  I dont need Email Marketing, I have Mailchimp, I dont need accounting - I have Xero, I dont want to be inputting 300 pieces of information that may not be required.  I kind of like some of the parts of wheresmyjob.com - it works for me as a contract decorator that vendors could self populate job sheets to a point, search and manage their own artworks, see where their jobs are at in the schedule.  But its too small and lacks a lot also, but it does do scheduling and production management.  There is room for coding something that is decorator driven and selling it in a modular system according to requirements.  That you can turn off or purchase functionality.  Why sync into a secondrate or light accounting package if you have a good package, or crm or email platform....  Why re-invent existing wheels and not cover other basic functions...

I would love to get some checklists from folks.  I am meeting with our Java, API, and some other things expert on Monday to bring him up to speed.  I don't know why it's so hard to find a good solution.  A lot of folks really liked T-quoter/Fast Manager/Price-it style of systems, why can't something like that be done in the cloud?

I have a list of my most important features listed out by each section of the program, like Quoting Screen, purchase orders, invoicing, customer portal, etc.  We have a meeting on Friday with the whole team to see what we can do.

If anyone is interested you can send it to brad at replaprints com

Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: ericheartsu on March 18, 2018, 10:02:08 PM
zoo and Zane and I have talked about this. but ultimately it becomes to challenging. Each shop is going to have it's own wants and needs, and ultimately the cost just gets to high.
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: Stinkhorn Press on March 20, 2018, 04:13:04 PM
after a couple years printing manual, I was shocked to find out just how basic most of the automatic presses were. clearly kludged together aping a manual and newer generations sometimes addressing the problems that posed. I couldn't believe that no one had sat down and engineered something, well, better.

after a couple more years I went out looking at the various "shop management" programs on the market, to go with my functional, but-really-it's-a-mechanized-manual, automatic press. We are a backwards industry. crap, screen printing, roughly how we do it, was done, what 4,000 years ago? we haven't cracked this nut. it's a wasteland. "shop management" programs. ha!

someday I too will have a pile of otherwise un-related apps that are packaged together and marketed as a "screen printing shop management program." I'll roll my eyes at how we remain cavemen, but I won't fix the problem, I'm just a screen printer!
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: T Shirt Farmer on March 21, 2018, 12:42:42 PM
I used Shopworks for 14 years, FILEMAKER is the problem!  I agree with most of what he said.  Support I would imagine is getting worse as they sign up new customers.  I left Shopworks in the dust 7 years ago and never looked back!  My opinion, some people love it and I may would revisit it down the road if it ever gets a new platform.

What did you buy to replace shopworks?
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: dirkdiggler on March 21, 2018, 07:12:20 PM
I used Shopworks for 14 years, FILEMAKER is the problem!  I agree with most of what he said.  Support I would imagine is getting worse as they sign up new customers.  I left Shopworks in the dust 7 years ago and never looked back!  My opinion, some people love it and I may would revisit it down the road if it ever gets a new platform.

What did you buy to replace shopworks?

Nothing, just quickbooks.
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: alan802 on April 10, 2018, 02:40:55 PM
So if I scanned well enough I see that 3-4 people here have/had shopworks?  We've used it for about 15 years.  I've tried to look at what other programs are out there and if there is legitimately something better/more robust I'd love to hear about it.  At this point, I can't fathom being able to move all our data currently in shopworks to another program, then I don't think there is something out there that performs what we need better so those problems equal us staying put.  I don't LOVE shopworks, but I don't fully understand why so many people hate the program. I read the first post and saw some valid subjective issues (clunky, outdated, etc.) and the fact that if you press "enter" in a field nothing happens until you move the cursor to the "find" or "done" button...well, ok, fair enough.  It wouldn't be too hard to add the function that when you were finished entering data into the specific search fields it would automatically do the search by hitting the enter key, but since you can literally search about 100 different fields at the same time you better be careful not to accidentally hit the enter key before you've completed all of your search parameters or you'll be starting over.  And maybe that's why the OP would like the undo function so that when they make a mistake they don't have to start the search all over again.  As far as needing an undo function when the vast majority of what we do with shopworks is simply data entry doesn't make it something that is given much thought.  It's managed to keep hundreds of thousands of orders organized and easily accessible.  It allows us to enter every piece of data that one could imagine within a work order then it can analyze all of that data and/or show it to you in a few dozen different ways, at a minimum.  It keeps up with everything we purchase, any damages we have, and a bunch of other stuff we don't really use.  So maybe it doesn't function as good as most applications, software and programs in other industries and it certainly doesn't look as jazzy and sophisticated, but there isn't anything that I can think of that this shop would need it to do to run a more successful operation.  It is incredibly simple, enter the data correctly and I don't see how/why it doesn't do what shops need it to do.  Once or twice a year something happens to it and they log in remotely and fix the problem.  It's been many years since it's been down for more than an hour.  It's not cheap, and maybe that's why many don't like it because they think they should get more for their money.  That's another fair criticism I suppose.

So yeah, that's just my opinion.  And I poke around Shopworks all the tim to see what else it can do that we don't currently use, and I do see the flaws, but I judge this issue by this question:  Compared to what? 
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: ericheartsu on April 10, 2018, 03:47:07 PM
So if I scanned well enough I see that 3-4 people here have/had shopworks?  We've used it for about 15 years.  I've tried to look at what other programs are out there and if there is legitimately something better/more robust I'd love to hear about it.  At this point, I can't fathom being able to move all our data currently in shopworks to another program, then I don't think there is something out there that performs what we need better so those problems equal us staying put.  I don't LOVE shopworks, but I don't fully understand why so many people hate the program. I read the first post and saw some valid subjective issues (clunky, outdated, etc.) and the fact that if you press "enter" in a field nothing happens until you move the cursor to the "find" or "done" button...well, ok, fair enough.  It wouldn't be too hard to add the function that when you were finished entering data into the specific search fields it would automatically do the search by hitting the enter key, but since you can literally search about 100 different fields at the same time you better be careful not to accidentally hit the enter key before you've completed all of your search parameters or you'll be starting over.  And maybe that's why the OP would like the undo function so that when they make a mistake they don't have to start the search all over again.  As far as needing an undo function when the vast majority of what we do with shopworks is simply data entry doesn't make it something that is given much thought.  It's managed to keep hundreds of thousands of orders organized and easily accessible.  It allows us to enter every piece of data that one could imagine within a work order then it can analyze all of that data and/or show it to you in a few dozen different ways, at a minimum.  It keeps up with everything we purchase, any damages we have, and a bunch of other stuff we don't really use.  So maybe it doesn't function as good as most applications, software and programs in other industries and it certainly doesn't look as jazzy and sophisticated, but there isn't anything that I can think of that this shop would need it to do to run a more successful operation.  It is incredibly simple, enter the data correctly and I don't see how/why it doesn't do what shops need it to do.  Once or twice a year something happens to it and they log in remotely and fix the problem.  It's been many years since it's been down for more than an hour.  It's not cheap, and maybe that's why many don't like it because they think they should get more for their money.  That's another fair criticism I suppose.

So yeah, that's just my opinion.  And I poke around Shopworks all the tim to see what else it can do that we don't currently use, and I do see the flaws, but I judge this issue by this question:  Compared to what?


Alan, you're right, Shopworks is one of the only options out there, but it's far from a useable solution for alot of us. And just because it's the only comprehensive system around, doesn't mean it's an actual good option.
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: DannyGruninger on April 10, 2018, 03:56:25 PM
Not much to add at this time but overall we are a happy shopworx user. I cant imagine what we would do without it.... We have looked at everything out there and unless you build your own shopworx is absolutely the best we have found.


Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: kirkwad on April 10, 2018, 04:33:57 PM
Not much to add at this time but overall we are a happy shopworx user. I cant imagine what we would do without it.... We have looked at everything out there and unless you build your own shopworx is absolutely the best we have found.

I feel the same way. There are a number of things I have gripes about with Shopworx, but overall I feel it's a great tool that keeps almost all aspects of the operation centralized, organized & available to everyone. Especially if you're a small shop that is growing into a medium or larger operation. Figuring out the processes of how you want to use it and training everybody accordingly is key. It's far from perfect & cumbersome at times, but we would be WAY less organized & efficient without it.
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: ThePrinter on April 10, 2018, 04:59:38 PM
Is it ShopworX ERP ya'll are talking about?

https://softwareconnect.com/job-shop/internetworx-shopworx-erp/




Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: cbjamel on April 10, 2018, 05:52:44 PM
No, this is https://www.shopworx.com/ (https://www.shopworx.com/)

Shane
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: ThePrinter on April 10, 2018, 06:29:46 PM
No, this is https://www.shopworx.com/ (https://www.shopworx.com/)

Shane

That's what I was wondering, the web address is "Shopworx" but on the site shows "Shopworks", a little confusing when it is referred to both ways.
Either way...Now we know and knowing is half the battle!
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: Ron Pierson on April 11, 2018, 08:51:50 AM
I'm with the guys that have positive things to say about Shopworks. Is it the be all to end all - nope. Have I used it to it's fullest - nope. Does it REQUIRE MASSIVE TRAINING for an employee to use it - you bet!! The program is a BIG investment - sure is. The bigger investment you will NEED to make is employee management of the damn thing after install.

Shopworks, or any management program is just that - a program. It ain't goin to do the work for ya - you gotta invest time in the damn things to get what you want. We do these three things to make it work - training, training, training. Their online videos aren't the best they can be - watch them and read between the lines. You should be able to figure it out. No they don't answer the phones after business hours in Florida. Get over it, they aren't Amazon. Should they fix this issue - sure they should.

I got over 100 employees and it works for us. I have EVERYONE in my building involved. If they don't involve themselves in our software, they can't work here - simple. The best thing it does - gets us through our day without too much issue. The real job we do - screen-printing - is hard enough as it is without having untrained employees running your software.

My Humble Opinion
RP
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: GKitson on April 11, 2018, 10:02:13 AM
So if I scanned well enough I see that 3-4 people here have/had shopworks?  We've used it for about 15 years.  I've tried to look at what other programs are out there and if there is legitimately something better/more robust I'd love to hear about it.  At this point, I can't fathom being able to move all our data currently in shopworks to another program, then I don't think there is something out there that performs what we need better so those problems equal us staying put.  I don't LOVE shopworks, but I don't fully understand why so many people hate the program. I read the first post and saw some valid subjective issues (clunky, outdated, etc.) and the fact that if you press "enter" in a field nothing happens until you move the cursor to the "find" or "done" button...well, ok, fair enough.  It wouldn't be too hard to add the function that when you were finished entering data into the specific search fields it would automatically do the search by hitting the enter key, but since you can literally search about 100 different fields at the same time you better be careful not to accidentally hit the enter key before you've completed all of your search parameters or you'll be starting over.  And maybe that's why the OP would like the undo function so that when they make a mistake they don't have to start the search all over again.  As far as needing an undo function when the vast majority of what we do with shopworks is simply data entry doesn't make it something that is given much thought.  It's managed to keep hundreds of thousands of orders organized and easily accessible.  It allows us to enter every piece of data that one could imagine within a work order then it can analyze all of that data and/or show it to you in a few dozen different ways, at a minimum.  It keeps up with everything we purchase, any damages we have, and a bunch of other stuff we don't really use.  So maybe it doesn't function as good as most applications, software and programs in other industries and it certainly doesn't look as jazzy and sophisticated, but there isn't anything that I can think of that this shop would need it to do to run a more successful operation.  It is incredibly simple, enter the data correctly and I don't see how/why it doesn't do what shops need it to do.  Once or twice a year something happens to it and they log in remotely and fix the problem.  It's been many years since it's been down for more than an hour.  It's not cheap, and maybe that's why many don't like it because they think they should get more for their money.  That's another fair criticism I suppose.

So yeah, that's just my opinion.  And I poke around Shopworks all the tim to see what else it can do that we don't currently use, and I do see the flaws, but I judge this issue by this question:  Compared to what?

I have watched this thread with some interest and decided not to participate because of accusations of favoritism, however Alan has summarized the response better than I could therefore my response is simply "What Alan said"!

My 2 cents,

Kitson
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: AMBRO_MFG on April 23, 2018, 04:47:10 PM
Hey there.  Sorry for the delay in responding to your notes, I'm definitely not a competitor to Jay, we're a screen printing shop in New Jersey, AMBRO Manufacturing.  Regarding your question about QB, Shopworks Onsite 8.3 does give you the ability to write out a file for QB, but it also has an accounting package built in, it sounds like you've seen it and/or used it, in which case you already know that it can't hold a candle to QB.  (Un-invoicing) that's all I have to say to the prior and current users of Shopworks Onsite, they'll know what that headache is. 

I'm not saying QB is the be-all-end-all of accounting packages, but it is far more robust, logical and works in a traditional accounting fashion when compared to Onsite.  Our goal is not to bash anyone, simply just to warn everyone to look carefully before they step into doing business with Shopworks. 

I'm aware that when you are providing details out to the level and effort that we have and continue to do, that there may be suspicions that we are someone like Printavo or Stokkup but I can assure you that we do not sell software nor do we ever want to.
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: brandon on April 24, 2018, 06:09:31 PM
Hey, so with all back and forth in our Industry over shop software I can honestly say the medical field does not seem to be much better. Granted, they are saving lives and so forth and we are making goods but you would think with the amount of money involved they would have a better system. The past couple of years like today I frequently live and work out of the hospital. Not me but family stuff. Anyway, we had surgery today and there was a 3 hour delay due to files were swapped around from department to department and there is no main system to pull everything up. You would think they would have all patient info collected together but nope.
Title: Re: Our Experience With Shopworks Onsite 8.3
Post by: ebscreen on April 24, 2018, 07:50:43 PM
When I have a php/js/sql question and I search around I frequently run into people with the same issues
that are developing software for hospitals! Not exactly confidence inspiring.