Calling all project management specialists!

[felicitymonsees]

Hi Ladies! 

I am trying to determine the best way to take all of our project management online into ST. I know a key step will be getting our inventory management online, but in the meantime- until our owner is ready to take that leap- wondering what your best project management practices are. I am trying to get a system down or process to track when items are ordered, when they come in and are ready to have install confirmed, etc. Additionally Trying to figure out a process for tracking permit application, further review needed, and inspection scheduling/permit approval.  

Regarding taking our inventory management online... Would it be best to take one brand/supplier online at a time or do the entire warehouse? Thoughts? Best practices? Concerns?

Thank you ladies in advance!

[erinpbradley]

PO Tracking is very helpful for me to manage what's been ordered, received, etc. It does take some diligence to make sure you schedule an appt for install or remove a hold as soon as POs are received. 

I haven't found a great solution for inspections/permits. I wish this was more built into ST. For now, I just create a new job within the project in a job category called "Apply for Permit". Until that job is marked as completed, we know we haven't submitted for permit. I do the same thing for "Pass Inspection"

[RandiThompson]

I honestly don't know how to use ST without inventory..we onboarded with it. It does take a lot of work to get set up and takes constant managing if you keep a lot of stock like we do. I would also think its an all or nothing transition but I would talk to your CSM about that. 

That being said PO's are your friend, if you are ordering equipment and materials for a job and not stock, first set up a PO type that is specific to that, add the PO directly to the job and set up an alert that goes to the applicable person when that PO type is received, when that person gets the alert they know its here and they can schedule.

We don't have a complete permitting process set up because since covid our inspectors don't actually inspect... our current process is, our permitting admin gets a scheduled report of all the jobs scheduled for the next day that include the install business units, then she applies for the permits, we then have an "pics for inspection" form that that the installers are required to fill out that gets sent to her so she can submit them for "inspection". Tags are another good way to report and track changes to stages on needs on a job/project. 

[JessicaSmith]

My biggest advice when anyone says they want to go live with inventory is:

It CAN work. Read all the documentation CAREFULLY and COMPLETELY. Don't cut corners. Have a plan and follow the steps.