I'm wondering how everyone keeps track of their job records (ie: still on paper or in your head, have a system they made in place, bought a specific program...etc.)😛
What job records
like do you enter your project numbers, the clients, plans, field notes, etc into a computerized system?
I give everything a project number. That was the only thing I could figure to do at the time I took over the business (it had been an existing business with 30 years of files in alphabetical order by the name on the folder) What a nightmare. Anyhow my job numbers are 110503. 11 is the year, 05 is the month, and 03 is the 3rd job I got this month. I then cross reference everything in a spreadsheet which can be sorted by numerous fields. Most of my sorting is done by tax map and parcel number. That way I can search for adjoining jobs in the area which may have been done by my grandfather prior to me taking over. It was hell to set up, but now it is just simply a one line entry of each job I do when they are completed. This also works well since the majority of my business is in one county (with the same tax map numbering system)
That sounds like a pain in the butt! The last 3 companies I worked for all used the same program that does all the cross referencing for you! They can search by job #, land description, client, employee, anything you can think of and all the information you are looking for just pops up in a window. You can even attach your files (plans, notes, etc.) and have them show up in the search as well! and it does all your scheduling. I love it!
We keypunch a lot of that information into Access and then export it to Microsoft Streets and Trips to create a visual of where our projects have been and to search by address for nearby project or to find an old project number. We also create additional subdirectories in the autocad project folders to keep deed images, pdf of the signed survey, aerial photos, etc.. Plus we have a lot of file cabinets.
> I'm wondering how everyone keeps track of their job records (ie: still on paper or in your head, have a system they made in place, bought a specific program...etc.)😛
We have been using PTP.. Project Tracker Pro for a while: http://www.crones.com/ptp/Home.aspx
It's fairly robust and good, but it still has some issues and the tech support is all but non existent. We still have a program that was found by my boss many many years ago when the 286 was gold. Its called PCF. DOS based program that is pretty good too.
yeah I've heard that about PTP and their lack of support.....
I would be really tempted to develop my own miniGIS for the office. You can use Access data files to store information like Client name, etc.
Then, you could use CAD to create a shape file you could then map exactly where it belongs.
Have not done this yet at my office; but, been thinking seriously about it.
Let us know how your quest turns out.
Larry P
> I'm wondering how everyone keeps track of their job records (ie: still on paper or in your head, have a system they made in place, bought a specific program...etc.)😛
We use a 3 ring binder for each year...we assign job number for that year (dont mess with doing months)
example: 11-452
We then write all the data on a blank address label that we put on the folder for the project.
We store all our folders by: subdivision name or street name if not in a subdivision.
Makes it easy to see all the work we have done in a single subdivision or along a
certain road.
Each company I have worked for does it differently.
Excel sheet listing a: job number, client, type of work, project address, lat long, section township and range (since im in PLSS). ect.
Google earth pins with the same info as above.
NONE - (what a nightmare, one party chief who'd worked there for 18 years was the reference.)
MS Access with all pertinent information.
That is what I have done.
I still track jobs until completion on a legal pad. Then everything is logged into my own in house GIS.
Here is a screen capture of it. I have every survey that I have done, every recorded plat in the plat cabinets, every plat recorded in the miscellaneous books, and every plat recorded as an attachment in the deed books (back to the 1960's) placed in my GIS.
Within it, I have tried to incorporate many search options as shown on the following image. If I had planned a little better, it would be more user friendly, but it is a a start and is still a very useful way to find out about a job I may be looking to do.
I have layers turned off that incorporate the NGS benchmark shape files, county road system, 7.5' quad sheets, etc.
It is a very handy tool, but it does take a while to set it up. If you decide to do so, the key point is planning before you start dumping all the data in there.
That is what I have done.
AWESOME. I have always wanted to do the same thing.
That is what I have done.
Exactly what I had in mind Mr. Payne.
If you think about it, a really good GIS greatly enhances the value of your company.
I know of some companies where nobody knows where any of the files are located. They can never find anything and often have no clue if they have ever worked on that same property much less in the same area. What is a company like that worth? My opinion, not all that much.
On the other hand, take a company with a great filing system like the one Mr. Payne shows. If a virtual stranger could walk in and in moments tell exactly where every job was located, who the client was, what work was done, what control was tied ... then that company would seem to have some real value.
Nicely done Mr. Payne.
Larry P
> ... program that does all the cross referencing for you! They can search by job #, land description, client, employee, anything you can think of and all the information you are looking for just pops up in a window. You can even attach your files (plans, notes, etc.) and have them show up in the search as well!
Sounds a lot like iPJC -- the open-source, web-based record-keeping system for land surveyors 😉
A good file management program is sold by AGY and is called "InfoRetriever". AGT has some really good software and training cd's at reasonable prices. I've always had good luck with their packages and they have a really good support center.
My previous employer uses info-retriever and also keeps the project info with lat/lon to plot on a Microsoft street map program to use a a GIS. Info-retriever will link scanned documents, drawings, etc to the project info. It also is supposed to integrate with Quickbooks.
Jason
we use info retreiver from AGT and it works very well. Only problem is that it is subscription based so you have to "re-subscribe" each year but when it comes to storing the info and having to get back to it it really shines.
I can't take credit for the idea,
much of the discussion on this and the old board led me to developing this in house GIS.
There was a bit of a learning curve for software that thought differently than drafting software. After that, it is pretty easy to do, just very time consuming to go back through old records. The software was only a few hundred dollars ($300 I think).
A fellow who used to work for me did most of the data entry during slower surveying times.
The different colors on the screen represent the county the survey is in. The yellow being my home county.
The record data I have in place is only for my home county. It is in a gray line color so it does not show up on the image I posted.
I did a lot of planning about what I wanted for data describing the surveys, but I still occasionally come up with something I would like to have done differently.
That is what I have done.
wow - that looks great!
