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We have a small business where we sell customized products to people. We're looking for the best way or best practice for managing these orders.. Currently we are using spreadsheets which is getting annoying over time.

We simply receive orders and have to ask the customer about the customization they need, then I create a spreadsheet and write their name, their ID on eBay (for example) and upload an image or two in a directory for their name in Dropbox and ask the guy who prints to look.

This looks to me the wrong way of doing things. But I am not sure what would be the best way. Can someone please suggest a software that I should be using instead of doing things the way I am doing that helps me manage these orders? I would prefer web-based software because we have a few people working from one country and a few from another. So a web-based script or something similar could be exactly what I am looking for.

I am not looking for a shopping cart because I don't need any front end. Only something that helps me manage orders among the crew.

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    please have a look at meta.softwarerecs.stackexchange.com/questions/336/… and include additional information like: on which OS(es) must it run? what is your budget? is f(l)oss-software required? Nov 14, 2016 at 8:31
  • Also, will several of your employees use the software? If yes, will all be able to see all information, or do you want permissions/etc? Is an intranet webapp OK? Is a cloud service OK?
    – Nicolas Raoul
    Nov 14, 2016 at 9:41
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    not intranet, normal webapp that I can upload on my server.. may be an open source script or something? Nov 14, 2016 at 9:58

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If you still haven't found anything, have a look at Simitless. It is a platform that enables you to create your own information system/data management app. It gives you modules/fields (like spreadsheet columns) that you can select from and tailor the app to track/collect only the data you need.

  • In your case, you can make an app to collect all the information regarding the orders you receive, like order specifications, payment status, receive/ship date, customer details, upload pictures, etc.
  • Since it is an online app, you can have multiple people (like your coworkers) working on the same document at the same time regardless of where they are.
  • You can fine tune their access rights as you want.
  • You can import and export your data at any time, so there is no problem with that either.

Full disclosure: I am part of the startup that designed that platform. We launched recently and are still in beta. If you want to try it out and need some help, I can definitely give you a hand. Just get in touch. (If you want to have a look at an Order Management Template that I made according to what you have described that you would like to track. Here is a quick preview as well:

enter image description here

and this is what the individual order input looks like:

enter image description here

And, since it is just a template, you can take it as a basis and modify it to your heart's desire.) It might be just what you are looking for. And let me know how it goes, if you decide to give it a go.

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