Where do I find a good client management tool?

January 4th, 2009, 2:03 pm

I have been wading through hours of research on the web and still have found a solution to my needs. I am trying to implement a completely online invoicing and project management tool. the program should include: Admin area for monitoring project status and invoice dates as well as the ability to see all client information, make mass emails or just a few, etc.etc. - I am almost sick of writing this stuff.

The client should be able to pay the invoices due on their project using paypal and see all important documents on their project as well demo the audio files. The problem with this kind of request is that there ARE good programs on the net such as ClientExec and WHMCS, but neither of them can offer what I need. They are tailored specifically to web hosting for some very odd reason, I would think this market is in high demand of a good client management portal. I do business with people all across the world and this kind of solution would save a lot of time and money. Can anyone point me to a script or program that offers any of these things?

What I need simply:

Invoicing and payment online through Paypal

Email, personal info, IM contact info etc. of the client for the Admin and vice versa for client

Not a recurring billing schema - I charge clients based on the phase that they are in - originally written in our agreement. We do not move ahead unless client approves the work. This is a legal matter in creative services like I provide

Notes for client to leave on work and same for Admin

anything else I forgot to mention - I have been typing this over and over all night and day

I have been trying to imagine a way Joomla or some other free-based CMS might be tailored to do this, but most of the software is more for Blogging, and if it were able to perform this I am sure it would take loads of customization to work right. I need something built for this very reason that has good security and performs up to par.

January 4th, 2009, 5:53 pm

Maybe you should be looking at software that runs on an IBM Mainframe and not Windows. I think that's why you're hitting a brick wall. Since you're doing international business, you have to go with the pros. That's what the big guys use.

An IBM AS/400 programmer once told me, you can't run a business with toys after I recommended him to a small business owner who was using Macs.

[alex89]

January 4th, 2009, 6:22 pm

I think there's a shortage of good software that'll do those things.

I was hired to code a package (more of a job management system, no client details), but it fell through and all my hours on it were wasted. (one of the many benefits of being a student coder - no contracts)

It was a web-based interface, running off an Apache server with MySQL installed. Several different tables for sales reps/engineers/standard buildings/etc, and some neat code (I wrote) to analyse & display it all.

January 4th, 2009, 8:05 pm

I thought of MySQL too but the existence of injection attacks stopped me from mentioning it. However, you might have yourself a job if you can code it for him.

January 4th, 2009, 8:54 pm

I actually found a few smaller solutions one being freelance suite, but it is small time and was created by one guy. While I don't bash people who write up apps like this, I need to know that the developer is in it for the long run and will offer good support. I decided to hold off in this project until later this year. That will give me more time to look into options. I have like three big projects contracted out now so the site development budget is shot for a while.

If one of you guys, or someone you know, is interested it will be a paying job. I was looking at something MySQL oriented.

January 22nd, 2009, 1:12 am

Don2007 wrote:

I thought of MySQL too but the existence of injection attacks stopped me from mentioning it. However, you might have yourself a job if you can code it for him.

Try to hire someone or a company to build the system the way you want to.


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October 16th, 2009, 5:05 pm

It's been a while and I am back to square one on this issue. I know the costs of having something designed from the ground up will be beyond what I can spend on it. I have two options now, both are decent but lack a few minor things. The first is Freelance Suite, the second CreativePro Office. I think between the two CreativePro Office is a more likely solution from a comparison of both programs' features, stability, look, and feel.

However, being a film composer who demos large files, sometimes ranging in the 1-3 GB range (Movies), I'm not a fan of having a PHP uploader do the job in a browser window - preferring a FTP program much more and then having a linking system within the app itself when entering project files such as a server explorer when selecting browse or typing in an absolute URL. CreativePro office does not offer this. It also offers no ability to play the files within its framework dynamically based on the file url entered when adding project files.

Ideally I need an app with CreativePro Office's excellent time tracking, invoicing, messaging, and other abilities blended with something that can demo files real time for the Client after he/she logs in.

So basically I am extending the question to the community: Could someone accomplish this or might you known of a company, that you recommend, that can?

Thanks for any help!

[alex89]

October 16th, 2009, 8:28 pm

Might be worth posting here: job-opportunities/