Scheduling
The 4-Week Job Calendar
You can look out over 4 weeks and scan down and see what your weeks are shaping up like. This can help you see where the logjams may be. Each deadline entry has the initials of the person responsible on there!
The 4-week schedule is formatted to print 11×17. There is also a 2-week version, one week of which is shown below.
Schedule showing 1 of 2 weeks
Scheduling is one of the toughest challenges a creative services firm faces. Handling this well could mean the difference between profits or loss. Regular project management software does one project at a time which does only half the job.
Load Leveling. After you plan the project, you need to see all the projects at once so you can see where you need to bring in additional freelance support and where you can take on one more time critical project and still hit the marks.
Set Up Your Task Deadlines for Each Job
Tasks Tab in Jobs
This is the Jobs module – the control center for Studio Manager. The first or opening screen shows tasks. To add or edit tasks, choose the Tasks tab (shown above). Note the color coding. This is made possible by a FileMaker feature called Conditional Formatting. Overdue tasks show in pink, tasks due on the current day are green, within 3 days = black and future tasks appear in gray. Note that the same color coding appears on the printed report (below).
The tasks associated with a job can be tracked effectively. A separate tasks screen (the 3rd tab shown below), allows you to enter all the deadlines for a job. A related tasks table stores any additional information about the task such as addresses, contact people, etc..
Employees Have Their Own Task Lists
Employees can view their own tasks and keep them current by checking off tasks as they are completed.
Employee Dashboard showing All Tasks
Which they can print
Staff can print a hard copy of their task list.
Employee Tasks Report showing All Tasks
