Are you willing to start small?

Most creative services firms, work groups and even individuals in the market for a product like Studio Manager are busy. You can introduce Studio Manager into your workflow gradually. Start by entering active Contacts, which can usually be accomplished by importing the data. Next comes Jobs. Enter just the ones that are current and new. In a very short time you have enough data to produce a Job List. Continue to expand into other features like Timesheets, Job Costs and Estimates. You will be up and running in no time.

Do you have FileMaker experience?

If you have used FileMaker before (even if it's not the current version), you are already way ahead of the pack. You could be up and running in a week—creating estimates, entering timesheets and generating invoices.

How large is your staff?

It takes longer to get a large number of users going in any particular direction - it may feel like herding cats. If you are the only user, you work your way through the start-up section of the user manual in a few hours and go. We recommend a phased implementation where you start with the person who is will be most involved with the system - often times this is a production manager, coordinator or office manager. Involve the owner if at all possible in decisions about billing codes and rates. Then, once one person is comfortable, get a good employee or two doing timesheets. Once they are on board, pick up the stragglers.

Do you require customization?

If cost is a concern, we recommend that you use Studio Manager as provided - at least at first. Try it as is to learn whether or not it meets your needs. You might even discover that something you thought you would need to add is unnecessary because Studio Manager accomplishes the same task more easily in different way.

Are you already maxxed out?

You'll need to go more slowly if you are understaffed and stretched to the limit with billable work already. If you are stretched, don't just keep Studio Manager in the box or wait to buy it for the time someday when things will slow down. Instead, put in your clients and jobs and start using it to track your jobs. Job tracking pays off immediately and gives you some good initial experience with the conventions of Studio Manager. Add pieces as time permits.

FileMaker Requirements including FileMaker Server

Does Studio Manager 9 run on FileMaker 8, 8.5?

Nope. Studio Manager 9 runs only with FileMaker Pro 9 or 10.

Do I Need FileMaker Server? If so, which version?

If you have more than 9 concurrent users, then you also need to run FileMaker Server 9 or 10.

Check the FileMaker Inc. website for information on upgrades and new purchases. Their FileMaker Product Comparison may be particularly helpful if you are not sure whether you require FileMaker Server or not.

How is Studio Manager 9 different from versions 7 and 8?

We totally overhauled Studio Manager's user interface in version 8 to add FileMaker 8.5's tab controls and associated scripting advances. Studio Manager 9 makes extensive use of a FileMaker Pro 9 feature: Conditional Formatting. Because Studio Manager 9 was developed with FileMaker Pro 9 Advanced, it requires FileMaker Pro 9 or higher. With the advent of FileMaker Pro 10, more new features and a new form factor were introduced. We've updated Studio Manager 9 to version 9.2 to take advantage of FileMaker 10, although it also still works with FileMaker 9. We plan to continue improving Studio Manager to take advantage of whatever new features FileMaker throws our way. It is our intention to keep Studio Manager at the top of the list of comparable programs that are state of the art.

Training

Accounting Questions

Can I use Studio Manager instead of my accounting program?

Studio Manager is a business management tool, not an accounting application. The way you manage your shop is as unique as you are. A customizable tool like Studio Manager is ideal for managing jobs, tracking time and expenses and estimating. Accounting is the same everywhere you go. Because accounting requires strict adherence to the rules of double-entry bookkeeping, it doesn’t work to make accounting software customizable. You could customize Studio Manager to include a FileMaker Pro accounting solution, but we do not think it is worth the time, effort or expense. We believe that the two functions are different enough to warrant the small amount of duplication of data entry that may be required.

Does Studio Manager link to QuickBooks?

We get this question often. Probably half of our customers use QuickBooks. Check out the FM Books Connector Plug-in or read this press release from FileMaker. Bottom line, we haven't implemented support in Studio Manager yet because linking to QuickBooks requires Windows 2000, XP or Vista and of course a PC version of QuickBooks. Most of our customers don't want to use even one PC for this purpose. We are guessing that this is changing as people are starting to use Intel Macs that can run Windows and thus the Windows version of QuickBooks. Please call Janet if you are interested and once we get some takers who will bite the PC bullet, we'll implement this link.

If you are up to running the PC version of QuickBooks and want this integration now, you or your hired helpers or our consultants can implement this feature custom for you. The FM Books Connector program costs about $180. The main cost is just dovetailing the generic scripting and templates (that come with the connector program) with Studio Manager. If you regard this integration as mission critical, the customization cost of something like $2,000 - $3,000 is going to be worth your while.

Can I link it to another accounting program?

Depending on your accounting program, this can be done by exporting summary records from Studio Manager to tab-delimited text files. Then you can import this data into the accounting program. It would only be a semi-automated solution unless you really get fancy and write an Applescript to complete the automation - we haven't tried this and are leery because of unforeseen data matching errors that could cause problems - such automation would only make sense if you have a very large number of monthly transactions - say 300 or more. The difficulty of the customization may vary depending on the accounting package. Keeping financial accounting and management accounting separate gives you more flexibility. Studio Manager covers the mission critical functions of a creative services business. Accounting programs keep score, a conveniently reconcile accounts, print checks and help with end-of-year tax preparation.

If I need customization, do I have to hire you?

Nope. Frequently we are asked to customize Studio Manager. We like to do this - we get to learn more that way. However, we also (1) often refer our customers to authorized studio Manager consultants (see below) when there is one close by to a customer location and (2) consult with our customers who want to do their own customizing.

We almost always have at least one active customization project in our shop. The advantage of working directly with us is that we are the developers, so we know Studio Manager better than anyone. The disadvantage is that we are a small shop, so we may not be able to start your project immediately. Also, there are a small number of areas of FileMaker Pro development that are not our particular expertise. If you have customization needs that we cannot address directly, we will let you know and make a referral to another qualified consultant.

Do you have consultants you can refer me to?

We have an authorized consultants program and make referrals to qualified independent contractors in the US, New Zealand, Japan and Canada who are familiar with Studio Manager and/or whose integrity and skill we trust and respect. We are more than happy to refer you to these consultants if you want help modifying Studio Manager. Any agreement you make with a consultant outside of Tokerud Consulting Group is strictly between you and that contractor. [For more information, see the Consultants page.]

We now have a separate page for information about Upgrades.

Our upgrades page has upgrade pricing and right below that is all the scroop about how you do an upgrade, how long it takes and all that kind of thing.

How do you deliver Studio Manager and upgrades? Do you email or is it just posted on the web?

Right now we provide you with a download URL via email. We are investigating options that will allow customers to purchase and download without ever dropping us a line. That may make it more convenient, but it removes us one step from the process. If you are in a hurry to get your product, we suggest you call and email to attack on two different fronts. We do check email often, but sometimes spam filters have their way with new inquiries so the extra phone call makes sure the deal gets done with speed.

Miscellaneous Questions

Do you have references I can contact?

Yes. We do request that you be at the point of purchase with a need to check references as your final step before we release references just so that we don't inconvenience our enthusiastic customers unnecessarily.

Is it web-enabled? Can I access Studio Manager via a web browser?

Some of our clients tell us that they have put Studio Manager on an internet server and are currently accessing certain features via a web browser. You could simply create a special layout in the Contacts or Jobs modules, for example, that you serve to the web. As far as the possibility of web-enabling the Studio Manager product itself goes, we have so far had our hands full perfecting and supporting the FileMaker-based LAN version of Studio Manager. Because accessing Studio Manager via FileMaker Pro is so much more robust, we think most design firms will prefer this option.

If you have a lot of remote freelancers or a really big important client who you want to provide limited access to, you could add some limited access via the web for those specific situations. We've recently modified our startup script and added a few dedicated web layouts but they are just the groundwork you need to then build on to get the web functionality you desire.

Do you have a version for the Treo, Windows Mobile, Blackberry or iPhone?

No. So far we haven't seen enough demand for this to warrant our adding this capability to the product. Also, FileMaker Inc. has recently discontinued their FileMaker Mobile product. All hope is not lost on this front though. We've already seen web-based Filemaker demonstrations with special iPhone stylesheets. We will most definitely target iPhone as our first supported mobile device. That said, we are waiting for FileMaker Inc. to give us a little help with some basic tools before we try to make the link from scratch ourselves.