Studio Manager Bulletin

Studio Manager Support Packages Available

As we discussed in our recent post about creating Studio Manager support packages, we think support packages are a good idea as long as (1) they are optional and (2) you get a better deal than you would buying support ad hoc. We spent some time working over the numbers and here's what we can offer:

AD HOC SUPPORT::
You can buy time in as small as 10-minute increments. The truth is the majority of our support requests are handled in 10 minutes. Keep in mind that most phone support is done by Janet with Sally handling more routine questions when Janet isn't available.

Janet $180/hour or $30 for 10 minutes. UC Berkeley MBA, 20-year speciallst in providing FileMaker-based systems to creative services businesses. Architect and chief developer of Studio Manager. Working full-time on Studio Manager, Janet delivers phone, email and remote access support to our customer base. She also does upgrades and customization projects.

Scout $90/hour. Scout spent 2 years as the product manager for Studio Manager and has been working with Janet since 1989. Before that Scout worked in printing and as a production graphic artist. She has written most of Studio Manager's technical documentation and participates in product planning, design and development. Works mostly on Studio Manager testing, documentation and customization projects.

Sally $60/hour. The newest member of the Studio Manager team, Sally does admin, customer support, testing, documentation and beginner level Studio Manager training. She has a Masters degree in education and is helping us beef up all of our documentation and training. As she masters Studio Manager and FileMaker, Sally will be doing more and more of our customer training.

SUPPORT PACKAGES::
You are going to want to purchase support packages for four reasons: (1) to have it budgeted for, (2) to make a commitment to use Studio Manager to its fullest, (3) to pay for upgrade and customization projects that will take several hours to complete and (4) to get a discount.

The blocks of support hours below are quoted at Janet's hourly rate because she does the bulk of customer support. However, since we structure our rates to be easily calculated, you can divide by two to see the rate you will pay for Scout's contributions and divide by three to see what you'll pay for Sally's time.

Studio Manager Support Packages Coming

Up till now, we've been doing support on an hourly basis with occasional sales of blocks of time. We've decided that our customers more often than not skimp on support. They don't budget for it at the time of purchase and then try to get along with little to no extra help. Because of this, some of our customers aren't getting as much as they should out of Studio Manager.

One option would be raise the price of Studio Manager so that we can offer more support with the product. Right now you get one hour of free support. We could raise the price of Studio Manager by a few hundred dollars and give you 5 hours of support. But that would penalize those of you who prefer to do things on your own with your own local or in-house FileMaker talent. Studio Manager is very popular among firms who are already using FileMaker. We aim to please, so we are going to attack the support issue by offering you incentives. Yeah, that's right, discounts!

Here's what we are thinking right now. Provide the following discounted chunks of service that can be purchased in advance: 5-hours, 10-hours, 25-hours and 50-hours. If you need a different number of hours, you can add additional hours to any one of these plans. If you want 35 hours instead of 25, for example, we'll sell you all 35 hours at a better discount than you would get by buying both a 10-hour and 25-hour package.

Discounts will range from about 5% for the 5 hour block of time to a little over 20% off for the largest block of hours. You will have 12 months to use your hours. We are working on the support packages this week and should have something firmed up by week's end.

If you happen to see this post before we've finalized our support packages and pricing, please let us know what you think. We would love the input.

Supporting You with Screen Sharing in OSX Leopard

Now that Apple has released the second update to OS X Leopard, 10.5.2, the promise of Leopard is being realized. We are enjoying being able to almost instantly see and manipulate local computers in the office. I can reach out to my iMac from my MacBook Pro and see the screen and run programs. I can open our business database if it isn't open. All this is ultra easy now.

In this world of remote desktop that Apple calls Screen Sharing, we can Screen Share with you in either direction if you are also on a Mac running OS X Leopard. We can demonstrate things on our Macs while you watch and we can also remotely control your computer when you have so authorized and make changes or add things to your custom version of Studio Manager. Pretty slick.

It's sometimes been a challenge to explain things on a graphical user interface by phone. Leopard screen sharing can make things much easier. If you ever call us for tech support or have a question that requires looking at your Mac screen running Leopard, please let us know so we can augment our conversation by seeing your screen or vice versa.

Please note that if you are using remote desktop on a Tiger based machine, we can also use remote desktop to accomplish much of the same thing. It's just a wee bit easier in Leopard.

Studio Manager Bulletin Has a New Look

Wow! TypePad just expanded their themes and I found this one that I really like. So much for white backgrounds. I just love this. I'm hoping that enjoyment won't fade quickly. We'll see. Hope you like the new look.

One of the things I like about TypePad is their strength in design. That's why I'm on TypePad for my blogging service. You aren't stuck with a generic theme either. You can add your own CSS into the page to override theme CSS.

By the way, I use CSSedit these days. Fun to use and effective! Today I'm using the theme unedited. After I examine it in more detail, I'll start tweaking.

One thing I have to do is go back and change some of my graphics to have transparent backgrounds. Black aint going to work anymore. Argh! Cutting corners sometimes bites you in the butt later.

Studio Manager 9 Demo Manual v2 Up

All right, we just spent about $2500 user testing, improving and revising the demo manual for Studio Manager 9. Please consider the demo manual as a helpful introduction to the functionality of Studio Manager. The demo manual can be a handy training resource for new employees. Perfect for getting a thorough overview of the product. It has lots of screenshots so you can see what the instructions are talking about.

If you haven't checked out he Getting Started tutorial, we also recommend it for a hands on walk-thru. Step by step. Getting Started is 12 pages. The demo manual is 24.

Please let me know if you have any questions about the manual, Studio Manager or this post. I'll be notified if you post your question as a comment here. Or you can email me. Or, feel free to call us at 415 789-5219. We're open 8 am to 5:30 pm week days Pacific time.

Studio Manager 9 Demo Manual Up

We have the first version of our Studio Manager 9 Demo Manual Up. We've updated the screenshots and added coverage of Studio Manager 9 features. It is currently 24 pages. We highly recommend the demo manual as a learning tool for new Studio Manager users. Great for new employees or for employees new to Studio Manager.

Our 13-page Getting Started manual is also a good learning tool and has been redone for Studio Manager 9. Getting started is more of a walk through at the detail level, walking you through creating a job, creating an estimate, write correspondence, etc.. The Demo Manual is more conceptual, giving you a tour of Studio Manager with more context in terms of explanation, features and benefits.

We are still at work on an even better version of the demo manual based on user testing. Stay tuned.

Studio Manager 9 Out, Demo Up

Just out this morning. Come see the demo, the new features page and the New Features guide on our Studio Manager site!

Studio Manager 9 Due for release tomorrow

We are busily finishing taking screenshots, writing up descriptions and instructions right now so we can release Studio Manager 9 tomorrow. Here's a single item to whet your appetite for lots more that should be on display tomorrow. After we get all the information up on Studio Manager 9 which requires FileMaker Pro 9, we will then get the demo going. We need to get good practice data in there that matches up to our manuals and such so that's the last thing. We still are hoping by tomorrow's nightfall to have the demo up and ready to go.

Studio Manager 9 Due for Release Dec 18

We are on the verge of releasing a new version of Studio Manager. It will require FileMaker Pro 9 and take advantage of some of its unique new features like conditional formatting. We hope to have some screenshots up on our studio-manager.com site by Friday afternoon. Come take a look if you are thinking you might want to upgrade or purchase Studio Manager for the new year.

For a period of months, we will continue to sell Studio Manager 8 to users who have recently upgraded to FileMaker Pro 8.5 and aren't ready for another round of upgrades there. We do love FileMaker Pro 9, though, and highly recommend the upgrade.

Feel free to contact me at janet (at) tokerud (dot) com or call my new Tiburon, California phone number at 415 789-5219. More to follow.

Studio Manager 8 Featured by FileMaker Inc.

We re-wrote Studio Manager virtually from scratch to take advantage of features in FileMaker Pro 7 and 8. Later we re-designed the interface when FileMaker Pro 8.5 was released with its full support of the new tab control feature. We felt that we had achieved a level of excellence in programming with Studio Manager 8 that was worthy of attention. That feeling was recently acknowledged by FileMaker, Inc. when they selected Studio Manager 8 as one of only ten ready-made product solutions to be featured on their website. What an honor!

The description of Studio Manager 8 is not 100% correct (we have multiple pricing and they only show the new single-user price) but we don't care. We are thrilled to have this important show of support from the developers of FileMaker Pro. They see an awful lot of good FileMaker-based products. We like being noticed and hope the exposure will get the word out about Studio Manager.

FileMaker Inc. has been good to us before. Twice in the last three or four years, FileMaker has run success stories about our clients. The first was a local San Francisco design firm. The more recent story was about Brains Design in Sydney, Australia. But, this top ten thing is even more special.

Over the years we have been champing at the bit to see new features in FileMaker. We were always eager to jump on the new tools and opportunities and turn them into cool features in Studio Manager. We've kept pace with FileMaker Pro as it has become much more powerful in recent years. Studio Manager 8 reflects our commitment to produce the best possible software for the management of creative services.

We encourage you to check out the Studio Manager 8 Details page for yourself and while you are at it, tell your colleagues. Jump there with this link, or follow the path on the FileMaker site: home... products... ready-made solutions... Studio Manager 8 details.