Project Management & CRM

Auto update to 3.5 02/05/2024 

Updated 25 February 2020 to version 2.6 

Added CRM section for preparing estimates and invoices and managing non-customer contacts.

Added Invoicing section to handle invoices, fees, expenses, and payments.

Updated 28 September 2019

Updated to include placeholders for your web studio'e relevant information.  Also requires the user to agree to your online privacy policy and/or terms of service (located in entity User).  

Cleaned up the sorting order of all global lists.

I have created several additional entities to expand on the PM system including a project-independent support ticket system that uses public forms; a Proposals manager, and a Prospective Client manager.  

The independent Support Ticket is used by customers who do not need to register and have a full blown project in the system.  We use it to manage our website maintenance packages.  

The Proposal Manager is used to create proposals.  The proposal itself is written offline and uploaded as a PDF attachment.  From the ruko dashboard, you can track the proposal through to acceptance and invoicing.

For Projects, we are using the PayPal payment module to collect on unpaid invoices.  Like the proposals, they are prepared outside of Ruko and a PDF is uploaded to the Invoices tab and the client is notified. They can then login to their dashboard and pay the invoice. 

The CRM or Prospective Client entity is used to keep track of people who may or may not eventually become clients.  It provides an easy way to follow up with them and track their engagement with us. 

We have grouped information pages together featuring a contact page, instructions on how to  navigate through the system, terms of service, and you an put any other company-specific information here to share with all your users. 

Using the System

Here you will find a few tips about how to get the most benefit from using the program.

Support Tickets

[These are independent of Project support tickets and can be used for one-off services.  Explain your procedures here if you plan to implement this system.  It uses the public submit form.]

Projects

Once you contract for our services, sign the web development agreement, and pay the agreed-upon retainer, we will set up your Project and give you login credentials. You will then be able to logon and respond to system notifications, view assets, comps, and other material we create and prepare during the design process.

Resources

UPDATE:  I have moved all resources other than Client Assets to an Internal tab (clients won't see this).  It contains links to your Prospect list, Proposals, and Resources. 

Client Assets

Your Project has a tab called "Client Assets" where you will find all the site assets, including, but not limited to, your signed contract, any stock images you have purchased and provided to us, any stock images we have purchased on your behalf, all comps submitted, and any other materials you give us to use in connection with building your site.

Tasks

We use Tasks to manage our workflow and there might be times when your input is requested on a task. The system will notify you when something has been added or updated which needs your attention.

Tickets

Not to be confused with Support Tickets, Project Tickets are used by the client to initiate action on the part of the web development team, to make a request, submit a change order, or some other request or question. As with Tasks, the system will notify you when your ticket issue has been updated or further action is required on your part.

Discussions

Discussions are useful to initiate dialog between the client and the development team that may or may not be related to a particular Task or Ticket item. You can view all your discussions related to your Project under the "Discussions" tab in the sidebar.

Invoices

Your unpaid invoices will appear here. You can use the PayPal button to conveniently pay your invoice fro within the project management dashboard.

Your Reports

To give you an overview of the progress of your Project, preconfigured reports can be found on your Dashboard. You can delete items from the viewport, but you cannot edit the view or add items to it.