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[caullystone]

The Virtual Paper Trails was discussed in  Re: Confusing Dimensions  (from other forum) and I'm interested to find out what other small design practices use for Quality Assurance etc?

What practices and methods do you follow to prevent mistakes and how do you make sure clients / contractors etc agree to changes etc.

I am always looking at new ways of impriving things.

[FynrDzynr]

G'day Jon!
I have a range of standard documents (originally in .doc format) that BDAQ developed specifically for Building Designers. I've then modified them over the years so that I can use the Letter tool in MYOB to automatically insert job/client/consultant specific information.
MYOB also allows me to record results of phone calls, interviews, site visits etc (unfortunately I tend to forget to do so sometimes)

But that's no help to you because I see MYOB have withdrawn from the UK/Ireland market
http://myob.com.au/myob/australia/myob-uk-has-moved-1258090679104

[CB]

Not sure if my line of work as builder/designer is exactly relevant to what you need. I keep all records of projects, changes, email/quotes/drawings in wjjsoft.com myBase. Very light, flat database that suits me well. Outlook is very good at this as well. Usefulness of Outlook depends on how you choose to store and archive your info.
Try sourceforge for open source software. You may find exactly what you need from browsing through the business section

[caullystone]

Thanks for the feedback.

I was also interested in any practical tips we can share on how we do things.

[FynrDzynr]

In the "good old days" when I had wall-to-wall product manuals I'd photocopy the relevant pages when comparing products & use a highlighter & red biro to track my decision-making process. They'd then be stapled together & bundled in the job file. (in hindsight I really should have dated them as well)
Nowadays I just start a new email to myself, Subject=Job Number & decision pending then go online to each manufacturers resources, use Snipping Tool to capture & highlight the relevant portions, paste into the email & add comments.
No worries about checking whether my hard copy is up to date . . .

[caullystone]

Like the e-mail idea

[Jack Zimmer]

Hi Jon,

I've been actually been looking at One Note.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5bHf_pV-ZM 

One of my biggest concerns are hand written notes taken during a phone / online converstaion. I have a Wacom Bamboo, which functions like a Touch Screen. I have actually tested and used the Stylus to work in Envisioneer.

What One Note did for me at the time is convert Bamboo handwritten 'notes' to type quality notes. Now I'm looking at One Note again and see that in the first link I posted that it may be more useful than what I thought.

Bamboo for converting hand notes to type quality. One Note for orgainizing a whole variety of information on a specific project. 

Bamboo is fun and takes a bit of use to get down the Envisioneer drawing abilities . For instance, right click on the Stylus is on it's side, so you must contrort your fingers correctly to get use to it. But it works.

I have an older Toshiba Touch laptop and absoultely love getting rid of the mouse and using a Stylus. With Bamboo I can do that but I'm still faster with the mouse.

If I get One Note and learn to take advantage of what it offers, I just may end up with a clean desk, and not have to go here and go there to find things.

Another One Note link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdi67tnx6nA 


Jack

[FynrDzynr]

I certainly won't be sharing a photo of my desk atm but I loved this comment on the 2nd video where she asks "Remember how thrilled you were when you finally found the perfect place to put your keys when you came home?"

Ya ma keys are in da cloud, woman.