What shops ask us before they start.
These are questions shop owners and their people have asked us in meetings. Each answer is what the software does today, and some of the answers are no.
Starting out
Can we bring in our existing records instead of retyping them?
Yes. Parts, bills of materials, inventory counts, open orders and past sales each load from a CSV file, so a spreadsheet is saved as CSV first. You match your own column headers, and a preview shows what would be created or changed before anything is saved.
Do we have to enter all our data before we can start?
No. The parts list comes first, because everything else is keyed to a part number. Anything you have not loaded yet stays blank instead of being guessed, and a setup page asks about the gaps so you can answer them over time.
Our bills of materials are missing or wrong. Can we still start?
Yes. A part with no bill of materials reads as having none, and import rows that match no known part are set aside and listed. Logging a finished run takes components off the shelf using the bill of materials, so component counts are only as good as that list.
Can we roll it out one piece at a time?
Yes. The software is split into areas that are switched on per shop, so you can run on a few and add more later, and an area that is off does not appear at all. We switch them on with you, and we meet with you regularly while you do.
QuickBooks and your web store
Can it send purchase orders and invoices into QuickBooks?
No. Today the data goes one way, in: it reads invoices and sales receipts from QuickBooks Online into your sales history, and it loads QuickBooks Desktop reports as CSV files. Nothing is written to your books.
Can orders from our web store come in automatically?
For one store platform today, and we add others as shops need them. Orders are pulled in when you press sync, or every 10 minutes once you turn automatic sync on. It only reads from the store and never changes anything in it.
Production, stock and time
What happens if someone finishes and ships work that never got logged?
Nothing catches it automatically. You close the order as shipped, which keeps the sale in your history, and then correct the shelf with a fresh count or log the run after the fact. Until someone does, the on-hand numbers for that part are wrong.
What if the system says we have none of a material but we used it?
Work is never blocked by a count. The number goes below zero, is shown as a negative and is flagged as a counting error until someone enters a fresh count with a reason.
Will late or stuck orders be flagged?
Yes, on screen. The orders list marks a late line in red, and the production board has a strip for work that has sat at a station longer than usual, an order at risk of its due date, and a part out at a vendor past its return date. It does not send a text or an email about them.
Does the time clock record time against jobs?
No. It records attendance: who was here and for how long, with breaks and totals for the day, the week and the pay period. You can download a payroll file for any pay period, one row per worker per day. A punch cannot be tagged with a job, and there are no pay rates.
Can different people see different screens depending on their job?
Yes. Every employee has their own login, and the owner sets for each person, area by area, whether they see nothing, can look, or can change things. An area a person has no access to does not appear for them. A worker with no email gets a username and a six-digit PIN.
Traceability, certs and controlled work
Can material certificates be traced to the finished part for an audit?
Yes. A received material lot holds its heat number, vendor, PO and spec, and the mill test report is uploaded onto that lot. A job points at the lot it ran on, so the heat number carries onto the job, and from the lot you can see which jobs used it.
Can it produce certificates of conformance from data we already entered?
Yes. A certificate of conformance is issued from the job, and the customer, customer PO, print revision, quantity made, heat number and supplier are pulled from the job and its material lot. There is one standard layout.
How does it track scrap and rejected parts?
A nonconformance record takes what went wrong, the decision (use as is, rework, repair or scrap) and the number of parts scrapped. The page shows the year’s scrap rate against a goal you set, and there is a printable scrap report for the year. Inspections record pass or fail, not measurements.
Is it safe to use if we handle export-controlled drawings and data?
It holds the paper trail for a job (heat numbers, vendors, certificates) and it is not a place for controlled drawings, CAD files or models, so do not upload them. We claim no ITAR or CMMC certification. The assistant is off by default and the owner turns it on or off. On a shop in ITAR mode, the only fields of your records that reach the model are business fields: no technical field, file or image. What a person types to the assistant is sent as typed, so do not type controlled technical data into it. Ask us about your case before you start.
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