Job Order Redesign
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- Buckyball2
Ya know, being the resident interactive guru (and I am far from that) can sometimes be a blessing and a curse.
I need some help. We are currently looking to redesign and reimplement our job order/work revisions that we open and edit for each job.
Currently, the system works out of Microsoft Word, with a basic template laid in where account service people can punch in their specific client job #'s, due dates, revisions, etc. Kind of boring but effective I guess.
I have been given the task of making the job order doc not only "prettier" but more interactive and user friendly. This is a big task considering everyone has their 2 cents and additions that they want on the final piece.
There was talk of putting it online for employess to access with passwords and make revisions and updates as necessary. An intranet situation of sorts?
Can this be done in an orderly fashion? Could all of the various job orders be saved all online? Someone mentioned Flash. I work in Flash for my sites but never anything like this with customizable fields and such.
Has anyone out there set up something similar for their company and how?
I have heard of Macromedia Contribute but not too familiar with how it works. Would it be something that could work with this? Or is its purpose for something else completely?
Sorry for the longwindedness.
thanks,
bB
- DeviceUnseen0
I'm not sure what you mean by "interactive". I think a next good step for you is PDF. There are a bunch of controls you can use - read up on that. You definitely can make the form alot more prettier and you can lay it out in indesign.
As for web enabling the process, that is going to take some doing. Judging from your experience, I would setup a coldfusion and access database system as it is most likely the simplest. I would say go PHP and mySQL but that's a bit more trickier.
I don't think flash will really help you in the case.
- Buckyball20
thanks Device. We did consider using Acrobat but sadly we can't afford to equip everyone who needs it. Budgetary concerns.
Know any info on Macromedia's Contribute program? I am downloading the demo right now. But don't know if it the right tool for the job.
thanks,
bB
- DeviceUnseen0
You would be the only one that needs Acrobat Distiller. Everyone else would only need the plug-in. My friend setup and PDF form system like this.
- DeviceUnseen0
I don't really understand how your process works. if you are just posting jobs, then yeah contribute would work. it's a client -side content management system,
Now that i think of it, since your main purpose is POSTING data and not COLLECTING it, PDFs wouldn't be the way to go.
- cab2k40
sounds like a job for XMLand asp, have
a html based form which writes to a existing xml file, then saves the input into xml, different files for different work orders, so you would have various files which can be opened in word. also you could add a fancy interface which searches by client, date, etc, which can be accessed locally or via the internet, password protected pages.plus you could do this with flash and blow all your collegues minds, anyways good luck. go xml not database.