Creative Manager Pro, Agency Management Software for the Creative and Design industries, announced new interface enhancements and over 400 functional improvements in its forthcoming version 7.0.
(Details of enhancements listed below)
May 28, 2004
Creative Manager, Inc., provider of Creative Manager Pro, announced today that it is rolling out for review it's new version 7.0 of its flagship product, incorporating over 400 feature requests from current users, including improvements to the iCal and AddressBook synchronization.
Beginning Tuesday, June 1, users will be able to Test Drive the new version 7.0 so that when the new interface is rolled out on July 1 users will be fully prepared. No installation or conversion will be necessary, and the upgrade is free to all users.
Ron Ause, Director of Marketing for Creative Manager, Inc., said 'Agency Management Software needs to grow and adapt to the way our clients work. The growing user base of Creative Manager Pro needs to know that we're committed to growing our products along with our clients.'
In addition to the interface enhancements, over 400 feature requests have been integrated into the system. Improvements include:
System Changes
- Ability to change all colors in the system
- Choice of icon sets (Mac OS X or Windows XP)
- Total conversion to more advanced server platform
- Improved navigation and security
- Customizable search tool has been expanded to every part of the system
- Added lookups to IDšs in the searches (You can click a lookup to find a vendor ID when doing a search)
- Single page design. This allows for book marking of pages so that they can be easily returned to later. URLšs can also be emailed to take others directly to a location or transaction in the system.
Functional Changes
- Time Sheets and Expense Reports
- Ability to enter time sheets and expense reports for other people
- Ability to edit time sheets and expense reports after they have been approved
- You can now use a stop watch to time your work activities
- Update task and timesheet information at the same time.
- The grid view now will automatically load the projects and tasks that you are assigned to during the timesheet period, thereby streamlining the time entry process.
- Contact Management
- New easier to understand user interface.
- Separate Vendor and Client list that is tied in with the contact management.
- Customizable dashboards for contact management, clients, vendors, companies and contacts.
- New detailed, customizable listings of transactions and other information for each company, contact, vendor and client. This gives you quick and easy reference to all transactions for a particular company.
- Projects
- Improved navigation of projects with customizable search tool and quick navigation to different projects.
- All project information is organized in one group making navigation between areas easier.
- Assignments now allow a person to be assigned more than once to a task and allows you to add descriptions of the work to be performed. This allows assignments to be used as a task list.
- Digital Art Reviews have been streamlined to make them easier to create and edit.
- Estimates can now calculate sales tax
- Approved budget and estimates screens have been grouped together for easier navigation.
- Purchasing
- Entering and Editing quotes has been streamlined and made faster and easier to use.
- A new vendor list has been added to make it easier to edit vendors. Vendors also have their own customizable dashboard and links to transactions like Quotes, POšs, Invoices and Payments
- Purchase orders now allow purchase order limits. This allows you to control the levels at which a PO can be approved.
- The system now determines who to send the PO to for approval based on the AE on the project and approval limits.
- Purchase orders now track if they have been approved if printed when approved. This allows you to print POšs in mass after approval.
- Purchase Orders now show a 'Not Approved' watermark if printed prior to approval.
- The approver(s) and Creator of a PO are notified via email when a PO is requested for approval, rejected or approved.
- New security rights have been added which allow you to edit Vendor Invoices and Payment after approval.
- Easier linking and navigation between transactions
- Entering vendor invoices has been streamlined by allowing easier selection of Purchase Orders.
- Vendor Credits are now recorded as negative invoices and can be taken on payments or applied to other invoices to reduce the amount open.
- The approval process for vendor invoices can be eliminated.
- Billing
- Work In Progress screen is now found under Billing, and is renamed to Billing Worksheet.
- Client Credits are now recorded as negative invoices and can be taken on a cash receipt or applied to other invoices.
- Transactions can now be edited after they have been approved (based on security rights)
- Client Invoices now track if they have been printed and the printing status is updated when printed after approval. This allows for mass printing of approved invoices.
- Applying Receipts to invoices has been streamlined by allowing them to be applied in a grid format.
- System Setup
- Additional security settings have been added. This gives you he ability to allow people in to setup smaller sections of the system.
- iCal and AddressBook synchronization
- Ability to hide iCal and AddressBook categories from the Creative Manager synchronization tool, thereby keeping personal those very personal dates and contacts.
When asked about the new features, Ause said 'The key message that this major upgrade sends to our client base is 'WE'RE LISTENING!' We've got the most satisfied client base in the industry (with 98% satisfaction rating), and we're pushing to make it even better.'
Creative Manager Pro goes beyond costing to offer full Agency Management, Project Management, CRM, Digital Asset Management, billing and accounting, and Extranet capabilities.
Creative Manager Pro (at http://www.CreativeManagerPro.com), is the leading Agency Management Software and Project Management Software for the Creative Design industry, produced for design firms, ad agencies, in-house creative/MarCom departments, and creative service firms. It is a web-based integrated agency management software and job tracking solution which streamlines the entire firm, from developing new business, to staffing, managing, and executing projects through to accounting and financial reporting.
Creative Manager Pro is a full-featured, intuitive system which makes project and agency management a breeze. Creative Manager Pro supports Customer Relationship Management, Document Management, Shared Calendaring, Accounting and much more. Because it is web- based, there is nothing to install and it can be set up in a single day. It works with both PC and Macintosh from any location over any connection. It may also be installed locally on the client's own servers. All options include training and support to ensure that clients are up and running quickly.
Among the many features of Creative Manager Pro:
- Graphically view your firm's metrics - manage your firm by the numbers.
- Manage Contacts and Leads
- Create Project Schedules, Calendars and Manage Tasks
- Take your contacts and calendar on the road with iCal, AddressBook & Outlook
- Approve Timesheets, Purchasing, Billing and Budgets
- Review and Approve Artwork Online
- Store and Manage Digital Assets
- Manage and Balance the Books
- Free client and vendor access to streamline workflow.
- Quick startup/import from Clients & Profits, Adman and other systems
- Full-featured CRM (Client Relationship Management)
- Extranet capabilities.
- Charting of important industry metrics and firm statistics
The team members at Creative Manager, Inc. have been leaders in project management software for the creative industry and on the Mac OS for over 26 years. They provide their clients with two major offerings: Creative Project Manager and Creative Manager Pro. Both programs work seamlessly with the Mac OS and Windows.
Creative Manager Pro - Ad Agency Software and Project Management Software
