I am looking for a DB solution to basically track work/invoicing/clients simply and effectively (and preferably off the shelf). I can’t find anything which seems to do this, it is all sales focussed rather than client focussed.

We are a small engineering firm and need to be able to attach job reports from services/repairs onto a client log which tracks what work has been done as well as invoicing history/tracking.

Is there anything out there worth looking at? I am trying to drag the company into the 21st century and facing an uphill battle at the moment 😉 Just been trying Filemaker Pro and have got nowhere with that one!

not 100% what you are after but redmine is a decent case/job tracking solution.

To be honest I am not 100% sure – got some ideas but it will largely depend on the package we go for I think!

Shall take a look at Redmine though.

Basecamp?

At the end of the day, if you are looking off the shelf, you will need to make some concessions somewhere between what you want and what you can have.

Zoho Invoice on Google Apps, couple with Zoho CRM for other bits

Sounds to me like you might be talking about a CRM.

I can’t find anything which seems to do this, it is all sales focussed rather than client focussed.

These things aren’t mutually exclusive. Have a look at the usual CRM suspects, e.g. ZOHO (professional flavour) or new kids on the block like Bitrix24.

in addition you don’t want a database you want an client management and invoicing tool that sits on one 🙂

I can’t find anything which seems to do this, it is all sales focussed rather than client focussed.

I’m struggling a bit with that too. Surely all your work is about sales even if it is services rather than physical products.

It sounds like you need two things – sales/invoicing and tracking of the work carried out for those sales. CRM and service/maintenance management

Zoho CRM is good, but I also used to run vTiger CRM a few years back for exactly what you are speaking about.

We tracked enquiries, orders placed (inwards and to suppliers), invoicing etc.

We went with vtiger because it also exported really simply to SAGE for our accountant.

Sage maybe?

https://www.sage.co.uk/service-management

(and as above, it’s not a DB you want. The db just holds/manages the data that the system you want uses).

Just been trying Filemaker Pro and have got nowhere with that one!

I’ve been using Filemaker for about 20 years now for many many projects and it’s very powerful and customisable. I’d guarantee it can do what you want but you’ll need to put it together yourself (or pay someone to do it for you).
As above though, it sounds like you may want a CRM package, about which I know nothing 🙁

Sage was tempting as the book keeper uses a Sage system and I thought there may be some compatibility advantages somewhere. I am still trying to decide between locally hosted and externally too, there are advantages and disadvantages to both to be looked through!

As Mike alludes to, there are lots of bits to Zoho which can let you build a customised way of doing the things you want. Whilst its OK, it’s not the most polished or intuitive bits of kit and some of the modules are pretty clunky and don’t work with others in the way you think they should….apart from that it’s great 😀

CK: Google filemaker crm….. there are a number of pre-built packages that you can use.

Locally hosted means if you don’t know what your doing you can/will loose everything if it goes wrong. Cloud based they can screw up and you end up with nothing.

Most of the newer platforms are compatible with others so that helps.

If I’m being honest it sounds like you have some simple requirements, have a good look at the light cloud stuff and see what you think.
There is outsourcing available to set stuff up locally and online through their partners or things like elance.com

You might want to look at Microsoft Dynamics NAV. It does sales/accounting/crm/jobs/service management all in one box.

Yeah – we are looking for something very simple. My Dad is getting on a bit (as in should have retired some years ago) and wants to use it too (he is only just taking the first baby steps into eMail!).

There are a lot of packages out there, and my head is swimming from looking through them all! There are some good suggestions here though which is helping to narrow the field!