Tips and Tricks #6

Tips and Tricks to Streamline Your Workflow

For decades, certified design business consultants like Kim Goscha have been working closely with Studio Designer users. Their considerable insights and experience with the platform are shared in our ongoing series of Tips and Tricks. In her own words, Kim Goscha describes her business below:

I have worked exclusively with interior designers on Studio Designer for over 20 years as a certified consultant. Using Studio Designer to run your design firm is the most impactful business tool available. Not only does it help run and analyze the design items for your clients, it also incorporates full general ledger accounting. Studio Designer is the all-in-one application for making job profit analysis, cash projections and year-end reporting readily available.

Below I’ve outlined a tip to simplify the endless paperwork we have in our industry. The Paperless Office Document Storage System in Studio Designer is a game changer!

How to Achieve a Paperless Office

Drowning in Paperwork?

Save each document related to your order with the Item

Anyone who works in this industry experiences the plethora of paperwork involved with running a project. Just to place one order involves the following steps (sometimes even more):

  • RFQ (Request for Quote)
  • Quote from the showroom(s)
  • Proposal for client
  • Order for showroom
  • Acknowledgment from showroom
  • Invoice from showroom

The advantages of saving documents on the Item within Studio Designer are plentiful: 

  • Reduce Paper: We love saving the trees.
  • Security: You are always backed up and current when your information is on the cloud!
  • Accuracy: Save to the item correct item and avoid misfiling it to the incorrect project or client. 
  • Efficiency: Stop spending time tracking down paperwork in the office. The document is attached to the item right in the program. 
  • Time Saver: With a few clicks the item is reviewed and the document saved to the item.

To begin: on the items page in projects, after you have added an item, you can select add an image or click on the image you already have incorporated to add documents and files. See our rug example below.

After you’ve selected the image, click Choose Image to Upload or Drag and Drop.

Then you browse to your documents or files, open and save to the items. We have saved the quote, acknowledgment, and invoice below. Or you can easily drag the files to this box. Each document can be marked as visible to the client and/or vendor or neither. Making the files visible will create a link on the order (vendor document) or the proposal and invoice (client documents) so you can see these. Or you keep them not visible and just use as internal company storage.

 

This is an amazing time-saving tool that keeps your office systems streamlined and organized—try it! The paper that has been piling up goes away. All the answers and details to each component of your designs are saved to the design items in Studio Designer. I hope you’ve enjoyed this tip and begin your life free of endless paperwork.

kg & associates, llc

kg & associates is a team of professionals with a combined 60 plus years of experience within the interior design industry! We like doing the work that most designers don’t care for.

We pride ourselves on helping our clients streamline their business. From reviewing your processes to organizing the economic activities of your business we are here for you. All of our services are customized to meet the needs of your company. Kim Goscha graduated from CU Denver with an Accounting and Marketing degree and has over 20 years experience consulting interior designers on streamlining their businesses using Studio Designer to its full capacity. She advises clients on a full range of issues but specializes in accounting matters.

Visit kg & associates at their website www.designerasset.com.


Studio Designer believes that knowledge sharing is crucial to the optimal use of the platform. Tips and Tricks will continue to be shared by Studio Support team and certified consultants periodically via email blasts and this blog. Studio Support is also entirely receptive to user concerns and our users are welcome to email a “Suggest a Tip or Trick” to contact@studiodesigner.com.