What is your ballpark estimate?

It happens every time a contractor or remodeling professional make the their initial visit with a potential customer.    You may get a sketchy overview of what the customer is looking for, and if you are lucky you can take a few pictures and measurements.   The conversation always ends the same way.....   "What is your ballpark estimate?"    The customer is looking for both cost and time to do the project.   What ever you say here is what the customer will remember and use to compare with other estimates from other vendors.

Accurate estimates save you both time and money.
Elms Advantange Online is uniquely setup to help you solve this problem.   Use remote devices to access Elms via the cloud allowing you to create estimates from anywhere you have access to the World Wide Web, even at your customer's location.     Elms assemblies allow you to pre-package common components using line items costs from you cost database.   Simply dragging an assembly into an estimate will add many cost items to the estimate at once.  Elms cost database is configurable to your business.  Experienced estimators will maintain line items based on square footage (i.e. Kitchen Remodel - Cabinets & Appliances).  Simply plug in the square footage for your project and get a more accurate ballpark estimate.

  Be ready the next time your customers ask you for a ballpark estimate.

Performance reviews - What are they really used for?

Performance reviews, ti's the season.  I always cringed with the idea of reviewing status reports from the previous year and documenting all my accomplishments.  The feeling was also mutual from my days as a manager where not only did I have to produce my own evaluation, but was responsible to reading and evaluating others.

My days as a corporate employee always led me to believe that yearly employee evaluations where an avenue to impress and secure that elusive increase in salary or new promotion.   I would spend countless hours during office hours and after to produce a concise and well written evaluation that would be sure to impress.

Middle management taught me that all raises and promotions have already been determined via the previous budget allocation process.  My role was to understand the company's longer term goals and communicate to  each employee this information in addition to how they individually fit the plan for the next year.   This was also a great time for providing feedback.  Personally, I would like my manager to provide feedback throughout the year.

So --- What is the real purpose of the Employee Evaluation?

I have come to believe that an Employee Evaluation is really a legal document that primarily benefits the company it serves.  It demonstrates that the company has made correspondence with all its employees on what they require and their perceived performance.  Each employee also indicates this same understanding once they put their signature on the review.

We have all seen the rating scales (i.e. 1-5  or Poor-Superior) with each ranking corresponding to a % increase within your related job class.   This allows for a standard way of issuing pay increases, promotions, and/or demotions legally without prejudice or favoritism.

I have been and Independent Contractor for the last 14 years, I can say with certainty that I do not miss the employee review process.   I can also say with certainty that I will institute the review process when Elms Software is ready.

clickety-clack...clickety..clack

clickety-clack...clickety..clack.  I am going old-school with my new mechanical keyboard...  dasKeyboard.   Love this thing.   I am typing much faster and much more accurate.

I thought about getting the version with no markings on the keys.   That would be one way to limit the game players and online shoppers in this household.

Website Overhaul

Elms Software is overhauling our website to reflect the changes coming in version 10 of Elms Advantage Online.   We have recently purchased the domain ElmsAdvantage.com which also redirects users to our website.

Our site includes links to this blog, twitter, and our new help desk where you can view and participate in user forums.   All of these resources are available to help keep you informed of the changes happening at Elms Software and with Elms Advantage Online.

The "Login" menu link will continue to redirect Elms Users to the current version of Elms Advantage Online.   Elms Software is making updates to this site frequently and we will update users with regard to the changes.  We continue to anticipate Elms Version 10 to be available and open to new users in January 2013.   Thank your for supporting Elms.

Vendors & Compliance Tracking

The current version of Elms Advantage Online tracks your vendor contacts.   The next release of Elms will additionally let you to assign contacts associated with specific vendors and suppliers.   Elms 10.0 will also provide vendor compliance management in the form of insurance compliance. Track your vendor insurance compliance in the form of General Liability, Worker's Compensation, Automobile, and/or Umbrella policies.

Today, more than ever, the smallest mistake may have grave consequences.  Hiring a vendor to provide goods and services, on your behalf, can likely be a risky venture.  Mitigate this risk by knowing more about your vendors and suppliers.

Useful links on Elms Dashboard

Quickly get access to information about ELMS via the Useful Links section on the Elms Advantage Online Dashboard.

Plan your workload with ELMS

ELMS Advantage Online will help you plan your workload so that you are not continually riding the wave between over commitment and staff layoffs.

The ELMS Company Dashboard is your default home page.  The dashboard gives you a quick summary of  your company's workload, job status, marketing efforts, and incoming sales leads.

This image depicts the Job View.  The Job View is one of many views into your business.   The Job View can quickly show the current status of all your jobs with a quick link to a list of specific job.   You always will be aware of the current state of your company and where you are heading.