Creative Manager Pro, Ad Agency Software and Project Management Groupware for Creative and Design firms, releases version 8.35, with improvements for general project management, accounting, time tracking, invoicing, media buying with Strata or SmartPlus and more.
September 5, 2006
Lakewood NJ-based Creative Manager, Inc., (http://www.Creative-Manager.com) provider of Creative Manager Pro software, has released version 8.35 of its flagship product, Creative Manager ProŽ.
"This new release 8.35 includes many enhancements that our clients asked for, proving once again that we are responding to our clients' needs," boasts Ron Ause, Creative Manager's director of marketing. "Clients keep asking us to take the lead in the industry with new and innovative solutions and we respond with an easier-to-use interface, and more powerful features in every upgrade."
Among the variety of updates now available to all Creative Manager ProŽ users are added security settings on custom report data sets. Users can create a report and give a group access to run it, but they may not be able to edit the report. Should users want to allow others to create their own reports for contact management, but only be able to run existing reports for time details, this new security feature now provides that flexibility.
Media enhancements are also included in this new version. Improvements to the Transaction Preference function provide users the option to sync vendor invoices from Strata and SmartPlus as "approved" or "not approved." Additionally, new upgrades offer logic to determine the outstanding open amount on a vendor invoice being applied to pre-billed orders when importing form Strata or SmartPlus.
As always with Creative Manager Inc.'s products, no installation or conversion will be necessary, and all updates are at no cost to users of Creative Project Manager and Creative Manager ProŽ. All client logins and vendor logins are always free.
"Our competitors release a new version about once a year, while we introduce enhancements to our software about every four to six weeks," said Ause. "Our dedication to keeping our products as up-to-date as possible, and the fact that, with our service, it takes hours to fix problems that with our competitors takes days, has caught the attention of our clients, and has helped us grow through word-of-mouth."
Creative Manager ProŽ continues to invest, adding new features that work with Apple's latest Tiger Mac OS X and future Leopard Unix-based Operating System and Microsoft Windows.
When asked about the new upgrade, Ause said "Since so many of our clients service Fortune 500 firms, or are themselves Fortune 500 firms, the addition of the unlimited addresses was an important addition for us. Like most months, this month's update is all based on user input. Because 'We're Always Listening!'"
The following are some of the details of the current update:
Project Management Enhancements
* Users can now view and delete all of their attachments in one place. When viewing their activation status, users can pop up a window detailing all of their attachments and if users wish to reduce the amount of disk storage on the server, they can delete them right there.
* Users can now limit the Project Assignments by Person and Due Date report by Department
* The description of work field has now been increased in size to 8000 characters
* There is now a security setting that allows users to search for files in digital assets across projects, which may include projects which users are not assigned to.
* When users reassign people on a project, there is a new option to assign any unassigned assignments to a specific person.
* When users create a new project from a project request, they can now select to copy all of the files from the request into the Digital Assets folder when the project is created.
* When creating a digital art review, users can now select to either upload a file or link to a specific version of a file in digital assets.
* Tracking forms for a project can now be numbered either sequentially per project, or have a global number assigned to it (like company level forms)
* When changing the Get Rate From option on the project billing setup screen, the system will now prompt users to update the current billing rates on all unbilled labor transactions.
Accounting Enhancements
* When converting an expense report to a vendor invoice, users can now select any vendor to create the invoice for.
* We have added option to only show Posted Transactions on Accrued Order Detail Report
* Users can now select the width of the client address on users invoices and estimates. Users can also select to show their phone and fax number on their invoices and estimates below their company address.
* Users can now see the posting dates for write offs, mark bills and billed transactions in the transaction screen.
* Users can now manually edit the sales tax amount on a vendor invoice.
* Check printing has been enhanced to allow for printing of all detail lines on a check. If the amount of detail shown on a check exceeds the amount visible on one check, the system will continue to print the details on the next check and void the next check number.
* Users can now specify if they want two or three decimals to print on their unit cost for their purchase orders
* When users void a payment, the system will now cut the link with the vendor invoice and create the reversing void. This will allow users to edit the vendor invoice after voiding the payment.
* Time sheet deletions are now tracked in the system log
* There is a new report that shows the actual hours worked per day for an employee vs the minimum hours per day specified for them.
* Users can now optionally show the product and division on the invoice and estimate.
* On the check format, users can now specify the date format. Users can select the standard format or one of the formats required by the Canadian government.
* Users can now inactivate rate sheets.
* Task only estimates now calculate sales tax based on the taxable flag on the task.
* The system will now default the standard unit rate onto all purchasing transactions. If users have selected to default the unit cost and rate from items, the system will copy over the standard cost and a standard unit rate based on the item. This helps with people who always charge a specific amount for a particular kind of item.
Media Enhancements
* Added the feature to StrataLink to lookup client by Customer ID or Name when the list of clients exceeds a certain limit. The limit is specified in the configuration file for the application.
* Added the option to print Broadcast Traffic information on orders. It is specified on the broadcast header and can be defaulted from Transaction Preferences.
* Added copy line function to Purchase Orders, Broadcast Orders and Insertion Orders.
* Added the option to sync vendor invoices from Strata and SmartPlus as approved or not approved. Set in Transaction Preferences.
* Added the option to print client name on Broadcast and Insertion orders. This is set on the order header and defaulted from Transaction Preferences.
* Added standard listing capabilities for Stations and Publications.
* Added the ability to open and close all or individual spot lines on a media order.
* Added logic to determine the outstanding open amount on a vendor invoice being applied to pre-billed orders when importing from Strata or SmartPlus. It accounts for orders billed at Gross, Net and Commission only. The same logic applies when manually applying an order to a vendor invoice.
* Add a system option that will automatically generate revision lines for broadcast orders when synced after a line has been pre-billed. If the line has not been billed, the system will update the original line. If the line has been billed, it will generate a revision line reflecting the net difference. There may be one or two lines generated depending upon Transaction Preferences. If further syncs occur, the system will continue to update the generated single revision line unless it is pre-billed in which case, a new revision line will be generated for the net difference between the original line and all previously generated revision lines.
General System Enhancements
* Paging has been added to the lookup windows to help with large lookups. We have also added an option to give users better control over how searching is done when the window first is opened. If only one row is returned in the lookup, users can now select if they want the system to only show that one row or to research for all rows.
* We have added security settings on custom report data sets. Users can now select by security group which custom data sets they can create reports for. Users can still create a report and give a group access to run it, but they may not be able to edit the report. Users may want their Account Execs to be able to create their own reports for contact management, but only be able to run existing reports for time details. This security settings now give users that flexibility.
Creative Manager Pro goes beyond costing to offer full Project Management, CRM, Digital Asset Management, billing and accounting, and Extranet capabilities.
Creative Manager Pro (at http://www.Creative-Manager.com), is the only Ad Agency software and Project Management Software for the Creative Design industry, created exclusively for design firms, ad agencies, in-house creative/MarCom departments, and creative service firms. It is a web-based integrated project 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 ad 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
- Manage media with an interface to the Strata Media Buying systems
- Charting of important industry metrics and firm statistics
The team members at Creative Manager, Inc. have been leaders in ad agency software and project management software for the creative industry and on the Mac OS for over 26 years. They provide their creative 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
