Wednesday, December 31, 2008

StudioCloud Helping To Streamline Processes

The purpose of StudioCloud software is to make running your studio as easy as possible. So the development team has recently added some new features to StudioCloud Desktop to help you streamline your processes.

First, when you are creating or editing a client you can quickly create a new session or invoice for that client. There are two new buttons at the bottom of the form labeled "Create Session" and "Create Invoice" that should help stream line this process. In addition, a similar "Create Session" button has also been added to the form for creating and editing your a prospective client.

Second, when you are creating or editing a session you can now edit the client information just by clicking the edit icon. Any changes you make will be updated in that session and all other sessions. In addition, you have always had the ability to create a new invoice based on a session that you are creating. With the most recent updates the new invoice will actually popup so that you can edit it after the session is saved. This will allow you to add and down payments or session fees right then and there.

Finally, when creating or editing an invoice you can edit the client information. There is now a button just to the right of the "Select Customer" field. When clicked it will open up a window to edit that clients information.

StudioCloud hopes that these changes will make you and your employees just a little bit faster. That way you can spend more time doing what you love.

StudioCloud. It’s just that easy

Updates to StudioCloud Desktop and Browser

There have been some recent updates to StudioCloud Desktop and StudioCloud Browser.
  1. The development team has begun integrating with internet payment gateways. The first gateway we have integrated with is Authorize.net. If you currently use a merchant account that process credit cards through Authorize.net then you can setup your merchant account information in StudioCloud Desktop in the Settings section so that when you have a payment that is being made on a credit card you can process it right then and there. *
  2. Orders made from the StudioCloud Online Proofing have always been automatically added to your list of workflow orders. However, with the recent updates you will even be able to view the thumbnails of the images that were ordered in StudioCloud Online Proofing. This should make it easier for you to process your orders. *
  3. The graphical view of the calendar that allows you to quickly view when your appointments are was recently updated to include additional information both in the appointment and the tooltip. (This update only affects Professional Suite users.) You will now see the photographers, assistants, equipment, and locations that are scheduled for a session both on the calendar and in the tooltip.
  4. The button that used to be in the reports section of StudioCloud Desktop and StudioCloud Browser that allowed you to print a list of your clients has been removed. Instead there is now a button on both the clients section and the prospective clients section that allows you to print this report. This should make it easier for your to find this information when you need it.
  5. The development team recently implemented a new feedback system. For the most part, you will not see any huge changes. The difference is that this new system allows you to respond to our support team from within the StudioCloud programs. In addition, you can see the conversation history of a particular item of feedback. That way you don't have to go searching through your emails to find out what a member of the support team said in their last email. We believe that this will make it easier for you to communicate with us and vice versa.
StudioCloud. It’s just that easy

* Affects only StudioCloud Desktop

Online Proofing 2.0 Updates

On December 30th, 2008 the development team released an updated version of StudioCloud Online Proofing 2.0 and StudioCloud PSG 2.0. They made some changes that we believe everyone will be happy to hear about.

First, the development team updated the sorting of images in Online Proofing to be even more efficient.

Second, the compare photos, order photos, and browser for image interfaces were updated. Essentially the development team reduce the complexity to make it easier for your customers to use StudioCloud Online Proofing.

Third, in the Basic/Professional Suites you can now limit the number of poses that can be purchased in a package. To edit the number of poses allowed in a package simply edit the package in either StudioCloud Desktop or StudioCloud Browser, click the "Limit Package Poses" checkbox and enter the total number of poses you that package is allowed. This helps make the Online Proofing more flexible to fit your needs.

Last but not least is the addition of image options. You no longer have to upload three different images to show your customers color, black and white, and sepia. When your customers view the larger image or go to purchase a particular image they now have an option to view the image in black and white or sepia. If they choose to purchase a photo in black and white or sepia then a note is added to that particular product to let you and your customer know. These image options are optional on a per album basis on the Settings tab when uploading a new album. If you want to have the images options enabled by default then when you are publishing a new album just remember to enable the image options and click the "Save Settings As Default" button.

StudioCloud, It’s just that easy.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

StudioCloud Desktop Updates

We’ve done a lot of improvements to StudioCloud Desktop with this new update and we want to make sure you know about them. Below is a list of the changes that have been made in the latest StudioCloud Desktop update.

1. We have improved the agenda widget on the overview page. We renamed agenda to “Time Sensitive Items” and added in leads, orders, and a tasks tab to the widget. Only items with a pickup date are shown in the tabs.

2. You can now change the agenda day to view the events for any day.

3. Leads/Prospective Customers now have an event type and estimated date field to help you manage your leads better.

4. Workflow has been substantially improved. Previously the product pipelines and order pipelines were created and managed on the same page. That was confusing. As such the product pipelines is now available on the Products page under Point of Sale. The Workflow page still contains the order pipelines. We have also added in a service pipeline as well on the Services Page page under Point of Sale.

5. We have also added in a default pipeline checkbox to both the product pipelines and order pipelines. If an order default pipeline checkbox is selected any order that doesn't have a pipeline assigned to it will automatically be assigned the default pipeline. Likewise for product pipelines. This should speed up the workflow process.

6. We have renamed Task Lists to Categories and added in an individual task view on the Tasks page under Workflow. The individual task view allows you to see all of your tasks and filter them by categories.

7. We added a New Task button to the quick task window.

8. We also added in a Import from ICS (calendars) button on the Agenda Page under Calendar. This will import calendar appointments from third party calendars.

9. We added in a Last Modified By and Last Modified Date column under the View Columns button under invoices. These columns show who last edited the invoice and when it was last edited.

10. We added in a Select a Date Range to the Print Time Card Report for those studios who want to see all of the time card entries for a given time period outside of the Pay Periods Range.

StudioCloud. It’s just that easy

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

StudioCloud Enterprise Desktop

StudioCloud Enterprise Desktop

StudioCloud is excited to announce the beta release of the Enterprise Desktop. This product allows franchises and chains the ability to manage multiple Professional/Basic suites from one central application. If you want to learn more about the Enterprise Desktop go to the following link:

StudioCloud.com/EnterpriseDesktop.html