Penventory Goes Live...

[webmonk]

Hey folks,

After 3 months of successful testing and tweaking, I have decided to release Penventory into the wild. This doesn't mean development has stopped. I've still got a few ideas I'm working on and I'm always happy to tweak and change the system to make it work better for you so just let me know what you need. What it does mean is that I feel like the program is stable and has proven itself and is ready for public consumption. (You can find it at www.penventory.com.)

I want to give a huge thanks to everyone who helped me get this thing off the ground. Your ideas and suggestions took Penventory way beyond what I originially intended. This is as much your system as it is mine, so enjoy it, benefit from it, and share it with your friends!

 

[sptfr43]

ok so I signed up but not real sure what it is[:I]. maybe I missed the original thread?

 

[webmonk]

Hi Randy,

In a nutshell, Penventory is a way to track all your kits, blanks, completed inventory, and sales (plus some other nifty features).

Here are the two original posts from when we were building it:

• http://www.penturners.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=16189
  <br />
• http://www.penturners.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=16285 <br />

 

[sptfr43]

thanks Jon. That should help a lot.

 

[keithz]

Thanks Jon,

This appears to be a great tool. I just started turning pens so it should help me stay ahead of my inventory.

keithz

 

[Jim15]

Thanks Jon,
I will use the program as soon as I get a little time to use it.

Thanks again,

 

[airrat]

Jon, just curious are you going to do a downloadable version so its not on the net? I would love to keep track of everything on my laptop without having to run a line to hook it up to the net.

 

[webmonk]

Hi Tom,

There's currently no plan to turn it in to a standalone application (something you could download and run on your own machine) and I'm afraid I've not been able to come up with a good analogy to explain why it works like it does and not like you're asking. Something like splitting up a bus into a bunch of small cars would be close enough for a colorful explanation, but even that's not exactly right.

The more boring, geeky explanation is that it runs on a LAMP (Linux/Apache/MySQL/Perl) platform and while it's possible to make it all work locally on your laptop it's something that's way too complicated to make a download that anyone could grab and install.

Now something I have been thinking about is how to sync up data using a spreadsheet or something similar so that you could make simple inventory changes by hand and sync them up with the system when you get back to an internet connection. That's going to be something to save for a cold, snowy day I think.

Hope that helps!

 

[svitale]

Thanks Jon,
Looking very foward to using the program.
Sent small donation and should be able to send more every so often.

Again thanks for all the work you have put into this very helpfull program.

Steve

 

[webmonk]

Thank you so much! Just let me know if there's anything I can do to make the system work better for you!

 

[74cuda]

Thanks Jon.

I signed up and it come at a great time for me as I am really just getting started so I don't have alot to input... Yet.

Russ

 

[TellicoTurning]

Jon,
I just looked at your help/documentation page... I think this will be a fantastic system to track inventory... I have tried to do something similar on a spread sheet, but was way too cumbersome to be effective.... will definitely sign in on this.

Input will take a while for me... I'm carrying an inventory of about 100 pens right now.. is it possible to put other turnings into the system now or at some later date.. i.e. bottle stoppers, keyrings, pepper mills, etc....[?]

 

[webmonk]

Hi Chuck,

Thanks for the feedback! It's good to know that people find it useful.

There's a section for "Other Projects" that should be general enough to handle non-pen stuff like bowls, stoppers, etc. Keep me up to date on how it's working out for you!

Best,

 

[JTaylor801]

Hi Jon,

First of all, Thank you to you and the others who helped you to develop this extraordinary program. I new to penturning and just sat down this morning and put in my inventory items. I found it very easy to do.

I was wondering if a potential enhancement could be considered. Also, please my apologies if this has been asked or requested before..I haven't read through all the threads pertaining to this application.

The enhancement would be to auto-populate the cost field on the "make a pen" page with the already known values (cost of blank, cost of kit etc.) that was captured on the entry of those items. Then allow the field to be changed to the add the other costs such as shipping etc.

I believe this enhancement would make it easier on the user because those values (like I said earlier) are already known in the system. I would imagine that some folks may enter many kits, blanks etc. at a time and then when sitting down to the penventory application won't have to remember how much they paid for that blank or the kit.

Is this something you would consider??

Jerry

 

[webmonk]

Hi Jerry,

Glad you like it!

I'll consider some ways to best do this for you. In the meantime, the Kit and Blank pulldowns include the cost that you gave them. Those two numbers should give you an approximate cost to start with.

Hope that helps and keep the suggestions coming!

 

[JTaylor801]

Thanks Jon....after I typed this I went back into penventory and realized that those drop downs do include the cost info. I just need to blow the dust out from between my ears and try to remember how to add. []

 

[webmonk]

Hehe! Welcome!

 

[bobaltig]

Thanks a bunch Jon. This will really help me get organized better.

Bob A

 

[webmonk]

Glad to hear it, Bob!