We are suffering from laziness – I created an architecture for our inventory before we bought Production Assistant, all the way down to individual items, but it wasn’t adhered to that well when the inventory was entered, so that bites us every day. I will overhaul that part at Christmas.

Production Assistant has made us more aware of the amount that we are providing for nothing in our hires (and therefore not recovering anything to replace those assets with), made recurring hires much more efficient, and has increased manyfold our tracking of items. Each of those items alone is worth the cost of subscription. Once the inventory has been overhauled and the packaging of items is complete, I think it will have made a profound effect on the way in which we do business.

Steven Carpinter Hang-Up Entertainment Services Ltd New Zealand
www.hangup.co.nz

I got an amazing email recently from Keith Wootton at AV1 in Sydney who casually mentioned that his team were using their Production Assistant installation via a remote desktop onto their iPhones. I simply had to know more and asked Keith for a few more details. He graciously decided to share his setup here as follows:

“Story:

Because we are Mac users, we were running PA2 on Windows Vista via Parallels on Mac. We also run Visio and Vivien for floorplans and design on Vista/Parallels. In addition to running PA2 on Parallels, we run it on two standalone PC laptops that sit in our office on the network and have their own IP addresses. This allows us to run PA2 remotely at faster speeds than using the server based system when we are on the road (we do a lot of roadshows). We have set up a secure VPN for this and for access to our server. We use to used Windows remote desktop within Parallels to control the PC’s until we
discovered that we could use RDC on Mac and control the PC. This also increased speed on our Mac laptops as they didn’t have to run Parallels.

The next logical step here, given that we also use iPhones was to download a remote desktop App for iPhone. We downloaded Remote Lite App for free and by connecting to our secure VPN via the iPhone, used the remote desktop app to control the PC and PA2 – PA2 on iPhone! We also run PA2 from a remote office at the MCA with a Vodafone USB modem, using the same protocol.

Flowcharts:

Office Scenario:

Apple iMac > Parralells > Windows Vista > Server > PA2

On the road scenario:

Apple Macbook Pro > Vodafone USB Modem > Connect to secure AV1 VPN > Start Apple RDC to PC in office > Start PA2

iPhone scenario:

iPhone > Settings > Turn on VPN > Open Remote Lite App > Connect to PC in office > Start PA2″

Wow! That is a brilliant setup and a very innovative answer to taking what would normally be an office based system onto the road. Thanks again to Keith and his team at AV1 for sharing this.

“AV1 supplies production for conferences and events all over Australia. We have been using Production Assistant software for three years now on Apple Macs using Windows Vista through Parallels. We have seven users and are just about to enter our 4000th job. It is a very stable system that we run 24/7. The programme runs at excellent speeds and very rarely has any issues. A great feature of PA2 is that it saves as you enter so you never lose information, even if your computer goes offline. If we have an issue starting PA2 up, we just set off the Data Table Maintenance application and it fixes the issue straight away.

We also run PA remotely using a remote desktop connection straight from Mac. This allows us to input and update quotes while we are on the road at similar speeds to being in the office.We have also started using Production Assistant on our iPhones with great success! PA2 is an essential production tool for AV1 and we love it!”
Keith Wootton – AV1

Production Assistant V2.4 was released today. It is a maintenance release that fixes a number of small bugs and changes a few internal structures to allow for future upgrades. Full release notes and downloads are available for registered users from their User Support page.

As of today there will be a price rise on all Production Assistant products. It’s been some time now since we’ve had a price rise and feel the time is now right to make a few changes. The biggest one will be lifetime licensing. What this simply means is that all purchases of Production Assistant now come with lifetime free upgrades. I think you’ll agree that this more than makes up for our modest price rise. Of course, all existing customers will be put onto this system as well.

The new pricing structure goes like so:
All prices in Australian dollars, +10% GST for Australian customers

• PA Single User – $697
• PA 3 User License $1397
• PA 5 User License $1997
• PA 10 User License $3397
• ***New*** PA 15 User License $4497
• Dashboard. $147

Don’t forget that those prices now include unlimited free version upgrades for life so Production Assistant is even better value now.
We also still have our 90 Day Guarantee. If you aren’t totally happy within 90 days, you’ll get your money back. No problem!

As of today the referral commission paid through our affiliate program will rise to 35%. Many of our new customers are coming from word of mouth recommendations these days so this is our way of saying thanks. It’s simple, it’s easy, it’s free to join and you make 35% of every new customer you refer! Find out more here

Are you using Production Assistant successfully on Windows Vista? PA has not been thoroughly tested on Windows Vista at this point but some users have reported the PA runs perfectly and some have reported problems.

If you are successfully using Vista & PA I’d love to hear from you. Likewise if you’ve tried it and had problems. Just drop me a quick email from here and I’ll be in touch

A Windows Vista compliant version is under development and is due for release in the second half of 2009. Until then it is recommended that you use PA with Windows XP as your OS.

It’s been a long time coming but I’ve finally moved this site over to a brand new theme, the amazing Thesis. I’m sure you’ll all enjoy the crisp, clean new look as well as a few new pages.

Stay tuned for even more fine tuning real soon.

Production Assistant is designed for:

• Production and equipment hire companies such as Audio, Lighting, A/V etc.
• Special event production managers.
• Freelance technicians.
• Function venues.
• DJ’s.

The philosophy behind Production Assistant is simple. If each and every project you undertake is provably profitable, then your business should be profitable.
Sound simple doesn’t it? But do you have the necessary tools to not only provide a profitable quote and then to track what actually happened and compare your results? Production Assistant does all this and more. The key features are:

• Accurate quoting. Know EXACTLY what you will make on a job before you do it.
• All data entered once only.
• Shows upcoming equipment shortages.
• Shows accurate schedules for each job.
• Prints Quotes, Hire Contracts, Invoices, Project Files, Booking Confirmations, Schedules and more without re-typing anything.
• Builds an accurate Customer database.
• Keeps all project information in one central place.
• Very customisable. See your data the way YOU want to see it.

All purchasers of Production Assistant and its’ associated add-ons are provided with unlimited free upgrades for life! That’s right, buy Production Assistant once and never pay another cent for upgrades.