Where Does the Job Stand?

In many frame shops, the only sure way to know where a job stands is to walk to the workroom and look. A job dashboard changes that: one view of every open job, its stage, and what it's waiting on, built from the POS, work orders and routines you already have. Here's how to build one in three steps: name your stages, put the materials answer on the work order, and update the stage at the handoffs that already happen.

Without that view, the knowledge is spread out. A job's status sits in the POS record, on the printed work order that travels with the art, and in wherever the art physically sits. Materials add more places: the stock check, the vendor order sheet, and the delivery that arrives later. Nobody's job is to keep all of these in step, so they drift, and answering "where does this job stand?" often means walking to the workroom to look.

Most shops already have the pieces. Framing software prices the job, and several products now include production statuses, calendars and to-do lists. Paper still does much of the tracking, because it's fast and it stays with the art.

Step 1: Name the stages your jobs already move through

The dashboard starts with the stages a job passes through in your shop. Write them down in your own words. For many shops they look like this: order taken, waiting on materials, materials in, in production, ready, and picked up. Include the waiting stages, not only the working ones, because a job sitting between ordering and receiving is easy to lose when nobody is working on it yet.

Keep the list short enough that everyone uses the same words. These stages become the columns of your dashboard. If your POS has status fields, set them to match these stages. If it doesn't, the same list works on a weekly job sheet.

Your dashboard can live in your POS, if it has status fields or a production calendar. It can also be the weekly job list many shops already print, sorted by stage instead of only by due date. Because the workroom often has no computer, a printed copy there may matter as much as the screen at the counter.

Step 2: Put the materials answer on the work order

Waiting on materials is the stage a job list usually can't show, because vendor orders are tracked on separate sheets. Before a job can be scheduled, someone checks whether its materials are on hand. Shops typically check stock in the POS and on the racks, set aside mats, and order the rest, often in one weekly batch. Record the result on the work order and in the dashboard: on hand or ordered, with the date ordered. Some owners already mark each material this way on the paper copy.

This is also the moment to notice stock that's running low. Popular mouldings, mat colors and boxed glazing are used across many jobs. If pulling one for this job leaves the shelf thin, add it to the next order. That keeps the next job from waiting on something the shop usually has.

Step 3: Update the stage at handoffs that already happen

A dashboard only helps if it stays current, and that's easiest when updating is part of something people already do. When the weekly order goes out, those jobs move to waiting on materials. When a delivery is matched to its jobs, they move to materials in. When a finished piece goes to the pickup area and the customer is told, it moves to ready.

Receiving deserves the most attention. It's where incoming materials are matched back to the jobs waiting on them, and where a job can sit unnoticed if one item is missing. Whoever unpacks the order is the right person to move the job forward or flag what didn't arrive.

How a clear view of every job improves the business

With every job's stage in one place, the promise made at the sale gets easier to keep. Whoever answers the phone can tell a customer where their order stands without walking to the workroom. Jobs waiting on a vendor show up while there's still time to call, and finished pieces that haven't been picked up become visible instead of sitting on the shelf. Framers can see from the list in the workroom which jobs are ready to work on.

The bigger change is for you. When the dashboard holds the answers, you stop being the only person who knows where everything is, and the shop keeps running when you step away. That matters more as the shop grows, because an informal system that works for two or three people tends to break down as staff and orders increase. A clear view of every job lets the business take on more work without losing track of what it has promised.

Your turn

Every shop tracks jobs a little differently. Some rely on the POS, some on paper, and most on a mix of both. When a customer calls about their order, can whoever answers tell them where it stands without leaving the counter: always, usually, or rarely?