Customizing your system

The key to efficient and accurate business inventory management is using drop-down and lookup lists to select information rather than entering data repeatedly. For example, when you record an Original Artwork, details like the Medium, Support, Inventory Loocation, Theme and Artist Profile should require no data entry: these values need to be available on lists you can select from.

The problem with lists is each Artist has personal preferences, so we need to be able to tailor each list to your individual situation. For instance if you only work in Oils and Acrylics, there is no reason to have dozens of other medium types listed in the drop-down you choose Medium Types from. Taking it one step further, it makes sense for you to be able to specify one Medium as the default and have it pre-loaded when you open up the New Original Artwork entry form. Being able to tailor lists and preset defaults to suit your personal requirements is a useability imperative.

We heard you ! Througout the Artist-Patron Register system drop-down and look-up lists are extensively used. Almost all of the lists can be tailored to exactly fit your requirements: you can add your own items to them, delete items you don't want and change them to suit your specific needs.

And that's not all. You can set system-wide default values for most of the lists. The system can be tailored using the System Settings feature to be optimized for use by a single Artists, an Artist Group, an Art Gallery or an Art Collector (patron). As an example, consider the situation where you are the only Artist using your account, and all of the artworks you want to track are by one Artist - you. You can use System Settings to set your own Artist profile as the default value and it will automatically be filled in wherever the "Artist" needs to be recorded...you never have to select or enter it again.

Defaults are pre-populated in forms, but they are not locked-in: you can still select a different value at any time. So even if you usually work in Acrylics but want to enter an Oil painting it's no problem...you would set the System Setting default as Acrylics (so it is always pre-selected) and simply select Oils when needed from the drop-down list of Medium Types.

Default values and customized lists make the system work the way you want it to, without having tons of irrelevant informatoin to wade through, enter or select repeatedly. Using these features the Artist-Patron Register is easily transformed into a customized platform for Artitsts, Galleries, Patrons and even Printers.