October 15th, 2015 by ShowMgr

ShowMgr’s Software for Film Makes Budgeting More Efficient

Find the Right TV Production Software for Film Budgeting

The film industry needs more than just generic budgeting software. The film industry has unique requirements that can only be satisfied with TV production software customized specifically for the industry needs. ShowMgr is exactly what the video and film industry need. We have the tools, algorithms, and cloud technology architecture that propels any company into a much more efficient environment.

Resilient Budgeting for a Changing Industry

We put a lot of effort into our budgeting software. We know that conditions change often in the film industry, so we built tools that help you accurately budget costs without errors. Our algorithms help you project budget concerns and guide you through the process saving you hours of scheduling, budgeting and cost projections. ShowMgr has a drilldown feature that lets you view details of each transaction, so you can properly record and track expenses for each project.

Billing and Invoicing Tools

To correctly project budgets, the film and video industry needs billing and invoicing tools that are customized for the industry. We help you maintain strict accuracy when you budget costs and associate accounts receivable and payables.
We offer industry standard templates that make it quick and easy to bill your customers and pay your vendors. We even have chargeback billing capabilities, so you can keep track of debits and credits accurately. We integrate industry-specific business controls and audit trails for detailed tracking.

Pay Your Crew Quickly

Any software for film should take into account the numerous on and offsite crews. That’s why we integrated payroll services in ShowMgr. We know that managing labor, vendors, locations, and employees can be difficult when you have numerous locations to track. We have the right manpower calculations and distribution approval processes in place that help you better manage your payroll. We even have e-signature services to speed up contract execution. Use our dynamic reporting to keep track of these payroll expenses and integrate it into your budgeting projections.

With ShowMgr, you can budget costs, track payroll, and schedule payments directly in the cloud. Use ShowMgr to eliminate unforeseen costs.


October 15th, 2015 by ShowMgr

Media Management Software for Film Production

Video Production Software for Better Crew Management

The video production industry has many requirements to keep track of video assets. Each firm needs its own video asset management software for scheduling, tracking, and billing. ShowMgr offers just the tools you need to set up an efficient cloud-based media management software that works for any firm.

Resource and Crew Management

Crews changes frequently in any project, and without any type of tracking, it can become cumbersome and inefficient. With ShowMgr, you no longer need to work with manual time and management where things slip through the cracks. Instead, we give you the management tools that help you keep track of crews and job shifts. We provide you with alerts, deal memos, management pay, and a long history of reports so that you can identify risks before they become a critical mistake.

Better Ways to Manage Payroll

It’s not enough just to manage crews. You also need a way to set up contracts, bill the appropriate amount, pay payroll fees, and report on budget concerns and employee payments. With ShowMgr film production software, you have the ability to manage all of these assets and more. We can help you calculate the labor and manpower budget to efficiently create a projected cost analysis. We also provide per diem calculations and distribution approval processes.

You no longer need to wait for snail mail times for contract delivery, execution, and returns. With ShowMgr, you can use the e-signature process to have your customers and contractors sign contracts and store them in the ShowMgr cloud system.

Budgeting and Forecasting

Each year, conditions change, so the media industry needs the right video production software that manages these changes. The software must be able to be as fluid as the media industry, and we ensure that ShowMgr gives you all the necessary tools that adapt to changing industry.

We give you built-in templates, versioning, forecasting, and cost allocation. We let you evaluate cost margins, so you know your gross and net revenue without the hassle of costly calculation mistakes. Our algorithms are able to efficiently project the right scheduling and costs associated with any project.

Don’t let your asset management software cost you money. With ShowMgr, you will have any budgeting and management tool you need to make the right decision, keep track of crews, and make payments instantly.


October 9th, 2015 by ShowMgr

We’ve Added More to Our Media Billing Software

We’ve Improved Our Film Budgeting Software

The advantage of the cloud is upgrades and deployments can be done with little interruption to users. We’ve just introduced new features to our ERP file production software on September 21st. The biggest changes were to our order summary and bid updates, but we’ve made other changes that will make it easier for our customer’s film crew management and TV budgeting. Many of these features are from our customer feedback. And we did all of this while we supported our team and created an incredible paintball team!

New Order Summary

A business can never have enough charts and graphs to help make educated decisions. We’ve expanded our order summary section to include better drill-down information and grouped data. We also allow customers to save their views. Project managers can send reporting details through email messages.

We’ve redesigned the order summary section to include resource assignments and crewing status. We’ve also improved readability and reliability of individual fields, and we’ve moved the document section to a tab of its own.

The new summary screen is separated into several sections. The master project and bids section gives you a quick view of the master project name and the bids associated with it. The start and end dates and times are listed right under the project name, and the administrator can get a quick view of project attributes.

The biggest feature change is the way administrators can make changes by highlighting the mouse over a specific data object and clicking it to make changes. We also have an overview chart that can be toggled for different information, so you can see aggregate information in a visual image to make it easier to understand. After you make any changes, they are added to an audit log that you can view at any time to review recent changes to your records.

Added Header Status for Project and Order Names

We’ve added a better user experience for our project screens. Now, users can simply click a project or order name and edit its title. We’ve also added the project and order names to the screen’s header. These additions make it much easier to get an idea about certain projects without clicking through to the details section. You can also change the status directly in the overview screen.

New Document Tab

We’ve moved documents from the right panel to its own tab. Our goal is to make the user experience as simple and easy as possible for our customers. That’s why we added a new document tab, so you can more easily manage uploaded documents. We also have a screen where you can edit document meta data.

The document tab is specific for documents added to projects and orders. Users can have a quick look at each document, edit its meta data, add new documents and download existing ones.

To create a new document, click the plus button in the document tab window, specify the location of the document, and input the meta data. We also support web related links, so you can link to cloud services such as Google Docs.

Email Ingesting

We want communication through the cloud to be as easy as possible. Now, we handle email ingesting. Users can send messages to inbox@showmgr.com and the system automatically matches the email to the right project or order. When a message is received, you’ll see a small envelope icon in the top-right corner of your screen. You can then use this icon to open the email and read it. It’s also mapped to the documents tab associated with the project or order. We’ve added this feature to improve your workflow.

To view our new email interface, click the email icon located next to your user name in the top-right corner. You can then view a list of email messages sent to you including any attachments. We host the email and scan it for any viruses before you receive it, so you don’t need to worry about malware sent to your ShowMgr account.

For instance, if you need to sign a form — receive the mapped email, assign it to a project, and open your form to sign and resend to the sender. This feature makes it much easier to manage communication with your clients.

Bidding Enhancements

We’ve had a bid feature in ShowMgr and we continue to improve its features. We’ve added new functionality with new schedule views and a new create order interface. Now, instead of creating a new order, you can clone a previous order and create patterned schedules. The process makes workflow much more efficient and streamlined for our customers.

Fringes and Fees

We added new itemized content in the Bid section. We now show fringes and fees. Fringes include taxes and added costs associated with each resource. This new feature makes your bids even more accurate, and it adds to your budget tracking. You’ll find this new information in the FF column in the Bid section.

For instance, take a look at a bid and you can see that we’ve created the standard calculator that takes units, bids, uses a multiplier and displays the total bid amount. We now let you add a fringe and fee in that total amount. For instance, add a social security tax to a facility fee to include it in your total bid amount. You can set a percentage or a flat rate and specify if it affects cost or revenue.

Build Schedule

Our build schedule is a new way to create orders in ShowMgr. It uses the bid as a starting point to create orders. You can filter bids in case you’re working with several large amounts of bids. Each bid item has its own element, and you can use these items to build a schedule. You can toggle your views to review availability and create orders for your entire crew.

What’s most efficient for our customers is the create order feature. Directly from the build schedule screen, you can open a new order screen where you can assign your crew members to the order, set a start and end date, give the order a name, and even review the unit costs. Once you create the order, it’s automatically added to the build schedule manager with the associated crew member.

After you create an order, you can even clone it to make it much easier to duplicate identical orders. Right-click an order, and select the clone option. Choose new dates for the repeat order and even set up multiple clones at once for each day of the week or month. This feature saves you time when you need to create multiple orders for the same crew members for several days of the week.

When you need to create bookings, you can also review certain crew members and their associated rates along with available resources for each day of the week. You don’t need to match bookings and bids. ShowMgr associates them along with orders automatically to reduce administrative overhead and avoid costly errors. You go from timely bookings and orders tasks to several clicks that only take a few minutes of your time.

Crew Portal App

Did you know that ShowMgr has an iOS app? You can download it from the Apple Store. We have an app that helps you manage your crews faster, more efficiently, and from anywhere in the world. If you’re an Android user, we have plans to release an Android app shortly for our Google users.

With our app, you can get a quick view of crew members assigned at specific project locations. You can view start and end dates, shoot dates, delivery dates, and the name of the project assigned to these crew members. The ShowMgr app includes comments associated with each crew member and booking, so you can review any comments that could change scheduling and staff last minute.

We also show you a list of bookings linked to your desktop version of ShowMgr. You can view scheduled appointments and bookings associated with a project, so you never miss a deadline again. These comments are automatically assigned to the contact and booking, so you don’t need to manually file communication.

Tap the document icon to view documents associated with the project. Read, comment and return documents directly from your iPhone or iPad.

We Leverage the Power of AWS

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a powerful cloud solution that we leverage for ShowMgr. The cloud offers several advantages over private server hosting. We have better deployment tools for rapid updates across all data centers. Our customers see faster response times and performance from the platform, and Amazon is one of the leading cloud hosting companies on the market. This gives us excellent support services 24/7, and uptime is guaranteed.

Improved Australian User Performance

In addition to the benefits we mentioned above, AWS offers servers across multiple data centers. This means that our Australian customers see better performance and less network latency when connecting to ShowMgr. Data centers across the globe distribute site content based on geo-location of our customers. This means better performance regardless of your location.

These are a few highlights of our ShowMgr addition, but we encourage our customers to leave us feedback so that we can continue to make your production management experience easier. We continue to brainstorm new ideas and solutions to make our customers a success, because when our customers are a success, we are too. Please feel free to send us feedback on our features – both old and new – so we can focus on improving your workflows and efficiency.


October 9th, 2015 by ShowMgr

The New Crew Portal

If you have recently worked with CBS Sports. As you may know, there was a portal for you to view work assignments which was CrewMgr. This has been updated and is now Crew Portal which is part of ShowMgr.com . With this new Crew Portal, you will need to go through a new user login process just once following the directions. Once you have logged in for the first time, you will not have to go through the authorization process again. Please read below or watch to learn about how you can login and all the exciting features. If you have any questions, please email us at Support@ShowMgr.com.

Want to learn more?  Please watch the video demonstration provided below.

 

To login, you will go to CBSSports.ShowMgr.com and login with an approved partner. These include Yahoo, Gmail, Facebook, Hotmail, AOL and LinkedIn. This login will replace your current ShowMgr login. If you do not already have one of these accounts, you can set one up with them for free through their individual websites before you begin!

Here is some information about the new Crew Portal

View your schedule in a variety of views which includes a month view, a day view, a week view, a 2 week view, and a list view, your choice!


View details for work assignments and make appointment requests to let someone know you will be unavailable.

If you are a freelancer, you wont have a time away policy to worry about, but you can still put in any dates you are unavailable to avoid being booked when you know you will be on vacation or unavailable. If this is the case, you can ignore the balance and forecast information.

View your work history

What functionality has been changed?

We focused on keeping the most important information in an easy to view format in the new Crew Portal and removed what we thought you were not using. Below is a list of what has been removed.

* No need to enter in your positions and union affiliations, CBS tracks that information for you.
* Travel Preferences are stored in your resource profile which is managed by CBS. If you have any preferences, please let them know directly.
* Job Postings are no longer an option, no broadcaster was using that anyways, so we didn’t think you would miss it.
* You don’t have to navigate to a new page to see your work details, now you have that detail on your desktop which is even better!

If you have any questions at all, please let us know at Support@ShowMgr.com


August 30th, 2015 by ShowMgr

Find the Right Software for Video with ShowMgr

Use ShowMgr Software for TV Production and Project Management

Television production software should be as fluid and flexible as the industry itself. Film crews and asset management continues to change as newly defined budgets and projects continue to grow in film and television. ShowMgr’s ERP software for TV production improves estimations, helps monitor budgets and payroll, and let’s film crews schedule and manage assets across the globe.

Get Better Control of Film Crews

Television production often involves film crews across multiple locations. The right software for TV production facilitates scheduling and asset management regardless of location. ShowMgr is a cloud application, so film crews and managers can schedule locations and asset management from anywhere around the world. This reduces the stress of being in one particular location to help manage facilities and scheduling. ShowMgr also has a history and auditing tool, so managers can review budgets and discover where costs exceeded any estimates. This helps reduce the amount of budgeting mistakes in the future.

Review Contact Details from Anywhere Around the World

With so many fluid and changing film crews and personnel during film projects, managers must have a way to find contact details quickly for any part of the project life cycle. ShowMgr’s software for media is an ERP application that runs in the cloud. This means no longer calling someone for contact details, mismanaging cell phone contacts, or misplacing a contact’s details. Instead, all contact and details are managed directly in the cloud where you’ll never misplace them again.

Get Alerts Real-Time

When something goes wrong, you can’t wait days or weeks to find out. With ShowMgr’s film scheduling software, you know immediately when an alert is made. The video production software sends you an alert directly to your smartphone or mobile device. You can also review these alerts directly in the cloud through our interface. No more mistakes from mismanaged alerts and notifications. ShowMgr keeps you up-to-date on all aspects of budgeting, billing, scheduling and asset management.

Job Shift Automation

Film crews need several shift changes throughout the day. With ShowMgr, managers can oversee these changes and manage any missteps real-time. This is just another advantage of having the right software for media. We’ve been in the business for over a decade, so we know what works for the film industry.

With the right television production software, your projects will be much more streamlined and successful. ShowMgr has the right tools, availability, scheduling and management software that makes your project a success.


August 30th, 2015 by ShowMgr

Find the Right Media Scheduling Software

Using ERP Cloud Software for Asset Management

Film projects usually span multiple crews and locations, so managers need the right TV production software that manages all aspects of any project. The film industry needs customized software that works with specific aspects of film production from asset management to billing and budgeting. ShowMgr’s creators have been in the film industry for over a decade, so its software for film is created specifically for film crews and video production projects.

Resource and Crew Management

Film and media have more than one office that remains at the same place consistently. The right media scheduling software gives you an interface for scheduling, management and even payroll resources. ShowMgr has it all under one roof. You no longer need to have a separate scheduling application, separate billing and separate TV budgeting software. Instead, you can work with one cloud application that manages all aspects of the film and TV project life cycle.

ShowMgr has shift management options, alerts and time attendance tracking, a contact repository, and forms and e-signature integration. You need the right form templates, and ShowMgr includes forms that are specific for film and television.

Asset Management

You need a way to track each asset including locations, project tools and resources, and budgeting for personnel. The right cloud software facilitates better management and scheduling of these assets. ShowMgr’s media asset management software lets you manage all aspects of your documents, maintenance, warehouses, inventory and asset check in and check out.

Film managers and crews must also be concerned with asset depreciation and value. Assets used for a specific amount of time lose its resell value, and it should be included when creating the right budget. ShowMgr takes all of these factors into consideration and helps film managers accurately pinpoint asset value.

Tracking Metrics

Cloud tools are beneficial but not as beneficial if you can’t track metrics. ShowMgr includes metric tracking, so you can audit and review any changes in budgeting or scheduling. Film crews can flag any missing availability, late or restocking issues, and any time sensitive changes that could harm project deadlines.

With these few benefits, ShowMgr greatly improves film and video project workflows. We also offer templates and forms for the right process flow. On top of all these benefits, our cloud software is available 24/7 from anywhere around the globe.


August 24th, 2015 by ShowMgr

Get Crew Management Alerts Immediately to You Mobile Device

Reduce Payroll Headaches and Issues using ShowMgr

Film crews span the globe on some projects. The film industry must be able to manage these global assets as well as contractors, personnel, and onsite staff. They must be able to identify budget concerns and pay staff from anywhere even if they aren’t on location. With ShowMgr’s ERP crew management software, crew managers can get all of these benefits and more directly from a desktop or mobile device. Instead of making budgeting and payroll mistakes that increase deadlines and budgets, ShowMgr streamlines the process with even automated payment systems.

Alerts, Time and Attendance

The film industry uses a myriad of contractors, full-time employees, and onsite staff managers. You need to know when budgets and deadlines are missed and when attendance is slipping. You also need to know if you need more crew resources. ShowMgr’s software for video production performs all of these functionalities and more. You can integrate resource asset management with payroll and time attendance. You can pay your employees from anywhere in the world and keep track of current staff contracts and billing invoices. All of these benefits help avoid timely, costly budgeting mistakes based on crew management oversights.

View a History of Crew and Staff

Most film and video projects have a revolving crew that ends with one project and begins with another. With ShowMgr’s media resource management software, you can identify returning crew members and keep track of their payroll concerns. You can assign film crews specific tasks and assignments to ensure that all aspects of the film and television project are covered. You no longer forget to staff a particular part of the project. ShowMgr helps remind you with notifications and the right scheduling interface. You can also automate payment methods and common invoices to pre-approve costs that must be paid immediately without interrupting the project and its deadline.

Keep Track of Contacts

Instead of fumbling through a smartphone, ShowMgr keeps all of your contacts at your fingertips. You can contact anyone without losing information. It’s all stored in the cloud. Our contact manager keeps an unlimited rolodex of all your contacts, details, business connections, and relative information regarding a specific project.

With all of these benefits, ShowMgr video management software streamlines your process workflow and avoids missing deadlines. We give you the tools to reduce budgets and schedule assets with no hassles.


August 24th, 2015 by ShowMgr

Streamline Media Billing and Budgeting

Automate the Film and TV Payment Process

Every successful business needs the right invoicing and billing software. Film and production studios need better customized tools that enhance their business functionality instead of general media billing software. With ShowMgr, film and media crews can improve workflows and speed up the process of invoicing and payments.

Streamline Billing and Invoicing

Most media asset management software lets you schedule resources and reserve locations. With ShowMgr, you can integrate media management with invoicing. Instead of using separate software for both asset management and invoice, you can manage all aspects of any project in one cloud solution. This benefit helps television and film crews monitor budgets and billing more efficiently.

Using Industry Templates

Each industry has its own templates and format for billing. You can’t just use any general template for invoicing in the software and film industry. For this reason, ShowMgr is the better solution software for TV production. Instead of molding general invoicing and templates to the industry, ShowMgr gives you the tools you need out-of-the-box and directly in the cloud.

Monitor Budget Real-Time

Lose sight of your budget, and you find that your project estimation is never met. The right media billing software lets you identify price points and monitor each invoice, payment, payroll, and other expenses. With ShowMgr, you not only set your budget more accurately, but you can also more efficiently monitor it. We offer detailed audit trails, so you can review current or previous projects for any changes or discrepancies. Our ERP TV budgeting software can help you identify any budgeting issues before they become out of hand and cost you millions in revenue.

Billing Automation

Every film crew has weekly or monthly expenses. Instead of gathering invoices and paying recipients manually, ShowMgr lets you automate the billing and payment process. For instance, payroll is standard across the board. You can automate the approval process and even create interim milestones to keep track of payments and work finished.

TV production software should be an asset to your bottom line and shouldn’t hinder the way film crews handle unique situations. Our industry experts have been in the film and media industry for over a decade, so they built ShowMgr’s TV production software with film crews in mind.


August 16th, 2015 by ShowMgr

The cloud is the latest in technology that isn’t just for the tech industry. Software for film production shouldn’t limit you to just one computer with various software. Instead, your software should give you the ability to schedule assets and crews, budget and bid on projects, and run reports from anywhere in the world. ShowMgr has the right ERP cloud software for film and video production crews that streamline workflows and improve budget estimates.

Workflows and Scheduling

Workflow is important for overall project scheduling, budgeting and management. We help you redefine and streamline your workflows, so you can be more efficient in each area of film production and management. We have templates for you to use, so you don’t need to create your own. Our founders have been in the business for over a decade, so we understand how to create workflows that are customized directly for TV and film. We’ve even created our own business rules engine to help you create workflows more intelligently and with the right data and analytics.

Real-Time Data

You no longer need to wait days (or weeks) for responses or analytics. You can run numerous reports and review information and data as it happens instead of when you take the time to collect it. You’ll also have instant access to financial information, so any changes to budget or costs can be quickly remedied to avoid any future damage. Your film and TV projects will be more simplified and streamlined, and real-time data helps give you tighter control of planning throughout the entire project.

Review Crews and Assets

In film and television, crews are typically global, and you need the ability to schedule and budget crews without being local. You also need to schedule assets such as warehouses and project locations while keeping track of their costs. With ShowMgr, you can review any location and schedule it weeks in advance. You won’t forget any schedules, because assets are listed in our real-time scheduling software for TV and film production crews.

What’s great about ShowMgr is that you aren’t limited to any one place. We even support mobile, so you can review crews and assets from a smartphone or tablet even while you’re traveling. Our software for film crews lets you review payroll and account information, scheduled appointments for you and your crew, and reports that help you analyze data for future investments.

It’s common for film and television industry leaders to have crews that span the globe. The disconnect can create scheduling and communication issues. With ShowMgr, you can connect film crews located in several different locations, so any schedules for different teams can be reviewed by film crew managers to avoid conflicts and scheduling issues.

If you’re still stuck with old desktop software, it’s time to give cloud software a try. The right software for film and television streamlines your process and saves you money.