Hi !
I run a medium product review blog that reviews approximately 100 products a year across a team of 10 testers.<p>I want a software to help me streamline/track the process.<p>Basically I would like to<p>- keep the details of the testers (names, addresses, general info, history)<p>- keep the details of the companies (people/email addresses)<p>- keep track of what products each company is about to release this year with a release date<p>- track each product across the review cycle (requested from company, shipped to reviewer, test in progress, review received, review entered on site, review published)<p>It would obviously be amazing if all the steps could be assigned to a person and documents attached and reports run (ie on what a tester has on his pipeline, what products are in the "released but not shipped yet" status) etc.<p>I started using Trello which is OK, but does not do all I need<p>Thank you all for the suggestions!
This sounds like it is right in the middle of not really a PM tool and not really a CRM tool. You want to track and forecast work and don't have varying tasks per item.<p>Maybe Basecamp? I have never used it but it sounds like it could be used in that way. At the day job many years ago we used something from Replicon that was time tracking based to forecast. Never got traction at work though because nobody liked tracking time since these were internal projects and salary based people at a big company.<p>Models could be:<p>- Company: has_many :people, has_many :products<p>- People: name, email, address, notes, type:tester|customer<p>- Products: name, desc, release date, links, notes<p>- Reviews: product_id, tester assigned, status, notes, links, attachments, etc.<p>It doesn't sound terribly hard to build, although it sounds like you might be sub-contracting your testing? If that is the case, you may want some financial aspect tracked like if they are paid by hour, by review, etc.<p>This gets complex if you have differing permissions, for instance if a tester can only see their own work or if customers can login and view status or collaborate (upload collaterals, contact tester).
Are you willing to write detailed specifications for your requirements? How much would you pay for a solution that fits all your requirements? Do you believe other businesses may have similar problem like yours?<p>If someone built a solution to your requirements, will you be the first 'public' customer and 'endorse' the product? Will you commit to be a customer for certain duration?<p>You may get the idea of where I am going with this line of questioning. You have a real existing problem to solve and the solution to this problem may be start of a business for someone else.<p>If none of existing solution meet your needs, Reach out to your local freelance and entrepreneurial community and see if someone has interested in building a business providing solution to your problem.<p>A business idea that comes with defined requirements, a customer, and revenue stream is an attractive combination.
You can use Wrike.
<a href="http://www.wrike.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.wrike.com</a><p>Using Wrike you can schedule, prioritize, discuss and track progress in real time.