After decades as the leading proposal creation software system for the custom electronics industry, D-Tools has officially made the leap to become a complete end-to-end software solution with the addition of several project management features to its D-Tools Cloud platform. The turnkey software solution now includes project planning, resource management, scheduling, task assignments, item tracking, time tracking and more.

Randy Stearns, CEO of D-Tools, says the simultaneous release of the slew of functions in the new D-Tools Cloud Project Management Suite features has been a long time in development.

“This powerful, yet easy-to-use suite of features bridges the gap from project estimation to project completion by adding functionality that is essential to all system integrators,” he notes.

Tim Bigoness, chief marketing officer and vice president of sales at D-Tools, comments, “Normally we release one feature at a time. This project management release is a complete set of new functionality for integrators to use after they sign a contract with a customer. Now, the same D-Tools pre-sale experience follows all the way through post-sale for integrators.”

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D-Tools Cloud is the company’s SaaS platform that already offers capabilities for proposal creation, visual quoting, change order management, system design, pipeline management, and product procurement using supplier-authorized dealer-specific pricing. But now, the platform is a full turnkey solution for both technicians and managers with the addition of the D-Tools Cloud Project Management Suite.

Some of the new Dashboard functions, according to Bigoness, are only found in major CRM systems. For example, D-Tools Cloud enables an integrator to not just analyze a dashboard to visually see the sales forecast pipeline, but the system can also rate the probability of closing each individual proposal based on its status.

The dashboard also allows the user to filter by project type, lead source or salesperson. Plus, it has the ability to analyze “lost opportunities” so dealers can determine why they were unable to close particular sales and possibly identify patterns that could be corrected.

In the Catalog function, D-Tools Cloud is able to provide real-time dealer-specific pricing directly from certain manufacturers and distributors, such as Savant and ADI. That pricing is hidden even from the D-Tools staff so there is no risk of an integrator’s pricing levels being leaked or shared.

D-Tools Cloud can also be faster for quoting than the company’s SI software solution because the data is being pulled immediately from the cloud so the integrator does not have to build the data before he or she can provide the quote to the client. The software also allows a salesperson to put the system in Client Mode, which eliminates margins and markup and solely presents the MSRP and final labor costs as the proposal is being built. It can be done using a cellphone, but Stearns recommends using Client Mode on a tablet.

Another unique function in D-Tools Cloud includes Image Quoting in which the salesperson can drag and drop images of products into a visual image of the room while building the quote. This function is particularly well suited for retrofit projects where you can take a photo of the existing space. The software will also automatically suggest “Alternates” during the proposal process, offering other gear options and price points for clients to ponder.

Lastly, there is a new Installer View element to the software that, in a nutshell, can:

• Create tasks
• Assign tasks
• Provide a mobile view for technicians
• Offer the ability to clock in or out
• Send personal notifications
• Offer access to complete project documentation

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