Software for tracking small business workflow?

[blueskies94]

Do you track your workflow with a cloud-based service? If so, which one? Can you recommend software that would meet the needs I describe below?

I started a very small food business, making fermented sauces and cured meats. I need to keep detailed logs for every step of producing a product. I've been keeping those logs in Google Sheets, but I'm looking for a better method.

I need to present data in several different ways:

• A data entry worksheet for the person making each batch. A combination of lookup items ("Recipe for this item", fill-in-the-blank fields ("Enter the wieght of each ingredient"), and auto-calculated fields ("Add x amount of vinegar to set the final pH"). It needs to be easy so the person making the sauce doesn't waste time messing with the form.
• A per-batch report. All the items for a given batch of sauce. So I can confirm a given batch was produced correctly before I ship it out.
• Individual logs. For example, the final pH of all batches. State auditors require that each category of data be in its own log ("Ingredient Log", "pH acidity log", "Wholesale shipment log", etc.

I've done back-end web development, so I could whip up something in Django. But there are already well-designed (and more secure) cloud services for setting up workflows. What do you recommend?

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Here are some sample logs for a given product. Based on this, could you recommend a product? Or point me toward the right subreddit to ask this sort of question?

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Ingredient Log. Batch Number; Ingredient Name; Weight; Supplier (where I bought it); Supplier's Invoice Number.

Salt Log. Batch Number; Salt required; Salt Added

Monitoring Log. Batch Number; Check Date; Pass/Fail; Failure Reason ('Trapped Air'; 'Mold Formed', etc.); Corrective Action ('Stirred Ferment; Discarded the batch; etc.)

Finishing Log. Batch Number. Liquid weight of fermented sauce; acidifer used; acidifer added; final pH

 

[matt123]

@blueskies94 If you can whip this up, then you might find your larger revenue opportunity is marketing this custom system to other small batch food processors. Small niche markets like this don't often have elegant solutions and if you can provide one, you'd probably make more money selling that solution than you ever will on selling hot sauce.

 

[ashpk]

@blueskies94 You could build this in Airtable and use their forms to gather inputs.

 

[blueskies94]

@ashpk I came across Airtable after writing this post. They look impressive, and they have a free tier to try it out.

I'm writing table designs. queries, and workflow front-ends now. I think I could make those pretty easily in Airtable.

Cool YouTube channel, by the way.

 

[ashpk]

@blueskies94 Awesome, glad Airtable looks like a winner for you. Thanks for your feedback on my YouTube channel. Hope you subscribed.

 

[broadlandbeliever]

@blueskies94 Programmer myself, but you may want to check with one of the brewer subreddits like /r/TheBrewery as I believe they have the same requirements. We work with several brewers including some self brew places where folks can rent to make their own batches and they must have something for the process. I'll ask around.

 

[rocvisc17]

@blueskies94 You can create atleast a system on Notion but that would require some investment into understanding the platform and educating your team members. I haven't tried Notion's API but I assume you can use it to capture the data and rework it. Check this video of how a 3D printing firm uses Notion. They don't go into details but you can understand their context.

If you are confident in your Django skills than look into just no-coding a front end and working just on the backend. Often times what happens is that the ready to avail systems require so much investment in understanding and extending them that building something from scratch makes a better alternative.

 

[travis93]

@blueskies94 We use AirTable for stuff like this, and it works well for it.

 

[flyinflame14yyt]

@blueskies94 ERP/ MRP, which unfortunately seems to be pretty expensive (we've been researching options for a year). There doesn't seem to be a low cost entry level options or there. The key words would be lot tracking (for both ingredients and final products) and Bill of Materials (BoM). We almost pulled the trigger on Odoo, which is a modular system that scales up. But we found the user interface to be horrible and all the support is 4 or 5 versions old. We are currently looking at Wherefour. It's still pricey, but in terms of ERP systems would be considered a budget version.

 

[marlenej]

@flyinflame14yyt We are currently using Wherefour. It isn't as capable as CIN7, but it is doing what we need it to do for now.

My biggest issues are that you are can't get generate custom reports and importing or working with stock often can only be done by name.

Eg You can't import inventory from somewhere else unless you have the where4 name matching.

 

[erik44]

@blueskies94 Sounds like you need an ERP. Which can be expensive.

http://justfooderp.com/

I have no idea what pricing is nor quality of the software, but I looked into these guys a decade ago... could be helpful.

 

[jehu22]

@blueskies94 ERPs can do this, but really only for Lot Traceability

But you are really talking about a Quality Management System, since you have to data collect at various production steps in order to prove you've been keeping quality. I havent seen a low-cost QMS, but they may be out there.

Airtable as mentioned is a perfect use-case, although it gets spendy. I throw a client's data case usually at Airtable first before trying to build out a CRUD app. Nice thing about airtable is that its got an API, so there is later extensibility with it.