[Wayne Fowler]

I've been on the free trial with aworka for a few weeks now and it's been working really well so am very tempted to continue with it. But before I start paying, I thought I'd ask here for your views of online systems as an alternative to traditional programs like George and Window Cleaner Pro, to check I'm not missing something! I haven't seen many mentions of aworka on the forums, but I think that might be because it's a new system? I tried it because I found my options to be limited as I am avid Mac user...

I read elsewhere on this forum that the guys behind Window Cleaner Pro are moving online so maybe this is the way its all going, but not everyone has been supportive! It seems quite a few people object to paying monthly for an online service instead of a one off payment up front. I don't think I have a problem with the subscription, considering I can earn a few hundred a week and aworka is only a tenner a month. I don't want to encourage another 'this software is better than that software' debate, but I'm interested in any thoughts about online vs software package.

I'm new to this forum and new to window cleaning so please be gentle with me!

[darren clarke]

do u have a link to it?

[Wayne Fowler]

You'll never guess!  aworka.com

[darren clarke]

depends on how big you are, i use a pad and pen and have no probs

[clearlyclean]

£10 a month looks good would you recommend it I use googledocs spreadsheets

[Wayne Fowler]

I really like it. When I bought my round, it came with a spreadsheet that the previous owner had developed but I couldn't get the hang of it. Chris (the guy at Aworka) imported the spreadheet into Aworka and everything seemed much easier! If you're interested, you can sign up for a free trial and see if Chris will import your data for you so you can see if it works for you.

[Wayne Fowler]

@Blue Monkey I could probably do the day-to-day stuff with pen and paper, but what about your end of year accounts? I wouldn't fancy adding it all up by hand. And how do you do invoices? I've got used to creating an emailing invoice in just a couple of mouse clicks...

[darren clarke]

its easy i do weekly sheets with what i made that week and waht i spent and what it got spent on,  do this for evey week,

i only give out 3 invoices so i just print them off with what every amounts are on it,  the rest either pay cash or online

accounts are easy, it all depends on how simple you make it

[johnwillan]

It is a personal thing for some a book works best, others a spreadsheet, George, WCP etc, etc.

Organising and running a round is fairly straight forward and all of the above will work, Aworka is no different.

I moved from George to Aworka (Paul at George introduced me) as it better suited my needs.

Aworka is very new - I think Chris has produced a really well thought out easy to use application and I wish him every success - time will tell

[Chris @ Aworka]

Hello I'm Chris Powell from Aworka. Thanks John and Wayne for your kind words about my new service! Bearing in mind that I am obviously biased, I think the advantages of online services in general are...

• No software to install or upgrade
• No worries about your PC breaking down or doing data backups
• Accessible from any computer connected to the internet (and I'm working on Smartphones too!)
• Multiuser access so great for teams

Paying a ongoing subscription for an online service might be off-putting for some, but (a) its not very much and (b) it provides the funding to constantly improve and maintain the service for the benefit of users.

Having said all this, I have to agree with John: if you're happy with the way you do things, there's probably no reason to change (except to Aworka  )

[erithwc]

This is funny wcp are doing a new program as we speak now this is posted i wonder if kate1 has a new user id 

[p1w1]

Hmmm I wonder 

[roundbuilder]

was kate1 a guy posing as a woman??. it was wierd for a woman to spend so long on a wc forum.

[wightsurf]

I think the main point being this is far cheaper than what wcp new program is .
£10.00 when the other was quoted @£25 to £35 if i remember right. Also there is now the trust element as well . But the Aworka software does not show any working platforms on there web page which lets it down as you have to use a trail to see what it can do, but i would like to see before i try.

[Chris @ Aworka]

Hello again... I promise I'm not kate1 (but I'm sure she's very nice)! I have just joined this forum after Wayne emailed me to let me know my new service was being discussed...

I know I need to do more to show Aworka in action before you sign up. Perhaps a video demo or something? For now, you can look at the Quick Tour to see some of the screens. The other thing I could do is import some demo data for you to play with if you sign up and don't want to put your own data in right away, or I can import your own data for you.

[erithwc]

chris can you edit or delete the columns that you dont need on the customers list as i would not use the customer name column

[Chris @ Aworka]

Sorry, not at the moment. My priority is to try and keep everything as simple as possible and easy to use, so there aren't too many configuration options to confuse things. However, I'm open to ideas and will be striving continually evolve the system to meet the needs of users. I've included a Feedback link on the side of the site that allows you to suggest features and changes to the system, then other users can vote for the features they most want, which should mean the best new features get developed first.

[weetot]

Microsoft excel. It does exactly what it says on the tin!

[erithwc]

what the difference between microsoft works speadsheet  and microsoft excel 

[Chris @ Aworka]

Microsoft Works is a sort of home version of Microsoft Office. The spreadsheets are basically the same, but Excel has many more functions (that you'll probably never use) and costs a lot more.