I’d like to be somewhat vague because my job is somewhat niche. For my job I made custom products that are made up of subcomponents that cost me either by the foot, by the pair, or individually. So a particular product may include 5 feet of X, Y and Z, a pair of V and 1 of T and U. Then I add a bit for profit.

Right now I have a somewhat simple spreadsheet that has all my components and their costs listed which are then referenced on other sheets. The problem is adding or removing components is a real pain in the ass because I’d have to edit each and every sheet.

I’d like a better system where I can create a new product then from a drop down or something pick all the relevant components and enter how many of that component I need. Then create a quote that I can email to a client that lists the final cost of a bunch of products.

I’d prefer this to be a, open source web app but it can be a desktop application.

  • tony@lemmy.hoyle.me.uk
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    1 year ago

    That sounds like the kind of stuff we make at $dayjob (that’s for the building trade, where they often have complex spreadsheets and going to an app that calculates everything down to the number of screws for them is a huge benefit).

    You could probably still do it with a spreadsheet, just have parts list add/remove fan out into the cutting list and update automatically. I imagine it’d get quite ugly, but doable. If you want to do optimisation (buy 1 5 foot length and cut rather than 2 2 foot lengths, because it’s cheaper, for example) it gets even uglier and at that point a bespoke app becomes more sensible.

    • UntouchedWagons@lemmy.caOP
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      1 year ago

      I’ve considered making a bespoke app myself either using C# or with Python and QT but I don’t have much experience with the later even though it would be more cross platform friendly.

      • tony@lemmy.hoyle.me.uk
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        1 year ago

        I’d say write it for yourself then worry about the cross platform later. You can always go back and rewrite.