Documents
Eight document types, branded, from one job
Learn moreFor manufacturing
Job management for custom and small-batch manufacturing
Quote each order from your material and labour costs, confirm it with an order acknowledgement, track production on one board, and see what each period really earned.
Free forever plan · No credit card required
What gets in the way
Made-to-order work in made-for-retail tools
Big manufacturing systems are built for repeat production. Custom orders need quoting, confirming and tracking one job at a time.
Order details retyped
The quote, the order acknowledgement and the work order are separate documents.
Production status unclear
Sales promises a date without seeing what's on the floor.
Margins unknown
Supplier costs aren't tied back to the orders that caused them.
How Universal Workflow helps
Quote, confirm, produce, deliver
Quotes, order acknowledgements and sales orders
Build the quote from your materials and labour. When the customer orders, create an order acknowledgement and a sales order from the same job, then a work order for production. On paid plans you get all eight document types.
- Order acknowledgement confirms the customer's order
- Sales order as the internal record
- Work order for the floor, with or without prices
Production on one board
Set statuses for your production stages and see how many orders sit at each. Assign each order to a person and keep due dates visible.
Job board
Supplier costs and margins
Raise purchase orders for each order's materials and attach the supplier's invoice. Financial Analytics brings revenue, purchase orders and expenses together for net profit and margin.
Purchase orders
A job from start to finish
A custom cabinet order
A commercial client orders twenty reception cabinets.
- Quote. Sheet goods with cut waste, hardware by the box, and labour per line.
- Confirm. An order acknowledgement goes to the customer and a sales order is kept on file.
- Buy. Purchase orders for sheet goods and hardware are linked to the job.
- Produce. The job moves through your production statuses; a work order without prices goes to the floor.
- Deliver and invoice. Delivery is booked on the planner and the invoice goes out from the same job.
Example quote
Example: quoting 20 steel brackets
A customer orders 20 powder-coated steel brackets for a retail fit-out.
Example figures for illustration. Your prices come from your own material library, services and rates.
| 1/4" steel plate2 sheets from your library: $185.00 cost each + 20% markup | $444.00 |
| Cutting and bending6 h × $85.00/h | $510.00 |
| Powder coating (outside supplier)20 × $6.50 | $130.00 |
| Hardware40 pieces from your library: $0.75 cost each + 30% markup | $39.00 |
| Subtotal | $1,123.00 |
| Price per bracket | $56.15 |
When the customer orders, an order acknowledgement goes out from the same job, and purchase orders for the steel and the powder coating are linked to it.
Can I send order acknowledgements?
Yes. Order acknowledgements and sales orders are among the eight document types on paid plans.
Can I track production stages?
Yes. Name statuses after your production stages; the job board counts and filters by them.
Can I tie supplier costs to orders?
Yes. Purchase orders link to the job and appear as costs in Financial Analytics.
Is it an ERP or MRP system?
No. Universal Workflow is estimating and job management for made-to-order work. It doesn't manage inventory levels or bills of materials across repeat production runs.
Can I raise a purchase order for an outside process like powder coating?
Yes. A purchase order can go to any supplier, linked to the job, with the supplier's invoice attached when it arrives.
Can I see what my orders earned?
Yes. Financial Analytics adds up revenue, purchase orders and expenses for any period and shows net profit, with tax collected and paid.
Your next job starts here
Run made-to-order work from one system
Start free and quote, confirm and track your next order in one place.
Free forever plan · No credit card required