PlanaPlana
Sign inSign up
All guides

Basics

How Plana works

Plana keeps track of the things in your business, the facts about them, and how they're joined up. Once you see those three ideas, every screen makes sense.

Step by step

  1. 1

    Everything is a thing (an entity)

    A job is a thing. So is a company, a person, and each item on a job. Plana calls these entities. Every one has its own page, and you can find any of them with Search at the top of the sidebar (or ⌘K). It sorts what it finds by kind, like Jobs, Companies and People, with the best matches first.

    JobHarbour Café fit-outCompanyHarbour CaféPersonMia ChenItemWindow decal
    Everything is a thing. Jobs, companies, people and items are all things Plana keeps.
  2. 2

    Things have facts (fields)

    A job has a status, a due date and a customer. A company has an address and a phone number. Each fact is a field: a name (like Due) and what it says (like Fri 10 Oct). You can add your own fields to anything.

    Job 30012• Status: In progress• Due: Fri 10 Oct• Customer: Harbour CaféFielda name, like “Due”Valuewhat it says, like “Fri 10 Oct”
    Things have facts. Each fact is a field: a name and a value.
  3. 3

    Things are joined up (relationships)

    A company is the customer of a job. A person works at a company. A job has items. These links are called relationships, and they're how Plana shows a company's jobs, or everyone who's worked on a job, without you filing anything twice.

    customer ofhasworks atcontact forCompanyHarbour CaféPersonMia ChenJobCafé fit-outItemsDecal, menu board
    Things are joined up. Lines between things are relationships. Follow them to find anything.
  4. 4

    Some facts move things along

    Status is a fact every job and item has built in. Unlike your own fields, it can only be one of a set list, which is how Plana knows what it means. A job moves from Enquiry to Paid, and each item from Needs artwork to Installed, so everyone can see where things are at a glance.

    to invoiceEnquiryQuotingQuote sentIn progressJob completeinvoicedPaid
    The life of a job. A job moves along its status, from the first ask to getting paid.

The idea behind it

Needs artworkApprovedPrintingFinishingPackedInstalledor shipped, or picked up
The life of an item. Each item on a job has its own status, from artwork to out the door.

Good to know

  • Plana fills in a lot of this itself from your email: new customers, contacts and possible jobs.
  • If you find the same company twice, merge them. Everything joined to one moves to the other.

Plana is job management for signage, print and events.

Every job, email, proof and invoice in one place.

Try Plana