I’m looking to step up our game from excel and Visio for high end projects. Is d-tools still the way to go? I understand the time investment.

Excel to d-tools? That's quite a jump, time aaaand money.

You could try Portal and Visio before you completely hand over your checkbook. I think d-tools would be better for larger projects, but Portal will do plenty from low-end to high-end.

We implemented D-Tools for our commercial projects about 10 months ago. It really improved our presentation and wiring diagrams! They are now on par with the BIG boys. It automatically loads the device I/O for Visio and helps significantly with the connection points.

Recently implement the Mobile Install on the commercial projects. It is great from a management and future service standpoint. There is a lot of detail that can be included. For example, it has the ability to record the serial numbers and IP address of each device if desired.

The setup and implementation time is more of a resource hog than the cost. I recommend purchasing their consulting services to get you going.

If you are just looking around and are not ready for a full commitment to the product, I would look elsewhere. If you are serious and want a system that can help with your business, it has worked for us. We will be implementing D-Tools for our residential systems by the end of the year.

Good luck. Let us know what you decide and how it goes.

I know I want to make the jump if d-tools is still the best and if the company has staying power. I’d like to know if this is the case.

We use D-tools on every single project. That includes even the most basic of 2GIG alarm installs. Every. Single. Project.

I couldn't imagine building proposals in excel.

Honestly, the time investment isn't that much. We built our database from scratch and chose not to use D-tools' library. On your first few projects you'll have to build your database as you go, but if you use the same common core of products, you'll find that things will become much quicker.

For us to build a proposal for a 5.1 media room it usually takes about 5 minutes of work in D-tools.

Thanks for that. How about the design doc side of things (device location, wire locations, elevations, etc.?)

Our buying group looked at all the options available, even building a new platform, and D-Tools came out the winner. The have approximately 70 employees, and the are profitable, per the CFO at CEDIA this year.

We have five full licenses, mobile install, and mobile quote seats. I wouldn't invest this much if I did't think it was not only the right solution, but going to be around for the long haul.

PS. Still lazy and use SmarDraw for simple floor-plans and elevations with AV location icons.

Thanks is great info. Thank you.

ive completely abandoned D-Tools for Portal. Im a small shop so for the most part i dont do drawings or labels through d-tools. D-Tools is super powerful and you can do alot and I'll still use it for the super big quotes, but portal has me covered 99.5% of the time.

Maybe its the sign of the times, but I feel like ive even won more jobs using portal then with D-Tools. the "accept" button at the bottom makes it easy for clients. Its also easy for them to request changes or ask questions within the "proposal" link.

Its also nice to get updates every-time they open the quote too so there is no "We never received it"

THis being said if the job is big enough and the client can still meet for a second proposal meeting then I still use portal and just print out the quote, then email it onsite. It has become an invaluable tool for me and the app (ios only) is fantastic!

IOS only is a deal killer for sure...

Drawings are super easy once you have the proposal built. As you build your database, D-tools assigns default shapes based on Category/Sub-category, but you can customize. As long as you have Visio, 2 monitors, and the floorplan, it's drag-and-drop to build your drawings.

We still use racktools for our preliminary design, but once we have it set, we'll build the rack elevation in D-tools. We make our own Visio shapes with actual pictures of devices which makes for a nice presentation.
We build wire schematics only if the client is willing to pay for them. They aren't that hard, but on larger jobs they are time consuming.
We don't use the pre-wire/device location labeling features as we have a method that's worked for us for years.

Can still access Portal from the browser on your non iOS device with no issues, but an app would be nice.

Portal is free, quick and easy. If you you looking to create better quality proposals with ease, I would start there. You will be out well over a grand to get started with D-tools with a lot more time invested to get going and time to learn how to use. Portal pretty much has no learning curve at all, has the database already there (simply enter product in search field and then add to your proposal, directly to the room you wish to add it to). Personally, I add a picture of the client's home as the cover page picture, which is something I did with Word, D-tools, and now Portal. Of all three, Portal is BY FAR the easiest and quickest to use.

Could some one add a link to Portal, i cant seem to find it when i search for Portal in google it brings up too many results.

Portal.io