Custom Digidossier app for customer drawings
If you produce to customer drawings, you need the drawing in three places away from the office: at the table with the customer, at the workbench and at the installation site. Appfront builds the app that works there: the customer signs off on the right revision, the workshop scans the order and sees only the released drawing, and the fitter reports a deviation with a photo on the drawing itself.
What is a digital file app for customer drawings?
A digital file for customer drawings records, per order, which drawings exist, in which revision, and what the customer approved. At the office, that file lives in the software. This app takes it to the places where the drawing is actually used: at the customer's home or business, in the workshop, and on the building site or in the building where the installation takes place.
That is exactly where things go wrong today. The salesperson shows a printout at the table, the customer scribbles on it, and the approval arrives later by email on a different version. In the workshop, revision B hangs on the wall while revision C has already been approved. And the fitter discovers on site that a measurement doesn't fit, phones the office, and nobody records what was agreed.
We build custom because every company draws and produces differently. Which CAD package you use, who creates and releases drawings, how the customer gives approval and where the workshop looks today all determine how the app works. It connects to the digital file at the office, so there is one source of truth for every drawing.
Approval at the table
On the right revision, with a signature.
Scan and see
The workshop builds from the release.
Deviation on the drawing
Photo and note, straight to the office.
How we build your digital file app for customer drawings
We start with how you work: who draws, how a drawing currently goes to the customer and back, where the workshop looks, and what the fitter takes along. Then we look at the file at the office and your CAD and ERP packages, so the app shows the same drawings and revisions. We often start with the customer's approval on the tablet, because that is where most of the discussion arises. The workshop and the fitter follow once that runs well. After that, we maintain the app as your packages or ways of working change, and check after every change that revisions and approvals still match the file.
Drawing, approval, workshop and installation.
Revisions from the office and CAD.
Customer, workshop and fitter.
Go-live, and maintenance as things change.
What a digital file app for customer drawings actually does
The components below appear in almost every app for customer drawings. Which ones you need depends on your products and way of working.
Drawing per order
With all revisions.
Comment on the drawing
Signed by the customer.
Approval with signature
On a single revision.
Scan in the workshop
Only the approved release.
Report a deviation
With photo and dimension.
Offline
Even without signal.
Who we build a digital file app for customer drawings for
The app is intended for companies that make what the customer has approved on drawing. The more revisions and the more people working away from the office, the more it delivers.
Kitchens and interiors
Many choices. Approval on details.
Window frames and staircases
Custom work. Measuring matters.
Steel construction and metalworking
The drawing is the order.
Exhibition stand and signage construction
Short lead time. Revisions until the last moment.
Test your idea first: a working prototype in 1 day
With OneDayBuild, we make your idea tangible in a single day for €1,150, so you know whether further development is worth the investment. Decide to go ahead with the full build? Then we deduct the cost in full.
View OneDayBuild →Technology and integrations
This page is about the app away from the office. For the file and customer portal in the office, see our page on digital file software for customer drawings, for drawings in construction our page on drawing revision management, and for steel fabricators our page on steel construction software. You can read about our approach at building an app.
Why Appfront for your digital file app for customer drawings?
An approval that arrives by email on the wrong version, an old printout on the wall and a fitter who phones in without it being recorded cost a custom manufacturer extra work that nobody pays for. That is what we build on: approval at the table, the workshop working from the approved release, and deviations going straight into the file.
No disputes
Approval on the right revision.
No outdated prints
The scan shows the approved release.
Nothing lost
Deviations in the file.
Security and privacy for a digital file app for customer drawings
The app processes drawings, customer data and signatures. Drawings are often confidential for you and for the customer. Access is set up per role, a customer only sees their own order, and every approval is recorded with the revision, the name and the time.
The app and the underlying environment run in a European data centre, with encrypted storage and daily backups. On the tablet, drawings are stored encrypted, so a lost device is not an open file. We record the processing in a data processing agreement.
Frequently asked questions about a digital file app for customer drawings
Questions that custom manufacturers ask before they start with this.
The software is the file in the office, with the customer portal, the revisions and the release. This app takes that file to the customer at the table, the workbench and the installation site. They share the same drawings and revisions, so an approval in the app is immediately in the file.
Yes. The customer views the drawing, adds comments on the drawing itself and signs one specific revision. The approval is in the file with name, time and revision, so there is no discussion later about which version was approved.
The workshop scans the order or the workpiece with a QR code and gets the approved revision. Older revisions can still be viewed as history, but are clearly marked as no longer valid. A printout on the wall is then no longer needed.
Yes. Drawings for the orders needed today are stored on the device. Approvals, photos and deviations are saved and sent as soon as there is a connection again, so a basement or a building site without signal is not a problem.
Usually PDF, because the customer and the workshop can read it anywhere. DWG or a model from your CAD package is also possible, if your way of working requires it. Which formats you use now and which the app needs to display, we look at in the first step.
The fitter takes a photo, adds a note or a measurement to the drawing and reports it in the app. The office sees the report on the order, decides whether a new revision or extra work is needed, and that decision is recorded in the file. That turns a phone call into an agreement that's on record.
For kitchen and interior builders, window frame and staircase makers, steel fabricators and smiths, exhibition stand and signage builders, and machine builders with customer-specific designs. If you handle a few orders a month and one draughtsman does everything himself, a shared folder is often still enough.
Sign-off on the right drawing, everywhere?
Tell us how drawings currently reach the customer, the workshop and the fitter. We'll show you what the app looks like.