OT: Organizing My Boss

I need advise!!!!

OK! So I am kind-of slow at the moment. So my boss wants me to help him get his procedures revamped on the process from handling RFQ's to implementing Job numbers, all the way thru to shipping of product, and how the information is maintained. I will try to be brief here, but it will be difficult.

I am a designer, not a business manager. I am good at what I do, but this is out of my knowledge to advise him. I have honestly not worked in very many shops, so I am hoping some of you have some good simple suggestions for me.

My boss is one of the most un-organized persons I know (other than my wife). Don't get me wrong. We do a h_ll-of-a lot of business here. But honestly I sometimes wonder how we are able to keep track of everything. We are trying to put together a procedure that takes place from the moment we receive an RFQ, to the moment a job is shipped to the customer.

In general, our process is this (much like any other company I'm sure):

1. Create an RFQ
2. If we get the job, we receive a P.O. and it gets assigned a job number.
3. Somehow, accounting finds out that we got a new job in, and finds the terms and conditions of the quote and starts the initial invoicing procedures.
4. Any information pertaining to the job is then collected. This could be via emails to the customer, notes taken from meetings, models and/or drawings, specifications about the job requirements, etc., etc.
5. The job then usually goes through engineering (me) for design or interrogation. The design is briefly reviewed by my boss and the shop foreman for approval. Sometimes the job will bypass this step altogether, for example if the customer provides a completed design that we build to.
6. The shop then gets their hands on the job for manufacture.
7. A lot of times drawings are marked up by the shop foreman mid-manufacture that he has changed through this process. The shop foreman is the president and owner of the company (my other boss), so I really can't argue too much about this.
8. The marked up drawings are supposed to make their way back to engineering to be updated. Sometimes this actually happens.
9. The job is completed (assembled) and shipped to the customer.
10. Engineering data is shipped to the customer via email, CD, ftp server, etc., etc.
11. Somehow, accounting finds out that the job is complete and starts the final invoicing procedure.

Now, my question is how can all of this information, data, specifications, etc, be managed throughout a project in one neat nice "package" that can be easily accessed by the necessary person(s) as needed?

Currently:

1. RFQ's may be produced by scribbled notes transferred to a formal Word document by the secretary, and either emailed or printed/faxed to the customer. Where the electronic files are kept, and how they are categorized is a mystery.
2. The P.O. may be received via a hard-copy (rare), contained within an email message, verbal over the phone and scribbled down to be added to the shop log, or faxed. The shop log is where the job number originates. It is simply a very long Excel spreadsheet with a list of numbers. There is a columns for general information about the job such as customer, date received P.O., job description, due date, date shipped, date invoiced, etc. Sometimes all of the columns actually get filled in.
3. Accounting is handed the hard-copy of the quote (which now has a hand written job number on it) for billing purposes. Not sure where it goes from here.
4. A piece of legal paper is handed to engineering (me) with all of the pertinent specifications about the job for me to design by. Many times there is extra verbal information given to me at the same time that is not on the paper. A model or drawings is usually forwarded to my email also. Sometimes I need to call on the customer to clarify some of the specification given to me.
5. After the design is finished, we all huddle around the screen to dissect the design for 5-10 minutes for approval. With this intense review, there will be no need for any changes during manufacture.... right?!?!
6. The prints are put into individual buckets and scattered through-out the shop to be produced. I think sometimes at random.
7. Prints are finally marked-up so they can be manufactured.
8. Once the individual components are produced, I think the prints are then eaten by goblins. Drawings rarely get updated from the marked up drawings due to lost info.
9. The job is completed and assembled. Amazingly all of the parts are usually there on assembly day. And it really does assemble to a quality product (no sarcasm here).
10. Engineering data is finally sent to the customer after he has reminded us to send it.
11. Someone tells accounting that the job is completed and shipped (our maybe she hears it through the grapevine). Final billing starts.

All we have right now is MS Office Small Business which included the typical software. Accounting uses QuickBooks which I know is capable of handling at least some of this process. But it is not accessible to anyone but accounting.

I know there is other software out there that can assist us with this entire process. I've heard the terms MRP & ERP as well as others but don't really know what it all is. If anyone can suggest a simple and cheap, decent piece of software to help manage and maintain this process, I would appreciate some input.

However I am not sure that adding software is an option. So I am hoping that someone could suggest methods for using the tools that we currently have to help maintain a systematic process of managing all of this. I honestly have no clue where to start. It's not my forte. But I've been given the "privilege" of coming up with a solution. I'm sure that if we just had a good easy system/method, it would eliminate the "sticky note" type management.