Why Should I Upgrade?

Lately we have been asked several questions on why a client should upgrade to the latest version of QuickBooks.  This isn’t always the easiest question to answer.  It is no secret that from year to year there are not dramatic, earth shattering changes made to the product.  However, over time changes are made and improvements can be seen in the product.

This year with the release of QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 2010,  I would have to say that a big reason some businesses may want to upgrade is for the increased number of custom fields that have been made available; as well as being able to identify certain formats for each field.  In the past this wasn’t possible, and the chance of data input errors was high.  Now you can predefine the data that can be used in each field, which improves the accuracy of your data and reports.  Again, this is not a feature for everyone, but for those that need to store more information than the defaults QuickBooks provides this is a nice improvement.

Please note this is only one of the improvements made to the latest version.  Please feel free to contact us for more details on QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 2010.  We would be happy to answer any questions you may have, and would love to assist you in upgrading if the time is right for you!

Multiple Ship To Addresses

One of the things that mid-market level companies tend to deal with are multiple ship to addresses for their customers. In some of the higher end, more expensive pieces of software, such as Exact/Macola this is something that is handled quite easily. Quite honestly, QuickBooks and Fishbowl do a nice job as well. The issue we have found is with mass importing.

We were working on a data conversion and needed to get customer data out of the Exact/Macola product and into QuickBooks. This was not an easy task. Getting the data out of Macola was not difficult at all; however getting it into QuickBooks was a bit more of a challenge. While we were successful in doing so, we ran into an unforeseen issue. Thru testing, trial and error we developed a process that we feel works the best and if you ever find yourself needing to import multiple ship to addresses into QuickBooks please feel free to contact us.

Along the same lines, we discovered that when using the integration wizard to connect QuickBooks and Fishbowl Inventory, only the primary addresses are imported. In order to get additional ship to addresses into Fishbowl, you must do an additional import directly into the system. In just a few moments we were able to create an import file that extracted the data out of Macola once again and format it for import into Fishbowl.

We have become quite proficient at creating import files that can be used to import large amounts of data into both QuickBooks and Fishbowl. Neither of these systems are very forgiving, and many lessons have been learned. If you ever find your self in need of getting large amounts of data into either of these systems, and have neither the knowledge nor the abilities to create the needed files please feel free to contact us. We would be more than happy to assist you!

Auto Numbering in Fishbowl

 There are times when auto numbering is a very convenient thing to have, but there are other times when it creates trouble that we really don’t need.

 One of these times is when we have two departments that utilize different numbering schemes for their sales orders. One department is happily moving along entering sales orders and all of a sudden their next number is hundreds or even thousands of numbers ahead or behind the last number they entered. After a few moments they realize that the number matches the format of the other department. How did that happen? Auto numbering! The system takes the last number that was used and adds one to it, then stores it in a hold location until it is called upon by the next sales order.  Again this is not always ideal.

 This is something that recently happened with a client of ours,  and one of our recommendations to remedy this issue was to turn off the auto numbering feature in Fishbowl Inventory. This,  however, is not as simple as un-checking a check box. In Fishbowl you go to the Property Module (located in the Setup Module), from there  you will double click on the option you want to remove; in this case “Auto SO Number”, and delete it using the delete button in the menu bar. To turn this feature back on, go to the Sales Order Module (located in the Sales Module), click on Tools/Modules Options and check the “Auto-Assign SO Numbers” checkbox and enter the number for the next Sales Order in the “Next Number” text box.

 This was not our only recommendation to fix the problem they were experiencing; however it was a rather simple one when it came right down to it.

What does that mean?

When you first sit down with a consultant here at Alembic Computer Services, Inc. there are several different acronyms that we might use. We thought it would be a good idea to go over some of these acronyms now, so that in the future you will be aware of and know what we mean, not to mention it will be a great reference.

ACSI – Alembic Computer Services, Inc.

ISP – Intuit Solution Provider

QBES – QuickBooks Enterprise Solution

FB – FishBowl Inventory

FSM – Field Service Management

WM – Warehouse Management

VAR – Value Added Reseller

ODBC – Open Database Conversion

EDI - Electronic Data Interchange

IIF – Intuit Import Files

CSV – Comma Separated Value

POS – Point-of-Sale (While ACSI does not work directly with this, we are partnered with another ISP who does)

While the list could go on and on we will end this one here and we hope that this has been helpful in getting to know some of the things we might post or say when we meet. Have a great day!

 

Data Conversion…

Last week we spent quite a bit of time converting a client from Macola to QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 10 and Fishbowl Inventory 2010.  We made the switch using several custom developed Crystal reports.  These were formatted in a way that they could be exported and used as either .iif or .csv files.  If you have ever worked with importing data into either QBES or Fishbowl Inventory you know that this can sometimes be a rather tedious task.

Overall things went rather well.  We did however run into a few obstacles, some of which were larger than others.  One of the more frustrating obstacles we encountered occurred during the importing of the bill of material into Fishbowl.  The problem was that after our import, everything seemed correct, with the exception of the part number not showing up in the part number column.  We found this to be a rather big issue.  How do we know what parts to pull if the part number is not listed?  The really odd thing was that if you clicked on the line item and then off, the part number would appear.  Talk about confusing…

Well, after working with the great support folks at Fishbowl we determined that this issue was occurring because we didn’t include the unit of measure in our import file, which I might add is not a required field.  So, the lesson learned here was to include as much information as possible when building an import file.  You will have less of a chance for error if you do!

Another Introduction…

Today’s post is a short interview with the President and Senior Consultant for ACSI, Jeff Sachs.  In addition to his work here with ACSI, he founded and was president of the Phoenix Chapter of the Independent Computer Consultants Association, eventually going on to serve as national president as well.  Take a few moments and get to know Jeff…

What do you do at Alembic?

I am the President and Founder of the organization. Aside from the duties and responsibilities that go along with those titles, I am also the Sr Consultant. I am the overall Project Manager and primary interface with many of our clients. My role is typically to work closely with the clients to define what we are going to be doing and then working with Alembic’s staff to ensure a successful implementation. I also do a lot of Crystal reporting, Warehouse Management implementations, and most of the EDI related work.

What professional experience do you have?

I have been working with computers, writing programs, and assisting with installations and implementations since 1972. I’m old and I’ve seen a lot.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

Working with a variety of clients in many different kinds of businesses and helping them get more from their systems and data. I like being presented with what seems to be an insurmountable problem and helping them break it down into pieces they can deal with, ultimately guiding them through whatever changes we are making.

What do you enjoy (hobbies/interests) in your free time?

I enjoy collecting music. I’m an old Deadhead and enjoy collecting Grateful Dead concerts. I also enjoy collecting pre WW II music that so heavily influenced the rock ‘n’ roll we’ve grown up with.

What one thing would you want someone reading this blog to know about you and ACSI?

That we strive for perfection in the work that we do. That the success of their project is as important to us as it is to them.

We hope you’ve enjoyed getting to know a little bit about Jeff today.  Keep watching for more introductions to come…

Fishbowl Inventory and ODBC

One of the questions we received last week was from a client asking how to setup the Firebird ODBC driver to work with Fishbowl Inventory. This is something we found to be a bit of a challenge about 10 months ago, the first time we tried to set it up.

The first thing we did not realize right off the bat was that you must have the Fishbowl Server application installed on the machine you are setting up the ODBC driver on. Our client did not realize this either, it was not in the video they had watched. Please note that you will never need to open the server application on this system, you simply need the files installed.

The other part of the setup process that seems to pose a bit of a challenge is defining the actual path to the database. If you are attempting to set up the ODBC driver on the same machine where the Fishbowl file resides then simply use the Browse button and point to the database. However, if the actual database resides on another system, for example on a company server, then you can’t use the Browse button and you certainly can’t use a mapped drive. You must actually specify the destination system IP address followed by a colon (:) then enter the actual path to the database file. Here is an example… 10.0.0.1:C:\ProgramFiles\Fishbowl\database\data\TestComapny.FDB

After our client used the above information they were able to successfully test the database connection and move forward with their testing. If you have any questions about this setup process, please feel free to contact us.

Fishbowl Inventory – A Mini Review

Fishbowl Inventory is a great product that extends the abilities of Intuit’s QuickBooks software, or it can be used as a standalone inventory management application. While inventory management has been their strong point since the beginning they have been a bit lacking on the manufacturing side of the house. Well, all that is about to change with the release of Fishbowl Inventory 2010 (it has a planned release date of Oct. 29).

We have been using the new version since the first beta release (they are now on release 4) and have been quite pleased. With this new release they have added a separate Manufacturing section that handles both Manufacturing Orders (MO) and a Bill of Material module. So far the only thing we have found not working to our liking is the process that it takes to close an MO short. However, this is something that is being corrected in the next beta release.

In addition to these great improvements the folks at Fishbowl have re-written the picking module and improved the overall user experience. There isn’t much more we could ask for (but give us a week or two, I’m sure we’ll come up with something). If you are a QuickBooks user and do a fare share of inventory management and/or manufacturing then Fishbowl Inventory 2010 is a must!

At this time the beta is only available to existing users. However you can request a demo or download a FREE trial of Fishbowl Inventory 2009 today…

Introductions…

Today we wanted to take a little bit of time to introduce you to one of our team members. Donovan Sachs joined the ACSI team in 2008. He is our on-staff QuickBooks Certified ProAdvisor. Here is just a little bit more about Donovan…

What do you do at Alembic?

I am a consultant that specializes in the installation and configuration of QuickBooks and Fishbowl Inventory. I also work with Microsoft Access and the development of custom Crystal reports. I could go on for quite some time outlining what it is I do each day, but this covers the basics.

What professional experience do you have?

I served in the U.S. Air Force for 12.5 years as a computer information technician. I worked in areas from information security, to helpdesk, to system administration, to web design. I have my Bachelors degree in Business Administration as well as an Associates degree in Computer Information Systems with a specialization in Software Engineering.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

The problem solving and design work

What do you enjoy (hobbies/interests) in your free time?

Photography and woodworking

What one thing would you want someone reading this blog to know about you and ACSI?

I would say that we are both dedicated to service. Our main focus is serving those that come to us for assistance in solving their problems.

We hope you enjoyed reading a little more about Donovan.  Have a great day!

Multiple List Entries, I see a future for it!

A data migration issue was brought to our attention one day last week.

We were bringing data from Macola over to QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 10. All seemed well after verification, however, we realized something was amiss. When setting up the Vendor in QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 10, you MUST put the Company Name on line one of the Address if you want it to appear when printing things such as Purchase Orders.

To correct this minor issue we are utilizing the Add/Edit Multiple List Entries option in QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 10. This is a great way to reduce the clicks necessary to change information in a situation such as this. It allows you to change information on multiple entries at once and in the long run can be a huge time saver.

This new feature has GREAT potential!