|
'The Electronic
Newsletter For Users
Volume X #3 |
IN THIS ISSUE: |
|
|
You are receiving this e-mail
because you asked for it, either because you have requested information
about our products and services and given us your e-mail address (Thanks!)
or because you are a current customer of ours (Double Thanks!)
TO UNSUBSCRIBE, MAKE
SUGGESTIONS or to CHANGE ADDRESS: Send a message to:
webmaster@suntowersystems.com |
||
SAFE/X: More New Stuff
(A/P)!
On March 17,
2008 Suntower Systems will ship the tenth major release of SAFE: Simple
Accounting for Forms Experts Version 10. SAFE/X for short. This release will
include many new features and full support for Windows Vista and SQL
Server 2008.
This is the 3rd installment in our feature list. Last time, we discussed changes to Sales Order processing. This time, we delve into A/P and G/L improvements. Much of this is a repeat from Vol. X #1, but we've fleshed out the descriptions quite a bit.
Accounts Payable And General Ledger |
||
*Vendors Now Support Multiple Billing Addresses! |
You may now store and utilize multiple active
billing addresses for each vendor for all transaction types. Additionally, all changes to addresses may be 'versioned', ie. stored as separate addresses for historical recall. This will allow for re-printing older documents 'at a point in time', including checks and purchase orders. Actually, this is an expansion of the existing function. The difference is that, you now have access to these on screen addresses and may use any number of them simultaneously. In past versions, older addresses were simply available for historical review. For example, you have a vendor which has changed their name as a result of one of these never-ending mergers in the industry. However, you still have some very old invoices which were on hold which should still be paid to the old address (pre-merger). You can print all newer invoices to the new remittance address, but the older invoices will still be paid to the old address. As in SAFE/9, if you need to re-print or review older checks for any reason, they will print the old address, rather than the new. This can be invaluable for auditing purposes. |
|
*Split Vendor Invoices Into Multiple Checks! |
If you select multiple invoices for a particular vendor you can now tag that
these vendor invoices to be split into separate checks. Previously, SAFE would automatically group all open invoices for a particular Vendor ID onto a single check. But for various reasons, you may wish to segregate one invoice onto it's own check. A new 'Tag Single' option is available when you tag an invoice for payment which automatically forces that invoice onto it's own check number. |
|
Warnings Before Period Update! |
When performing a Period Update, you are now
warned before being allowed to proceed if there are:
You may still proceed with the update however. Since SAFE is self-balancing, the traditional concept of being 'in balance' doesn't really apply in most cases. However, over the years we've had more than one customer indicate that they had accidentally locked a period which had never been properly updated and thus promulgated incorrect balances forward to subsequent periods. This has almost exclusively occurred during the conversion period between an older accounting system and SAFE. These warnings are designed to prevent such a situation. |
|
Credit And Payment Mistakes Are Now Fully Undoable! |
At long last! Any vendor payment, credit or refund initiated by the Apply
Credit function is now fully 'undoable'. This actually covers a few
functional changes, but since they all fall under the same general task of
'handling credits', we'll lump them together with some examples of what has
changed:
|
|
Batch G/L Transaction Move/Clone! |
You can now tag multiple G/L transactions and copy or move them into another
period with a single keystroke. If you find that you have a whole slew of
transactions that were improperly entered into Period 8, but really should
have been applied to Period 9? Just tag 'em all; hit the Clone button;
select 'Move'; then 'Period 9', and you're done. Tip: You can select the transactions you need in the Query tab and then hit 'Tag All' to instantly tag all transactions matching the Query. We've all been there: we need to make various entries to the immediately prior period but forget to log in and change our Personal G/L Period accordingly and thus post a slew of entries to the wrong period. Or maybe you accidentally ran the Period Update before that last batch of invoices were run! |
|
Prior Period Sessions! |
You can now log in and conduct a single
session in SAFE entirely in a prior period (so long as it is unlocked.) This
mode will be referred to as a Prior Period Session (PPS). We often get requests from users who update the period, but then realise they needed to add a few transactions into the prior period. Yes, you can switch to Calendar Mode or switch the Global Period, but that can be a pain. A PPS gets around this neatly. Warning #1: There is a slight danger in using this function if you have multiple users allowed into the G/L Menu. SAFE cannot currently detect if another user is attempting to lock the period you're working in. It is therefore, crucial, that no other users attempt to lock a period while a user is logged into a Prior Period Session. Warning #2: If you're like so many people we are constantly badgering about not leaving your computer logged into SAFE 24/7 well, here's another nag: DON'T DO IT! The risk of #1 isn't very great, unless you are this kind of person. In that case, you might accidentally leave your PC on all night, come in the next day and continue working (unknowingly) in the prior period. Ooooops! Other than heaping more guilt upon you than any reasonable person can endure, our only other suggestion would be to enable the SAFE Logout Timer in Global Setup and force users out of SAFE after a reasonable period of inactivity. |
|
Two-Way Posting Between Check Register And A/P! |
When you enter a manual check directly into
the Check Register, you can now select from a Vendor list and have that
check post back to Accounts Payable. In effect, this creates the exact
behaviour as entering a single Vendor Invoice in the Bills Browse and
printing a check against it. If you're used to working with 'Quicken' or
other systems which use this 'check writing' metaphor, this will be very
straightforward. Note #1: Until now, entering checks directly into the Check Register did not post any information back to Accounts Payable. For example, you could have a Vendor in A/P called 'Ennis'. But if you entered a manual check directly into the Check Register with a Payee of 'Ennis' that transaction had no connection back to your A/P History. Normally this was not a big deal, since we discouraged operators from entering Manual Checks unless they were specifically not linked to A/P. Note: #2: However, there are times when it may be necessary to print a check with a slightly different address, or which is out of sequence, or you may need to create a special purpose check which has a much more complicated G/L Posting than is allowed in A/P. In all these cases, entering a manual check and then selecting the Vendor ID is the way to go. |
|
PayPal® Payments! |
We've touched on PayPal as a great way to
offer smaller customers a convenient (and safe) way to make one-time
purchases in Ollie. But let's not forget that PayPal is also a great way for
you to pay your bills. You can now select PayPal as a payment type,
just as any other credit card. There are advantages to using PayPal over other payment methods. First of all, there are more and more on-line vendors that support PayPal and that alone should inspire confidence. PayPal has protections that are heavily weighted towards buyers. If you have a legitimate beef with a payment you make through PayPal you are almost assured of a reasonable resolution. They bend over backwards to support the buyer in a way that credit card companies may not. Secondly, it provides a way to allow your employees to make on-line purchases without necessarily giving them a credit card account. These purchases may be limited to certain dollar amounts and, since the vendor never gains access to your credit card, there is less chance of fraud. In short, more and more of you are using more and more smaller vendors for various highly specialised services. PayPal allows you to use these vendors without going through the usual lengthy credit research that one traditionally has done in order to build a trustworthy relationship. |
|
|
||
Til Next Time!
Please
whitelist us...
In the ongoing cage-death match
between e-mail and spammers, please take a moment to update us on all your current
e-mail addresses. Many of you change e-mail's frequently. If you don't give us a
heads up, our spam filtering system may lump you in with the ten to twelve
thousand junk messages we receive every day. If you're not getting our
newsletters, or not receiving them every two weeks, please do contact us. Our
ability to stay in touch with you is of paramount importance in keeping your
Simple Accounting applications running smoothly!
Ollie Tip:
Image File Names
We get a lot of calls about images
that are missing in action. Either you get the dreaded 'broken' icon, or there
simply is a blank space where your fancy picture ought to be. Often the problem
is a simple spelling error. But other times it's something of a head scratcher.
So here are some tips on how to make sure that your images are displayed
properly.
1. Yes, do check the spelling. It's clear that, as we get older, we start to transpose numbers and mistake those pesky zeros for 'O's. Another common one is not seeing that 100000156-ENV10.JPG is different from 10000156-ENV.JPG.
2. Make sure your files are spelled all in lower case. Some web servers (Unix or Linux based) have cAse SEnsitive file systems. So...
MyBusinessCard.Jpg
mybusinesscard.jpg
MYBUSINESSCARD.JPG
...are all different file names. If you're used to working only in Windows, this can be a very hard 'bug' to figure out, if you're not used to thinking that way. If you are using a remote hosting service, you may not even be aware that they are using Linux or Unix servers, since they will offer FrontPage, ASP and .NET compatibility. But it's important to recognise that these standards are not Windows-specific. Microsoft makes them available to other platforms and it is very common to have a Unix web server running ASP or FrontPage extensions.
3. Leave out the spaces. Spaces are often represented in html as '%20'. So the file name
smith envelope 10.jpg
...may be sent to the web page as
smith%20envelope%20%2010.jpg
This may or may not display properly (the reasons are beyond the scope of this article). Worse still, the conversion back into SAFE may get messed up too.
4. And while you're at it, leave out the punctuation! Again, the web isn't like Windows. Punctuation characters like '?' and '&' are often used as 'parameters' to command a page how to behave. If you have a file name such as
env&mailer#189.jpg
...the web server may inadvertently think that the Product ID ends at the pound sign and try to look up a product called 'env'. Oops!
5. Check the file format type. The first problem users can have is that, every once in a while, even 'the pros' will forget that, just because the image displays properly on their PC or Mac, doesn't mean it will display properly on the web. Remember, don't think about your PC; or even your office full of PCs. Instead, think about 'the web'; all these machines of all shapes, sizes and operating systems. Use the lowest common denominator:
jpg
gif
png
...and even within those categories, remember that there are various 'flavours', some of which are more 'web-safe' than others. If you receive images from customers or designers, you cannot take for granted that they will work. You must try them yourself on a test client (you do have a test client set up, right?) There can be problems with bit depth, pallete depth and on and on.
This Is More Complicated
Than I Thought!
Well, it's a lot
easier than explaining CMYK to a customer who can't understand why his home-made
Photoshop design won't resolve! But yes, it can all be summed up in the
following two sentences:
1. Use only
lower case file names with only alphanumeric characters a-z, 0-9, the period,
the hyphen and the underscore characters.
2. When you create a graphic use the 'web safe' settings in your image editor
and only use jpgs, gifs and png files.
3. Always test your images on a web browser, preferably both Internet Explorer
and Firefox or Safari.
That's it. Follows these three simple steps and you should be OK.
Til Next Time!
Ciaran's
Corner: Another Vote For The Old White Guy?
Why of all the presumption! And bad taste! Talking politics in a company
newsletter. Yeah, that's me, I guess.
Frankly, we could care less who
anyone votes for. What we do care about a whole lot is the internet. It's
our life blood. It's yours too, even though you may not know it yet. And no
candidate gets it. No candidate ever got it (OK, maybe Al Gore got it, but at
the time, he looked about as inspiring as one of those magazines one reads in a
doctors office.) Maybe it's not his fault. One
casualty of politics everywhere is that candidates rarely get anywhere dealing
with issues that can't be dealt with in twenty five words or less.
But the whole Internet is rapidly getting out of control. Various estimates place spam at over 80% of the total internet traffic. It has become so intolerable that universities and the military have migrated to a whole other web you may have not heard of (www2). Unfortunately, it's just a matter of time before that space gets polluted--large corporations are already lining up to use it. Once everyone starts routinely using their cell phones for internet access, things will only get slower. (By the way, everyone in Europe and Japan have been doing this for a decade. What kills me is that they adopt our technology 5-10 years faster than we do.)
There has been an ongoing battle over basic control of the internet, which is handled by a little known US agency called ICANN. Why do we run it? America invented the Internet and it is our 'master computers' (yes, they really are located in the bowels of a subterranean bunker somewhere in Virginia) that translate 'suntowersystems.com' into the 1's and 0's that of Internet addresses. In short, we run the Post Office. Other countries want a hand in management, which seems fair at first glance since it is a global institution. So far, the US has resisted these attempts, but the fact that we can't get a handle on the problems simply makes it easier for other countries to get in on the action. What will be the first thing that happens when other countries are allowed management privileges? They'll start issuing domain names using non-western characters. The Russians will have Cyrillic domain names, the Chinese, Mandarin web sites and so on. Which means, they will in effect have their own private internets. So much for free-trade. So much for free-dom. In other words, if we can't can't demonstrate ongoing competency at managing the infra-structure, other countries will demand control--and not only for altruistic reasons.
Oh, and did I mention that organised crime and governments are now the big force behind almost every major virus and security attack of the past two years? (Check it out: Russian and Chinese security forces now routinely attack the servers of anyone they want to silence.)
Yeah, there are lots of problems in the world. Recessions; war; global warming. Maybe your gripe du jour is $3 gas. And maybe the interweb seems about as relevant to daily life as whether or not Pluto is a real planet. But the internet is something Americans invented and we manage. Unlike oil, Iraq and the polar ice caps, we still have the power to shape it's destiny. The cost of not doing so may seem abstract now, but think of how much everyone relies on the web. Think of all the hopes people have for 'spreading democracy' and fixing various problems in the world. Think about all the dough! I'm telling you the truth, if the next president doesn't do something massive to turn this around, 8 years from now, the internet as we know it now won't be here. No e-mails from soldiers in Iraq. No last minute purchases from L.L. Bean at Christmas. No fantastic library searches for your kid's homework. No on-line print orders. Really.
And yeah, I know this sounds over-simplified and alarmist---how can any technology change so quickly? OK, fine. Think back to 1988. That was the year the IEEE (the 'guild' for electronics engineers) first reported that fax machines were first installed in over 50% of all businesses. Not that long ago, is it? And now look at how passé they have become in the current 'e-everything' age. Technologies are born and do die off in just a matter of a few years if they become too annoying. How annoying does your e-mail have to get? How much money and worry do you have to deal with before you get sick of hearing about 'security'? In short, how bad does it have to get before everyone starts to care? Based on recent responses to other looming policy issues, my guess is that the answer is, 'Sub-prime/Katrina/911' bad.
In short, I could care less if the next leader of the free world is the next 'great communicator'. I'd much prefer that this person understands communications and their absolute importance. At least a little. And I hope that you will start to see how much this affects your business, your kids, your world and perhaps at least once before the election think about which candidate gives a hoot about the big picture---before the storm hits.
Til Next Time!
Ciaràn Marron
Technical Support Manager
cm@suntowersystems.com
End of E-News From The Suntower, Volume X #3
