For what types of distributorships is SAFE best suited?

Our customers range from those selling primarily custom forms, to commercial printing brokers, franchisers, office products companies and those providing strictly fulfillment services.You need SAFE if you require:

• Fully integrated accounting functions
• Real-time access to critical data
• The ability to handle complex inventories easily
• Integrated Contact Management for all your prospects, customers, vendors and sales people
• Sophisticated reporting
• A program that is Microsoft certified for compatibility with Windows!
• Great customer service!

A system that will grow with you to include:

• Bar coding
• Faxing
• E-mail of transactions such purchase orders and requisitions
• Remote access for your salespeople and customers
• Real time e-commerce

How do I know you guys are going to be around next year? The industry is changing so fast!

We have been in business since 1985 and have been selling Simple Accounting since 1987. Unlike some of our competitors, we are programmers and business analysts first and foremost. We design professional software for several different vertical markets so we are not strictly tied to the fortunes of one industry. Our Forms Distributor software has been in use since 1988 and our Windows software has been out since 1995. Our current user base (as of January 2007) numbers well over 12,000, of which over 400 are forms distributors. And each year our business has grown by at least 15%. So we're not going anywhere. Check out Company History for more information about us.

How does your Evaluation Kit differ from the live version?

It doesn't! The evaluation software is the full package, with complete documentation. However, a software lock prevents users from adding more than 200 records to any data file. This means you can enter 200 customers, 200 vendors, 200 forms, and generate 200 invoices. After that point, the system will not lock up, however you will be prevented from entering new records. You can still run all your reports, and use other features of the system. We have found that the 200 record limit is generally adequate for evaluation purposes.

Is the software really integrated?

Yes! yes! yes! Once you type in an RFQ or a sales order, there is minimal re-keying. You can convert an RFQ into a customer quote one keystroke. You can convert that quote into a sales order with one keystroke. You can convert the sales order to a Purchase Order with one keystroke. You can invoice the sales order with one keystroke. When you post the invoice to sales history, the A/P entries are automatically made for you for all expenses (including art work and freight.)

So what’s missing compared with more expensive packages?

Features which are usually important to only the largest distributors. And the great news is that this list is shrinking all the time! For example:

• While we support a range of costing methods (FIFO, LIFO, Average), we do not provide a choice of costing systems for different types of inventory. (FIFO for stock tab, average for computer products, etc.)
• We do not offer inventory releases by lot. In other words, although Simple Accounting can tell you that you have purchased 30 cartons in this lot and 100 in that lot, you cannot, currently, specify that you wish to release from a particular lot. You can specify releases from a location, but not a particular lot at that location.
• We do not offer a payroll module, although you should stay tuned as we are considering providing links to other payroll packages if the demand is there.

What is the total cost of Simple Accounting software?

For complete pricing information, including information on leasing, check out our Ordering page.

What’s the best way to test the Evaluation Kit?

We suggest that you set up SAFE by entering some of your existing orders and run it parallel with your current system. This is the best way to evaluate the system and get a feel for how it fits your business needs.

Why does Simple Accounting cost so much less?

Well, let's turn that around: Why are other packages so expensive? The plain fact is, we don't have to charge tens of thousands of dollars to make a decent profit. We're professional software designers. We know how to generate professional code at a reasonable cost. We don't set prices just to maintain parity with our competitors (much to their chagrin). Distributors have told us over and over that most other systems are just plain overkill, only making their life more complicated. From our point of view we haven't skimped with SAFE at all; we've simply given you what you really need. Also, we're just plain frugal. We don't put money into a lot of flashy things, other than software development and knowledgeable customer support. For example:

• We don't do fancy  sales seminars
• We don't have stylish brochures
• We don't run expensive ads
• We don't pre-sell vaporware

What we do is simply put out a good product at a fair price, let you try it before you buy it, support it with qualified people , and hope that our customers will say enough good things about us in order to garner more business. It's worked for over twenty five years years so we must be doing something right!

Will we outgrow SAFE?

As far as SAFE goes, size does not matter! Now SAFE may not fit your business, either because you don't require our features (usually because you are quite small), or at the other extreme, because you are simply too humungous for any stock program (in which case you probably aren't reading this anyway.) But if you process orders the way most distributors do or will do in the future, SAFE is a great fit regardless of size. This is because SAFE was specifically over-engineered to be able to process large amounts of transactions quickly and accurately, with disaster recovery. For example, the standard database engine included with SAFE works very well for businesses processing up to 2,500 orders per month. For larger operations, using our optional SQL Server database engine SAFE can easily handle 20,000 orders per month!

Can I copy the program to other computers in my office (or to my home computer?)

No. Our license gives you permission to run the program on one machine (your office server) at a time. If you wish to have the program physically installed on more than one machine you must purchase a separate copy of the software for each additional system. Each additional machine license is $495.00 per user.

How much disk space is required?

Simple Accounting only requires about 10 MB of disk space to install and. You can generally estimate the data storage requirements based on the number of orders you process per month with each order requiring approximately 10k bytes of disk space. So if you process 1,000 orders per month, count on using 10 MB of disk space every month.

In what language is SIMPLE ACCOUNTING written?

ANSI C++ and and Clarion for Windows® from Soft Velocity Corp. These are the fastest executing languages available, which means your Simple Accounting software runs as fast as possible on all machines.

Is source code available?

No. This policy is for your protection as well as ours! We write professional code. SAFE could not be easily maintained or modified by third parties without lots of costly specialized training. Past experience has taught us that the risks and costs in third-party modifications are not worth the potential problems for all parties concerned. However, it is reasonable to expect that you are protected in the event that Suntower Systems can no longer maintain the software. In the event that Suntower Systems were to become insolvent, the source code to SAFE is kept in escrow by our attorneys and would be made available.

Regarding The Year 2000

The following text states our policy on  concerns you may have regarding the so-called 'Y2K bug.' The Year 2000 problem is the result of programming practice which was common in software development until quite recently, ie. storing dates as two digits ('98 for 1998 for example). As a result of this practice, many programs and devices may not be able to distinguish between dates on or after January 1, 2000 and the same day of the year one century earlier! For example, you may key in a date '01/15/00' and the computer print out 'January 15, 1900'. The effects of this can be minor or severe depending on many factors of hardware and software including programs you may run through your network and modem as well as on your own computer. Suntower Systems has no way of predicting all possible implications to your company, but we can state the following:

• Every single copy of Simple Accounting&tm; software, including all add-on software that we have produced since 1987 is guaranteed to be fully Y2K compliant, even if the computer upon which it runs is not Y2K compliant.
• All other products, including software and hardware we currently sell are certified by their respective manufacturers as being fully Y2K compliant.
• Suntower Systems cannot accept any liability or responsibility for damages resulting from lack of Y2K compliance on products or services not manufactured by Suntower Systems.
• Even if a program or device is Y2K compliant, it may not function properly as a result of interactions with other non-Y2K devices or programs. For example, some program you may use may well be Y2K compliant, but depend upon data from the clock chip in your PC to process dates correctly. Many computers are still known to have non-Y2K compliant internal clocks. This clock problem may cause an otherwise compliant software program to process dates incorrectly.

We know this is a charged topic and will be happy to discuss any concerns you may have. Click here to contact us for more information on this issue.

We’ve heard a lot about the Year 2000?

No! Simple Accounting was developed by the same programmers who created one of the largest life insurance billing systems in the world. Since the insurance business requires dealing with dates far into the future, our designers were well aware of the problem right from the beginning. Every copy of Simple Accounting has been Year 2000 ready since 1987. View Suntower Systems' official Year 2000 Statement Now.

What if I absolutely need changes?

Most requested modifications are actually custom reports, or a different data entry screen, which we can provide at a very small fee without changing the program. Also, we update the program four times yearly with new ideas from our customers, so many customer requests are satisfied at no charge with only a few months wait. If you do have a special requirement, please call for a formal quotation. Our work is guaranteed to meet your satisfaction.

What kind of hardware do you recommend?

Simple Accounting will run on any Windows XP machine with at least 256MB of RAM and a hard disk with at least 10 meg of free disk space. However, Simple Accounting is designed to take special advantage of newer systems with more memory and dual core processors such as the AMD Athlon. Using these advanced computers will greatly increase the performance of Simple Accounting. On networks, you may install Simple Accounting on most any network server, including Novell Netware® and Windows Server®.

What types of printers are recommended?

It does not matter. Any Windows supported printers are fine.

Will networking be difficult?

No! No! No! First of all, Simple Accounting is compatible with all major network operating systems, including Novell Netware® and Microsoft Windows Server®. You may also use Windows XP Professional's built-in file sharing. We will not support this for connecting more than three computers in this manner and you must ensure that whichever machine is acting as 'server' has sufficient memory to act as a database server---the minimum for this machine should be 1GB RAM. Also, our multi-user licensing scheme provides for unlimited users per single server. Finally, there is no complicated conversion from single-user to multi-user operation. Just copy your Simple Accounting directory onto your server, type in a single access code to activate the multi-user features, and you're ready to go.

How long will it take me to get this system up and running?

So long as you use the included chart of accounts, you should be ready to begin entering new orders within a few minutes of installation; setup is quite easy. To convert from your present system will probably take a couple of days, however, including entering open orders, invoices and the various data files such as customers, vendors, and products. Before going live we recommend that you run SIMPLE ACCOUNTING parallel with your existing system for sixty days. This gives you ample time to develop a good work flow and make sure that all aspects of the system are in balance.

Is on site training available?

Yes. About 50% of our customers opt to have a trainer visit their site, or come to beautiful Seattle for a two day training session. We don't recommend (or require it) for all customers, because frankly many of  you can get started quite well on your own, thank you! (It is called Simple Accounting, after all!). Interestingly, about 40% of our training sessions are for customers who have been using the software for at least six months. They get started with the basics on their own just fine, but then reach a point where they want to learn more about SAFE's advanced features. This is the kind of training we specialize in; helping you to tap into the full power of Simple Accounting. To get complete details on our training services, go to our Training Services page.

Long-Term Hardware Forecasts?

Why not ask about the weather instead? 😀 It's much easier to forecast the climate than predict long-term trends for computing equipment. We are always reluctant to give long-term forecasts for hardware purchases. There are periods in computing where hardware advances are massive and a three year old computer is -ancient-. And then there are other periods where a three year old PC is just fine. Here are some general recommendations:

1. There are almost always at least three tiers of hardware in any class: high performance, a year old, and bargain. It's usually best to go for the middle choice, or at least one rung below 'current'. After a year, a product has been around long enough to have dropped in price but (usually, not always) still provides good value for a few years.
2. As much as you can, buy for today (ie. buy the absolute minimum.) Prices can drop so precipitously that a might easily depreciate to 10% of its original purchase price after three years.
3. If you have the acumen, consider assembling your own systems or buying used hardware. Yes there is a risk, but understand that buying from 'name' vendors is like buying insurance: you're paying a premium for an unknown quantity of service in case something goes wrong. Our experience with IT companies has varied -wildly-. Some offer great value and some charge insane amounts and don't provide much better service than one could get by hiring a company on an as-needed basis.
4. Recognise that regardless of what you buy and who you buy from you will probably pay the same dollars every time you buy---you'll just be buying more performance.
5. One area to not skimp on: Server configuration! We cannot stress this enough: The overwhelming number of horrible support issues we have had to deal with over the years have been a result not of hardware failure but rather a problem with the server which either prevented Simple Accounting from running or made it impossible for us to connect remotely and troubleshoot. The most expensive server in the world is worth nothing if the basics (Windows Server, SQL Server, Remote Access, Internet access) are not configured properly. Whether you buy a turnkey system or outsource support you must ensure that your system is properly set up. This is the one area we cannot help with from a distance. Many turnkey vendors earn their money not by providing the best hardware, but rather by offering top notch setups. In our opinion, that is worth a lot. As we like to say: Get us off on the right foot and we'll take it from there.

What about technical support?

One of our primary goals is to avoid technical support calls if at all possible. Because many, if not most, support calls shouldn't happen in the first place. Either the program is too hard to use, does not function properly, or is not documented accurately. So we take a pro-active approach by making our documentation complete and our programs very reliable. That said, when you need help, you need help. So our people know what they are talking about and are eager to assist. After all, the forms business is complicated and you aren't being paid to be a computer expert. Check out Technical Support page for complete information on all our support options, including our Remote Support Service subscription which provides free quarterly software updates.

Can you convert my existing data into Simple Accounting?

We can convert your main data files (customers, contacts, vendors, products, chart of accounts) from most competing packages as well as most popular general-purpose accounting programs. In many cases, we can also convert order history from other forms industry packages. This service is billed based on the amount of data to be converted and there is $200.00 minimum charge. See our Data Conversion page for details.

In many cases we can also convert transaction history. For more details, see Data Conversion but in some cases the logic and structure of G/L transactions, sales invoices, etc., differ too greatly from one program to another. We would need to have an intimate knowledge of our competitors code and data structures; something they are not generally inclined to provide.

What about accessing our data from other programs?

We can provide you with an ODBC driver for our data that will allow you to access Simple Accounting files from most popular spreadsheets, word processors and database programs, such as Lotus Approach® and Microsoft Access®. Many of our customers use this technique.

Will the SAFE integrate with our existing contact management system?

Our Contact Manager is nowhere near as sophisticated as dedicate programs such as Salesforce, Act and Goldmine, but it ain't half bad! It has very strong links between customers/contacts/sales history/requests for quotes and forms management which is very important for many of our customers, so we suggest you give it a fair shot on that basis alone! On the other hand, it is easy to export data using our optional ODBC driver. We can also offer an optional custom import program if you so desire. Although you can use the ODBC driver to import data with most any database programs, we discourage ad hoc imports, since SAFE data files have so many interconnections and doing so may have all kinds of unpleasant consequences!

Can we enter and pay for products before invoicing our customer?

Yes! Every A/P transaction can be linked to a sales order. So you can make A/P entries before or after you enter a sales order and the costs for the job will be automatically applied to the proper sales order. You can also enter additional costs on a job at any time after the customer is billed. And, any costs you enter before the job is billed or after, automatically update the correct G/L periods---no need to worry about skewed financials because the costs went into one month and the sales into another! With Simple Accounting, your profitability reports and G/L are always correct!

Do you support summary billing?

Yes. Since Simple Accounting is a real-time program, you should invoice customers for every sale, even if they aren't going to see the bill right away. This keeps sales data up to date. However, for summary bills you have the capability to print a special summary bill for the customer which includes sales detail for each invoice within a range of dates and also allows you to include special processing/handle charges for providing this service.

Does a quote turn into a proposal, then a sales order, then a P.O.?

Yes! SAFE is completely integrated. Start with a request for quote, then automatically convert that to a sales order. Then press one button to bill your customer and update the general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, forms management, and inventory.

Does that mean I need to enter a separate form for every item I sell?

No! Enter a separate form for every type of product that needs to be tracked individually. This means forms where you want to track inventory, and forms management items, to track usage. Most of our customers enter only a handful of generic forms for their custom work. For example, they keep a form on file called 'THREE PART INVOICE' and another called 'CONTINUOUS TWO PART CHECK'. Items on every order can then be altered with a few keystrokes to adjust vendor, quantity, cost, pricing, and customer notes. This saves typing, and maintains an overall sales history by type of item without forcing you to key in a new form for each order.

How far back may we view order history?

There is no limit to the amount of sales history you can keep on-line, provided you have available disk space. See the question in the Technical section for how specifics on disk space is requirements.

I need to be able to look up orders fast!

We understand that you need to find things fast; the whole point of the software is to save time! We allow you to search sales history for any customer order instantly by either invoice number, job number, purchase order number, product code, or customer name. Searches can locate partial matches (if you only remember the first few numbers of a P.O. for example.)

Is there an easy way to manage open orders?

Yes! SAFE has a feature called 'Business Reminders' which displays all orders scheduled to ship today. This can automatically run each time you start SAFE. Business Reminders can also tell you which A/P checks are due and which items are to reorder, and which contact manager to-dos you have automatically.

Does SAFE allow for customer budgets to be entered for forms management?

Yes. And if you like, SAFE will alert you to reorder when usage approaches the budgeted amount.

Does your program offer thumbnails of form images as part of your product catalog.

It can. You can link any graphic to a product. If you create GIF or JPEGs of your products, you can right click on them and view the product thumbnail.

How is Forms Management implemented?

Simple. Run count sheets for forms sorted by the employee assigned to each customer, then take counts. Enter the counts and post along with the rest of the day's business. During posting, the program updates average usage by month, quarter, and year for each form, so you can run an analysis at any time and get up to the day results. A big advantage of SAFE is that counts may be taken at any time. There are no cut-off dates, or special periods into which counts must be entered. However, the more often, and the more regular you are about taking counts, the more accurate your average usage figures will be. A complete log is kept of each form's activity: sales, releases, and counts.

How is inventory controlled in your system?

All items to be sold, including custom forms, stock forms, ad specialties, and services, are stored in a central products and services data file. Each 'form' is defined by a number of attributes: Is it a product or a service? Stock or custom? Warehoused item? What type of product is it? Is it strictly used by a single customer? Location? And so forth. You can attach a printer specification to the item which is printed along with purchase orders and RFQs to the vendor.

Is there cost center reporting?

Every ship to is considered a 'cost center'. Each ship to can be assigned up to a fifteen digit ID (such as for a bank branch). Additionally, there is also an eight digit Location ID field to indicate the storage location of the product within each customer site.

We manage forms for several large customer with several locations. Can SAFE handle this?

Yes! SAFE lets you set up what we call corporations. Each corporation may be assigned as many customers as are needed. Billing can be done independently for each customer, but Forms Management can be implemented for the entire corporation. So for example, you might have a corporation called 'Acme Sporting Goods' with ten locations. Each location can be billed separately for their orders, but inventory control, reorder notices and usage analysis can be tracked by product for all locations together as a single entity. This saves the customer money, improves product availability, and leads to more profits for you! Also, within each customer, you can assign an unlimited number of Ship To locations and track usage and sales information for each Ship To for each customer or get a global view of usage by product for each form across all Ship Tos and customers within the corporation.

Can I write my own reports?

Yes. You can purchase the Clarion Report Writer® from Soft Velocity Corp. This program uses Wizards to walk you through the process of creating your own reports accessing Simple Accounting data. Reports can be password protected for privacy. The Clarion Report Writer is great for those ad hoc reports that we all need from time to time. To give you an idea of what you can do: most Simple Accounting standard reports and forms are prototyped on Report Writer. However: to create complex reports, involving many different tables such as sales history summaries and such, it is probably best to have us provide you with a custom report, since complex reports require a fairly strong knowledge of our data file structures. We're not trying to discourage anyone from trying (some of our customers have created quite elaborate reports, in fact!).

How do we go about getting forms customized for us?

Send us specimens of the forms you would like to use (Purchase Orders, Invoices, Statements, Checks, Forms Management Reports, etc.), copies of your proposed art boards, or allow us to suggest some standard layouts. Every data field stored with each order can be displayed on invoices, packing slips, quotes, etc... We set up your forms by creating a file with the data, its type, and its print positions. With this approach we can tailor the system to fit almost any forms. To get complete details on customized forms, go to our Forms Design Service page.

When reviewing a form spec, how many orders (if any) are displayed at a time?

You can review all prior orders for any product in reverse chronological order (most recent order first) at any time.

Will system generate carton labels?

Yes. These can include graphics (client logos and bar codes for item numbers and quantities) We can also custom design labels to your taste.

Is my data secure?

Yes! SAFE can utilize several industrial strength databases, including Microsoft SQL Server 2008®. All of these offer powerful data rollback and recovery features.

Speaking of security…

Some of you don't want to be bothered with passwords, while others need comprehensive protection of your information. So Simple Accounting offers a variety of security functions to handle a wide range of applications which we call Simple Accounting Security Extensions™ (SASE for short.)

Simple Accounting comes standard with the ability to either:

• Require no passwords to use any features
• Require a single master password to enter critical areas such as the Check Register and General Ledger.
• Require a password-protected Employee Login for each user.

But for comprehensive access control, use SASE to configure custom menus for each user. Each user can be granted or denied access to every part of Simple Accounting on a menu by menu basis. Denied menus and windows are not just disabled (or 'grayed out', they are totally hidden so that the user is not even aware that they exist.

Further, SASE allows you to apply advanced data encryption to Simple Accounting files at the server so that information is unreadable to anyone without explicit permission. And best of all? SASE is included at no extra charge in SAFE!

Can you merge the G/L of multiple companies?

Yes, with our optional Consolidator SAFExtension. We support multiple offices or departments within the same company which can be consolidated on a single sheet. We support multiple independent companies, but there is no consolidation. You can easily export financial reports (and all reports) to a spreadsheet (such as Microsoft Excel) in order to do this.

Do you support sales tax systems for all fifty states?

Yes! We make it easy to set up an unlimited number of taxes per jurisdiction you sell into. Then, at the end of the month, we make it Simple to print one report that provides you a total and detail for Unlimited # of sales taxes can be assigned to a sales order. And our 'Sales Tax Entity Report' groups all taxes together on one easy to read report. No other program comes close if you are sell in states like Texas, Louisiana,etc.

Do you support true cash as well as accrual based accounting?

Yes!

How is value of inventory reported?

Is it by the actual price/cost of each order being inventoried. How many orders can be inventoried and reported on? How many different units of measure can be captured and reported (pick and pack and multiple box and or carton quantities)? We support LIFO, FIFO and Average costing methods. Unlimited number of orders can be inventoried and reported on. Unlimited number of U/M---user definable.

Is your system ‘real-time’ accounting?

Yes! Our system uses a modified real time method for over 95% of data. All sales orders, inventory and A/P and check books are updated instantly. Only customer payments are batch posted (to reflect a single bank deposit for a batch of checks.) This procedure takes about one minute for fifty invoices on a Pentium 133 computer.

Remote Access?

Yes! We are currently shipping three ways to offer customers and salespeople remote access:

• 

  WebSAFE is a true Internet application that runs over any browser. Learn more...

• 

  An extension to your server which allows users at remote locations to run SAFE for Windows using either Microsoft Terminal Services or Citrix RDX. Learn more...

• 

  A 'smart' application for scanners now (and Android devices soon!) which allows users to carry out most common inventory tasks such as releases, check-in, check-out and history. Learn more...