March is here...bring out the "green!"

If you've thought about enhancing your Sage Timberline Office or Master Builder system, now is the time to do it. You're in luck...through the month of March, Sage is running a promotion where current customers can save up to 25% on additional modules or user licenses. Spending a little bit of the "green" can go a long way when it comes to building productivity.

->  10% off one additional module or user license
->  15% off two additional modules or user licenses
->  20% off three additional modules or user licenses
->  25% off four or more additional modules or user licenses

* Folks taking advantage of this deal must be on an active service plan.

Is the Cloud Ready Yet? Let's Ask the Accountants

This is a guest post from Hunter Richards of Software Advice. His original post comes with a survey about accountants' impressions of the cloud. Vote here: Is the Cloud Ready Yet? Let's Ask the Accountants.

Recent interviews with accounting professionals have revealed some lingering hestitations about cloud computing. Accountants aren’t yet fully convinced, but their doubts can be answered with improved products.

“I’m a firm believer in [the cloud] - I really am,” says Carolyn Duffy, who directs business advisory services for Hein & Associates. “But if I had some special legacy system, I would have to look at the integration issue.”
Similar concerns from accounting firms should get the attention of software makers, given these firms’ history of influencing the software-purchasing decisions of their clients. The list of may initially seem troubling for the cloud, but vendors are releasing new services and products that suggest future improvements.

Customization

“If you have a secret sauce in how you want to handle some orders or how you handle your pricing, then often times the cloud might not be the best way to do that,” says Doug Wiescinski, a partner at accounting firm Plante & Moran. 
Accountants often cite customization problems as a reason to avoid the cloud, but software vendors such as NetSuite and Intacct have already gotten the message and have built customization tools. As more of these hit the market, the process could be easier in the cloud than it’s ever been for on-premises systems.

Data Integration

“Every additional outsourced app brings another set of steps to go through to create and delete accounts and a new ID and password for the employee to have to remember,” says John Neall, chief information officer of accounting firm UHY. “That may not seem like a lot. But when you multiply that by the number of apps that employees are required to run, it becomes very time consuming just to maintain operations.”

Cloud applications have typically offered limited application programming interfaces (APIs), middleware and other integration tools that are widely available for on-premises systems. But a number of new middleware offerings, such as Informatica, SnapLogic and Dell’s Boomi, are beginning to fill the void with mature APIs and other products - so integration is also becoming more convenient.

Cost

“The pricing models [of the cloud] have been inconsistent,” says David McDonald, a senior managing consultant at BKD, another accounting firm. “Usually, once you get to the five-year range, your TCO is higher for the cloud versus on-premise. And you own nothing.”
Some accounting professionals warn that cloud systems can incur a higher total cost of ownership (TCO) than on-premises alternatives, despite its ability to save money with lower up-front costs. But the on-premises approach is often not an option for smaller firms without the up-front cash for professional IT resources. The nature of smaller, recurring payments actually empowers these businesses to use software when it’s otherwise impossible.

IT Staffing

“The added benefit of a team of [in-house] IT professionals that care about the business” can be much more valuable than services from “a vendor hosting thousands of other clients,” says UHY’s Neall. 
Accountants also recommend comparing outsourced IT services with the value of a dedicated in-house team. Businesses have a love-hate relationship with IT, so they may prefer to shift that function to the software vendor; this concern is unlikely to have a major deterrence effect.
Software selection is never easy, but moving to the cloud is looking better and better. If accounting firms’ current hesitations are any indication, then the doubts about cloud computing are more vulnerable than ever.

A True Timesaver in 9.7

With the busy year-end season upon us, many of you have already upgraded to 9.7 for Sage Timberline Office and to meet the latest reporting requirements.  To maximize effectiveness and simplify workflow in your day-to-day operations, the performance improving enhancements in this upgrade version are plentiful.  Your Timberline Office system now allows your team to efficiently locate and act upon key information with a wide range of automation, workflow and process improvements.

Among the numerous enhancements in 9.7 (Summer 2010- 9.7b release) is improved integration between Project Management and Document Management with the capability of sending and archiving Project Management attachments directly to the Document Management DocuVault. 

Queries can be initiated from the Attachment window and original documents or DocuVault versions can be easily accessed and retrieved.  I remember back in the day, several of my college professors advocated the “KISS” concept – Keep It Simple Stupid.  Now that’s what I call “simplicity.”

Now the question is how do you perform Project Management DocuVault integration?  Keep in mind; attachments are able to be sent from these tasks: 

•          Change Order Requests
•          RFIs
•          Submittals
•          Meeting Minutes
•          Commitments
•          Commitment Change Orders
•          Custom Logs
•          Drawing Logs

 To send an attachment to the DocuVault for one of the above Project Management tasks:

•  Click [Attachments...].
•  On the Attachments window click the File Links tab.
•  Click [Add...] to select a document to attach or drag and drop a file into the window.
•   If the Automatically send to DocuVault check box is selected, then you can click [OK] to close the window. Otherwise, click Send Copy to DocuVault.

Now that your file has been sent to the DocuVault, you can open it from DocuVault or from the original location. In addition, you can now open a Document Management query from the Project Management Attachment window.  And for now, life is simpler.

"Chaos is a friend of mine."

As Bob Dylan once quoted, "Chaos is a friend of mine." 

Come again? Obviously, Mr. Dylan never had the all too familiar task of closing out the books at the end of the year. When we're thinking of business year-end, we think of "chaos." Installing updates, closing applications, printing 1099's, closing the fiscal year, closing the payroll year, yada, yada, yada... Determining the order you should follow for year-end tasks can be challenging, to say the least. Believe it or not, there is a method to the "year-end" madness. 

For a straightforward Q&A on timing year-end tasks, take a peek at the Year-End Resource Center on the CPA Technology website at www.cpatechnology.net. Hey, there's even a workflow diagram to help you along. 

To quote a polar opposite of the above, German novelist/essayist, Thomas Mann once said, "Order and simplification are the first steps toward the mastery of a subject."

CPA Technology's Fall Goings-On

Apparently, the leaves are falling (proven by the body aches I'm feeling today from the amount of raking I did over the weekend) and so are the prices for On Center Software, but you have to act fast...this promotion only lasts until the end of November!

Boost your Estimating - On Center Software is running a November promotion; 15% - 25% discount to new and existing customers!  Purchase On-Screen Takeoff, Quick Bid, and/or Digital Production Control and receive a 15% to 25% discount off the software purchase.

Eligible software licenses for this promotion include On-Screen Takeoff, Quick Bid, and/or Digital Production Control. The End of the Year 15% discount replaces On Center Software, Inc.’s standard 10% Bundle discount however can be applied to single license purchases. The 15% discount applies to software only and does not include any services or License Manager. Volume discounts are to be calculated, if eligible, at the standard volume discount levels ($10,000, $20,000, $30,000, and $40,000 list price). The total discount available, if applicable, is 25% off any one order. This offer cannot be combined with any other promotion or discount. Previous purchases are not eligible for this promotion. Purchase must be made on or before November 30, 2010! Contact CPA Technology at (610) 862-1998 if you're interested.

And just a side note, here's a way to stay abreast on the latest Sage product updates, year-end information and more!!!  Read "The Net", Vol IV.

Fall/Winter 2010 "The Net" Vol IV

Free Continuing Education Seminar "Enhancing Your Business By Reducing Wasted Efficiencies"

Guest Speaker: Mr. Manfred Marotta, Former V.P. of Toll Brothers, Inc.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010
8:30 AM - 10:30 AM (Sign-in begins at 8:00 AM)

CPA Technology Training Center, 101 W. Elm Street, Ste. 500, Conshohocken, PA 19428
Hosted by CPA Technology (a Pennsylvania CPE Program Sponsor - License # PX 177404)

This free speaking engagement will focus on eliminating waste in Manufacturing and Distribution operations while increasing efficiency and improving your return on investment and profit-margin. Our guest speaker will discuss the types and causes of waste found in this industry and will also inform the audience on ways to minimize these, as well as overhead costs in the administrative department.

Forms of waste which may be hurting your operations:
Product/Service defects, Processing, Overproduction, Motion, Inventory, Waiting, and/or Transportation

Event Registration Link 

Guest Speaker Bio:

With over 35 years experience as an Executive in the Construction, Manufacturing, and the Building Supply Sectors, Manfred believes the key to success is tied to the Synergy of the team. He has searched throughout his career for the next step to efficiently automate a process, whether it is moving product on an assembly line or moving information through the office. Manfred has also always believed that change must pay for itself. There has to be an immediate and substantial return on the cost associated with changing a process.

Without this continuous improvement, his organization would have lost their competitive advantage. $300 million  division…training has enabled his workers to become more personally accountable for their work. He has maintained this philosophy throughout his career.

My Tenant Pro 7 clients have asking me lately:

I need to change the management fee I charge, but when I try to do it the systems warns me that it will recalculate all past management fees. How do I change my fee?

Tenant Pro 7 will only recalculate past manangement fees if you run the Paymatic feature for a prior month. Moving forward Tenant Pro will calculate the current fee based on the new rates setup on each property. So before you change your management fee rates, make sure you are paid up for all your properties at the old rate first, then go back to each property and put in your new rate, when the warning box comes up click Yes to save the changes. That's all there is to it!

Let us know if you think this was helpful.