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Small Business ComputingFrom security concerns to software selection, this is the place to ask your fellow small-business owners how to approach and improve your small-business computing.
Its day 2 on my implementation of MS SBA 2006, and its been an interesting time I must say. While the software has many of the features of QB and PT, it also falls short in some ways. Hopefully MS will start on improving the software in a meaningful way, but they will need to get some good listeners.
Here is my list so far:
Won't import from MS Money - requires you to export to QB then import to MSSBA... gimme a break eh? I imported from my bank okay, but I had to verify each and every transaction, instead of just doing it in bulk, and allowing me to go back and add details later... Do they think people only install the software on January 1st? How about an accept-all checkbox MS?
Limited fields on inventory items - NO SHIPPING WEIGHT! No pics allowed (the future is now guys), weak import program, lame error feedback. Mostly just annoying fiddledybits that should have been fixed prior to release.
On the plus side, it imports from Excel nicely, but you have to build the Excel file with redundant fields because they dont allow multiple matches to the description field on import... my auto-update program I'm writing will take that into consideration.
Invoices - they ship with a bunch of colors, but only one format... cmon MS, it is not even 1-days work for one programmer to premake several common formats. Its also difficult to see what the invoices would look like in the word editor...again no shipping weights here.
The biggest problem I have seen by far, is that the interface seems to do more, but its not documented or clear what to click, to make it happen! It seems MS should get some better Alpha/Beta testers that actually use the software.
Tonight I try to import customer lists and try some test invoices etc.
Still optimistic ...
Well its day 3, and I am considering shipping this sba program back to MS! Custom fields cannot be displayed on the invoices, even though they are in the db. I cannot even display the stock number and description separately, as they come in as one field. I would have to write my own .net app to do what I want. There are a number of other things that bug me, like the slowness of transaction entering, (about 2-3 times as long as QB2003 on the same machine), no more than 5 users are supported, its not migratable to SQL 2000 or 2005 if you already have a server, you HAVE to have Office 2003 to modify forms, 97 just wont work. The lack of infomation is odd, with most of the sba2006 links on MS.com pointing to irellevent office2003 links. Usually MS tries to push new stuff with support and nifties like graphics and templates and such-havent seen any, maybe they are in the SDK? The only support I have found is the SDK, which I had to find out about by accident. I cant find any info on future features, and the vendor add-ons are pricey. MS basically says, if you dont have a feature, just write a new app or buy from our friend-vendors .. It would be nice if they would just bring it up to industry standards themselves. if I wanted to write code, I would have gone open source! Other than the (VERY NICE) Excel and other format file imports/exports, and the friendliness to VB.NET, I cant see any reason why this would be an UPgrade from QB. QB SEEMS a slightly better product ergonomically, less clicking and more obvious to use - lower learning curve.
Not that I like QB that much, or I wouldnt be looking to change.
And speaking of open source:
I am also looking at open source SQL-LEDGER (www.sql-ledger.org) which has an amazing array of features like you would see on a $10k+ product, I will review that this weekend when I have a chance to hammer on it. This product is in Perl and as an ex-Perl programmer, I may be able to do a full website integration with OSCommerce *Drool*
Along with SQL-Ledger, you should really try out Quasar Accounting. It is free (though the company offers paid support) and it is on-par with QuickBooks Enterprise version - no limit to number of users. Runs on both Linux and Windows, though it requires a Linux server.
You may want to also take a look at interprise suite which is almost ready for the final release.
The user interface is very similar to SBA as both were designed to have a Microsoft Office 2003 look and feel. Like SBA it is also written in .NET. Unlike SBA it is written with "Smart Client" technology which allows it to run over the web as well.
Interprise Suite is 100% free for up to 3 users (5 when purchasing a support contract) and is fully upgradable to the full version of SQL.
Featurewise it has more in common with Great Plains or Navision than SBA. It has a integrated report writer and custom fields can easily be added to screens and reports. We also have a word compatible word processor (for mail merge)
I have sent back the MSSBA program to MS (they have a 30day guarantee on all of thier products...thats kinda nice Bill)
I finished the install of sql-ledger and am pleasantly shocked at how easy it is to use! I should have this fully integrated with my online OSCommerce website byt Dec 1st at the latest.
The install was a bitch, mostly because I use SuSE Linux, most other flavors install much easier. Here is a list of what I had to do:
-Installed Apache - most flavors of linux already have it installed!
-Installed LWP, DBI, and a few other modules from cpan - the auto-install works great from cpan, dont do it manually!
-Installed Postgres, but Oracle can also be installed for free now ... trying to decide if I want to do that, but the Postgres is working so nice....
-Modified my $ENV variables as SuSE has stuff in strange places, and putting stuff in rc files to kick off Apache and Postgres on boot.
-Currently modifying my Intranet wifi deelie to allow me to hit the server with my wifi from my laptops and etc.
-Replaced the SQL-Ledger grafixs with my own, on invoices etc and anywhere in the scripts I see them... it gets these grafix from the SL website and it slows things down so you might as well use your own!
The interface is SUPER easy to use, and I modified the invoices etc in minutes so they look great, right from the interface.
I am writing an export program to update the inventory online from the SL. Basically I am adding a SELL_ONLINE field to the database, and by clicking a button, the software will hit the site for the product to make sure that the product is listed, or will crawl the site after 1am and check to make sure all products are listed and the inventory/pricing is up to date online.
Twice a day, the software will go to the site and dump down transactions and put them in a queue to process. I will have a list of all sales and can select "Process Credit Card" to send the transaction to my processor and reveal the approval status... if all is okay, I just hit a SHIP button and it goes to UPS, and out comes the UPS label, packing slips, and invoice (and customs form if exporting) The interface also shows Paypal payments or "Mailing payment" status etc.
It also updates the online status to "Waiting for UPS pickup", so the customer can see that status if they log on.
Future mods will be a multi-box shipping feature, as many of my items have to be in a box of thier own... that will automagically figure the weight for each box and take care of sending those to UPS, and split the items across packing slips.
Quickbooks just couldn't handle what I needed to do. I needed to customize the interface between my web site and my accounting software to greatly reduce the work involved on the computer. I have been through 3 versions of QB and have yet to have one work as I wanted it to. If they were only to write some simple interface programs, and not some lame import/export utilities that didnt include inventory (they should have done this with 5.0!) I could have imported and exported or automated some stuff, but I found that my time with the accounting software was exceeding my time actually doing business and thats not right. My customers enter their info online, and I shouldnt have to re-enter it, and I shouldnt have to re-enter it to UPS either, and I shouldnt have to pay for special interfaces to be written, when I could do a better job myself if I had the data and an open-source product. I probably sound grumpy, but I have spent a lot of money with QB and they just havent got what I need.
I hope to process 500-2000 sales a day and need some automation while I grow or I'll never get off the dang computer!
I see your point. Maybe now that Intuit is pushing its SDK and API a bit more, some third-party vendors will offer affordable adds-ons that provide the integration you're looking for (well, it will be too late for you, but maybe for the next guy down the road).
It sure seems like licensed software vendors better recognize that open source software is becoming more common in small businesses. I'm surrpised there aren't ASPs offering integrated accounting and e-commerce open source apps on a subscription basis -- similar to what iRadeon is doing with open source CRM and collaboration software.
I disagree about using third party applications to fill the holes in Quickbooks. Often a solution that works in Quickbooks 2005 wont work in Quicbooks 2006, etc causing more problems than what it is worth.
Best bet is to find a fully integrated solution and not run your business on a multitude of disparate systems.
i've been looking high and low for a solution for linux and your entry here was really helpful. the play-by-play on microsoft sba really soured me on it. i've seen the sql-ledger and thought it looked solid, but there has always been the issue of how to handle the credit card transactions. any chance you could give me more info on that? thanks.
If you're looking for accounting solutions on Linux, check out Quasar Accounting. It's more heavy-duty than SQL-Ledger; and while it's just a tad bit more complex to install, it's worth it. There are advanced inventory control features, costing, pricing, A/R, A/P, customer management, discounts per store, etc. The feature list is 50 pages long! The only thing missing for U.S. Markets is Payroll and interfaces to payment systems for credit card auth... but considering that there are services that offer payroll processing, and if you use Authorize.net (probably others) for your credit card, you can still do all that stuff online from a Linux or Windows workstation.
Considering that you essentially get the value contained in QuickBooks Enterprise for free, it's worth a shot. Also offers Point Of Sale if you don't mind paying a very reasonable cost...
thanks for the lead. and, while i appreciate your suggestion about linux canada, i've been hesitant to go that direction. the website looks pretty basic and i can't tell if the product is any different than sql-ledger, and if it is, how.
i applaud the effort to get a product out there, and maybe its a good one. my suggestion to those folks is to get a test server up (easy to do), so that browsers like me could walk through the system. the more traffic, the more sales for service.
thanks for the lead. and, while i appreciate your suggestion about linux canada, i've been hesitant to go that direction. the website looks pretty basic and i can't tell if the product is any different than sql-ledger, and if it is, how.
HConnor,
That is a very good observation; the site navigation doesn't seem to be very straightforward when it comes to this. Check out the following link:
Quasar is comparable to SQL-Ledger, though with more comprehensive inventory control and discount structures. And it's not web based, hence the reason they don't have a test server available. The server runs on Linux, and there are clients available for Linux and Windows. Quasar's a plus if you want to keep your hands on the keyboard, as the user interface is excellent for that purpose.
Currently it's at 1.4.7, but LC plans to release 1.5 soon which comes with even more comprehensive inventory controls (multiple pricing methods - LIFO / FIFO / Averages, tracking individual items with serial numbers, etc).
I wish to view all the tables affected in sampleproductcompany.db file.
I can't able to attach the .db file in MSSQL server. Kindly give the suggestions.
Microsoft Small Business Accounting
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