ACCTivate! distribution & inventory management system

 

Value with
a future!

 



News Column


 

 

ACCTivation! 2006

It's time to start thinking about the next ACCTivate! Users Conference.

ACCTivation! 2006 will be held in Arlington, TX May 4th and 5th 2006. It's not too early to start making plans to attend.

The conference will cover a wide variety of topics such as maximizing the use of your ACCTivate! system and exploring current technology trends.

More information will be made available in the upcoming months.

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User Feedback

We're always interested in hearing from ACCTivate! Users. You're the reason that we're in business.

If you have any questions or comments that you would like to share with us, please feel free to contact us.

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Software Updates

The ACCTivate! Software Maintenance plan is designed to provide subscribers with the newest version of ACCTivate!.

This plan includes both web-updates and full-version releases. CYMA users recognize it as SMP, while QuickBooks users will begin to see it called SMS.

Either way, it's the annual subscription that provides you with updates and new version releases.

Without a current subscription, users are not granted access to those updates and releases.

Please contact the Alterity sales office for more information on your Software Maintenance plan.

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IN THIS ISSUE:

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Feature Story: New Support Website

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Tech Tips: ACCTivate! Login News Screen

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Featured Add-on: Service Billing Module

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Doings@ACCTivate!: New Support Technicians

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Releases and Updates: Web-updates coming soon

 

 

 

 

New Support Website

Have you been to the new ACCTivate! Support Website?
Earlier this year, we launched a new section to our website that allows you to better communicate support requests with the ACCTivate! staff.

The new support site was designed with two main functions in mind. First, you can submit a support request directly to the ACCTivate! Support team. They'll quickly get this request and it will be placed in the support queue automatically.

You can also view your previously entered support requests along with its current status. This will allow you to see what action has been taken against your request and you can even enter additional information directly into the system.

Just about any type of support request can be sent directly to the ACCTivate! Support Team. This includes general product support and assistance, usability questions, or any other non-training information request that requires the assistance of a support technician.

While the system is web-based, you can login from the ACCTivate! menu. Simply click Help > ACCTivate! Support > Support on the Web. This should auto-log you into the Help and Support section of the ACCTivate! website. From here you can click on the desired link in the contact support section.

With this new web-based support functionality we have already improved our ability to respond to the needs of our customers. As we continue to develop and even further enhance this system, we hope to be able to continue to improve our level of support to provide you the best possible support.

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ACCTivate! Login News Screen

Keep up to date with the ACCTivate! login news screen
Each time that you log into ACCTivate!, along with ID and Password your login window displays news and information on the bottom of that window.

Most users either read these messages infrequently or they just quickly enter their ID and Password so that they don't realize that the message changes periodically.

For example, a recent Microsoft Security Update disabled the remote use of help files for many software packages, including ACCTivate!. We came up with a solution and posted a link to a knowledge base article detailing the problem and the solution. Simply click on that portion of the news screen and you will be taken to the article.

Keep looking for new and important information to show up in the news screen. It's our goal to keep you up to date about things that are relevant to using the ACCTivate! system.

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Featured Add-on

 

Spotlight on the Service Billing Module

What does the Service Billing Module do?
Do you need to keep track of labor and materials for services and repairs? Would it be helpful to quickly and easily produce a sales order for time and supplies used on a job? If you answered yes, then check out new the Service Billing module.

The overall purpose of this module is to allow you to add both labor and materials directly to any service activity that you are tracking in the Business Activities module. By tracking this and tying it directly back to the service activity, you can keep track of the service status, bill for services if necessary and have a history of the service as entered in the system.

Example Scenario
Work was performed on a service call where replacement parts were covered under warranty, but the labor was not covered. Start by tracking this service call as a business activity, then you will have a complete record of this issue from the time the customer calls with the problem until after the service tech leaves after having completed the repair work.

The best part about the system is that when the service technician reports back the amount of labor to bill the customer, it is entered directly to the same business activity and you can quickly make a service bill for the work done on this call.

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New Support Team Members

The Alterity Support Team Keeps Growing

As the number of new customers continues to grow at a rapid pace, the number of support technicians at Alterity, Inc. continues to grow as well.

 

We are very fortunate to have added two very capable support techs in the past few months to help provide a high level of support to our customers.

 

Rick Snoddy

Rick began working for Alterity in June of this year and has already proven to be a valuable asset to the company.

 

Before he came to us, he was a Database Manager for a fortune 100 company and was also a Network Administrator for a local hospital.

 

Rick grew up in Texas and has lived here all of his life. He's a graduate of The University of Texas at Arlington where he studied Computer Science and Business Management.

 

His experience and education has provided him with ample skills and expertise to tackle the tough problems thrown at him each day. Welcome to the team Rick.

 

Tri Nguyen

Tri also became part of the ACCTivate! team in June. He brings a good deal of strengths with him such as a good overall knowledge of technology and solid product and inventory control skills.

 

His professional experience includes everything from setting-up networks to developing better ways to manage inventory and purchasing systems.

 

Tri was born in Vietnam and came to the US with his parents in 1977. They settled in Fort Worth, Texas where he enrolled in a magnet program at North Side High School. It was there that he began to develop his technology skills.

 

He eventually earned a Computer Science and Engineering degree from The University of Texas at Arlington. We're glad to have such a remarkable talent joining our team.

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Releases and Updates

 

New Web-Updates Coming Soon

ACCTivate! Web-Updates
New updates are being prepared for both the QuickBooks® and the CYMA versions of ACCTivate!. Make certain that your Software Maintenance subscription is up to date so that you can take advantage of these upcoming updates.

There are many changes and enhancements that will be found in this update. They include the following:

1.      Import Feature
You now have the ability to import products and product information into ACCTivate! from an excel spreadsheet (.csv) file.

For example, you can import new products from a vendor's CD or you could simply import new prices from a file and overwrite the existing price on a product-by-product basis.

2.      Service Billing Module
This feature is an extension to the existing Business Activities Module. It allows you to track and bill for the time and materials that were used in a service call.

The benefit of this module is that it allows you keep everything for a service call in one place. You only need to lookup one business activity to have access to the service call and then to bill from it.

3.      Product Information Window redesign
The Product Information window receives a facelift in this web-update with a restructuring and reorganization.

You'll notice that while the contents of the window remain the same (other than a couple of simple name changes), it has simply been redesigned to provide a more elegant
presentation of the information.

4.      Business Activity Module Enchancements
The Business Activity module gets major functionality enhancements in this web-update.

Among the most notable is the ability to track (outbound) email in a business activity. This allows you to send an email directly to any contact and to store that email inside the business activity.

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Alterity, Inc.
2012 East Randol Mill, Suite 219
Arlington, TX 76011
Phone: 817-870-1311
Fax: 817-338-1855
Web: www.acctivate.com