Value with
a future!

 



News Column

Alterity, Inc.
Holiday Schedule

Holiday Schedule
Sales, Support & Implementation

Thanksgiving
Nov 25 – Closed
Nov 26 – Closed

Christmas
Dec 23 – 8-1 Central
Dec 26 – Closed

New Years Day
Dec 30 – 8-1 Central
Jan 2 – Closed

It's that time of year again, the Holiday season. With all the business of the year wrapping up, the staff at Alterity wants to wish you the warmest of holiday greetings.

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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 recognize it as part of the new SMS plan.

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: Las Vegas – Sleeter conference

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Tech Tips: Custom reports development tips

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Featured Add-on: New features and functions

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Doings@ACCTivate!: Our employees keep us moving

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Releases and Updates: ACCTivate! Version 6.0


 

 

 

 

Alterity attends Industry Conference

Las Vegas - November 9, 2005 - Ken Parker, Alterity Vice president of Sales and Marketing, attended the Sleeter Group Conference in Las Vegas, November 9 through 11. The Sleeter Group is a National Group of Professional QuickBooks Advisors.

 

The Group holds an annual national meeting that serves as an update and learning experience for the attendees. Many sessions were held and they featured guest speakers from Intuit, the accounting profession, and software consultants.

 

Ken met with many of the Advisors who are searching for a more full-feature inventory solution for their QuickBooks clients. Throughout the meeting there was a general recognition of the importance of third party solutions such as ACCTivate! that will keep QuickBooks a viable accounting product for an extended period in many companies.

 

Sessions
Sessions were held as both general sessions and breakout groups for people with special interests. Ken participated in a panel discussion for Light Manufacturing companies and showed where the specific features of ACCTivate! supported these types of businesses.

 

Features such as Assemblies (with and without serial numbers embedded), work orders for outsourcing, RMA control and Electronic Data Interface (EDI) were briefly discussed and followed by a question and answer session.

 

Insofar as Ken is not a gambler, he did not visit any of the casinos and returned home to Texas safely.

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Custom Reports Tips

Tips to help make custom report management easier
One of the biggest benefits from using ACCTivate! is having a large amount of data available for use in custom reports. Custom reports allow you to manage key pieces of data in a way that keeps you informed about what's going on in your business.

However, to gain the full impact of what custom reports can do for your business, they must be developed and installed properly. Here are things to consider when making changes to your custom reports in ACCTivate!.

1) Save Custom Reports in the correct folder
All custom reports should be saved to the ..\Reports\Custom folder, so that they will not be replaced during future ACCTivate! software upgrades. Also, ACCTivate! looks for custom reports in the custom folder first before running any standard report.

If you are replacing an existing report, then you should use the same name and ACCTivate! will choose it over its standard report. If it will be a new report listed in your reports menu then give it a new name and add the report to the Report Catalog within ACCTivate!.

2) Remember to mark the "customized" box
The customized checkbox needs to be checked if the parameters within the Report Catalog or if Report Parameters for a report have been changed. Checking this box will keep configuration change from being lost during an ACCTivate! software upgrade.

This includes any changes such as the number of copies, changes to the selection prompts or simply adding new reports.

It's also worth noting that customized reports should retain the original .rpt name. The Report Catalog does not need to be changed unless report selection or print option changes have been made.

3) Alphabetize fields to find them easier
You can alphabetize your field list in Crystal Reports to be able to find the fields easier. When modifying your report in the Crystal Reports designer, select File / Options and then click on the Database Tab. Place a checkbox in the "Sort Fields Alphabetically" check box.

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Featured Add-on

 

New features and functions keep ACCTivate! at the front of the pack

 

ACCTivate! users across the country (and internationally) agree that ACCTivate! is a powerful tool that is loaded with features, functions and abilities that are not found in other systems in the same price category.

Not wanting to be satisfied, ACCTivate! is pressing forward with new and improved modules and features all the time.

Merchant Services & Shopping Cart Interface Modules
Two of the best examples of such modules include the new ability to accept credit card payments in ACCTivate! through QuickBooks Merchant Services, and also the ability to turn web orders from your website shopping cart into sales orders in ACCTivate! through the Shopping Cart Interface module.

QuickBooks Merchant Services Integration
This upcoming module will allow Credit Cards to be taken and entered for an order inside of ACCTivate!.

This module will only be available for QuickBooks users, as it will rely on QuickBooks Merchant Services to process the credit cards online. You will be able to enter the credit card information directly into ACCTivate! without having to have QuickBooks opened.

The payment will then be processed online and all relevant information will be passed over to QuickBooks during the next normal synchronization.

Shopping Cart Interface Module
It is clear that allowing customers to places orders via the Internet can save you time and expense over traditional methods of order placement.

However, because of the differences between a website (even a database drive website) and a full inventory and distribution system, getting information between your website and your business management system has always proved to be difficult.

However, ACCTivate! has a solution to this problem. Our Shopping Cart Interface module has been designed to work with just about any website shopping cart with an order export option and a general import option. This allows you to run both systems as you currently are (or develop a new website) and transfer information back and forth when needed.

How does it work?
The process is simple. Your customer enters an order on your existing website shopping cart. You export those orders into a file that you move into ACCTivate!. After a one-time configuration, ACCTivate! reads that file and automatically turns your web orders into full sales orders.

The amount of information that is contained in the order is determined by the amount of information that exists in your website shopping cart. You can then process these orders with your distribution and order fulfillment procedures.

Moreover, our Shopping Cart Interface module also provides you with the ability to export customer and product information from ACCTivate! that you can import back into your shopping cart system.

The benefit from this is clear. Your website shopping cart system can be developed with customer login and password information (stored in ACCTivate!), product information, prices, and just about any information that exists in ACCTivate!.

 

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Quality Employees make us who we are!

Alterity, Inc. has some true talent on our staff
We're bursting at the seams with smart and talented people. Keeping up the tradition started in previous newsletters, here are sketches of two more quality employees.

Karen Harrod
Karen began working for Alterity in August of 2001. She started as a part-time office manager and has stepped up to become the business manager and a pillar for the company.

Karen performs several key duties for Alterity. In addition to managing all accounting duties (including accounts payable and receivable), she oversees many practical functions that keep the business running on a day-by-day basis. This includes everything from overseeing our conference planning to helping us expand our office space as we have continued to grow.

Karen has always kept a busy schedule. She holds an MBA from Dallas Baptist University. She worked for a major international corporation for 25 years. Plus, in addition to her duties at Alterity, she's an adjunct professor at Dallas Baptist University teaching two classes for adult students.

Karen and her husband live in Arlington, Texas and enjoy spending time on their farm in Oklahoma with her two grandchildren.

Frank Sabara
Frank started working as a representative for Alterity in 2004 and has quickly become an anchor for the sales and marketing team.

He comes to us after spending years in sales and marketing with several major companies around the country. This includes working as a sales manager for a major corporation based in Long Island, New York.

His duties at Alterity include handling new prospects for both the QuickBooks and Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting 2006 Editions of ACCTivate! in the eastern part of the country.

A native New Yorker, Frank and his wife live in Arlington, Texas and keep an active schedule that includes dancing and supporting the arts. They also enjoy spending as much time as possible with their granddaughter.

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Releases and Updates

 

ACCTivate! 6.0 is loaded with features

A new version for both the CYMA & QuickBooks Editions of ACCTivate!
The ACCTivate! development team has worked hard on the new version 6.0. We have already released the QuickBooks edition and are in beta testing for the CYMA edition.

CYMA Edition
 The CYMA edition of ACCTivate! 6.0 contains several dramatic enhancements over the most recent 5.1 version.

-         Integration with the new CYMA Version 8.
(ACCTivate! version 5.1 does not integrate with CYMA Version 8)

-         Enhancements consist of everything from a redesigned Product Information window to the availability of new modules such as Service Scheduling and Billing.

-         A new "Import Data" feature has been added that allows users to import products and product information from a spreadsheet directly into ACCTivate!.

-         Users with the Business Activities module can now send and track email messages with attachments from a business activity inside of ACCTivate!.

-         Several features can be displayed automatically when ACCTivate! is started. These include Business Alerts, Activity Review and Activity Scheduling.

-         Technical enhancements exist as well. The product description expands from 80 to 4,095 characters, and sales order entry performance has been improved.

-         The help files documentation has been greatly enhanced with new procedure flowcharts and "How Do I?" discussions for many common procedures that are done in ACCTivate!.

QuickBooks Edition – Released 11/14/2005
 The QuickBooks edition of ACCTivate! 6.0 also contains enhancements and upgrades since version 5.1 was released.

-         Changes were made to several areas of the system to improve overall speed and performance .

-         The QuickBooks synchronization process has also been enhanced to improve performance. For example, it now can handle very large QuickBooks files. Also, information is synchronized in smaller batches, which results in a faster sync time.

-         Other changes include simple modifications to enhance the overall functionality of the system.

-         For example, most address lines have been extended to 41 characters from 30 characters.

-         Also, inventory availability can now been seen on the Product Lookup window, which can save users a lot of time when choosing several products.

-         Many other small changes and fixes have been made to enhance the overall system.

You must have a current software subscription
 Only customers with a current annual software subscription are eligible to receive the new version. Most customers recognize this as either SMP or SMS.

For more information or to see if your company has a current subscription please contact your ACCTivate! sales representative or log into the Help and Support section of the ACCTivate! website.

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Alterity, Inc.
2012 East Randol Mill, Suite 219
Arlington, TX 76011
Phone: 817-870-1311
Fax: 817-546-2211
Web: www.acctivate.com