Product News, Tech Tips and the Inside Scoop
October 2003 l www.dsdinc.com l 619-683-9900
Highlights This Month
- MAS 90 and MAS 200: Balancing MAS 90 Inventory to Your General Ledger
- MAS 90 and MAS 200: Arizona State Income Tax Minimum $5.00/Month Workaround
- MAS 90 and MAS 200: Updating MAS 90 and MAS 200 Federal 941 Form for Year 2003
- CRM: Are You Relating with Your Customers, Managing Them, or Both?
MAS 90 and MAS 200 4.0 Delayed Until February To ensure software quality, the shipment of MAS 90 and MAS 200 4.0 have been delayed by Best Software to February 2004. This is a normal no-additional-cost upgrade for Maintenance Plan subscribers. For an Adobe Acrobat brochure of the MAS 90 and MAS 200 4.0 features, click the following link: MAS 90 and MAS 200 4.0 Enhancement Brochure Don't Install Crystal 9 with MAS 90 Crystal Reports 9.0 is not supported by the current release of MAS 90. DSD has been receiving support calls related to this issue. Save your money and your time and play it safe! Windows 2003 Server Now Supported for MAS 90 and MAS 200 3.71 As of October 9th 2003, Windows 2003 Server is supported for MAS 90 and MAS 200 3.71. Prior versions are not supported, however. |
Up Close and Personal
Readers: We've added the "Up Close and Personal" column to our newsletter so you can better know our entire staff. DSD Business Systems is owned and staffed by passionate people who love what they do and are committed to excellence in their business and personal lives. Doug Deane, our President is certainly no exception.
I've thoroughly enjoyed my past year as President of DSD. More than anything, my last twelve months have been characterized by two themes - improvement and measurement. We're very busy improving all of our internal and support systems and we're dedicated to knowing how we're doing by asking our clients and our own staff for feedback. This business and our commitment to our customers is a huge part of our lives and a great source of personal satisfaction for me.
I've also had some minor challenges in my personal life, which I've managed to turn into opportunities. My beautiful red Harley Davidson was stolen on June 1st. Although it was insured, I only got a fraction of the money and time I put into it. Since then, I've been busy building its replacement - a hand built Harley Davidson road racer. It's turning out great, and there is at least one national magazine that is interested in featuring it.
I've owned and worked on motorcycles for over 30 years. I was in my garage this past weekend working on my new bike, making a lot of sparks and drilling holes in stuff - when I realized just how similar building a great motorcycle is to building a new computer system. If you do it right and make no compromises it is always a bit tougher than you thought it would be, but they will both improve your life in ways that you had not even imagined.
I hope to have it done by the end of November, but it may take a bit longer. I know that it will be worth waiting for.
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Welcome Aboard!
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With two recent additions to the team here at DSD Business Systems, we thought it only fitting to spend some time introducing them to you.
Upcoming MAS 90 and MAS 200 Classes
| Library Master & Security | $425 | Nov 10, Dec 8 |
| General Ledger | $425 | Nov 11, Dec 9 |
| Accounts Payable | $425 | Nov 12, Dec 10 |
| Accounts Receivable | $425 | Nov 13, Dec 11 |
| Inventory Management | $425 | Nov 18, Dec 16 |
| Sales Order | $425 | Nov 19, Dec 17 |
| Purchase Order | $425 | Nov 20, Dec 18 |
| Crystal Reports (2 days) | $800 | Oct 27-28 (2-day class) |
You must sign-up a week before the class to reserve your spot!
All classes are held from 9am - 5pm, and cost $425 per person unless stated otherwise. Lunch is provided. They are held at the DSD Building in beautiful Mission Valley in San Diego.
To register, call Sandy McCauley at 619-683-9900 or e-mail SandyM@dsdinc.com
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MAS 90 and MAS 200 Promotions Each quarter, Best offers specials and
promotions for MAS 90 and MAS 200. Call to find out what specials and
promotions you are eligible for. * Some restrictions may apply, please contact Stephanie Smith for promotion details and expiration dates.
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A note to our readers: All of the tips presented in this newsletter are also available on our website at http://www.dsdinc.com. Balancing MAS 90 Inventory to Your General Ledger by Ken Phillips DSD
clients sometimes call and ask what to do when the Inventory Trial Balance
Report or Inventory Valuation Report does not balance to the
Inventory
account in General Ledger.
As
with any reconciliation, you may encounter situations where the Trial
Balance Report in Inventory does not balance to the corresponding account
in the General Ledger. There
are many factors that can cause the Inventory Trial Balance Report to be
out of balance with the Inventory Account in General Ledger. Some of the
reasons are listed below:
IMZBL1
can be used on Lot/Serial Items, but will not correct the out of balance
condition if items using these valuation methods are out- of- balance
between warehouse detail (IM2) file, and cost detail/cost tier (IM3) file.
Call DSD MAS 90 Support for assistance in correcting this
condition. The
following is a list of things to be aware of when reconciling the
Inventory Trial Balance to the corresponding GL Account:
The
following relates to items whose valuation method is Average Cost: The ending dollar amount on the I/M Trial Balance Report for an average cost item will change based on future transactions. This makes it impossible to reconcile the Inventory module to the General Ledger accurately because the totals on the I/M Trial Balance Report will no longer match the totals in the General Ledger for the Inventory Account. Therefore future receipt transactions can cause improper rounding when the ending balance of the trial balance is generated (because the ending dollar amount of the trial balance is not stored but rather calculated).
Updating MAS 90 and MAS 200 Federal 941 Form for Year 2003
The Federal 941 Form needs to be updated with the IRS changes for the Year 2003. Sage Software, has issued the support tip, PR3040-T, which contains the following programs to make the required changes to the 941 form: PRWRTC and PRWX03. To install these programs, Download and run the PR3040_T.exe from the Best Support website, or contact DSD Business Systems Professional Services for a copy.
Running the PRWX03 program makes the following Line changes to the Preprinted 941 form. Tab positions below did not need to be changed.
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The
standard MAS 90 / MAS 200 reports are the Inventory Valuation Report,
Inventory Stock
Status Report, Trial Balance Report, and Detail Transaction Report
from
the Inventory Management Reports menu. The Inventory Valuation
and Stock
Status Reports are not date sensitive. Because MAS 90 and MAS 200 use
a perpetual
inventory system, these reports are “as of this moment”, and should
not be used to reconcile to the General Ledger. The Trial Balance and
Transaction Detail Reports in Inventory are date sensitive, and use the
same posting date as the General Ledger. The Trial Balance and Detail
Transaction reports are the reconciling reports provided by MAS 90. 
by Ken Phillips
MAS 500 Promotions
Each quarter, Best offers specials and
promotions for MAS 500. Call to find out what specials and promotions you
are eligible for.
Are You Relating with Your Customers, Managing Them, or Both?
by Mike Mahoney
CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is all about your current and future customers. CRM software is one of the best tools for performing both the relationship and the management of customers, but software is just the tip of the iceberg. Are you relating to them in a way that will help drive sales and loyalty, or are you merely managing them? I’d like to present to you a tale of two banks, a real story that I experienced, as additional proof of how the right people and the right software can make all the difference in the world.
Bank “X”, a large nationwide bank, prides itself on having more interest in its’ customers than the other banks. However, my personal experience with them and their “silos” of information on me prove to me that they are neither relating or managing their customers at all, outside of their marketing apparatus.
I had two separate mortgages, checking and savings accounts, and a CD with that bank. I knew something was amiss there when the officer taking my application for refinancing my mortgages asked who the original mortgages were with, and what bank held my checking, savings, and CD accounts. I flat out told him his bank holds all those accounts and that I’ve been a loyal customer for over 10 years. That sent him on a scramble through 3 different computer programs to look up the information, and transfer it to the loan app. I waited eight weeks for an official response to my refinance applications. The officer that took the application and was my point of contact made no effort to contact me during that delay, in fact I had to call him to see what was up. Each time I did, he repeated his answer – that my applications were “in underwriting.” Eight weeks later I received two form letters rejecting my applications to refinance the existing mortgages. It apparently made no matter to them that the present mortgages were held with them, or that I had many deposit accounts with them, or that I was a 10-year customer. Needless to say, that bank no longer has any of my deposit accounts or mortgages.
Bank “Y”, however, was completely different. They are a small two-branch bank born and raised here in Northern San Diego. I decided after talking to the officer and being very impressed with what they could do for me, to move all of my accounts to them; mortgages, checking, savings, and CD’s. When Bank “Y” opened, they had the forethought to install an inexpensive CRM software system to help them maintain relationships and increase sales with their clients. The CRM software reads data once a day from the various mainframe systems they have, so the staff can call up a customer on one screen and see everything there is to know about them, including any mortgages, accounts, CD’s, investments, or any communication I have had with them. It even suggests additional products they offer that might be a good fit for me based on all the metrics and data they have. They also have sent me thank-you letters out of the blue just for being a customer, outside of the monthly statements I get from them. I for one am a happy bank client, and now feel like I’m being taken care of properly!
The point of this tale is not that small banks are better than big banks – the point is that far too many companies have silos of data stored in different places that can’t communicate with each other: Sales history in the accounting program, contact history is in the sales program, and warranty and service information in yet another program. This is a recipe for disaster. Frankly, it’s not a matter of
if it will cost you customers, it’s a matter of when.
When choosing any software package, be sure it can talk with other programs in some fashion. In particular, there are far too many legacy account programs that have proprietary data formats and don’t have any standard for other programs to retrieve information from their data files. These types of accounting programs should be replaced immediately. When choosing a CRM system, be sure it has the capability to retrieve and hold replicated data that comes from other programs, so that you can have a “360 degree view” of your customer or prospect from one screen. This isn’t an easy task, but it’s one that is absolutely necessary. If you don’t have a CRM program for managing everything there is to know about your customers and prospects, you can bet your competition does!
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SalesLogix Tip: The Hierarchy Tree by Mike Mahoney Did you know that the Account Parent and Subsidiary Hierarchy Tree added in SalesLogix v6 is multi-leveled? For example, you can define Sage Software, CRM Division as a Subsidiary with it's parent to Sage Software USA, also defined as a subsidiary, with it's parent being Sage Group, PLC (defined as a parent account). Then when you click the "View Hierarchy" button, you can see all 3 accounts in the tree view.
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ACT! Tip: How to Create a New Sales Opportunity
by Mike Mahoney
You already know that ACT! keeps track of your contacts and their information such as address, phone, and activities. But, did you know ACT! can also track your sales opportunities? Just follow these simple steps to create a new sales opportunity:
- Lookup the contact
- On the menu bar, select Sales, New Sales Opportunity
- Type a Product Name
- Type a Product Type
- Fill in the number of Units and the Unit Price
- Enter a forecasted Close Date
- Enter a Probability
- Enter a Sales Stage
- Go to the Additional Information tab to enter further details if needed
- Click OK
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TeleMagic Tip: Need a List? Need a list, but don't know how to make a custom report? by Mike Mahoney TeleMagic offers the "quick list" - a way to make a list of fields using a filter, without the pain and suffering of creating a custom report. Give it a try by clicking on the reports menu and choosing quick lists. Once there, click on Add to add your own quick list.
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Product of the Month:
MRCA California Magnetic Media Unemployment Reporting
MRCA California DE6 Quarterly Unemployment Magnetic Media allows the generation of magnetic media (diskettes) compliant with the California Quarterly DE6 Wage Information as required by the State of California Employment Development Department
"Beginning with tax year 1995, employers are required to make their report of contributions and wages (section 1088 (a) (1) of the California Unemployment Insurance Code (CUIC) by magnetic media if the employer is required to report W-2 data to the federal government by magnetic media. Currently, the federal government requires employers with 250 or more W-2s to file by magnetic media. The magnetic media filing threshold of 250 or more employees applies only to California employees. Multi-state filers who have less than 250 California employees will not be required to report on magnetic media, however, they are encouraged to do so."
For more information, contact Kim Clark at 619-683-9900 or KimC@dsdinc.com.
IDC: Security Spending Passes Overall IT Spending
By Edward Hurley, SearchSecurity.com
News Writer
Many IT managers say security is their top spending priority, according to a recent survey by the Framingham, Mass.-based research group International Data Corp. Business continuity is another major concern for managers.
IDC predicts worldwide spending on security and business continuity will grow twice as fast as overall IT spending. The market segment grew 11% last year to reach $64 billion. By the end of this year, spending on both types of technology will likely top $70 billion, Ludovica Bruno, a senior analyst with IDC, said in an e-mail statement.
IDC said that 40% of about 1,000 IT managers surveyed saw security as their top IT budget priority. The respondents seem to be putting their money where their mouths are -- more said their spending on security increased during the last six months.
By 2005, the market for security and business continuity products should hit a 15% growth rate, which should translate into more than $118 billion being spent on the technologies by 2007. The growth should come equally from hardware, software and services. IDC sees content filtering as a potential growth area, because companies face legal risks posed by their employees' downloads.
Spending will be driven both by immediate security needs and by the need to comply with recent measures that regulate information security such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accessibility Act (HIPAA) and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.
IDC said its survey was completed in July but points to a few recent events -- the Blaster and Sobig worm outbreaks and the blackout that kept millions in the Midwest and Northeast in the dark -- as reminders that security and business continuity need to be a priority.
"Corporate spending on security and business continuity has been held back by two factors -- uncertainty about the severity of risk posed by security threats and ongoing budget austerity," John F. Gantz, chief research officer and senior vice president at IDC, said in a statement. "However, any skepticism about the potential consequences of a security breach is fading fast as enterprises seek to improve their ability to manage organizational risk."
For more information, contact Kim Clark at 619-683-9900 or DavidY@dsdinc.com.
All prices and offers are subject to change without notice. Copyright 2004 , DSD Business Systems, San Diego, CA. All rights reserved.