It is possible that the breakdown of a payment into principal and interest that Quicken makes will be incorrect. Rounding errors, payment delays, and perhaps even a bug in either Quicken’s or the bank’s calculations may mean that the loan balance that Quicken shows for a loan or mortgage is incorrect.

Understanding the problem

When the ending balance that Quicken shows is incorrect, it simply means that Quicken has incorrectly split one or more loan payments between principal and interest. What you need to do, in this case, is adjust the ending balance and categorize the adjustment as falling into the same interest expense category and subcategory as you are using to track the interest component of the loan payment.

To make this sort of adjustment, display the account register for the loan or mortgage that you need to adjust. Then click Update Balance button at the top of the loan account register window. Quicken then displays the Update Account Balances dialog box.

Fixing the principal balance error

To adjust, or correct, the loan balance, enter the correct ending balance in the Update Balance To box and the ending balance date in the Adjustment Date box. You should be able to get this information from the end-of-year or end-of-month loan statement that alerted you to the loan balance error.

Fixing the interest expense error

To fix the interest portion of the loan record-keeping error, enter the interest category and subcategory you used in the Category For Adjustment boxes. For example, if you used Loan as the category and Mortgage Interest as the subcategory, enter this category and subcategory in the two boxes. While it might seem curious to use the loan interest categories for categorizing an adjustment to the loan balance, remember that loan payments are split between principal and interest. Therefore, if you overstate the principal components of a loan payment, you implicitly understate the interest components—and vice versa.

In effect, adjusting the loan ending balance is the same thing as adjusting the cumulative principal payments made on the loan. And that means you need to also adjust cumulative interest payments made on the loan.

Seattle tax CPA & author Stephen L. Nelson wrote Quicken for Dummies and more than 100 other books as well. Nelson holds an MBA in Finance and an MS in taxation. His web site is http://www.stephenlnelson.com

Finally, you have some time to personalize your desktop with an interesting screensaver. But wait… What’s that? Why in the world the system prevents you from doing that? The screensaver controls are grayed out or, even worse, the whole Screensaver tab is missing from Display Properties. Don’t panic! This article will help you change things for the better.

I’ve found that people who use Windows 2000/XP often can’t enjoy screensavers because their system is configured in a way that prevents them from doing that.

Unless you are very experienced in administrating Windows, you may stuck with the problem. If you ever found yourself or your friend in a situation like this, add this article to your arsenal of screensaver tips.

Most of the time people encounter the problem with office computers. I should warn you, though, that some companies have a strict screensaver policy. Usually they allow only certain or no screensavers at all to be used on office computers.

If you are not sure how your company treats screensavers, I recommend you to consult your system administrator before applying any of the changes described below to your system.

So why can screensavers be inaccessible on your system?

As you know, Windows 2000 and Windows XP had many improvements over Windows 95/98 and Windows Me that made lives of many users easier and more comfortable.

But that’s not all that made these operating systems so popular. Their developers also haven’t forgotten about people who are responsible for administrative tasks when it comes to computers shared by different users and large computer networks.

Windows 2000 and Windows XP introduced a lot of new features needed specifically for their administration. Controlling/disabling screensavers was among them.

No matter whether it was their intention or an accident, your system administrator or the person who configured your PC could use this feature to your disadvantage. Now you’ll have to use it once again and regain control over screensavers.

Here’s what you should do:

1. Click Start and then click Run…
2. Type "gpedit.msc" and press Enter.
3. A window will open with a tree on its left. Expand the User Configuration node, then expand Control Panel and click Display.
4. Now look at the policies in the list to the right. Make sure that the policies starting from Hide Screen Saver Tab and ending with Screen Saver Timeout all have their state set to Not Configured.
5. If any of them has a different state, double click the line with the policy, select Not Configured and click OK.
6. Now close the Group Policy window.

Now you can open Display Properties and see whether screensavers are back. If they aren’t, step back and check if you carefully followed all the steps described above.

Note that you can see a window saying you don’t have permission to access Group Policy window when doing the step 2. That will happen if you are working under a restricted user account. You will have to log under an account with Administrator’s rights or contact your system administrator.

With a little creativity, you can use the information in this article to prevent your kids and other unauthorized users from messing with your screensavers. The procedure is basically the same. The only difference is that you should specify meaningful values for screensaver related items instead of Not Configured.

About The Author

Roman Kramar is a software developer who enjoys writing screensavers as his time permits. Visit his site at http://www.elasticsystems.com/ to find out more about screensavers and his work. webmaster@elasticsystems.com

First of all, let’s start with a definition of HCFO: The Highly Customizable Framework for Organization (HCFO) is a software framework used for building software applications that organize information on your computer quickly and easily without having to do any computer programming.

To make this concept less abstract, we will deal with HCFO in one dimension: calendar supported software. HCFO and building practical software applications are discussed in greater detail in my “Computing Success Secrets” newsletter. See my website at the end of this article to find out how to become a member.

Calendar supported software includes such software types as appointment calendars, day planners, and any other software package that needs calendar functions as its underlying support system.

Simply, HCFO provides a canvas with a calendar frame in which to paint your software program. Let me illustrate this concept to you with a story about Data Calendar — a product that implements the HCFO.

Paul wants an appointment calendar program. He thinks to himself, “I need an appointment calendar that allows me to enter appointments on a calendar just like I do with my paper appointment calendar. I would also like to be able to set reminders of my appointments.”

Then Paul sits down with Data Calendar and creates a category called “Appointments.” When the appointment category is created, Data Calendar automatically creates a yearly calendar equipped with monthly calendar views. Data Calendar also adds the ability to enter appointment data directly on the date box just like a paper appointment calendar. Data Calendar also allows him to set appointments reminders based on date and time.

Let’s recap what HCFO and the Data Calendar software did to make Paul’s appointment calendar software needs easily accomplished:

• Paul simply created a category called “Appointments” and Data Calendar created a yearly calendar with monthly views for his appointments.

Obviously, due to the limitations of an article, the above example is a very simplistic application of HCFO using Data Calendar. However, you should be able to see that HCFO opens the door to creating valuable software with little effort in minimum time.

(c) Copyright 2005 Olan Butler All Rights Reserved

Olan Butler is the Chief Architect of BHO Technologists, a computer productivity & organization software provider http://www.bhotechnologists.com with headquarters in Kansas City. Olan also provides Computer Services in the Kansas City area. Join his FREE newsletter "Computing Success Secrets" for a steady stream of computer and life profiting tips. You’ll be glad you did!

Introduction To ISDN, Part III: Configuring PPP PAP Authentication

Now we know how the ISDN link comes up (interesting traffic), and some scenarios that might cause the link to stay up, we need to look at ISDN authentication schemes. The two methods Cisco certification candidates must be familiar with are PAP and CHAP.

Password Authentication Protocol (PAP) sends the username and password over the ISDN link in clear-text. Sending any passwords over any WAN link in clear-text is generally a bad idea, but it’s important to know you have this option.

Regarding both PAP and CHAP, it’s a common misunderstanding that each side must authenticate the other. PAP and CHAP both support bidirectional and unidirectional authentication; that is, R1 can authenticate R2 without R2 necessarily authenticating R1. It’s more common to use unidirectional authentication in a lab environment than a production network, but keep in mind that bidirectional authentication is an option, not a requirement.

The configurations of PAP and CHAP do have their similarities. For both, you’ll configure a username/password combination in global configuration mode. Newcomers to ISDN sometimes put the local router name in for the username; remember that the remote router name is the username.

The only real advantage of PAP over CHAP comes in the password configuration. Since PAP actually sends the password as a whole over the link, the two routers can send different passwords during authentication. The operation of CHAP requires that both routers use the same password, and we’ll see why in tomorrow’s article.

Under the BRI interface, you’ll enter encapsulation ppp and ppp authentication pap. So far, your authentication scheme looks like this:

username R2 password CCNA

Int bri0

PAP requires an extra command at this point. The ppp pap sent-username command is required under the interface, indicating the username and password this router will be sending to the remote router.

Int bri0

I always encourage CCNA and CCNP candidates to use as many debugs as possible when working in their lab, since these commands show us how things work. For any PPP authentication, always run debug ppp negotiation before sending interesting traffic to trigger the call. Watching exactly how PAP and CHAP work give you a much better understanding of what’s going on “behind the command”, and makes you a stronger candidate and a stronger networking engineer.

Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at CHAP, and why routers cannot use the same password on both ends of the link.

Keep studying!

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage, home of free CCNA and CCNP tutorials, The Ultimate CCNA Study Package, and Ultimate CCNP Study Packages. For a FREE copy of his latest e-books, “How To Pass The CCNA” and “How To Pass The CCNP”, visit the website and download your free copies. You can also get FREE CCNA and CCNP exam questions every day! Pass the CCNA exam with The Bryant Advantage!

One colleague of mine asked me a question – "I have a selling software product. How much is this software business worth?" I think I can give an advice.

A small software business can be owned and operated by one person: a developer, salesman, manager, and holder – all in one. This business could be run at home or in a small office. It does not require massive investments to grow up - only a computer, Internet connection, web site, and lots of hard work. Well, you have run it, you are working hard, designing your product, promoting your site, attracting customers – and one day you feel you are rich and tired. You wish to load off your mind and sell your business with potential to grow.

How much does it cost?

Let’s say, for simplicity – you have designed the software title; possess a well-known web site; have a stable income and no registered legal entity, patens, or licenses. You are not selling your permanent assets – computers, developments tools, telecommunications, and the like. You have no other staff but yourself.

Here is a simple estimation formula:

Business costs = (Month net income * Forecasting period) - Holder changing expenses

Month net income = Income – Tax rate – Overhead expenses – Development costs

For example:

You are selling the software for $4000 per month. You are paying the 20% taxes.

Expenses are $250 per month for hosting, advertising, etc.

You are planning - your software will be selling for the next 3 months without additional design and development. So the development costs = $0, Forecasting period = 3 months.

If you do not have a registered trademark, patens, LLC – your Holder changing expenses and registration fees = $0. So, the buyer spends nothing for registration.

Let us strike a balance:

Month net income = ($4000 income – 20% tax rate - $250 month expenses – $0) = $2950 per month

Business cost = ($2950 * 3 planning months) – $0 = $8850.00

Now, you have the justification for your price.

However, you need a strong argument – why do you want to sell your small gold-mine?

Good luck!

About the author

Software developer and vendor with 10 years experience. Visit http://www.qunom.com for contact information.

Lotus Domino/Notes – Microsoft Great Plains tandem as ERP with Documents Workflow – overview for IT Specialist

Microsoft Business Solutions has the whole spectrum of business applications, the good combination seems to be Microsoft Great Plains and Microsoft CRM. However we need to admit that Microsoft is relatively new in the CRM market and also for large corporation it could not be a good idea “to put all the eggs into one basket”. If you have investment into other platform from CRM side – such as Lotus Domino/Notes – we offer you integration with Microsoft Great Plains

Why does the company need document workflow system if it has an Accounting/ERP?

The benefits of having financial, sales, services, communication, negotiation and other information be tightly linked and exposed to simple reporting and data mining are obvious. Now we are observing the second and I would dare to say successful phase of CRM systems implementation, which is probably final successful marriage in the long history of datawarehousing, document workflow, contact management systems.

Some business situations where you see the benefits

Reports creation without special knowledge

Special skills are required in order to work with complex ERP system. Usually financial specialist has such skills, but top-level managers, who do really need the information, may not be prepared. Also, ERP based reports should be delivered on regular basis. If Lotus Domino/Notes is used as a corporate communication platform, then to resolve the issue, specially designed routines may be used to pull the information from financial systems (Great Plains, Solomon, Navision, Axapta, SAP, SCALA, Accpac, MAS90 to name a few) to Lotus databases on the schedule. In this case users, including top-level managers will work with this information via custom interface.

Documents routing

One of the competitive advantages of CRM is a workflow. Financial documents are usually subject for approval before posting. Typical accounting/ERP systems do not have (or have very limited) workflow design. Such the workflows could be created on Lotus Domino/Notes platform. Then, through the connection to Microsoft Great Plains or other ERP system you will have document approval workflow.

The typical simple workflow would be like this - send notifications to AR to take off the hold from the customer upon the payment receipt.

So the approach to integrate accounting system and documents oriented Lotus Domino/Notes seems very interesting for corporate information architecture.

Happy designing, customizing and programming! If you want as to do the job – call as 866-528-0577, help@albaspectrum.com

Rafael software developer in Alba Spectrum Technologies (http://www.albaspectrum.com/) - USA nationwide Lotus Domino/Notes, Great Plains, Microsoft CRM, Microsoft RMS customization company, based in Chicago, Arizona, California, Texas, New York, Florida, Minnesota, Washington, Georgia, Canada, UK, Australia and having locations in multiple states and internationally, our Lotus page - http://www.albaspectrum.com/Lotus/OffshoreLotus.htm, Rafael is Principal CLP IBM Lotus Domino 6 Application Developer, Certified Professional E-commerce Concepts Analyst

About The Author

Rafael Osipov is Principal CLP IBM Lotus Domino 6 Application Developer, Certified Professional E-commerce Concepts Analyst; RafaelO@albaspectrum.com

There are several main reasons why putting your software manual on-line is necessary. It makes your web-site attractive for search engine crawlers and therefore brings you targeted traffic from Google, Yahoo!, MSN, and other search engines. A good online manual makes your product serious and credible. Moreover, if a user faces difficulty using your software and asks for technical support, you may easily resolve the issue by referring that user to a certain page of your online help. Simply give the page’s URL. With just one click the user will see screenshots and explanations which will help them to settle the case.

Many software vendors, from large companies to independent developers, clearly understand these reasons. They made their help systems a part of their web sites by aiming to attract more prospects and to generate more sales. But even a sketchy analysis of a dozen manuals available online discloses a bunch of common mistakes which may reduce the effect of this very powerful tool. The main reason of the mistakes is incorrectly considering an online manual as a standalone document that user can download or read on the web site. The right approach is to make your help a part of your web site. This is a pretty simple task if you follow these rules:

Make pages! Not a file

The most common mistake I noticed on many software vendors’ web sites is that they offer their manual in a single file: PDF, CHM, RTF, etc. Certainly it may be very convenient for users to download a product manual file and use it on the desktop, especially if the manual is too large to be included in the software setup package. But having an online manual is not the same as having a manual online. Feel the difference!

It’s very smart to allow users to download a complete manual as a single file. However a file may attract just a few new visitors from search engines, even if their crawlers are able to index your PDF or RTF. Also the file is almost useless for your technical support needs. For instance, you may not point users to certain sections of your help system by simply giving them direct URL links. Hence to get the maximum effect out of your help system you should make it a part of your web site. Split the manual into many pages and convert them into HTML. Almost all serious help authoring software allows exporting your help file into HTML format. Each page must contain a certain section or a chapter of your manual. Many pages which are relatively small are easier for reading, navigation, and bookmarking. You nevertheless must keep the balance. Don’t make a lot of little dinky pages that people must roam through to make up a required solution. Each page should completely cover a certain topic enough to solve a certain task. Furthermore, a page with topical content is perfect bait for search engine crawlers.

Follow common style

Well, you have exported your help file into a set of HTML pages and are ready to upload them to your server. Stop! Check the look of the pages. The set must follow the common style identified by the corporate identity.

The modern help authoring tools allow customizing appearance of pages by means of CSS or visual template collections. The online manual must correspond to your web site style. Use the same color themes, fonts, and corporate graphics. Otherwise, the whole project will look like a patchwork quilt. This is not good; it’s far better to look steady, well-managed, and consistent.

"Where am I?" or don’t ignore navigation

Following common style is not just using the same colors and fonts. To plug manual’s pages into the web site structure you must add the top level navigation into them. Use the same top level menu that you use on all pages of the site.

There are two key benefits of this technique. First, this also makes your web site appear solid, consistent, and well-thought-out and therefore works for your business credibility. Secondly, the top level navigation menu will bring new targeted leads from your manual pages to your product main pages. The prospects that have come from search engines are likely looking for specific task solutions that probably are described in your online help. Then they will want to know more about the product that offers that solution. Put under their nose direct links to the software description page, to the trial download area, to the pricing and ordering info, and to the main page of your web site. Let them know more about your company. Let them know about your software. Let them download it. Let them buy it.

Besides offering prospects a toplevel menu, you must provide them with an easy way to navigate among sections of the manual itself. People feel more secure if they see the table of contents along with the page content. Through this internal menu they may easily realize where they are and what related topics exist, and easily jump there.

Avoid frames

At first glance, using frames seems the perfect way to organize the internal menu of the help. Certainly frames are convenient for web site programming and maintenance because you may keep your menu in a single file and show it in a separate frame. Nevertheless, there are several disadvantages to using frames in your online help. When a visitor comes from a search engine to one of your help pages, they will see only that page’s content but will see neither top-level navigation nor online manual menus because they were intended to be shown in other frame windows. So the people who come from external pages will fail to easily jump to other sections of your web site and to read about your products and related services.

If you still prefer to use frames then you must use a workaround. One of the approaches is to plug a special JavaScript code into every page of your web site. The script will determine if the page is showing in the frame or in the browser’s main window. If there is no frame detected then the script will build the frame structure, will load the menu pages in the corresponding frames and will finally reload the current page in the appropriate frame. So the user will see the target page along with other elements of the web site. Such dynamic redirection works for real visitors but doesn’t work for web spiders that will crawl your online help pages. Most of them cannot parse JavaScript code and therefore cannot access menus to jump to other pages of your manual. For search engines your online manual’s pages will look like separate files that are not linked to each other, or to the corporate web site. As a result, your help pages will receive lowest page rank and will be shown in the end of the list when someone is looking for related info on a search engine. Almost all SEO and web design gurus recommend avoiding frames and put both menu and content into a single HTML file.

Use direct links, not redirect scripts

Like frames, using JavaScript in menu is another no-no for creating an online manual for your software. Using regular URLs in menu links instead of JavaScript redirecting helps web crawlers properly index your online manual and rank its pages higher.

Assign unique addresses to help pages

And the third important technical aspect of online help authoring is page address format. One of key rules of search engine optimization (SEO) implies to use static pages with unique permanent addresses without parameters in them. A page with address installation.htm is usually ranked higher than the same page with address page.php?id=348. Take this fact into account.

Give screenshots

Although one of your aims is to attract search engine’s web robots that like words you should not forget about real visitors who like pictures. A picture is worth a thousand words. Give as many juicy screenshots of your software as possible. This will help current users understand better how your software works and will help prospects to see how it looks before downloading a trial or demo copy. Make your screenshots clear. Explain what each window does and how its controls and elements work. Use callouts, balloons, and special marks. Try to stuff as much info into the screenshots as possible. A reader must look at them and say "Great! Now I know how it works."

Make pages printable

Most likely users would like to print out a certain part of your online help. Sometimes design that looks great on the display is awful when printed even on a good printer. Make sure that your manual’s pages are printable in black and white at least on the two most popular paper sizes: A4 and Letter. Check if there are no big pictures, no color background, the fonts are easy to read, all the content fits the page width, and so on.

Make your help easily reachable

So you have your help pages completed and even uploaded to the web server. How to make them visible to web spiders and to live visitors of your web site? Most of the software vendors make the same mistake. They thought that the manual is something unimportant that nobody needs. They hide the help section so deep in the website that a visitor has to make a dozen clicks to reach the help index page. This is wrong! Your manual is important and must be reachable in two to three clicks. The best approach is to place several links to your manual in different sections of your web site: on product description page, on support page, and on download page. These are the pages where users expect to find an online help most of all. Show them your help-authoring masterpiece.

Make your online manual searchable

If your software is complicated and its help includes hundreds or even thousands of pages then you must add search capabilities to your online manual. From a user’s point of view it’s more convenient to search a required topic by keywords rather than to look through the endless list of topics in menu. The easiest way is adding a third-party search script to your online manual. For instance, Google offers Free WebSearch script that you can copy-paste into your HTML code to allow people searching within your site. However you won’t have full control over the third-party scripts and their search results may confuse you and your users. It’s better to write your own search script on which you will have total control. You can customize it according to your needs at any moment. This top-notch technique requires significant efforts and may cost some money if you decide to outsource it. But the result is that you will have a powerful information resource that will effectively work for you and for your business.

Create a word map of your help

Make a special Index page that contains all the significant words with direct links to the pages where these words are encountered. The Index page has two main functions. Firstly, it simplifies the topic search by keyword for users. Secondly, the Index page will serve as a map of your online help for web spiders and will assist them to crawl all the pages of your manual.

Make your help extendable

You may be surprised but the online help may be live. You can make it a center of an online community. Just allow your software users to extend your help pages themselves. A good example is PHP online documentation. It allows users to post their comments, code samples, and recommendations. Each page contains tons of valuable information contributed by users. This is a perfect example of how boring documentation may form a live community and promote the product accordingly.

To summarize the above tips: You must consider your manual as an important part of your business model. This is just a set of general recommendations how to get the maximum effect out of your online help. Most of the techniques are pretty easy to implement if you use good help authoring software. Apply this advice and make your customers feel happy, increase your web site visibility, attract new prospects, and generate new sales.

Dennis Crane, the author of Dr. Explain software, specializes in vertical markets software development. He enjoys bass and ice fishing and is online at http://www.drexplain.com

Microsoft Great Plains - Microsoft Business Solutions accounting and ERP system, originally targeted to mid-size - now, with advancements and increasing reliability of its database - Microsoft SQL Server, Great Plains is attractive solution for large corporation. Big companies usually have purchasing and order processing automation via so-called Electronic Document Interchange or EDI. EDI was introduced long time ago for UNIX systems and in most of the cases appears in the form of Header, Lines and Trailer of predefined fixed position fields.

We would like to give you - programmer, software developer, database administrator the primary clues on producing EDI formatted text from Microsoft Great Plains database. Please, note however that Great Plains here is taken as the example, similar approach will work for other SQL based systems: Navision (SQL Database or C/SIDE database), Microsoft RMS, Solomon as well as Oracle and other non-Microsoft products. In the case of non-SQL system, such as old Great Plains Dynamics, ACCPAC on Pervasive SQL - IDE interface will involve ADO/ODBC or Microsoft Access programming.

1. Sample Query – The query below uses CAST construction to make the result fixed length and meet the positioning. Plus the unionizing allows to produce Header and Detail in one select statement. Here we are dealing with work Sales Documents

selectcasewhen b.LNITMSEQ=c.LNITMSEQ+1 and b.CMPNTSEQ=c.CMPNTSEQ+1 then CAST('Header' as char(10))else CAST('Detail' as char(10))endas FIELD0,casewhen b.LNITMSEQ=c.LNITMSEQ+1 and b.CMPNTSEQ=c.CMPNTSEQ+1 then cast(a.CUSTNAME as char(65))else cast(cast(b.QTYDMGED as decimal(19,5)) as char(65))endas FIELD01,casewhen b.LNITMSEQ=c.LNITMSEQ+1 and b.CMPNTSEQ=c.CMPNTSEQ+1 then CONVERT(char(51), a.DOCDATE, 101)else cast(b.ITEMDESC as char(51))endas FIELD03--Additional fields go herefrom SOP10100 a join SOP10200 b on a.SOPTYPE=b.SOPTYPE and a.SOPNUMBE=b.SOPNUMBE joinRM00101 d on a.CUSTNMBR=d.CUSTNMBRjoin(select SOPTYPE as SOPTYPE, SOPNUMBE as SOPNUMBE,LNITMSEQas LNITMSEQ,CMPNTSEQas CMPNTSEQ from SOP10200unionselect SOPTYPE as SOPTYPE, SOPNUMBE as SOPNUMBE, MIN(LNITMSEQ)-1 as LNITMSEQ, MIN(CMPNTSEQ)-1 as CMPNTSEQ from SOP10200group by SOPTYPE, SOPNUMBE) c on a.SOPTYPE=c.SOPTYPE and a.SOPNUMBE=c.SOPNUMBEand ((b.LNITMSEQ=c.LNITMSEQ and b.CMPNTSEQ=c.CMPNTSEQ) or (b.LNITMSEQ=c.LNITMSEQ+1 and b.CMPNTSEQ=c.CMPNTSEQ+1))left join SOP10106 udf on a.SOPTYPE=udf.SOPTYPE and a.SOPNUMBE=udf.SOPNUMBEwhere a.ADDRESS3'Exported' anda.SOPTYPE=3 and upper(d.USERDEF2)='YES'order by a.SOPTYPE, a.SOPNUMBE, b.LNITMSEQ asc

2. Mark processed documents - for this reason we use SOP10100.ADDRESS3 field - which was not used in Great Plains Dynamics/eEnterprise version 6.0:

update SOP10100 set ADDRESS3='Exported' where SOPTYPE=3

3. Communication with UNIX EDI Client or Server – each case requires individual approach. You may have to assign the file directory, exposed to the UNIX system or use old DOS command to move the file, or you can have automatic email. Good idea is to write communication application in your favorite programming language

4. Scheduled DTS Package - you should probably create DTS package to do all the steps: call SQL Query and save it as a file, then call DOS command or simple EXE application - which does communicate with UNIX

Happy programming! if you want us to do the job - give us a call 1-866-528-0577! help@albaspectrum.com

About The Author

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies – USA nationwide Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, based in Chicago, California, Colorado, Arizona, New York, Texas, Florida, Georgia and having locations in multiple states and internationally (www.albaspectrum.com), he is Dexterity, Transact SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer; akarasev@albaspectrum.com

ERP(Enterprise Resource Planning) software has traditionally been used by large corporates to integrate and automate diverse departments across the enterprise. For a long time, smaller companies purchased individual accounting and payroll packages and then migrated to expensive ERP solutions as they grew. They did not have much options as ERP solutions were costlier and required magnitude and many employees to justify their use.

Now, with many Open Source software coming out, it is possible for SMEs to go in for ERPs at an earlier stage. There are several in the market including Compiere, ERP5 and Fisterra. Companies have to carefully study individual requirements and test out these softwares to determine suitability.

In this article, I would like to review CK-ERP, an Open Source ERP/CRM system, ideally suited for use by SMEs. It has a total of 17 modules including accounting ledger, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivables, Purchase Order, Sales Order, Quotation, Point of Sale, Human Resource, Payroll and contact management. It operates as modules running atop phpGroupWare. This makes it possible for the software to be easily installed on Internet if employees are in various locations or on the Intranet for more secure transactions.

Here is a overview of its excellent features.

Customer Billing process

Any company with more than 10 recurring customers should seriously consider using an ERP(such as ck-ERP) to keep track of payments, work orders and related accounting. ck-erp has ck-Quote (a Quotation module), ck-so(Sales order module) and ck-ar (Accounts Receivable module) to keep

• Sales reps can key in Work Quotations for customers. The CK-Quote module allows for easily configurable Quotation templates which can be printed or emailed to customers.

You can easily enter customer records and configure various types of tax. The accounts receivables include Accounts Receivable Aging reports, Customer Invoice Aging reports and Detailed list of Tax collected.

If you are a Manufacturing company with thousands of customers, you can consider middle agents like Distributors or C&F agencies as customers and keep track of their payments using the same software.

The system is multi-currency and multi-user, allowing each module multiple access levels.

Inventory and Purchase process

Many companies, especially trading and manufacturing companies are generally swamped with purchase inventory and vendor information. Keeping track of vendor payments and paying bills in time before credit collection agencies call is a major source of tension. Here is what you can do with ck-erp’s purchase modules - ck-po(Purchase Order module), ck-ap(Accounts Payable module) and ck-inv(Inventory module) . Lets see how a purchase process works.

• Enter purchase orders to keep track of the service contracts and products you have purchased.

Accounts

The accounts section has practically everything one would want.

The core General Ledger module has the basic Double Entry accounting system with Ledger and Journal. The interesting aspect of the General Ledger is that it is the base for the Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Inventory, Bank and the Payroll modules. The entries from all these modules ultimately reflect in the General Ledger.

The accounting system has multi-currency support. The admin can set Standard Remarks for the invoice, purchase orders, Quotations and so on. The admin can even setup Multiple Ledgers for various divisions.

A Bank Reconciliation module allows you to reconcile bank statements with ledger entries.

On the flip side of the Accounts module is the fact that it does not have the yearly Opening and Closing balances. This makes it difficult to reconcile yearly accounts. A major flaw, which one can hope will be corrected in the near future.

Point of Sale(POS)

If you are a supermarket with multiple cashier desks and high cash transactions, you could use this module. Again the Point of Sale module is integrated with the General Ledger.

The ck-pos module lets cashiers enter Cash Sales, with or without tax. A good feature of the POS system is that it allows Credit Sales as well. Useful when customers insist on Purchase on Credit, for example in high value goods. Any Credit Sales entered by the cashiers have to be approved by Manager.

The Manager interface to the POS, ck-pos-m allows a manager to remotely control all the cashier operations from his office.

• Cashboxes can be setup for each POS counter and each shift. The manager can setup staff to work at each counter.
• The Manager can for instance view Shift End cash balance per Counter per shift. . The Manager can for instance view the Shift End cash balance at Counter 2 at the end of yesterday’s morning shift.
• Managers can setup special price plans
• Managers can add Reduction Charges such as special student discounts, senior citizen discount or Add-On Charge such as Sunday Surcharges or service charges.
• Managers can configure various payment options for non-cash options such as Cash Coupons, Exchange Coupon, Cheques and Credit cards.
• Taxes such as VAT, GST, PST can be setup.
• Sales reports

Human Resource Management

HR management software of some sort is required if you have more than 10 employees, and better still if payroll is integrated with the General Ledger. CK-ERP has excellent HR management features.

• Manage employee database including name, staff grades and roles, photo, address, email, phone and emergency contacts. A good feature in the HR software is that you are not limited by the number of phone fields. You can enter unlimited records per employee.
• Employees have their own Staff Self Service , something like a “My Account'’, which lets them Apply for Leave, enter Time sheet and attendance details and even request for Expense reimbursement. As soon as someone applies for leave or for expense reimbursement, their supervisor gets an email notification for approval.

CRM and Contact Management

CK-ERP’s latest addition is the CRM package.

• CK-CRM offers Helpdesk management and Sales contact management(for pre-sales) in a neat package all integrated with the central Customer database. Sales reps can track the sales calls and the sales contacts made. Customer relation executives can check the help calls and the helpdesk contacts made with each customer.
• The HelpDesk system is especially beautiful. Customer relation executives can view the entire Call case History Log per HelpDesk call, record the customer’s state of mind(furious, angry, pleased, excited), media(email, phone call, meeting) and the status of contact(research, resolution, followup, closed) Monitoring officers can be set for each ticket. Priorities(high, neutral low) and case categories(complaint, suggestion, bug report) can be setup for each call .
• The CRM is integrated with Quotation, Sales Order and the Invoice modules as well. This makes it very powerful. Customer Relation executives and Sales reps can check for instance the credit rating of the customer, the number of times he has been Quoted, billing histories and payment made.

CK-CRM also includes a Contact module for organisational contacts and individual contacts.

First we had the original Google search that evolved into the leader in its class. In fact, it became so popular that the word "google" worked its way into our everyday language as a verb, as in "to google" something. Google later introduced a toolbar that was plug-in for some browsers like Internet Explorer. The Google toolbar features a direct Google search box with quick access to image and group searches, a pop-up blocker, and for Internet marketers mostly, a PageRank (PR) indicator.

With competition like Yahoo and MSN threatening to start nipping at Google’s heels, Google has introduced several new services to try to stay ahead of the pack. Recently they introduced Gmail, their web-based free email service (currently offered by invitation only). And still in the Google lab is the Google Deskbar (for Windows users only).

The Google deskbar is a plug-in that resides in the Windows taskbar, the little control panel that contains your start button, perhaps some quick launch icons, the clock, and the system tray. Search engines and marketers have realized that to maintain and increase their competitive status, they will need to find ways to get surfers and customers to invite them to their desktops.

The deskbar features quick access to Google’s results, no matter which application you’re currently using. Researching a class report? Check facts and sources quickly. Working in Excel? Look up the formula to calculate the volume of a tube easily. Following breaking news? Check it from the deskbar without leaving Photoshop! You’ll be able to preview your search results with the small "floater" window that will close automatically.

From students to senior executives, from casual surfers to serious Internet marketers, the Google Deskbar may add to your productivity and fun online. It’s worth a look.

About The Author

Jakob Jelling is the founder of http://www.sitetube.com. Visit his website for the latest on planning, building, promoting and maintaining websites.