ACCLIVITY BLOG

ACCLIVITY BLOG

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AccountEdge 2012 comes to Canada

We’re excited to announce the launch 2012 into Canada, which includes all the features introduced in the US 2012 version earlier in the year, plus a few more. You can read all the details here, but the highlights include:
  • New Command Center-AccountEdge’s command center has been redesigned with an emphasis on usability and modernity
  • New Side Bar-The Side Bar lets you get to recently visited places in AccountEdge. 
  • New Welcome Window-The welcome window that opens when you launch AccountEdge has been redesigned with new features added for ease of use. 
  • Multiple Billing Rates-Create a matrix of billing rates, by activity, employee, and customer, so that you can charge different rates for the same activity. 
  • Mileage Log-Whether you depreciate your vehicle, reimburse for mileage, or bill your clients for miles driven, you can use AccountEdge to track your mileage. 
  • Manage Retainers-Set up and manage retainers in AccountEdge, keep a minimum retainer balance, and add expenses to a retainer to pay bills on behalf of clients.
And kudos to our web team for the Canadian site’s new look and feel. We especially like the Acclivity Core Values, Three-card Monte style.

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AccountEdge Mobile 1.87, available now

AEM 1.87 just hit the App store and is available for your favorite iOS device, still at the low-low price of FREE.  This release works with AccountEdge in the US, UK and Canada.

This release gave us a chance to catch our breath and fix a bunch of issues.  Among them:

  • Fixed crashing when selecting Activity first in an Activity Slip
  • When upgrading from older versions, you can now save Spend Money transactions
  • Sort Accounts By Setting appropriately sorts the Accounts List in transactions

And a ton of little things that needed to be addressed sooner or later, and ‘later’ finally became ‘sooner’.

Now we turn our attention to AEM 1.9 (coming in June) and our 2012 Canadian release of AccountEdge Pro, due next week.  This will bring our Canadian customers up to the 2012 feature set on the desktop and with it lots of new capability to support AEM as well.  This will include Custom Transaction Numbers, Inventory Quantities, Item Invoices, Add/Edit Jobs, and for the first time in any country, Mileage Tracking. 

We’re really psyched about Mileage Tracking and look forward to bringing it to customers in our other countries later this year.  Its a natural fit for mobile users and will tie in nicely to our desktop app. 


- Todd -

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AccountEdge Mobile…v1.85 and beyond

It’s been a while since we’ve discussed AccountEdge Mobile and what the future holds.  Last time we peaked behind the curtain we promised lots of cool new stuff, like:

  • Expenses without a Card - enter an expense on your iOS device without assigning it to a Card, just use the ‘Payee’ field.
  • Delete - any transactions (pre or post sync, without affecting AccountEdge desktop) or delete lines of a transaction while in entry mode.
  • New UI on the iPhone - doubling back to fix some UI areas when entering sales on the iPhone vs the iPad. 
  • Custom Transaction numbering - more flexibility in creating and over-riding transaction numbers.
  • Open A/R - when you go to a customer’s site, you should be able to view their outstanding balance on your phone, and maybe even apply a payment.
  • New Jobs and Items - be able to add new Jobs and Items on your device.
  • Credit Card Processing - process credit card transactions (swipe or manually entered) on your iPhone/iPad. 

All of those have been delivered, with the exception of Open A/R, New Jobs and Items, and Credit Card Processing.  The good news is that adding and editing Jobs is almost done and will be in the next release (1.85), along with better searching and support for the new iPad and its fantastic retina display. Credit Card Processing is under development, and adding items will get done at some point too (although we’ve added item quantities on Item Lists and Item records).  Plus, we’re working on adding:

  • Mileage Tracking
  • Quick Sale
  • Easy Add Customers
  • Receive Payments (against open accounts receivable)

We’re also hard at work on a great update that will support AccountEdge in Canada, so AEM will inherit tons of features that have been available in the US and UK.  The Canadian update will coincide with the 2012 release of AccountEdge in Canada, sometime in June.  Plus, once the next AccountEdge UK update is made public UK users of AEM will get a few new features as well. Later this summer, we’ll be moving on to update AEM to coincide with the release of AccountEdge in Australia, and AccountEdge International.  At that point, all the localized versions of AccountEdge will support the current version of AccountEdge Mobile.  

We’ve had some great feedback on our forum and on the app store.  We learned that our customers have found AEM to be a critical tool for their business.  We also learned that some users had hoped that AEM would mimic the functionality of our desktop apps or be able to share company files and transactions. It is a great idea and we’re constantly looking at ways to bridge that gap…

As always, keep the feedback coming. We’re listening.


 - Todd

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Total Weight and Units on Forms

AccountEdge Pro 2012 introduced a couple new fields on forms including invoices and packing slips. Now you can add a field for Total Number of Units and Total Weight for a sale as well as extended weight for a line item on your invoice.

This videos covers where you can find those fields and how to add them to your forms.

-Tom

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Adding, Removing and Updating Credit Card Numbers

If you process credit cards through AccountEdge, you might be interested in an enhancement that was introduced in update r16.1.4 of AccountEdge Pro 2012.

Executive Summary
You will now be able to capture a customer’s credit card details for future use without having to process a sale. Check out the video above to see how this works.

The Long Version
Previous to this update, when processing credit card payments through AccountEdge, you had the ability to save a card’s details for future use. To be accurate, the software doesn’t actually store credit card numbers but instead asks ACH Direct’s PCI Compliant Payments Gateway to store the card and return a payment ID. This ID represents the card so that if you need to process another sale with this card, we simply tell ACH Direct’s gateway to charge a particular Payment ID for a given amount. This helps you stay PCI Compliant.

As a matter of fact, when you’re entering in a credit card number or swiping a card, you’re actually doing so on an ACH Direct hosted payment form. It’s being entered directly into their PCI compliant servers.

A problem that some of our customers were running into was that it was great to be able to check that box to tell AccountEdge to store this card for future use during a sale, but what about when that card expires or when you are receiving a card number in advance of a sale? There wasn’t a method to enter in a card without actually processing a payment.

In this update we now give you the ability to go to the Payment Details tab on a customer record in the Card File and remove the Payment Method (essentially removing the Payment ID from AccountEdge) as well as adding a new payment method (a new credit card). In this case a new ACH Direct payment form is displayed to enter in a credit card number and we’ll store the Payment ID for use in the future. Unfortunately, you can’t swipe a card for future use. That’s a no no in the PCI world.

This could be useful if you, for example, sell maintenance plans where a plan might not start until next month but you want to collect the credit card number ahead of time. Another example of its usefulness is when a credit card expires or the customer simply wants to change up the card. You can now easily replace what’s there with a new card at any point.

Check out this short video to see how this works and if you’re on an older version of AccountEdge, this might be a good reason to upgrade (shameless plug).

-Tom

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AccountEdge Mobile 1.8 is now live on the app store for your favorite iOS device.  In this new version we focused on item quantities ‘as of’ your last sync.  Now you’ll be able to view your quantities on hand in the item list and item popovers (the list you select from when doing an item sales transaction).  Also, when you tap into the details screen for any item, you’ll see the quantity available, committed, on hand, and on order.  Plus, your item custom fields and lists are now working properly. 

Keep in mind, all this data as is of your last sync date, so we suggest you sync often if you need up to the minute balances of item quantities on hand. 

Here is a video that will show you how all this works



- Todd -

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Different Ways to Enter Dates

Recently I heard from a new customer who was looking for a shortcut for entering dates. They were switching from a competitive product that shall remain nameless (it started with a “Q”). I explained that we do have date shortcuts, but that they’re a bit different from what they were used to. They were pleased.

This had me thinking that maybe our date shortcuts need some publicity. Do you know how to use the space bar to bring up the calendar? How to use the + and - keys to adjust dates? And then there’s my favorite: did you know you can type in 17 to make the date the 17th of that month?

If you answered “no” to the above, maybe a date-entering video is in your future?

-Tom

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We’re happy to announce that AccountEdge Mobile 1.7 is now live in the App Store.
In this release you’ll find the ability to:
  • Sort columns
  • Create item invoices, and
  • Customize transaction numbers

Watch the video for details on the great new features, or just go get the free download.

At this time, AccountEdge Mobile 1.7 only works with AccountEdge Pro 16.1.3 or higher in the US. Support for the UK, Canada and Australia versions coming soon. 

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New Fields Available on Sales Reports We’ve standardized Sales Reports so that they have the same fields as other reports in AccountEdge.  This short video goes through some of the fields and shows you how to add them to your custom reports. -Tom

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New Custom Sales and Statement Templates

AccountEdge Pro v2012 comes with over 30 new custom sales and statement templates. We’ve created some with tear off remittance slips, a variety of different colors and different layout options. This quick video shows you a few of them.

-Tom