BillQuick and QuickBooks 2009

BillQuick 2008 has undergone extensive testing with QuickBooks 2009 (US and Canadian editions). BillQuick now works with:

• QuickBooks 2002 thru 2009 U.S. Edition, including Accountant’s Edition
• QuickBooks 2003 thru 2009 Canadian Edition
• QuickBooks Enterprise 2.0 (US) and later (including Accountant’s Edition)

Training – In-Depth BillQuick-QuickBooks Integration

There is an opportunity to go deeper into the BillQuick-QuickBooks integration, learning best practices and more advances topics. This can help you AND YOUR CLIENTS better understand the depth and breadth of our integration with QuickBooks. The session is the same one delivered by Irfan Qazi, our BillQuick-QuickBooks guru, to a Wowed! capacity crowd of BillQuick customers.

NOTE: The training session is commissionable to BillQuick Advisors.

Integrating BillQuick and QuickBooks has the potential to save hundreds of hours each year. Accounting staff and others can build on the basics and learn about how BillQuick handles important items with QuickBooks, including:

• QuickBooks Classes
• Retainers
• Discounts
• Vendor Bills
• Checks
• Employee Expenses
• Invoices

The session will also look at BillQuick’s Smart Matching capability and share best practices about which tasks to do in BillQuick and which ones to do in QuickBooks.

With the extended Question and Answer period, you and your clients will gain even greater insight and get the most out of BillQuick and QuickBooks and improve your productivity.

Click Training Checkout to sign up for the session. Once payment is confirmed, you will receive an email with a link to complete your registration.

Getting a Quote for Customized Invoices & Reports

(Part 2 of a 2-part post)

Part 1 discussed:

• What does “Customization” mean
• Why you might customize BillQuick invoices, statements and reports
• Customization options
• Which option is best for your client

For the do it yourself/let the client do it options, a quick summary of requirements and consulting services was included.

Advisors: Remember that you are commissioned on all product and service sales delivered to BQE Software. This includes consulting services.

When will a customization situation arise?

There are several situations when your client might consider customizing an invoice, statement or report.

1. You raise this as an option when doing a needs analysis, workflow analysis or when working through a quote with your client. Invoices, statements and reports content and how they are laid out (presentation) should be part of every needs analysis.
2. Your client tells you that BillQuick invoices or reports “just aren’t right” or “are not adequate” during a follow-up visit or call.
3. Your client tells a BillQuick Support Rep, BillQuick Certified Trainer or BillQuick Certified Consultant invoices or reports “just aren’t right” or “are not adequate”.
4. Your client learns about the customization option through BillQuick Help, the BillQuick Reference Guide, or the BillQuick eLetter.

To maximize your client’s satisfaction with you and with BillQuick, the best time for customization to come up is the needs analysis or quote. Your client does not feel like there was a “gotcha” hidden from them. During the early stage of a new relationship, clients are more open to what they will invest to gain desired benefits. Learning about this option later can sometimes frustrated clients.

How to get a quote for report customization?

The BillQuick Report Team can customize standard BillQuick invoices, statements and reports, as well as create customize output to your client’s specifications. Templates can be defined for output to a printer, as PDF file, in an Access database file, in a comma separated value file, and other formats.

Follow the steps below to obtain a quote:

1. Review the standard templates (invoices, statements, reports) included with BillQuick to determine if one is close to what your client wants. Print a sample copy of the invoice, statement or report. Customizing an existing template takes less time than creating one from scratch – for you, your client and for the BillQuick Report Team, thus reducing the overall investment.
2. If there is no standard template like what your client needs, create a mock up or obtain an existing sample from your client’s files.
3. Mark up the sample template. Note where changes should be made. If special process is required, such as presenting a subset of data or presenting details in a summary form, make a note of this.
4. Fax or scan and email the marked up template to the BillQuick Report Team Manager or the BillQuick Reseller Channel Manager.
5. The BillQuick Report Team Manager will review the customization needed. If necessary, he will contact you with questions. Typically, you have a quote within 72 hours.

How to submit a sales order for report customization?

To ensure proper credit – both for your commission and addition to your accumulated sales, do the follow when submitting a sales order for report customization.

1. After confirming with your client to go ahead, use the quote to complete the BillQuick Advisor Order Form.
2. Submit the form to the Channel Manager.

Custom templates will be delivered within 10 business days.

NOTE: If you verbally accept the quote and give the go-ahead to the BillQuick Report Team Manager after discussing the work, be sure to inform the Channel Manager.

NOTE: The BillQuick Advisor Order Form is included in each Advisor’s Welcome Pack. Also, you can download a copy from the Marketing & Consulting Resources blog page.

Advisors: Remember that you are commissioned on all product and service sales delivered to BQE Software. This includes consulting services.

The BillQuick Report Team Guarantee

All work will be to the client’s satisfaction.

If BQE Software changes the run-time version of Crystal Reports built into BillQuick and this impacts any custom invoice, statement or report, the template will be updated at no charge to the client.

Customize Invoices & Reports?

(This is Part 1 of a 2-part post)

Any BillQuick invoice, statement or report can be customized.

What does “Customization” mean?

Customization means some aspect of a standard BillQuick invoice, statement or report, called a “template,” is changed in some way. This might involve:

• Adding a special-size company logo
• Replacing the entire company “letterhead” area with the company’s standard letterhead
• Adding or removing columns of data
• Rearranging invoice memos or detail time and expense memos
• Adding or removing a billing and payment history block
  
• Add or removing an invoice aging block
• Creating a new summary invoice page with details on a second page
• Adding a profit percentage column
• Adding a profit multiple column
• Adding a bar or pie chart to a report
  

Customization also means a template is created from scratch. A sample or mock-up of an invoice, statement or report is used. Also, instructions (specifications) define the data to pull from BillQuick and how to process it before placing it in the right place in the template. These instructions also describe the presentation (text, graphic) and desired output (printer, database file, etc).

In short, there is a lot the BillQuick Report Team can do for your client.

Why Customize?

Invoices and statements sent to customers of your client reflect the firm’s professional image. This is no small part of their marketing and branding with clients. Also, clients want invoices and statements that clearly and effectively communicate the work done and financial information.

For reports used in a client’s firm, the greatest benefits are gained when information matches their  management style. Because styles vary among firms, this can be a major source of efficiency and time savings. Always remind your clients about this. What information is presented and how it is laid out is often an unconscious expectation among clients.

What are your customization options?

1. Outsource to the BillQuick Report Team.
2. You do it yourself for a BillQuick customer.
3. A BillQuick customer does it.

Which option is best for your client?

If your firm or your client has a Crystal Reports programmer on staff and they have time to do the work, then using them is the best option. See Do It Yourself or Client Does It below.

In most situations, you will want to outsource the work to the BillQuick Report Team because:

• No one has adequate skills.
• Time to do the work is in short supply.
• Crystal Reports experience is not used everyday, resulting in more time for the relearning process and doing the work.

In short, there is a real, often overlooked, cost for doing. Whether done by you or your client, time that is otherwise billable at a good rate can be lost.

To get a quote from the BillQuick Report Team, see Part 2 – Quote for Customized Reports & Invoices.

Do It Yourself or Client Does It

All standard invoice, statement and report templates included with BillQuick can be customized.

To work with a template you need Crystal Reports 10 or later. Also, you need to know how to use Crystal Reports. If you do not, please obtain training and other Crystal Reports services via the Web and a local resource.

BQE Software does not provide technical support for Crystal Reports. However, members of the BillQuick Report Team do provide for-fee consulting services.

Advisors: You are commissioned on all product and service sales delivered to BQE Software. This includes consulting services.

Email Subscription Option

You can now subscribe to BillQuick Advisor by email as well as RSS feed.

At the bottom of the right column, click on the email link. On the Feedburner Email page, enter your email address. Immediately a confirmation email is sent to you. As soon as click the link in the email, your BillQuick Advisor email subscription is activated!

BillQuick Advisor publishes a daily email of new posts and pages at midday.