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Using Alpha 5/6 As an Accounting Program

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    Using Alpha 5/6 As an Accounting Program

    I am currently a single user of ACT 6., QB PRO Accountant, MS Office. I am purcahsing a company that will need 5-7 licenses of each program. I am wondering if the ALPHA product could easily be programmed to act as a single pice of software for accounting,contact mgmt, database etc. Any thouhts?

    #2
    RE: Using Alpha 5/6 As an Accounting Program

    A5 can do all of this and more. If you're trying to ingtegrate Act, Quickbooks, etc. then putting it all into A5 makes a world of sense. You ask if this can "easily be programmed..". For the most part of what you need, the answer is yes. A few things may require a bit of help, but one of the best places to come is here.

    Also, full disclosure: I'm a trainer for PACE Training, which provides A5 instructional courses over the web. It sounds to me that if you're going to be doing all this for 5-7 people then the $595 for a PACE course will be well spent, especially with all the money you save by not buying all that other software. For info about PACE, see

    http://pacetraining.webex.com

    - Steve
    -Steve
    sigpic

    Comment


      #3
      RE: Using Alpha 5/6 As an Accounting Program

      Hello Steve,
      Thanks for the reply. Since I'll be doing the integration and training, I think I'll need some help. Can you tell me what the $595 includes? How many can "attend", what is the duration, any programming assistance?

      I am not technical but have a good working knowledge of computers and software etc. How much time do you think it would take to get the ALPHA product ready to be used daily as acctg, CRM etc.?

      Comment


        #4
        RE: Using Alpha 5/6 As an Accounting Program

        Hi Sean,

        I use Alpha database products to track a bunch of things for my business. Such as; employees, payroll, deliveries, invoicing, parts, receivables, production, check book register, vendor tracking, purchase orders. I had to set all this up myself. Much work, but I've been able to arrange my system around the best business practices for me as opposed to arranging my business around a "canned" software package. I do not use what I have to do full accounting activities. But, I'm sure that if I knew more about accounting and general ledger that it wouldn't be out of reach for A5. In this case, I'm the limitation.

        Mike
        Thank you,
        Mike Konoff

        Comment


          #5
          RE: Using Alpha 5/6 As an Accounting Program

          See the website I referred to for more info on the training. That's the cost per person - 2 day sessions, and there's a Level 1 and Level 2 course.

          How long to get it ready for daily use? I don't know that I can tell you that. I have no idea, really, what skills you have, what other daily obligations, etc. etc.

          My advice as well is to take each piece at a time -- don't try to do 'em all at once. Make your contact manager based on one of the A5 samples or templates, and have it doing most of what you want before you move on to the next "module".

          Hope this helps a bit.

          - Steve
          -Steve
          sigpic

          Comment


            #6
            RE: Using Alpha 5/6 As an Accounting Program

            Hello Sean,

            This is not easy at all.
            Your software does not only have to work, it also has to meet certain standards like US-GAAP or others in order to be accepted by market parties like f.i. IRS.

            I created an accounting package with Alpha and I can tell you it is a hell of a job.
            It would be a hell of a job using whatever database development environment.

            Certainly A5 would be the best choice to do it with, but that does not mean it is going to be easy.

            Have a look at:
            http://www.universalaccount.com

            Kind regards,

            Marcel

            Comment


              #7
              Another opinion

              I do not mean to rain on Alpha Five, but as the owner of a small business there is no comparison between Act + QB + MS Office and Alpha Five. The first are solutions to specific problems. Alpha Five is the raw material, and you WILL have to program it, and you will likely never stop "tweaking" it.

              Like Mike I have a program that fits my business exactly. However I do accounting in QuickBooks. I do estimating, scheduling, contact management, invoicing, payroll, job costing etc. in A5. It COULD be adapted to do accounting, but QB is just fine, and the $300 represents 6 hours billable to me. No way can I program Alpha Five to replace QB in 6 hours.

              I must say my program is super efficient on data entry, but I have spent hundreds of hours programming it. Those hours could have been spent on other things. I probably have a $10,000 program to run my business, if you account for my hours.

              Would I do it again? Yes... The reasons I did it the first time still apply.

              But be aware you are making a MAJOR personal committment of time to Alpha Five. And from this stand point the PACE training will save you tons of time.

              I would also look to find an Alpha Five developer that I could work with. I am not rich, so I would do a bunch of it my self, but it would be nice if there was an experienced A5er who could look over what I am doing, and perhaps keep me from going off track, even point out some shortcuts. This is probably not what a programmer wants as a job, but I can't afford even $5k. But a few hours up front getting the overview, table structures, set structures, general menu structure worked out would also save a LOT of time.

              My main point in this post is you are buying a company and it needs to run the day it becomes yours. The hours needed to get A5 to replace ACT, QB and MS Office may easily be enough for the business to die. So thinking about licensing fees vs purchasing price of A5 as the deciding factor is way off base.

              Comment


                #8
                RE: Using Alpha 5/6 As an Accounting Program

                Hi Mike,

                Thanks. I think I would cause a similar limitation and probable much sooner!

                Comment


                  #9
                  RE: Using Alpha 5/6 As an Accounting Program

                  Steve,

                  Thanks for the input.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    RE: Another opinion

                    If you're looking for an A5 accounting program... go to www.alphasoftware.com and search for 3rd party software.

                    I believe I spotted a complete system available there for about $200 and it was modifiable to suit your needs.

                    --Bob

                    Comment


                      #11
                      RE: Another opinion

                      I purchased the A5 accounting program (developed by a third party) and am hugely disappointed with it - a total waste of money in my. I don't see how this app could manage the finance side of a small business - it may however be a reasonable (just reasonable - very basic -clunky) kick start for developing your own. Anyway - just my opinion..

                      Regards,
                      Scott

                      Comment


                        #12
                        RE: Another opinion

                        Hi Scott,

                        That is why I stated that the development of a good and complete accounting package is a hell of a job.
                        That has not everything to do with A5 (it makes things easier of course) but more with all functions you want in it.

                        Have a look at this:
                        http://www.universalaccount.com/featuresnew.htm

                        I am sure your money would not have been lost on this !

                        The English version is still under development, but it will have all the functions of the Dutch language version when it is finished.
                        At this moment 3 experienced A5 developers are working on it.

                        regards,

                        Marcel

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: Another opinion

                          Hi Marcel....
                          I am trying to develop an accounting program using Alpha Five ( V10)
                          I believe you may already have some experience in this...
                          If so , please can you provide some info.
                          Regards
                          Strini

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Re: Using Alpha 5/6 As an Accounting Program

                            Hi strini,

                            I believe you can get tons of help here on the forum. Searching may turn up most anything you might want and if not, just ask. If you supply some ideas of how you want things to work, some will give you a pretty good idea of what will fit best where. If you supply a complete app as you have it, others can critique it and give advice.

                            Advice is usually very good, but you can then decide which advice to use and which to discard like any good business man would.

                            Yes, I am working some on a full accounting application to go along with my major application. I like to make thing like this where the user can set stuff up the way they want it to work. There is a chart of accounts(as an example) that the user can add to and modify to fit their business kind of like Quick Books.

                            Remember, Quickbooks is basically a book keeping system. An accounting system can go much further.
                            Dave Mason
                            [email protected]
                            Skype is dave.mason46

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