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Technology

Awesome QuickBooks Add-ons for 2010

From the Nov. 2009 Issue

At The Sleeter Group, we continually study the marketplace of QuickBooks add-ons
and services that enhance QuickBooks. I’m quite impressed with the depth
and breadth of solutions in the market, including solutions for everything from
automotive dealership management solutions to construction, property management,
document management, manufacturing, wholesale and distribution. It’s truly
amazing to see how the “ecosystem” of solutions has grown and thrived
over the years.

For several years now, we’ve spotlighted several special products we
call “awesome add-ons.” We survey products in several vertical markets
where QuickBooks may not have all the needed features, or where clients want
customized solutions. Most of the winners are software, but several are hardware
and software combinations.

In order to qualify for our list, the product and/or service must be developed
and sold by a solid company with a reputation for outstanding customer support,
and the product must have the following attributes:

  • Show superior design, implementation and features;
  • Integrate with QuickBooks using best practices of the QuickBooks SDK programming
    guidelines;
  • Use appropriate transaction types and field population for recording data
    into QuickBooks so as to preserve and/or enhance the standard reporting features
    in QuickBooks; and
  • Conform to good accounting principles and operating standards.

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Autofy — Propelware
www.propelware.com
Pricing: $395/year – includes updates & support
Target Customers: QuickBooks users that process more than 15
transactions per week or require data to automatically be entered without manual
data entry

This utility program helps automate the process of pulling data from and
pushing data to various applications such as QuickBooks. It is particularly
useful for QuickBooks consultants who need to help clients automate the process
of synchronizing data between different applications on the desktop and on
the web.

Autofy automatically synchronizes a variety of business records between
desktop and enterprise software, as well as online data sources. Save valuable
resources (money, time and productivity) by eliminating double data entry
and data-entry mistakes. Accounting invoices, sales transactions, payroll,
customer contact information and more can be easily exchanged between software
platforms such as QuickBooks, Peachtree, Salesforce.com and Microsoft Office,
among others.

The Autofy system is available as a shrink-wrapped application or as a customized
solution where data is synchronized exactly to specification. Connections
can be built to any data source available, including any relational database
system, Intuit’s QuickBase, Fox Pro, Excel, and many others.

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Netfira Connect Commerce — Netfira
www.netfira.com
Pricing: Free, $1 per transaction
Target Customers:
Wholesalers, Distributors, Manufacturers, any buyer
or seller of finished goods

Netfira Connect is the fast, simple, real-time application connecting sellers,
buyers and their accounting systems, enabling small and large businesses to
securely trade over the Internet.

Netfira Connect Commerce has two integrated modules — Connect Seller
and Connect Buyer — which transform the traditional buying and selling
process into two-way, real-time electronic commerce.

Unlike traditional e-commerce solutions where sellers list their products
on an external web store, Netfira Connect allows buyers and sellers to securely
link to each other in real-time via a secure peer-to-peer link over the Internet.
Key features include online price checking, inventory availability and ordering.
Netfira Connect links to most SMB inventory management and accounting systems,
including MYOB, QuickBooks, Sage, Attaché and Fishbowl. This enables
customers and vendors to electronically trade with each other securely from
their desktop, regardless of their size or which backend accounting or inventory
system they use.

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Qvinci Business Dashboard Solution — Qvinci Software
www.qvinci.com
Pricing: $9.99/month – $39.99/month
Target Customers:
Small business owner and managers as well as ProAdvisors
(Gurus). Gurus are able to brand Qvinci and provide the solution to end users
while layering additional services on top

Qvinci is a small business management tool that aggregates data from QuickBooks
and Excel and produces a dashboard view of financial information. The solution
adds forward-looking tools, drilldown, early warning indicators and graphical
representations in a user interface that allows the business owner/operator/staff
member to instantly spot areas needing attention.

Qvinci allows ProAdvisors to brand the solution in minutes and layer additional
services on top. The result is increased client “stickiness,”
recurring revenue and value. Qvinci is sold on a monthly subscription basis,
and multiple seats can be deployed across the enterprise.

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Virtual Time+Expense — Virtual Software Inc.
www.virtualsoftware.net
Pricing: $5 per user per month per module
(Time and Expense modules
sold both jointly and separately)
Target Customers:
Companies using QuickBooks with five or more employees
that need to track time and/or expenses for billing, payroll or project accounting
purposes

Virtual Software’s online platform simplifies the preparation, approval
and accounting for timesheets and expense reports. Features include time tracking,
class tracking, project tracking, paperless receipt management (fax and file
upload), credit card transaction downloads, gross pay calculation and export
to any payroll provider.

Using email no-tifications, Virtual Time+Expense provides multiple levels
of approvals and accounting review. After review, Virtual Software’s
robust suite of back-office tools populates QuickBooks with detailed invoices,
timecards, contractor bills and employee reimbursement checks.

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ExpenseWatch.com — ExpenseWatch, Inc.
www.ExpenseWatch.com

Pricing: Expense Reports: $16/user/month;
Purchasing and Invoice Mgmt: $31/user/month
Target Customers:
Small and mid-sized companies in any industry

This web-based time and expense reporting tool allows companies to streamline
the process of time tracking and expense reporting, as well as purchasing
and invoicing.

If you run a business, you have expenses. ExpenseWatch.com includes modules
for Expense Reports, Purchasing and AP Invoice Management that can be subscribed
to individually to control specific company spending issues, or as a fully
integrated expense control suite. Because Expense Watch.com is an open expense
control platform, companies have the flexibility to integrate spending data
with a wide range of business solutions used — travel management tools,
accounting/enterprise resource management systems and payroll providers, credit
cards, budgeting applications, customer relationship management systems, ecommerce
vendors, and more.

ExpenseWatch.com allows managers to control company spending by viewing purchases,
bills and expense reports waiting to be approved or paid, and what has been
paid. Annual subscriptions include implementation (which takes about a month),
training, support for all users, and usage analysis.

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XpandedReports for Fishbowl for QuickBooks / XpandedReports
for Fishbowl — XpandedReports, LLC

www.xpandedreports.com
Pricing: $19.95 per user per month for XR for QuickBooks; $29.95 per user per
month for XR for Fishbowl
Target Customers:
QuickBooks ProAdvisors and managers at QuickBooks
and Fishbowl installations

This is a comprehensive, flexible QuickBooks (or Fishbowl) reporting tool.
It helps consultants produce and customize management reports for clients.
XpandedReports fills the gaps left between QuickBooks reports and the needed
management views of financial data in the enterprise. Instead of static, one-off
stock reports from QuickBooks or Fishbowl, XpandedReports allows you to create
a wide variety of reports that can be sliced and diced with almost no limits.

Xpanded Reports offers tools to sort, group, subtotal, create pivot tables
and insert formulas directly into the report.

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Method Integration — Alocet Incorporated
www.alocet.com
Pricing: www.methodintegration.com/web/application-library.aspx
Target Customers:
Small to medium-sized businesses that use QuickBooks
and require industry-specific functions and/or custom features

Method Integration is a web-based suite of customizable, industry-specific
applications that connect directly to a desktop version of QuickBooks. Method
remotely accesses and synchronizes each list and transaction between QuickBooks
and the web application in real-time. Method includes complete web-based CRM,
third-party portals, automatic backups of your database, customization using
drag-and-drop wizards (no coding!), and nearly complete QuickBooks functionality
using a web-based interface.

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Misys SBM Shop Floor Control v4.0 — MISys Inc

www.misysinc.com
Pricing: $1,500
(as part of the MISys SBM modular system)
Target Customers:
All small to medium-sized manufacturers with fewer
than 100 employees

We first recognized MISys SBM in 2007, but with this major new feature, the
product suddenly appeals to a whole new set of customers in the mid-market
and beyond.

Manufacturers who need to compute the true cost of their production activities
need the Shop Floor Control module of MISys Small Business Manufacturing.
This new module, added onto the MISys SBM product allows the manufacturer
to completely control and plan the activities, resources and maintenance of
the entire shop floor.

It provides for tracking the use and maintenance of production tools, the
establishment of work centers for all production activities, the specific
rates at which each work center can process its work, the days of the week
when each work center is open, the required material, labor and overhead for
each work center, the routing details for bills of material and manufacturing
orders, and many other critical activities that must be managed to successfully
run a manufacturing operation.

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ShareFile — ShareFile
www.sharefile.com
Pricing: $29.95 – $499.95/month,
depending on users, storage and bandwidth
requirements
Target Customers:
Small and mid-sized companies in any industry

ShareFile allows you to create a custom-branded, password-protected area
where you can exchange business files with clients easily, securely and professionally.
Whether you deal with files that are simply too large to transfer by email,
need secure file transfer, or just need a collaboration space where project-related
files can be posted, ShareFile can provide a solution for you.

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New Products to Watch
In addition to this year’s winners, we feel there is one new product worth
mentioning, and we’re keeping an eye on it to see how it matures in the
marketplace.

incMagic Search
www.incmagic.com
Pricing: $15/user/month
Target Customers:
Any QuickBooks user

incMagic introduces world-class search for QuickBooks. With its simple, small
search box right inside QuickBooks, users simply type a few keys and any matching
QuickBooks data comes back instantly. You can search for a contact’s
name, the first few digits of a customer’s phone number, an invoice
number, the price of an item, the amount of a bill — anything. Search
results are organized inside QuickBooks, and viewing or editing a match is
one click away.

incMagic has developed custom indexing technology specifically for QuickBooks,
making searches fast and accurate. Search results even update in real time
as QuickBooks data changes. With incMagic Search, it’s easier and faster
to find anything in QuickBooks.

Key features:
• Search box and results integrated directly into QuickBooks
• Searches QuickBooks transactions and lists, including custom fields
• Searches keystroke by keystroke — no need to press “enter”
to search
• Results update in real-time as QuickBooks data changes

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About QuickBooks Add-ons
In 2003, Intuit released its Application Programming Interface (API), which
is provided to developers in a Software Developer Kit (SDK). This SDK opens
up the 3 million plus small business customer base to software developers who
add value to QuickBooks by creating specific add-on products that integrate
with the popular financial management system. Even a casual programmer using
Microsoft Office and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) can develop an application
to read from and write to a QuickBooks data file.

Intuit makes extensive use of the SDK to extend the functionality of QuickBooks.
For example, QuickBooks Point of Sale uses the SDK to integrate with QuickBooks.
To search for QuickBooks add-ons, visit the Intuit marketplace site at http://marketplace.intuit.com.
For more information about developing add-ons for QuickBooks visit http://developer.intuit.com.

Previous years’ winners of the Awesome QuickBooks Add-on award include:

• Acctivate! (www.acctivate.com)

• AccuPOS – Attitude Positive (www.accupos.com)
• Adagio FX (www.softrak.com)

• AutoReporter (www.bqe.com)

• AvaTax Connect (www.avalara.com)
• BDTS (www.bdts.us)
• BigTime Time and Billing (www.Edisonsattic.com)
• BillQuick (www.bqe.com)

• Bill.com – (www.bill.com)
• CNG-Books and CNG-SAFE (www.cabinetng.com)

• Corecon 4.0 (www.corecon.com)

• Corrigo Worktrack Service Management (www.corrigo.com)
• Count Me In (www.countmeinllc.com)
• Data Flow Manager (www.atandra.com)
• DataMover (www.personable.com)
• DepositNow! (www.depositnow.com)
• Fishbowl Inventory (www.fishbowlinventory.com)

• GiftWorks (www.missionresearch.com)
• InsynQ (e-Accounting) CPAASP (www.cpaasp.com)

• Legrand CRM (www.legrandcrm.com)

• MISys SBM (www.misysinc.com)

• PayCycle (www.paycycle.com)

• PDG Commerce (www.pdgsoft.com)

• ProfitCents (www.profitcents.com)

• QODBC Driver (www.qodbc.com)

• QuickBooks Point of Sale (www.intuit.com)

• ReportWiz from DGR software (www.dgrsoftware.com)

• Results CRM (www.results-software.com)

• Right Networks ASP – (www.rightnetworks.com)

• SmartVault – (www.smartvault.com)
• SourceLink (www.personable.com)

• Sunburst Certified Payroll Solution (www.sunburstsoftwaresolutions.com)

• Data Transfer Utility by Karl Irvin (www.q2q.us)

• TrueCommerce Transaction Manager (www.truecommerce.com)

• UniResMan (www.uniresman.com)

• WorkTrack Service Management by Corrigo (www.corrigo.com)

See inside November 2009 issue

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