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Thread: What is required from a accountant of a distribution company?

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    Silver Member bjsteyn's Avatar
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    What is required from a accountant of a distribution company?

    I have written an Order Processing system for distributors, it was not designed with the intention of being an accounting system, but a sales system. After working a bit in Pastel ( and I mean a little bit ) , I have a understanding of how to implement a general ledger into my system, and want to implement it in the second version of my software. I am wanting to license out the software eventually.

    The first version of the system has been used for 4 years by a company and there books was done by an accountant by pulling figures from my system. That company is now moving to Pastel. :-( .But as I am the person that is working with the accountant setting up Pastel, I will gain experience in Pastel an can only use it to improve my system or if it is the better option create an stand alone front end application that expands on Pastel's capabilities.

    I was told by the accountant not to re-invent the wheel, he is probably right, but who said that the wheel was designed right the first time?


    My problem is the following, would accountants of sales business sign off on my system in general and what be needed to export to Pastel for accounting purposes from it?

    As far as I now, i have two option on writing software that integrate with Pastel, the first being to use Pastel's SDK or secondly use an ODBC connector to write directly to the Prevasive database.

    My problem with the first is that the SDK is expensive and I don't have money at the moment to purchase it. My problem with the second is that I have not yet worked with a Pervasive database and am not sure if I will be able to write and query data from the Pastel database it. What I mean is the database completely open ( for editing and querying ) for a 3rd party developer via odbc?

    Does anyone have a bit of insight on this for me?

    Thanx
    BJ

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    Diamond Member Neville Bailey's Avatar
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    Hi BJ,

    Although it is possible to set up an ODBC database link to the Pervasive database, unless you have the SDK module, you can only read the database, not write to it, due to Pastel's proprietary software.

    Even if you decide to go for the SDK module, bear in mind that Pastel has embarked on a process of recoding all their software to run on a MS SQL platform, thereby doing away with the Pervasive SQL platform. I don't know when that process will be completed, but it will probably be during the next few years.
    Neville Bailey - Sage Pastel Accounting Consultant
    www.accountingsoftwaresupport.co.za
    neville@accountingsoftwaresupport.co.za
    IronTree Online Solutions

    "Give every person more in use value than you take from them in cash value."
    WALLACE WATTLES (1860-1911)

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    Silver Member bjsteyn's Avatar
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    Hi Neville, thanks. That clears up for me what i can do via odbc. And the SDK is not a possibility for me at the moment. Am just going to improve my software and create a Pastel export. But I need somebody with accounting experience and a bit of programming knowledge to be able to work with me, as at the end of the day most business in SA's accounting is done via Quickbooks or Pastel. And want my database design to be easy for exporting the required accounting information so that it can be imported via Quickbooks and Pastel.

    Have you personally done accounting via Pastel, for other business that used a different system for their sales software?

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    Diamond Member Neville Bailey's Avatar
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    Yes, I have worked on many scenarios in which my clients needed transactions to be imported into Pastel from 3rd party applications and/or the reverse.

    Let me know how I can possibly help you.
    Neville Bailey - Sage Pastel Accounting Consultant
    www.accountingsoftwaresupport.co.za
    neville@accountingsoftwaresupport.co.za
    IronTree Online Solutions

    "Give every person more in use value than you take from them in cash value."
    WALLACE WATTLES (1860-1911)

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    Silver Member bjsteyn's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Neville Bailey View Post
    Yes, I have worked on many scenarios in which my clients needed transactions to be imported into Pastel from 3rd party applications and/or the reverse.

    Let me know how I can possibly help you.
    I am wanting to handle stock, sales, customers, statements, payments etc. in my system and just export to pastel what is needed for accounting. I want to implement a general ledger for sales, cost of sales, and inventory adjust as is in pastel. I still need to play around more on Pastel to get a clear picture. As I said I have not really worked in Pastel, only just starting.

    Would that be sufficient for exporting information to Pastel, and obviously your stock purchases need to be accounted for and VAT difference.

    What am trying to figure out is what Pastel / an Accountant needs and in which format for doing accounting for a sales company? My accounting knowledge isn't to great but I have basic knowledge on accounting and have a few accounting books, but haven't really had time to get into them.

    I am currently writing the system in MS Access, but want to eventually move the system to VB.NET once the database structure is 100% and it can be easily updated in new versions of the software.

    Can I maby send you a copy of program and you can look at it and give me your honest opinion. As i said there are still things I want to improve on, and will in the next version.

    Thanx again

    BJ

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    Diamond Member Neville Bailey's Avatar
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    Hi BJ,

    I would be interested in seeing what your system looks like, and how it can complement Pastel's existing stock system and ordering system, so please send me a copy.

    By your own admission, you are not really familiar with Pastel, and you need to be sure that you can offer something that Pastel currently does not offer, so I can give you my feedback as to whether you are on a winning formula.

    Also, bear in mind that there are quite a few 3rd party developers, with SDK licences, that have developed add-on functionality to Pastel's stock and ordering system, so you have quite a bit of competition out there!
    Neville Bailey - Sage Pastel Accounting Consultant
    www.accountingsoftwaresupport.co.za
    neville@accountingsoftwaresupport.co.za
    IronTree Online Solutions

    "Give every person more in use value than you take from them in cash value."
    WALLACE WATTLES (1860-1911)

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    Silver Member bjsteyn's Avatar
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    I designed the database structure about 4 years ago and kept on extending on it overtime. Just to keep in mind that the company that is using my system is doing about R700000 in sales every month and are a Nestle dedicated distributor, with allot of reporting to Nestle, which i did on the word that it would pay off eventually. They are the first of 30 odd franchises. I was told that all the other franchise would use my system and kept on working on it on my own time. Don't look like that is going to happen at the moment, but if a can sort out the accounting and improve on a few other minor issues then i am sure i can I swing them my way again. There are 3 open so far, and the second decided to use Pastel, thus it affecting the other franchises. As far as the franchise group manager was concerned he did insist on my program, but the second franchise owner didn't let up.

    So there is alot of place still for improvement, as-well as the User Interface. I am currently designing the new db structure for the second version.

    Yes, there is competition, but until I can afford the SDK, my only option is to write my own software. I can probably look at writing some advanced reporting and analytical software ( I am very analytical by nature ), as you said I can not write to the Pastel database directly, but then again the competition in that area is probably even more.

    I will email you my first version tonight, but here are a few things I am looking at for the second version.

    Multiple Suppliers for a Product ( Able to store there pricing, and fill threw to Purchase Orders and Acquisitions)

    Stock Codes - For accurate GP's and accounting (will sort out the problem that occurs when the same product is purchased from different suppliers and/or at different prices)
    Every time stock is purchased it will be assigned a stock code
    I noticed this problem in my system and apparently from what i heard from the accountant it is a problem in pastel separating sales on the same product by supplier in the general ledger and looking at the way he setup the sales, cost of sales , inv adjust I can see it can't separate your sales via supplier )

    Setting up Credit Limits
    (Something from Pastel), as-well as in your face amounts outstanding when capturing orders.

    Email(Via Outlook) & SMS(Via Webservices) to Customers


    Specials ( Running between date periods )

    Delivery Management
    - Setting up a delivery schedule ( Which areas are being delivered to on which days )
    Links up with orders pending to give the driver a list of all his deliveries for the day ( Also displayed via Google Maps - just because i can :-))
    - Checking of which orders has gone with which delivery method (No confusion as to were orders are )
    - Scanning signed depo copies and storing for future inquiries (Can't say it was not delivered)

    Sales
    - Sales Targets(Budgets)
    - Sales Actual vs Budget progress tracking for month

    Credits & Stock Adjustment

    - Discard Stock (Expired etc.)
    - Credits / Stock Returns ( Customer / Supplier ) - Can credit at the moment in my system, but doesn't adjust stock - Will be fixed in V 2
    - Stock Conversion ( eg. 1 coffee + 1 sugar + 1 cremora = 1 coffee pack ) --> Stock to be adjusted
    - Thinking About This : Removing of Cases and Eaches for each product and use the pastel route of giving the unit a name ( Potential problem if case unit changes or is incorrect in my current system )

    Reps
    - Setting Up Call Schedules and Reps being able to print it from there login Dashboard
    - Daily Report for reps to see what stock levels are so that they don't sell what is not in stock , also rep able to see it in his logon dashboard
    - Reps being able to print price lists, customer contact details by area
    - Reps to see current progress of there sales vs there budget, also being able to see were they are gaining in sales and losing sales on specific products , all from there dashboard
    - Rep Commisions based on GP or Total Sales and option to pay comission on only Paid Invoices

    Thats just out of my head, probably a few more that i can not think off right now.

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