Subtitled: What I Do On Weekends
It was a dark and stormy night. Okay, it really was a dark and stormy day or two this weekend. Having planned to take the popup camper out for a test run, my plans changed. My wife was agreeable, so we both decided to do some things that we have been putting off. My weekend project was to spend some quality time with Acumatica 3.0. Yes, just me, a cup of coffee and my keyboard. Here is what I have concluded from my weekend excursion.
The Acumatica setup actually began last week with a botched attempt. Before blaming Acumatica, I confess, it was my fault. Having worked with ERP Software for 20 years now, my trepidation was that I would have a hard time undoing my damage. So, I uninstalled Acumatica, deleted my databases and then reinstalled. Much to my amazement, everything worked without fail! Yay! Time involved, oh about 45 minutes.
So, I logged into Acumatica 3.0 and immediately began working with the Integration Services, prepping myself for an upcoming implementation. I was pleased to see the integration improvements since version 2.x. The interface is much nicer and the process very logical. Having setup some providers for Customers, Vendors, Inventory, Chart of Accounts and other entities.
I then went to work on Customizations. Once again, quite an improvement. The customization process worked much more responsively. I was able to get in, make a change, save, publish, test and confirm the result in about 5 minutes. Having that under my belt, I decided to tackle the Dashboards and see how they performed. Much faster, cleaner and better than before. I had a quick Payables List on a dashboard in about 3 minutes.
Next, I went into Project Accounting. I found the Project Accounting to be as straightforward as it was described. I integrated a CRM Task to Project Accounting, which I must add is quite cool! I mean, seriously, why haven’t we had this functionality in some of the older systems? Why? Because they haven’t been fully integrated, functional systems like we have with Acumatica! That’s why! Being able to have a task list that I just punch through, put my time in and submit is one of the most awesome functions available!
Finally, I finished some preparation for client meetings with general Financials and Distribution functionality.
As pointed out in this Press Release, Acumatica (the company) has announced a 300% Sales Growth and Project Accounting for Q1, 2012. It is not uncommon for that kind of growth, when you have a great product. As I said in the Press Release, “We are excited to sell a Cloud-based project accounting solution that works anywhere our customers do.” said Robert Houdeshell, Vice President of Cloud Services at Njevity, Inc. “As experts in project accounting, we know that professional services firms need anywhere, any-device access to business data without the hassle of buying licenses for every user that enters a timesheet.”
The days of licensing nightmares, creeping costs for additional users and rigid deployment strategies are gone! I’ve enjoyed my “quality time” with Acumatica 3.0. For those adding up the time in my blog, yes, you are correct, it didn’t consume my whole weekend. Just part of it! The other time was spent setting up a Microsoft Azure Cloud deployment, synching with Skydrive and working around the cabin. Next week, I am taking a vacation (a real one) and will probably not blog. However, during the drive to see family, I may find something that I just can’t resist sharing.
