Tuesday, March 31, 2009

CONNECTIT: details of ConnectIT-Workflow - workflow manager for QuoteWerks now on QuoteWerks.com

Details of ConnectIT-Workflow - business workflow manager for QuoteWerks are now available on QuoteWerks.com: http://www.quotewerks.com/addons/alertsworkflow.asp

ConnectIT-Workflow is the latest addtion to the ConnectIT suite of products from Hilltops IT; another QuoteWerks development add-on product to enhance the user's experience of using QuoteWerks.

ConnectIT-Workflow manages entries on a QuoteWerks document to ensure that the QuoteWerks user has entered all the required information at each step of document creation (Quote, Order and Invoice).

ConnectIT-Workflow validates that the QuoteWerks user has entered required values into particular fields before the user is allowed to print, save, convert or email a document.

When an error is detected, then depending on the level of that error, the user is either prompted and asked to correct the problem before they are allowed to continue, or they are just warned about the problem(s).

For full details of ConnectIT-Workflow, please see the website here: http://www.connectit-online.com/default_workflow.aspx

For pricing click here: http://www.connectit-online.com/Calculator.aspx?p=CITWF&curr=GBP

Monday, March 30, 2009

QUOTEWERKS: Version 4.0 Build 46 released

Aspire Technologies Inc. QuoteWerks development team have released a new version of QuoteWerks. If you have any questions on the new features and fixes, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Version 4.0 Build 46 Summary: 6 New and 1 Fixes features.



New Features

1. Real-time Pricing and Availability is now available for IT distributor Accutech (
www.accutechdata.com).

2. Real-time Pricing and Availability is now available for IT distributor Arbitech (
www.arbitech.com).

3. Real-time Pricing and Availability is now available for IT distributor Bell Micro (
www.bellmicro.com).

4. Real-time Pricing and Availability is now available for IT distributor Digitek (
www.digitek.com).

5. The Price Comparison window is now resizable, and also remembers the last location and size (per user).

6. Added Misc Access right "CannotModifyDocStatusWhenConvertingDocument".Useful for preventing a user from changing the DocStatus to a value other than the default value specified in the setup.




Fixes

1. For GoldMine users, on the send email window, when selecting an email address from the list of all addresses associated with the GoldMine contact being used in the quote, any email addresses in Goldmine longer than 35 chars would be truncated.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

CONNECTIT: ConnectIT-Workflow - QuoteWerks workflow manager

Pricing for the new product to the ConnectIT range has been released today. Plus for a limited time only we are offering free installation and training.


Product Overview
ConnectIT-Workflow manages entries on a QuoteWerks document to ensure that the QuoteWerks user has entered all the required information at each step of document creation (Quote, Order and Invoice).

ConnectIT-Workflow validates that the QuoteWerks user has entered required values into particular fields before the user is allowed to print, save, convert or email a document.

When an error is detected, then depending on the level of that error, the user is either prompted and asked to correct the problem before they are allowed to continue, or they are just warned about the problem(s).


Key Benefits
  • Quick to install and easy to configure to the fields you use which means your company’s quoting and sales order processing functions become instantly more accurate and more productive.
  • Ensures that your customers and suppliers get complete and consistent information on the documents you send them thus improving your business relationships with them by avoiding time wasted checking, correcting and resending documents.
  • Maintains integrity of input to maximise the power and accuracy of QuoteWerks reporting which means more informed business decision making.

Key Features
  • When an error is detected, then depending on the level of that error, the user is either prompted and asked to correct the problem before they are allowed to continue, or they are just warned about the problem(s).
  • Validates fields based on the particular document type and document status.
  • Contains many different rule expressions – that a field is not blank, that a fields value is in a particular range, that a fields value is one of a particular list of options, etc.
  • Contains many different rule targets – Document Header fields, Document Item fields, first Document Item row, all Optional Document Item rows, etc.

Friday, March 20, 2009

QUOTEWERKS: Sugar CRM integration add-on released

Another QuoteWerks development partner has just released an integration between QuoteWerks and SugarCRM.

The QuoteWerks development partner, Wildcat Development, has developed the new integration link between Sugar CRM and QuoteWerks called WildSugar.

WildSugar increases the functionality of QuoteWerks by integrating directly with SugarCRM, a leading contact management software. By utilizing WildSugar, users can access their SugarCRM contacts from within QuoteWerks, effectively creating a more efficient quoting process.

WildSugar saves users considerable time by eliminating the replication of data entry for contacts.

Features and benefits of WildSugar include:
  • Seamless integration between SugarCRM and QuoteWerks
  • Easy installation
  • Immediate access to all SugarCRM contacts
  • Ability to auto populate SugarCRM contact information in quotes generated by QuoteWerks
  • Custom searches that allow users to quickly and easily locate a particular SugarCRM contact

The WildSugar link is a third party add on to the QuoteWerks program. It was developed for QuoteWerks users on version 4.0 and using Sugar version 5.0 and higher.

Visit the official WildSugar website for more information on the link.

Contact Hilltops IT for more information on our QuoteWerks services plus other add-on and integration solutions.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

QUOTEWERKS: v4.0 build 45 released

The new release of QuoteWerks v4.0 contains the following:

New Features

1. When creating Sales Opportunities in MS CRM, QuoteWerks now supports custom CRM Opportunity Rating Codes in addition to the standard codes of "Hot", "Warm", and "Cold". [Service Release: 45.01]

2. Added support for Outlook 2007 Business Contact Manager (BCM). The integration includes:
a) The currently open Outlook BCM Contact or Account can be pulled into the quote.
b) The Business Contacts and Accounts can be searched to find Contacts or Accounts to pull into the quote.
c) When searching for contacts, subfolders within the specified Outlook BCM Accounts or Contacts folder are included in the search.
d) QuoteWerks will create/update linked documents (as Outlook journal entries) in Outlook BCM.
e) QuoteWerks will create/update a follow up call (as an Outlook appointment) in Outlook BCM.
f) QuoteWerks will create/update Sales Opportunities (as an Outlook BCM opportunity) in Outlook BCM.
g) The QuoteWerks DataLink feature can be used with Outlook BCM enabling you to retrieve information like Terms and shipping method from the Outlook BCM contact into the quote.
h) When printing, QuoteWerks can retrieve data from Outlook BCM and include it in the printed output.

3. Online Ordering module can place online orders with Ingram Micro (USA and Canada) from within QuoteWerks (requires Real-time and Online Ordering modules). Order items from a single order, or combine items from multiple QuoteWerks orders into a single Ingram Micro order. This will save you the time and hassle of calling your Ingram Micro sales rep and reading each part number, quantity, and price to him/her. Another benefit is that the order date and Ingram Micro sales order number will automatically be stored with your QuoteWerks order for reference. When placing Ingram Micro online orders electronically through QuoteWerks, there is an option that will let you place the order on hold. This will afford you an opportunity to review the order with your distributor rep and negotiate pricing without the time consuming process of reading to your sales rep all the part numbers, quantities, ship to location, etc. No more calling your distributor sales rep only to reach voice mail (understandable - sales reps can't be on the phone with more than one customer at a time) and then have to remember try again later in the day to place the order - or wait for a call back! This is truly the best of both worlds - automation with sales rep service! Supports government and educational pricing.

4. Online Ordering module can place online orders with SYNNEX (USA and Canada) from within QuoteWerks (requires Real-time and Online Ordering modules). Order items from a single order, or combine items from multiple QuoteWerks orders into a single SYNNEX order. This will save you the time and hassle of calling your SYNNEX sales rep and reading each part number, quantity, and price to him/her. Another benefit is that the order date and SYNNEX sales order number will automatically be stored with your QuoteWerks order for reference. When placing SYNNEX online orders electronically through QuoteWerks, there is an option that will let you place the order on hold. This will afford you an opportunity to review the order with your distributor rep and negotiate pricing without the time consuming process of reading to your sales rep all the part numbers, quantities, ship to location, etc. No more calling your distributor sales rep only to reach voice mail (understandable - sales reps can't be on the phone with more than one customer at a time) and then have to remember try again later in the day to place the order - or wait for a call back! This is truly the best of both worlds - automation with sales rep service! Supports vendor promotion, government, and educational pricing.

5. When no documents are open, the FileNew and FileOpen menus now have shortcut keys CTRL-N and CTRL-O respectively.

6. The Bundles window (ProductsBundles menu), Configurations window (ProductsConfigurator menu), Required Items window (ProductsRequired Items menu), Optional Items window (ProductsOptional Items menu), and Substitute Items window (ProductsSubstitute Items menu) are now all resizable.

7. Added macro fields &DH_&SoldToFirstName, &DH_&SoldToLastName, &DH_&ShipToFirstName, &DH_&ShipToLastName, &DH_&BillToFirstName, and &DH_&BillToLastName.


Misc Features

1. The fields on the SoldTo/ShipTo tab, SaleInfo, Notes, and Custom tabs now limit the number of characters that can be entered based on the size of the field in the database. [Service Release: 45.01]

2. The Required Items window (ProductsRequired Items menu), Optional Items window (ProductsOptional Items menu), and Substitute Items window (ProductsSubstitute Items menu) have been re-designed.

3. When creating a Bundle, the maximum length of the Bundle name was increased from 40 to 255 characters.

4. Added new Technical support Debug Command for changing seed numbers.


Fixes

1. For MSCRM 1.2 users, when closing an opportunity, the Actual Close Date was not being populated. [Service Release: 45.01]

2. If the FileConvert to Lost Sale menu was selected for a document that did not have a contact linked to it, an error would be displayed. [Service Release: 45.01]

3. When doing a FileSave As and choosing "Assign new Project #", a new project number was not being generated. [Service Release: 45.01]

4. In the Layout Designer when inserting fields, if the CustomNumber03, CustomNumber04, or CustomNumber05 labels (In the DocumentItems or Products tables) were renamed, the label name did not display next to the field like "CustomNumber03 (Size)". [Service Release: 45.01]

5. When editing a Management Report on the Filter tab, DocumentItems macros like &LineAttributesOption were being listed as available fields. [Service Release: 45.01]

6. For SalesLogix users, issue with German / European decimal and date formatting when creating SalesLogix Opportunities.

7. On some machines, Would receive "Run-time error '339': Component 'comctl32.ocx' or one of its dependencies not correctly registered: a file is missing or invalid" when downloading the price file from SYNNEX FTP site.

8. In the Open Export Module wizard, the title bar would repeat the step like "- Step 1: Step1".


Users with valid UMP subscriptions can download and install this latest QuoteWerks build from by clicking the link.

For new users and for users looking for additional help with their QuoteWerks setup or require training, consultancy or development services, then please don't hesitate to contact us on +44(0) 1782 564252.

Monday, March 16, 2009

CONNECIT: new product beta released - ConnectIT-Workflow

Another new product and QuoteWerks add-on utility from Hilltops IT software development team was released in beta today.

ConnectIT-Workflow: linking your business process to quotewerks document creation

ConnectIT-Workflow manages entries on a QuoteWerks document to ensure that the QuoteWerks user has entered all the required information at each step of document creation (Quote, Order and Invoice).

ConnectIT-Workflow validates that the QuoteWerks user has entered required values into particular fields before the user is allowed to print, save, convert or email a document.

When an error is detected, then depending on the level of that error, the user is either prompted and asked to correct the problem before they are allowed to continue, or they are just warned about the problem(s).

Key benefits:
  • Quick to install and easy to configure to the fields you use which means your company’s quoting and sales order processing functions become instantly more accurate and more productive.
  • Ensures that your customers and suppliers get complete and consistent information on the documents you send them thus improving your business relationships with them by avoiding time wasted checking, correcting and resending documents.
  • Maintains integrity of input to maximise the power and accuracy of QuoteWerks reporting which means more informed business decision making.

Key features:

  • Functions triggered by events in QuoteWerks – before print, before save, before convert, before email, etc.
  • Validates fields based on the particular document type and document status.
  • Contains many different rule expressions – that a field is not blank, that a fields value is in a particular range, that a fields value is one of a particular list of options, etc.
  • Contains many different rule targets – Document Header fields, Document Item fields, first Document Item row, all Optional Document Item rows, etc.

Pricing will be available soon here; if you would like any further information, then please email us at sales@connectit-online.co.uk

Early bird special offer: we are now taking advance orders for the ConnectIT-Workflow product which includes free installation and training. To take advantage of this offer, please contact sales@connectit-online.co.uk now!

Saturday, March 14, 2009

QUOTEWERKS: new Microsoft CRM integration demo available

QuoteWerks has released a new demo video demonstrating the integration between QuoteWerks and MS CRM. The new video highlights all the major functions including:
  • Pulling in customer information into the quote
  • Adding additional customer information into the quote and layout
  • Scheduling follow up calls
  • Creating/Updating MS CRM Opportunities
  • Closing MS CRM Opportunities as Won

The new video can be viewed by clicking here.

If you have any questions or would like to know more about QuoteWerks contact manager integration, then please give us a call on +44(0)1782 564252 or see our website here: http://www.hilltopsit.co.uk/quotewerks/index.aspx

For even tighter integration, then there is also the ConnectIT-MSCRM product which allows the QuoteWerks user to link their document to an existing Microsoft CRM Opportunity.

Friday, March 13, 2009

CONNECTIT: ConnectIT-MAS90 QuoteWerks to Sage MAS90 and MAS200 v1.1.1 released

ConnectIT-MAS90 QuoteWerks to Sage MAS90 and MAS200 v1.1.1 has been released today - Friday 13th March 2009.

This new release wraps up several enhancements which ConnectIT users and partner resellers have requested as follows:

UPDATE: transfer the Contact name selected for the Address fields from QuoteWerks to the Confirm To field in the Sage MAS document
UPDATE: support for names and descriptions, etc in QuoteWerks that are longer than those in Sage MAS. ConnectIT will now trim the QuoteWerks field to match on just the left 'x' characters, allowing a match to be found.
UPDATE: new ConnectIT icons

Existing users with current UMP: download your copy from here - http://www.connectit-online.co.uk/download.aspx?p=CITMAS90

New customers or users without UMP: please contact your ConnectIT / QuoteWerks reseller or email sales@connectit-online.co.uk for further information.

To request new features that would help your business process run more effectively, please email development@connectit-online.co.uk

For more and up-to-date information on the ConnectIT suite of products, please see the website here: http://www.connectit-online.co.uk/

The ConnectIT Development Team has a proven track record in producing quality products and utilities for QuoteWerks, Sage 50 Accounts, Sage MAS and Microsoft CRM. They will be happy to help you with any enquiries you have relating to developments on these products or stand-alone solutions and websites.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

DEVELOPMENT: tips for developing applications for "the cloud"

Cloud computing, which involves accessing applications and services on hosted servers over the Internet, certainly has become the hot tech trend for 2009. The volume of cloud applications can only be expected to grow, and this fact brings both new benefits and responsibilities for developers.

While cloud deployments can save developers from having to deal with infrastructure issues, there are some new nuances they must deal with as well. These include changes in how developers work with databases, an emphasis on stateless applications, and dealing with different frameworks.

for more information, see the article from here: http://www.infoworld.com/archives/emailPrint.jsp?R=printThis&A=/article/09/03/11/10NF-cloud-app-dev_1.html

Monday, March 2, 2009

DEVELOPMENT: software craftsmenship manifesto

A software craftsmenship manifesto from Dieter Schneider which all software developers should aspire to deliver to businesses in the applications they build.

As aspiring Software Craftsmen we are raising the bar of professional software development by practicing it and helping others learn the craft. Through this work we have come to value:
  • Not only working software, but also well-crafted software
  • Not only responding to change, but also steadily adding value
  • Not only individuals and interactions, but also a community of professionals
  • Not only customer collaboration, but also productive partnerships

That is, in pursuit of the items on the left we have found the items on the right to be indispensable.

See the original and sign the manifesto here: http://manifesto.softwarecraftsmanship.org/

CONNECTIT: ConnectIT-Sage QuoteWerks to Sage 50 Accounts v1.9.0 released

ConnectIT-Sage QuoteWerks to Sage 50 Accounts v1.9.0 has been released today - Monday 2nd March 2009.

This new release wraps up several enhancements which ConnectIT users and partner resellers have requested as follows:

ADDED: the ability to select which Suppliers Purchase Orders are created for.
ADDED: the ability to transfer Comment lines into Sage as Message lines.
ADDED: the ability to transfer Group (Bundle) Header lines as Comments into Sage as Message lines.
ADDED: a check on whether a customer or suppliers credit limit has been exceeded. The prompt can be suppressed by ticking the Configuration Advanced "Suppress prompts that Customers or Suppliers Balance exceeds their Credit Limit" tick box.
ADDED: the ability to transfer a value into the Sage document line item Comment 1 and 2 fields

UPDATE: if the "Override Product Tax" field is ticked in the Sage Supplier record, then use the Default Tax Code and corresponding Tax Rate from Sage on all lines when creating Purchase Order documents (works for all supported versions of Sage 50 Accounts). Note that the user must be using the "Supplier Address information is maintained in Sage not QuoteWerks" Configuration option.
UPDATE: if the "Override Product Nominal" field is ticked in the Sage Supplier record, then use the Default Nominal Code and Department number from Sage on all lines when creating Purchase Order documents (works for version 14 - 2009 - of Sage 50 Accounts only, this option is not available in earlier versions). Note that the user must be using the "Supplier Address information is maintained in Sage not QuoteWerks" Configuration option.
UPDATE: include all Document Header fields in the Configuration Customer Account Reference, Documents Sales Doc Number, Purchase Doc Number and Creation Date field drop down selectors
UPDATE: new ConnectIT icons

Existing users with current UMP: download your copy from here - http://www.connectit-online.co.uk/download.aspx?p=CITSAGE50

New customers or users without UMP: please contact your ConnectIT / QuoteWerks reseller or email sales@connectit-online.co.uk for further information.

To request new features that would help your business process run more effectively, please email development@connectit-online.co.uk

For more and up-to-date information on the ConnectIT suite of products, please see the website here: http://www.connectit-online.co.uk/

The ConnectIT Development Team has a proven track record in producing quality products and utilities for QuoteWerks, Sage 50 Accounts, Sage MAS and Microsoft CRM. They will be happy to help you with any enquiries you have relating to developments on these products or stand-alone solutions and websites.