I was recently engaged by a client to do some data conversion work on their Quickbooks Premier system. Sounded easy enough, so we took on the assignment thinking it would be a simple job taking up a day or so of our time. Basic research on the internet showed that we could download a trial edition of the QODBC driver in order to get that job done without any cost to us in terms of software licensing.

With most other database systems, just downloading the ODBC driver is normally enough to get you access to the data files without having to install the entire application package. Not so with Quickbooks.

Our client dutifully did a backup within Quickbooks and sent us the QBB file to look at. This is when we first realised that the QBB backup file is not like a standard ZIP or any other backup file. There is no way to get to the data without restoring it, and the only way we could restore this data was to have a working copy of Quickbooks Premier.

So off we went to the Quickbooks site to download a copy. This is where I was staggered to see the many many different versions of Reckon software, and even when we narrowed it down to Quickbooks Premier, there were 5 editions of Quickbooks Premier to choose from! A phone call to our client elicited the correct version, so I downloaded a 400MB installation file and installed it. Another hour or so wasted.

Ok, now I fired up Quickbooks Premier, and chose to restore my clients file. It started off looking promising, but then it asked us for a username and password to complete converting the file. Not really a bad thing – after all, this sort of information should be secured. We called our client again and got an operator level password (they didn’t want to give out their Admin password – understandably).

Success? No! It gets to the end of the conversion process and then throws us a message saying that the version of Quickbooks is newer than the version I have installed. This was the install I just downloaded from their website this morning. Today. And it is out of date according to them. The dialog box says I have to install SP2 of Quickbooks Premier.

I click on the link to download the patch, and I am shown a web page with the available patches for Quickbooks Premier. There is no SP2 on the list, however there is a ‘Service Pack 1′ shown which is dated June last year. I go to select that, but do you think I am shown a download link? No, I have to sign in with a Reckon Customer ID and PIN code. Nothing is simple with Reckon, is it?

Another phone call to my client, and I get this information as well. So I log in, and download the 15MB patch and install it. It turns out that this is the correct SP2 patch they spoke about, despite everything on the download site calling this ‘Service Pack 1′. Get your terminology right Reckon!

I go to install the patch. Bomb! Quickbooks tells me that the software must be registered before I can install a patch on it. Luckily, all I need is the same Customer ID and PIN to register so I do so. Second time around, it lets me install the patch.

Hooray, now the data conversion works OK and I can open the data file in Quickbooks Premier SP2.

Now for the ODBC part. I set up a DSN pointing to the data I need in QODBC, but when I try to test the connection, another error message saying that I cannot get access to their data files. Some research time on Google shows me that I need to be logged into Quickbooks as an Admin user the first time I run the ODBC driver in order to get access. No other user login will work, it has to be Admin.

A third phone call to the client yields this information reluctantly. I sign in as Admin, then hook up the ODBC, and we are away. Finally.

Did I mention that all the above steps wasted practically a whole day? In amongst the rounds of downloading and installing software and patches, I reflected that there must be a better, easier way of doing this.

By the way, my own company now uses Xero for our accounting. This is a totally web based system. We started using this system in Jun 2009, and to date there have been at least 2 major updates to the system that I know of. Do you know what I had to do to install the updates? Nothing. It all happened whilst I was asleep. No downloading. No patching. No registering. No Googling for answers on esoteric error messages. Just pure bliss.

Goodbye installed software – I knew thee well…

Well, I have finally laid my Palm Treo 750 down to rest.  There was nothing really wrong with it – the device itself works perfectly, as been robust as anything.  However, I got a call from my carrier rep the other day saying that my monthly repayments on the phone had finished, and would I be interested in upgrading to another device…and that got me thinking.

I bought an iPhone 3G for my wife last year, and it has converted her from a technophobe, to someone who embraces this device with wild abandon!  She finally loves using email and messaging – and uses her phone to nearly maximum potential.  I, meanwhile, have been sulking in the shadows and secretly coveting her phone.

So, when the call from my carrier came at the same time that the iPhone 3GS was released – I couldn’t contain myself any longer.

I have now had my new device for a week.  And….I love it.  There is no doubting that the iPhone interface is streets ahead of anything else at the moment (although I have not played with Android or WebOS as yet).  The 3GS boasts a better camera, plus the ability to capture video.  It also has a voice recorder (I had to purchase iTalk separately for my wife’s old iPhone – hah).

The whole concept of the AppStore is also intriguing to me.  I used to spend a lot of time searching across various sites on the internet of varying reliability and trustworthiness to find applications for my Windows Mobile devices – but now I can browse one site with the knowledge that the apps have been vetted by Apple.  Whether this is really a good thing or not is debatable, but I am leaning towards the positive at this stage.

I am also enthusiastic about my experience with Apple support so far.  When my wife’s iPhone battery started to fail (i.e. only lasting a couple of hours), the device was still under warranty, so I rang Apple, and they sent out a replacement phone in advance, complete with all the shipping labels to send the old one back – after I had received the new one and set it up and ensured it was working.  That is the first time I have ever heard of a manufacturer sending a replacement out prior to getting the old one back! Kudos to Apple support.

The main reason for me getting this phone, though, is to try and run my business on it as much as I can.  For example:-

• ANZ Bank has released an iPhone friendly web link which enables me to keep track of my business and personal bank accounts.
• I am using Wesabe to better control my expenditure and personal expenses
• We are switching to an online Saas based accounting system for my business, which I can drive using my iPhone
• I have installed an RDP client on my iPhone so I can still use my Windows Servers while out in the field
• I am using Fuelly to track my fuel usage and milage on my business vehicle

I am hoping to keep you updated on here as I move more and more of my business online.  The iPhone is going to be a big part of that.

Image by Valentinian via Flickr

I was cleaning out my car on the weekend, and I found an old PDC phone directory underneath the passenger seat, which prompted me to reflect and post about it.

You see, at one stage we used to request extra phone books from the providers just so that myself, and the rest of the team here at work, could carry a book in our vehicles in order to facilitate us finding customer addresses or phone numbers whilst on the road.  This phone book also contained a handy street map in the middle.

I smiled when I noticed that this directory was dated 2006.  I had completely forgotten about it, and it had laid unused under that seat for three years.  What had turned somthing that was a useful tool into a dormant relic?

The short answer is my Smartphone.  I just take it for granted now that I can access our CRM database from the road to get customer information (or White Pages for that fact).  I can also get Google Maps to find directions, or, if I remember to charge up my bluetooth GPS dongle, I can even get voice directions in real time via my Co-Pilot software on the device.

The book seems really quaint now, and I cannot actually remember the day when I decided to actually stop using it.  It seems that my Treo 750 (and 650 before that) slowly, and ubiquitously seeped into my everyday mode of doing things, and before long it just became second nature so that I took it for granted.

Anyhow, the book is in the bin now, and I am still looking for an excuse to get an iPhone so that I can do everything, with more style…

Update: Read Mark’s own account of his Facebook hack on his own blog.

Still early days yet (I literally heard about it on the blogsphere about 5 minutes ago) and I havent had the chance to totally test it out.  But if I can email a task to my GMail account, and have it pop back to remind me later then I think I am at least part way to getting back some of the functionality that I miss with Sandy.

I will try and post more here as I become familiar with the new features.

Given the wide spread of our population on this huge island, a fast, effective broadband network is going to be one of the best things we could have to facilitate communication, education, and business here.  I can’t wait for this new technology to be rolled out to the general public.  From what I can gather, it runs on top of the existing NextG infrastructure, but will require new modems and adapters for your PC’s to be able to utilise the service.

Glad to see last week also that the government is rolling out high speed fibre optic internet connectivity to outlying regions of Australia, with residents of Nhulunbuy in Gove enjoying some of the fastest internet speeds in the country.

It looks like Australia has gone from being one of the laggards of the internet age, to a market leader…We certainly live in exciting times!

Their service has been optimised for the iPhone, but they have a web interface for it as well.  I must remember to grab my wife’s iPhone and create an account to give it a whirl…if she will let me.

And time, as you know, is the one finite resource that everyone has.  It is also one of the hardest to track, and that is not just because I am a professional procrastinator, or like getting distracted by nice shiny things on the web whilst supposing to do work!

Over a year ago, I came across a nifty little tool called SlimTimer.  I actually came across this during an online discussion with it’s developer, Richard White, who is a brilliant interface designer and Ruby on Rails guru.  I was trying to learn Ruby and…well, that is another story that is outside the scope of this particular blog.

Enough to say, that I signed on for the SlimTimer service back then, and then promptly forgot about it.  About a week ago, I rediscovered it again, and decided to start using it properly.

I must say that I am very impressed with the service.  It basically runs in a tiny, unobtrusive browser window, and lets you create tasks on the fly and start stop a little timer to record just how long you are spending on those tasks.  You can then log onto the SlimTimer website to run various reports and adjust your timesheets so that you know just how much to bill your clients.

The basic service is free.  I’ll say that again in case you missed it – Free!  That is ZERO cost.  Apparently there is a premium service available which lets you backup your data or export to Excel, but get this – YOU get to nominate how much to pay each month of the premium service.  Certainly an interesting concept, and I will be keeping my eye on this innovative pricing scheme to see how it all goes.

SlimTimer is highly recommended for anyone who needs to see where their time is going, and for analysing just how you spend your day.  Warning – you will be very surprised!

Heads Up: In the next few weeks, I will be talking about another fantastic website, also by Richard White.  Currently, I am in the process of setting everything up, and once I have tested it with my clients, I will report back on my findings.

Let me give you a specific example.  About 3 months ago, I was contacted by Trudi, my local rep at our telco provider Telstra, who told me about a new service that they were launching on their mobile services called Voice2Text, which basically was an automatic service which converted your voicemail messages to an SMS.  I must admit, that when I first heard about it, I thought “Yeah, whatever!”…as if such things were going to improve my life.  Surely it was a gimmick and nothing more?

But there was no dissuading Trudi, she was well and truly on the war sales path.  My ears finally perked up when she mentioned she could give me a 30 day trial on the service to see how I liked it.  Sure, I said.  Couldn’t hurt.

Now, 3 months later, you will have to prise this service out of my cold, dead hands.

Simple as that.  What I should explain is that my mobile phone is pretty much my lifeline with my client base – a lot of them (and I mean a lot, probably too many) use it as the single point of contact with me.  Now, the nature of my work means that I am often doing work with a client on site, or else locked in my cave programming some arcane system for them and cannot really be disturbed.  At these times, I leave my mobile phone off or on silent ring to alleviate any intrusions on my concentration.

All well and good, but I didn’t realise how much I used to dread checking my voicemails, finding a pencil to jot numbers and other details down, and generally spending time listening to long, rambly messages.  Not that any of my clients ramble on – at least, not those that read this blog!

Now, within a couple of minutes of my phone ringing and a voicemail being left, I get a nice little SMS with a text translation transcript of their message.  I am truly amazed at how accurate the transcript is.  There are only ever a few words here and there which don’t come across correctly, and these are mainly people or company names which are really out of the ordinary.  Another bonus on my Treo, is that anything that looks or sounds like a phone number in the SMS is automatically converted into a hyperlink that I can click on to immediately dial the number.  No more scratching around for a pencil and paper or trying to remember long numbers!

This now means I can have my phone on silent during a meeting or seminar, and then every few minutes or during a break I can quickly scan my text messages for any new voicemails, and choose to respond or not right there and then.  Compare this to dialing my voicemail box, listening to a string of messages etc. whilst sitting at a meeting table (not polite!) to just quickly glancing down at my SMS inbox discreetly – there is no comparison.

Also, with SMS’s, I can forward them to other team member phones or Inboxes to deal with if need be.  All in all, this little piece of technology is one of those amazing little things that I didn’t know I couldn’t live without.

Note: I am not getting any commissions, discounts or kickbacks from Telstra for this post.  As with everything on this blog, there are no hidden strings attached.  I simply report on things that I find helpful or unhelpful to my business in the hope that it can improve your business.

Telstra’s Voice2Text service costs from 55 cents down to 25 cents per transcribed voicemail, depending on the monthly plan you are on.  More information can be found on their website.

This alliance will basically see Microsoft deploy their applications and mobile services to businesses and end users in this country via the Telstra network infrastructure.

Microsoft have been making a lot of announcements lately about their improvements to collaboration, communication and wide are networking in their application software, and this alliance is a logical step.  The timeline for the first services to be rolled out is as early as mid next year (2009).

Read more about the announcement via the company press releases from Microsoft and Telstra here.  I expect local reaction to this news will be quite low key for a while, until the first services begin deployment.  Then I expect most small business in Australia will transition across to these new platforms.