“What’s
the most important feature to look for when
evaluating an accounting software or ERP solution?”
In
our opinion, customization capabilities are the most
important features to consider when selecting
accounting software. The basis for my bold statement
can be traced back to comments made by Doug Burgum
(Founder of Great Plains Software) at the 1991 AICPA
Technology Conference in New Orleans. At this
conference I moderated a panel of accounting
software presidents in front of approximately 450
participants. During this session, Mr. Burgum
pointed to the other presidents and stated:
“The entire accounting software industry, including
those seated on stage, have spent a good part of the
eighties adding every conceivable feature they could
think of to their accounting software packages. The
main idea is to add more features so your product
would rate higher than competing products in the
“feature charts from hell” comparison reviews
included in many computer magazines and trade
journals”. He specifically referred to the PC
Magazine review as the "Feature Chart from Hell".
According to Burgum, "the unfortunate consequence of
continuously adding so many features to an
accounting software package is that you ultimately
produce a product that is bloated and too difficult
for most users to easily use.”
Departing from this older way of thinking, Burgum
(and later many of his fellow accounting software
publishers) went on to pursue a different strategy
by producing new accounting software products that
contain only popular and widely used core features.
These products were basically designed to meet 80%
to 85% of the needs of a common business right out
of the box; and thereafter, the publishers expected
customers to use the product’s built-in
customization tools to tailor the product further to
meet up to 95% of their needs. This approach has
worked very well and today, publishers who have
adopted this strategy have found that their products
have wider appeal and usability across multiple
industries. This approach has also enabled hundreds
of thousands of businesses to purchase
off-the-shelf, all-purpose accounting systems and
tailor them to meet their specific needs.
In
the eighties, the most successful accounting
software products required the end user's consultant
to modify the source code to add additional fields,
calculations, and other capabilities to accommodate
the end user's unique needs. Some of the more
successful packages of that era included products
from Real World Corporation, Open Systems, Inc. and
SBT Corporation. It was a good strategy at the time,
but this approach had several drawbacks, as follows:
When it comes to customizing an accounting system,
there are many methods as follows:
These methods are described below.
The graphic image above depicts the flow of
information through an accounting system. Users
input data into data input screens. There are
approximately 6,000 to 10,000 data input screens in
the typical mid-range accounting package. The data
is held in a database (which is basically a
collection of tables that are related to one
another, hence the term relational database).
Filtered queries are used to extract certain data
from the database to be displayed on the reports and
forms. For example, filters may be used to extract
balances for certain customers for a certain data
range, and the results are arranged logically on a
customer statement, complete with the appropriate
formatting. It is essential to understand these
various elements of an accounting system before
evaluating the following customization capabilities
of a given product.
Some publishers seem to they think that their
product is customizable simply because users can
format the financial statement or insert new
columns. Yes, this is a form of customization -
technically speaking, but it falls well short of the
more powerful forms of customization which include
editing the user screens and underlying database.
This type of customization also involves the
ability to customize the accounting system forms
such as checks, invoices, picking lists, packing
slips, etc. This ability allows the end user to edit
the form formats by adding new information to the
form or rearranging the information so that it will
print properly on pre-printed forms. As an example,
this ability might allow a user to continue using an
old box of pre-printed checks, even though the
company has just upgraded to a different accounting
system. As another example, this feature would allow
a company to tailor their customer invoice to
contain exactly the information they desire.
“Blank User Definable Fields” are one of my favorite
features. This form of customization is strong
because it allows a user to tailor the accounting
system to meet their particular needs. For example,
a boat marina operator may insert data fields to
keep track of the name of the customer’s boat, the
slip number where that boat is parked, the boat
mechanics name and phone number, and a number of
other useful bits of information. Products such as
MAS 90, Great Plains, and even QuickBooks provide
this capability.
Along with editing the user screens, this type of
customization usually involves default settings
as well. Many accounting software products allow
the user to specify default settings on a
field-by-field basis. For example, a company that
works primarily in Georgia might pre-configure the
customer and order entry screen to automatically
display Georgia as the default state for each new
record. This can save time and improve accuracy. At
first glance this might not seem to be much of a
time saver, but consider this. Many companies
process tens of thousands of invoices each year.
Without a default setting, your order entry clerks
would need to enter “Georgia” or “GA” tens of
thousands of times – once for each order. How many
hours would it take for you to simply type out the
word “Georgia” or “GA” fifty thousands of times?
Assuming that it takes only one second to perform
this task, it would still take 14 hours to type “GA”
50,000 times. A default setting such as this would
allow the user to simply tab over the data field
altogether and skip the data entry portion for this
particular field. Now multiply 14 hours times all of
the other fields where default settings are likely
to apply. Most companies have default terms,
shipping methods, categories, sales person codes,
currency codes, etc. By simply establishing default
data, even modest sized companies can save hundreds,
if not thousands of hours each year in data entry
time. As a twist to this feature, some accounting
packages allow the user to setup Boolean lists, or
drop down lists to improve speed and accuracy. Still
other products enable the user to setup automatic
calculations, which enter the default data on the
fly. For example a product may use the system’s date
and payment terms to automatically calculate and
enter the discount date or due date.
Products With
Products Without Help Level Customization
Open Systems TRAVERSE
Axapta
ACCPAC ProSeries
Example
It is important to evaluate the
ability to edit, change and add to the data input
screens. You should ask the reseller to demonstrate
the process of inserting a new data field and
rearranging that field on the screen. You might also
ask the reseller to re-label the data field and
establish default settings for that new field. Some
products provide full control over the data input
screen design while others do not. For example, both
QuickBooks Pro and Peachtree allow you to set up a
handful of user-definable fields; however, neither
product allows you to change terminology or
rearrange the fields on the screen. Other products
such as Simply Accounting allow you to toggle
between terminology typically used by accountants
and terminology used by the layperson. Still other
products such as Dynamics SL, Dynamics NAV, and
Exacts’ Macola Progression provide much greater
customization capabilities. The more sophisticated
customization tools allow the user to validate data
as it is entered into the system, force data (ie:
the user can not leave the data field blank), and
even calculate data based on other data entered
elsewhere in the system. Other sophisticated
capabilities include the ability to set the tab
order of the user fields, insert drop down boxes,
and embed third party applications with the
accounting software user input screen.
One of the more important
features to look for is the blank user-definable
field. Instead of requiring the end user to modify
the product's source code to add new data fields,
many of today's accounting software publishers have
already added hundreds of unused fields throughout
the accounting system. The end user need only assign
a name to that new field and begin inputting data.
You should make sure to inquire as to how many blank
user-definable fields are included in the product.
For example, Macola Progression provides a total of
five blank user definable fields in most setup
screens. Microsoft Great Plains offers two to ten
blank user-definable fields throughout the relevant
user screens. QuickBooks Pro provides ten blank
user-definable fields in key places while Peachtree
Complete Accounting provides five blank
user-definable fields where pertinent to do so.
Example:
Presented below is the
Customizer module found in Sage MAS 90. This screen
allows the user to pull up virtually any data input
screen in Sage MAS 90 for customization purposes. In
this screen we see that the user is in the process
of selecting the Customer name and Address screen
from the Accounts Receivable Customer Maintenance
menu option. Notice that this customization will
apply to one user only; but it could apply to all
users by simply checking the “All Users” check box.
Another strong feature is how Sage MAS 90 allows the
user to apply these customizations to one particular
company, or to all companies assuming that multiple
companies are present. This is very powerful.
Once the data input screen is
selected, the screen is displayed in customization
mode as shown below. At this time, the user may
easily drop and drag the data fields and other
screen elements at will. Labels can be changed,
fonts can be changed, text can be added, etc.
In the screen below, we see
that the user is in the process of moving the URL
Address label by dragging and dropping that screen
element.
Next, the user right mouse
clicks on the “URL Address” label and changes the
label to read “Web Address” instead. The user has
also changed the font to a red, bolded Batang font.
On the next screen shown below
we see that additional dialog boxes provide
additional customization functionality. From the
main tab, the user can set the default value (shown
as initial value) to be displayed automatically each
time a user accesses this screen. Other features
include customizable tool tips, links to help text,
key board short cuts, and a WYSIWYG preview of the
data field.
The next screen below
demonstrates Sage MAS 90’s data validation features,
which allow the user to establish validation
parameters. Here the user can provide an options
list from which the data entry clerk can select an
option. In addition, the user can specify a valid
range in which the data must fall before it will be
accepted by the system.
The object properties dialog
box provides yet more customization capabilities
such as the ability to prevent the cursor from
stopping on a given data field.
In my opinion,
Sage MAS 90 does a good job of providing the user
with fairly easy and straightforward customization
of the data entry screens. Accordingly, I think that
this is a good product to compare all other products
to when it comes to evaluating this feature.
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END
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Evaluating a
Product's Customization Capabilities
Customization Beats Source Code Modification
Methods of Customization
Help Level Customization
BusinessWorks Gold
MAS 90 & MAS 200
Epicor
Macola Progression
SouthWare
SYSPRO
PeopleSoft II (formerly JD Edwards)
PeopleSoft
Navision
ACCPAC Advantage Series
MAS 500
BusinessVision 32
Visual AccountMate
MYOB
Peachtree Complete Accounting 2004
QuickBooks Pro 2004
Importance
The ability to customize an accounting system or ERP
solution is not just a perk today, it is part of a
deliberate and insightful strategy to deliver solid
financial accounting systems which contain the core
features used by most businesses today, coupled with
customization tools that allow end users to tailor
systems to the their particular needs. This approach
enables publishers to keep the core accounting
system clean and lean; and avoids building
bloatware. If you are in the market for an
accounting software solution, you would be well
advise to evaluate the system’s customization
capabilities before making your final selection.
