The Attivo Blog

It's that time again - year end closing for those companies that follow a calendar year.  There are a few unique and important processes that need to be done to properly close the year in either Macola Progression or Macola ES.  We are coming up on the calendar year end...however, these rules would apply if you had a fiscal year end as well.  If you are using Macola Progression, starting with Version 7.X,  please click here for Progression Year End Closing Procedures.  You can also access this from our website in our tech center, at http://www.attivoconsulting.com/resource_center/index/techcenter.html. If you are using Macola ES (any version), please click here for Macola ES Year End Closing Procedures..  You can also access this from our website in our tech center, at http://www.attivoconsulting.com/resource_center/index/techcenter.html. Please note - you MUST complete your normal month end closing procedures and perform these processes IN ADDITION TO your normal month end closing procedures.  If you do not have a month end closing checklist, please contact us and we will gladly provide one for you at no charge. Happy year end closing, and may I also add...good riddance to 2008!  Have a happy, healthy and prosperous 2009!

Everyone has "going green" on their minds today, and one of the easiest ways to do this is to stop printing most of the things that you print.  Printing to a PDF (Portable Document Format) print utility instead will not only save the paper, you will save precious time, and improve your productivity.  Remember - more productivity equals one of two things: (1) More work accomplished in the same amount of time, or (2) The same amount of work accomplished in less time.  You choose - both outcomes are good things! When you print a document, you must get up to retrieve it, along with the inevitable chores of putting paper in the printer, etc., and then do something with the paper afterwards like filing it somewhere.  Then all of that filing needs to be dealt with at some point, and put into storage.  You're probably thinking - what about the state and federal records retention requirements?  Don't I have to keep these records for 7 years?  Yes, you probably need to keep certain accounting records for that long.  but they do not have to be hard copies - it is perfectly acceptable to the IRS and others to have electronic copies of these valuable documents available rather than hard copies.  It is actually easier for auditors to use electronic copies, rather than sifting through a mountain of paper.  Which means less time spent on the audit, and the sooner the audit can be completed, the better the chance of a "no change" result. If you don't already have a PDF creator software such as Adobe Acrobat, which can cost $450 for the full version, consider one of the many FREE PDF creators.  One of my personal favorites, which I use and recommend to all my clients, is CutePDF Writer.  So far, 740,000 people have downloaded it from www.downloads.com alone.  You can also download it from www.cutepdf.com.  There is a freeware version, as well as a few other, more functional versions at very reasonable prices. The only other choice to make is where to save all these electronic documents.  They should definitely be saved where they will be backed up, such as your network server if you have one.  Come up with a scheme to store the documents, such as a master folder for "2008 Accounting", with subfolders for each month of the year below that.  When you save the documents using CutePDF, it will prompt you for a name for the document.  For those routine documents, such as accounts payable registers, come up with a short, concise recognizable name for the document and use it consistently, perhaps just changing the date at the end of the file name each time. And don't forget to start using the 2nd monitor that now sits on your desk (see my previous post) to pull up these electronic documents from your easy to navigate electronic filing systems...

In addition to being "The Event Manager" here at Attivo, I also write many Crystal Reports, most commonly for ISOMan.  ISOMan is always asking me for a new Crystal Report displaying a different collection of Product Information for him to present to our clients' Quality and Product Managers. Sometimes we deploy these reports via some means of on-demand distribution, like the Crystal Enterprise Suite or the HTML Wizard Recrystallize.  And sometimes we deploy the reports via a scheduled job in Event Manager, sending 1 or more daily reports each afternoon at the close of the workday. Event Manager, as you may know, is fully capable of automatically running any Crystal Report and attaching them as .pdf files to an email, before spinning that email off to a predefined recipient. But what if you ONLY want that report to send off when there is data to display in the report? What if the range in data for the report varies from 0 to 100's of results? In this instance, you will need to create a conditional/scheduled report. Anyone with any experience in Event Manager knows that the first step is to create a query. We need to know WHEN to run the report.  So we begin by creating the query, adding/ linking the tables, and adding the columns and filters.  However, do not spend too much time on the columns. Why? Because we won't be needing any database columns beyond the unique ID to tell our scheduled report to run.  The columns you pick will soon be deleted once we have verified our data.  Once you have created your filters and your preview displays only those results you are looking for, click the SQL tab and check the box stating that you will manually edit the SQL for this query.  First, break your SQL up into it's three main components, the 'select' statement, the 'from' statement, and the 'where' clause. Next, delete everything in the select statement EXCEPT the unique column you selected earlier.

select imitmadt_sql.id

We want to COUNT the amount of times this id comes up. Remember, our REPORT which will get triggered by this query will display all the required columns. This query is to determine IF the report should be run ONLY. Our short query becomes:

select count(imitmadt_sql.id)

Skip the 'from' section and proceed to the 'where' filters you added earlier.  Assuming you created the filters correctly using the Event Manager Filters tab, you will just need to add one more 'filter' to the very end of your SQL statement.

where... imitmadt_sql.activity_cd='F' AND imitmadt_sql.aud_action='A'

Becomes

where... imitmadt_sql.activity_cd='F' AND imitmadt_sql.aud_action='A' having count (imitmadt_sql.id)>0

Note that there is no AND between the last 'where' clause and the new 'having' clause which includes the same count formula we used in the select statement earlier. This keeps this query from triggering when there are no results! Click Preview and confirm that your results should look something like this where '3' is the number of hits that came up the FIRST time you Previewed this query:

"Column1" 3

Click Save and Close and go to Events. Create a new Event that uses the query you just made and select the Reports tab. Add the report that you wanted to be conditional but didn't want to send with zero results. Remember to set the Output Type/Style. Finally, draft your Email in the email tab, add subscribers in the subscriber tab, and schedule the report. That's it, no more reports without data! If there is no report sent, your recipients will know that there was no data generated by that report for that day.

A few weeks ago I attended a CPA Technology Seminar.  I know what you're thinking - he gets all the good assignments!  Actually, it was pretty interesting.  Lots of new announcements from Intuit regarding their QuickBooks Enterprise 9.0 software (not your small business software anymore!)  Great third party vendor showcases, and excellent, straight-talking seminars given by seasoned veterans.  The joke of the day was about people who still work with only one monitor on their desk.  I saw a few single-monitored people leaving before lunch.  They couldn't take the embarassment any longer.  One of them even dropped their slide rule on the way out. The point was made clear though, that using a single monitor requires a user to regularly minimize what they were working on and open other applications.  And people that regularly check their email every time one comes in (like me) consume even more time with clicking the mouse and opening and closing.  Having a second monitor to bring up an electronic document for viewing eliminates the need for printing certain types of documents, as well.  This is really important, since it is estimated that it takes an average of 7 minutes for a worker to get up and retrieve a document from a shared printer (given the usual distractions, loading more paper, etc.), Numerous studies have been done that prove that the majority of workers gain a significant increase in efficiency and productivity when working with two monitors instead of one (i.e. more work gets done each day).  The average seems to be about 15-20%, which translates into 1.2-1.6 hours per day!  I can tell you from my own experience that it is definitely true.  I perform a lot of tasks where I need to have source material up on one monitor, while I work on a spreadsheet or other document on the other.  At very least, I have my email up on the left monitor while making calls using my CRM system, or when writing a blog, for example.  It only took a day or two to get used to, and now I can really tell the differnce when I don't have the second monitor (while working on my laptop, for instance). A good document management system also helps a lot - Check out Exact Synergy as an option.  I'm gradually letting go of all paper, myself, but it can be a significant behavioral change.  Most CPA offices have gone paperless when it comes to client documents, for example.  A lot of attorneys have done the same thing.  They've learned what a huge cost savings that can be for them, and that they can actually find documents when they need them.  Most personal computers out there today are already capable of supporting two monitors, so get out to Best Buy and spend $179 for another 19" monitor already!  You'll probably be best served by two of the same kind and size on your desk, so you may need to mix and match in the office a little.

Productivity is the engine of profit, or, more precisely, we earn profit by being productive.  In fact, when we go to work in the morning, our goal is to return home with more profit than we had when we left, not less.  We do that by being productive.  It really isn't more complicated than that, so don't overthink this. Profit is simply the wages of being productive.  Making a profit is done by providing a good or service that is of more value to someone else than it cost you to produce.  Profit is not a bad thing...it is our responsibility! Since we all have the same fixed amount of time each day, our goal should be to continuously look for ways to improve productivity so that we can maximize our profit each day.  It is the responsible thing to do as good stewards of our available resources.  With business slowing pretty dramatically in many areas, meaning volume is down, productivity gains are pretty important just to stay even.  One sure way to gain productivity is to manage information as efficiently as possible.  Check out www.AttivoConsulting.com for some innovative ways to improve the way that you manage and use information.  And check back here regularly for tips and tricks that will keep the productivity - and profit - rolling in. Do you happen to know what "Attivo" means?