The Attivo Blog

Consultants come in all shapes and sizes.  There are tall, short, fat, skinny, old, young, male and female Consultants that work in every industry.  Now, even though we don’t know what each Consultant will look like before they show up to a job, we of course assume they are all there with the same intentions… To provide good, quality, efficient service! Well, what if I was to tell you this is not always the case?!  At the risk of being “Enemy #1” amongst all you Consultants out there lets for the sake of argument and entertainment break you into 3 categories.  The Hostage, Vacationing, and Professional Consultant. The Hostage Consultant is the guy that just isn’t happy to be there.  You might even think his dog was run over by a car that morning.  Either he is not happy at his current job, is having a really bad day, or is just there because the boss absolutely made him go!  Safe to say, this is a tough person to work with and should be avoided at all costs! The Vacationing Consultant can be a little tricky at first.  (Note… Vacationing Consultants are often found on jobs in Hawaii or other coastal located business’s) An immediate tipoff is when they show up to the job in a Rein Spooner and flip flops.  This type of Consultant appears energetic and happy to be working when he is actually just excited to get to the beach.  Often times the Vacationing Consultant will do a 2nd rate job and will be more interested in the beautiful scenery than the actual work he is doing. The Professional Consultant is the one that is at the job to provide quality, efficient and cost-effective service.  This Consultant is prepared for the job and always has a plan in place!  Here at The Attivo Group we take pride in only having this type of Consultant.   Implementing a new software system is tough to begin with.  Knowing what you are getting with your Consultant can make that process a whole lot easier!

QuickBooks doesn't do manufacturing, does it? Well, kind of. It does have a basic bill of materials, which will consume components and create a parent item. But that's where it stops. Intuit QuickBooks Pro, QuickBooks Premier or QuickBooks Enterprise Suite have never been known as robust manufacturing solutions. Manufacturing Systems Designed to Work with QuickBooks First, I should tell you that our company, The Attivo Group, is an Intuit Solution Provider, and that we sell and support QuickBooks Enterprise Suite.  We also sell and support several tier 2 ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems such as Microsoft Dynamics GP and Exact Macola.  These are wonderfully capable systems, but may be more expensive or overly complex for the smaller, $1-10 million manufacturer. The reason I wanted to point this out is to help small manufacturers understand that they should implement good planning and control systems, but they shouldn't overspend to achieve the goal. Fortunately, there are several great software applications that are designed to work with QuickBooks to support manufacturing needs.   Here's the great part - you don't have to disturb your accounting department to implement them!  There might be some small process changes to deal with, but no major overhaul of your entire business.  This is like remodeling the house without ripping out the kitchen or either of the bathrooms. The key is understanding those requirements, and choosing the right solution.  Although it might seem like there are a lot of software choices, the choices are narrowed when specific requirements are considered.  First, narrow the field with basic choices, by identifying the type of manufacturing support that you need, such as:                     -  Make to order                     -  Configure to order                     -  Make to stock                     -  Process Manufacturing, etc. Then, consider unique requirements such as compliance needs, serial or lot traceability, project management needs, labor tracking, outside processing or other needs.  Each application provides a different set of functions, and in some cases are designed to support particular types of industries.  So get some help on determining your needs before you start looking - or you will be looking for a while, since there are over 100 options out there.  Some of the more widely used applications are (click on them for more information):

• Fishbowl Inventory
• MISys Manufacturing
• Exact JobBOSS
• Exact MAX
• AdvancePro

Check out the Intuit Marketplace, and see for yourself.  There is a lot of good software out there to manage your operations.  Our experience is that most of the $1-10 million manufacturers are using QuickBooks for accounting, and Excel for everything else, as tedious as that is.  Even though Microsoft Excel is a great application, it's time to put in an easy to use system that can really save your company time and money.  And you don't have to throw QuickBooks out to do it!