MoneyWorks

MoneyWorks 6.1.1 and later are compatible with Mountain Lion (Mac OS X 10.8).

Earlier versions of MoneyWorks 6 (and MoneyWorks 5) may or may not work on Mountain Lion.

MoneyWorks 4 and earlier are not compatible, as they require the now discontinued Rosetta compatibility layer (which means that these older versions were not compatible with Lion either). Users of these old versions need to note that they must upgrade their MoneyWorks (and their data files) before upgrading to Lion/Mountain Lion, as the data conversion also requires Rosetta.

Mountain Lion Installation Note

MoneyWorks 6.1.1 installers (and earlier) pre-date Gatekeeper, the new security system on Mountain Lion. To install these version of MoneyWorks you will need to right-click on the installer and select Open, instead of double-clicking. This will give you access to the Open button to override Gatekeeper

MoneyWorks 6.1.2 and later have Gatekeeper-compatible signatures.

Information on Lion compatibility is available here.

Congratulations to the team at Marketcircle on the release of Daylite 4. I was privileged to attend their Partners Conference in Toronto last October, and was hugely impressed by the look and feel of this new version.

For the many MoneyWorks users who also use Daylite, you should read the before you upgrade information provided by MarketCircle. In particular, you need to be aware that the new version of Daylite does not support the existing Connectors, including MoneyWorks. From their website:

Daylite Connectors
Daylite 4 does not currently support the 3rd party connectors. We are exploring a new, REST/JSON based API for connectors in the future. We’ll maintain the API and we’ll guide 3rd parties on how to make and maintain connectors. This new mechanism will allow for much better integration opportunities.

We’re looking forward to working with the team at MarketCircle to provide even better connectivity between Daylite 4 and MoneyWorks. But this is a major project which will take months, so please be patient.

If you are not familiar with Daylite, it is sort of a “CRM system on steriods” for Mac, and manages customers, projects, meetings, tasks, emails etc.

Update: The new connector for Daylite 4/5 is now available — see the Daylite Connector page.

The advent of smart devices (iphones, ipads etc) means that mobile connectivity is becoming more and more realistic. In the release of MoneyWorks Datacentre 6.1 we have included two sample mobile apps which provide direct communication over the internet with MoneyWorks Datacentre, eliminating the problems of data synching, which is the bane of most mobile solutions. These samples are intended to illustrate what can be accomplished using MoneyWorks.

The two “webapps” we have provided are:

Reports: An app that will generate and display a nominated report in real time. Any report created using the MoneyWorks Report writer can be displayed; this includes any of your own specially developed reports, as well as most of the standard report. So now, when you are out on the road, the latest information is always available, whether it is sales information (what is the purchasing history of the customer I am about to visit), management information (how did the business perform today?), or traditional financial reports.

Timer: A timer application that allows you to record time and materials against jobs – simply tap a job to select, then start the timer or record materials used. The information you enter will go live into the job system back to your Datacentre, ready for collating and billing. Ideal for people selling time and expertise (consultants, tradespeople etc).

List of current jobs

Performance is astonishingly fast. I was recently in Vancouver, and it took just a few seconds to display a sales report generated live in Auckland, 11,000 kilometers away on the other side of the Pacific.

Of course there are limitless other possibilities for this technology, such as direct order entry, invoice creation, point of sale and more, with a number of developers already working on specific solutions for clients. It is all very exciting!

Our sample apps are written in javascript and html5, so can be easily modified by others to meet your specific requirements. They require an active internet connection to work. For more information on these web apps and how to access them, please download this pdf. More technical developer information can be found on the Developer Page.

For developers interested in integrating with MoneyWorks Datacentre, there is now new developer documentation on the Developer page for the new REST (HTTP) interface introduced with Datacentre v6.1.

We will be holding our sesquiannual International Partner Conference this coming weekend. This conference is attended by MoneyWorks consultants and support personal from around the world. This means that telephone and email support services will be unavailable or limited for several days before and after this weekend. Cognito’s New Zealand telephone support line will be unavailable on Thursday 10 May and Friday 11 May. Support services in other countries may also be limited while our staff and partners are travelling to and from our conference. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

If it all possible, please keep non-urgent support or office queries until next week. Thanks for your patience.

MoneyWorks 6.1 is now available for download.

Many of the improvements in this release focus on Datacentre, which now has facilities to greatly simplify integrating with web-based systems via a REST API. Two sample WebApps are included with this release, one for pulling up a nominated MoneyWorks report, and the for other recording time and material “on the go”. Information on these is available in this pdf.

There are also many stability enhancements and minor tweaks for all MoneyWorks applications, so all users are encouraged to install this update.

The Mac version of Datacentre has undergone some technical changes to enhance performance and security. Mac Datacentre Administrators see the Mac Permissions page for more information.

To update a Datacentre server, use the Update tab in the MoneyWorks Datacentre Console application. First, before installing the update, do check that your data is backed up. Look at the date and time of the latest backup in your Backups folder. There should be a new backup created when your database closes after everyone has logged out.

To update MoneyWorks Cashbook, Express or Gold, use Software Updates in the Help menu.

A full list of changes is available in the change notes.

MoneyWorks Cashbook purchased via the Apple App Store should have an update available via the App Store in the near future.

With MoneyWorks in use in so many industries and places around the world, we want to share stories of how organisations use MoneyWorks in innovative ways. The first of these is from Alex Webster, a long time MoneyWorks user who took advantage of MoneyWorks Automation (MoneyWorks Automation allows other systems to “talk” to MoneyWorks in real time) to overcome his frustration with “the antiquated process of shipping goods by courier”.

Alex created StarShip, an application that integrates with MoneyWorks and allows Alex to manage the entire courier fulfilment process from his desktop, save money and improve customer service.

Courier Ticketing and Tracking with Starship

StarShip starts by validating the delivery address (which can be entered manually or loaded direct from MoneyWorks), calculates the correct shipping rate, and then prints a fully addressed courier ticket. Outgoing consignments can be actively tracked once they have left the building via a simple dashboard, so Alex knows if a parcel has gone astray, and can take action before his customer calls to complain. StarShip even emails tracking details to the consignee, reassuring them that their order is en route and allowing them to track its progress themselves.

Alex developed the first version of StarShip for use in his own business.  The system was so successful, and improvements in productivity and efficiency so pronounced, that he needed to share it, so founded Elegant Solutions to develop the software further.  StarShip has since been extensively rebuilt and  continuously improved and now operates in a growing number of businesses across New Zealand.

MoneyWorks users can download StarShip (without charge or obligation) from www.elegantsolutions.co.nz and put it through its paces using a demo account.  MoneyWorks integration is extremely straightforward, and even allows tracking numbers to be written back to MoneyWorks transactions. At present StarShip supports CourierPost, NZ Post and DHL, with support for other carriers in the pipeline. Alex welcomes feedback and suggestions from all MoneyWorks users, and can be contacted at info@elegantsolutions.co.nz

There has never been a better time for MYOB users to switch to MoneyWorks.

As you may know, MYOB is a large Australian-based (but now largely US-owned) marketing company that has historically marketed accounting software acquired from other developers. For the first time they have made a stab at developing an all new accounting software platform under the “MYOB” brand. This was released recently as an “upgrade” to the MYOB AccountRight line….to the apparent displeasure of their user base, who have complained loudly on the MYOB official user forum:

“MYOB! – what the bloody hell have you done to this product?? It is spectacularly awful and sluggish.”

“Sorry MYOB, but AP 2011 is an absolute lemon.”

” What used to take minutes can now take more than a hour. And yet you charged a fee us for this ‘upgrade’.”

“Not impressed with the problems I have already faced with new version. Programs is slow, problems importing customised plain paper invoices, intermittent problems printing from card search screen, problems with selecting the OK or Cancel buttons in screens with the mouse to finish transactions. Overall, not particularly happy.”

“Anyone tried MYOB lately? Or their latest upgrade? What a disaster!”

Fundamental complaints/flaws appear to be:

• it is unreliable and buggy;
• it is slow;
• there is no Mac version (so no future compatibility);
• new users get a licence for one data file only.

In contrast, MoneyWorks is reliable; very fast; provides feature, file format, and network compatibility across Mac and Windows platforms; and allows an unlimited number of company data files. And MoneyWorks has been developed by, and continues to be owned by, the same team that created it 20 years ago, and continues to evolve it to keep pace with modern technology.

MYOB users can (and should!) convert to MoneyWorks now—our free MYOB Converter works with previous versions of MYOB Accounting/AccountRight (and AccountEdge). However it won’t work with the new 2011 version (and it is unlikely that we would make a new one).

Using the new Validations features in MoneyWorks 6.0.8, coupled with the smarts in the Forms designer and the user privileges, it is relatively easy to implement a purchase order approval system in MoneyWorks Gold/Datacentre.

In essence, this allows an employee to enter a purchase order, but not to be able to print or issue it until it has been authorised by the employee’s supervisor in MoneyWorks.

You can download more detailed instructions. Note that some knowledge of how simple expressions (formula) work is required.