SBA Top 10 List !
I want to devote this posting to highlighting the top 10 reasons why a small business user should adopt SBA. As I have been writing earlier, the uniqueness of the product is driven by both its user friendliness & its deep feature set and even more importantly the manner in which people and processes of an organization get connected across its front and back office. In addition, the service offerings integrated into SBA and provided over the internet, help protect the user from the overhead of managing complexity in infrastructure (IT servers, credit card terminals, tax rules etc) eg ADP payroll and Chase Manhattan’s credit card processing.
So here is the top 10 list of superior features of Office Small Business Accounting that makes it so unique in the marketplace :
1) User Friendliness of the product
a. A clean and anchor navigation bar with all related tasks and lists a business person needs
b. All documents (including transactions) are available as lists eg invoices, payments records etc
c. All lists are sortable by any column, size can be changed, columns can be moved just as though one was in excel
d. Simple navigation of work flow in both visual and table form
e. Live spotlight for latest information on
i. Software updates
ii. Solutions from MS and partners
iii. Tips, help topics and knowledge base
f. Context sensitive reports are never more then two clicks away
g. User can open multiple windows and manage them in the task pane like any other office app { technically this is called SDI windows (single document interface)}. This also enables multi monitor usage if needed
h. Each change in company preference can be saved individually when the window is closed
i. A user can save a document and leave it in focus and continue working on it just like any other office app
j. Simplified setup and first time use via a very easy wizard
k. Migration of data from Quickbooks (master AND transaction records)
l. Customer and vendor history can be viewed in the master records
m. Customizable dash board of business metrics, cash flow and open tasks provides for birds eye view of the business
n. Expenses and other non item accounts can be directly added to an invoice
2) Superior implementation of accounting rules (full accrual double entry book-keeping while also providing the option for cash basis reporting)
a. Opening balances goes into one account
b. History of changes in sales tax is preserved
c. Opening balances for customers and vendors do not cause P&L posting
d. Posted documents are voided during editing and reposted with new amts for compliance with GAAP
e. Audit trail of voided documents can be seen in transaction detail by account (TDA) report
f. Audit trail of edited documents can be seen in TDA report
g. Taxable items are treated consistently whether the amount is negative or positive (unlike some of the other software in the market)
h. Reimbursable expenses are easier to add to invoices
i. Sales tax (flat amt) can be added to documents
j. Non job customers can be created even if job preferences is on
k. Formal (hard) fiscal year closing is possible in the product to confirm to accounting rules
l. User can see closing entries in journal entry list
m. FIFO method of inventory to more accurately cost and control purchases
n. User can have individual payment terms by tax vendor
o. All journal entries listed in UI
p. Statement of cash flows follow GAAP
i. Short term liability transaction
ii. Accumulated depreciation
q. Pay bill feature computes total payment
r. Innovation in cash basis reporting to include ability of user or CPA to denote each account type as inclusive in the report eg current liability
s. Ability to do journal reclass in simple, GAAP compliant manner eg breaking a T&E expense into a T and an E
t. Ability to link credit memo to appropriate invoice (create from option)
3) Rich reporting engine with built in analysis tools (eg P&L comparison to prior period by $, % by period); built in graphs in key reports
4) Cash flow tool to manage inflows and outflows of money inclusive of estimates, sales orders, purchase orders, sales tax payable (based on user preference) with ability to analyze additional what-if scenarios. Cash flow model can also be exported to excel
5) Customization of all customer facing documents in word
6) Integration with excel for export of data with format and worksheets for additional scrubbing, analysis and saving snapshot for future reference
7) Integration with email allows all customer facing documents like invoices, credit memos etc to be e-mailed from SBA and additionally tracked in outlook w/BCM for historic view of interactions
8) Customer financial history (all transactions) visible to sales and marketing users within Outlook w/BCM based on granted permissions
9) A sales person in the organization can create an opportunity in Outlook w/BCM by calling out master inventory (product list) from SBA
10) A sales opportunity created in Outlook w/BCM can be directly converted into a quote or a sales order or an invoice in SBA (per the norm of the business)
Well, I thought I could stop at the top 10 J but there are just too many more features that make SBA the superior product in the market, so I will take the liberty of adding another 10 :
11) Calendar or tasks can be marked as billable within Outlook with BCM and automatically flow in to SBA for invoicing and payroll processing
12) Self service payroll service from ADP integrated with SBA data and records
a. Capability to use ADP for direct deposits, tax filings and tax payments
b. Includes all state and local filing capability (efile and signature ready forms)
13) Security is at a database level so user can be more assured of safety of their financial data
14) Storage of all information is in a relational database (Microsoft SQL Desktop Edition) so there is no limitations to number of master records or transactions a business can have (eg customer, item, employee, vendors etc).
15) Independent software vendors (ISVs) building industry specific software can easily call into the business logic directly w/o requiring SBA to be in process (unlike some other products in the market)
16) ISVs can create applications in language of their preference and work with SBA
a. Side by side – calling in and posting transactions
b. Add on to menu and tool bar
c. Tie managed add in to events
d. Customize labels
17) ISVs can also use Microsoft Access for additional enhancements
18) ISVS or CPAs can use Microsoft Excel to create custom pivot tables for analysis for end user
a. Rich analysis pack with samples pivots and reports ships with the product
19) Eight concurrent users supported with role based permission and security
20) Upgrade path to Microsoft Dynamics solutions cater to lifecycle support for a small business and give them assurance that the solution scales with them as their business grows
I have to admit this is a lot of fun as there are so many great features built into the product by a very talented group of people. However I will take a break here :-) and will revisit the feature list as we come closer to the shipment of our next version. In the meantime for anyone interested, here is a link to a direct product comparison between SBA and some of the other solutions in the market like QuickBooks and Peachtree.
http://www.microsoft.com/office/accounting/prodinfo/quickcompare.mspx
