Hey Jonathan,
You make some excellent points. Comments below:
>I should add that you may need to think through some processes, like what
>happens when a Payment is entered for a new name in the Names database.
>Presumably, a new customer would need to be generated in Quickbooks, along
>with (or prior to) adding the payment information.
Right, and how would you know whether they existed in QBP already or not? I'm
thinking that after every input into QBP you might want to do an export of a customer
list. Then in turn, the routine that prepares the IIF file could check that list to
see if a new customer needs to be generated. Does this sound feasible?
>Also, if data has already been put into Quickbooks, can one assume that all
>the information that should match between Ebase and Quickbooks was entered
>without any typos? Of course, this is one reason to automate things, but it
>could take some work to find and correct data that doesn't match.
Absolutely true. And I'm thinking that unless you want to get very involved in trying
to program in synchonization, you'll have to assume that any post-import corrections
will have to be made in both programs. My current client seems to accept this, and
feels that errors are rare enough that the time saved on data entry will still be more
than worth it.
>I suspect that synchronization issues, although not insurmountable, are
>likely to be a headache, initially.
>
>Jonathan Sibley
>
>At 01:20 PM 8/30/01, you wrote:
>>I can confirm this. I opened up a IIF file using a text editor, and it is
>>quite complex. If the tool below works, it would be quite useful.
>>
>>Marshall
>>
>>On 8/30/01 11:15 AM, "Jonathan Sibley" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>>
>> > I haven't tried it, but there is software from this site:
>> > http://www.peterssoftware.com/dfm.htm that appears to translate date into
>> > Quickbooks format. I believe that the IIF format generates more than one
>> > line of date for every record of a database, so creating the format,
>> > oneself, isn't trivial.
>> >
>> > If you go to that site, there is a trial version that can be downloaded. If
>> > it works, let us all know.
>> >
>> > As Walt pointed out, there may be some manipulations that have to occur
>> > prior to creating the IIF format. DFM may be able to handle that, as well.
>> >
>> > Good luck.
>> >
>> > Jonathan Sibley
>> >
>> > At 11:55 AM 8/30/01, you wrote:
>> >> I would also be interested in further development of this idea. We use
>> >> QuickBooks in our FrontEnd and manage simlar data in ebse (so like
>> >> MAtthew, we are entering a lot
>> >> of data twice). It would obviously save much time!
>> >> -otis
>> >>
>> >> Walt Daniels wrote:
>> >>
>> >>> We have looked at the problem but have not actually tackled it yet.
>> An IIF
>> >>> file is just a text file with a particular content so it should not
>> be hard
>> >>> to constuct it line by line and write it to a text file. The hard part is
>> >>> writing a generic one rather than one tied to your particular chart of
>> >>> accounts. The problem is roughly: If you enter a sale in QB by hand it
>> >>> adjusts the approriate accounts and changes the inventory. To do this via
>> >>> IIF you need to create each of the individual pieces adjusting each
>> account
>> >>> of what a manual user thinks of as a single transaction. Income
>> >> accounts are
>> >>> easier because there is no inventory involved. One of our volunteers did
>> >>> write a program to generate IIF from the database of our previous
>> >> accounting
>> >>> system so we could import the data.
>> >>>
>> >>>> -----Original Message-----
>> >>>> From: Marshall Mayer [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
>> >>>> Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2001 10:16 PM
>> >>>> To: TechRocks Support
>> >>>> Subject: [support] Re: Ebase and QuickBooks
>> >>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Matthew,
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Ebase, based on FileMaker Pro, will not export to an .IIF file
>> >>>> format. Will
>> >>>> QuickBooks import a .txt or an .xls file? If so, it should be
>> >>>> easy to match
>> >>>> fields.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Marshall
>> >>>>
>> >>>> On 8/29/01 8:19 PM, "Matthew Scholtz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> >>>>
>> >>>>> Hello All,
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> Has anyone on the list tried to create an interface between Ebase and
>> >>>>> QuickBooks? Specifically, a client of mine wants to have a way
>> >>>> to export
>> >>>>> transactions (i.e. donations) that were entered in Ebase over
>> >>>> to QuickBooks
>> >>>>> format (.IIF) so that data entry doesn't need to happen twice.
>> >>>> Just wondering
>> >>>>> if any of you have tackled this problem, so that I don't need
>> >>>> to reinvent the
>> >>>>> wheel.
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> TIA,
>> >>>>> Matt
>> >>>>> Matthew Scholtz
>> >>>>> Database and Non-Profit Technology Consultant
>> >>>>> Bellingham, WA
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> Also associated with NPower, Seattle
>> >>>>> www.npower.org
>> >>>>>
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>>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ebase - Relationship Management for Nonprofits, http://www.ebase.org
>>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Marshall Mayer mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> CEO, TechRocks http://www.techrocks.org
>> 633 Battery Street - Suite 110 phone: 415.722.7171
>> San Francisco, CA 94111-1812 USA eFax: 208.361.0149
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