Quickbooks Enterprise Solutions inventory add-ins - Anyone using these?

Mike_ · Sep 9, 2013

So we just made the upgrade to Quickbooks Enterprise from Quickbooks pro, the main reason for the change was multi-user access but we thought that it would handle inventory better being that it is supposed to be "manufacturing and wholesale" editions.

Anyway, we hired some quickbooks expert to help us set up the inventory list but it's not working at all like expected. The plan was to make assemblies of our parts and add labor and material on as parts of the assemblies, hopefully updating costs based on those parts. I suck at explaining this stuff, but apparently QB won't update inventory assemblies if you change the costs of parts that make up that inventory assembly, which is what we wanted all along I guess.

The Quickbooks expert is suggesting we try a few quickbooks add-ons that apparently add that functionality, but I'm not so sure it's a good idea in the long run. The three she recommended (erplite 9.0, ACCTivate, and MISYS) don't have a lot of info on them out on the net. I'm worried that these programs aren't very stable, for lack of a better word. What happens when any of these companies decide to quit working with QB?

Anyway, to make a long story short, is anyone using Quickbooks Enterprise with add-ins? Seems to me it would just introduce all sorts of update compatibility issues, a way for QB or the third party company to shift blame, and eventually leave us with a crippled company file when the add-in is no longer supported. Am I just being paranoid?

Anyone ever made the switch from QB to a dedicated standalone job shop management software like Jobboss, realtrac, etc...?

Thanks for looking!

codemonk · Sep 9, 2013

We use an outside system that ties into our Quickbooks. We found that Quickbooks did not really function like we wanted in a job shop environment. Went your route thinking enterprise would work since it is called manufacturing and wholesale, and like you it did not work out like we thought it would. Since then we downgraded to pro and are using a system called Quick Jobshop. Quickbooks we use just for the accounting and Quick Jobshop for everyting else. The 2 programs sync customers, vendors, parts, and we generate invoices in Quick Jobshop and those invoices get synced to Quickbooks.

When we were looking we looked at Jobboss and E2 and both of those were able to sync with Quickbooks. We went with Quick Jobshop since we got more for less $$.

Insert · Sep 10, 2013

Not sure how QB works(tried it once and gave up, its too overrated and more of a house hold name than anything), but in the program I use(Accountedge), I have all the items that make up my assemblies as individual items. Then the final assembly you specify that it needs, 1 of this, 2 of that etc. Then you "build" it, and based on the individual components you have at the time of building it, it determines the cost of the assembly. Once I have built the assembly, if I add components to inventory that are different in cost it won't change the assembly cost, but you can build parts as you sell them so they will have the latest average cost, or if its a big difference you can "un build(disassemble)" the assembly, it will average the individual component cost out, and then just rebuild it, with the new averaged cost.

Long story short, the assembly cost is determined based on the current component costs at the time of compiling the components into the assembly.

Mike_ · Sep 10, 2013

Insert said:
Not sure how QB works(tried it once and gave up, its too overrated and more of a house hold name than anything), but in the program I use(Accountedge), I have all the items that make up my assemblies as individual items. Then the final assembly you specify that it needs, 1 of this, 2 of that etc. Then you "build" it, and based on the individual components you have at the time of building it, it determines the cost of the assembly. Once I have built the assembly, if I add components to inventory that are different in cost it won't change the assembly cost, but you can build parts as you sell them so they will have the latest average cost, or if its a big difference you can "un build(disassemble)" the assembly, it will average the individual component cost out, and then just rebuild it, with the new averaged cost.

Long story short, the assembly cost is determined based on the current component costs at the time of compiling the components into the assembly.

Hmm, that's somewhat odd but it's exactly the problem I guess we have with Quickbooks. We were hoping to have part numbers for things like 1" 303 TGP that would be assigned to assemblies based on usage, then update the assemblies cost automatically when that material's cost increases. I guess it makes sense to not go changing the price of everything automatically though, I can see that going badly. That must be pretty common then huh?

I did not know Jobboss or E2 had quickbooks add-ins, the boss might like that. I know he's nervous about leaving quickbooks entirely, but that looks like a way to keep him happy and get us something designed for what we do.

Thanks, to both of you!!

Jason H · Sep 27, 2013

Mike_ said:
Hmm, that's somewhat odd but it's exactly the problem I guess we have with Quickbooks. We were hoping to have part numbers for things like 1" 303 TGP that would be assigned to assemblies based on usage, then update the assemblies cost automatically when that material's cost increases. I guess it makes sense to not go changing the price of everything automatically though, I can see that going badly. That must be pretty common then huh?

I did not know Jobboss or E2 had quickbooks add-ins, the boss might like that. I know he's nervous about leaving quickbooks entirely, but that looks like a way to keep him happy and get us something designed for what we do.

Thanks, to both of you!!

Guys I am an Enterprise 9.0 user for Mfg. Same inventory woes here. Please keep this thread active on what happens, would love to hear some outcomes. I deal in textiles so sku capabilities was a major leap for us ( Enterprise 3.0 is when I got on this train ) Was on an old peachtree dos system for a very long time. My biggest problems on inventory is that we are like a rope / cable manufacturer. One guy who cuts the rope may take 10% over or under for each job and with many small jobs the inventory errors compile quickly.

TimD · Sep 27, 2013

I've never used QB Enterprise only QB Premiere. Tried using inventory once but found it lacking. When I get frustrated with QB my accountant reminds me that it's an accounting programing and that's it. The other things they try to sell it as are half hearted attempts. Cost accounting is a big one want on my list.

For myself I eventually plan to migrate to a more robust ERP system and import basic financial data to QB when closing each month. The reason to still keep basic records in QB is that it is the software my accountant already knows and they are far too expensive to pay to learn something else. So basically QB will be used for tax and payroll purposes.

Jason H · Sep 30, 2013

TimD said:
I've never used QB Enterprise only QB Premiere. Tried using inventory once but found it lacking. When I get frustrated with QB my accountant reminds me that it's an accounting programing and that's it. The other things they try to sell it as are half hearted attempts. Cost accounting is a big one want on my list.

For myself I eventually plan to migrate to a more robust ERP system and import basic financial data to QB when closing each month. The reason to still keep basic records in QB is that it is the software my accountant already knows and they are far too expensive to pay to learn something else. So basically QB will be used for tax and payroll purposes.

Any recommendations on ERP's that play nice with QB?

TimD · Oct 1, 2013

Jason H said:
Any recommendations on ERP's that play nice with QB?

Honestly no not really. So much depends on your needs. If you want daily updates to QB then you'll start to get pretty limited. I'm only looking for month end updates which we can do manually as totals for each major category. For payroll I just need a list of employes and hours.

realsquash · Oct 12, 2013

Mike_ said:
So we just made the upgrade to Quickbooks Enterprise from Quickbooks pro, the main reason for the change was multi-user access but we thought that it would handle inventory better being that it is supposed to be "manufacturing and wholesale" editions.

Anyway, we hired some quickbooks expert to help us set up the inventory list but it's not working at all like expected. The plan was to make assemblies of our parts and add labor and material on as parts of the assemblies, hopefully updating costs based on those parts. I suck at explaining this stuff, but apparently QB won't update inventory assemblies if you change the costs of parts that make up that inventory assembly, which is what we wanted all along I guess.

The Quickbooks expert is suggesting we try a few quickbooks add-ons that apparently add that functionality, but I'm not so sure it's a good idea in the long run. The three she recommended (erplite 9.0, ACCTivate, and MISYS) don't have a lot of info on them out on the net. I'm worried that these programs aren't very stable, for lack of a better word. What happens when any of these companies decide to quit working with QB?

Anyway, to make a long story short, is anyone using Quickbooks Enterprise with add-ins? Seems to me it would just introduce all sorts of update compatibility issues, a way for QB or the third party company to shift blame, and eventually leave us with a crippled company file when the add-in is no longer supported. Am I just being paranoid?

Anyone ever made the switch from QB to a dedicated standalone job shop management software like Jobboss, realtrac, etc...?

Thanks for looking!

I run QB Premier M&W 2012 here. No comment on the add-ons, I have none. But I do use assemblies and inventory in QB. What you are seeing is probably more "technically correct" from an accounting perspective. You create an assembly item, populate it with parts, and it adds up the cost of all the items in the list. There is also a field on the assembly item where you can punch in whatever cost you like, so there are two costs on every assembly item. This is probably meant to be more of an override in case you don't have the costs all set up correctly in the assembly's item list. And then there's the average cost.

Anyways, at this point you don't have any assemblies actually in your inventory. You need to build the assembly to tell the system how many you manufactured and put on the shelf. You can't build an assembly until you have all the components in stock, too. So today your BOM costs $5 and you build 10 assemblies. Next week your BOM costs $10 and then you build 10 more assemblies.

What cost matters to you when you look back? You can find the cost of each build by doing a search from the item list. There should be a simple report for that but I haven't found one or spent the time to create one. The average price field automatically updates every time you build the assemblies.

The other thing that would be nice would be to generate a list, or a PO even, of the items on "pending" builds that can't be completed until those parts are made or ordered. WTF?

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Quickbooks Enterprise Solutions inventory add-ins - Anyone using these?

Mike_

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codemonk

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Insert

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Mike_

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Jason H

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TimD

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Jason H

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TimD

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realsquash

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