Many businesses need large amounts of repetitious or manual data to be input but wish there was a more efficient way of getting these tasks done. Some of our clients have been in this situation and have sought our assistance in overcoming this challenge.
Success Story 1 – ASCA
Customised Excel and ReckonAccounts IIF Templates eliminate weeks of data entry every quarter.
The Task
ASCA Ltd is a national buying group for schools. One of its suppliers offers a rebate for products sold. The scheme requires Recipient Generated Tax Invoices (RGTI) to be created every quarter by ASCA Ltd, ranging from a few hundred to more than two thousand. Adding to the complexity, the rebate amount differs between schools.
Each RGTI has to be generated manually. The time required to generate these invoices in ReckonAccount ran into weeks, so the company was looking for a more efficient way to complete the task.
The Solution
All the information is contained in an Excel spreadsheet. The solution we have developed is based on a combination of MS Excel and Reckon IIF Invoice template. It takes the raw data — which is a collection of each school name and its corresponding rebate amount in Excel format — into another custom-designed Excel worksheet.
The custom-designed worksheet turns the input data into a form compatible with the Reckon IIF format. It includes the school name, amount without GST and amount of GST.
The output of the IIF file is imported into the Reckon Accounting Software. The result is the correct mapping of each school and rebate amount into Recipient Generated Tax Invoices.
The Benefits
The company is now able to complete the task in a few hours, instead of the weeks spent before the solution was created.
The solution is easily scalable to handle more than two thousand school canteens with a marginal increase in time and effort.
Carmel McMorron, Office Manager at ASCA Ltd commented on the solution developed by Core Bookkeeping Solutions:
Working with Peng to create a program to enable input via Excel has turned this into a 30-minute process. Yes we had a few teething issues, but the program works brilliantly now and was well worth the time and effort.
Peng came and visited us on site, was in constant contact by phone and email. The backup service, care and commitment to streamline this process were fantastic.
Peng is a pleasure to work with. I have no hesitation in recommending Core Bookkeeping Solutions.
Success Story 2 – Eastlink Espresso
Transform ReckonAccounts software into a business system that drives key company operations.
The Task
Eastlink Espresso is a service agent for one of the leading coffee machine manufacturers. It services both domestic and commercial coffee machines.
Its business relies extensively on the manufacturer’s spare parts and their pricing. The number of spare parts for both types of machines totals more than 4,000.
The company’s revenue can be subdivided into streams:
- For consumer machines that have passed their warranty period, the company requires a front office system that provides customer quotations on the part that is found to be faulty during initial investigation.
- For machines still covered by the manufacturer’s warranty, the company will invoice the manufacturer for the repair.
- Both an end-user price and warranty price are required for the same item.
The company requires its ReckonAccount software to be capable of supporting both warranty and non-warranty service business.
The Solution
We took the manufacturer’s 4,000+ spare parts list and raised the wholesale price by a fixed percentage to arrive at the retail price before importing them into the Reckon Accounts software.
We also customised the Reckon Account software to enable the front desk technician to book in the faulty machine as well as to provide the customer with a quote to repair the faulty machine.
The file that we developed needed to be compatible with Reckon’s IIF format.
Months after the initial installation, we were again engaged to upgrade the data after the manufacturer released a new spare parts list. We had to take the old list and the new list and used Excel to sort the data in the following way.
- For items in the old list but not in the new list, make them inactive.
- For items in both the old list and the new list, keep them but update the new price.
- For items in the new list but not in the old list, add them to the list and update the price.
- The new list of more than 4,000 items was then imported into the Reckon Accounts software.
The Benefits
The system we developed enables the company to run its entire business with the correct pricing for both domestic and commercial coffee machines in all scenarios. This ensures that less time is spent looking up prices when quoting and prevents accounting errors.