Tuesday, November 21, 2006

The MISys guys, Scott Beavers and Terry Merrill made the pilgrimage to Sin City (Las Vegas) for the pretigious Sleeter Conference as exhbitors. The Sleeter group has a once a year training and conference to bring QuickBooks Pro-Advisors up to date on all things QuickBooks related. Most, if not all, of the more than 400 attendees are not only QuickBooks consultants of one type or another but also Sleeter Certified Consultants. So if you are a QuickBooks user you might try the Sleeter site at www.sleeter.com for more information. While the MISys guys were making the nightly donation to the casinos as expected, during the day we were showing our MISys SBM for QuickBooks manufacturing software to the consultants looking for a manufacturing solution for there manufacturing customers. If you haven't seen the newest version yet with more whistles and bells integration with QuickBooks go to www.misyssbm.com/quickbooks and check it out. Also, the big kahunna of MISys made the trip to the Intuit campus in Mt. View California to showcase some of the new features of MISys SBM v2.0. You can't see that preview yet but stayed tuned for January 1st, 2007! Can you say MRP?

Monday, September 25, 2006

If you are a MISys end-user (the folks who love and use our software) I hope you were one of the lucky folks who took the MISys Small Business Manufacturing on-line training last week. Dave Brown, veteran of 20+ years of MISys training had a healthy group who were new to MISys SBM on the basic course. Over two days the group got to know the ins and outs of the MISys SBM system and learned the basics to get them started. If you weren't able to make it go to our web site at http://www.misyssbm.com and sign up for the next classes. All you need is a computer, phone line and preferable a high speed internet access and you can take the class even if you are still in your pj's. Don't miss the next training. If you are a MISys AAS user advanced on-line training is taking place this week. It's the next best thing to having MISys guy Dave Brown right at your place of business!

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Well the MISys guys have been busy the last couple of months. Not Al and Terry per se but those crafty folks in the development department who work for pennies but come out with brilliant code. To celebrate their achievements the big boss has announced that MISys Small Business Manufacturing, known as SBM to the insiders, has a new 1.5 version just released. So as your excitment builds you should know this is no small bit of work. The new version offers QuickBooks users some dramatic new features especially for manufacturers that are make-to-stock and make-to-order types. Go to: http://www.misyssbm.com/quickbooks and sign up for the video demo. Not to be outdone by the sales and marketing group, our own Scott Beavers has returned from a successful trip to TPAC (Third party ACCPAC Conference) in Vancouver, BC where he spent a few days talking to our considerable number of business partners who not only sell MISys but Sage ERP (formerly ACCPAC) accounting. If it had been winter Scott would have taken his skis as he is known for his backcountry exploring when the rest of us would rather be inside with a warm fire. The MISys guys are pounding away getting ready for our next big event at the Sleeter Conference in Las Vegas in November. Scott and yours truly will be winging our way to sin city - hey someone has to do it! Stay tuned.

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

MISys staffer Terry Merrill and yours truly, Al Alessi, just returned from the Quickbook Enterprise Users Conference in lovely Chandler, Arizona. There is a Sheraton there called Wild Horse Pass that sits on the Gila River Indian Reservation, home to the Pima Indians, and it was a unique environment for a conference. We liked it on a physical level [except that it was 40 degrees hotter than I'm used to in ol' Vermont], but the energy at the conference was great as well.

There is no doubt in our minds that SBM is a great fit for the Quickbooks Enterprise users involved in manufacturing, and we had many demos for many interested parties. We learned as well talking with end-users, Quickbooks Pro Advisors and Intuit staff (sometimes all at once!). I also got to talk with prospects I had already been in touch with over the phone, and it's always a special pleasure to meet potential SBM users face-to-face. We met makers of hurrican shutters (Ocean Shutters), trailers (Best Trailers), skin nutrition (BioSkin), boats (Performance Cruising), pumps (Cortech), aviation oxygen systems (MH), wine (New Mexico Wineries), TV appliances (TV Ears), composites (ICE), furniture (DStyle), fencing (Cedar Rustic) among many others. It was, as I said, a great learning experience to understand what kind of issues each manufacturer struggled with.

I also got to meet Doug Sleeter, a leading voice in the Quickbooks universe, and we demoed the product together. Again, I learned at least as much as he did. We'll see Doug again at the Sleeter conference in Vegas. I'll try my best to keep this blog going, please share your comments and thoughts to let me know my efforts are not in vain. I'd enjoy this 1000 times more if it was a two way dialogue!

Friday, March 03, 2006

Well folks, it's finally here! SBM has arrived!

And I've got all kinds of links for you. You can get a very quick overview by going to http://www.misyssbm.com/xxx with xxx being the accounting package of your choice. You can put in Quickbooks, SBA, Adagio or Simply, and it will open up a quick streaming video for you.

Now for more depth please go to http://www.misyssbm.com/getsbm
and select Free Streaming Video. As you fill in the information requested, you'll have an opportunity to select a specific accounting package, or select none if you're not sure.

Also, from the same page you can download a Trial Copy of the product. It's the complete SBM with limits on the number of items/BOMs etc. We've placed a $10 fee on the download just to eliminate unserious downloads, but if you contact me first at al@misysinc.com or 802-457-4600 x228 I'll provide you the code needed to download the Trial.

Finally, every Thursday we host an on-line Open House at 3 PM Eastern Standard Time. This is hosted by Dave Brown, company president and a central player in the development of the product. Here is where you can view live product and ask any questions you might have, like show me how to create a BOM revision. And we offer outstanding virtual food, plus very cute anime hostesses. Don't miss it!

We're anxious for the world to see our exciting new product, so don't delay. It's available for your business today!

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

The final touches are being put on MISys SBM (Small Business Manufacturing) and those really have to do with installation and license issues, not the program itself. As I understand it, Microsoft is testing as I write in terms of intall/de-install onto a machine with XP installed, and if that all passes, we're ready to roll.

In the meanwhile, Trial Copies (live product) are available for download, so if you have not yet done so and are interested in seeing this brand new .NET version of MISys, please go to http://www.misyssbm.com/getsbm and either start with the streaming video (a good choice if you haven't seen that yet) or select the Trial Copy.

I've just been asked why we charge $10 for the live product trial, and it's either we expect 10 million downloads and the extra dough would give us a fine month off in the Caribbean, or it's to keep the non-serious downloaders down to zero. I actually like the first reason, but it's the second. Ten bucks buys you a pepperoni and mushroom pizza locally, so it's not a lot, but it does say that a time unlimited trial copy is worth at least that much to someone.

That being said, anyone I personally am working with will get the secret password (it changes daily) since I know your interest is sincere, and the $10 fee is waived. There is also a secret handshake involved but more on that later. Any thoughts on this major issue, please feel free to share in the comments.

A very special option, I think, of MISys SBM is the rental option. For as little as $142 per month one can rent the powerful MISys SBM system. Run it for 3 or 6 months full bore. Make sure it does what we say it can do and you expect it to do. If it does, [and we're betting it does!] you can convert to full ownership and get some major piece (I don't have specifics in front of me yet but it's more than fair) of what you paid in rental applied to the purchase price. It's like insurance except you get your insurance back once you know everything is all right!

Well, feel free to join the discussion.

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Effective January 1st, MISys has entered into a partnership with software giant SAP to integrate MISys SBM with SAP Business One accounting.

SAP Business One is a mid-range product which has been gaining traction in North America and elsewhere against Accpac, MBS, and other mid-market players. Business One is sold by a channel of several hundred VARs.

Business One is offered with a simple manufacturing component, but the product has only a single level bill of material and thus no industrial-strength manufacturing capabilities. Presently, FourthShift Edition from Softbrands integrates with Business One, but it is an expensive solution frequently out of reach for many Business One prospects. Therefore SAP is anxious to offer MISys SBM as an optional right-priced manufacturing component.

MISys, Inc. will be presenting MISys SBM at the SAP Partner Conference in San Antonio at the end of January. In the meantime, you can direct anyone desiring additional information about the integration with Business One to www.misyssbm.com/sap.

You may find this web content interesting:

http://www.sap.com/solutions/sme/businessone/index.epx

http://www.camagazine.com/index.cfm/ci_id/22166/la_id/1.htm

http://www.2020software.com/products/SAP_Business_One.asp