Room is Still Available for Toolbox TimeSuite User Conference

Toolbox TimeSuite conference is set for Thursday and Friday, May 8^th and 9^th, and will be held in Denver.

Crystal Reports Report Writer Licensing

In the past, we were able to distribute the run time versions of reports created with Crystal Reports royalty free. In 2007, Crystal Reports modified their licensing model for .NET thin application programs. In 2004, we began our re-write of Toolbox utilizing thin application technology. Because of this licensing change, Toolbox is no longer legally able to distribute Crystal run-time reports free of charge. Consequently, we entered into an OEM agreement with Crystal Report, and purchased the Full Professional Edition of Crystal Reports for all our Toolbox Users. This move provides all of our users with the Crystal Reports writer. Users are now able to edit/modify and create reports. Additionally, by having the report writer on your side, support issues relating to a reports and forms are much easier and quicker to resolve. We no longer have to copy databases to our ftp site. We are passing the Licenses to our Customers at cost. Please understand that we had no choice but to purchase these licenses. We are in the process of distributing the licenses and the report writers. If you have not already purchased Crystal Reports, you will receive an invoice in the mail for our cost of $250 (40% of the retail price). We will maintain a maintenance agreement with Crystal Reports, and consequently you will receive all updates to Crystal Reports in the future free of charge provided you stay up to date on your annual Toolbox maintenance.

Bid Item Buy-Out Sub-Grid Has Been Released

A new PO/SC Buy-Out sub-grid is now in place. Users can now log subcontractor/vendor pricing/bids, and select them to be utilized as the buy-out and/or budget amounts.

Budget columns and/or Buy Out columns are updated depending on the job status (estimate/Active/Service) and the Estimating preference (Utilities | Preferences): “Do not allow modifications to original estimates when job becomes active."

The Buy Out Grid “Rate” will populate the bid item row “Cost Rate” or “Buy-Out Rate” column if there are units on the bid item row, and will populate the “Budget” or “Buy-Out Amount” columns if no units are on the row.

The scope of a Buy-Out Grid row can be designated as specific to the bid item row, the job, or the item (inventory, non-inventory, service or other).

If the scope is “Bid Item,” the pricing is specific to the highlighted bid item row. If the scope is “Job,” an item must be specified, and the pricing will appear for each bid item row tied to the item. If the scope is “Item,” the pricing will appear on all rows tied to the item for all estimates/jobs.

Effective Dates and Expiration Dates can be specified for each Buy-Out Grid row.

New columns in the Bid Item grid have been added to facilitate tax complexities related to buy-out pricing. The new columns are labeled Buy-Out before Tax (proj_before_tax) and Buy-Out Tax (proj_tax).

New/Modified Reports Released

Tax on AP by Transaction Date

AP | 10 Print Tax Reports | 2. Print Tax on AP by Transaction Date

ftp://ftp.toolboxsoftware.com/Demo/Toolbox%20Demo/Reports/Tax_on_AP_by_tran_date.rpt

Job Budget Phase-Cost Code List has been modified to include a column for the Bill Code linked to the Phase-Cost Code.

Job Cost | 1. Job List Reports | 8. Job Budget Phase-Cost Code List

ftp://ftp.toolboxsoftware.com/Demo/Toolbox%20Demo/Reports/ Job_Budget_Phase-Cost_Codes_List.rpt

Types of Toolbox Updates

As we move through the .NET re-write, we want to identify three types of releases that our update process has evolved into.

Program Version Update

.NET Update

Database Update

We refer to the traditional updates as program updates. These updates relate to the older Toolbox screens.

Updates to our new .NET (dot net) grids and dialogs are referred to as .NET updates.

Updates to the database structure are referred to as database updates.

Some support issues require one of the three types of updates. The traditional program update is version controlled, and we release these types of updates periodically. The updates are referred to as “General Releases.” Click Help | About to see the release Program Version.

Because of the control and automated validation processes that have been implemented, .NET and database updates can be released more regularly. These updates are less prone to validation issues.

We are moving forward on an automated updates process, and are expecting to have that process included in the next general release scheduled for June 2008.

New Help Files are Now in the Beta Version of the next Program Version Update

The new help files include revamped help documentation. All of the posted help documents are included in the new help. Additionally, images of most reports are included in the new help screens.

The next general release is schedule for June 2008.

Preference Additions / Modifications

Users are able to specify default invoice numbering for progress billings, billings through the bid item grid and cost plus billings. The preference is set under Utilities | Preferences | J/C:

Default Progress Billing Invoice Numbers Using:

Specific Job Billing or

All Billings

Posted Help Documents

Click on the link below to retrieve the document.

Accounting Concepts

Contractor Concepts

Heavy Equipment Contractor Concepts

Project Oriented Entity Concepts

Tie your Month End Summary of Contracts to your Income Statement

Year End Closing

Toolbox Year End Reconciliation Processes

Accounting Reconciliation Write-ups

Aging to General Ledger Difference

Expecting Accurate Financial Information

How to save a database to the Toolbox FTP site

Accounting utilities

Utilization of Burdening Utilities

Data Imports

Training Write-ups

Bid Item Grid Help

Creating Work Orders and the Bid Item Grid

Grid Conditional Selection Operators

Job List Grid Help

Toolbox Accounting Transactions

Toolbox Crystal Class 1: How to create a basic AR invoice

Toolbox Crystal Reports Class 2: Adding Additional Fields

Toolbox Crystal Reports Class 3: Procedure and Advanced Topics

Procedural Write-ups

Billing Retention through an AR Invoice

Commitment Conversion Process

Consolidated Financial Statements via Crystal File

Customer Pre Payments

Direct Deposit Instructions

Payroll - 3rd Party Sick Pay

Selecting AP check forms and alignments

Setting Up Departments, Divisions and Companies

Writing off a Bad Debt

Canadian Payroll Taxes

Canadian GST and PST Concepts

Systems Administrator Write-ups

Automated Backup Procedure

Speeding Up Toolbox

Database Connection Issue

Install New Cheque Process

How to Fix Missing Crystal Help

To insert a custom report into Toolbox

How to retrieve a database from the Toolbox FTP site (Single user)

How to retrieve a database from the Toolbox FTP site (Multi User)

Reset Toolbox Database Log File

We Appreciate your Feedback

Please help us by providing feedback. After each support call, we request your feedback. Your feedback helps us understand just how we are doing. What are we doing well? What do we need to improve?