BQE Software eLetter
July 2004
In This Issue
1. New
BillQuick Support Hours!
2. New
and Improved!
3. I
Say Potato, You Potahto
4. Oops!
Retainer Wasn’t Applied
5. Current BillQuick Release Information
New BillQuick Support Hours!
Time to change those old habits and work on new
ones.
No waiting for implementation, you can now pick
up the telephone and contact BillQuick Telephone Support an hour earlier and
an hour later. That’s right, the new support hours are from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Pacific
Time.
When a nagging “Huh?” strokes your
brow, you have two extra hours to call us. Just imagine the angels dancing about your head
when you’re back generating billable hours. Remember, BillQuick Telephone Support is
available from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Pacific Time, Monday through Friday.
Night owl, are we?
For BillQuick users in need of assistance while
the stars illuminate your desks, just zip off your question to Support@BQE.com and our Email Support Experts will rock
the night away responding to your needs. With BillQuick Email Support, BQE Software covers
the entire planet 24 hours a day, 5 days a week.
Now, repeat after me:
BillQuick Telephone Support
8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Pacific Time
Monday through Friday
That's good. One more time.
BillQuick
Telephone Support
8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Pacific Time
Monday through Friday
New and Improved!
Continuous improvement is the name of the game
at BQE Software. We delivered BillQuick 2004 with more than 100 new features and
improvements in April 2004.
Well, hold on, in July enhanced modules of the
BillQuick Family are coming your way.
Available now are QuickUpdate
2004, BillQuick
Palm 2004 and Cardex
2004. Later in July, TimeKeeper 2004, Web i Client & Project 2004, Agent
Pro 2004, BillQuick Assistant 2004, BillQuick CE 2004, and eTools 2004 will be available.
Watch your Inbox for more information.
What about Web i Time and Expense 2004?
When is it coming out? I really need . . .
Okay, Clyde, okay. Web i T&E is in
final beta testing now. If you want to test the new version, let me know.
How?
Just send an email to WebiTEBeta@BQE.com. After a little bit of digital
paperwork, you'll be a beta tester. That help you out, Clyde?
Yeah, yeah, thanks. I'll do it. But what about
August? Any new modules?
Clyde, you always want to know about the future.
If I told you, you’d have to disappear.
Yeah, yeah, you always say that. What about . .
.
What about you, Clyde. How about dropping an
email to us, telling us how core BillQuick capabilities can be improved and expanded? What
new modules you need? Tell us whether you track due dates, schedule employees, and manage
tasks and want a new module to help you. Maybe you need an integrated contact manager.
What about billing processes, Clyde?
Want to save even more time, use technology to
'make it happen'? Say . . . automatically bill all time and expenses for certain projects
and email the invoices without lifting a finger? Or maybe you want billing to be easier
overall, and maybe easier and greater access to past billing decision details while you're
making current billing decisions or talking to a client about an invoice. Or perhaps you
manage using key performance indicators (manage by exception) and want BillQuick to help
you do that more efficiently.
Come on, Clyde, what do you need, want and
desire from BillQuick?
(Silence)
Okay,
take time to think about it. When you’re ready, send your suggestions to BQ-Ideas@BQE.com.
I Say Potato, You Say Potahto
What does that mean?
Nothing, Clyde, just a way to grab your
attention for another feature tip.
Come on, guys, this is about A-Hours and
B-Hours? Isn't that like ‘when a tree falls in the forest, does it make a
sound?’
Clyde, you ask the best questions, though what a
falling tree has to do with BillQuick . . . better check your health insurance policy
under . . . Uh, to the point.
A-Hours are Actual Hours, or the true amount of
time spent carrying out a task for a client. BillQuick uses A-Hours to calculate an
activity’s labor cost. If desired, you can use A-Hours to prepare payrolls, either by
using BillQuick's Payroll Report or Import/Export function.
Flipping the coin, B-Hours are Billing Hours,
which BillQuick uses to calculate an activity’s labor bill amount. This is the amount
a project is charged for a task. Individual and total labor bill amounts can be adjusted
before invoicing.
When adding a time entry, you enter time in the
B-Hours field on the Sheet View, Calendar View or Timer screen. Time automatically
duplicates in the A-Hours field (whether it is displayed on the screen or not). Thus, you
enter time for a task only once.
Billing Hours can be adjusted. How you ask, my
friend Clyde?
Automatically, BillQuick adjusts Billing Hours
to the smallest time increment you set in System Settings-Time/Expense.
Manually, a timekeeper, project manager or
supervisor (if granted security permission) can change B-Hours. For example, after
reviewing work and contract records, a project manager or principal may increase B-Hours
charged to a project by a group of employees. (Time Entry's Change feature makes this easy
and fast.)
Automatically, BillQuick adjusts B-Hours
charged to a fixed type project when a time entry puts the project over the contract
amount. (This “automatic contract check” can be turned off for any project.)
- Automatically,
BillQuick adjusts B-Hours when an activity code or the service fee schedule linked to a
project being charged has preset Minimum Hours. For example, a daily bill rate setup would
utilize the Minimum Hours feature.
The BillQuick 2004 User Guide (500 pages of explanations, how-to
and more) covers this topic and many more. Contact Sales@BQE.com to
order your copy.
Oops! Retainer Wasn't Applied
Clyde, Clyde, Clyde, what are we going to do
with you?
Heh, it happens. I forgot to apply part of the
project retainer to the invoice. My client . . .
I know, Clyde, and BillQuick lets you handle
this in a couple ways. First, you can tell your client to throw away the invoice you sent
them, reverse the invoice, apply the retainer amount to the billing record, then generate
a new invoice and send it to your client.
My client’s . . . well, he's not always on
top of things. He probably changed the net due and handed it off to the office manager to
cut a check. I don’t want to jump through hoops . . .
You won’t, Clyde, you won’t.
There’s a second option. When you record the payment – or right now if you want,
you can apply a retainer amount to the invoice on the Payments screen. In the Payment Type drop-down list, scroll
down to the end of the list and select Use Retainer, then enter the retainer amount
and select the invoice you want to apply it to. Easy.
Yeah, that is. But why doesn’t BillQuick
remind me to . . .
Clyde,
Clyde, if you want BillQuick to read your mind, you have to tell us you want the software
to read it. Send your new feature ideas to BQ-Ideas@BQE.com.
Current BillQuick Release Information
The latest version of BillQuick 2004 is 5.0.80.
If you have Internet access but do not allow
BillQuick to automatically download updates (you turned off AutoUpdate in
Preferences-Other 2), first turn on the AutoUpdate feature, then select Get Updates from
the File menu. If you wish to check out the changes made in the latest version, view the
log before downloading. When Get Updates is done, exit BillQuick. When prompted to install
the update, click Yes.
If you have a large number of computers to
update, or you prefer to download the update from the BillQuick web site, click here
and select Save when prompted. Next, run the setup program from the folder in which it was
saved. To view the latest update log, click here.
Happy BillQuicking!
Thanks from the
BQE Software Marketing Team
May Success Follow You
. . . Always |
