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Articles Archives:

I. Logistics, inventory control, and operations concerns

II. Payroll concerns

III. Retailing issues

IV. General computerization/networking issues

V. Accounting concerns

I. Logistics, inventory control, and operations concerns

You've computer-enabled your accounting; now what about your operating departments?

Does having computer-empowered accounting improve your speed and quality of service to those outside entities that determine your success in the marketplace? Not likely.

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Attention users: inputting data into SURE! DMS follows a certain unavoidable logic.  

"... Step back a minute and reflect on the fundamental business process. You'll realize that, logiccally, certain transactions should not be inputted or posted until a prerequisite transaction is first inputted and posted in the database, or until a prerequisite condition is first met. (It's like, you shouldn't tie your shoelaces until after you've put on the shoes.)..."

Full article.

The inventory control tightrope: yet another area where you have to perform flawlessly to survive 

If you are in retailing, you have to deal with dozens, perhaps hundreds, or even thousands of SKUs (stock-keeping units). In this line of work, inventory control can quickly... 

Full article.

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II. Payroll concerns

R.A. 9504 (tax relief law for minimum wage earners)

  One year after its promulgation, still discombobulating payroll preparers

Full article.

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New circular from Philhealth affects payroll preparation anew

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The tax relief Republic Act No. 9504 is about to affect how you compute your payroll

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  BIR requires employers to submit Alphalists electronically 

"...As everybody who does not work with a carabao knows, each incidence of manual data-encoding is one more opportunity for mistakes to creep into a database, whether it's keyed in by the BIR, by Ms. Moneypenny, or by you and me. The whole world is full of flawed data, but one sure way to minimize data errors is to eliminate incidences of manual data-encoding...."

Full article.

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  Computerized payroll and the fiscal year: don't confuse yourself

 "...Some payroll clerks think that their payroll should start and end in consonance with their company fiscal year. This is not correct; the BIR requires payroll and corresponding taxes, and therefore also the required reports, to be done on a calendar year basis..."  

Full article.

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 Biometric data capture devices: where they're helpful, where they're not

"...Even to someone without a criminal mind, it’s obvious that a dishonest employee can simply ask a willing co-employee (or anyone for that matter) to time in or out for the real owner of the ID card. It’s a trick older than the Bundy clock. Or Mr. James Bond could steal your swipe card, slip into your workplace, and - dump 50 pounds of siling labuyo into your Dunkin Donuts production run!...."

Full article.

Case Study for SURE! PayMaster Users: Resigned Employees and the Tax Adjustment Process

You processed the last pay period (December 16 to December 31, 2005), but couldn't proceed to the next calendar year’s (2006) first pay period.  Instead, SURE! PayMaster pops up a message that “there are payroll records for the immediately past calendar year (2005) that have not been finalized/posted....

Full article.

Three different animals: learn how to tell them apart (and save wear and tear on your career) 

Are you being courted by a vendor of computerized timekeeping devices (aka computerized bundy clocks)? Avoid later disappointment and feelings of betrayal by...

Full article.

III. Retailing issues

Understand and serve your customers better, even if you have 500,000 of them

Retailing is hard. You're dealing with numerous not-very-loyal customers, doing lots of low-value

transactions, with workers who aren't threatening to win any Nobel prizes anytime soon. To make your profits, you have to be very disciplined, very alert, an very customer-focused. And you also need a cast-iron... 

Full article.

E-Vat practical implications for right now

 "...Changing the VAT rate DOES NOT INCREASE (or DECREASE) the selling price of an item.  It simply means that  the the government’s share..." 

Full article.
 

7 rules for choosing a point-of-sale (POS) system

A point-of-sale (POS) system is indispensable in a retail business. It makes sales analysis a breeze, and can save you the salaries cost of a platoon of clerks. The following rules may help you make an informed decision and help you attain the benefits and improvements you envisioned when you started....  

Full article.

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Retailer, should you track lot numbers  and expiry dates by computer?

   Some realistic thinking on an old question.

When a retail business gets to a certain size, transaction volumes start becoming a challenge to cope with, for sheer quantity. At this point, the retail businessman starts thinking of computerization. He starts thinking about... 

Full article.

IV. General computerization/networking issues

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What really makes the world go 'round: love, money... and technical support

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A common problem leads to a process re-engineering opportunity

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To Vista or not to Vista?  
 A user's first encounter with Microsoft Vista OS
(For what it’s worth, we’d like to share with you an internal memo from one of our  technical people who couldn’t wait to try the new Microsoft Vista operating system.)

Last Friday, I got my Vista Home Basic OS via Fedex. I spent the weekend installing Vista in my home computer. Good news: All Balmori Software solutions run under Vista. Plus, all the programming tools, libraries and objects we use for our software work under Bill Gates' new OS.

The other news... 

Full article.

 Understand the lifetime ownership cost of a software solution, not just its purchase price

"...Most people evaluating a software package just look at its explicit price tag. Don't make the mistake at ending your scrutiny here, because there is also...

Part Two of the price: THE HIDDEN COSTS. Whether you're talking of a package costing a few thousand pesos or a few million, the hidden costs are typically far larger than the initial purchase price...." 

Full article.

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 Peer-to-Peer Network vs. Client/Server Network

"...A CLIENT/SERVER network is the way to go for larger organizations and for any organization where the integrity and security of data are of high importance. In addition, a client/server network provides you with more flexibility...." 

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 The purpose-built application vs. the spreadsheet model:

"...By trapping errors, well-designed applications save you tons of time you used to spend tracking down, and then remedying, mistakes that were very avoidable to begin with. If you can be guaranteed that you never again have to squander these vast unrecoverable swathes of wasted time, you can imagine how much more productive your organization will be...." 

Full article.

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Running an enterprise application in single-user vs. multi-user mode: as different as night and day
...The phrase 'one database' is significant. Having all your data in one integrated database means that you have one source of truth in your organization. All your data are synchronized and mutually consistent across the enterprise..."

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Evaluating computerized solutions? Three things you need to know before they jump out and bite

   you in the you-know-what.

When evaluating a software application, it’s helpful to keep in mind the following mental model: Always maintain a careful distinction between (a) the user interface, and (b) the underlying algorithms. 

Full article.

Packaged vs. tailor-made software: pros and cons

Many business people continue to be confused about a fundamental choice that computerization always presents: whether to use an off-the-shelf package or to commission a tailor-made application. The  choice is made more difficult when money is no object.  Below, we present what we hope is an objective listing of  the pros and cons of both options, gleaned from our two decades in systems development.  

Full article.

Death by a thousand cuts (or how not to handle local area network maintenance)

Evermostful Corp. (real company, fictitious name) is an upper-medium-sized enterprise that considers itself fairly decently computerized. It has an office LAN, on which it runs an accounting application, an inventory control, a/r, and a/p application, and a payroll application. Everyone at Evermostful is happy...

Full article.

Causes of data corruption (and how to protect yourself).

In our 20 years as a software developer, by far the single leading reason why our customers come to us for technical support has been data corruption. Your data can get corrupted ...

Full article.

Backing up: the most basic things you should know

Why should I back up my data? You want to back up your data because you need to have a spare copy when these files become corrupted...  

Full article.

V. Accounting concerns

Attention exporters and EPZ locators: Comply with PAS 21without having to tangle with

dual-currency software 
"...It's the insistence on journalizing very single transaction into the GL that makes it seem necessary to convert each and every transaction to another currency, which in turn makes it appear that the PAS 21 rules can only be dealt with by a multi-currency software. This is a fallacy trap..." 

Full article

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