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Thread: A couple of questions about Keep It Easy software.

  1. #31
    Member courty's Avatar
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    Default Re: A couple of questions about Keep It Easy software.

    Quote Originally Posted by Cranbourne Lawnmowing View Post
    I appreciate the amount of effort you just put into that post but if it takes all that to put a customers payment or book a job etc,etc. then I will end up not useing it. It just should'nt be that hard.

    Admin....... the auto save ...is that why I could be having problems? I'm submiting post too quickly? It seems to happen when I have hit reply with quote.
    Glenno
    It's not hard,it's only a couple of mouse clicks but looks harder when written out.All systems take time to set up correctly but once up and running they save heaps of time. Keep at it mate.
    "I'm not alone cause the tv's on yeah,I'm not crazy cause I take the right pills.... everyday" Jimmy Eat World

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  2. #32
    Dedicated Member Cranbourne Lawnmowing's Avatar
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    Default Re: A couple of questions about Keep It Easy software.

    Quote Originally Posted by courty View Post
    Glenno
    It's not hard,it's only a couple of mouse clicks but looks harder when written out.All systems take time to set up correctly but once up and running they save heaps of time. Keep at it mate.
    Nup. Last night I ended up stuck in a page telling me I was double booked and could not get out of it,,again. Clicked on something eventually that sent me into a grey page with nothing but 3 boxes. Couldn't do anything ended up having to unplug the pc. I havent even tried to book a job yet or put a receipt for fuel etc etc. I'm over it. I have just spent over 12 hrs of my weekend trying to put a couple of customers payments in and I'm still at the same place I was when I started, except now I'm really pissed off.

    Btw I bought this software in march and am still trying to have it unlocked and never heard from KIE today. If you need to find ways to make things work with a programme it cant be that good. It should be simple and work the way it is supposed to.

    Have fun with it everyone because by the time you've worked out how to get around the problems, I will have finished my paper work the old fashion way..

  3. #33
    Senior Member AJD Mowing's Avatar
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    Default Re: A couple of questions about Keep It Easy software.

    Quote Originally Posted by Blaktop View Post
    I've had most of the issues reported here.....the answer is in the program, but some took me a while to work out. One that was driving me nuts was my P&L was showing dollars and cents in my jobs.....but only some of them. I had ticked (or unticked) the GST box to say I wasn't collecting GST (and all my jobs are in divisibles of $5....no cents).....but that wasn't enough. On the setup page there is a box saying how much GST to collect.....I made it 0% and all was good. Generally if it won't do something it's because something else needs to be done first. The double booking thing usually occurs if you specify a time for the booking then create a new booking of move one from another day, that has the same time, it will show up as a double booking. All you need to do in that case is change the booking time on the job booking page. It took me ages to work that out....I hit Crtl/Alt.Del and shut the program down with Task Manager a couple of times but now it's all good.

    When I entered my previous data, I started at earliest date, made sure I filled in the date the job was actually done and the date the job was paid for. If you forget it will default to today's date which can cause some of the issues you're talking about. If a job is marked as complete and paid for it will balance out, if you're filling in old jobs and book it in (on the actual done date) and click paid without clicking job completed, it will show as a credit. Everytime you enter an old job, set the date, click Job Complete button and it will automatically ask if you received payment, if you click yes it will ask if that makes the job paid in full, if you click yes again it will take you to the payment page for that job to fill in the details. I always make a payment from the particular job page rather than using the Make a Payment button. When I get a Direct Deposit payment I go to the Client List/Client/Job History, find the job that has been paid for, click the Go To Job button beside the particular job, click the make a payment button (the Job Completed button should have been clicked when you actually did the job) and follow the prompts. I sit down for 10 minutes every night when I get home and fill in the jobs for that day ....mark them complete but not paid for invoice jobs and complete and paid for the cash jobs.....book the next job for that customer, then print out tomorrow's list and I'm done.

    I know there are other ways to do these things....and probably quicker, but it's way that works for me and I'm comfortable with it. It took me a while to work out how to get from one part of the program to another but I found it worth it in the end. I love it and now I'm comfortable with it I couldn't go back to spreadsheets and diaries.

    One thing I don't like is the inability to customise a particular invoice. I have a couple of insurance claimants and
    I can't work out how to put the claim number in a prominent position
    . For them I just print out the invoice then use my Excel invoice template to print a custom one. I would like (or be able to find it if you already can) to be able to edit individual invoices at the generation stage.

    Tax time I just printed out the Receipts Summary, Expenses Detailed Report and took it to the accountant......he was very happy. The only thing I couldn't work out how to print was the Assets Register.....since I don't have many I just did it on a spreadsheet and printed that. I do have some questions for Selena at some stage though.

    Sorry for the wall of text.

    Deleting a customer is usually easy, if it won't delete then there is usually an error message saying why.
    Hi Blacktop,
    I save the Strata Plan numbers for body corp stuff under the address of the customer and then when I email it its always there. You could always put it in the preference field if your not using it for anything.
    Cheers
    Dean
    AJD Mowing Giving Back Your Life

    http://www.ajdmowing.com.au/

  4. #34
    Senior Member Blaktop's Avatar
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    Default Re: A couple of questions about Keep It Easy software.

    It's not hard, it's like anything, you just have to learn how to do it......I can do it in about 1/8 of the time it takes me to type it....lol. For me it's waaaay quicker than doing it manually, and it's all there in one place. I used to use a 4 page spreadsheet with formulas (for keeping track of income/expenses, P/L etc), plus diary (for scheduling), plus another spreadsheet for invoices.....all of which I had to enter the data manually. With KIE I enter it once and it's available in all the areas I need it to be. Once it's set up (which took me a while to enter 3 months worth of data) it's all done with a few mouse clicks. I've been using it now for a couple of months.....the steep part of the learning curve is well over. Data entry and setup always takes time.....the running of it is simply mouse clicking.

    Each to his own, of course, and there are people who don't like it.....but I do. For me it combines scheduling, invoicing and adequate accounting in one program.

  5. #35
    Senior Member Blaktop's Avatar
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    Default Re: A couple of questions about Keep It Easy software.

    Cheers AJ, I'll try that again, I did try it but reading your post gave me a thought on another way....

    I might add that I'm a bit of a computer nut, and I hate for the damn things to beat me....lol.

  6. #36
    Senior Member Blaktop's Avatar
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    Default Re: A couple of questions about Keep It Easy software.

    Thanks for that AJ, it worked fine, claim number in the reference field and client's name in the job address field and it comes up with the required info. Cross that irritation off the list....

  7. #37
    Senior Member Bluey's Avatar
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    Default Re: A couple of questions about Keep It Easy software.

    Quote Originally Posted by Cranbourne Lawnmowing View Post
    I appreciate the amount of effort you just put into that post but if it takes all that to put a customers payment or book a job etc,etc. then I will end up not useing it. It just should'nt be that hard.

    Admin....... the auto save ...is that why I could be having problems? I'm submiting post too quickly? It seems to happen when I have hit reply with quote.

    Cranbourne it isn't that hard. Its is really pretty simple. Entering clients is a snap. Once you work out how to move around the system it is really pretty easy. I agree on the invoice Blaktop. Really does need to be customisable. Also I had to build a quote in the letters area and this was a bit painfull. Another thing that is annoys is you cannot email a receipt for payment to a customer. Can do a statement but not a receipt. I did away with quick books this month and have migrated everything to KIE. That was fun...not. But now it is done. I would like to customise the run sheets aswell. Have suggest ed all this to Selina who is doing an update top be released soon.
    Cheers

    Bluey
    Adelaide Home & Garden Solutions
    http://www.ahgs.com.au


    "Success occurs when no one is looking, failure occurs when everyone is watching."

  8. #38
    Senior Member Blaktop's Avatar
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    Default Re: A couple of questions about Keep It Easy software.

    As Bluey said, it's no fun migrating everything over.....but by the time I had finished, I knew my way around the program reasonably well. You can delete anything you get wrong and do it again. When I was trying to get the client number info on the invoice, I'd book a job, mark it as complete but not paid, then generate an invoice. If it wasn't what I wanted I'd just delete the job and the invoice and start again...(thanks to AJ I don't have to do it now cos I got what I want).

    I haven't touched on quotes within KIE....I just use Excel or Word.

  9. #39
    Senior Member AJD Mowing's Avatar
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    Default Re: A couple of questions about Keep It Easy software.

    Glad I could help you Blacktop
    AJD Mowing Giving Back Your Life

    http://www.ajdmowing.com.au/

  10. #40
    Dedicated Member Cranbourne Lawnmowing's Avatar
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    Default Re: A couple of questions about Keep It Easy software.

    Quote Originally Posted by Bluey View Post
    Cranbourne it isn't that hard. Its is really pretty simple. Entering clients is a snap. Once you work out how to move around the system it is really pretty easy. I agree on the invoice Blaktop. Really does need to be customisable. Also I had to build a quote in the letters area and this was a bit painfull. Another thing that is annoys is you cannot email a receipt for payment to a customer. Can do a statement but not a receipt. I did away with quick books this month and have migrated everything to KIE. That was fun...not. But now it is done. I would like to customise the run sheets aswell. Have suggest ed all this to Selina who is doing an update top be released soon.
    Problem isn't entering clients Bluey. Its other things that I want to delete that are causing the problem.

    The biggest issue I have is the double booking. I've tried numerous times resolve the issue and had to shut it down. Even when I have changed the booking time, it still says I'm double booked. What gets me is that I can't even find the job that is supposedly double booked.

    Does anyone know if I could uninstall and reinstall to start from scratch?

  11. #41
    Senior Member Blaktop's Avatar
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    Default Re: A couple of questions about Keep It Easy software.

    Try starting it up and going straight to the Jobs page and deleting the bookings you have in there and start the jobs booking again. I've given up using times, I never manage to stick to the timetable anyway. I also don't use the Winter/Summer intervals option which understand (I could be wrong) automatically books a new job at the specified interval when the current job is marked as complete. I do all my bookings individually.

    I found it quite a steep learning curve at the beginning but it levelled out fairly quickly.

  12. #42
    Senior Member AJD Mowing's Avatar
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    Default Re: A couple of questions about Keep It Easy software.

    Thats a strange one Cranbourne maybe take note of the customers tetails then delete the customer and start again. What you have done will be a simple fix it will be something you have done somewhere, I was the same way when I got started with it and was ringing Selina every day but have it all worked out now..
    AJD Mowing Giving Back Your Life

    http://www.ajdmowing.com.au/

  13. #43
    Senior Member Bluey's Avatar
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    Default Re: A couple of questions about Keep It Easy software.

    Cranbourne all jobs for that customer should be on the Job History tab. Go to the individual jobs for that customer and delete the double booked one or all of them then start again.
    Cheers

    Bluey
    Adelaide Home & Garden Solutions
    http://www.ahgs.com.au


    "Success occurs when no one is looking, failure occurs when everyone is watching."

  14. #44
    Dedicated Member Cranbourne Lawnmowing's Avatar
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    Default Re: A couple of questions about Keep It Easy software.

    Quote Originally Posted by Blaktop View Post
    I also don't use the Winter/Summer intervals option which understand (I could be wrong) automatically books a new job at the specified interval when the current job is marked as complete.

    I found it quite a steep learning curve at the beginning but it levelled out fairly quickly.
    That does seem likely as the problem only started after I marked a job as complete

  15. #45
    Senior Member Bluey's Avatar
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    Default Re: A couple of questions about Keep It Easy software.

    I like the winter/summer idea but when I instituted it the job records for already processed jobs did not update like they aresupposed to. I sent Selina a note on this and also suggest that she include the other 2 seasons as i know I treat spring different to both summer and winter on some lawns and gardens. Also asked if we could have a list of all invoices issued to cutomer on a tab on customer record.
    Cheers

    Bluey
    Adelaide Home & Garden Solutions
    http://www.ahgs.com.au


    "Success occurs when no one is looking, failure occurs when everyone is watching."

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