Lefkowitz Systems Success Stories
Michou Jewelry
Sage Pro 5.0
Michou Jewelry is a manufacturer, importer and wholesaler of jewelry based in Lake Tahoe, California with offices and operations scattered around the world. In 2017 we started to look for a new accounting system to replace our very old SBT VisionPoint software.
A consultant recommended QuickBooks. We quickly realized it would not work. We write our own apps to enhance our SBT. We could not move these to QuickBooks. After a few months of struggle with QuickBooks, I realized we needed an SQL solution that was extensible, modern and offered an owned license rather than a pay-as-you-go rental license.
Over the 2017 winter holidays, I searched for an SBT replacement, found Lefkowitz Systems’ web site and read Matthew Lefkowitz’s article on Spire for SBT upgraders. I followed up with more reading on Spire and by watching Spire video’s on the Spire Systems web site. On the first day of business 2018, I contacted Lefkowitz Systems and placed my order for a new Spire license for Michou Jewelry.
I started our installation and conversion from SBT immediately. Importing our SBT data into Spire was surprisingly easy. I exported the SBT data with Crystal Reports and used the native Spire import engine to bring in our SBT customer, inventory, vendor and A/R data. (Since then, Lefkowitz Systems has developed an SBT data export engine).
Over the next month I imported our AP data and Purchase Order data as well, Importing into Spire was straightforward, and Matt was there to help at every step.
As we collected Spire data, I converted dozens of reports in Crystal Reports to work with Spire. I was able to modify copies of existing reports with the new Spire data while leaving formats and formulas in place, eliminating the need to start from scratch. As each report came back online, my staff was able to work exactly as we had previously with SBT.
I also started rewriting our apps that extended SBT to both read and write Spire data. This proved to be very easy thanks to the Spire’s open, PostgreSQL database. When I tried this with Quickbooks, I had to buy an ODBC driver for $500 that could not even deliver the contents of our warehouse, let alone be relational.
We moved our business to the cloud with Spire and our other apps on remote desktops. We have an office in Lake Tahoe, employees in Los Angeles and San Jose, California, as well as an office in Bali, Indonesia. I can now access all our software and data from anywhere and I can provide any support our office needs, even from Bali.
We have a manufacturing facility in Bali that needed a separate GL and company structure. Spire allowed us to quickly get the Bali company going. Using the Spire User Defined Fields module, I can extend the Spire database, just as I did in SBT, to accommodate the unique information we require for our business.
Spire feels more like a database than an accounting system and the ability to “slice and dice” the data using filters is imperative to us. Accounting software has two sides: data collection and data retrieval. Spire collects the data like a champ and provides us with the platform, using Crystal Reports and my apps, to get information into the hands of anyone who needs it and in the form, we need.
It has now been six months since embarking on this project and everyone at Michou is ecstatic about working with Spire. As the IT person, I know that when no one asks me anything, things are going great! The only things people ask me today are how to go forward with more custom apps and reports using Spire. We were so dependent on SBT we never thought we would find a solution, let alone one that was a perfect fit like Spire.
I am grateful to Matt for writing his article on Spire for SBT users and giving his honest description of the pluses and minus of Spire as an SBT replacement. He has provided us additional users as we have grown. I highly recommend looking into Spire and talking to Matt if you are an SBT user.
Our experience has been great, and the bottom line is we will recover our investment in under two years. Our productivity is much greater than with our old, beloved SBT and being 100% on the cloud has revolutionized how we work. I have apps for production, image distribution, catalog creation, and executive dashboards that are real time and give our administrators the ability to work from anywhere at any time.
Thanks, Matt!!!
Rick Topper
CEO/CIO Michou Jewelry
California wholesalers of certain beverages packaged in aluminum, plastic or bi-metal containers must collect a CRV deposit from their customers and report these special sales each month sub-totaled by container material and size. Not all beverages are covered and different containers contain different CRV amounts.
Without the enhancement, our client spent hours each month tallying CRV sales for the State’s report. The old method was inaccurate and difficult to audit leaving out client exposed to stiff non-compliance fees. Users could sell CRV items without adding the required CRV deposit to the order leaving our client liable for the CRV fees with no off-setting revenue.
Solution: Sage Pro ERP 200 Inventory Control module and custom programming in the Order Entry module.
We used the alternative item feature in Sage Pro Inventory Control to link each beverage inventory item to its CRV deposit inventory item. We also repurposed an existing inventory field to identify the beverage’s container material. None of this part of the solution required any custom programming. Next, we modified Order Entry to automatically append a CRV line to an order when the user sells a CRV beverage. For example, if the user sells one case of 24 cans of orange juice, the program automatically appends one line of 24 five cent CRVs to the order. The modification works in reverse as well. If the user deletes the orange juice line, the associated CRV line is also deleted. Changes in quantity to the orange juice change the associated CRV proportionally.
Lastly, we wrote a custom report that tallies CRV container deposit sales by material and value for any date range. The report matches the State of California’s CRV report making it easy for our client to complete and submit an accurate return.
Cost: Less than $1,000.
Benefit: Hours of labor are saved each month. Hundreds of dollars in uncollected CRV deposits are now collected and accurately remitted. State of California non-compliance penalties are avoided. Best of all, our client enjoys confidence in their reporting.
Milk is ordered, delivered and measured by the pound but it is paid for by its mass of butter fat and milk solids. Standard purchase order systems let users order and pay for things in one way. Cheese makers (and any user of milk) pay for milk in two ways: on the amount of butter fat and milk solids contained in the delivered milk. To further complicate the problem, the market prices of butter fat and milk solids vary widely. And milk deliveries must be tracked in separate lots. To track deliveries, paper records of mass, butter fat and milk solid percentages and costs are kept. When invoices are delivered from the milk vendor, the paper records must be compared to the vendor’s invoice.
Solution: Sage Pro Purchase Orders receiving program and a modification
Milk is marked as milk and is lot-controlled in Sage Pro inventory. When milk is received on a purchase order, a new window pops up that asks the user for a) the number of pounds of milk received, b) the percentages of butter fat and milk solids in the delivery and c) the market price of butter fat and milk solids. The program accepts the data and calculates the cost per pound of the milk received. A lot is generated automatically.
Cost: $750.
Benefit: Milk is received correctly and efficiently. Quantities and cost are saved to inventory and are then transformed into cheese by Sage Pro Manufacturing. Purchase order receipts flow automatically into Accounts Payable with the correct cost. Cheese is properly costed and lot-controlled.