News - Lefkowitz Systems Inc

Converting your SBT/ACCPAC/Sage Pro data to Spire.

I choose a serious topic this month: data conversion. If you upgrade your old SBT, ACCPAC or Sage Pro software, you will want to convert your data. All of my Spire upgraders want their old data converted to Spire. But exactly what data can I convert, how does the conversion work and what will data conversion cost? Important questions. I answer them here.

Your data is valuable. But just how valuable is it?

Your old data is extremely valuable, far more valuable than the old software in which it lives. Your data include your customers, inventory, vendors, open receivable and payables, your G/L […]

Matt Lefkowitz2021-12-07T00:48:58-08:00December 7th, 2021|Accounting Systems, Sage Pro, SBT, SBT VisionPoint, Spire|

Do Not Buy Spire!

I really like Spire Systems for most SBT, ACCPAC Pro and Sage Pro ERP upgraders, but not for all. This month’s email/blog lists a few of the kinds of businesses for which Spire is not a suitable solution.

Not-for-profit entities.

Not for profit organizations require fund accounting, a method of tracking sources and uses of funds. Spire sort-of does this in the Job Cost module (Spire has a Job Cost module), but I do not recommend it for NFPs. There are many, good fund accounting systems designed for NFPs. If you run a not-for-profit, buy something […]

Matt Lefkowitz2021-06-11T22:17:57-07:00June 11th, 2021|Accounting Systems, Sage Pro, SBT, SBT VisionPoint, Spire|

What to expect when you are expecting … Spire.

You made the big, “do something” decision. You decided to upgrade your old SBT, ACCPAC Pro or Sage Pro ERP to Spire. Congratulations! Now what happens?

Good question. This email describes a typical Spire implementation. If you know what to expect when you are expecting Spire, the project will not scare you and you might even look forward to it.

A typical Spire implementation, from “Let’s go!” to “Go-live!”, takes about two months, faster if you want to go faster. I wrote a piece about the duration of a Spire project two years […]

Matt Lefkowitz2021-05-12T17:51:00-07:00May 12th, 2021|Accounting Systems, Spire|

My Toughest Competition – Do Nothing!

With Spire — the accounting system I recommend to most of my SBT, ACCPAC Pro and Sage Pro ERP clients — I compete against the biggest names in the ERP market: Sage, SAP, NetSuite, Microsoft, Infor, Acumatica, QuickBooks, etc… None of these worthy competitors defeat me more than the all-time market leader: Do Nothing. Again and again, I examine your requirements, I write the proposal, the numbers pencil out, it looks like a good deal and then … nothing. Do Nothing wins again! I lose more sales to Do Nothing than I do to the […]

Matt Lefkowitz2021-04-26T22:02:38-07:00April 26th, 2021|Accounting Systems|

Run Spire in your web browser and in the cloud

Spire version 3.6 appeared last week. It is a big update and takes Spire out of the Windows-only world and into your web browser and onto a remote server. And now you can pay for your Spire on a monthly subscription on a monthly, “cloud” license. These are two, new, big reasons to move to Spire.

Spire modules running in a web browser.

Spire 3.6 introduces a web browser interface for the Spire Customer, Vendor, Sales Order, Sales History and Purchase Order modules. Microsoft Windows interface no longer required. Here, side by side, we see the same Sales module rendered in my Chrome web browser…

Matt Lefkowitz2021-02-17T00:49:05-08:00February 17th, 2021|Accounting Systems|

Spire Speaks Spanish and French (and English)

(Another in an occasional series on Spire for SBT VisionPoint, SBT Pro Series, ACCPAC Pro and Sage Pro ERP users)

Spire, the SBT, ACCPAC and Sage Pro upgrade I recommend for some of you, speaks three languages: English, Spanish and French. Your current software speaks only English. For those of you with Spanish or French-speaking employees, vendors or customers, this is a big improvement. Is that you? Read on.

When you run Spire, choose your default language here…

Spire displays everything in your desired language. Here we see a Spire sale order in (American) English…

Matt Lefkowitz2020-10-14T00:43:01-07:00October 10th, 2020|Accounting Systems, Spire|

Executive Dashboards Then and Now

(Another in an occasional series on Spire for SBT VisionPoint, SBT Pro Series, ACCPAC Pro and Sage Pro ERP users)

Do you know your SBT Pro Series, ACCPAC Pro and Sage Pro ERP system and your SBT VisionPoint system comes with an executive dashboard? It is the Business Status Report and, surprisingly, many Pro and VisionPoint users do not know it exists.

Here is the Sage Pro 2011 Business Status Report.

The Business Status Report is a single screen in which one sees key performance indicators (“KPIs” for short). A KPI is a statistic or graphic that quickly conveys key business information such as:

[…]

Matt Lefkowitz2020-08-28T20:09:29-07:00August 28th, 2020|Accounting Systems|

Spire – Who are those guys?

In “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” the two outlaws, played by Paul Newman and Robert Redford, flee bounty hunters across the American West. In spite of their best efforts, they cannot elude their pursuers. After each failed evasion, Butch or Sundance asks the other, “Who are those guys?”

I hear that question a lot when pitching Spire to my SBT VisionPoint, SBT Pro Series,ACCPAC Pro and Sage Pro ERP clients. “Spire? Never heard of them. Who are those guys?” It’s a good question. You’ve heard of Microsoft, Sage, SAP, Netsuite and the other ‘name’ ERPs. But Spire? Rather than answer the question myself, […]

Matt Lefkowitz2019-10-25T17:01:52-07:00October 25th, 2019|Accounting Systems|

“Batches? We don’t need no stinkin’ batches!”

Another in an occasional series about Spire for SBT, ACCPAC and Sage Pro upgraders.

In the classic film “The Treasure of the Sierre Madre,” bandits pretending to be Mexican Federal police surround Humphrey Bogart’s character gold miner Fred C. Dobbs. Bogart, rifle drawn, demands they show him their badges. The bandit leader replies, “Badges? We don’t need no stinkin’ badges!”

Get to the point Matt.

Your SBT VisionPoint, SBT Pro Series, ACCPAC VisionPoint, ACCPAC Pro and Sage Pro ERP systems move debits and credits to the general ledger using batches. Spire does not. Spire posts journals to the Spire general ledger in real time. No batches […]

Matt Lefkowitz2019-10-24T22:58:35-07:00October 24th, 2019|Accounting Systems|

Rent or Own? Accounting software and Spire for SBT.

Another in an occasional series on Spire for SBT VisionPoint, SBT Pro Series, ACCPAC Pro and Sage Pro ERP users.

When you bought your SBT (or ACCPAC or Sage Pro), perhaps back in the 20^th Century, you owned it, “it” being a perpetual user license. This license entitled you to an SBT server installation forever. And that was a good thing because now, fifteen or more years later, you still run SBT (or ACCPAC or Sage Pro) and you remain in compliance with your license. SBT is long gone. You are still here.

Today, if you want to acquire new accounting software, there is a second way: you can rent […]

Matt Lefkowitz2019-10-18T20:52:01-07:00April 15th, 2019|Accounting Systems, ACCPAC, Sage Pro, SBT, SBT VisionPoint, Spire|