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Visual AccountMate® Financial Information Software Helps Port Increase Volume 50% Without Adding Financial Staff
Switching from an older DOS accounting system to a powerful, easy-to-use, appropriately priced Windows-based Visual AccountMate Financial Information software has allowed the Port of Port Arthur financial staff to handle a 50% increase in volume over the last few years without adding to its staff.
"The major advantages that we have
seen over our previous system are
greatly improved departmental
accounting, easier access to underlying
data and instant movement from one
area in the program to another. As a
result, we have been able to handle a
substantially larger workload with fewer
mistakes without adding any staff," said
Richard Daniels, Director of Finance for
the port located in Port Arthur, Texas.
"The DOS-based system that we used in
the past was effective, but it wasn't the
easiest package to use and it took time to
track down errors. We looked at some
of the leading mid-range Windows
accounting packages and decided that
Visual AccountMate (from
AccountMate Information Systems,
Novato, California) would generate the
highest return on our investment."
The Port of Port Arthur Public Ocean
Terminal, created in 1969, currently bills
itself as the "busiest two-berth" port in
the nation. It is currently undergoing a
significant expansion which Port
officials hope will allow it to become the
country's busiest five-berth port.
Located on the Upper Texas Gulf Coast
only 19 miles from the Gulf of Mexico,
the expansion will double its covered
storage to approximately 400,000 square
feet and add an additional 100,000 of
open storage. The port is served by the
Kansas City Southern and Union
Pacific/Southern Pacific Railroads and
will increase it's handling capacity to 90
railcars and 450 containers.
Previous DOS-based package
As he began preparing the budget for the
Port's 1998 fiscal year, Daniels knew he
was going to have to address the Year
2000 issue. At the time the port was
running AccountMate's Premier
package, which, Daniels says, "we knew
was not Y2K compliant."
Daniels collected information and
demonstration packages from other
leading Windows-based mid-range
accounting programs. "Each met all of
our basic requirements by providing
Year 2000 compliance, an intuitive
Windows interface, and the ability to cut
and paste data between other Windows
applications. We also saw that these
packages offered powerful features that
our DOS-based program didn't have.
One of the features that I liked the most
was the segment-based accounts in
Visual AccountMate. This feature
allowed us to create one company for all
our different funds as opposed to setting
up a separate company for each fund,
which we had done previously. This
enables us to perform any task in any
module for any fund while in the same
company and has been a real time-saver.
Big savings on purchase price
"What made the decision simple,"
Daniels said, "was the fact that, with the
upgrade price offered at that time, we
were able to purchase AccountMate for
about half the price offered by the
competition. By purchasing the System
Manager, General Ledger, Accounts
Receivable, Accounts Payable, Payroll,
Bank Reconciliation and Sales Order
modules, we saved a total of about
$12,000 or almost twice what I ended up
paying.
"I think that we actually ended up saving
even more because of the fact that
AccountMate turned out to be so easy to
install and set up. Our AccountMate
Business Partner, Accu-Tech Systems
(Beaumont, Texas) provided invaluable
assistance in getting Visual
AccountMate set up on our Microsoft
BackOffice Small Business Server.
After that we were able to handle most
of the installation on our own which had
the dual advantage of saving us money
and ensuring that it was done exactly the
way we wanted. My impression is that if
we had gone with one of the other
packages, we would have spent
considerably more time and money on
implementation."
Excellent Reporting Capabilities
"One of the features which I have
particularly liked from the very
beginning is the excellent reporting
capabilities of Visual Accountmate,"
Daniels said. "There is a tremendous
amount of flexibility that has been built
into the product. It allows you to select
data in precisely the format that you
desire. So now if I am in General
Ledger for example, I can select by fund,
account #, or account id. Each one of
these parameters can be broken down
even further to include a range of funds
and/or accounts. If you can see an
ongoing need for a particular report in a
unique format, Visual Accountmate
allows you to create report macros for
repetitive use. This can be especially
useful in certain situations. For example,
on a regular basis I need to check all our
funds for excess cash in the checking
accounts. To see our combined cash
position, I select a report range that
includes all cash accounts for all funds,
and because this is done on a regular
basis, I have set up a report macro
entitled "Cash". Once again this allows
me to see all of our cash accounts at one
time with minimal effort. Because they
are so easy to setup, I utilize report
macros for many, many other scenarios."
Preventing Errors
"A feature that helps me detect errors,"
Daniels said, " is the table browser. It
lets me go directly into the underlying
database to quickly determine the cause
of an apparent discrepancy. Once while
preparing a bank reconciliation, I had a
cash disbursement that I was unable to
clear. This particular disbursement
showed up in accounts payable but not
in the bank reconciliation. By going into
the table browser, I was able to
determine that the check was on hold,
change the status, and finish the
reconciliation in short order. If you can
develop a familiarity with some of the
tables used in Visual Accountmate, the
Table Browser can become a significant
aid.
AccountMate's Ease of Use Saves Time and Money
"From the point of view of front line
users, the biggest advantage of the new
accounting package is its interface,"
Daniels said. "Visual AccountMate
looks and acts virtually the same in all
modules thereby cutting our learning
curve down tremendously. The time
needed to perform many everyday tasks
has been significantly reduced. For
example, calling up an invoice from
within the program required several
different steps including changing
modules and searching for the right
vendor. Now, our users simply click on
the item that they are looking for in a
report and can immediately drill down to
the underlying transaction."
"Another unique feature of Visual
AccountMate which I particularly enjoy
is the express icons," Daniels said.
"They let you quickly go to a particular
function of a module other than the
module that you are currently in. For
example, the first icon on my screen is
the Past Due Aging Report. If I'm in the
middle of a function in General Ledger
and I need to find the balance of one of
our customers, I simply click on the icon
and go directly to the aging report. When
I close the report, I am automatically
right back where I was. This is much
faster than the usual method of opening
and closing modules in the program."
"Visual AccountMate helped to
significantly improve the productivity of
our financial staff and also helped us
keep more accurate accounting records,"
Daniel concluded. "The financial staff is
able to perform basic data entry and
accounting functions and move from one
task to another much more quickly than
in the past. At the same time, managers
have much greater ability to perform
cross checks and follow audit trails,
which has resulted in fewer errors. All in
all, I think this program is easier to
install and use than other midrange
accounting programs and is an excellent
value for the money."
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