Blog : Intuit Anywhere, IPP

What's a QuickBooks for Macs user to do with no SDK that allows for integration

Method_GuestBlogger — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 20:00:00 GMT

Why doesn’t Method CRM (Customer Relationship Management) support QuickBooks for Mac?

Not because the Method team doesn’t want to, it’s quite the contrary. In fact, they love Macs and most of them use them exclusively. The answer lies in how QuickBooks for Mac is different from the Windows version and the development path Intuit has taken with the two platforms. It’s not only Method CRM that won’t work with QuickBooks for Mac, no CRM product on the market today will.

First, A History Lesson

In 2006, Intuit switched the backend structure of QuickBooks for Windows to a SQL (Structured Query Language) type database. At the same time, they released a SDK (Software Development Kit) for QuickBooks for Windows that allowed third party developers to write programs that could access QuickBooks data, and both read and write to it. Previously the only way to import/export data to QuickBooks was via IIF (Intuit Interchange Format), which can be problematic. With the release of the SDK, the marketplace for third party apps exploded as companies now had an error free way to share information with QuickBooks. While this was happening on the Windows side, Intuit was slowing down development on the Mac version and didn’t make an SDK available for it. The Mac version was switched to SQL too, but another kind of SQL so the databases aren’t completely compatible. There were even rumors that QuickBooks for Mac was going to be discontinued completely. In the last few years though, as Mac sales increased, Intuit has renewed its efforts to develop the Mac version of QuickBooks, and it has now almost completely caught up to the QuickBooks Pro for Windows version. But there is still no SDK for QuickBooks for Mac, which means that it is effectively closed to any developer, including Method, who wants to communicate with it. You can import data to QuickBooks for Mac via IIF, but it’s a one way manual process, and not a viable way of linking data between programs.

How does Method CRM communicate with QuickBooks?

Method CRM works with QuickBooks for Windows desktop versions using their sync engine which was written using the SDK. They also work with the Online versions of QuickBooks by using the IPP (Intuit Partner Platform, which is where the SDK is headed) Method CRM works so well because their sync engine is the best I’ve ever seen in 14 years of QuickBooks consulting. You can read more about the Method Sync engine here: QuickBooks SyncIts awesome, but it can’t talk to QuickBooks for Mac.

What’s a Mac Lover to Do?

If you’ve decided you need a CRM in your business, (and if you are here, you already have!), then you’ll unfortunately need to abandon QuickBooks for Mac. You do have options though, without having to get a Windows based PC.

Run Parallels or VMware on your Mac with a virtual Windows machine, and install QuickBooks for Windows. Your Mac files will convert over. This is how I run QuickBooks with the Method CRM sync engine installed on my virtual Windows 7 machine. This also gives you the option of additional third party programs that work with the Windows version. For a detailed explanation of how to use QuickBooks on a virtual machine check out my blog post here: Parallels and QuickBooks
Use a hosted QuickBooks provider. There are several Intuit authorized hosting companies that will put QuickBooks and Method CRM on a computer “in the cloud” for you. You simply log onto the computer using Remote Desktop Connection (software that’s free from Apple if it isn’t already loaded on your machine). You work on a Windows desktop and QuickBooks just as if you were on a local machine. With the speed of most Internet connections today, there is no lag time. The best part of this scenario is that all the IT worries and Windows updates are taken care of by the hosting provider. No mysterious Windows error messages or Blue Screen of Death.
Switch to QuickBooks Online. Method CRM works with QuickBooks Online. If you are using the native Mac version, you won’t experience a loss of any features and you’ll love the new Online-banking feature in QuickBooks Online! You will have to convert your Mac file to a Windows version first before uploading it the cloud, but Intuit support or a ProAdvisor should be able to help you do that without loss of data.

If Intuit ever releases an SDK for QuickBooks for Mac (and don’t hold your breath), I’ll be the first one in line to ask the Method CRM team to sync to it. In the meantime, Method CRM is one of the main reasons I continue to run my own company on the Windows version. I’ve gone from thinking I didn’t need a CRM to not being able to work without it.

About Victoria:

Victoria Cameron is an advanced certified Method CRM Solution Provider and a QuickBooks Advanced Certified ProAdvisor, and is also certified in Enterprise Solutions, POS and QuickBooks Online. As the principal of Victoria Rehrig Cameron Consulting, LLC, she works with clients in a variety of industries from construction to retail, and particularly enjoys helping her Mac clients. A Mac user for almost 30 years, she is certified by Apple in Mac systems integrations, and has helped many firms to convert to Macs using Windows on virtual machines. She loves using Method CRM to solve business process issues for her clients that QuickBooks alone can’t do. Victoria was Method CRM Solution Provider Rookie of the Year in 2012. More about Victoria and her firm’s services is available here: http://www.vrcqbpro.com

Method CRM for Intuit Anywhere - Now Released

Method_Danny — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 14:32:00 GMT

Back in June we blogged about Intuit announcing a new way of integrating with QuickBooks called Intuit Anywhere (“IA”). Starting today, all new Method CRM for QuickBooks Online users will be using IA to connect to QuickBooks. IA provides QuickBooks users a great new experience of connecting your favorite apps, like Method CRM, in one place. Plus, you get a cool blue-dot in the top right corner of your screen when you login to Method directly showing all your App Center apps. Told you it was cool!

So what are some of the benefits of IA?

Fewer steps to sign in. Since you sign in from the normal Method login form, it is faster and less clumsy for your staff to sign in. By the end of November, we’ll be using OpenID so that if you want to sign in directly from workplace.intuit.com, you still can.
With Intuit Anywhere, your tokens don’t expire. So your Method CRM account stays in sync with QuickBooks Online for all users without your administrator having to constantly sync. Syncing happens automatically all day without any interaction by you.
Easier to invite new users. Users don’t need to be registered on workplace.intuit.com anymore, so there are fewer steps to get your team up and running.
No Intuit bar along the top of the screen. Instead there is a non-intrusive blue-dot that only shows up for the administrator. In time, Intuit plans on making the blue dot available to all users based on the apps they have access to, but this is a few months out.

We’re really excited to be one of the six developers to first work with IA. In addition to this, I'd like to note how impressive it is to see how quickly the Intuit team is releasing new data to developers for QBO. Check back on our blog and release notes for other regular updates.

- Danny

Intuit Anywhere announced, Method to sync with QB Online

Method_Paul — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 16:08:00 GMT

It was nice to wake up this morning to see Method’s name splashed on ZDNet, and Intuit’s press releases. Today Intuit announced a new way of integrating with QuickBooks, called Intuit Anywhere. For QuickBooks users it’s a great way to connect your favorite web apps all in one place. It’s also got a cool little blue-dot widget that has a menu listing all your Intuit Anywhere apps. Just click the blue-dot, choose your app, and you are automatically signed into that app.

Alex Barnett from Intuit demoed Method CRM to the press, which was fun to watch on YouTube (we’re at about the 3:50 through to the 5:30 mark of the video). I was also quoted in the Intuit press release, which was nice. Rather than giving a self-serving quote glowing about all the great things Method does, I instead gave a quote about what I think Intuit Anywhere will do for QuickBooks users - hey.....call me the geek and not the PR pro....but I really think this will be a big hit for QuickBooks users - and in our case, Method Solution Providers.

We began working with Intuit on this stealth project in early April, as a way for Method to work with QuickBooks Online. I personally have been very involved on this project, and I am glad that the cat is out the bag so that we can now talk more freely about it.

While I have been managing the syncing portion, Danny has been working on a new version of Method CRM, which we highlighted to a packed room of Method Solution Providers at Scaling New Heights a couple weeks ago. The response was outstanding - with lots of “wows”, “oohhhhs”, “that is so clean!”, clapping and THREE standing ovations! Okay.....the standing-o’s may not have happened - but that’s because people were out too late the night before and were 'tired'.

The new CRM version is being finished off this month and will be available for both QuickBooks Desktop, and for QuickBooks Online in early July. I’ll post more news when I have it!

Paul