Blog : QuickBooks ProAdvisors

Method will be Scaling New Heights in 2011!

Method_Danny — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 16:52:00 GMT

It might still be winter, but here at Method we’re already gearing up for and looking forward to this year’s Scaling New Heights Conference, taking place in a few short months.

From May 23-25, 2011, the third annual Scaling New Heights Conference, presented by Joe Woodard, will bring together QuickBooks ProAdvisors and Intuit Solution Providers from all over the world. And unlike in years past, this year’s conference will be taking place just 10 miles outside of Las Vegas, Nevada.

For those of you unfamiliar with Scaling New Heights, it is an advanced, Intuit-centric training conference for Intuit Solution Providers and QuickBooks ProAdvisors . If you’re interested in learning more about QuickBooks and Intuit offerings, expanding the services you offer to your clients (like Method!), or networking with like-minded individuals, then you’ll want to look into attending Scaling New Heights 2011.

After exhibiting at Scaling New Heights over the past two years, as well as having a dedicated Method training and certification track in 2010, it was a no-brainer to return in 2011 as a Diamond Sponsor with a larger training and certification track. We’re very excited about our sponsorship at the conference and look forward to reuniting with some of our wonderful Method Solution Providers, as well as teaching some new friendly faces about the endless possibilities of Method’s implementation.

For more information about Scaling New Heights 2011, including sessions, information on the beautiful JW Marriott location, registration, and more, please visit www.scalingnewheights.com.

We hope to see you at Scaling New Heights in May!

- Danny

Method Professional Service Beta Now Available!

Method_Valbon — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 20:01:00 GMT

There’s been a lot of buzz and a great deal of patience, and so, I’m very excited to announce that Professional Services beta is now available in the industry-specific apps section for Method Full Blown users!

Feedback from our Method Solution Providers has already been helpful to make some great improvements, and I think you’re really going to like what has become of the Professional Services app! You’ll notice a lot of fantastic new features and abilities that will make your life easier!

Some of the key features include:

Easily and accurately record time and expense entries to maximize billable time.
Enforce budget / contract preference.
Time & Expense approval process.
Accommodate planned and ad-hoc services.

If you like what you’re hearing, then read on to learn more about the beta!

During the beta, your “central hub” for information, questions and feedback should be our dedicated forum. I’ve included the link below for any newbie’s.
http://www.methodintegration.com/cs/forums/18.aspx

Access to Beta:

In Method click Customize>>>My Accounts
Scroll to the bottom and enter the beta code zrzrfqRX
Import the app into your account

I look forward to receiving your feedback and enjoy!

Val
Method Integration

Empower yourself by attending Method Solution Provider University

Method_Danny — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 19:23:00 GMT

Starting this month, school bells will be ringing with the opening of the Method Solution Provider University (MSPU), presented by none other than Joe Woodard. Now if you haven’t heard, we had a packed house at the Scaling New Heights Conference last month and one thing we know for sure is that consultants are serious about expanding their knowledge in Method. We had over 150 attendees attend the level 1 certification training during the three-day conference and over 50 take the exam onsite. I want to throw a shout out to Susan Cook from Account Ability for being the first to pass the Method Certified Consultant exam for 2010!

I couldn’t be more thrilled about MSPU starting this month. As a consultant, this is a no-brainer, seeing as you are now given the tools and education to take your practice to the next level. You can visit the MSPU by clicking here. When I spoke to Joe about this over the last few weeks, here were his thoughts:

“I believe Method has real game changing potential within the QuickBooks community. Method has certainly changed the way we provide consulting for our clients. Sales of Method consulting and software over our first 12 months is just under $100k, and the opportunities keep coming. As charter members of the Method Solution Provider program we are thrilled to be working with Method to provide training for other MSPs - through both our annual conference called "Scaling New Heights" and through the newly formed Method Solution Provider University. The consulting opportunity around Method is tremendous, and through our partnership with Method we will empower countless QuickBooks consultants to expand their professional expertise, to provide powerful results for their clients who use QuickBooks, and to grow their practices.”

MSPU has options that can work for you depending on your schedule, budget and level of involvement. Level 2 boot camp classes are limited in size and those who attended the Scaling New Heights Conference got first dibs on enrolment. If you’re interested in getting in, sign up for classes today!

P.S. I’ll also be making my way around some of the Level 2 boot camps across the country, so stay tuned for further updates.

Cheers,

Danny

Joe Woodard partners with Method Integration as the only endorsed trainer and writer for Method Solution Providers

Method_Danny — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:33:00 GMT

In June we announced the beginning of the Method Solution Providers Pilot Program at the Scaling New Heights Conference in Atlanta. The pilot program allows members from groups such as Scaling New Heights, The Sleeter Group, QuickBooks ProAdvisors, Intuit Solution Providers and Microsoft Certified Professionals to get involved with Method as a Consultant or Account Manager without being certified. Method Solution Providers are provided with Method accounts to use in their own business and are also granted access to exclusive webinars, conducted by yours truly. Since June, the Method Solution Providers Pilot Program team has grown very quickly. In fact, within one month of returning from The Sleeter Group Conference, our team of Consultants and Account Managers has grown by over 30%. Impressive? I’d say so.

Joe Woodard and I first connected over LinkedIn back in February of this year. Since then, Joe has been actively using Method in his own practice and providing it as a solution to many of his clients. Method has become a vital part of his consulting business. Joe has not only invested time in learning Method customization, but he has also developed Pendulum – an online timesheet application that integrates with QuickBooks.

I’m very happy to announce a new partnership between Method Integration and Joe Woodard, President of Creative Financial Software. Joe Woodard is now the only endorsed trainer and writer for the Method Solution Provider certification in the U.S. and the only recognized author of The Official Method Solution Providers Reference Guide. Starting in 2010, Joe will also be conducting a series of Method Certification Boot Camps, which will supply Consultants and Account Managers with the knowledge required to provide Method consulting services. Joe’s experience with Intuit products, strong consulting background and passion for learning Method, makes him an asset to the Method Solution Providers team and I couldn’t be more thrilled to have him on board. Electronic copies of The Official Method Solution Providers Reference Guide will be available, free of charge, to all members of the Method Solution Providers Pilot Program. The guide is meant to prepare Consultants and Account Managers for the certification exams.

The release of the guide and certification will help to launch the Method Solution Providers Program out of its pilot next year. During the remainder of the pilot, I plan on conducting new webinars and, of course, listening to your much needed feedback. For those of you who are not participating in the pilot program but would like to, please feel free to contact me directly at d.docouto@methodintegration.com or 1.888.925.6238 ext. 708.

Stay tuned for more information on the Method Solution Providers Pilot Program as it becomes available.

Cheers,

Danny Do Couto
Method Integration

Method wins Awesome QuickBooks Add-On Award 2010

Method_Danny — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:33:00 GMT

Back in October ‘07, we were newbie’s to The Sleeter Group. Having only heard about the Awesome Add-On award at that year’s conference, we were determined to win it. Just a little over 2 years later, I was honored to accept this award on behalf of the Method Team in Orlando, FL.

The “Awesome Add-on for QuickBooks” award, presented by The Sleeter Group, recognizes a product that has superior integration with QuickBooks, overall design, outstanding features and conformance with appropriate accounting standards that make it an effective solution for many businesses. Method hit each of those requirements and was one of only nine selected as an Awesome Add-on for 2010. Needless to say, we were pretty proud when we heard about winning. So what sort of criteria is considered when choosing a winner?

Shows superior design, implementation and features.
Integrates with QuickBooks using best practices of the QuickBooks SDK programming guidelines.
Uses appropriate transaction types and field population for recording data into QuickBooks so as to preserve and/or enhance the standard reporting features in QuickBooks.
Conforms to good accounting principles and operating standards.

This awards ceremony took place during the second day of the conference, but on Monday and Tuesday, I got a chance to show Sleeter Members the latest and greatest in Method. It felt awesome being able to see so many familiar faces in the audience. What made me even more pumped and excited was seeing the light bulb go off for the new faces in the crowd. It made that knot in my stomach, which I get each time I present, all worth it (you laugh, but its true!). My presentations tend to always be followed by questions starting with “Do you mean this...?” and “I can really do that...” and that’s when attendees start to get it and think of practical applications where Method can be used.

At our exhibitor booth, we were buzzing, talking to Sleeter members, new attendees, current Method users and current members of the Solution Providers team. I reflected where we were at our first year at Sleeter. Back then, when we were asked “What does your product do?” we would say “Anything you want it to do!”- Yikes! I cracked a joke about it during my presentation but it just goes to show how far we’ve come along.

So where are we going to be 2 years from now at Sleeter? You’ll have to wait and see, but I can say that our team is growing, or motivation is high and we are ready to bring Method to the next level. Watch out! One last thing, don’t forget to sign up for our RSS Feed. It’s the best was to stay up to date with the latest and greatest in the world of Method. Just click the following link to subscribe.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/methodblog

Danny Do Couto, Katie Riley and Paul Jackson holding our 2010 Awesome Add-On Award

Doug Sleeter, Danny Do Couto and the other Awsome Add-On Award Winners

Esther Friedberg reviews Method Integration

Method_Danny — Tue, 26 May 2009 14:00:00 GMT

The majority of the conferences I attend take place in the USA. I was happily surprised to meet a fellow Canadian, Esther Friedberg, when attending the QuickBooks Enterprise Conference in Dallas last September. Not only was she from the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) but she was also from the same city I grew up in, Thornhill, ON.

Esther started CompuBooks in 1995 and is a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor in Canada and an Advanced Certified ProAdvisor in the United States. She is also a professional speaker, writer and educator. Esther is also a member of several community groups including The Sleeter Group and most recently Method’s Solution Providers Program.

Esther recently did a personal review of Method Integration which you can read by clicking the link below.

Just Like Being There…Only Better – a review by Esther Friedberg

Enjoy!

Danny Do Couto
Method Integration

Method awarded as one of Joe Woodard’s Top 5 IDN for 2009

Method_Danny — Mon, 25 May 2009 18:34:00 GMT

With today’s economy, businesses have to make difficult choices as to where they will spend their hard earned dollars. For anyone who attended the Scaling New Heights Conference in Atlanta last week, I strongly feel it was money well spent. This conference gave attendees a very unique opportunity to learn Intuit products, prepare for Intuit certification exams and interact with various ProAdvisors and Intuit Solution Providers. If that wasn’t enough, attendees at the conference received hands-on training from some of the top trainers of Intuit products like Joe Woodard, Laura Madeira and Mario Nowogrodzki just to name a few!

I feel extremely privileged that Joe allowed me to join the Scaling New Heights team last week, seeing as only 2 IDN products were invited to the conference. On Day 1, I led a class during the lunchtime break session, focusing on using Method for CRM (Customer Relationship Management). It was nice to see some familiar faces in a packed classroom. If anyone is like me, my stomach starts to feel a little funny when doing training sessions or presentations, but this time, it was also because I didn’t have a chance to touch my lunch. I was being pulled left, right and center by people wanting to have a few questions answered regarding Method. The training session went off without a hitch and for many people in the room, this was their first exposure to this product called “Method”.

This set the tone for the rest of the day on Monday, leading up to Tuesday when I helped Joe with presenting Method as one of his top 5 IDN (Intuit Developer Network) picks for 2009. I focused my presentation on 10 problems that could be solved by using Method. For anyone who is interested, Joe is offering a simulcast package with 5 of the classes that were at the Scaling New Heights Conference. For more information, please visit http://www.scalingnewheights.com

Scaling New Heights also marked the beginning of our Solution Providers Pilot Program which is going to help empower both Certified Consultants and Certified Account Managers with extensive Method product knowledge starting this week!

This was Joe’s first conference and was a major success. I look forward to attending Scaling New Heights 2010! Nicely done Joe!

Danny Do Couto
Method Integration

Method Field Services for QuickBooks – Now Available

Method_Danny — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 21:19:00 GMT

Field Service companies should be very excited today, especially when it comes to their office staff. Why? The Method Team has now released Method Field Services, which is tailored specifically to field service companies. So what type of industries am I talking about when I say ‘Field Service’ companies? Well these can include industries such as:

Lawn care and maintenance
Landscaping
Pest Control
Irrigation
HVAC
Plumbing
Electrical
Pool Maintenance
Cleaning

The list can get much larger but I think you get the general idea. Put it this way, if your company needs to schedule work for your staff such as one time or recurring services, print work orders and route lists, enter job cost information and somehow turn this work into proper QuickBooks invoices, then Method Field Services is going to be a huge help! Why? ‘Cause it can do everything I just listed, plus if it doesn’t do something exactly the way you want it to, well just customize it of course. It is Method after all. Tie that in with the fact that you already have real-time syncing with QuickBooks and the extended CRM capabilities and you have a very cool and powerful tool.

I’ve included a picture of the Field Service Dashboard which neatly displays the amount of work assigned to each of your staff and the dollar amount associated with each job item in a bar and pie chart format. Yes, I also wanted to include this picture because it just looked cool. Everyone LOVES graphs.

So how do you get started with Field Services? Well that depends on if you are a new user, a current user or need to upgrade your account. I’ve explained the 3 scenarios below, so pick the one that applies to you.

New Method User – Well first of all, welcome! To sign up for Method Field Services, simply click the link below and follow the instructions on the sign up page.

https://www.methodintegration.com/web/signupapp.aspx?app=Method%20Field%20Services

Current user – Full Blown Edition – Since you are already using the Full Blown Edition, you can access to all industry applications. Simply click on the “Customize” tab and then click My Account. Under the “Add Apps from Method Library” section, click add this app now! for Method Field Services.

Current user – Standard and CRM Edition – You will first need to upgrade your account to the Full Blown Edition to have access to the industry apps. To do this, click on the “Customize” tab and then click My Account. Under the “Add Apps from Method Library” section, click upgrade to this edition now! for Method Full Blown Edition.

If you want to check out more of the screen shots for Method Field Services, click the link below and then click the “Screenshots & Resources” tab.

http://www.methodintegration.com/web/web-app-for-quickbooks.aspx?app=Method%20Field%20Services&Plumbing-Electrical-HVAC-Field-Service-For-Use-With-Intuit-QuickBooks-Enterprise.html

Till next time,

Danny Do Couto
Method Integration

How to create a QuickBooks Deposit screen from scratch

Method_Paul — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 12:26:00 GMT

Danny and I have a deal. He gets to write all the fun blogs and announcements - and in return I get to do all the geeky "how do I?" blogs. Does it sound like I got a raw deal? No - not at all! I love showing off what Method can do....and I especially enjoy getting my hands dirty.

Today's blog is a long overdue movie tutorial on how to create a screen, from scratch, using Method. This is a great educational tool for anyone who wants an introduction into how to create and modify screens from scratch. It touches quickly on many key concepts such as choosing the correct table, how grids relate to a screen, how to arrange sections on a screen, and how actions can make your life easy. This blog is actually inspired by a simple email we received:

"Here is my scenario: my client has a manual system for capturing receipts which is broken into several different income accounts. They have no need to breakdown by an Item or Customer, they just need a way to book the deposit.

I would like to determine a way to setup a deposit entry screen with a couple of “preset lines” already setup so that all they have to do is enter the date and the amounts. I would also like them to have the ability to add lines for other miscellaneous deposit amounts.

Oh, I almost forgot, I need the ability to select the class for each line also.

Hope that makes sense."

I felt there was no better way to demonstrate a solution than to post a video onto YouTube that shows, step by step, how to create this Deposit screen. Unfortunately, YouTube only allows movies 10 minutes in length or shorter, and since the movie is a total of 17 minutes, I had to break it into two movies.

Part I of II:

Part II of II:

Please reply back with comments and questions. I'll be happy to offer some tips on how you can take my basic deposit screen and turn it into something even more customized for your individual scenarios.

Paul

QuickBooks Remote Access made EASY

Method_Danny — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 15:05:00 GMT

Are you an accountant that needs fast and easy access to your client’s QuickBooks company file? If so, this blog entry is right up your alley!

Back in November, the Method team was at the Sleeter Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. I am missing Phoenix right now, especially with our -15C (5F) temperatures …..never mind, there I go off topic. Anyways, part of the trip entailed me doing a presentation in front of a “small” (I am being sarcastic) group of Sleeter members. After the presentation, I sat down with nearly 25 Sleeter members, over the course of 2 hours. They were telling me how they loved the presentation about Method and I received feedback as to how we can make our process even better for accountants. Here were the main points I was hearing:

#1 - I want to host the QuickBooks file. I don’t want my client to host it!

#2 - I want to limit the access. I give them to this file so they don’t put entries into areas they shouldn’t be in.

#3 - I don’t want to pay for this! I want my client to pay for the subscription.

I thought to myself, now why in the world would an accountant want to host the file, and not the other way around. And that’s when the feedback from the group really kicked in.

In most cases, the accountant is really the one who needs to host the QuickBooks file, not the client. The client and their staff normally enter in sales receipts, invoices, bills, checks, makes PO’s or maybe just add new customers and vendors. The advanced QuickBooks functions are usually done by the accountant anyway; hence the reason the accountant needs access to the QuickBooks file. The main reason why the QuickBooks company file usually resides at the office is because this is the only way other QuickBooks users can access the needed data in QuickBooks. This isn’t the case anymore.

With Method, the accountant would actually purchase the license of QuickBooks (or transfer it from its existing location) and host the company file at their office. This ensures that the accountant has access to the QuickBooks file at all times This prevents accountants from having to make actual visits to the client’s office, or using a remote connection (like WebEx or LogMeIn), or borrowing and returning copies of the QuickBooks file from the client. Those scenarios make me cringe!

So what about the users at the office? They would enter in all their information into Method which would update the QuickBooks file REAL TIME! The accountant can be working away in the QuickBooks file and everyone at the client’s office can be working away so no loss in productivity. If the accountant happens to have QuickBooks closed, it doesn’t matter. The next time they launch the QuickBooks database, it will be automatically updated with the new information. It gets even better; installation at the client’s workstation locations is easy. Load your web browser such as Internet Explorer or Firefox, go to the methodintegration.com website and login with your Company Account, Username and Password. That’s it. No need to install any software. This means if you need to get another workstation up and running, you can do so in no time.

Now as an accountant, you told us that you want your client paying for their Method subscription. So how do you sign them up for an account yet have them pay for it? Well you use the new accountant invitation process of course. Below is a visual representation of the process.

Steps for signing up a client:

Visit www.methodintegration.com.
Click Editions at the top of the screen.
Choose the Method Edition you would like to sign up for your client. For example, Method Starter Edition.
Under “Pricing” and “Accountants & Bookkeeping services” click send them and invitation.
Fill in “Step 1” with your, the accountant’s, contact information.
Fill in “Step 2” with your client’s contact information.
Fill in “Step 3” with which default screens and sections you would like your client to see. Remember, these can always be changed later on. Yes, this means that you, the accountant, can limit which areas of Method, and therefore QuickBooks data, you want to give access to!
Click Sign Up.
Your client will now receive an email, with a link requesting that they confirm their contact information and enter in their payment information. They will also get a chance to choose a username and password.
Once they confirm this information, you, the accountant, will receive a confirmation email with your administrator user name and passwords, and the steps needed to sync Method with QuickBooks.
Your client will have been sent a separate email with their non-administrator user name and passwords, and instructions on how to login.

This process saves you from having to collect the monthly subscription fee from your client and ensures that the installation of Method is done correctly.

It really is a sweet process and is a perfect example of how feedback can help everyone out.

As always, I'd love to hear your feedback, comments as suggestions.

Cheers,

Danny Do Couto
Method Integration