With the release of Peachtree Quantum 2010, Sage has begun to clearly differentiate this higher end Peachtree product from its siblings in the Peachtree product line. Since its introduction, Quantum has offered a higher license count, better speed, and enhanced transaction processing capabilities. Now it has begun to offer some significant “Quantum only” features that users can easily see – and employ. Here is some background on two of these new features, and a brief mention of an important new release in the Quantum product line.

 Workflow Manager
With Quantum’s “Transaction Tracking” feature, users can now build a customized “workflow processing” model right within the accounting system.  For each type of Peachtree transaction (sales orders, vendor invoices, inventory adjustments, journal entries, etc.) users can define a series of “statuses” (typically chronological), and assign a user’s login ID to each status as the “responsible” party. As the transaction gets processed, and moves from status to status, the next person in line to handle the transaction gets notified that the previous status is complete and the transaction is ready for the next step. Notes can be attached to each transaction status, so that detailed information about the previous steps in the workflow process can follow the transaction as it moves from status to status, and person to person.

Sales orders are the obvious target for this kind of processing. When a quote is accepted, the sales rep (who perhaps does not have authority to create new orders) changes the status of the quote to “accepted”, which notifies the sales department that it can create the order.  Entering the order notifies the warehouse (or production) staff that an order for items has been placed, and they should pull the items. When the order is pulled,  the warehouse can notify the next person in the chain that the order is ready for shipping, and notify accounting that the order can be invoiced. All of this can happen automatically, in real time, within the accounting system, as work is processed.

Less obvious but equally useful tracking tasks will undoubtedly emerge as users gain more experience with this new Peachtree Quantum capability. Things like  

• notifying the CFO when all adjusting journal entries are complete so financials can be printed;
• letting the owner know that payments have been processed and checks are ready for signature; 
• checking with other users for items needed when preparing a blanket purchase order;
• advising the “next person in line” that a manufacturing transaction has been imported from your external production system and an order can now ship

We will be tracking new and creative uses for this very flexible new tool in the Peachtree Quantum product, and will report on the more innovative uses we uncover.

Customizable Dashboard
Peachtree radically overhauled its “Executive Dashboard” feature a few versions ago. With the release of Peachtree Quantum 2010, Sage gave Quantum users the ability to create their own customized “dashboards”, each configured as a separate tab on the “My Dashboard” screen.

 Users can select from a list of  over thirty “modules” of information to include on a dashboard, and can then filter the information displayed based on the type of information selected (based on date,  customer type,  open purchase order, employee pay type, etc. etc.). These tabs are “user-specific”, so each user can configure his or her own dashboard with just the information required to manage his or her work.

 Combining the “Customizable Dashboard” with the previously described “Workflow Manager”, users can create a tab detailing accounting system transactions by their tracking status. This approach will display what transactions are at what status within your system, and give a very powerful picture of your company’s “pipeline”, showing where resources are tied up, what bottlenecks are creating problems,  who is handling too many transactions, etc. etc.

 Users can also add a tab called “My Peachtree Inbox”, which will display all of the transactions currently assigned to them. From this tab the user can easily mark transactions as processed and assign them to the next person in the chain, without leaving the dashboard.

 Peachtree Quantum Manufacturing Edition (QME)
This July Sage announced the first of its “specialty” Peachtree Quantum editions, with this initial release focused on manufacturing. The Quantum Manufacturing Edition (QME) combines the power and flexibility of Peachtree Quantum with the comprehensive inventory and production management capabilities of MISys, a very well regarded, value priced manufacturing product that has been in use by small manufacturers for almost 30 years.

 TriStar just completed the certification training required to sell and support this manufacturing product, and are anticipating our first implementation of QME in September of 2009. We’ll have a lot more to say about the new QME product in a future blog posting.