Product Overview: AccountMate Info-Alert 4.1
AccountMate Info-Alert is an integrated alert application for AccountMate SQL and AccountMate Express.
End users can use the many pre-defined alerts to send emails to specific individuals or groups that need to be aware of a situation that has just occurred or a reminder to take some action. These email alerts can be administered to send an alert to one specific person or to a specified group of people. No longer do people have to read reports and manually send off an email. Proper alerts can be scheduled by an Administrator who names the appropriate addressee and then when a condition is met, emails get fired
off automatically.
Significant about this release is that there are built-in Action IDs and pre-defined e-mails with a sample intended recipient(s), sender, e-mail subject line, e-mail heading, details including data in grids for easier viewing, and closing or signature line. These two major enhancements allow you to activate and schedule the alerts out of the box without creating additional records, saving you hours of setup and configuration. No longer do the Standard Alerts need to be configured by the AccountMate Business Partner to ‘push’ the alerts out. These Standard Alerts are set up with appropriate actions. Once you have activated and scheduled the alert, the e-mail is ready to be sent. Business Partners or their clients are only responsible to add email addresses.
We have added an additional 14 pre-defined alerts to the 32 predefined alerts that come standard in InfoAlert. These 40+ standard alerts are powerful and valuable tools for an organization. The parameters can be tailored out of the box.
More than 90% of these pre-defined alerts have the flexibility to be tailored. Examples of parameters that can be tailored would be some of the ranges (i.e. list of accounts that are over 30 days overdue or 45 days overdue or 60 days overdue, etc.) and to whom the alerts are emailed (i.e. if ABC Company’s account is overdue by 30 days, then Mary Smith gets emailed; if DEF Company is overdue by 45 days, then Fred Jones gets emailed; if any account is over 45 days, then the President Amy Jones gets emailed., etc.). More than one parameter can be set for a single alert function.
Along with the standard Info-Alert, a development Tool Kit must be used to modify or add alerts. This Tool Kit requires some knowledge of SQL and Access programming so is not meant for the untrained end user. The Tool Kit needs to be ordered for any end user that needs modification to Info-Alert but most likely alerts will be customized by the local AccountMate reseller or AccountMate Professional Services Group (PSG).
As for other AccountMate products, there is annual maintenance required on both the Info-Alert and the Tool Kit.
Whether the Business Partner or end user does modifications to the alerts, the end user must purchase the Info-Alert Tool Kit. This follows the same practice as end users needing to buy source code for modification purposes on other AccountMate products.
IMPORTANT to understand is that Info-Alerts once installed on a computer (whether it is a server, desk top or lap top) is proprietary to only that computer. The Activation code that is given only allows the running of the Info-Alert software to run on that machine. Even if there is a computer ‘crash’ and software has to be re-loaded, it will be necessary to obtain a new Activation code.
New Additional Alerts & Enhancements
Now there are a total of 46 Standard Alerts. To the previously available 32 standard alerts, we have added 14 more.
This latest Info-Alert version implements several new alerts and enhancements intended to streamline processes to help users save time and effort as well as minimize data-entry errors. These new alerts and enhancements include the following:
14 New Alerts
Customer Payment Acknowledgement
This alert will send a Payment Acknowledgement to customers once payment has been applied to AR invoices.
Adjustment, Discount, or Write-off
This alert will check for payment adjustments, discounts, or write-offs applied to AR invoices.
AR Receipts Not Yet Deposited
This alert will check for AR receipts that were not yet recorded as deposits after X number of days from Receipt Date.
AP Invoice Due
This alert will check for AP invoices that will be due in X number of days or less.
ACH Payment
This alert will notify vendors when an ACH/electronic payment is generated to pay for AP invoice(s).
E-Payment (ACH) Exceeded X Amount
This alert will check for e-payments (ACH) that exceeded the user-specified amount.
AP Check Exceeded X Amount
This alert will check for AP checks that exceeded the user-specified amount.
Outstanding Work-In-Process (WIP)
This alert will check for WIPs not posted to Finished Job.
Purchase Quotes for Approval
This alert will check vendor quotes and send an alert for any purchase quotes (PQ) older than the user-defined days.
Uninvoiced Receipts
This alert will check for PO receipts that are not matched against AP invoices after X number of days from Received Date.
Paid Leave Balance Approaching Maximum Hours
This alert will check for employee paid leave balance with X number of hours before it reaches the allowed maximum hours.
Sales Orders Ready for Picking
This alert will check for sales orders ready for picking.
Uninvoiced Shipments
This alert will check for shipments not yet invoiced after X number of days from Shipment Date.
Advanced Bill Payment
This alert will check for payment(s) to advanced bills and send an alert so the SO can be shipped (i.e., Approve Advanced Bill).
Additional Enhancements are:
New Action IDs
All alerts have a built-in Action ID so you do not have to create an Action ID for each alert before you can use them. The Action ID tells the system what action to perform when the alert is activated and scheduled.
New E-mail Templates
All alerts have built-in e-mail templates complete with a sample intended recipient(s), sender, e-mail subject line, e-mail heading, details including data in grids, and closing or signature line. Together with the built-in Action IDs, you can activate and schedule the alerts out of the box without creating additional records; thus, saving you hours of setup and configuration. Once you have activated and scheduled the alert, the e-mail is ready to be sent.
Updated Data Dictionary
The Data Dictionary has been updated based on the latest AccountMate release, which is AccountMate 10.4 SP1 for SQL and Express.
New and Updated Documentation
The Admin Guide and Installation Guide documents have been updated to reflect changes and enhancements on this latest Info-Alert version release. The Upgrade Instruction document is provided to assists those who are upgrading from a lower version of Info-Alert to the latest version release.