software suggestions

[Tom Servinsky]

List,
I have been using PTBiz, and honestly after have using it for 2 yrs., don't
like the way the program's usefulness. It is too limiting and cumbersome,
especially in the accounting mode.
To boot, my program either has a flaw in it or some other phenomenon, but it
constantly changes the city listing on various customers...very frustrating
correcting that window over and over again.
Some of the limiting factors I don't like: Reports.
Get a month end report of net sales for the month of July...can't do it
unless you get it for the entire year. It will only give you the year to
date figure.
Should be able to ask for any month or amount of months in any report. But
not this one!
Backup should require a single keystroke and the program should be doing all
the digging and placement of data. Not on this one, you have to save it,
then go into Explorer, then copy it, then send it to a floppy.  Not that
this is hard or confusing, just a case where the programmer could have set
up all those keystrokes in the course of planning this out better. You
should here the slack you'll get when you call the author about things like
that!
In the accounting mode:
 You have to enter the date 3x in a row for a single invoice.Isn't the job
of the program/er to limit the repetitiveness?
For a given invoice you:
1.enter the date of the service you would enter
2001727 ( 7/27/01)  then the invoice number,
2. the date of the service
3  the date of the service.
 Makes perfect  sense to me ...hmmmmmm
The troubling part is that when the report is listed, the invoice number is
not listed. Then why did it ask for it?
The rest of the program is fine as it is a straight forward database
program. It's just those little time-consuming things that drive me up the
wall.
I used to use Dean Reyburn's program, and honestly, I'm sorry I ditched it.
It was nice and neat, and extremely efficient. Dummy me figured  the DOS
program wouldn't do well with the new advanced machines and apparently I was
wrong. I might go back to the DOS program of Dean's or I would love to hear
about some other favorites out there.
I have been trying to get enough energy up to design an MS Access program
myself but I'm aware of the time obligation I'm committing to. Extra amounts
of slack time is something I don't have enough of.
Please tell me more about PianoDB or other favorites out there.
Tom Servinsky, RPT
----- Original Message -----
From: "Phil Bondi" <tito@PhilBondi.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, July 28, 2001 2:35 PM
Subject: Re: software


> Mike, I use PianoDB. It is pretty friendly and easy to get up and
running..I
> would suggest, however, that you sharpen your MS Access skills if you want
> to do any modifying. Piano DB is based in Access.
>
> I'm no Access wiz by anyone's stretch, but I can fumble around as well as
> anyone else if I want to change something.
>
> There's really not that much to do but start imputing your database to a
> database that's well thought out, regardless of your Access skills.
>
> roo(k)
>