Blog

From your requests for suggetsed functionality we have now added Credit Notes. Credit notes must be assigned to a specific invoice and there can only be 1 credit note to 1 invoice. Try it out, we think it works well and remember to email us with other suggested functionality

When you are using 1place from the inception of your business, you invariably need to start the Cash book with an “Opening balance”. In Accountants speak you will have to  code this to the various balance sheet accounts in order for your Balances in your Balance sheet Carried forward to be correct. (see screen shot)

The other way of handling it is to just code it to one balance sheet account, and then  get your accountant a 1place login to code the allocation for you

You only have to do this once and its important to get it right for your balances carried forward

 regards

Martin

Hi

 We released today our new invoice format. From the feedback we received users wanted an invoice which matched their revenue type. ie

1.  Some wanted Services charged hourly

2. Some wanted products eg timber sold for builders

3. Some wanted a fixed price arrangement

 so we developed an invoice format which caters for all 3, which can be customised to what you invoice mainly!

be keen to hear what you think

1place

Hi

well we’re back, had a few hiccups  and apologies for the  site being down, but we are now rearing to go. Over the next few weeks we will be adding new functionality to the site, which i’ll talk about in further blogs. In the meantime we will be adding this week a new invoicing screen which will enable you to handle specifically product and service invoices. We will also be adding some information about us and who is behind 1place

We have some really exciting innovations which I’ll share over the coming weeks but welcome your feedback at admin@1place.co.nz

cheers

 Martin

Greetings all Mac users! Because 1place is a website and not software installed onto your computer, you the customer have the ability to run your business accounts from any Internet-enabled computer in the world. This means Mac and PC are catered for.

This sounds great right!? There is one catch, and that is the choice of program you use to access the Internet with. There are two main options on the Mac: Safari (comes standard), and Firefox. We are on version 1 of the 1place website thus far, and have tested the site on Internet Explorer & Firefox. We haven’t yet tested Safari. We have heard from a couple of users that Safari doesn’t always work perfectly (and we would expect that because it’s not tested).

Therefore… we are currently recommending Mac users who are using Safari to switch to Firefox. We are going to have a Safari-tested website up and running as soon as possible, and will let you know when that happens through this blog.

Download at the Firefox download page

Any questions please contact us

[Tags are entered the bottom of a New Invoice. You can see them under My Customers > Tags. Tags are never placed on an invoice]

Many of you have probably not used tags before. They are a fantastic way of organising the type of work you get. When you create a tag, you are creating a key word or words against that invoice and customer. After you install them into an invoice, you can then search them for all relevant invoices.

The reason why we create a ‘tag’ and not a ‘category’ is a category requires a structure. Tags are similar to how you search the web – searching for key words. Imagine if the Internet was categorised into a structure. It would take days to find what you were looking for!

Example on how to use tags:
I’m an electrician, and I do work in the Tauranga, Te Puke, and Kati Kati areas. I do light commercial & residential work. My tags could look something like this…

Tauranga
Te Puke
Kati Kati
Commercial
Residential
One-off customer
On-going customer
Referral from a friend
Referral from yellow pages ad
Referral from a past customer

There is a lot in this list – you might only have 3-5 in yours. Now, as an electrician I can view all invoices created in Tauranga, residential and referred from a past customer to quickly find out what worth they are to my business. No more guess work – now I can target the work that makes the most money, or is easier to get to.

Give it a try! Also, send us feedback on your thoughts about tags.

Support Article

To effectively bill your customers for selling them a product or a service in their name you need to give them an invoice. Below is some tips to do that effectively…

TIP: When in Customer, Item code & Item name fields, click the space bar on your keyboard and all entries you have available for that field will appear

Click on Enter Invoice on the dashboard quicklinks, or go to Invoices > Enter Invoice

Enter Customer. When you first start, you won’t have any customers loaded into the system. To create a new customer, simply click on “Enter Customer”. From here fill out the details you have on that customer. Preferably you would have the customer’s mobile number and email so you can email invoices and send TXT reminders if required.

Due Date. Enter the due date. We have provide common due dates (eg. 7 day invoice), but you can also enter a custom date that the invoice will be due on.

Enter Items. To create a new item, enter the item code you would like to use. The system will automatically remember this item. Next thing, enter the Item Name, then quantity, then price and discount (leave blank if no discount).

From here you can either enter the extra fields (below) or click “Save”

Congratulations – you have created an invoice!

Extras. You can save the invoice with comments (to go on the invoice), and also save it with tags. The tags are for your own purpose to help categorise different types of sales. For example, a builder might put the tag as the referrer of the work, or the suburb. You can view tag reports through My Customers > Tags

More Options. On top of the standard choices on the invoice you also have the opportunity to track it the way you want to. Here you can setup recurring invoices so you only have to enter the invoice once, send email & TXT reminders to the customer if the invoice goes overdue, and also remind yourself if there is a problem with payment.

Sending. After saving the invoice, you can now send it. You have the choice of emailing it, or saving it as a PDF file to then print it. Email is the easiest way of sending invoices. Just a note about email – it’s like the post. Emails can get ‘lost’. Whether it be a wrong address or someone’s email system marks you as ‘junk’, it’s not 100% reliable – just like posting it! TXT reminders can come in handy to ensure your customer knows about the invoice.

Notes about invoices
An invoice is a legal agreement that the amount shown was the amount agreed to. As such, if a product or service isn’t paid for you can take that invoice and create procedings against the person or company that owe you money. The invoice can be disputed (eg. the customer says “I received 3 items, not the 4 that I was charged for”). If this is true, then you will need to adjust accordingly.

We have implemented some cool features so you can invoice your clients easily by the entering information fast and setting it up so you don’t have to remind customer to pay – it’s automated.

• Fast & easy creation of invoices
• Remind customers via email & TXT messages automatically
• Options to send via email or post (print) 
• Track sales on our sales graph
• Track payment performance from paid & unpaid invoices
• Make notes on each invoice
• ++ more!

THE ONLINE FEATURES
The reason why we can offer these automated features is because 1place is based online. No software to install, no hassle. If you lose your computer or it breaks just jump on any other computer connected to the Internet and you are back in business!

Work Flow: Something that sounds a bit far fetched? Well it doesn’t have to be – you can create your own work flow within 1place without the need to create anything new or even think that much… 1place is a simple system that will work well for most service oriented businesses.

It’s important that there is a work flow in your operational process of providing your service to your customer for three reasons:

1. Faster administration
2. More reliable work timing
3. Impressions of how much work is coming up much easier to quantify

The way we do it at 1place is to have three main items to create against a customer for the operational side of things…

1. Quote
Not totally necessary but if you do quote make sure you fill this out. It’s a legal document so if you have any terms that are not on the quote (for example: what to do with extra time required), make sure you put these down. When the customer confirms the quote, then turn it into an order (just a couple of clicks to do this)

2. Order
This is your main operational information. This tells you how many jobs are coming up so you can schedule effectively. For example when someone calls up you can view your orders and tell them when the most likely time to complete the work is. If you are on the road, at least you will have viewed this in the morning or at night so you have a better-than-rough idea of where you are at.

3. Invoice
After you have fulfilled the order change it into an invoice. You can do this from the Order detail page. Any changes should be reflected in the invoice. The invoice is the legal document asking for money so ensure that it is correct and send it as soon as you can. Email is the best way so ensure you collect your customer’s email address.

Like all systems, the key is being disciplined and entering the information so you can use it later. The rewards for this discipline are huge – just starting and committing to it is the key!

If you have any questions on the work flow you can contact us and we will endevour to help you out as best as possible. We can’t give consultancy but we can point you in the right direction.

We have come a long way in a short time. 5 years ago software was expensive, and worked in a way that was often frustrating and limiting. Now we have more options – maybe too many!

Why have heavy software on your computer when something online will work – and often it’s free!

Below are some great options for getting the most from your budget and Internet connection (hey you already pay to get on the Internet – you should use it!)

Google
I know Google is known for web searches amongst us mortals of technology, but there is soooo much more to it. Check out www.google.com/a for email for your domain name (ie. you@yourdomain.com) that works just like Gmail (web-based email). The advantage here over a standard system is you can access ALL your email on any Internet-enabled computer but still have it based on your PC or laptop as well (in Outlook or similar). If you get your PC or laptop stolen – no worries – it’s all online! Best of all it’s totally free, works with your domain name, and has the best spam protection I have ever encountered. Added to that you have 2gb of space per account meaning you never have to delete email – just archive it.

Also, visit www.google.com/options for a full list of applications you can either download or use online. There is word processing, spreadsheets, mapping… and heaps more. So much so that the CEO commented last year that he didn’t even know about all the new projects going on…

Firefox browser extras
Firefox (for those yet to move to the best web browser…) is simply the best web browser you can get. AND IT’S FREE! Well of course it is they all are… Microsoft’s Internet Explorer in it’s newer version 7 is very good as well, although it doesn’t have the add-on features like Firefox. Below is a few extras (what we call “plug-ins”) that are useful for everyday stuff. Check out the full list at addons.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox. I use the add-on “Brief” to read news from various sources.

Netvibes.com
Having problems keeping up with all the information online? Then this might be the solution. You can view your web-based email, news, blogs all from the one website. www.netvibes.com. Try out the drag-and-drop feature where you can drag around the different boxes to suit your taste. Very trick! From what I have seen this is the best one around. Super-easy to sign-up and really fast to setup. Keep it as your home page.

If you find something that you can think is real cool for business or personal productivity comment here about it and share!