Choosing software

The idea

Every demo looks good. Choose software by asking the same questions of every vendor and testing the answers with your own data. The questions come from the rules in Parts 1–3: if the software breaks those rules, it will break your books, however nice the screens are.

The questions

Does it keep the books by the rules?

1. Does every document post its own balanced entry, with no separate posting step? (chapter 1.5)
2. When I edit a bill, is the old version kept with who changed it and when? (chapter 1.14)
3. Can I lock a month so nobody edits it after GST is filed?
4. Can it show me documents without postings, and postings without documents? (chapter 1.18)

Does it fit an FMCG stockist?

5. Batch, expiry and MRP on every purchase and sale, with earliest-expiry suggested?
6. Schemes and free goods, and claims to the company with their supporting bills?
7. Many brands in one business, with brand-wise sales and profit?
8. Beats, routes and a salesman app that works where the network is weak?
9. Receipts matched to bills, with ageing and credit limit checks?

Can I live with it?

10. Can my staff use it in the language they read best?
11. What is the full cost for three years — licence, users, phones, setup, training, yearly charges?
12. Who answers when billing stops at 6 p.m. on a Saturday, and how fast?

Can I leave it?

13. Can I export all my data — masters, documents, postings — in a plain format, any time, without asking?
14. Who owns the data, and what happens to it if I stop paying?
15. Where is it backed up, and have you ever restored it for a customer?

At the counter: the test week

Do not decide from the demo. Ask for a trial and enter one real week:

• 50 of your own bills, with your schemes and two credit notes.
• One purchase with three batches.
• Ten receipts, two of them part-payments.
• Then compare the GST summary, Ravi Stores' ledger and the stock by batch against your current books.

If the vendor will not let you test with your own data, that is an answer too.

Score them side by side

A "no" in the first or last group should rule a vendor out, whatever the price.

Common mistake

Choosing on the lowest yearly price or the best-looking app, and finding out a year later that the data cannot be exported. Moving away then means retyping masters and losing history. Ask question 13 first; the cheapest software is the one you can leave.

Where you'll use this

This chapter turns the five link rules (chapter 1.18) and replace, never patch (chapter 1.14) into questions for a vendor. The FMCG questions come from Part 3: schemes (3.12), claims (3.13), many brands (3.17) and beats (3.18).

Check yourself

1. Which four questions check that the software keeps the books by the rules?
2. What should you test in a trial week?
3. Why ask about exporting data before buying?

Answers

1. Each document posts a balanced entry; edits keep the old version; months can be locked; it can list documents without postings and postings without documents.
2. A real week of your own bills, schemes, credit notes, a batch purchase and part-payments — then compare the reports with your current books.
3. If you cannot take your data out, you cannot change software later without retyping and losing history.