Features and Benefits

1. Easy to use

Job Tracker is not just another accounting package. In fact it is based on the very simple premise that every job, project, service or whatever you may call the work you do, is done so using Labour and Material. The most important information you can record about your work is the amount of labour and material you use to complete each and every job. You can then compare this to the amount you charged your customer.

If this sounds ridiculously simple, that's because it is. Job Tracker is designed to keep the recording and retrieving of this vital information as simple as possible. There is no need to understand accounting practices and Job Tracker can be used easily by all of your employees. Leave the accounting to the accountants, but use Job Tracker to help you get the job done on time and within budget. If you don't achieve the goal of completing a job either on time or within budget, as we know can happen, Job Tracker provides the answers. You will quickly identify what went wrong and make sure you don't repeat the mistake if a similar job arises in future.

No need to be a typist or an accountant. No lengthy or complicated training courses. Just load the program and follow your nose. It couldn't be simpler.

2. Record a lot more information about a job

Since Job Tracker has been designed with the 'job' as it's centrepiece you will find that you can record a lot more information about a job than you can with typical accounting packages. For example, you can record who the Sales Representative is, who the job will be 'Assigned' to, when the job is to be completed (and you can assign a priority), who has worked on the job, what you are supposed to do when the job is completed (eg ring and tell your customer, post it out or arrange delivery, etc) and numerous other bits of vital information.

3. No need to close off each financial year

An advantage of having Job Tracker separate from your accounting package is that there is no need to 'close off' the database at the end of a financial year. This means that you can readily find information about a job no matter how long ago you completed the work. There is no limit to the number of jobs you can record and with the incredible advance in computer hardware, any modern computer could process tens of thousands of jobs virtually instantaneously.

The real advantage of this capability will be evident after you have been using Job Tracker for a few years. If you've ever had an instance where you'd like to look back on a job you've done and look at a drawing or see how long it took to complete or how much you charged last time, then Job Tracker will be worth it's weight in gold.

4. Can keep job card information separate from accounting system

The concept of keeping vital 'job' information separate from your main accounting system is unusual, however there are a number of significant advantages of doing this. The main advantage is that it keeps the recording of vital 'job' information very simple. You don't have to know anything about your company's 'General Ledger' or be familiar with standard accounting practices to record what is probably the most important information your company has.

As mentioned in the previous section, it's much easier to look back on past jobs since there is no need to divide your database into financial years. Job Tracker is also a powerful job scheduling aid. You wont find this in most accounting packages, it is generally reserved for more expensive and complicated programs. It is good to allow the person responsible for getting the work done to be able to reschedule due dates and priorities without necessarily giving them access to all of your company's financial details.

5. Can recall job information easily

Of course, it is of little use to be able to record vast amounts of information about the work you do if you cannot retrieve it and analyse it. This is the real power of Job Tracker. There are so many ways you can look up previous jobs that you can be assured that if you've recorded the information you will always find it again when you need it.

You can quickly look at all the jobs you have done for a particular company, or all the jobs you are currently working on, or all the jobs you have completed but are still awaiting payment. You can see what jobs a particular employee has booked time to, or see what jobs have been put through by a particular Sales Representative. You'll be amazed at how quickly and easily you can find the information you need.

6. Can use Job Tracker numbers to store program numbers

If you create drawings or need to 'file' information about your jobs, Job Tracker gives you the perfect filing system. We've already discussed how easy it is to find information about a previous job. Job Tracker assigns a 'Job Number' to each job you enter. By labelling your information with the same 'Job Number' and filing it in Job Number order, you know you will always retrieve it easily and reliably.

No longer will you have to think about a complicated method of naming or numbering your files, Job Tracker does it for you.

7. Can use Microsoft Access to produce customised reports

Most 'off the shelf' software packages have the disadvantage of being extremely inflexible. What you see is what you get. Well, although Job Tracker itself cannot be changed by the user, it does store all the information in a Microsoft Access compatible database. This may not mean a lot to you if you are unfamiliar with Access but we can assure you it is a major advantage if you would like to develop some extra 'customised' features.

Microsoft Access is a commonly used database program and the cost to prepare additional reports will be minimal. We offer support in this area, but you will also discover that there are many programmers who can do this for you at reasonable hourly rates. This is a more advanced feature which you may wish to pursue after you have used Job Tracker for a while.

8. Can transfer information to your accounting system

As previously discussed, the purpose of Job Tracker is to use it as a separate system to your accounting package. For many smaller companies who don't have an existing computer based accounting system, Job Tracker will be all that is required. For others, it will be necessary to transfer the invoicing information from Job Tracker to your accounting system.

Again, Job Tracker has been designed to make this an extremely simple task. There are very powerful links to the MYOB accounting package which completely automates this transfer. For other systems Job Tracker generates the information to make the necessary journal entries in batch form to ensure your sales, payments and any adjustments are updated.