Mike Hart
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Posts: 8
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Well, I sure hope we can provide more direction than, as you say, a 'democratic presidential candidate' and hope to turn that impression around with tangible progress. DBA Next-Gen is a major step towards doing just that. We made a momentous decision in late 2000 to abandon the conversion of DBA Classic to another version of TAS and develop a new system from scratch using mainstream technology, first with Visual Basic and then Delphi. Like Bush with Iraq, we underestimated the enormity of the job and everything took longer than expected and plenty of work remains ahead (which is always the case with enterprise software). Having said that, we are steadily advancing the product and ultimately it will blend the best of Ezijobz and DBA Classic into something special on its own. Fred Zumwalt and I, who teamed on much of the DBA Classic development, are really tearing into this product and are giving it the 'DBA touch.' For example, I just spent seven months writing all-new documentation for the product, all of which is being unveiled in the new build being distributed next week. And Fred has done some terrific reports that go far beyond what was done in DBA Classic. Fred is continually updating the DBA Classic to Next-Gen data transfer utility so that more and more data files move over. And our programming team in New Zealand continues to do great work. Altogether we are devoting far more development resources to this product than we ever were able to with DBA Classic. The following is an excerpt from a product announcement letter that will soon go out to DBA customers that answers some of your questions. What is DBA Manufacturing Next-Generation? -------------------------------------------- DBA Manufacturing Next-Generation (DBA Next-Gen) is derived from our Ezijobz SME product. While Ezijobz SME had little compatibility with DBA Classic, DBA Next-Gen is being transformed into a blend of the best of DBA Classic and Ezijobz. We are in the process of systematically updating DBA Next-Gen so that it will acquire equivalents to any remaining features in DBA Classic that are not in the Ezijobz feature set. What makes DBA Next-Gen different? ------------------------------------ DBA Next-Gen differs from Ezijobz in the following aspects. *Like DBA Classic, it standardizes on Sales Orders for order entry *It has an all-new Help file and comes with 19 new DBA-style user guides *It includes a set of DBA Classic compatible forms and a series of new form designs *It features a new DBA-style shop traveler and job pick list and new DBA-style reports, including Indented BOM, Costed BOM, BOM Availability, Inventory Value, GL Journal Report -- and more are on the way *A new Speed Entry function allows for the rapid entry of line items within sales orders, jobs, PO's, and BOM's *New viewing filters allow sets of related fields to be visible on the major spreadsheet-style entry screens *Filtering can be turned off on major screens to speed up loading of opening lists *The Configurator screens and terminology have been simplified and kits have been added for features and options type configuration *The Accounts Payable module has been completely redesigned and now surpasses DBA Classic's AP with multi-line expense entry, a new payment selection and check printing screen, and a new payments/check register *The Cashbook (bank reconciliation) and GL journal entry functions have been significantly improved DBA Manufacturing Next-Generation provides every DBA customer with a long-term growth path that protects your investment to-date and insures that you will be able to meet the needs of tomorrow. Which companies can DBA Next-Gen help right now? ----------------------------------------------------------------- Each company has to make its own assessment as to when the benefits of DBA Next-Gen are compelling enough to warrant a conversion. If you are a make-to-order company where quoting drives your business, our latest Configurator can profoundly change your business - right now. If you are a light manufacturer, our bills of material, make to-order and make to-stock jobs are an excellent solution - right now. If you are an advanced manufacturer with a need for routings, shop floor control, and automatic scheduling, we will unveil enhanced versions of these functions later this year. Also be aware that our data transfer utility will transfer much of your DBA Classic master file data over to DBA Next-Gen. Please feel free to ask any questions you wish about DBA Next-Gen or our future direction as a company. Mike Hart President DBA Software Inc.
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