| [DECOMMISSIONED] Academy
Tiles |
February
20, 1999
To Whom It
May Concern:
Superior
Software for Windows
It gives
me pleasure to provide the following testimonial regarding SSW and in
particular Adam Cogan with whom I had the majority of my dealings.
Academy Tiles
is a leading ceramic tile business, importing ceramics, marble and glass.
We wholesale and also provide a unique architectural library of over 5000
samples for use by professional people. Our showroom and warehouse are
located separately.
About 1995
we determined that our Dos based computer system was antiquated and would
not allow us to survive and prosper. Our information needs were very comprehensive
and growing. And so the search began. Academy Tiles commenced an Access
database development with another developer. After some considerable work
was done, I became dissatisfied with the work and approached Microsoft
for a recommended Access developer to assist me in completing the exercise.
And so we
were introduced to Adam Cogan and SSW. At this point we
had a client and job database. We still required invoicing, purchasing,
inventory and shipping.
I did not
enjoy the first day's experience. Adam pulled no punches and was critical
of the quality of the database structure and work to date. And he proposed
to pull it apart and rebuild. I wasn't initially sold on the idea but
after several days I could see a picture emerging of : structure, preciseness,
integrity and efficiency. It was the system we had to have, regardless
of initial cost and we have not looked back. Quite frankly without Adam's
involvement we would have a clumsy inefficient system which was not easily
modifiable I spent many days working with him developing our system and
learning how to use Access. As a "partially" technical accountant
I learnt sufficiently enough to be able to readily modify and evolve our system.
I have also dealt with others at SSW like Ibrahim Qutish and Ross Donald
and they continue to support me with any code which is beyond me. In addition
the free generic updates from SSW are a real bonus. The generic functions
have extended my capabilities and minimised the amount of code required.
As an accountant
I am very pleased to have the flexibility of periods that don't roll over.
It allows us to adjust any incorrect invoices and re-issue with the need
to create credit notes. This keeps the paperwork down to a minimum, reducing
the confusion of an long paper trail. Queries are regularly rerun, accumulating
monthly sales statistics etc. These also reflect any prior period adjustments.
We stock take
as many times as we wish, currently six monthly and roll stock into an
opening balance. Because of this one precaution we build into prior "period"
transaction alterations is to prevent these changes if they are dated
prior to the last stock take. The system is very flexible and can be run
to suit any particular set of requirements.
It is also
very user friendly and all our staff including management input their
own work.
Our business
could never have achieved the level of volume and success it has without
our Access database.
And our Access
database would not be what is without the involvement of Adam and his
friendly professional and innovative team.
Without qualification
I can state that their design work, desire to share and willingness to
educate have made a substantial contribution to our business.
Joe Zeaiter
Director