2012-12-19
Sirius : an obvious synergy
Sirius : project management
Launching new 7.6 version
Abakast on 7.6 in January
Social medias : usefull tools
Tests on Sage 50 and 300 ERP
Support :
Responsibility towards backups
Notes on 7.6
Clients in hosting and local Abak
Abak Pro : time to migrate
Training : Pro’s tip
Holiday period : closing days
Upcoming Abakasts
Survey
Testimonies
Merry Chrismas and Happy New Year
As announced in mid-October, Sirius Consulting acquired a majority share of Abak Software Inc..
SIRIUS Conseils, http://www.siriusconseils.com, is internationally known for the quality of its services and its expertise in project management and IT management.
Enteringthe world Sirius will allow us to offer our clients and future clients the expertise and services of Sirius as well as a wider range of products including SIGE platform, http:/ / vortex.ca / product /, a companion product particularly effective in managing projects portfolio’s. We therefore aim to gradually integrate these products and services as well as a skills management tool in our commercial offer. We already have defined a methodology for working together in order to create a synergy for the benefits our customers.
Jacques Cusson is Executive Vice President, Strategy and Planning at Sirius Conseils. On March 21st 2013 Jacques will lead an Abakast session devoted to Project management and delays management in projects. Don’t miss the opportunity to attend this webinar.
Project management and its dimensions
SIRIUS Conseils
Many companies meet their business strategies by launching of series of projects. Therefore, project success is the focus of organizational growth. After a few achievements, Management generally sees that project success is not due to magic, it’s rather based on an organized and structured approach.
Thoughts and questioning quickly arise from this reality. Questions like: how can we influence the success of projects and thus how can we ensure that benefits meet our strategic plan? The answers to these questions lie in an "Enterprise Project Management" approach. Enterprise Project Management generally works along three axes: Portfolio Management, Project Management and Capacity Management. Portfolio Management aims to optimize the "project mix" in order to significantly improve the outcome from a strategic point of view, in respect to the annual capitalization budget. Project Management brings a harmonized approach that integrates efficiency indicators, and establishes a mechanism for continuous improvement. Finally, Management Capacity optimizes resource utilization in order to predict the critical periods, and ensure that resources are working on the right things.
SIRIUS Conseils is a specialized firm whose mission is to increase the value of the organization’s investments and the performance of their projects by offering services and solutions which optimize processes and develop human capital. SIRIUS Conseils has proven "Enterprise Project Management" mechanisms (methods, tools, applications). These mechanisms have enabled organizations to proactively manage the implementation of strategic plans, giving them an overview of their projects at any time ensuring that every project is a success.
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For more information visit: www.siriusconseils.com
7.6 version will be online on January 21st 2013. We invite you to update your Abak.
Abak7.6. What's new?
Do not miss to free webinar on January 10th, 2013.
Follow the guide in a presentation of the new features of Abak 7.6.
Abak 7.6
January 10th, 2013, 14:00 – 16:00 Eastern time
Program
Abak Web:
• Customizable home page
Employees
• Assignation of resources
• System
• Security
Project summary
Filter server (with percentage on project grid)
Data transfer between phase based projects
Removing non billable transactions from WIP
Cumulative recalculation (can be automated)
Approval process: improve response time
Message to all
Master project: budget control report (by phases and by activities)
View details of the transactions in the detailed WIP report
Bi Metrix cube reports
Abak Classic:
• Modification of cycling invoicing invoices
• Real-time synchronization with Outlook
Open project and client from draft invoice
Allow to modify cycling invoicing
Import (calendar payroll and pay period)
Back to table of content
Social medias : usefull tools
We regularlyfeed our social media accounts: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter.
We invite you to follow us on those sites, and give us your feedback, comments and suggestions. Furthermore, some customers complain about not being informed when new versions are available. By subscribing to social media accounts you will never miss this type of information.
New version of accounting system compatible with Abak
Our training team has run tests on the new version of Simply Accounting, Sage 50 and Accpac, Sage 300 ERP which are compatible with Abak version 7.5 and higher.
Support :
Responsibility towards backups
Notes on 7.6
Clients in hosting and local Abak
We remind you that Abak is not responsible for the safeguarding of client databases. It is the customer's responsibility to ensure that automatic backups are performed every day.
For customers who use SQL Express, take note that the AbakServer and SQL Express services must be stopped during the backup of the database. It is therefore important to implement an automatic procedure that will stop those services when copying data. Then, services can be restarted.
We have put at your disposal a document on our extranet in which a backup procedure is proposed.
http://extranet.abaksoftware.com
Public\Documents-Documentation\English\Technical\Abak-Create automatic database backup.pdf.
Abak 7.6 release
As of January 21st 2013, version 7.6 of Abak will be available on our extranet.
The update files will be available from the following link: http://extranet.abaksoftware.com
Location: Abak SQL update files - mise à jour\ABAK 7.6.0.0
Customers in local mode
We invite you to make an appointment with our Abak technical support to plan the installation of the update on your server by sending an email to support@abaksoftware.com.
Hosted customers
You will be notified by mail of the date of installation of the update. The hosting updates will start at the beginning of February.
Abak Pro : time to migrate
Abak software is constantly evolving. Regularly, following the recommendations of our customers, we develop improvements and innovations in our software.
Currently, some of our customers use Abak Pro, a rather old and 'light' version.
This version, although perfectly functional not evolve further.
Nowadays we propose the Abak Enterprise - Abak Web package which includes many additional features.
Abak Web software will be our future. By the end of 2014, Abak is a 100% web.
Why going in this direction?
• Web applications are powerful and safe, allowing the management of online business.
• Access to information online offers many benefits: usability, ergonomics, and access from everywhere.
• Fast and easy updates. Only the server needs to be updated. No action on jobs is required.
It is time to move from Abak Pro to Enterprise-Web
If you are using an older version of Abak (Abak Pro), your license does not allow you to add the new Abak Web to your system.
To continue using Abak to its full potential and to prepare for the future 100% Abak Web we recommend that you migrate to Abak Enterprise-Web.
Contact us for more information
Training : Pro’s tip
If you have generated a WIP report and you would like to get the detail of each transaction, it is possible to get an extra detailed WIP by using the Transactions list report. Here is how to set it up:
CRITERIA SECTION :
From: to make sure that you have all the billable transactions not billed, enter such an old date that you won’t forget anything, for example January 1, 2000.
End : date of the WIP you are looking for (for example, Nov. 30, 2012)
Status: Billable only
Currency : System
Quantity : Billable
Type : check all 6 transactions types
Include : Rate must be checked, other boxes are to your discretion – you can even get notes from each transaction
Option : Print detail must be checked
STATUS SECTION :
Check all 3 status
SELECTION TAB:
Transactions. Invoice Date > date of the WIP you want (in this example : Nov. 30, 2012)
OR Transactions. Invoice Date = " " (empty)
SORT TAB :
Add any sorting criteria that you want
Holiday period : closing days
During th Holiday period Abak’s offices will be closed on following days :
December 24th in the afternoon
December 25th
December 26th
December 31st in the afternoon
January 1st
January 2nd.
Upcoming Abakasts
Grab you agenda. Do not miss our upcoming Abakasts.
Free Webinar : Abak 7.6
January 10th, 2013
14:00 – 16:00 Eastern time
AbaKast 102 : Understanding how to use Abak efficiently
February 28th, 2013
13:30 - 15:30 Eastern time
Many of you participated in thesurvey. Thank you! Based on your requests, here are the new features and enhancements that we shall bring to Abak.
• Add an expense at the same time as you log a timesheet
• Reconstruction of the interface of the Web Calendar
• Add the expense account in the mobile version
• Manage documents in project file
• Possibility to attach a document with the expense account
• Add user defined fields in grids
• Batch affectation of tasks, expenses, functions and payroll codes
• Modification of batch rates.
The winner of a five hour time bank is: Greenland International
Please note that these new features should be available in the version of the end of June 2013.
Testimonies
Neil Morozumi, is CEO at Patching Associates, a Calgary based engineering company specializing in acoustical engineering.
Our process with Abak started last year when our firm decided that we needed to improve the way we track time and expenses in order to help us attain our strategic goals. Like many small consulting firms, we had been using spreadsheets to track the various metrics that we thought were most useful. The problem that we faced was that none of the spreadsheets were linked. The metrics were all over the place and often there were double and triple entries that were needed. With Abak, we now have one place to enter our time and expenses. The metrics are easier to access and we can also run queries to pull other metrics that we simply could not obtain previously.
Our experience through the transition has been full of challenges, but the people at Abak were up to every challenge that we threw at them. I attended a financial management course several months ago and one of our discussions revolved around time tracking and management systems. Every person in the room mentioned lack of support and training with providers. This is where I feel that Abak excels. The customer service and after sales support is as good as it gets.
Eunice Bourgeois manages the New Orleans office RESOLVE Engineering Group, an American engineering company.
We’ve been working on Abak software since 2011 and find it’s exactly what we need for our business. With what the basic program offered to the customization of the software, I have not run into any issues we were not able to accomplish with Abak. Installation was seamless and the knowledgeable training staff took steps to ensure I was comfortable working with the program before letting me go on my own. I really liked the homework portion of training, I felt it helped me retain the training very well. As a naval architect/marine engineering firm our needs differ from client to client, Abak listens to what I need and works very quickly to solve it or shows me how to accomplish it within the program. As the only administrative person I don’t have a lot of time to spend learning new software and as a company looking to start with a new software we needed to have the software up and running immediately; which Abak did. I found Abak very easy to learn and my questions/needs solved within 24 or less hours. Starting with the basic implementation to where I am now becoming a “Power User” the software is performing very much to my satisfaction. Abak was the only software I tested that gave me great customer service prior to the purchase and a year later they are still exceeding my expectations. I definitely recommend Abak.
Merry Chrismas and Happy New Year
Abak Wishes you a merry Xmas and happy Holiday.
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203-1200, ave St-Jean-Baptiste
Québec (Québec) Canada G2E 5E8
Sales :
1 877 219.0107
Support :
1 877 996.3009
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