With a little help from my friends

Alpha's been abuzz over the past few weeks over some big news that's about to hit the wire. I'm sure my PR guy won't be happy that I'm leaking this info on the blog before the press release drops, but hey, I pay the bills!

The big news: Alpha Software is teaming up with FLEXquarters.com LLC to make Intuit's QuickBooks, the most popular accounting software in the world, even better. We'll soon be announcing a new Alpha product, QReportBuilder, the first report writer built expressly for Quickbooks.

QReportBuilder makes it possible for users to build custom reports with QuickBooks, something that's NEVER been possible before. QuickBooks expert and professional advisor Esther Friedberg Karp wrote an article on the software that's set to appear in the QuickBooks newsletter. And QReportBuilder already has a number of video tutorials for users of all skill sets.

Why is QReportBuilder a breakthrough for QuickBooks users? Glad you asked.

Users who need to visualize data in ways not supported by QuickBooks will no longer have to export QuickBooks to Microsoft Excel, and design a new spreadsheets every time they need a custom report.

With QReportBuilder, they can customize their data in ways never before possible with QuickBooks. For example, QReportBuilder can generate any custom report imaginable, based on QuickBooks data. The reports can also combine data with external sources, such as Excel, SQL, or MS Access.

By using QReportBuiler to unlock information buried in QuickBooks, users can make more informed business decisions to drive profitability and growth. Essentially, QReportBuilder gives QuickBooks the professional reporting engine it has always lacked, and the business insight which QuickBooks users have wanted for years.

With QReportBuilder's "visual QuickBooks reporting," users will never have to manually create a custom report again. Here are some examples of reports which are easy to create in QReportBuilder.

• Custom commissions calculations
• Custom reports for tax analysis
• Product catalogs with images
• Accounts receivable summary for adding customer names and addresses
• Invoice list based on paid date
• Invoice with embedded statement
• Balance sheet report modified with the design editor
• List of bills per vendor, one per page, sent to vendors as authorization for credit card payment
• Collections report modified any way you prefer
• Customers who have no invoices for 30, 60, 90 days, etc. (useful for marketing and sales departments)
• Merge extra data fields (not in QB) from Excel spreadsheet with QB customer data to produce a custom report
• Invoice line items sold, grouped, and subtotaled by city
• Mail merge letter sent to customers who have no invoices with “welcome back” coupon
• Profit by vendor item report grouped by vendor
• Reverse customer sales report with address information not found in QuickBooks report
• Sales and profit by rep name, report organized by sales rep name
• Sales report standard reformatted to your needs
• Bill items by class

Other features include:

• Complete display control with drag-and-drop ease
• Ready-to-run, pre-built report formats and data structures
• Report Genie creates the report format with one click
• Use filters and columns not available in QuickBooks
• Create reports, custom invoices, mail merge letters, and address labels
• E-mail reports as secure PDF, Microsoft Word, text, or Web HTML formats
• Merge data from multiple companies or reports into one report with ease

Alpha Software developed the interface that allows users to design and build complex custom reports with ease. Combined with FLEXquarters.com's QODBC driver, QReportBuilder allows that reporting interface to maintain a live link to QuickBooks data. This is the secret to producing custom QuickBooks reports on the fly.

Watch for more QuickBooks related products to be produced by this joint effort in the near future. And watch for a PR guy roaming the streets of Philly, crying, "but it wasn't officially announced yet!?"