Im now a QXpress user

[MacLawnCo]

So i just ordered qxpress. what a delightful program. I cant wait to start working it in a couple months. Until then, ill just sit on my hands i supose.

A note to those with/are considering Gopher: I purchased QX standard for $382. I have no idea how you guys think gopher is a better value. This thing has so much potential, it blows me away. Can gopher directly integrate with QB, handle 10-30000 clients? hardly. This is the program you want if you plan to be in business for a while.

Ill be sure to update if i encounter any issues. I recomend you dont hold your breathe. haha.

[LB1234]

MacLawnCo,

Curious about this 'qexpress'. What exactly is it.

Currently we run QuickbooksPro for our business. I highly recommend it. Anyway...my wife bought me a Dell Axim X30 PocketPC. I love it. Instead of the old pen and paper everything gets put into that thing. I use it for appointments, scheduling estimates, reminders, tasks, etc. Heck, I can run excel and word in it. I've placed my equipment into an excel spreadsheet so now at the touch of a button I know serial numbers, model numbers on equipment so the guy at the parts counter can get me my stuff fast.

However, I'm looking for something that will link my Quickbooks to my PocketPC. Specifically, I want to be able to 'write-up' the invoice right after I leave the job. I want to be able to look up 'items' from quickbooks and enter credit card charges as I make them during the workday. I then want to go home and plop the PocketPC into its holder and click synchronize.

Does Qexpress have the ability to do this.

thx for any input you may have.

[MacLawnCo]

best advice is to check out their website and get the demo. They'll even walk you through a live online demo if you schedule it. They have a module for the PDA. Best way to describe QX is it is an awesome industry specific scheduling and record keeping add-on to quickbooks. check it out at www.qxpress.com

[LB1234]

Thanks. Went to the website.

For the cost of their Gold edition (~800 bucks) I could buy a laptop and another copy of quickbooks. Looks like their standard edition for ~400 doesn't offer everything I'm looking for. thanks for the reply.

[mtdman]

I'm not quite sure that I understand what the point of that software is. Sure, it has lots of handy dandy scheduling gizmos. But all I ever use to schedule is a route list on 1 sheet of paper that I use all week. I put it together at the beginning of the year and I print one off each week. It seems to me that you're putting a lot of work in and adding a lot of extras to something that is rather simple. Just my opinion.

[MacLawnCo]

Originally Posted by mtdman

I'm not quite sure that I understand what the point of that software is. Sure, it has lots of handy dandy scheduling gizmos. But all I ever use to schedule is a route list on 1 sheet of paper that I use all week. I put it together at the beginning of the year and I print one off each week. It seems to me that you're putting a lot of work in and adding a lot of extras to something that is rather simple. Just my opinion.

Tom, how many crews do you think your method can support? Lets take that a step further and ask how many branches do you think your method can support? THink you could be an absantee owner and still use your method? see where im going with this? Its all about planning for the future. Successful businesses have systems in place to accomodate growth. They are not reactive, they are proactive.

[mtdman]

Originally Posted by MacLawnCo

Tom, how many crews do you think your method can support? Lets take that a step further and ask how many branches do you think your method can support? THink you could be an absantee owner and still use your method? see where im going with this? Its all about planning for the future. Successful businesses have systems in place to accomodate growth. They are not reactive, they are proactive.

If I were at that point, I think you would be right. But that is a long way off for me. I'm just saying that for many people, all that extra stuff is not needed. Even when my partner and I were doing 120 customers a week, I didn't need all that info. But, were I to add more crews or get bigger, I agree some kind of software like that would be necessary. Adding $1000 of software that is superfluous and most likely to become obsolete before I would need to use it is a waste of money though, imo.

[DanaMac]

I downloaded Qxpress a couple days ago after checking out the trial version. $27 a month rental, and the first 3 months can be credited towards the full price to buy if you decide to at that point. I'm just starting with the standard version.

My biggest need was to be able to look at the full weeks calendar on one screen, and have 2 columns per day. One for me, and one for my employee. All we do is irrigation repair. So when we schedule I, or my girlfriend when she is helping, can look and see what is available for the next week or two. If someone calls on a Monday, and in the spring I get easily 60 calls on a Monday, we can see that Tom has an opening in their neighborhood Thursday of that week at 1:00. Or else I am available in that neighborhood the following Monday at 9:00. So I really need to be able to cross reference our schedules on the same screen for the best scheduling.

In QuickBooks I created a seperate field in the customer info with the city map page and coordinates for their house. Now I am trying to find a way in Qxpress for that to come up in customer info at the top when I schedule people so we can keep customers grouped together. Basically when someone calls we can see in their info they are on page 40 section k-5, and then we can see on the schedule who else is already scheduled in that same area.

[MWHC]

I used Qxpress for 3 seasons, yes it does integrate integrate with Quick books really well. Heres the problem with Qxpress. Ever wan't to reload your computer or possibly get a new one? I couldn't do it because Qxpress makes it so the registration key is out of date. (Trust me, I pitched a real fit over the phone) You have to buy the "keep me current" plan or a new copy. In my opinion, if I buy the program I should be able to put it on my new computer without shelling out more money. I won't buy Qxpress stuff for that reason. Get ready to update your software (even though you don't need to) every other year. As far as Gopher not being comparable, you need to use both to judge. I wouldn't rule Gopher out. A little tweaking and gopher will kick Qxpress's A$$ for the money.

[MacLawnCo]

i dont understand why people get so bothered about paying ~$25 a month to keep the backbone of an opperation current.

Look at it this way. You want your clients to pay your (top notch) rates, right? It goes both ways. I am confortable paying for a top notch software application.