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Volume 5,
Issue 2 -- 2nd Quarter 2006 |
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In This Issue
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Industry Update
With Industry focus on rising costs and
housing affordability, it is important to keep a close eye on job
costs and comparisons between previous costs and pricing moving
forward. It will be a crucial component to hold onto your current
margins or to work on increasing them. While the National consensus
among home builders is that activity is down this year, there are
many home builders who are having record years. Managing costs is a
big differentiator between those who increase profits year over year
and those who do not.
Rush To Reach Lumber Accord Could Have
Long-Term Impact On Housing Affordability
"In seeking to meet an artificial
political deadline on a managed trade softwood lumber agreement that
would result in a complicated system of border taxes and quotas,
U.S. and Canadian trade negotiators are running the risk of rushing
into a settlement that will harm American consumers and housing
affordability for the next several years, according to the National
Association of Home Builders."
Complete Story
(Source: NAHB, 6/15/2006)
Bipartisan Bill To
Improve Federal Storm Water Program Would Boost Housing
Affordability
"Legislation introduced by Rep. John
Duncan (R-Tenn.) and 17 bipartisan cosponsors would update and
improve Environmental Protection Agency storm water permit and
enforcement policies that have needlessly harmed housing
affordability, according to the National Association of Home
Builders (NAHB)."
Complete Story
(Source: NAHB, 6/09/2006)
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Go
Paperless
If you are building a large number of
homes each year, the amount of paperwork that you need to keep on
file can be mind blowing. If you are spending hours of company time
filing only to have to spend more time locating the documents that
you need, there may be a better option.
Document Imaging and Filing (also known
as Document Management) can allow you to have a "Paper Free" office.
Imagine having all of your faxes, contracts, client correspondence
and all other "paper" filed electronically with nothing more than a
quick search to find the precise document(s) you require. Access can
be configured for certain document types to ensure that only people
who need to see certain documentation, can.
Automatic backups, instant archive
and data recovery, audit trails to show you the history of any
document, and much more. No more lost or misplaced files.
Call us today to learn more about
Document Management possibilities for your office! |
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Software Update
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Over
the next few weeks, we are sending out the most current
release of Comet2005, which includes several new
enhancements. Below is a list of the major
enhancements in this upcoming release:
PlyMart Interface
- added an interface into PlyMart's online invoicing
system to automatically import invoices.
Document Generation
-- added the ability to generate sworn statements, lien waivers
and loan draw schedules for individual jobs.
Estimate Import/Export
– added the ability to import or export a job estimate from a CSV
(comma separated value) file. You can also export the Cost
Phase Dictionary with this new utility.
Post Payments
– replaced the old A/R Entry program with a new Post
Payments program. The new program provides complete
validation and lookup capabilities to streamline the entry
of payments and credits.
These are just a few of the many enhancements that will be
included with this release. The Release Notes provided with
the software update will detail all of the enhancements in
this version. We are excited about this new release and we
know that these enhancements will save you time while
helping with input accuracy. Existing
clients with active Software Maintenance will be receiving
the software update in June/July '06.
As always, if
you have any suggestions for additional software
enhancements, please contact us. We would love to hear from
you.
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Technology Partners
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Add-On
Modules
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From Warranty
Mgmt. and Payroll to A/R and Purchase Orders...
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If you are looking to take
Payroll in house or if your current Warranty Management
system is not giving you what you need, Comet has the
solution that you have been looking for.
We also have a Purchase Order
module and an Accounts Receivable module, which allow
companies to customize their Comet software to meet their
specific needs.
If any of these optional
modules are a fit for your company, please contact us for
pricing or to schedule a demonstration. Setup and training
is a snap! Start using the new modules within a few hours. |
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Technical Tip
# 1 -- Recalculate Financials Option in G/L |
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When certain changes are made to the
chart of accounts, it may be necessary to recalculate the
financials. This option reads through the transactions and updates
all accounts with the current period information from the
year-to-date ledger. Before running this option, ensure that all
users are out of the software. It is also recommended that you make a
backup of your data files prior to running this option.
To Recalculate Financials follow the
steps below:
- Login to Comet with the
administrative Access Code and Password, then go to the General
Ledger module.
- From the navigation bar at the
top of the screen, click on Maintenance / Utilities / Special
Utilities / Recalculate Financials.
- You will see a
dialog box with
further instructions. You will want to confirm that all users
are out of the software program before moving forward.
- It is recommended that a backup
of all data be made before recalculating the financials.
- Once all users are out and a
backup is made, you can click on the "Yes" button to start the
recalculation. Keep in mind that this process may take several
minutes, depending on the size of the database.
As always if you have any questions
about this process, please contact Technical Support for assistance. |
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Technical Tip
# 2 -- Data Diagnostics Feature
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While many of you (and we hope all
of you) are creating frequent backups, it is always recommended to
keep Comet running smoothly on a day-to-day basis to avoid any
potential hiccups. Just like your car and the periodic oil change,
Comet has a Data Diagnostics program to help keep everything running
smoothly. Performing Data Diagnostics once a month is a good habit
to get into. So, setup a monthly reminder or add it to your month-end
list of things to do. You'll be glad you did.
To run Data Diagnostics, you will
need to login to your company with your administrative Access Code and
Password. If you have multiple users, you will want to make sure
that everyone is out of the software.
Next, click on Tools from the
navigation bar at the top of the screen and select Data Diagnostics.
Simply follow the prompts to complete the process.
Keep in mind that for companies with a
lot of transaction history, it can take several minutes to complete the
diagnostics process. If you
have any questions or problems with this process, please contact
Technical Support for assistance. |
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