MYOB: Importing data into my company data file

When importing data from other programs, it is important that the import text file fields are compatible with MYOB’s import field specifications.

To access a list of these specifications, open your company data file and go to "Help", choose "MYOB (Premier) Help" then click "Importing/Exporting".

Click "Importing and Exporting With MYOB" and then "Importing and Exporting Fields".

Make a backup or a copy of your MYOB company data file. If import errors are encountered, you will be able to restore the backup or simply revert to the copy file.

With your company data file open, go to "File" and choose "Import Data". Then select the data type to be imported.

Select the applicable Import File Format and the First Record Is options.

If displayed, click the "Duplicate Records" drop down arrow and select the desired option, then click "Continue".

IMPORTANT NOTE: The 2006 releases include a Record ID option in the Identify Records by menu. This field is designed for use by Third Party Application Development Partners. You should not choose this option as it relies on certain cross matching information which is only available to developers.

The window below shows the options for importing customer cards.

Using the "Open" dialogue box, navigate to the import file. Highlight the file then click "Open".

The window below shows Cust.txt (customer cards) selected for importing.

Once the data has been imported, an import confirmation dialogue box is displayed. This provides a summary of the import, and reports any errors or warnings.

Please note: Where import errors are reported, an error log text file named MYOBPLOG.TXT is created in the folder containing your company data file. This error log lists the cause(s) of the import error and can be opened using a text editor such as Windows Notepad or Simple Text (Apple Macintosh).

The window below shows an import confirmation dialogue box.

MYOB special offer

Purchase and register any MYOB accounting software through EasyPC Training before 31 July 2007 and receive a bonus Microsoft wireless keyboard and mouse (Desktop), valued up to $179.95 (RRP).

Purchase and register MYOB Accounting and receive a bonus Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop 1000 valued at $79.95 (RRP).

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Accounting Plus and bonus Desktop only $595.

Accounting Plus (with cover) and bonus Desktop only $849.

AccountEdge and bonus Desktop only $595.

Purchase and register MYOB Premier or MYOB RetailManager and receive a bonus Microsoft Wireless Laser Desktop 6000 valued at $179.95 (RRP).

Premier and bonus Desktop only $1,495.

Retail Manager and bonus Desktop only $1,990.

Visit our online store to take advantage of these great deals.

Keyboard shortcuts

Speed up your work by using keyboard shortcuts:

Key strokes	Action	Key strokes	Action
+	Print	+	Top of document
+	Select all	+	End of document
	Help	+	Undo last action

MYOB: Exporting data from company data file

Before exporting from MYOB, determine where on your hard drive the export text file will be saved.

1. Open your company data file and go to File choose Export Data, then click the data type to be exported.

2. The common export file options are:

   Export File Format – Click the drop down arrow and select either Tab-delimited (recommended) or Comma-separated. If the Export file is opened in a word processor application, each field will be separated by a tab stop.

   First Record – Click the drop down arrow and select either Header Record (recommended) or Data Record. If the export file is opened in a spreadsheet, each record field will have a heading if Header Record is selected.

   The window below shows the options for exporting customer cards. Apart from the Export File Format and First Record Is options, other options specific to the data being exported will be displayed.

   

   You can filter or restrict the records to be exported using identifiers and the various options that appear in the bottom half of the Export File window.

   After selecting the export file options, click Continue.

3. Click the fields in the MYOB Fields column that are to be exported. Alternatively, if all fields are to be exported, click Match All.

   The window below shows that four fields have been selected for exporting.

   

   After selecting the fields to be exported, click Export.

    

4. Save the export file using the Save As dialogue box.

   MYOB will automatically select a distinct name for the file and save it in the folder containing your company data file.

   The window below shows the Save As dialogue box that is displayed when exporting customer cards.

   

From http://myobaustralia.custhelp.com/

What is Wiki?

We’ve all heard about the next-best-thing on the web: its blogs, no hang on a minute, its RSS, no its Utube.

Actually, its all of these, and Wikis too. Technology and seamless world wide data transfer creates conditions for endless applications. Just pick the ones you find easiest to use or most intuitive.

Whilst Tim Berners-Lee first devised the World Wide Web to enable CERN scientists to efficiently share documents, Wikis have elevated this to the next logical step by allowing multiple authors to edit the same document in a live, immediate environment.

In many instances, access is open and non-moderated. Changes can be typed directly into a back-screen, are saved and are instantly available.

Despite Wikis kicking around since the mid-90s, it is only in the last couple of years that the collaborative and creative power of the Wiki has been fully unleashed. Now, most non-product orientated Google searches will offer-up high ranking links to information held on a Wiki.

The most popular Wiki is undoubtedly Wikipedia – a vast online encyclopedia with both a world-wide readership and a world-wide editorial board. To get things in perspective, whilst the latest (and probably last) incarnation of Microsoft’s Encyclopedia Encarta boasted some 68,500 entries, the English language version of Wikipedia has reached a cool 1.3 million – and counting. As the Wiki store of knowledge has ballooned, so has web site traffic. Wiki sites have seen a tripling of traffic in the last year, to 28.1 million visitors per month.

There is a fine line dividing the strengths and weakness of Wikis. At face value, a freely editable encyclopedia would appear highly vulnerable to abuse, but the sheer numbers of active contributors means spurious content is quickly removed or reworked. The same goes for incorrect or biased content.

Add this to the fact that there is always at least one enthusiast on the planet who has an interest in the most obscure and the result is a knowledge base that is as broad as it is deep as it is consensual and accurate.

While the best known Wikis are encyclopedia-type depositories (ie. they accept information on any topic at all), as they become more widespread they are becoming increasingly used for more defined-content, such as for travel, dictionaries and ‘how-to’ . Furthermore, organisations are learning to use wikis as both inward and outward facing communication tool. Project teams can share information, coordinate research documentation and provide up to date status reports. Outwardly, organisations are using Wikis as a way of soliciting feedback from their staff and customers. Some organisations have completely removed static intranet systems with live Wikis.

And why Wiki? The term ‘Wiki’ derives from the Hawaiian term wiki wiki, or hurry, which was the name given to a shuttle bus service (presumably a quick one) to Honolulu International Airport.

Do business with Council? Do it online

It is likely that in the current financial year, Brisbane City Council’s (BCC) website - www.brisbane.qld.gov.au - will get more visitors than its libraries and regional business centres combined.

As internet technologies mature and people become more confident in transacting over the web, demand for a deeper and broader suite of online services grows.

Around the world, local government has been at the forefront in developing these services. It has benefited from its inherent institutional stability and a strong ethos of cooperation.

Importantly, however, its diversity, in size and areas of responsibility, has allowed innovative pilot projects to flourish in a no-regrets atmosphere.

Often primed with grants from central government, councils have been able to forge ahead in narrow arenas, without exposure to excessive risk, while at the same time watching, waiting, then emulating successful projects from other councils.

It is no longer enough for a council website to simply provide details of how best to contact it via alternative means and some static information on the location and opening times of council services. Businesses and residents are now demanding transactional and feedback capabilities.

www.brisbane.qld.gov.au offers over 50 online services for businesses and residents. And its not just about paying your rates and fines.

As a business, transacting over the internet can save you time and money. Here are some of the ways your organisation can do business with council.

Online tender box

Businesses can register their interest in a growing number of Council tenders through the online, dynamic eTender Box. Once registered, documents relevant to that tender can be downloaded and responses can be lodged over the internet.

Permits and licences

In collaboration with the Queensland Government, BCC has developed the SmartLicence portal. By answering a series of quick questions, potential or existing business can get a complete list of local and state government licences they will need to operate their business and links to application forms. If your business is planning a one-off event, you can also check which licences and permits you will need.

In addition, a range of Council business permits and licensing – from advertising signs to food premises to trade waste disposal – can be renewed at the BCC website.

Building and development

The council’s building and development portal can tell you everything you need to know about building and development in Brisbane and access to the range of online services on offer.

In this space you can lodge conveyance searches, view, search and make submissions on development applications, subscribe to eBIMAP for GIS maps, aerial photography and property information in Brisbane and lodge building certification documents. 

For more complex transactions, you can log in to create a building and development online profile and access specialised building and development services online, either as an organisation or as an individual.

Further features

Other features for business include a wealth of research data made available through the Statistical Portrait of Brisbane – a suburb by suburb look at population and people, jobs and education and cars, houses and computers and links to whole range of services through the Multicultural Business Directory.

The council website also lets you pay your rates and fines and all other outstanding business accounts you have with Council. Two payment options are made available: Debit Online (direct from your bank account), credit card payments (for $10 to  $10,000 on Visa, Mastercard or Bankcard).

• Business portal
• Building and development portal
• Statistical Portrait of Brisbane
• Online services – A to Z

Setting up your RSS feed

NewsGator

NewsGator is a popular - and free - news aggregator.

Setting up is easy, as it operates as a web application through your favourite web browser. Therefore, you can still run it, even if you do not have administration rights (to run new applications) to your system.

Setting up NewsGator

1. Go to www.newsgator.com.
2. Click ‘Create Account’
3. Stage 1: Complete your contact details, user name and password. Agree to the terms and conditions by ticking the box.
4. Stage 2: Select an account type; either NewsGator online FREE or the premium service with an annual subscription charge.
5. Stage 3: Select a ‘starter pack’ of web feeds to help kick you off. (This is not compulsory, and you might wish to uncheck the NewsGator pre-selected feeds.) EasyPC Training recommends the following:

   Theme	Source
   Headline news	BBC Rueters
   Technology news	New York Times Technology
   Magazines	National Geographic News New Scientist

6. Click ‘finish’ and you will directed to your new News Aggregator home page.

Adding a new feed to NewsGator

1. The standard view for your News Aggregator is ‘Web Reader’. This displays a list of your subscriptions in the left hand column. To add a new feed, click on ‘Add feed’. There are four methods of adding feeds. The two most useful are summarised here.
2. Find feeds: You can either browse through NewsGator’s directories (a little similar to Yahoo!), or you can search on key words to see whatever NewsGator returns for you.
3. URL & Import: Alternatively, once you have found a RSS feed you like, such as http://www.easypctraining.com.au/easypc_feed.xml, you can add it to your NewsGator service. Simply copy and paste the URL (web address) into your NewsGator page and click ‘Add’. RSS feeds are usually signified by the icon and the files are suffixed either .xml or .rdf

Theme	Source
News	www.abc.net.au
Environment	www.RealClimate.org
Politics	www.onlineopinion.com.au
Blogs	www.andrewbartlett.com/blog

Tip:

Use the mouse right-click in ‘Web reader’ mode to access context-sensitive menu options to manage your feeds.

Widening the search: Google Earth

The world of facts has grown, writes Geoff Nicholson

Google Earth isn’t just useful for seeing your house from space – it can also provide you with information on current events, historical epics, the natural world and celebrity landmarks. Many large cities have been mapped via satellite to within 15m of resolution, while digital terrain data allows users to see landmarks such as Mount Everest in three dimensions.

While Google’s innovative mapping tool has been criticised by government and military officials for threatening national security, there are only so many naval bases and military installations you can look at before wanting to take your experience a step further.

Sites such as Google Earth Community, Google Sightseeing and Earthplacemarks feature users’ contributions an everything from the location of the meteorite craters to red-light cameras and daily surf reports.

Burke and Wills’ epic journey across the nation’s rugged heart is discovered on 112 web links that include detailed descriptions and illustrative images.

Railway buffs will find information on the original Ghan railway between Port Augusta and Alice Springs, while naval historians should get something out of the data provided on Dutch shipwrecks in Western Australia.

Making your own Google Earth tours for friends and family of places you’ve been or would like to visit should also prove to be of little challenge if you understand the basics of HTML and have an afternoon free to experiment. The KML language used is easy to learn and exchange with other users.

To do this, the minimum requirements are a Pentium III 500 MHz computer with 128Mb RAM, broadband internet access, 16Mb of VRAM and a 16-bit high-colour screen in 1024 x 768 resolution. Google Earth runs on Mac OS X 10.3.9 and above, as well as Microsoft Windows 2000 or XP. The software is available for free.

Sites to explore:

• Google Earth Community: bbs.keyhole.com
• Google Sightseeing: www.googlesightseeing.com
• Google Earth Hacks: www.googleearthhacks.com
• Google Earth Blog: www.gearthblog.com
• Google Earth KML Tutorial: www.keyhole.com/kml/kml_tut.html

Geoff Nicholson, The Courier Mail, Saturday May 20, 2006

Really, So Simple way to stay informed

Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is a new technology that ‘aggregates’ the latest news or web content from your favourite sources, rather than you having to go and look for it.

Most new sites, such as ABC, or BBC, offer RSS as a way to have headlines delivered to you. Increasingly, many popular blogs are now offering RSS feeds.

What is RSS?

RSS technology is used to create a "feed" (list) of headlines that you can have delivered to you. For example, when a number of web sites publish new content to their sites, they update their RSS feed to bring you just the latest news straight to your ‘news reader’.

The news reader is an application (commonly a web application) which aggregates and sorts the information.

Better still, you can add a number of (free) subscriptions to your news reader, making browsing all the latest information from your trusted sources as easy as clicking through folders.

What do I need to use RSS?

In order to receive RSS feeds, you need an RSS reader. You then subscribe to the Web site from which you want to receive content, and the information will be delivered automatically to your RSS reader.

Setting up your news reader:

1. Choose a reader to download, many, such as NewsGator, are free to use.
2. Follow instructions to install and follow any wizards to get the reader up and running.
3. Sites which run RSS feeds will display a icon. Click the icon (or link next to it) to subscribe.
4. Follow your news reader prompts to set up a new subscription.
5. Simply copy and paste the URL of the RSS file into your news reader (often an .xml or .rdf file)
6. Use your news reader to read news when it arrives and click the headline links to get the full web page.

Subscribe to EasyPC Training’s RSS feed >>

Sharp rise in small business dissatisfaction with government: MYOB survey

Small businesses are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the contribution of federal, state and local government , according to the latest MYOB Australian Small Business Survey.

Almost half of small businesses (46%) feel that the Federal Government’s performance in contributing to small business is either very poor or somewhat poor, a significant increase from the last quarter (36%, December 2005).

Small businesses continue to rate state government’s performance worse than the Federal Government, with over half of respondents (55%, March 2006) indicating that the performance is either very or somewhat poor, up 10% from 45% in December 2005.

“This is a very disturbing jump in the level of dissatisfaction with government from small business. The frustrations and anger around compliance and red tape issues have been there for a long time now and appear to be at boiling point,” says MYOB Managing Director Tim Reed.

“Past surveys have shown such red tape issues as BAS reporting and allocating GST to daily transactions frustrate small business enormously and they appear to be increasingly annoying small business.”

In better news, 73% of small businesses feel positive about sales, marketing and customer relationships which continue to attract the most positive ratings when asked about business issues.

While around 8 in 10 small businesses (79%) were confident about their business prospects over the next 12 months, with 29% indicating that they were extremely confident, consistent with results from 2005 (80%, August and December respectively).

From: http://myob.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1143496832039&pagename=MYOB%2FMYOBArticle%2FNewsArticlePage&pageId=1138058395518&site=en_AU