Posted 07 November 2008 - 12:40 PM
#19
I missed this thread when the poll was open. I'm a bit torn as to whether this approach is better than the one I finally settled on.
I like much of what I see. I like the direct connection w/ the store to download / update orders. I'm a little concerned about adding an additional interface where you do your actual inventory / customer / order management, when what I really feel I need is the simple abilities to:
- Import my day's orders into quickbooks where I currently handle all of these functions, and ...
- update order status (and the resulting update in product quantities) in CS-C after processing orders in QB.
- updating / syncing product prices & quantities after receiving new product from vendors
On the other hand, this approach seems like it adds additional functionality that I can't get (and have learned to stop hoping for) when processing my orders directly in QB (i.e. USPS shipping integration, multiple payment gateways). One function I really think is needed is decent partial order backorder support ... I didn't dig into the documentation far enough to see how that is handled) but I had hoped CS would implement this in the next major revamp.
I contacted these folks something like 9 months ago and they offered customization, but I decided to pass largely because I didn't want to be the guy to pay for their development time and due to the concern expressed above. I also contacted T-Hub around the same time. They didn't offer a CS-C version at the time, also offered customization but were too expensive. Note that if you want to update the store after processing orders w/ T-Hub, you need the "Pro" version at $650 currently ($950 normally?). If I remember right both of these have some limitations on how many sites they'll support, but things have obviously changed since I did my research.
I settled on using Transaction Importer Pro. It's nowhere as full featured as this product, is $200, and acts simply as an importer. The version I own reads .csv files. I did enough experimentation in CS-C to know I'd be able to generate the file it needs, but as I'm still on a different system I've not finished that task. I am using it for my current system. Once the CSV file is generated by the cart, it's a matter of a few clicks to get it into QB and does not use the IIF file import which can corrupt your QB database. One nice feature is that you can configure your default settings via command-line commands placed in the shortcut that launches the program. To update the site after transactions however, you would need their exporter tool. I got a notice recently after a feedback survey that they have added the ability to directly connect w/ store databases. I have no idea how this works or if it would work w/ CS-C.
I'd probably seriously consider this if available, but would want to test it thoroughly before I'd abandon my current approach.
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1.3.5 SP4, and stickin' with it till 2.x is finally stable
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