Welcome to the QuickBooks Sync Group
QuickBooks Sync Summary
Welcome to the QuickBooks Sync group. This group will serve as the launch pad for what I and many others feel should be an integral part of Magento, at least in module form. QuickBooks Sync is the chosen name for the module that this group will be involved with development wise. Other developers are welcome to develop their own modules, but the QuickBooks Sync group collectively feels that everyone should join forces in this group to efficiently and relatively quickly create a QuickBooks integration module that is feature-rich, highly secure, and functions with performance and usability in mind.
We Want You!
All Magento members are welcome to join, whether you are a programmer, designer, idea-go-to person, entrepreneur, decision maker, problem solver, module (beta) tester or even if you are simply interested in being part of the group to watch the progress being made. We feel that there is plenty of room for everyone’s input and this will help us create the best module we possibly can.
Plan of Action
Initially this group will discuss ideas and features, standards, and other details in order to start the process of creating a manual synchronization module using the QuickBooks XML file format. From there, we will explore various implementation methods, develop the initial list of features, create a roadmap and timeline, determine member roles based on contibutable experience and skills, take care of any other considerations, then get started on the development of the module.
Through the strength of community support, we can create a powerful module that is feature packed, yet efficient (not bloated), and can be something that the Magento user base and community can rely on for performance and stability in the synchronization of their QuickBooks data back and forth between the Magento system and their QuickBooks system.
This is the module many are looking for, but without your help, we will not have the resources or team-effort to create a strong, reliable QuickBooks Sync module, meaning that you’re at the mercy of whatever functionality the first developer decides to implement in their own module, and then spend more time tweaking it to your liking. With the group-approach, we can create the perfect QB module (or darn-near close to it!).
The Future
As a taste of what is to come, plans include working on an automated synchronization module or addon to the manual module (perhaps with a web-to-software connector) that will automatically synchronize the desired data between the two systems with little or no human involvement (except for a possible quality control check/checkpoint).
All these things are planning to be discussed via this group, so join if you haven’t already, we need your ideas, skills, and involvement. Discussion will either be held in the forums or the IRC channel #magento depending on how many members become involved and how everyone’s schedules look. Ideally, we should start development of the QuickBooks module for release in the next couple months if possible.
Looking forward to making the connection with you,
Scott
1romy posted Tue, January 29, 2008
sounds good scott,
not sure if i’m getting too detailed but maybe it should be made clear that this “Sync” will be using the QuickBooks Web Connector software (freely available from QuickBooks):
http://developer.intuit.com/Technical_Resources/?id=403
and not the deprecated QB IIF files.
As far as must-have QB transactions; i think at minimum the “Sales Receipt” must happen after a Magento sale has been shipped and charged.
cheers,
romy
2Scott posted Wed, January 30, 2008
Romy,
I agree very much, the Web Connector sounds like what I was thinking would be required for the automated sync, but I have never come across it online.
But from what you’re saying, it sounds like what we should go with for manual and automated syncing? If so, then that is ideal.
3romy posted Wed, January 30, 2008
yep, QBWC can do both: on end-user demand, or, automatically (e.g. every hour).
4walterbyrd posted Tue, February 5, 2008
I don’t know if this will help. It supposed to be a PHP5 Quickbooks integration framework.
http://idnforums.intuit.com/messageview.aspx?catid=56&threadid=9164&enterthread=y
5Scott posted Tue, February 5, 2008
walterbyrd, good find. It could vary well be useful. We will investigate this option during our first group discussion (chat or blog format) to be held within the next week. Thanks for the sharp eye…
6romy posted Wed, February 6, 2008
also, will there be a “forum” specifically for this group? i’d like to ask some basic technical things and a forum would work best.
7Scott posted Wed, February 6, 2008
romy, I do not believe group-level forums exist, so I started a group discussion thread in the Magento DataFlow forum. Maybe that will work best instead of a chat, as people can post their thoughts accordingly at a time that is convenient for them.
In any case, I believe we will be building the QuickBooks Sync module partly based on the Magento DataFlow module. More information about extending the DataFlow class can be found here. I’m assuming this is the general idea for the starting point.
8sanfranman posted Wed, February 6, 2008
I’ll be using Quickbooks Pro 2007 - I assume this will communicate with Magento through the web connector software -
9Scott posted Thu, February 7, 2008
sanfranman, that’s the idea. The goal of this module is to play “middle man” between Magento and the QB Web Connector.
10sativo posted Wed, February 13, 2008
I’m currently on a different cart (but will some day migrate to Magento) and recently integrated with Microsoft Dynamics RMS instead of a straight shot into QB.
Why?
a) RMS acts as our order manager. We get an order online, rather than worrying about functionality at the cart level to handle charges, refunds, etc.. we simply authorize at the cart level and export to RMS. From there, we print pick lists, packing slips, tender the sale (charge the card), etc. Extremely smooth workflow and lets the cart do what it does best—sell!
b) RMS has a direct integration with QB. Periodically, I simply export summary financial transactions to QB and my accounts are updated. In QB I can now do all my financial analysis.
c) QB has a product and customer limitation. I think you can only have 14k customers. With web orders constantly streaming in… that limit will be reach fairly quickly.
d) In general, this is a “best practices” approach at separating systems.
Cart - handles merchandising and in-store promotions (including discounts, bonuses, etc.)
Order Manager - handles the actual processing and fulfilling of orders + manages inventory.
QB - is used only for accounting, as it should be
--
We also don’t fold in newsletter functionality into our cart but rather have a way to collect, search, and prepare email lists. Then we export them into systems that really do the newsletter thing well!
Anyway, got a little off track there, but I just wanted to make the suggestion:
11sativo posted Wed, February 13, 2008
Got cut off… here was the closing line:
Perhaps you guys should consider integrating with an Order Manager. Most of them will then connect to QB.
Peace,
Sativo