In terms of delivering business objectives Exact is focused on the preparation of necessary infrastructure for SEPA migration of its customers around Europe. As this has already been communicated in product update news, release notes and product blog posts during 2010 and 2011, Exact Globe has built a good and firm foundation for SEPA proof ERP solution, including support for IBAN and BIC, SCT and SDD.

Exact now actively participates in the Dutch SEPA Migration Plan. All existing SEPA solutions of Exact Globe are the results of close cooperation of Exact product management and banks.

Rabobank has included Exact in the list of key-stakeholders for realization of business objectives of SEPA migration project for their customers. One of the results of this project for Exact customers will be SEPA proof certification of Exact’s ERP solutions for Rabobank customers.

In order to build and maintain an external network, necessary for obtaining the functional objectives, the regional and corporate product management of Exact participated in communication sessions and in round tables, which were organized by Netherlands Bankers’ Association (NVB) and ICT-office. Many aspects and challenges relative to the realization plan have been discussed between major Dutch banks and different software vendors. 

The SEPA European legal framework requires banks as well as bank clients to use European standards for payments in euro. All companies within the EU are receiving the same requirements:

• The mandatory use of IBAN, so no longer bank account numbers
• A new technical standard for payment orders is XML
• Changed product specifications for bank transfer (national and international payments) and direct debit (collections)

The impact of such changes for all business sectors should not be underestimated. Therefore prompt and due communication and collaboration between various stakeholders like suppliers of payment services (banks), corporate and private users, software suppliers and other supporting parties are required. It all drives parties to make certain agreements about relative issues, such as:

• Communication on SEPA
• Planning of the migration
• Test activities
• Monitoring migration progress and communication
• Identifying and contributing to the solution of substantial societal migration issues.

The Dutch banking industry, represented by NVB, together with de Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) have delivered the Dutch SEPA Migration plan  which describes goals and objectives as well as major milestones, how the Netherlands will migrate from national to European payment instruments. Stakeholders of this plan are required to align their plans and activities upon the following milestones:

 Your feedback to this publication, including  concerns and suggestions, will definitely be evaluated towards to enrichment of SEPA solutions in Exact Globe.

You are welcome to stay updated on further developments in the area of cash flow management and electronic banking solutions through our regular postings on the Exact Product Blog.

I have already mentioned about our awareness of the growing demand of Exact Globe customers to have the ability to start sending payment and collection orders to banks online and receiving bank statements online and thus having banking information real-time available. Like I have announced earlier, as of the Exact Globe product update 402 Belgian Exact Globe customers can fully enjoy this automatic integration with the Isabel Go .

Isabel Go is a banking service provider, which facilitates banks and companies in Belgium in the exchange of bank statements and bank files. Its service enables companies to do all their banking transactions via one interface, such as sending all types of payment and collection files and retrieving bank statements from vast variety of banks in Belgium. By using the Isabel Go feature in Exact Globe, you can send and receive payments and account information directly to and from your banks. The Belgian bank formats, such as foreign and domestic payments/collections, SEPA direct credit transfers, SEPA direct debits as well as CODA bank statements are supported in this solution.

The functionality is presented in Exact Globe as an integrated part of its banking solution, for which Exact customers do not need to pay extra.

The solution is highly demanded in Belgium. Over 980 Belgian customers of Exact Globe, which licenses include electronic banking solution of Exact Globe, are able to start using the integrated Isabel Go feature right now.

Exact is now mentioned in the official website of Isabel as a business partner. This ensures further cooperation between two software vendors, which is beneficial for customers, who should not have any doubts that their demands on banking solutions will be satisfied.

You are welcome to stay updated on further developments in the area of cash flow management and electronic banking solutions through our regular postings on the Exact Product Blog.

Does it sound familiar to you: you made a mistake in the entry, but you realized it too late and has already processed it? We’ve got you covered and offer a great solution – ‘change’ function.

Financial entries that originate from other modules cannot be adjusted, but sometimes it can be desirable to change values, for example the cost center. You can do it easily with the ‘change’ function.

This function works for all kinds of entries, however remember that there are a few limitations. You cannot change the following information:

• The date, amount, debtor/creditor and tax, since they influence your tax return
• Voided entries 
• Entries in closed periods

Please watch our tip video to learn how to change transactions using the ‘change’ function.

You can also watch here the Dutch version of the video.

Previously I have mentioned about the growing demand of Exact Globe customers to have the ability to start sending payment and collection orders to banks online and receiving bank statements online and thus having banking information real-time available.

This demand is being acknowledged by Exact and as a result we have firm plans on implementing such solutions so all up-to-date banking information is automatically at your fingertips.

As from the product update 401 Exact Globe supports this way of working with Rabobank in the Netherlands. It provides integration and automatic exchange of the bank payment files, bank collection files and bank statement files between Exact Globe and Rabobank, based on the Exact Online technology platform.

Since last month, when Exact Globe product update 401 went generally available, more than 150 Exact customers have registered for this solution!

Furthermore, in the coming Exact Globe product update 402, Belgian customers will enjoy fully automatic integration with Isabel Go . With the help of Isabel Go integration in your accounting package, you can exchange payments and account information directly with your banks.

Today Exact is also conducting research into presenting this way of working with other Dutch banks. Exact Online has already successfully launched automatic bank statement synchronization with ABN AMRO. Exact Globe customers will have the same opportunity in the nearest future.

You are welcome to stay updated on further developments in the area of cash flow management and electronic banking solutions through our regular postings on the Exact Product Blog.

Collections submitted to banks may be rejected due to inaccurate debtor details, such as wrong bank account information, insufficient funds, or other reasons. Debtors themselves may retract the payment amounts which deducted from their bank accounts by the collection process.  Banks are obliged to fulfill such requests for refunds and creditors in turn, will not be able to refuse these requests.

Usually, due insufficient information, which banks provide for such transactions, the time spent managing these bounced and refunded collections can be tedious. The possibility of mistake grows in proportion with number of collections.

Exact Globe helps you to provide quicker notification of invoices linked to bounced or refunded collections in very friendly manner. Do not spend time for understanding and clarifying details of cash, which is eventually withdrawn from your bank account according to the bank statement. The solution helps you to match this cash with appropriate collection orders. Once the match is being found and confirmed, the solution automatically re-opens refunded invoices so you can collect them again. At the same time, it keeps the collection and payment data correct and consistent.

Please watch the video below to find out more about this solution.

We are pleased to announce that as of today Exact Globe product update 401 is generally available. This marks the end of the controlled release for 401, which started in the beginning of May.

We put a lot of efforts in providing you with new features that are important to your operation and facilitate your business and therefore in this product update we have extended Exact Globe with, among others, the following functionalities:

• B2B E-commerce Portal that facilitates wholesale trade and manufacturing companies in their need for optimizing electronic ordering process in a B2B environment (video). This solution is in controlled release. Please contact your Exact representative for availability.
• Central Master Data Management for Items is in extended controlled release (video). Please note that this solution works in combination with Exact Synergy Enterprise product update 246 (generally available in mid July)
• Improvements in production order entry, BOM and logistic to support manufacturing companies
• Numerous of features that support legal requirements and business standards, such as handling bounced and refunded collections (video)

Additionally, we have implemented a number of new functionalities and enhancements which are a result of direct customer feedback:

• Multilingual unit description supported in logistics 
• Update purchase prices based on sales prices 
• Improvements in invoice printing solution 
• Fulfill sales orders for underpaid prepayment invoices 
• Word merge functionality fully supported with MS Word 2010 
• …. and many more

For the Dutch customers of Exact Globe we have introduced Rabobank Online. This solution offers online integration and automatic exchange of local bank payment files, bank collection files and bank statements with the help of the Exact Online platform.

For a full overview of all new functionalities, please refer to the release notes for product update 401 and Product Update News.

Should you have any questions regarding this announcement, please contact Bert Siekmann (Manager Product Management).
We would like to thank all customers, partners and colleagues who contributed to this product update.

On behalf of the Product Management team, I am pleased to announce that Exact Globe product update 401 is in controlled release. This new product update is planned to be generally available at the end of May 2011.

 A large group of customers are already lined up to participate in the controlled release and start using it. On top of that all of Exacts partners/resellers are able to download the 401 product update as well.

With our users’ needs in mind, we have added in this product update new functionalities that are important to our customers’ operation and will facilitate their business. Among others, we have enhanced Exact Globe with the following features:

• Central Master Data Management for Items is in extended controlled release
• B2B E-commerce Portal that facilitates wholesale trade and manufacturing companies in their need for optimizing electronic ordering process in a Business-to-business  environment 
• Handling of bounced and refunded collections in cash flow management
• For the Dutch customers of Exact Globe we introduce Rabobank Online. This solution offers online integration and automatic exchange of local bank payment files, bank collection files and bank statements with the help of the Exact Online platform.
• To better support manufacturing companies several improvements in production order entry, BOM and logistics have been implemented

Moreover in this product update we have further extended and improved support legal as well as banking requirements.

Based on direct customer feedback, we continuously improve our products. In this product update you will find among others the following enhancements: 

• Multilingual unit description supported in logistics
• Ability to fulfill Sales orders in combination with underpaid pre-payment invoices
• Update purchase prices based on sales prices

Additionally, the Word merge functionality in Exact Globe is now fully supported with MS Word 2010 thanks to the Content Controls solution.

More about this product update soon!

Picture credits

In the previous blog post ‘E-banking solution and introduction of SEPA‘I have shared some knowledge and  ideas of what market requires and expects from Exact  in field of electronic banking solutions.  

In the coming years SEPA will significantly affect the handling of electronic banking formats by the European banks.  

As of this product update 400 Exact Globe supports SEPA direct debit (SDD) schemes. Now this is possible to generate CORE and B2B national and cross-border euro direct debits in Globe functionality in compliance with SEPA rules.

To give you an introduction on the scope of this solution we created a video:

Please have a look at our video (by clicking the picture above) and share your feedback!

Please follow our further publications regarding Cash flow management developments and SEPA implementations on the Exact Product Blog

In previous blogs we introduced series of new video’s: Exact Globe tips.

This product blog is explaining the existing functionality in order to make better use of our solutions. The quick Tip videos are aimed at existing Exact Globe users and each provide a quick tip which can help you to work more efficiently with the product.

There are many ways in the financial part of Exact Globe, how you can search, select and view the data of financial transactions. The Interactive Balance is one of the most famous reports that fully aimed on representing financial data. In interactive balance, you can view all General Ledger account balances in the balance sheet and profit & loss report. The interactive aspect of this overview means that you can retrieve more information about a particular general ledger account through the Balance list or General ledger Card.  You may inquire information based on vast variety of filters set for different analytical values. You may set the view based upon different layouts. You may define scaling criteria on how you want to group the data presented in the interactive balance: by Year, Quarter, Month or Period. You may require comparison criteria based on budgets or the results of previous years.  Most importantly, you may change the reporting criteria, filters, scales as well as layouts interactively while viewing the data. Printing options as well as the exporting of the reporting results to MS Excel are also available.

Watch this introduction movie to get some interesting tips of how you can use the Interactive Balance in your administration.

We hope you enjoy this Globe tip.  Stay tuned because there are more in the works which will be available shortly.

Once upon a time there were two of them: The Bookkeeper and The One Who Sits on the Hill. The Bookkeeper was counting money, calculating and paying taxes so The One Who Sits on the Hill could collect them. Life was fair and peaceful. But one day The One Who Sits on the Hill wondered “How can I be sure that The Bookkeeper pays enough taxes?” Thus he summoned The Inventor and shared his doubts. “Not to worry,” reassured him The Inventor. “I’ll design a reporting form, The Bookkeeper would fill it in and you’ll keep everything in check.”

“Hm…” argued The Bookkeeper. “Look, what you’ve done: I have to count money, calculate and pay taxes, as well as fill in the form, while The One Who Sits on the Hill just collects the taxes. Is that fair?”  “No problem,” The Inventor said. “I’ll create a computer system to manage the financial administration and print the tax form as well as other reports. Piece of cake!”  And so the life became fair and peaceful again. The Inventor assisted both sides to change the rules and adjust the computer system. But one day The One Who Sits on the Hill complained: “Hey, Inventor! Why should I verify the data provided by The Bookkeeper manually? As if I have nothing better to do! I need my own system.”  “Right you are!” The Inventor agreed. “You’ll have your computer system, where all the reports would be verified. Moreover, I’ll make it so that The Bookkeeper will report the data directly into your system. Hence you won’t need to re-type the printed reports.” “Wow!” The One Who Sits on the Hill exclaimed. “That’s great! Let it be so!”  The Inventor kept his promise. But The Bookkeeper went furious, “Com’on! Now The Inventor overburdens me with work, while The One Who Sits on the Hill does nothing but collects taxes. That’s unfair!”

“Well people!” – sighed The Inventor. “I’ve got plenty of ideas: there is a system generating electronic taxation reporting with text or XML files. They will transfer the data from one system to another, even online. Forget data verification and deadlines! All you need is to push some buttons. Moreover, I’ve got another magic trick called XBRL. Your data will be mapped with the taxonomy elements and the system will generate an instant document for each report. The same system could be given to your banks and you won’t have to worry about making and validating reports.” “Huh!” exclaimed The Bookkeeper and The One Who Sits on the Hill in unison, “We don’t understand a word of it. However…  as you’ve never let us down before, do what you think is best.” The One Who Sits on the Hill puffed his chest, “Let’s call it a Law and you, The Inventor, will be responsible for our systems’ legal compliance.” Upon reflection The Inventor replied: “Hey! But then we all will become The Ones Who Sit on the Hill!”

A few years back European tax laws were changed, to require VAT-registered businesses to make online declarations. Fiscal authorities and tax payers have subsequently invested in relevant new technologies. However, online reporting still remains country specific, which is a major potential headache for law-abiding companies. Exact has set out to remedy this situation. We are devoting considerable resources to research and development, designing electronic forms to help individual customers translate their electronic registries and filings into solid legal compliance. A full implementation of these new functionalities has already taken place in the Netherlands, Belgium,  Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Luxembourg and in some other countries. Watch this space for more!