Invoice Software - Office 365 Or Purchase Software Suite?
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I was sent this email late yesterday:
*******Please find a database program that can be used at the Metal Store to generate tickets and reports. It doesn’t have to be complex, but needs to be able to print customer tickets in order numerically.
Let me know what you come up with. I’m sure there are a multitude of database programs available that would work for us.*******
My first thought was if we had any resources in Office 365 that I could use but then realized I don't need another development project right now and that I should jump at the chance of buying some software.
So any recommendations for a simple invoice program? Or something I could "whip up" fairly easy with Office 365?
Thanks...
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By Office 365, I assume that you just mean making something in Access? I would avoid that
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I'm using InvoiceNinja -- it seems to work really well with it.
*I'm not using all of their features, but give it a look.
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@scottalanmiller said in Invoice Software - Office 365 Or Purchase Software Suite?:
By Office 365, I assume that you just mean making something in Access? I would avoid that
Yes, Access and the other "stuff" they push for small business...and got it!
We do have an onsite SQL server and don't need this to be mobile, so anything that can work with SQL and can share a server with other applications would be great!
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@garak0410 said in Invoice Software - Office 365 Or Purchase Software Suite?:
We do have an onsite SQL server and don't need this to be mobile, so anything that can work with SQL and can share a server with other applications would be great!
General rule is... don't use SQL Server when it is not necessary. SQL Server is a powerful database and great stuff, but it is very expensive both as an application and with its deployment requirements (currently, although the later is being addressed in a year or two.) You should, basically never, intentionally deploy anything with a SQL Server dependency. You can't always avoid it and in super large shops you might be able to justify spending money on SQL Server with lots of analysis and basically you would always have SQL Server DBAs if SQL Server was going to make sense in that case.
There are free versions of SQL Server but they are heavily limited and can end up just leading you to investing in technical debt. Don't use them, and don't use the existence of "already paid for" SQL Server to justify a technical debt investment.
Also, a relational database is not an appropriate tool here specifically and you should never lead your application decisions by selecting your database. A database only exists to support an application, never the other way around. Just like how you would never select your infrastructure based on your choice of backup tools. Cart before the horse and all that.
If you end up in a situation where you find an application that you like AND it uses a relational database, you want to use MariaDB or PostgreSQL 99% of the time (maybe more, I'm not exaggerating.) If you were building your own, you would not use a relational database at all but something like MongoDB instead.
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I should note, I'm using the hosted free version at the moment.
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@garak0410 I am confused. Why would you waste time developing something that already exists?
There are tons of simple cheap or free applications for basic invoicing and inventory out there.
Just review them and buy one.
Your description of things is confusing to me so I am not sure what to recommend for a starting base.
You mention a Metal Store, but then tickets and reports, but then yet again invoices.
Stop and define your goal before you go off half cocked on a solution path.
No matter what you look for, you are not going to find it in Office 365. I am not sure what even led you down that path of thought.
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@dafyre said in Invoice Software - Office 365 Or Purchase Software Suite?:
I should note, I'm using the hosted free version at the moment.
That would make sense for most users. That there is an open source, totally free version too is pretty sweet.
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@dafyre said in Invoice Software - Office 365 Or Purchase Software Suite?:
I should note, I'm using the hosted free version at the moment.
I took a very quick look at it...very simple and neat. Going to dig more into this on Monday.
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If you do have a need to do something custom, which should be nearly impossible given how many invoice systems exist out there, I would look at simple tools that are free, universal and portable like PHP or NodeJS and simple, effective data stores like MongoDB or, in a pinch, MariaDB. Lots of power to make something that can be hosted anywhere, anytime. No long term dependencies unnecessarily.
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Thanks for the tips...they want a solution picked out by tomorrow...gonna do my best...
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@garak0410 said in Invoice Software - Office 365 Or Purchase Software Suite?:
Thanks for the tips...they want a solution picked out by tomorrow...gonna do my best...
Invoice Ninja looks awfully good.
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@scottalanmiller said in Invoice Software - Office 365 Or Purchase Software Suite?:
@garak0410 said in Invoice Software - Office 365 Or Purchase Software Suite?:
Thanks for the tips...they want a solution picked out by tomorrow...gonna do my best...
Invoice Ninja looks awfully good.
It does look good...we don't need the online payments portion but for something simple, it looks good. I think the two main needs are the ability to customize the invoice numbers to begin with "MS-" and then increment numbers and the ability to make fields REQUIRED...working with Invoice Ninja now on those questions...
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What did you end up recommending?
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@Reid-Cooper said in Invoice Software - Office 365 Or Purchase Software Suite?:
What did you end up recommending?
I'm still leaning Invoice Ninja...still configuring it to be as close to our paper tickets as we can get it...
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@garak0410 said in Invoice Software - Office 365 Or Purchase Software Suite?:
@Reid-Cooper said in Invoice Software - Office 365 Or Purchase Software Suite?:
What did you end up recommending?
I'm still leaning Invoice Ninja...still configuring it to be as close to our paper tickets as we can get it...
Didn't you have to submit the proposal already?
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What about using Simple Invoices? Its another web-based invoice system. http://www.simpleinvoices.org/
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@scottalanmiller said in Invoice Software - Office 365 Or Purchase Software Suite?:
@garak0410 said in Invoice Software - Office 365 Or Purchase Software Suite?:
@Reid-Cooper said in Invoice Software - Office 365 Or Purchase Software Suite?:
What did you end up recommending?
I'm still leaning Invoice Ninja...still configuring it to be as close to our paper tickets as we can get it...
Didn't you have to submit the proposal already?
They have backed off a little especially since I've been needed every which way but loose on "Gremlin" issues yesterday and today...
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@garak0410 said in Invoice Software - Office 365 Or Purchase Software Suite?:
@scottalanmiller said in Invoice Software - Office 365 Or Purchase Software Suite?:
@garak0410 said in Invoice Software - Office 365 Or Purchase Software Suite?:
@Reid-Cooper said in Invoice Software - Office 365 Or Purchase Software Suite?:
What did you end up recommending?
I'm still leaning Invoice Ninja...still configuring it to be as close to our paper tickets as we can get it...
Didn't you have to submit the proposal already?
They have backed off a little especially since I've been needed every which way but loose on "Gremlin" issues yesterday and today...
It's nice when they give you some extra time - Gremlins are pain,..but the best ones are the internet issues like Level3 and TWC... Pass the buck,.. take a break... (yea,.. that THAT happens)
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@gjacobse said in Invoice Software - Office 365 Or Purchase Software Suite?:
@garak0410 said in Invoice Software - Office 365 Or Purchase Software Suite?:
@scottalanmiller said in Invoice Software - Office 365 Or Purchase Software Suite?:
@garak0410 said in Invoice Software - Office 365 Or Purchase Software Suite?:
@Reid-Cooper said in Invoice Software - Office 365 Or Purchase Software Suite?:
What did you end up recommending?
I'm still leaning Invoice Ninja...still configuring it to be as close to our paper tickets as we can get it...
Didn't you have to submit the proposal already?
They have backed off a little especially since I've been needed every which way but loose on "Gremlin" issues yesterday and today...
It's nice when they give you some extra time - Gremlins are pain,..but the best ones are the internet issues like Level3 and TWC... Pass the buck,.. take a break... (yea,.. that THAT happens)
Invoice Ninja is off the radar...they wanted a little more robust reporting, or at least a neater "dump" that what it does...continuing my research.
