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09/16/2008 A summary of InnControl changes for 2008 The following is a rundown on the things you will probably notice: 1. The bank check clearing subsystem has been reworked to provide single entry for multiple banks and accounts. This allows a single menu item to provide access to multiple banks and/or bank accounts. 2. "Auto-return" has been added to the InnControl menu. When a user turns on this feature the menu will deliver the user to the selected function as soon as the numbers keyed yield unambiguous selection. If there is only one item on the current page beginning with the character 1, keying a 1 will go immediately to that function. If there as a 1 and a 10 on the list, 1 requires 1 plus enter, 10 will be selected with they keystrokes 10. 3. New features have been added to the city ledger line item billing facility. These navigation and filtering tools make selection and maintenance of billing items easier and quicker. 4. The XFER management tools got a complete makeover. Both the central site and remote site tools (5 on main InnControl menu) take on a whole new look and feel. The central site version yields several sorting and filtering options along with more information on the screen before the print function is required. The remote site version has more information with filtering options. More significant for remote site users are the features which give the user direct access to importing kermit files to the local database and direct access to the kermit function without leaving the tool. 5. We are working on a project to rationalize function and strip control keys. The goal of the project is to find and repair cases where a logical function key or a strip control key is not available or doesn't do what one would think it should. The project got started because a user called, reporting that a strip key was doing nothing. The InnControl support person worked with the user and found the same thing. When the programmer got involved they discovered that both the user and the support person were pressing a key that did nothing, they were pressing the wrong key. It was the logical key, but the wrong key. That one got fixed on that day. We looked and found several more. We are still looking. Feel free to help us look.

09/12/2008 A year of tweeks and tuning 2008 has been a year with limited system change. A number of small changes have been made to solve minor problems and improve existing feature function. We are currently working on 2 projects. One is a major upgrade to the XFER management tools (5 on the main menu.) Two is a review of the system to identify and enhance the intuitive nature of strip keys and function keys. These projects will reveal themselves with the fall update.

09/15/2007 Loan numbers added to 401(k) loan deductions Some benefit service providers require loan numbers on reports of deductions. The payroll subsystem now provides for up to 6 concurrent loans and assigning loan numbers of your choice.

09/15/2007 Automatic computation of child support and other garnishments A feature has been added to the payroll subsystem. The calculation of garnishment amounts can be automatically calculated as the time cards are recorded.

05/04/2007 New feature will help save trees A new feature has been added to the printing subsystem. It will allow the selection of a single page or range of pages for printing. Simply run the report to file, escape to the report control display, then choose Print.

10/25/2006 Find Potential Wage & Hour Violations Are you certain that your salaried employees meet the Federal Wage and Hour minimum requirements for overtime pay exemption? Some states have even more stringent requirements. Do you meet those?. A new tool has been added (3-3-21) which allows you to quickly find any potential problems.

09/13/2006 InnControl supports Thin Client A customer inquiry about connecting to a Linux InnControl server from a Linux X Windows desktop along with an inquiry about replacing traditional serial terminals with Flat Panel (LCD) terminals (Thin Clients) led to some research. The result is InnControl support of the Xterm terminal protocol. Now the DT Research WebDT 166 thin client (with Linux OS) and Linux X window desktop have been added to the Microsoft Windows, Linux console, and serial terminal as user workstation options for InnControl.

08/11/2006 Voiding checks should be easy too A request to expand the ability to void checks associated with alternate cash accounts generated a fresh look at the voiding tool. The result is a pretty serious update of the tool's usability and understandability.

08/09/2006 SUTA reporting made a little easier In response to the moving target presented by the various states in their SUTA reporting requirements we have added a tool which facilitates the consolidation of the individual SUTA reporting files (InnControl creates one for each property or payroll.) With this tool you can conveniently combine the individual files to one for the state. It is unfortunate that the attempt to standardize on the federal (IRS-W2) record set has failed, but it is really ill suited to the job. Perhaps soon a standard, simple, flat file will evolve which will provide easy creation and easy reporting.

08/03/2006 Help with Paperwork from the Department of Labor The US Department of labor asks that some companies respond to a survey which summarizes employment activity. A new report has been added to InnControl Payroll (3-8-11) which provides most of the information required by this survey instrument.

07/29/2006 Better Identify the source of printed reports The user ID has been added to the time/date stamp at the top of most report pages. This is to better identify the source of printed reports.

07/29/2006 Improved productivity while maintaining Journal Entries A tool added to the Maintain J/E Batches function which allows changing the company number on all items in the unposted journal entry. Useful when copying a journal entry from one company for use as a prototype for another company.

07/28/2006 History info added to Employee salary list An option to include salary history information on the traditional employee salary list.

07/26/2006 New tools for AP batch management New tools for managing AP batches. Change the vendor #, the invoice #, and/or invoice date conveniently on the current unposted batch. Repeat (copy) an invoice from the current batch with new vendor #, new invoice #, and/or new invoice date. Set aside several batches with a single transfer using the AP batch management tool.

06/27/2006 Salary Review tools in Payroll A new tool for managing employee review schedules. Each salary record now has a review date option along with a review comment. An Employee salary review report has been added to the Employee Inquiry menu. It allows the user to report reviews which are late or are due in the near future.

06/27/2006 More financial reporting - Speed rolling GL to history At the end of the month we sometimes need to roll all or many companies to GL history. A feature has been added which allows the user to select all or several or one company for rolling to history.

06/26/2006 New tool makes financial reports easier - faster To speed the process of creating and maintaining financial reports a new tool has been added to the report row list maintenance procedure. One can now replicate (copy) lines from any row list set to any location in the current row list. One can create macro like sub lists and conveniently insert them where desired.

06/12/2006 A look back yields less nice discoveries Well!! I pulled out the old laptop in the toy shed to check out the new 3gig connection from there. The old laptop is 100mhz Pentium running W95; 1/2gig drive. Discoveries are: 1) Speakeasy uses late model Macromedia Flash (Version 8 preferred). Flash Version 8 doesn't run on W95. I was able to find and install version 7 and Speakeasy works. 2) With 100 MHZ processor and 10mb ethernet one doesn't need to bother with multi-megabit broadband. The best upload and download speeds were under 300kb. Not to spiffy when compared to 2.8gb/350kb on contemporary WXP machine on the same lan.

06/08/2006 A fresh look at the outside yields nice discoveries Here at JDanSkinner.com we have been changing our connections to the outside world. After 20 years of paying Compuserve monthly, first to have something to connect to, then to have a way to connect (dialup internet) and for the last several years just to keep an old email address working (jdanskinner@compuserve.com); we have cut the cord. I can't really complain about the service or even the price (last several years at $9.95 a month,) but even $10.00 a month is too much for something which is no longer used. The South Asian cancellation prevention guy offered $2.75 a month to keep the screen name (and I think the email) account alive. That was still we pay them so I was tough and went through with the cancellation. We used the $10.00 saved, and what we have been paying for Charter broadband for a while, and a little negotiating to go from a 256k/256k connection to a 3mg/384k connection with Charter Business Networks. The size of downloads keeps growing and growing. On multi-megabyte downloads we can really tell the difference while email and general browsing don't seem much different. With Google (they don't need a plug) we found Speakeasy Speed test. Now this is a big improvement in web based speed tests. One gets both download and upload speed readings with one click and even I can understand it.

05/01/2006 Text files for employee benefit service providers To facilitate transmission of payroll deduction data to employee benefit service providers, the ability to output CSV text files has been added to the pay period processing deduction report. Each deduction type is written to a separate file to make sending selected information to proper service providers easy.

02/07/2006 InnControl ACH Addenda available at Remote Properties Facilities have been added to Accounts Payable. InnControl supports the encoding of ACH addenda to invoices as entered at Remote properties to be processed through the InnControl Network. Suddenly ACH payment is an integrated part of Vendor purchase processing. Another way InnControl helps you work smarter, not harder; faster, not longer. Ain't computers wonderful?

01/27/2006 InnControl 2005 W2's Are all done, I think. To file your W2 data electronically get setup with the feds and use Accuwage to validate your transmission file. It even helps you send the file to SSA. If you are going to send electronic W2 data be sure you have the latest update to the Prepare Magnetic W2's procedure with which to create your magnetic media file. If in doubt call or email InnControl Support.

12/17/2005 InnControl 2006 Payroll Tax Withholding Tables Ready You may call support or download from the FTP site.

10/05/2005 Time for some nice words about a good outfit! We have used BackupEdge for backup of Linux servers on DVD-RAM for a while. Good product, easy to use. We have a customer who lost their BackupEdge file (Documents, Media, Manual etc.) Easy as pie to download media and manuals from the Microlite web site. The licensing department (Debbie) confirmed it was really me and a valid customer over the phone and sent me replacement info within 10 minutes. A good outfit!!

09/12/2005 While doing some research I found something I just have to share There is a lot of money being made with scare tactics about computer security. This piece doesn't solve all the problems, but does provide a reasoned place to start creating a solution.

08/31/2005 InnControl 2006 is ready to ship with a cool new CSV tool We added one final change, and it is pretty cool. We have long had complaints about the usability of the Payroll inquiry reporting tool which allows the user to select, sort and report database table data on an ad-hoc basis. The old tool worked fine but was not easy to configure the first time and required 4GL knowledge to modify. It would also fail in the most unfriendly ways if one made a mistake. The problems were obvious, but we lacked inspiration on how to make them go away. Well inspiration arrived and perspiration was added. A method for presenting the information used to create and maintain the reports was developed which matches our standard list (browse) processing protocol. The resulting tool is easy to use with a consistent interface for adding and updating. Outputs can be Viewed or Printed reports or CSV (comma separated variable) files, or all three. The new tool will run the old stored reports, but will not update them. The old options will remain on the menu for 2006 to provide conversion time.

08/26/2005 InnControl 2006 cutoff upon us I just reviewed the 2006 InnControl package. We have just 4 days, plus one weekend, to finish the fall update. It is ready unless we have a nasty surprise. If you find something you just gotta' have, make sure to let us know. Database changes required for a really important idea can still make the 8/31/2005 cutoff although program changes would most likely have to follow as an interim update.

08/05/2005 InnControl 2006 has Payroll focus I just reviewed the 2006 version changes to InnControl as we prepare to close changes and package the fall update. It will (should) be ready on schedule (9/01/2005.) There is a definite focus on payroll. This was not a conscious focus but is appropriate because payroll has had limited attention for several years. Anyway it's nice that this can be complemented by a nice improvement to the Financial Report Writer. Please let us know how we can help you put these improvements to good use.

08/04/2005 InnControl J/E's and Financial Report Writer updated InnControl Financial Report Writer gets improvements in power and flexibility. User productivity tool for Journal Entry creation added. Both of these improvements are the result of input from InnControl users. The J/E creation tool from a user who has been around since version 1 and the report writer improvements from a user who is new in 2005.

07/31/2005 InnControl Payroll gets update InnControl payroll for 2006 gets an improvement in employee maintenance and an expansion to payroll deduction availability and function. We also made improvements to the user interface in a number of places with the hope of making the system more consistent and easier to use. We also implemented the new Mn unemployment electronic filing format.

04/20/2005 Linux smp Server has been live for 201 days The 2005 version of InnControl has been live on a SuSE Linux server with Progress Version 91D for 201 days.

02/19/2005 InnControl - Budget imports expect CSV. Several output formats are supported, although Excel has become the de-facto standard. The input standard has been space or tab separated. The most recent versions of Excel have some trouble producing reliable, predictable, space separated records. Excel does produce perfectly reliable CSV, so we have made the change.

02/09/2005 InnControl - Financial Report Writer meets Excel. The 2005 enhanced version of the InnControl Financial Report Writer can create any of its reports in Comma Separated Variable (CSV) format. This provides seamless integration with Excel.

01/14/2005 Linux smp Server has been live for 106 days The 2005 version of InnControl has been live on a SuSE Linux server with Progress Version 91D for 106 days. The only issue has been intermittent problems with out-bound fax. We discovered that we had failed to enable faxgetty in inittab to properly manage the modem for Hylafax. Now we have no issues. As of today fax is officially off the watch list.

10/20/2004 InnControl - 2005 Version is Progress V9 LIVE. The 2005 version of InnControl has gone live on a SuSE Linux server with Progress Version 91D. Users are connected using SSH from W98 and WXP desktops using K95 from The Kermit Project at Columbia University. Most utilize 2 or 3 concurrent connections. This installation uses CUPS printing management through HP JetDirect print servers to service a mixture of Laser and Impact printers. Some printers are shared to the Microsoft clients using Samba. Direct out-bound fax is accomplished using Hylafax through the InnControl printing management system. This installation has taken advantage of a second SuSE Linux server which acts as interim backup for the primary InnControl server and as a File Server (Samba) for the Word and Excel "Office" files used by the Accountants, Managers and other support staff. Off site backup is then accomplished using DVD-RAM storage with BackupEdge from Microlite.

07/31/2004 InnControl - 2005 Version is Progress V9 ready. The 2005 version of InnControl has been ported to the V9 Progress platform for Windows 98SE and Windows XP. When used in a combination of Linux servers with Local and Remote Windows clients, the InnControl distributed network is as modern as today.

05/05/2004 InnControl - 2005 Version is enhanced with improvements. The 2005 version of InnControl includes new features and improvements. They will be listed on the linked page which will be updated during the year.

04/12/2004 InnControl - Salebarn Integration Gets Rave Reviews. Integration has been live for two weeks now, The expanded trucker function for one week. User feedback has been very positive. Management feedback confirms anticipated time savings and productivity improvements. I love it when a plan comes together.

04/10/2004 A Comment on the OS wars. I've observed that the News Group flame wars among the Windows, Linux, and SCO Zealots reminds me of the "War on Terror", The Troubles in Ireland, and the Middle East Conflict. It's a good thing they have not figured how to make a literally lethal posting.

03/31/2004 Salebarn Trucker Management opportunity. Trucker management has been a step child in the salebarn system. The Zumbrota management has commissioned a project to update the trucker contact information. This includes cell phone and fax numbers, email addresses, and hauling capability information. We will also improve 'filtering' capabilities to facilitate finding the correct trucker record(s) and printing trucker locator lists for field personnel.

03/30/2004 InnControl - Salebarn Integration Project is done and installed. Integration is running live with old manual controls in parallel just to be sure. Custodial Accounts receivable (a strange duck) went live last Wednesday.

02/08/2004 InnControl - Salebarn Integration is the February Project Regulations from P & S on the management of the Custodial cash and accounts receivable accounts provide "OPPORTUNITIES". The real challenge is to leave a clear audit trail. We anticipate saving salebarn operators 1 to 2 person-hours for each sale processed.

01/09/2004 InnControl - 2004 Version is ready for shipping, Update. The 2004 version of InnControl includes a number of new features and improvements. Most of them are covered by entries in this blog over the year.

12/02/2003 Extreme programming is here. David Petranek's "12 Commandments of Extreme Programming" are here. actually they arrived about one day after I mailed the request implied on 11/12/2003. I remember the piece being funnier when David did it for the Progress seminar.

11/12/2003 Follow-up on the Extreme programming thread. I still don't have David Petranek's "The Rules of Extreme Programming". His Progress associate Bob Zupancic did however forward an item called Murphy's Technology Laws. I've included a copy (click the headline) for your consideration.

11/08/2003 FeederFacts in beta production. We are using FeederFacts to process actual lots of feeders. Our plan is to get some more real world evaluation by providing reports to some feed lot operators on a service bureau basis.

10/08/2003 Direct AP to ACH (NACHA) is poetry in motion. Employees as vendors for expense reimbursement! Automatic assignment of routing and account information from payroll direct deposit. The addendum "dumb rules" are under control! Multiple routing/accounts for vendors, use the one associated with the debit account. The addenda formats defined by the user, dates and amounts automatically inserted as the NACHA batch is created. AND IT WORKS!! Off to beta test and it will be available with the Winter 2004 InnControl update.

09/26/2003 I attended a Progress Technical Peak seminar yesterday. There are lots of new powerful and complicated tools in the Progress tool bag, but that's not what motivated me to the web log today. David Petranek, A Progress Systems Engineer from Texas, used a light but provocative piece to open after lunch. It is called "The Rules of Extreme Programming". I didn't get a copy although I'm going to try, but it reminded me of some words (of wisdom?) I wrote a few years ago. I'm going to send a copy to David as an offer in exchange for the Rules of Extreme Programming. Based on that I decided to post "J Dan's Thesis on System Building" here.

08/27/2003 FeederFacts running. Create a budget, Report the actual. We can now create that bar napkin budget for a lot of feeders and report it formally for banker or backer. We can then record the actual transactions and report the lot detail and a report for easy comparison with the budget report.

08/21/2003 FeederFacts running. Database - General flow are set. Basic data entry and editing are working, along with the basic profitability report. Now we just have to figure out how to forecast market prices based on the rumblings of the feeders stomach. We are testing various microphones and sound to text conversion utilities.

08/15/2003Direct AP to ACH (NACHA) getting special attention. Employees as vendors for expense reimbursement? Automatic assignment of routing and account information from payroll direct deposit. How to keep up with the addendum "dumb rules"? Federal government, State government, who is really in-charge? Multiple routing/accounts for vendors, which one to use. We are determined to answer these questions productively!! The design team has not fully agreed yet, BUT WE WILL, AND SOON.

08/01/2003 FeederFacts is the new name FeedeR is now called FeederFacts. This is so new that the art work has not kept pace. It is still official but the Logo/Icon will require some adjustment.

07/08/2003 FeedeR is moving from diversion to division The FeedeR project is starting to take shape. It must be official now as we have accepted a Logo/Icon for the project and we are going to make it public here.

07/07/2003 Cash transfer integration has gone live. Need to transfer come cash? Create a journal entry to recognize the transfer, press a button, and the cash is transferred. (At least the NACHA batch is prepared. Just send it through your Federal Reserve portal.) General Ledger funds transfer is in everyday use by InnControl users.

07/04/2003 JDanSkinner.com takes a little "FeedeR" diversion An old friend has challenged us to try something new. We are going to apply some InnControl technology to a new field, a project to help livestock feeders be more profitable with better information. The plan for FeedeR is an easy to use application which makes it easier to plan and track the results of livestock feeding operations. FeedeR will not affect the support or growth of InnControl, but will give us something new to exercise our minds and move our spirits. You'd be surprised at the number of business similarities in temporarily housing people and temporarily housing livestock. Of course there are some differences Too!

06/15/2003 InnControl Federal tax tables distributed The updated federal withholding tax tables reflect the just-passed tax cut. Most sites are already updated. If you have questions, call support at 507-535-7588.

06/12/2003 InnControl supports 43 line screen while running on Windows InnControl single user/remote for Windows 98 and Windows XP to support 43 line screen. Fostered by our port to Linux, most list functions enjoy up to 50% more lines to view or select. We do more work with less effort across all the newly supported platforms.

03/30/2003 InnControl running on Windows! XP InnControl single user/remote in Beta on Windows XP. When combined with K95 we have a new platform option. Linux and Win XP give us the best of both worlds.

02/20/2003 More benefits with Inncontrol on Linux! Linux with Xterm emulation (K95 or PuTTY) gets more information on the screen. Most list functions enjoy up to 50% more lines to view or select. We do more work with less effort.

01/06/2003 InnControl Accounting Appliance ready to ship. Inncontrol packaged and pre-installed with Linux and Progress on commercial quality PC, ready to drop into your network.

12/26/2002 The Winter 2002 InnControl update is ready for distribution. The winter 2002 update includes numerous improvements and three new modules. The new modules include Contract tracking, NACHA cash transfer facilities, and Preparation of financial reports in PDF format. Improvements are to be found in all application areas including: Email address for vendors, Multiple direct deposit accounts for employees in payroll, plus un-numbered small improvements to performance and function. All current users will be contacted in the next few weeks to schedule updates. If you are in a hurry call support and get bumped to the head of the list. If you a using the single user version and could use multi-user access, the Linux port may be a cost effective way to make the multi-user transition.

11/26/2002 The Inncontrol port to Linux is complete. Linux proves to be a fine host for InnControl. The Linux CUPS subsystem improves printing flexibility, but pointed out the growing inconsistencies in the InnControl printing facilities. As a result a new InnControl printing interface was developed and now all three supported platforms (SCO Unix, Linux, and Windows) share the same printing interface. These changes are mostly under the covers, but everyone will enjoy better reliability and improved functionality.

10/31/2002Vendor payment by NACHA batch joins cash transfer in Beta test. Need to pay a vendor by electronic funds transfer? Create an invoice as usual. Note that it is in an ACH batch. Press a button, and the cash is transferred. (At least the NACHA batch is prepared. Just send it through your Federal Reserve portal.) Vendor payment will be available for general use early in 2003.

10/30/2002Cash transfer integration in Beta test. Need to transfer come cash? Create a journal entry to recognize the transfer, press a button, and the cash is transferred. (At least the NACHA batch is prepared. Just send it through your Federal Reserve portal.) General Ledger funds transfer is in Beta. The 2003 InnControl database will have the capabilities for fully integrated NACHA cash management. The system will be available for general use in the first quarter 2003.

10/10/2002 Contract Tracking module ready. A new InnControl module aimed at improved accounting office efficiency has come out of beta and is ready to go with V-1.0. This new feature will provide reminders and information on the thousands of details your accounting office needs to track. Tax returns, Insurance filings, Contracts, Service agreements... Delivered at login or by Email. Contract Tracking will be available for InnControl users with the big Fall update. Look for expansion with V-2.0 after input from a wider group of users.

09/18/2002 Payroll Direct Deposit Fully Operational Inncontrol Payroll Direct Deposit now creates NACHA batches directly. Just send the PreAuthorization and Direct Deposit batches through your Federal Reserve portal. No Muss no Fuss...

09/15/2002 The Inncontrol port is progressing nicely The Inncontrol port to Linux has entered Beta testing. Linux and Progress make a fine team. It looks like the Linux CUPS printing subsystem will give us printing flexibility we have not enjoyed before.

06/20/2002 Inncontrol integrates cash management JDanSkinner.com adopts the NACHA standard for bank transfers. Inncontrol will provide full bank transfer functionality with integration of Payroll direct deposit, A/P vendor payment, and General Ledger funds transfer.

06/10/2002 The Inncontrol port is underway The Alpha test of the Inncontrol port to Linux has started. Soon Inncontrol will enjoy the stability, security, and multi user reliability of Unix with the cost efficient flexibility of Linux.

05/10/2002 Exciting new PDF function for InnControl Publish financial reports as PDF files directly utilizing Sanface Software txt2pdf technology. Email financials to managers, investors and lenders in the popular PDF format. Report recipients can view and print reports using the popular and free Adobe Acrobat PDF viewer directly from their email client.

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