Custom QuickBooks Reports!

Many times QuickBooks built-in reports do not show you your data in the format you want and need to see it in. A custom built report can solve that problem. Custom reports bypass QuickBooks internal report writer and remove the limitations on reporting that are imposed by it. Now you can get the report you need in the format you want it in!

Custom reports alleviate the time consuming workarounds we are all familiar with such as cutting and pasting from multiple reports into Excel. With a custom build report you can get the exact report you want in the exact format you want without all the extra added hassle.

We have been writing Custom QuickBooks Reports since the release of QuickBooks 2006 and have worked extensively with both QODBC as well as AccessBooks Realtime; the two primary methods currently available for accessing your QuickBooks data.

Because we work with both platforms we offer several types of services surrounding custom QuickBooks report development:

1. We can build your custom QuickBooks reports using the QODBC driver that ships with QuickBooks Enterprise
2. We can build your custom QuickBooks reports using AccessBooks Realtime (a 3rd party add-on data access utility)
3. We can convert your existing QODBC based reports to AccessBooks Realtime to speed them up.

Custom QuickBooks Reports Using QODBC

When you purchase QuickBooks Enterprise you receive a read only license for an ODBC driver, based on the QuickBooks SDK, known as the QODBC (QuickBooks ODBC) driver. The QODBC driver provides you with access to all the data in your QuickBooks .QBW data file as well as all the stored procedure reports (the reports that are native within the QuickBooks program) using the database query language known as SQL (see-quel).

By using an ODBC driver, such as QODBC, to access the data in your QuickBooks .QBW file we can then develop custom reports for you. These reports can contain data that the Reporting tool built into QuickBooks is unable to produce such as Sales by City/State/Zip, Commissions on Paid Invoices, Invoice Payment History, and just about any other type of custom report you can think of.

While QODBC is certainly capable of accessing your QuickBooks data and enabling us to generate all manner of custom reports for you it can be a slow and many of our clients have asked for a faster solution. Because of this we began to create custom QuickBooks reports with a tool called AccessBooks Realtime.

Custom QuickBooks Reports Using AccessBooks Realtime

AccessBooks Realtime provides access to all the data in the QuickBooks .QBW file that the QuickBooks SDK allows access to as well as all the stored procedure reports (the reports that are native within the QuickBooks program) by exporting that data to a Microsoft Access .MDB file. Once your QuickBooks data has been exported to the Microsoft Access .MDB file that data is query-able using the database query language known as SQL (see-quel) and we can develop custom reports for you.

While using AccessBooks Realtime requires that you export your QuickBooks data to an external database, in reality the process is the same as that with the QODBC driver as, in order to speed up the process, that driver exports your QuickBooks data to an external database that is optimized for querying. With AccessBooks Realtime what you end up with is a full dump of your QuickBooks data that is much faster to generate reports off of than the optimized QODBC file.

As with the QODBC reporting method these reports can contain data that the Reporting tool built into QuickBooks is unable to produce such as Sales by City/State/Zip, Commissions on Paid Invoices, Invoice Payment History, and just about any other type of custom report you can think of.

AccessBooks Realtime or QODBC - Which Should You Use?

So which solution is the best for your business? The answer may seem straight forward but that is not always so. While AccessBooks Realtime is our preferred data access method to work with when writing custom QuickBooks reports it is not always the best choice for our clients. The reason for this is that AccessBooks, while extremely fast when it comes to generating custom reports off of your exported QuickBooks data, does not allow for real-time access to your QuickBooks data. In most cases we have found that this is not an issue but for some clients, those who want up to the minute results from their custom reports and who are willing to work with the speed issues, QODBC is the way to go.

Let Us Design Your Custom QuickBooks Reports!

Whether all you are looking for are a few tweaks to a standard list report that just can't be done natively within the QuickBooks built-in report writer or you are looking for full blown custom inventory or financial reports 4Sight has the knowledge and the expertise to create the reports you need.

Call us now at (520) 225-0561 to discuss your custom QuickBooks reporting needs. The initial consultation is FREE!

(Hours of operation are 9AM to 6PM Mountain Standard Time, Monday - Friday)