October 2009

Our Featured Article this month is a review of the first 2009 User Group conference which was held in Toronto in September.  If you are contemplating attending the conference in Las Vegas, this is a must read.

The Important Reminders section announces U.S. Payroll Withholding Tax changes. Learn how to get the product update for these changes below.

Check the News and Events for information about the final User Group conference and the upcoming Trade Shows Jonas will be attending.  These are an excellent opportunity to meet your fellow Jonas users and to get on the inside track for upcoming features and developments.

For the first time ever, see our newest addition to the Insider, Stump the Staff. This section features questions submitted by clients and answered by staff.

Increase your JQ (Jonas Quotient)!  Check out the Upcoming Training Webinars section for courses to increase your Jonas knowledge and expertise. 

Meet the face behind the voice, Greg Franklin, Technical Support Analyst, featured in this month's Know Your Support Rep section.

The Jonas Support Team shares some of their tips and tricks under FAQ’s and Helpful Hints section.

If you have missed previous issues of the Insider, please click here. 

We want to hear from you!  If you have ideas or suggestions for improving the Jonas Insider, please forward these to us via e-mail.

After hosting the first of two Jonas User Groups in Toronto, Ontario on September 24-25, 2009, the client feedback has been very encouraging. With one final User Group remaining in Las Vegas, NV, attendance is expected to increase and the positive feedback is expected to continue.

Kerry McNeil from Xtra Mechanical attended the Toronto User Group at the Novotel Hotel in downtown Toronto and made the following comment about her experience. “Everyone wants to work smarter, not harder, and even the person that thinks they know all there is to know about Jonas, walks away from the User Group with new ideas to take back and share with their team-mates” 

The two full days of training, lectures and keynote speaker sessions combined with an evening dinner give users an opportunity to learn and share ideas with each other and see how everyone uses software differently. Even within the current economic climate, Jonas User Group organizers are pleased with the turnout and results.

“The user groups are a great way for us to meet with our customers face to face and find out more about what they really want.  I really appreciate that so many of our customers take the time to come to our events to learn more about the software and share their experiences with us,”  says Angela Brutto, Director of Support.

Read what some clients are saying about the 2009 Toronto User Groups below:

“The 2009 users' conference has been a great opportunity to concentrate & focus on our accounting and job cost systems and procedures. Thank you JONAS!”
 --Brenda Martin, Frey Brothers Ltd.

  "One of the least intimidating mechanisms for learning Jonas capabilities regardless of whether you are a long time or first time user"
--Mike Baradziej, North America Construction Ltd.

 “I really enjoyed meeting and conversing with other Jonas users and getting "tips" on procedures. The Jonas Staff was great!”
--Kelly Wenzel, Campbell and Kennedy Electric Ltd.

"This past Thursday and Friday was the Toronto user group. It was completely worthwhile. In the scheduled seminars we heard about new ways to use Jonas, the upgrades coming in version 12, the development plan for the future, little things that some individuals just hadn't found yet, and huge work arounds for processes that some companies had not yet discovered. We shared challenges and ideas with other users endlessly throughout the two day event. From my conversations with other participants, it seems that we all came away feeling enriched by what we learned. Just a heads up, sometimes there is a lot going on, I'm still trying to decipher some of the notes that I scribbled down."
--Karen Schreiber, Schreiber Brothers Limited (Roofing Company)

Changes to U.S. Payroll Withholding Tax

Effective November 1, 2009, the state of California is implementing a change to the Withholding Tax.  

If you process payroll for California,  you need to download the product update from the Jonas website at www.jonassoftware.com.

The update is date-sensitive so there is no need to wait until processing a payroll for November.  Download it now and the change will only become effective as of Nov.1.  Please see below for notification from our website.

We successfully completed one of the highly-anticipated 2009 Jonas User Group Conferences  in Toronto in September. If you missed that one don’t worry,  there is still one more scheduled in November in Las Vegas!

Why Should You Attend?

• Get the most value out of your software – this is a chance for you to see the new software enhancements and get training on how to implement them. Training sessions are presented by our software and industry experts.

• Meet other Jonas customers – discuss best practices and share the current issues you are facing with customers in similar industries across North America.

• Have input into future development of the software – meet members of our development team and let them know what is important to you for future versions of Jonas.

Venue: 
Monte Carlo Resort and Casino
3770 Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89109

Date and Time: 
Thursday November 12, 2009: 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.
Friday November 13, 2009: 8:00 am to 4:00 pm

Cost:
$600 per attendee

Accommodations:
A group rate of $59 has been arranged for November 11 and 12. If you are staying for the weekend, the rate is $129. Please contact 1-800-311-8999 and choose option 2 for reservations and reference group code XJONAS when booking.

*Click here to view Agenda.



For more information on the User Groups contact Angela Brutto.

UPCOMING TRADE SHOWS

Ciphex Roadshow

Jonas Software will be participating in the Ciphex Roadshow in these Canadian cities in November.

Edmonton, AB
November 3, 2009
Mayfield Inn
Booth # 702

Vancouver, BC
November 5, 2009
Italian Cultural Centre
Booth # 57

Month End & Year End Procedures – General Session

Date & Location: Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
Session Length: 3 hours
Session Time: 1:00pm - 4:00pm EST
Location: Webex
Fee: $200 per connection
Trainer: Nicole Galliott

Course Description: As we rapidly approach the end of another year, it is important to ensure that your year-end procedures are clearly defined and implemented. This course will review housekeeping procedures such as archiving, completing work orders, purchase orders, closing out jobs, resolving receivables that will never get paid, checking suspense accounts, reviewing outstanding deposits, physical inventory counts and adjustments. Balancing accounts, journal and accrual entries and ensuring financial reports are in balance will be key.

* Minimum four client registration required. Webinars are subject to cancellation.
Please notify us 3 days in advance before a cancellation notice or you will be billed.

For the first time ever, the October edition of the Insider is including a Stump the Staff entry We asked you, our clients, to submit questions you would like answered in upcoming editions of the Insider.  We will publish the best questions on any Jonas topic, complete with the answers from your Jonas Support staff.   Your name will be entered in a draw quarterly to win valuable Jonas prizes!  You can enter as many times as you like.  Send your entries to Evelyn Garnet.  October’s Entry Stump: Accounts Receivable Inquiry: When I run a Customer Inquiry, I can’t see a lot of the invoices that I know were posted.   I can see them when I run a History Inquiry.  Why aren’t they showing up in my regular inquiry? Staff: In the History Inquiry, check the date of record column.  If it’s a date in the future, it will NOT show up on the Customer Inquiry if you run that as of today’s date.  You can choose any date you like though to run your Customer Inquiry. Submitted by Larry Milillo from Triton Services in Mason, OH.

UPDATING JONAS

Q. Do I have to get all users out of Jonas when I am updating?

A. Only sometimes.

When doing a product update from the Jonas website, it will not disrupt users working on the system.  Users can be logged in and working in Jonas while doing the product update.

HOWEVER when installing Jonas from a CD , all users must be off the system.

Q. What version of Jonas should I download from the Jonas website for a product update: pu119.exe or PU119DN.EXE?

A. Construction clients must download the PU119DN.EXE file as this will allow access to the Design Your Own Forms module.

Q. I see that the PU119DN.exe gets a date change every week.  Are there enhancements every week?  Do I need to upload this every week?  Or, if I have already uploaded PU119DN.exe once am I done? 

A. First, Construction clients should select the PU119DN.exe file as their update file.

There is only one product update file which is added to every Tuesday from all the work done by programmers at Jonas through the week.  This file includes all enhancements and modifications since that product ( in this case version 11.9) was “wised”.  The file will get larger as time goes on and the file date will be the last time more enhancements were added into it.

It is recommended to keep up with all the latest enhancements and to download and install the p.u. file every couple of weeks to take advantage of the “Enhancements” portion of your S & E contract.

LOGGING A CALL THROUGH THE JONAS WEBSITE

You can log a support call without calling the Jonas support line!

Access Jonas website by following the link provided on the bottom right hand side of Jonas main screen.

Enter your Name (username) and Password. This is a case sensitive field. Username must be keyed in Caps.  If you don’t have this information, please call Jonas Support.

Logging a call

After logging into the web portal, select the “Support” tab from the options available and drill down to “create a support call”

Enter all the required fields along with a detailed description of the issue you are experiencing. To expedite the resolution as well as to get clear understanding of the problem, please attach any example or screen shot supporting the issue. Continue by selecting Submit button

The following page will prompt you to confirm your selection. Prior to submitting your query you will get the possible solutions from our automated knowledge base articles obtained from the phrase/keyword that you may have indicated when logging your call. To continue with your submission, please make sure to select “YES” at this point.  Selecting “No” will not transmit your call through to Jonas.

You will then receive a confirmation screen with a ticket number. An email will be sent out to the user providing with the ticket number.