QuickBooks Data Sharing - Technosoft · Size Editor 19 QuickBooks job for each Customer 6 ... QuickBooks for a list of customer accounts that have been changed. Inquest will then

TECHNOSOFT, INC. Inquest Version 5

QuickBooks Data Sharing

I N Q U E S T V E R S I O N 5

QuickBooks Data Sharing

TECHNOSOFT, INC. 71 WENDY LN • SOUTH KINGSTOWN, RI 02879

401.284.2959 • www.technosoftinc.com

© 2002-2008 Technosoft, Inc. All rights reserved.

Table of ContentsChapter 1 – Getting Started Single Location - Different Billing Address16

Location Address 16 QuickBooks Data Sharing Setup 3 Billing Address 17 Automatic Login Option 4 Multiple Locations - Same Billing Address18 Importing and Exporting Customer Information 5 Importing Customers from QuickBooks 5 Chapter 4 – Price List

Exporting Customers to QuickBooks 5

Advanced Accounting Options 5 Size Editor 19

QuickBooks job for each Customer 6 Starting the Size Editor 19

Use Work Order Number for Invoice Number 6 Using the Size Editor 20

Summarize Invoice Line Items 6 Price List Setup 20

Insert return date into invoice ship date 6 Price List Entry 20

Import Changes on Startup 7 Item Type - Services 21

Use current date for invoice date 7 Pricing Fire Extinguisher Service – All Sizes21

Complete Work Order Menu Item in QuickBooks 7 Copy and Paste a Single Item 24

Calculate invoice during work order creation 7 Pricing Fire Extinguisher Service – Each Size 24

Synchronization 7 Copy and Paste Multiple Items 25

Item Type – Minimum Bill 25

Chapter 2 – Adding New Accounts Item Type – Parts/Items 26

Item Type – Contract 26 Adding New Accounts to QuickBooks 8 Price Levels 28 Add New Accounts from QuickBooks 10 Adding a Price Level 28 Price List Copy 28

Chapter 3 – Mapping Customer Information to QuickBooks

Setting a customer to use a price list 29

Deleting a Price List 30

Updating Prices from QuickBooks 30 Single Location - Same Billing Address 12 Company Name 12 Chapter 5 – Invoicing Work Orders

Address and Phone Numbers 13

Contact Name and Email Address 14 Work Order to Invoice 31

Customer ID / Account Number 15 Method I – Initiating from QuickBooks 31

I N Q U E S T – T R A I N I N G M A N U A L

Chapter 5 continued

Method II – Initiating from Inquest 33

Chapter 6 – QuickBooks Data Files Links

Data File Links Report 40

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1 I N Q U E S T – T R A I N I N G M A N U A L

Getting Started This chapter will show how to setup the data sharing link between Inquest and QuickBooks.

nquest can share data with QuickBooks Pro, QuickBooks Premier, and QuickBooks Enterprise editions.

I QuickBooks Data Sharing Setup To setup the data sharing link between Inquest and QuickBooks; you must open QuickBooks and log into your company file as the Administrator.

Open QuickBooks with the company file that Inquest is to share data with.

Open Inquest and select “Options” from the “Customize” menu.

Click the “Accounting Interface” tab.

In the “Integrate With” area, select the version of QuickBooks you have.

Click “Browse” and locate the QuickBooks data file.

Note: To determine the QuickBooks data file currently open; from the “File” menu in QuickBooks select the “Open Previous Company” option. The currently open QuickBooks file will be listed first on the displayed submenu.

Click “Open”.

Click “OK”.

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QuickBooks will now display a dialog box asking for permission to share data with Inquest.

Click the “Yes Always” option to grant permission.

Automatic Login Option The following instructions show you how to setup QuickBooks so that Inquest can share data without QuickBooks being open. You will need to specify a User Name for Inquest to login as. See your QuickBooks documentation for setting up user names.

Make sure QuickBooks is in Single User Mode.

On the “Edit” menu select “Preferences”.

Click “Integrated Applications” on the left side of the window and click the “Company Preferences” tab.

Figure 1 QuickBooks Company Preferences

Inquest will be listed. Select Inquest and click “Properties”.

Click the “Allow this application to login automatically” checkbox and click “OK”.

Click the “OK” button to close the window.

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Importing and Exporting Customer Information Importing Customers from QuickBooks Inquest can import all customer information from QuickBooks. See Chapter 3 for details on how customer information is mapped between the Inquest and QuickBooks.

Open QuickBooks and Inquest.

From the “File” menu, select the “Database” submenu.

On the “Database” submenu, select the “Import” menu option.

In the displayed dialog, select the “QuickBooks Customer List” radio button.

Click OK

A progress dialog will display while importing the data into Inquest. Once completed, a total number of records imported will be displayed. Running the import a second time will NOT duplicate records previously imported. Exporting Customers to QuickBooks Inquest can export all customer information to QuickBooks. See Chapter 3 or details on how customer information is mapped between Inquest and QuickBooks.

Open QuickBooks and Inquest.

From the “Tools” menu, select the “QuickBooks” submenu.

On the “QuickBooks” submenu, select the “Export all customers to QuickBooks” menu option.

A progress dialog will display while exporting to QuickBooks proceeds. Once completed, a total number of records exported will be displayed. Running the export a second time will NOT duplicate records previously exported.

Advanced Accounting Options To access the “Advanced Accounting Options”:

From the “Customize” menu, select the “Options” submenu.

Select the “Accounting Interface” tab.

Click the “Advanced Settings” button.

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Figure 2 Advanced Accounting Options

QuickBooks job for each Customer This option is on by default and is rarely turned off. With this option on, each “Customer” in Inquest will have a corresponding “Customer” in QuickBooks. By turning off this option, you will setup your Inquest database to have a “Billing Address” for each account and the “Billing Address” will be mapped to a “QuickBooks” customer. Each “Customer” in Inquest will be the service location and will not have a corresponding record in QuickBooks. Use Work Order Number for Invoice Number When Inquest sends an invoice transaction to QuickBooks, the work order number will be used as the invoice number. Note: The work order number is always sent over in the “Memo” field of any invoice transaction sent from Inquest. Summarize Invoice Line Items This option is rarely turned on. Before sending an invoice transaction to QuickBooks, Inquest will combine all line items using the same item code onto 1 line. Insert return date into invoice ship date When creating an invoice transaction for QuickBooks, Inquest will set the invoice ship date to the next service date.

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Import Changes on Startup With this option on, each day when Inquest is first opened, Inquest will ask QuickBooks for a list of customer accounts that have been changed. Inquest will then synchronize the customer information. Use current date for invoice date By default, Inquest will send the date entered in the work order “End Date” field as the invoice date. By turning the option on, Inquest will always use the current date as the invoice date. Complete Work Order Menu Item in QuickBooks This option needs to be turned on to use the invoicing feature described in Chapter 5 of this manual. After changing this option, both Inquest and QuickBooks will need to be closed and reopened for the change to take effect. Calculate invoice during work order creation This option will allow you to pre-calculate an invoice amount based upon the Inquest service projections. The intention is to have the ability to preprint an invoice to be left at the customer location at the time of service. Synchronization When a customer is opened in Inquest the information in the Inquest database is compared to the information in the QuickBooks database. The synchronization option indicates how differences between the 2 databases are handled.

• Prompt with differences – a dialog will display listing the differences between the Inquest database and the QuickBooks database. You will then select which information to use.

• QuickBooks always updates Inquest – Inquest will automatically be updated with the QuickBooks information when any differences are found.

• Inquest always updates QuickBooks – QuickBooks will automatically be updated with the Inquest information when any differences are found.

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Adding New Accounts This chapter will show how to add new accounts to QuickBooks from Inquest and add new accounts to Inquest from QuickBooks.

E saw in Chapter 1 how to import and export entire customer lists between Inquest and QuickBooks. This chapter will show you how to add individual accounts.

Adding New Accounts to QuickBooks We will now add an account that exists in Inquest to QuickBooks:

Open the account in Inquest and click on the “Billing” tab.

Under the field called QB Acct, click on the “New” button.

A window will open requesting a name for the QuickBooks account. The information will be defaulted to the customer name. Click “OK”.

Figure 3 Add QuickBooks Customer Account

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When the changes to the customer account are saved, the information will be sent to QuickBooks.

Switch to the QuickBooks application and you will see that the customer now appears in our QuickBooks list.


Figure 4 QuickBooks Customer List

When opening the customer all the information from Inquest appears. We can modify the information and the information will be kept synchronized between the two programs.

Edit the name in the “Contact Name” field.

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Figure 5 QuickBooks Edit Customer

Close the account in Inquest and reopen it.

Inquest will recognize that differences exist between its information and QuickBooks. Inquest will show you the differences and ask you which program has the correct data.


Figure 6 Synchronize Customer Information

Chose the “QuickBooks updates Inquest” option.

Click “OK”.

Select the “Contacts” tab.

Figure 7 Contact Information updated in Inquest

You can see that the contact name was updated in the Inquest database.

Add New Accounts from QuickBooks Now we will add an account to Inquest that is in QuickBooks.

Click the “Open” icon on the toolbar and click the “QuickBooks Customer Search” option.

In the displayed “Customer Selection” window, enter the search criteria and

click the search button.

A list of customer accounts from QuickBooks will be displayed. Select the customer to be added to Inquest and click the “OK” button.

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Figure 8 Add From QuickBooks

The customer information will be immediately imported and added to the database.

Note: This procedure can be used to open a customer in Inquest. If QuickBooks customer already exists in the database it will be opened. If the customer does not exist in the database it will be imported.

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Chapter

4 I N Q U E S T – T R A I N I N G M A N U A L

Price List This chapter will show how to setup price lists in Inquest.

Inquest can summarize a work order and send the information to QuickBooks as an invoice transaction. With setting up price lists in Inquest the invoice can be totaled based upon special pricing for a customer.

Size Editor Inquest will summarize and calculate information for fire extinguishers based upon the size and type of extinguisher. The Inquest “Size Editor” can be used to combine different representations of the same size into one common format. For example, the following sizes can be used to represent a five pound extinguisher.

• 5 • 5# • 5LB. • 5lb

Each of these sizes represents the same size extinguisher but would show up as different in a computerized summary. The size editor is used to combine these different formats into one. Starting the Size Editor

From the “Customize” menu select the “Defined Values” menu option.

Select the “Extinguisher Size”

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In the displayed message box, “Open the ‘Size Editor’ to update and combine the extinguisher sized used in this database?”, click the “Yes” button.

Using the Size Editor

Figure 16 Size Editor

The column “Current” lists all size values found in the Inquest database. By entering a value in the “New” column, each extinguisher with the size listed in “Current” will be updated.

Price List Setup To have Inquest automatically calculate a QuickBooks invoice from a completed work order, you must setup a price list for the services and inspections performed by your company. Price List Entry

To setup a price list select the “Customize” menu in Inquest.

Select the “Price List” menu option There is always a price list called “Standard”. The standard pricing is used if no other price list is specified for a customer. Each available price list is shown as a tab on the price list screen.

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There are three different types of items on a price list. The following sections describe the purpose of each item type and how they are used.

Item Type - Services The “Services” item type will allow Inquest to translate the test/inspection/service completed into a QuickBooks invoice line item. Three combo boxes are available:

1. Services – lists all available service types. 2. Type – lists all available equipment types for the selected service. 3. Action – lists all available service or inspection for the selected equipment

type.

Pricing Fire Extinguisher Service – All Sizes In the following exercise we will add an item for the Annual service of ABC fire extinguishers. For fire extinguishers, you can specify a different price for different size extinguishers. In this example we will use a special size called “<Default>” to indicate the price is the same for all sizes.

Select “Fire Extinguishers” from the “Service” list box.

Select “ABC” from the “Type” list box.

Select “Annual” from the “Action” menu.

Figure 17 Price List setup window.

Now select the “Item” menu option from the “Insert” menu.

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Figure 18 Price List Item Dialog

In the “Size” list box select “<Default>”. This indicates that the price is the same for all sizes.

We now need to select a billable item from our QuickBooks file so that Inquest will know how to create an invoice for annual service of an ABC fire extinguisher.

Click the “Select Item” button to bring up the QuickBooks Item Selector.

With the QuickBooks item selector you can search for and list the billable items in the QuickBooks data file. Note: These items are setup in QuickBooks for your company.

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Figure 19 QuickBooks Item Selector

Choose the correct item (in the above example we select INSP-A which was previously setup in QuickBooks) and click “OK”.

Figure 20 Price List Insert Item

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Copy and Paste a Single Item Billable items can be copied and pasted within the price list screen. In this exercise we will copy and paste the “Annual” service from the ABC extinguisher type to the other extinguisher types.

Select the billable item and click the copy icon on the toolbar or select “Copy” from the “Edit” menu.

Switch the fire extinguisher type, make sure the action is still “Annual”,

and then click the paste icon on the toolbar…or select “Paste” from the “Edit” menu. The annual service billable item will then appear on the right hand side and can be saved.

Figure 21 Price List Copy Billable Item

Pricing Fire Extinguisher Service – Each Size In this exercise we will add prices for recharging fire extinguishers based upon each extinguisher size.

For “Service”, select “Fire Extinguishers”

For “Type”, select “ABC”.

For “Action”, select “Recharge”.

Follow the instructions in the previous example except select each extinguisher size instead of specifying <Default>.

Save your changes by clicking the button on the toolbar.

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Figure 22 Price List Multiple Sizes

Copy and Paste Multiple Items After the price for each size is added, the list can be copied to other extinguisher types by selecting the entire list of billable items that were added and performing the copy and paste action as before.

Select all the items in a list. To do this, select the first item and then while holding the shift key on your keyboard down select the last item in the list.

Select “Copy” from the “Edit” menu.

Change the “Type” to another extinguisher type.

Click the list area and select “Paste” from the “Edit” menu.

Save your changes by clicking the button on the toolbar.

Note: when sizes are used to determine the billed amount, Inquest will use the closest matching price for a particular size. For example, if you recharge a 6lb ABC dry chemical fire extinguisher and the pricing is setup for 5 and 10lb extinguishers, Inquest will bill the 6lb. extinguisher at the 5lb. rate.

Item Type – Minimum Bill The minimum bill item type is used to set a minimum bill amount.

By inserting a QuickBooks item as the “Minimum Bill”, Inquest will compare the total amount calculated to the minimum bill amount. If the total amount does not meet or

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exceed the minimum bill amount, Inquest will send zero out the individual line items and add the minimum billing item to the invoice transaction.

Item Type – Parts/Items Parts/Items is used for downloading parts to the handheld device. The “Parts” will be categorized based upon the combo box “Category” selected.

The categories available are each service type setup in the Inquest database and a generic category called “Other”.

By setting up specific parts for specific services, the technician will be able to better find any parts used during the service of a particular customer.

Item Type – Contract Contract billing is used to bill a flat rate for specific services for a specific customer. You must setup customer types before you can do contract billing.

To setup a customer type:

From the “Customize” menu select the “Customer Types” menu option.

In the displayed window, click the “Add” button

Enter a description and abbreviation for the customer type being added.

In this example, we will setup a contract rate for the annual fire extinguisher service for our grocery store chain.

Add a “Customer Type” called GSC.

In the “Price List” screen select “Contract” for the item type.

Insert a item and select the “GSC” for the “Type”

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Figure 23 Contract Price

Select the newly added contract price.

In the “Include in Selected Contract Rate” group, click the “Add” button.

Now select “Fire Extinguishers” and “Annual” and click “OK”.

All customers that are set to the “GSC” type will now bill a flat contracted rate of $125 for all annual services regardless of the number of extinguishers at that service location.

Note: All other services, i.e. “Recharge”, “Hydro Test”, etc. will still be invoiced as individual line items.

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Figure 24 Contract Pricing

Price Levels Inquest can use different price levels for different customers. It is beneficial to setup your standard pricing first and then use the price list copy feature to setup a new price level. Adding a Price Level

To setup a special price list select the “Customize” menu in Inquest.

Select the “Price List” menu option.

From the “Insert” menu, select the “Price List” menu option.

Figure 25 Adding Special Pricing

In the displayed dialog, enter a name for the special price list.

Click the OK button.

A new tab will be added with the name of the price level. Price List Copy Using the price list copy feature you can quickly setup your special pricing.

Click the “Price List Copy” button.

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Figure 26 Price List Copy

Select the “Standard” price list in the “From” dropdown list.

Select the special pricing in the “To” dropdown list.

Enter a markup or markdown value. Note: a markdown is preceded by the “–“ sign.

Select any or all of the items setup for the copy operation.

Click OK

Once the price list is copied, the individual items can be updated with any value you choose. Setting a customer to use a price list

Open the customer

Select the “Billing” tab.

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Figure 27 Customer Setup

In the “Prices” dropdown list, select the price level to use. Note: a blank in the “Prices” field is equivalent to selecting “Standard”.

Deleting a Price List

Click the tab of the price list to delete.

From the “Edit” menu select the “Delete” menu option or press the delete key on your keyboard.

In the displayed delete confirmation windows, click the “Yes” button.

Updating Prices from QuickBooks

The Inquest price lists can be easily update to the prices stored in the QuickBooks item list.

Click the tab of the price list to update.

Click the “Update Prices from QuickBooks” button. If you have a price level set in QuickBooks whose name matches the Inquest price list name; Inquest will take into account the QuickBooks pricing level when updating.

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Chapter

5 Invoicing Work Orders This chapter will show how to invoice a work order. Inquest can calculate the invoice based upon the service projections and send the invoice transaction to QuickBooks.

nquest can calculate the invoice based upon the service projections and send the invoice transaction to QuickBooks.

The handheld device will automatically send the invoice transaction to QuickBooks for completed work orders. The procedure outlined in this chapter is used when using paper work orders.

IWork Order to Invoice Method I – Initiating from QuickBooks Using the ‘Initiating from QuickBooks’ method requires the “Complete Work Order Menu Item in QuickBooks” setting to be turned on. Turning this setting on is described in Chapter 1 of this manual.

Open QuickBooks

From the “Customer” menu, select the “Inquest: Invoice Work Order” menu option.

You will be immediately taken to Inquest and prompted for the work order number and the service completion date.

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Figure 28 Work Order to close

Enter a work order number and service completion date.

Click the OK button. Inquest now calculates the invoice and updates the service dates based upon the work order service information. You are then transferred back to QuickBooks with the created invoice ready to edit.

Figure 29 Invoice from Inquest Work Order

Once the invoice is verified/updated, mark the invoice as final by right clicking the mouse on the invoice and selecting “Mark Invoice as Final” from the popup menu.

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Method II – Initiating from Inquest Initiating from Inquest takes more steps but gives you more control over the dates updated in Inquest and allows you to select parts used during inspections or maintenance of specific equipment. In this example we will complete a work order so that it creates in invoice in QuickBooks. This exercise is utilizing a complete price list setup in Inquest and a company in the sample Inquest database. The price list setup was covered in the previous chapter.

Open the work order for “Elliot Co.”

Click the “Service Details” tab.

Click on the “ ” to the left of the “Fire Extinguishers” service item. The list will expand to show all the fire extinguishers at this location.

Figure 30 Service Details

Click on the “ ” to the left of fire extinguisher number 1.

Two items will be listed “Tests/Inspections/Services” and “Parts Used”.

Double click on “Tests/Inspections/Services”. You will see an Action Completed list box that has a “ ” to the left of the action Inquest projected the service required based upon the dates recorded for the fire extinguisher. These actions may be changed or added to based upon the work that was actually completed. Upon completion of the work order all the equipment dates will be automatically updated according to the indicated service work performed.

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Figure 31 Action Completed

Change the “Action Completed” from “Annual” to “Recharge”.

Click “OK”.

Note: if you want to bill for both an “Annual” maintenance and a “Recharge” check both items.

Double click on “Parts Used”.

Click the “Add Item” button. You will now see the “QuickBooks Item Selector” window.

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Figure 32 QuickBooks Item Selection

Scroll down to “PARTS-FE” and select “ORing”.

Click “OK”. An ORing is now added to the “Parts Used” list window.

Figure 33 Parts Used

Click “OK” to close the window.

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Click the “Invoice” tab and click the “Calculate Invoice” button.

The service items and parts used totals will be tallied. Additional items can be added to the invoice by clicking the “Add” button.

Figure 34 Calculated Invoice

Place a checkmark in the “Pending” checkbox.

Leaving the “Invoice” number blank will cause QuickBooks to assign the

next available invoice number.

Now complete the work order by following these steps.

Click the “Work Order” tab.

Enter the date the work order was completed and click the “Complete Work Order” button.

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Figure 35 Ready to Complete Work Order

A confirmation message will display before the work order is finalized. Click the “Yes” button.

Figure 36 Complete Work Order Confirmation

After the processing is completed, a message will display indicating the

invoice number that was created in QuickBooks. Click “OK”. An “End Date” will contain the last service date and the “Status” will be updated to “Complete”.

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Figure 37Completed Work Order

By going into the QuickBooks program and opening the invoice that was just created we can see that all the line items that were on the work order are now on a QuickBooks invoice that has been marked as Pending.

Figure 38 QuickBooks Pending Invoice

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Once the invoice is verified, mark the invoice as final by right clicking the mouse on the invoice and selecting “Mark Invoice as Final” from the popup menu.

Now our accounts receivable has been updated and the customer balance reflects the invoice that was just created.

Figure 39 Balance Updated

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QuickBooks Data File Links This chapter will show how to produce a report that will list all your QuickBooks customers and their associated Inquest database record.

nquest will maintain an association with your QuickBooks customer accounts. This link is what allows for single data entry and invoicing work orders.

Data File Links Report Follow these steps to print the QuickBooks Data File Links report.

From the Inquest “File” menu, select the “Reports” menu option.

Select the “QuickBooks Data File Links” report and click OK. The displayed window will allow you to preview or print the report.

Figure 40 Report Window

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Click the “Print” or “Preview” button.


Figure 41 QuickBooks Data File Links Report

The displayed/printed report will list all the accounts that are linked and those that are not. It will also show if the QuickBooks account is linked to an Inquest Customer record or to a Billing Address. See Chapter 3 for details on mapping between Inquest and QuickBooks.

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Documents

QuickBooks Data Sharing - Technosoft · Size Editor 19 QuickBooks job for each Customer 6 ... QuickBooks for a list of customer accounts that have been changed. Inquest will then