What versions of Windows will it run on?
Windows 2000 and Windows XP Professional.

Will NV2 back up easily and directly to CDs, ZIP disks, etc.?
NV2 will not include backup/restore software. You should use whatever backup software and medium you trust.


FEATURES

Will NV2 handle inventory?
Yes. All transactions contain both dollars and units. All reports can display balances in dollars and/or units. Sales transactions will automatically relieve inventory and record the cost of goods sold.

Will NV2 have the following:
- fixed asset management capabilities
- multiple currencies
- electronic banking
- time and billing
- etc.

We had to resist the temptation to add the above features to the initial release of NV2. If we hadn't, you would have to wait even longer for NV2. Our objective with the initial release is to provide all of the functionality of the current DOS product. The underlying design of the product is such that even the 'base' release of NV2 will be much more versatile than the DOS version, and serve as a platform we can add functionality to quickly and easily.

Will NV2 allow more than two decimal places?
Yes.

Will NV2 have a programming language like NPL?
Yes. But it will far surpass NPL. The new language is based on Tcl/Tk, which is a non-proprietary, open-source, and platform independent scripting language used all over the world. For anyone interested in exploring this language, visit either of these sites:

http://www.activestate.com

On this site you will find links to download Tcl/Tk installers for Windows, Mac, and Unix/Linux platforms.

http://www.tcl.tk

This site contains links to hundreds of (free) extensions to Tcl/Tk with which you can extend the language to do just about anything you can think of, such as e-mail clients, web-servers, database connectivity, etc. Because NV2 uses Tcl/Tk as a scripting language, all of these extensions will be accessible from within NV2.

Will NV2 include payroll?
Yes. Both Canadian and US cash payroll are complete, and both can operate within the same set of books (unlike the DOS version.) NV2 Payroll received a lot of attention in the design phase, and the result is a much easier to use system. Accrual payroll will be available in a future release.

Will NV2 be able to print company logos on invoices?
Yes. In the initial release, all printing will be done through Microsoft Excel. "Templates" for documents such as invoices and checks will be Excel worksheets that you can customize in any way you like.

Will NV2 allow users to access their books through the Internet?
Yes. The interface is exactly the same. The only way you can tell that access is across the Internet is by explicitly checking, or in some cases by noticing slower response when on low connection bandwidths.

Can I "close" an account so that no one can post to it anymore?
Yes. Accounts (journals and employees) can be set to "inactive".

Can I still sort ledgers by reference number and reconcile?
Yes, both forwards or backwards. You can also sort by the description column and view reports sorted by account name or description.

Can I still rearrange accounts, create new reports, etc. like I did in DOS?
Yes.

Will I be able to see transactions in a total-account?
Yes. The ledger of a total account is no longer empty - it contains all of the postings to all of the accounts 'beneath' it in the total-to hierarchy.

Will it be easier to see what totals to a given account?
Yes. You can explore the total-to hierarchy of any total account, on screen, with balances displayed, in a manner much like Windows Explorer. Also, the ledger of any account you click on is displayed in an accompanying window.

Can I have more than 6 analysis columns?
Yes. You can have an unlimited number of analysis columns. And, like the total-to explorer described above, when you click on any amount on the analysis view, the ledger items that make up that amount can be displayed in an accompanying window.

Can I have a fiscal year end that is not the end of a month? Can I change the fiscal year end? Can I do 13-period accounting?
Yes. NV2 really doesn't use the concept of a fiscal-year-end. You can manage your periods any way you like.

What about journals?
In DOS, a journal was simply an account you posted from and whose balance normally returned to zero after each complete entry. You were free to use or not use journals as you wished. In NV2, all transactions are "journalized", but you don't have to use journals to do data entry. For instance, you can add a sales invoice to an NV2 sales journal, or enter it directly in the customer account. The only difference in the latter case is that you specify which journal the entry "belongs" to. Regardless of where you did the data entry, the invoice will appear in the sales journal.

Does NV2 have a trial balance?
Yes. A trial balance will display accounts in the traditional way, with debit and credit amounts separated into different columns. As different periods are selected any debits that become credits, or vice versa, move to the "correct" column. And with the new "normal representation" feature, balance sheet accounts display perpetual amounts and income accounts display periodic amounts, right in the same trial balance report columns. Using the usual analysis features of NewViews, you can display trial balances for multiple periods side by side. Opening and change to retain earnings are displayed in the traditional way on the trial balance.

LIMITS

Will NV2 have the two year restriction on monthly reporting that is currently in the DOS version?
No. Reports can display periods of any duration (month, week, day, hour, etc.) in the past or future.

Will NV2 have system ledger limits and block sizes?
No.

What limits will NV2 have on the size of books, number of accounts, transactions, employees, etc.?
NV2 has no limits of this nature. In practical terms, the only limit is the size of your hard disk drive.

Will NV2 have more than two "total to" columns?
Yes, there are four.

Can account names, descriptions, etc., be longer than in the DOS version?
Yes. Any text like this, including reference and reconcile values, has no limits on length

Can I change account names?
Yes. Your security settings permitting, simply click on the account's name and change it. The same is true for the normal-balance of accounts.

DOCUMENTATION

Will NV2 provide a comprehensive yet easy to understand user's manual?
That is our goal! The manual is an online HTML based system.

Will NV2 have Windows-style help that can be used to search for or to look up topics?
Yes.

UPGRADING

What data is converted to the new version? (Or, what do I loose?)
All the data from the DOS books is carried forward to the new version. This includes all your reports, total-tos, transactions, notes, etc.

What versions can I upgrade from?
The export utility to move your books from the DOS version of NewViews to NV2 will only work on books that have been running under NewViews version 1.41b Ptocedure Library 12.

How easy will it be to convert NewViews for DOS data to NV2?
The conversion itself is a relatively easy and straightforward process, although it may require a fair bit of "machine" time. All NV1 accounts must be typed by the ATYPE procedure before export to NV2. The only difficulties we have encountered are rare cases where illogical payroll settings are stored in the PAYRUN procedure that have to be removed before conversion.

Will custom NPL procedures still work in NV2?
No.

How much bigger will a set of books be after converting to NV2?
The size of the converted books could be smaller, or larger. It depends entirely on the depth and complexity of the total-to structure.

USER INTERFACE

Is the multi-user "real-time"?
Yes. Changes appear on your screen as other users work in the books. There is no "update" or "refresh" key or operation to perform.

Will I be able to increase the columns widths on reports, ledgers, etc?
Yes. You can also rearrange the columns, and hide or add columns at will. Also, each user's window setup is unique to that user. If you arrange windows, columns, etc., the way you like, it will not affect other users' "view" of the books.

Will NV2 use the same menu commands as in NewViews for DOS (e.g. /DE, /PD)?
No. Many of the DOS menu commands will have no meaning in NV2, due to the GUI interface and the design of NV2 itself.

Can I still use the control-key interface?
Yes. Most of the movement commands have been preserved in NV2.

SECURITY

Will NV2 allow more than three password levels?
Yes. You add users to a set of books much as you would on a network. You can set up an unlimited number of users and control each user's access to various parts of the books.

Will there be more complete and easier access to audit trails than in NewViews for DOS?
Yes. For security, the audit trail is kept in the books, and (with the proper permissions) can be viewed (but not edited) on-line. It provides a complete record of every user's activity in the books including all additions, changes, and deletions to accounting records, plus login information such as date, time, machine address, etc.

What network security is built into NV2?
multi-user connection is through TCP/IP - the same as that used by the Internet. Therefore, access to NV2 is controlled by the same security as you would use for Internet connections, such as software and/or hardware firewalls.

SETUP

Will there be more books templates for NV2 than were available with the DOS version?
The initial release of NV2 is targeted to the current users of DOS NewViews, not to new users. Therefore, templates for various industries will not be included until later versions.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

What kind of hardware requirements will NV2 have?
CLICK HERE (a new browser window will open with the requirements)

What types of networks will NV2 run on?
The multi-user communication protocol is TCP/IP, which is available on virtually all systems today.