July 2023
In This Issue
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Letter from the President
2023: A STRUCTURE Odyssey
Can STRUCTURE benefit from Artificial Intelligence?
Artificial Intelligence seems to be the hot topic of the day so it seems appropriate for me to discuss the topic as well.
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The Oxford Languages defines Artificial Intelligence as “the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.”
With regards to a program
like STRUCTURE, Artificial Intelligence
could be used to expedite the accounts payable
process by uploading or scanning paper invoices and automatically extracting the vendor information, dollar and tax amounts, as well as the unit price of each item, and then automatically entering it into
Invoice Entry (VVE).
What it couldn’t necessarily do on its own is determine which job the invoice was for or which phase or category it needed to post against.
In these instances, a human may still need to be involved in the process. (Though some of these issues could be addressed by using a purchase order.)
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Another potential opportunity for
Artificial Intelligence would be to analyze
vast amounts of job cost data to
uncover and report on trends.
For example, the system could automatically scan all the data and identify trend anomalies pointing out that every time a particular employee works in a specific category that the job either comes in under budget in that category, or the reverse happens and it's over budget.
It could also show that whenever a particular group of employees works together, the job is either impacted positively or negatively.
The true value of Artificial Intelligence in this example is its ability to quickly review large quantities of data and pull out useful information by identifying trends in the data.
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The bottom line benefit of incorporating Artificial Intelligence into an accounting system is to eliminate repetitive tasks from the human accounting staff so they can efficiently use their extra time focusing on more strategic initiatives.
At C/F Data Systems, as we continue to develop STRUCTURE and build out STRUCTURECloud, we plan to carefully consider incorporating this new technology as we see fit and as it makes sense.
We do not plan to incorporate Artificial Intelligence just for the sake of adding it.
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Some argue that Artificial Intelligence is a solution looking for a problem.
If we see significant benefits to incorporating new technology into our program, you can rest assured that we will do the right thing for you and your company.
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Have a great summer!
Eric Goldstein
Eric Goldstein
President
C/F Data Systems
"Dave, it can only be attributed to human error."
News from the Office
The STRUCTURE Development Team Continues to Grow
Welcome Wai Lai
QA Analyst
Please join us in welcoming Wai Lai to the development team and the C/F Data Systems family.
In the role of QA Analyst he will assist with the quality control management of STRUCTURE.
Wai was born and raised on the island of Guernsey, which is a part of Great Britain and is the only part of the British Empire that was occupied by the Germans during World War II.
Wai's professional career began in London where he worked for State Street as a portfolio accountant. A few years later he transferred to their Boston office where he met his wife and they agreed this was where they would buy a home and start a family.
Wai then changed his career track and moved to Quality Assurance working for several privately held companies.
He has two children, one who just graduated High School and is headed off to college in the fall. In his spare time Wai likes to work on fixing up his house and is a huge football fan, that’s soccer, in case you had any doubt.
Upcoming Holidays
The C/F Data Systems offices will be closed on:
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Tuesday, July 4th to celebrate Independence Day
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Friday, July 28th for the annual company Summer Outing
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Monday, September 4th in observance of Labor Day
The Support Team will not be available on these days.
Introducing:
STRUCTURE 64-bit
Designed to work with 64-bit
Microsoft Office
With the release of STRUCTURE version 18.06 comes the option to install STRUCTURE in a 32-bit or new 64-bit version on each user's station.
This will give you the ability to run the 64-bit version of Microsoft Office on each user's station.
We do advise that the bit-version match on each station, as we developed STRUCTURE 64-bit to operate using the 64-bit version of Microsoft Office, and the STRUCTURE 32-bit to operate using the 32-bit version of Microsoft Office. You may run a mix of 32-bit and 64-bit stations in your office as long as the STRUCTURE and the Microsoft Office bit-versions match on each station.
When we release STRUCTURE version 18.06, complete instructions will be available on the support website to help you identify which bit-version of Microsoft Office you are using, identify which bit-version of STRUCTURE you are currently using, run the client setup, and change the user's desktop icon.
Be Prepared for Summer
As you get ready to enjoy some much needed summer relaxation, be sure to be prepared in the office:
â– Make sure users are cross-trained to process payroll, run reports, handle emergencies, and do a rebuild before taking time off.
â– Be sure to run full backups nightly (CF and D1) to avoid data loss in the case of a summer brownout or electrical storm. Note that STRUCTURECloud users do not need to run backups, as backups are performed automatically.
â– Be sure there is at least one System Administrator in the office at all times as vacations are scheduled.
Support Tips
Use the Correct Program
When Changing Labor Rates
When changing labor rates, be sure to use Change Pay Rates by Labor# (ECL), and not Labor Number/Pay Rate (ELM).
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ECL updates to ELM and Employee Maintenance (EMT) as well as Job/Prevailing Wage Maintenance (EPW) if needed.
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If changes are made in ELM first, ECL will not work properly and EMT will not be
updated with the labor rate changes.
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Avoiding the VOID
Before voiding a check in Accounts Receivable or Accounts Payable because of a wrong check date, please verify the posting period for that transaction.
Run a history report. Check the box [x] With Codes.
In this example, the payment date is 4/30/23 (which is period 17).
However, the posting period used was period 18.
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In this case we do not want to void the check; we just want to change the check date.
Making a call to Support can fix this without making a mess of your history.
Messages/Errors while in STRUCTURE
Please email or call STRUCTURE support before you contact your IT department or person for help.
Recently, we have received calls from IT companies, and these companies do not know what they are looking at nor what they need to do to fix the problem.
If you call us first, we can determine if you need to get them involved or if we can help you resolve the situation.
Do you need to send Support a
Screen Shot?
When sending screen shots to the support team, please be sure to include the entire screen.
The headings are important for us to see so we know where in STRUCTURE your screen shots are coming from.
Support Contact Information
Phone: 800.370.4357 | Fax: 781.337.9991 | Email: support@cfdatasystems.com
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The phone lines are open from 8:30am to 5:00pm Monday through Friday (ET). Email support is available Monday through Friday 8:30am to 7:00pm.
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Support may be unavailable Monday (9:00am-9:30am) and Thursday (8:45am-9:45am) for staff meetings.
Trade Show News
Starnet 2023
Annual Meeting
Scottsdale, AZ
Once again, we have to hand it to the folks at Starnet for outdoing themselves and putting on a wonderful event this past May for those in the flooring industry.
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Our team of Vic, Marilyn, Jena and Erin came back from Scottsdale beaming with stories about all the time they got to spend with our STRUCTURE customers.
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They also met lots of folks who were curious to see what STRUCTURE could do for their business.
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If you weren't able to attend or stop by our booth, keep checking the newletters to see when the next opportunity to see us on the road will be.
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Honestly, meeting everyone and seeing everyone is the best part of the job.
Marilyn with Dave Ruggieri of Ruggieri Bros.
Marilyn, Vic, Jena and Erin manning the booth at Starnet
Marilyn and Jena with Sharon from Floorcraft
Erin and Marilyn with John and Frank from Floors Etc.
Marilyn with Tierra and Jeff from Jack Laurie
Erin and Marilyn with Ryan Carpet and Tucson Commercial Carpet
Jena with Nichole from Poindexter
Erin and Jena with Nick and Val from Tri-State