QuickBooks Preparation Checklist | CLEARIFY

QuickBooks Preparation Checklist

The Intuit Software Development Kit provides a firly complete framework for the QuickBooks data extraction process - but there are also limitations and quirks which require a set of 'necessary practices' to avoid any potential synch or data accuracy issues. 

 Watch "Preparing QuickBooks to work with QQube"

1. Ensure that QuickBooks is Registered.  

2. Apply the Latest QB Release. Make sure that you are on the latest release of QuickBooks, and have met the listed requirements.

3. Assign Users/Permissions. Make sure you follow the exact directions for setting up the QuickBooks users and permissions

4. Assign Complex Passwords to ALL users. Beginning in fall of 2016, Intuit enforces this password requirement.  A password must have at least 7 characters, and include at least one number and one uppercase letter.

5. Login to QuickBooks as Admin in Single User Mode and check the following Preferences (Edit>Preferences).

Accounting Preferences (Company). 

• "Show lowest subaccount only" must be UNchecked.   This setting is absolutely necessary for Financial Statements and there is no work around.  For all other subjects, it is not necessary to change this setting.

Integrated Applications Preferences (Company). 

• "Don't allow any applications to access this company file" MUSt be UNchecked, or QQube (or any other 3rd party application) will be unable to connect to the QuickBooks file.

Report Preferences (Company). 

• If you are running the Inventory Subject in QQube, and use Assemblies - OR use Payroll and Job Costing using QB Pro/Premier, you need to set the Reports & Graphs Preferences to 'Name only' for 'REPORTS - SHOW ITEMS BY'.  This is a global setting.
• If you are running Job Costing, Payroll, or General Ledger Detail Subjects using QuickBooks Pro/Premiere - you need to set the Reports & Graphs Preferences to 'Name only' for 'REPORTS - SHOW ACCOUNTS BY'

6. Login (single-user mode) to QuickBooks as the QQube User you created in Step 2 above.  Check the following Preference (Edit>Preferences).

General Preferences (My Preferences). 

• "Keep QuickBooks running for quick startups"  QuickBooks turns this on by default but will cause problems with the synch. NOTICE:  This is NOT a global preference - and why you login as the QQube User to ensure its effect. NOTE: This setting goes away in QuickBooks 2018, and winter 2017 updates to earlier QuickBooks versions.

7. Check for Modal Dialogue Boxes. Open up QuickBooks where the synch takes place, and check for any Modal Dialogue Boxes that may pop up and prevent the synch from continuing.  See examples here.

8. Rebuild Your QuickBooks file.  We suggest this especially for any size file, despite the fact that there is a direct correlation between the file size and probability of corruption in the QuickBooks file.  

If you run a Verify Data, and it shows no errors, it doesn't mean that the SDK (Intuit Software Development Kit) won't find any data issues.  They are independent operations.

9. QuickBooks - Open or Closed while the synch is running?.  

• QQube Single-User.  
  • Make sure that only one instance of QuickBooks is open while you do the synch. (check the task manager for any rogue instances of QBW32.EXE, to be safe).
  • If you are logged into the QuickBooks file, it will take on the permissions of that logged in user.  If you want full permissions during the synch, then open up QB to NO company file, before doing the synch.
  • It is generally not advisable to use the scheduler for Single-User QQube installations.
• QQube Multi-User on the server.  Open up QuickBooks to NO company file.  QQube will open up each company, extract the data, and close the company.  You will find far fewer errors using this method.

NOTE: Enterprise users MUST be in Multi-User Mode when attempting to run the synch.