[Routefinder]

Hi

Having quickly looked at the videos it does look like you have developed an interesting app.................as far as I can see part business running and part CRM. It would be added potential if the CRM side was grown to reflect/record the history of sales & services and contact records.....sorry if I missed or misunderstood and that is already 'there' but watching youTubes can only say so much therefore a full features list would be beneficial?

As there is always a but it is a pity you did not start by being open & up front with your OP as I note that AppWorld says it was accepted on the 14th December so why hide that you are the developer and lastly it looks like on your website that the first testimonial is by/from you ~ why?

As a B2B business person with aspirations of doing some B2C in which your app could be usefull your approach worries me slightly so I will keep watching hereabouts and how it grows

I add my thanks that you are developing a business usefull app

[dmlis]

This application has great potential, no doubt.

Question: what export formats are available, only pdf?

[BigAl_BB9900]

Agree completely - I did think the first post(s) were either a developer promoting their own product, or getting their mates to do it... This made me very sceptical re: the laudatory comments in the posts, and therefore much less likely to purchase the app

Transparency doesn't leave a sour taste in your mouth....

Hi
As there is always a but it is a pity you did not start by being open & up front with your OP as I note that AppWorld says it was accepted on the 14th December so why hide that you are the developer and lastly it looks like on your website that the first testimonial is by/from you ~ why?

[drmike]

I was thinking of having import capabilities for native contacts. Many of my contacts on my PB would have to be entered on again...lots of time re-entering information.

A trial period would be good as well...many sales/business apps have that ability.

Good UI though.

[drmike]

Also you need to be upfront...if this is your app, you can't say things like "I was looking around BB App world and found this..."

[pickles#WP]

I, too, am left with a skeptical view of the app based entirely on the attempt by the developer to promote his app pretending to be a customer and happy user, not the developer and owner.

More important, if RIM wants to rise above the android hordes, it should have not only quality controls as a per-requisite of acceptance on APP World but also a code of ethics and practice developers must follow. Creating false testimonials and posting as a happy user should be prohibited. The code could also prohibit the removal of negative reviews, set out the minimum standard of help to be provided for apps, etc.

[Routefinder]

In an idle moment I did a little Googling............................and I am sure the female named in the second testimonial is more common than I think but putting her name into Google lists very suspect links on the first page certainly not ones which I would be clicking on

I look forward to a clearer statement by the OP and how good you guys think the app is???

[jpash549]

Agree with Pickles02. There should be a code of ethics for developers both in posting to the forum and submitting shilling reviews to the App world. Not sure that the review in the app world was put in by him but don't see a signature on it. Does anyone want to claim it? Too bad in this case he does seem to have a useful app and did not have to resort to fakery to call attention to it. I guess the forum moderator ought to weigh in on this. But the bell cannot be unrung. The only openness was in his forum name which should have immediately made me suspicious but I guess I'm gullible and it slipped by me.

[DocDRM]

Y'all are nailing it exactly. That was what I was saying in my first post. I knew from the get go. CrackBerry name jdpub. App dev J.D. Publishing House. Reviewer on website was, I think, JD Landscaping.

Still can't figure the attempted sleight of hand, maybe not familiar with CrackBerry and our welcoming attitude towards devs? Maybe just innocently trying not to toot his own horn, but trying to to share what really looks to be one of the better done apps.

JD - maybe little longer explanation of all the points made here, a quality mea culpa, and you will likely get a full pardon, and be fully embraced on this and hopefully some more high quality apps, including the one I pitched.

Fellow CrackBerryians - you with me on this? Let's start from scratch if JD is willing.

[latarnik]

Hi all,

I have decided to give this app a little test ride. If it is good enough for my new business, it will be worth the money, otherwise I will survive anyway

I have some comments / tweaks straight away. I am posting them in the order of doing things (but the list is by no means complete, I have only checked some functions).


When you start the app, it asks you for setting a password, but the keyboard popping out is a standard one, not the new one with numbers (used for passwords in playbook now, I believe). Tweaking this could be nice.

Once logging in and entering the password, nothing happens after pressing enter. You have to press the login button on the screen. Small thing, but also could be tweaked.

After logging in I was taken to the set-up company screen. All looks pretty straightforward, nicely done, but again I have some comments:

- There was no login information, only password. Does it mean it is a standalone product and will not be possible to use it in groups? There are few of us in the company, does it mean everybody has to set it up separately? I would love to be able to set up the software once and then somehow let others use the data I have typed in (company data, products/services data, etc.). I realize that data is kept locally, but it would be great if it could be exported/imported between copies of the app installed on different playbooks/phones. Perhaps a PC/Mac App to which local data could be synced would be an option? But for that, each installation would have to have a user name, I think.

- Company information fields are OK, but please note that your app is available internationally, so you may want to change the setup slightly. I, for one, am using it for my company registered in the UK. I don't have the TaxID, but I have the company registration number, which I have entered in this field. But I have no idea if it will not affect some of the documents.

- I understand that the company information is used to create the invoice. It would be nice to add a logo to it in order to personalize the invoice a little bit more.

- Also it would be good to personalize the invoice template even more. Add some text to the bottom (in my case it would be some standard text of my company being registered in England and Wales, perhaps a company slogan, etc.), also add my contact information (e-mail and website, not only the telephone), payment information (payment terms, account number, bank name), perhaps customizable message.

- Again, as I want to use this app for EU business, so my currency is not USD. I would like to have an option to choose it, either for each invoice, or at least define at the beginning.

- Tax rate for services is defined as 0%. I am providing services with different tax rates - without the option to set it up for each service I am not able to use this app.

- It would be good to add some description to the service item, not only a name. Like: location, date, duration, etc. Or at least a free text box, editable with each invoice.

- The invoice is issued for the customer, but when setting them up, I don't see the field for contact person. I deal with some large customers, the invoice without FAO field would get lost if sent to the accounts and not to the person I deal with directly. Such contact person should appear on the invoice. There are slightly misleading fields' names when creating the Customer - there is "Name" and "Company Name", but the latter is not appearing anywhere, while the "Name" field is used as a customer name, so I have entered companies names there.

- I love the idea of e-mailing people directly from the app, would be even greater to add some e-mail templates (payment reminder, thank you note, etc.) and ability to track the e-mails sent from within the app to particular client. Perhaps the latter could be done by adding the app name to the e-mail body and then defining search criteria and adding a button to search for all communication with such client?

I have issued a test invoice and beside the above comments I have some more:

- It would be nice to set up some numbering systems. So the invoices are not simply numbered by 1/2/3, but perhaps with more complex syntax. For instance with month embedded in the numbering system. Plus user name/code (especially if different users are supported later).

- It would be great to have an ability to add discounts (percentage and amount) to both certain lines and total of the invoice.

- As said before - a text field to enter specific comments to the invoice would be helpful.

- Payment terms are missing - would be great if each client would have assigned credit terms, but it should be changeable from the level of the invoice as well.

- Once the invoice is created, there is an option to toggle the status. I find it very useful, but I would enrich it. Perhaps we could define statuses (more than 2) that we need? I for one would use the following:
UNPAID
OVERDUE (could work automatically with payment terms and issue date)
CHASED
PAID
But I can imagine completely different set of statuses, depending on the nature of the business.

- I have chosen at the beginning, that I supply both products and services. Is it possible to change later, if you have chosen only products for instance, but decide that you want to add services, too? I don't see such option.

- I have added some products and tax (VAT in my case) rates. Unfortunately, the app does not round up the amount - my invoice now shows amount to be paid as 2337.213899999999997. It should be 2337.21 - and I believe this is quite easy to correct

- Also (again, international use) I need to be able to name the tax as "VAT" on the invoice. Such customization would be required for many markets, I believe.

- Small thing, but when entering the Qty field, popup keyboard could be set to numbers already - I have to change it each time.

- Issue date is quite difficult to set up, when not using today's date. Perhaps I have big fingers, but I prefer the system, enlarged UI of date setup. The app version looks pretty, but it is difficult to use. Also a button resetting date to today would be very nice.

- In some countries invoice date and sales date can be different. Adding fields like "sales date" and "payable date" would be a plus for me. Could be optional (so you have to tick next to it for them to appear on the invoice).

- When exporting the invoice, the app should suggest the name, perhaps with invoice number and issue date. User can always change it before saving.

- I have to admit - I like the invoice view within the app more, than the exported to pdf format. The table within the app (with blue headings), the unit rate - why it can't be the same on the pdf? It would be nice.

- When viewing the invoices within the app, there is no filter. Of course, you can sort them by any field (very useful), but filtering, especially by the customer, date and status would be excellent.

I had a quick look into reports and found out, that you can export everything to pdf, but not invoice list. Why? This could be helpful as well

Also one very annoying feature - when I am in some inside screens (like in particular report) and I press "Close", the app takes me back to the home screen and not to the screen which should be one level up. So when I was in P&L report, after pushing "Close" I was ending at the home screen, and not the "Reports" screen. Small thing, but annoying.



Overall I think this app is very well done, I like the way it looks, works smoothly. Unfortunately it is tailored very much to US operations and probably to the creator's business. If this is developed further - I will definitely use it, especially on the go. I can see the potential - many useful functions could be added, while still keeping it a neat small app, and not a huge complex CRM/Accounts system. I am sure that crackberry forum users can test it further and help to make it a perfect app and a huge bestseller

[jhimmel]

Like others here, I am put off by the developers tactics. Even when he came forward, he apologized for the "confusion". It was not confusion, it was a deliberate misrepresentation. Not a good way to start.

[latarnik]

OK, let's stop criticizing OP for the way he started the discussion, I am sure he already gets that we don't like being treated like that

(apologies would be nice, though)

[Routefinder]

Evening all

Firstly, thanks Latarnik for the first use insight. Hope the OP/developer will be able to tweak and UK/Internationalise it in short order?

A FWIW I am a member of many fora and many have trades sections but the proviso for offering products or services to other members is filtered by the forum moderators, IMO an elegant solution that totally avoids such a mixed welcome the OP received.

As I said above I look forward to crackberry users insight and the developers onging feedback as to how the app will be improved to make it fully usefull

[jdpub]

Thanks everyone for the feedback, I will take it into consideration when creating updates. Please keep them comming. I am new to crackberry and did not take the time out to fully understand the rules. Many forums require a set number of post before being able to advertise a product. Yes I am the developer and a customer of my own product. I use the product everyday and have had close friends that own perspective start-ups and ventures use the product as well before launching. Those very same people provided testimonials to the product along with myself.

I've apologized for my previous comments and if that isn't enough for some then I completely understand, however I stand behind my product knowing that it is well worth the investment. Having paid well over $500 for quickbooks and other bookeeping software that refuse to create an app on the blackberry platform, I believe that the product is well worth the investment. Currently it is only setup in (usd), but I will be launching some updates to the app that will allow for international forms of payment. This is the first of many useful apps so please be patient.

I will also create a full tutorial and review of the app and hopes this answers many of the questions asked. Again, I apologize for the misrepresentation. Thank you all for your time and consideration, be on the lookout for the video in a day or two.

[jdpub]

I did post the first testimonial after having used for my company Home - J.D. Lawn & Landscape for about a month. Yes I am the owner but as a user of the app, I did not see the problem with telling people about my experience with the app having used it for one of my business ventures. I understand that my views may be a little biased but isn't every review or testimonial biased relative the user's needs and experiences. Again, did not see the problem with this.

[Sriman]

looks pretty good...

[jpash549]

Certainly a major conflict of interest to give your own product a glowing, superlative review. Can't say you were subtle about it if you signed your own other business name. Cynicism tells me that first reviews are often from the developers buddies and are not to be trusted. Nevertheless planted and unsigned reviews should be unacceptable and removed from the BB World or at least marked as what they are. Incidentally are you a licensed professional landscaper in your state, assuming you are in the USA?

[latarnik]

Thanks for the clarification, jdpub

I will keep entering my data into the app (although as an excercise only, for the reasons from my first post), and will provide comments, if I have any. Feel free to use the posts as a part of manual or testimonials, if you want.

Again, I like the concept of this app and if you manage to implement some changes, I will definitely benefit. And use it often

[Routefinder]

Hi jdpub

Good to read your update and outlined plans of things are/will be done

Just an extra thought re representation, I for one respect entrepreneurial folk but were I in your shoes I would have said that I could not find any suitable BBP app to help me run my busines so I wrote my own and that I am well pleased with the way it is developing and now was the time to show the world.................................not in the 3rd party way that you presented it. That is why I think you got off to a rocky start.

Best of luck and do post back when you have the added help etc on your website.

PS In regard to friends, business or not, we all tend to get our ego's massaged by friends but it is only when our "products" get into the wild that 'we' learn just how good they really are