Excuse the Mess

Sorry for the trouble with the blog. I deleted an old gmail address, not knowing that to do so would irrevocably delete my older blog sites.

Ouch. Fortunately (or not, depending on whether you like to read what I write) the sites and the various blogs were indexed by google, among others, so I have been able to re-capture the content, and will re-post it over time.

My old blog site for business, RPMSLLC.blogspot.com, is now therefore in some sort of limbo, so I can't use it right now. But even that has a silver lining, as due to some corporate re-structuring the company name RPMS LLC is no longer how we're known. Nowadays Uncle Sam, Kansas, and our bank knows us as RepSoft LLC. Thus, the new domain for the blog.

Short lesson - be careful when you delete your @gmail E-Mail addresses. You only think you know what you're doing.

Speedy SSD Raid

Now this is fast (and kind of fun, too.)

It has been a long, long time since I put together my own computer. Probably 1998 or '99. BUT it did last up until last year. *

·                                 That is, all except the 3.5" floppy drive, which did not survive a toddler attack with a paper clip that happened in 2002. I managed a few years without it.

Watching this video makes me want to put a machine together again, pretty much just like this one. Since disk reads and writes have ALWAYS been the long pole in the tent for business applications like RPMS, this gives me really interesting ideas.

Solid state drives - SSD's - are basically just the flash memory cards we're all familiar with now from digital cameras and the like, arrayed on a computer card. And RAID is an acronym for Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks. So you take the array of flash chips bundled into a single drive (the SSD), and then take a bunch of those SSD's and wire them together on a single computer (the RAID) and presto, pretty darn fast computer. 

I've never put together a RAID before, but hmmmm.....

Google Chrome

Google Chrome seems better to me than FireFox.

I really hate to say it, as I've been a FireFox user for a while now. But Google Chrome is FAST, and I've set it to be my default browser for now. It is still technically beta, so if it fouls up in any substantial way, I'll post and let you know... but it sure looks good today.

I wrote a little Windows application for purely personal purposes that takes both a date and location parameter, then shells to the default browser with an Open statement to display a schedule page.

(Basically, instead of going through typing a really massive URL or five levels of mouse click / display page, I get to the immediate result that I want with three clicks. Sometimes it IS handy to be a geek.)

Results: FireFox - 3 seconds. Google Chrome - less than 1 second.

That's the only rigorous test that I've done to this point, but everything seems faster. And there are several other small touches that I really like.

First, the tabs, URL bar, button bar and so forth are minimalist and reasonably intuitive. (See the picture.)

Second, the default home page is kind of cool. It displays all the sites I've been too recently or mostly, and lets me just click them to get back. (See the picture too.)

The pre seeking in the URL is really fast. And Chrome inherited all my FireFox settings perfectly.

Here's another review from CIO magazine. You can download the latest Google Chrome right here.

Sweet Charity

Ok. I'm sorry. You would think one quasi-political post in a month's time would do it, and I'd get back to software and ordinary geek-stuff. But I'm going to gently rant.

The White House Director of OMB (Office of Management & Budget), Peter Orszag, had this to say about the pending reduction to the charitable donation tax write off in the new budget:

But let’s look at how the tax code treats two different contributors to a non-profit. If you’re a teacher making $50,000 a year and decide to donate $1,000 to the Red Cross or United Way, you enjoy a tax break of $150. If you are Warren Buffet or Bill Gates and you make that same donation, you get a $350 deduction – more than twice the break as the teacher.

This proposal walks that difference back some of the way – it would limit the tax benefit for Buffet or Gates to $280. In other words, we are not eliminating the deduction – just reducing it to 28 percent (or $280 on the hypothetical $1,000 contribution) for the 5 percent of families at the very top of the income distribution. That is the same tax benefit that they would have enjoyed at the end of the Reagan Administration.

Obviously this was not written for Gates or Buffet, or even Americans of lesser wealth who are nevertheless big givers with high incomes. They ALL understand what's going on, because they live it at tax time every year. No, this is written specifically for that 50K per year teacher. Or anyone else making less than 250K per year. And here's the kicker - Orszag thinks that we're all idiots.

But, don't take my word for it, read the whole post. Here it is again:The Budget and Charitable Donations

Did you see one word in it about how much more in taxes those big givers already pay?

I know lots of you are already way ahead of me here, but let me spell it out, just because it will make me feel better. If Gates gives $1,000 to the United Way, and Joe Teacher gives $1,000 to the United Way, both Bill and Joe are $1,000 poorer, and the United Way is $2,000 richer.

There's nothing uneven about that.

UNLESS, you are Orszag, and you believe that the money - the $1,000 in either man's pocket - is rightfully YOUR money first. YOU are the government, and YOU have first call on ANYBODY'S money. In that light, his post makes perfect sense. Since all money REALLY belongs to the government, not the people that earn it, the government is free to take as much or little as they want from anybody, any time, at the point of a gun.

Now while as a G man, Orszag knows this is true, he can't SAY it in so many words. It still sounds a little too harsh, too police state, too politically incorrect. He doesn't want to screw up the opportunity for his boss to be re-elected. So he says the word 'tax break' and pretends that it has the same value as real money.

But it doesn't, does it? Remember, each man is $1,000 poorer, and the United Way is $2,000 better off.

But Jim, you may protest, I know there must be something too this. He can't be lying, can he?

No, he's not lying. But he is relying on the fact that you're an idiot. He hopes like hell that you believe this crap about "walking the difference back" because it sounds like he's making it more equitable, making everything the same.

I've got an idea. In the interest of fairness, here's another way we could make it the same. Let's reduce the top tax rate to 15% for Mr. Gates. That way, he would only enjoy a tax break of $150 too, the same as the teacher.

Don't hold your breath.

Despite my rant about this, they'll probably get away with this. And here's where it is really going to hurt charities. Say it's not Gates, but a $450,000 per year family of six, with two kids in college, that gives 10% annually to Joe's charity.

Bush Tax Rates & Charitable Deductions:

·                                 $450,000 income

·                                 ( $45,000) charity

·                                 ($113,325) tax burden

Net for the family after charity and tax burden: $ 291,675

Obama Tax Rates & Charitable Deductions:

·                                 $450,000 income

·                                 ( $45,000) charity

·                                 ($120,721) tax burden

Net for the family after charity and tax burden: $ 284,279

So how does our hypothetical family get back their $7,000? By reducing their charitable giving, of course. If they give only $35,000 to charity, then the numbers work out this way:

Obama Plan after reaction to policy

·                                 $450,000 income

·                                 ( $35,000) charity

·                                 ($123,521) tax burden

Net for the family after charity and tax burden: $ 291,479.

Roughly the same as it was under Bush. So Mr. Orszag is happy, since he gets 10K more for pork funding. The family doesn't feel great about things, but at least they can still pay for tuition (no financial aid for them) and their mortgage (glad somebody can.)

Who's the big loser here? Joe Teacher. Because he thought that things were going to even out. What really happened is that charity that he likes - the one he gives his very hard-earned money to - they can't do as much as they used to do. So ironically, they ask for more from Joe.

My Political / Economic Crystal Ball

As a small business owner, I have to admit to a little schadenfreude as I watch the stock market dive. High-powered executives and financial geniuses must watch in helpless consternation as all the value built purely on expectation evaporates into the economic ether.

As a homeowner, I'm really glad that I don't have to sell my house right now, so some of you that have put off moving into a larger home can enjoy a little schadenfreude at my expense.

But as an American, it's not really my nature to be down for long. My crytsal ball tells me...

Plan on cost-cutting and continued attempts to increase business efficiencies through 2010. The world will turn again in 2011, beginning a modest but lengthy recovery, the heights of which will be tempered by a ballooning U.S. deficit and nagging tax rates. Taxes and spending will be reined in after the 2010 elections. Madam Pelosi will be deposed by the Democrats in an effort to stop the bleeding, as the House Democratic majority will be cut to the bone. Republicans will run the Senate outright, retaining 17 of the 19 Republican-held seats up for election, and winning 11 of the 17 Democrat-held seats, for a net gain of 9 Republicans, putting them at 50.

So all rep firms should be approaching 2011 with excitement and anticipation. The trick is of course, to survive until then.

The business buzzword nowadays is deleverage - shedding debt - and hardly anyone can do it fast enough. As a rep firm, you have the awesome advantage of being a pay as you go expense. Press that advantage.

Double the money that you spend marketing to potential principals. This year and next the dissatisfaction with both current representation and fixed cost direct sales reps will be very high. Fill that void, and work to carry slightly more lines. Resign one line for each two that you add.

Be the single most positive and optimistic voice that your current principals hear. Don't be Polly-Annish - tell the truth - but do so with optimism for the future and genuine excitement about the opportunities ahead.

Be sure that you're being paid what you ought to be paid. Be sure that you're getting sales information from your principals. If they are unwilling to share that information with you, something is wrong.

In your own operations, be as intelligent as you can be about your overhead. The RPMS E-Data Wizard can get you more information in less time - if you're not uploading data electronically, you should be.

Fill every working minute of your time, and the time of your employees. If the phone isn't ringing, find something else to do that improves your business. Every employee must participate in that process. Those that don't must be fired.

Push your sales reps. Have a frank conversation with them about their activity reports. You know, I know, and they know that they're not responsible individually for the state of your industry, or the capital of your customers. But what you can't know - what you can't ever really know - is whether you're getting their best efforts. Your ability to measure their efforts in ways other than dollars may mean the difference between keeping and losing the lines that keep your business afloat. There are fantastic tools out there for measuring activities and opportunities, including our favorite, TeleNotes.

Ask your vendors for discounts. You may not always get them, but you can almost always get better terms. Every single vendor you have, including your phone company, Internet provider, insurance company, landlord - yes, even your software company - are worried about whether or not you will be around to pay your next bill, or renwew your next contract. Work that to your advantage. Reduce your costs right now in exchange for extended contracts.

Help your principals undertstand that this is how the world works now, and is likely to be for the next year or two. Be creative. Demonstrate to both customers and principals that you are the indespensible cog in the wheel of their relationships.

RPMS Version 7.9 in 2009, and Beyond

In 2009 our company will hit a couple of milestones worth mentioning.

Our very first PC based software system was delivered in 1985. So in September of 2009 we will begin our twenty-fifth year of support and updates to rep software for manufacturers reps.

2009 will also see the final updates and enhancements to RPMS Version 7, in preparation for 2010 and the new RPMS Version 8.

When we re-wrote RPMS from the ground up back in 2000 and 2001, the idea was to create a version that was both easier to use and easier to support. Mission accomplished. RPMS V7 is the most popular version of RPMS ever, but even better, takes far less support per installation than any previous version. V7 has continued to change and improve over the last several years - you can look back at a history of those changes here.

And there are still some enhancements we want to make in 7.9 this year to finish off this version of our system. Some of our plans include...

·                                 Adding a ship-date oriented line item report, much like the open order reports but regarding shipped items

·                                 Making improvements to the Inventory system, including allocation verification and better status change management from stocked to non-stocked; and kit/assembly management

·                                 Adding the ability to print a range of purchase orders by date range, principal, customer, sales rep, or combinations

·                                 Adding the opportunity to 'auto-add' products during short form data entry, for products that are not found

·                                 Completing the TeleNotes to RPMS interface

...and likely other ideas that come up as well.

As in other times with other major version changes, we will have a dual-development schedule. Work will continue on enhancements and improvements to V7, while work begins in earnest upon RPMS V8.

And what, you may well ask, does Version 8 have in store? Plenty, of course, necessitating the major version change, including...

·                                 File and record handling changes that will provide major speed improvements for reports, snapshots, and data entry

·                                 Architectural changes to databases that will greatly improve product (part number) versatility

·                                 A major system-level change that will provide two incredible new advantages:

o                                                        Automatic off-site backup and database auditing, for daily guarantee of database reliability and integrity, on RPMS-hosted servers

o                                                        Simple, powerful, secure remote access for field sales reps, including reports, customers, order entry and more, from RPMS-hosted servers

·                                 A license management change that automatically configures your system for optimum usage. If you don't use a feature, you won't pay for that feature.

...and probably more that will become apparent as the new software takes shape.

Will V8 look different? For remote accessing field sales reps, yes. For the rest of us, not much. We should all be very comfortable with the look and feel on the first day.

Is it Internet-based? No, not completely. More like Internet-enhanced. While there are some things that are done best on a web-based product, the day to day management of a rep system is not necessarily one of them. Rep software operators want speed, reliability, ease-of-use, and suitability to task. Where the software operates is not nearly as important to them as how it operates.

Is it priced differently? We're not sure. But we do expect that our 2010 pricing will not create any heavy financial burden on customers that stay under our maintenance program from year to year.

Is it licensed differently? Yes, it has to be. Once we cross into the world of hosting - even in the narrowly limited way that we will first do so - we will recognize new and on-going commitments that will have to be passed along.

So in 2010, we dip our toe into the software as a service water. Much like our migration from DOS to Windows back in the late 1980's, RPMS will support multiple styles of system for a while. The desktop-based client-server RPMS V8 will continue to provide outstanding speed and ease of use for day-to-day operation, in a familiar and practical environment. The V8 database, regularly backed up to and audited by RPMS servers, will provide a stable, secure off-site backup. And the new code we write to run on our servers for your authorized remote users will provide a simple, powerful way for field-sales reps and remote offices to access their corporate data.

This 'best of all worlds' approach has served us well in the past, and is, we believe, our best means to move forward to new models of software delivery. Until then though, RPMS Versions 7.8 and 7.9 will continue to set the standard for rep software. We're looking forward to this next journey in software development, and hope that you are too.

Accounting for Maintenance Subscriptions

Accounting is dry subject matter. Sorry in advance to bore you, but given the current financial climate, I thought it might be timely for you to learn a little more about how we handle the money that you send us.


For most of the history of our company, we did our accounting on a cash basis. [You probably already know this, but if it's been a while since business school, cash basis means that we counted our revenue when we received it, and we counted our expenses when we wrote checks. No sooner, no later, for either one.]

Cash basis accounting is the way that most small businesses function. It is simple, perfectly legal, and easy to implement. Most rep firms we encounter run on a cash basis. But for a company that relies to a large degree on subscription revenue, it is not a very smart way to operate.

Here's why.

As a software company, we annually ask our customers to purchase support and update contracts. Our version of this contract is calledEMA - the RPMS Extended Maintenance Agreement. Near the end of each customer's subscription period, we send them an invoice, and invite them to renew their maintenance subscriptions. Most customers do, and for that, we're always grateful.

But up until about 2003, we looked at the subscription money our customers sent as immediate income, because we operated on that cash basis. That tended to create some awkward circumstances.

For example, when a customer's subscription expired in December 2000, and their 2001 subscription renewal check arrived before year-end, we'd be compelled to count the money as 2000 income. But all the expenses we incurred on behalf of that customer would happen in 2001.

Speaking of 2001 - though I hate to - I hope your business in 2001 was better than ours. Ours pretty much stunk. We'd historically borrowed money during August and September, and that year we had to borrow even more than usual. We managed to turn a profit, but barely. And Brent and I really did not like the feeling of scraping around for short-term funding, when we knew that our business was generally pretty sound.

It seemed to us that if there were some way we could count the subscription income in the month we earned it, as opposed to when we'd received it, our cash reserves would get a whole lot healthier. So in late 2003, we changed our accounting method to an accrual basis, and our business model changed completely.

[Quick accounting refresher: In accrual basis accounting, revenue is recognized only when it is both realized AND earned. 'Realized' means when the cash comes in, but revenue is not 'earned' until products or services are provided. Expenses are recognized in the period in which related revenue is recognized. ]

So what happens nowadays to your EMA subscription money when you send it to us? Well, it goes in the bank, obviously. But as it passes through our accounting system (QuickBooks Pro, if you care) it gets placed in one of twelve different liability accounts, each based on the last month of the subscription. So if your EMA expires in September, your money gets written to liability account number 2409, called "EMA through September".

At the beginning of each month, we make a general journal entry, taking a different percentage of the remaining liability from each month and posting it as EMA Income. For example, at the beginning of November we will take 100% of the remaining liability from the 2411-November account. And we'll take 50% of the balance of the 2412-December account, the rest to come out the next month. And 33% of the 2401-January account, 25% of the 2402-February, etc.

Each subsequent month the percentages shift, such that ALL the remaining EMA is cleared out of the current month's liability account, half from the next month, and so on. It is not really as difficult as I'm afraid I've made it sound. A little spreadsheet cheat-sheet shows the month and the percentages to write as income.

But here's the really useful thing. We have cash when we need it. More importantly, we have money when you need us. We haven't robbed Peter to pay Paul. We don't worry about funding our obligation to provide you with support and programming updates. You've already funded it, and we won't take the difference for ourselves until we've earned it.

A little boring, I know. Not very edgy, this conservative accounting stuff. But since we're asking you for money now and then, we thought you might like to know.