Well over half of
our Libra clients have fully converted to Laser printing. This goes for reports,
invoices, purchase orders, cheques and assorted other forms. Laser printing has
significant advantages over older Dot-Matrix printing in terms of sound
reduction, printing speed and general readability. For anyone looking at
re-ordering any forms printed by your Libra programs such as Work Orders,
Purchase Orders, Invoices or Cheques, Laser printing has to be a consideration.
Laser printers
have come down substantially in price as well. You can usually find one for
less than the least expensive Dot-Matrix printer. Many models can also print in
Duplex Mode (both sides of the page) and can print envelopes, laser labels and
such. Many models can double as a Fax Machine and Photocopier as well.
But be
forewarned, not every model or brand is adaptable to printing from Libra
programs. Generally we recommend HP printers both for compatibility and
reliability reasons. We have also successfully used some models of Brother,
Canon, Minolta, Okidata & Pitney Bowes printers as well. Unfortunately,
many other models were found to be incompatible. Generally the printer must
support the PCL printer language for Libra compatibility. Even some low-end HP
printers do not support this language and as a result will not work.
A list of
compatible HP Printers we can supply:
Model Printing Fax Copier Price
1320 Simplex/Duplex No No
$375.00
2420 Simplex No No $625.00
2420d Simplex/Duplex No No
$725.00
4250 Simplex No No
$1025.00
3050 Simplex Yes Yes $350.00
3055 Simplex Yes Yes $575.00
3380 Simplex Yes Yes $825.00
3390 Simplex Yes Yes $775.00
The main
differences as the price increases are speed and durability rating. The more
expensive models are rated for more pages per month. The more expensive All In One
units have better photocopier features as well. Most of the printers are also
available with multiple trays and optional network cards at additional cost.
We have used all
of the above models with success. Any other model that you are considering should
be referred to us to confirm its compatibility. Most of the high-end Digital
Printer/Photocopiers supporting the PCL programming language can often be used
as well.
For some time now
we have offered Monthly Support Plans and about half of our clients have taken
advantage of the program. Unfortunately, many clients have preferred to go on a
Pay as You Go basis, which results in a variety of problems both for Visual
Accounting and the clients themselves as they try to avoid placing a technical
support call to save money. This often results in minor problems turning into
major ones as clients struggle to solve problems themselves. These major
problems often require us to come on-site to resolve what may have taken 5
minutes up front.
Monthly support
plans start at as little as $20 per month. Typical installations, with
networking, multiple users and applications cost about $50 per month. Monthly
support plans help to keep costs down and make sure that we as a company can
continue to offer our services to our clients now and well into the future.
The advantages of
Monthly Support Plans are:
1) Technical Support
Fees are fixed.
2) Staff can inquire
as to the best way to do something instead of wasting time experimenting with
solutions.
3) Problems are
solved while they are still simple instead of having users trying to fix them
themselves and ultimately making things worse.
4) Support extends
to advice about home computers and computer related purchases for all users on
the monthly support plan.
5) The availability
of Libra Support is guaranteed.
6) Payroll, Sales
Analysis, Accounting Features and other updates are included free of charge.
July 1, 2007 is coming
fast. The Canadian Bank Association has dictated new standards for all
corporate cheques to enable standard clearing, scanning and imaging of cheques.
If you are ordering new cheques, make sure that they meet the new standard.
What will happen when the time comes and your cheques do not meet the standard
is unclear. The deadline has already slipped by 6 months. Whether the banks have decided to charge
fees to clear non-compliant cheques has not been cast in stone but seems all
too likely in the Canadian Banking Tradition.