Any feedback from current PAWCOM User?

[vervoca]

I heard alot of the 3rd party add in software, can any current user give any feedback of this product, like / is it popular / is it useful / what are the good or bad of it/ what can it do for you... ?

I want to have impartial opinion from current users, those insiders of multiwareinc.com/pawcom.htm, please do not reply for the time being, please.

Vervoca

[aerocenter]

Vervoca: I have been using PAWCOM for several months. I am not fluent with Access, but I am slowly learning. It is very powerful, and has solved my problem with inaccurate inventory reports from the PAW reports. I highly recommend the program.

[sbpressman]

I also have no programming or Access experience, but bought PAWCOM recently because Peachtree discontinued Peacthree Report Writer (which was ungodly slow, anyway). PAWCOM is very useful for the sort of reports that Peachtree should include but don't (Sales by Item by Customer, Sales by Customer by Item with detail), and for the flexibility it provides.

By flexibility, I mean that in Peachtree, for instance, if you want to include the Sales Rep, or Customer State, etc. in the report and it is greyed out, you're out of luck. While I haven't learned enough Access to customize my queries and reports, it's clear that this is doable. The user interface isn't as easy as Report Writer was (where you could choose ANY field to modify your report, choose a parameter -- greater than, less than, contains, equals, etc.., and run the report), but if you learn Access, I'm sure it's not too difficult. What would be nice is if a report program used a front end like Peachtree and PAWCOM's (a list of drop down menus which are already linked to your data), with a radio button titled "add a filter" that opened a dialog box for selecting additional parameters ("I want to also filter by City, equals X or between A-D"). My final rant is none of the report programs I've seen (Crystal included) make it easy to search by non-sequential criteria (if I want to search sales by several Items that aren't sequentially SKU numbered).

All that being said, PAWCOM is not only the best of the lot that I've seen, but you WILL get personal, thorough technical support, including customizing reports, walking you through setup, etc. Some of my specific needs were simply incorporated into the latest version (A/R by sales rep, for example). The management at Multiware is very helpful.

[vervoca]

I am not a user of pawcom, but I have read through the manual of the pawcom.

I am surprised that only 2 reply is received yet.

I guess the pawcom is not so popular as paw (may be due to cost and programming knowledge). Most user will buy standard version of ms-office only (without access), this may be one of the reason.

It can be a rescue software for the defects of paw, especially, when there is data corruption / mis match of data.

For ordinary users, I think the most powerful function is that one can create any type or reports he wants because it can access almost all the underlining data tables.

I think enhancement of PAW bugs and report writer is the best solution.

But if paw and pawcom joint together as the strategic partners, I think the enhancement will be better and faster.

Bob's reply is welcome.

Regards

vervoca

[jag]

Just out of curiosity:

What do you mean by "I think enhancement of PAW bugs and report writer is the best solution"?

I don't think that Pawcom is a fix (solution) for anything in Peachtree. It is only a tool (in fact, a very powerful tool). You can use that tool to workaround some of Peachtree's limitations, but again it is only a tool. Fixing PAW Bugs and Report Writer is a completely different issue. Also, we got to work with what we have... I personally don't expect that peachtree fixes everything they need to fix, anymore than I expect Microsoft to release a bugless OS (that's not gonna happen). :)

IMHO, what Peachtree needs to do is to reorganize their database structure and make it accesible (that's the reason why people don't like much the CR-Peachtree combination).

I think that Pawcom is not intended for the average joe that uses Peachtree. Instead it is intended for the people that wants and/or needs to squeeze more out from Peachtree and/or want to develop apps that use peachtree db, regardless of their programming experience. Again, that's only my opinion.

I would like to know what is Robert's opinion in this matter.

Respectfuly,