My Favorite Newbies - QuickBooks Desktop 2019 (Part 2)

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“Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens. Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens. Brown paper packages tied up with strings. These are a few of my favorite things”1

Each year, I begin my favorite newbies article with the above excerpt from "My Favorite Things," which was composed for "The Sound of Music." The song emphasizes the simple things in life.

Many times, my favorite things have been ‘complex’ features found only in QuickBooks Enterprise, perhaps related to Advanced Inventory. Other years my favorites are some of the simplistic things found in every version of QuickBooks. Still, other years my favorites have been Accountant version features intended for bookkeepers. Other than giving you the specifics of the features themselves, I didn’t really justify why a specific feature was among my favorites. This year, in Part 1 of ‘My Favorite Newbies’ I attempted to give you a firm ‘rationale’ of why the new Data File Optimization (aka: Condense/remove Audit Trail) feature was one of my favorites for 2019. 

Now I want to give you another of my favorite newbies…

Enhanced IIF Import Utility functionality

Many of you might have guessed that this would be one of ‘my favorite newbies’ because you know me as a ‘techy’ and this is one of the ‘techier’ features for 2019, but that’s not the rationale I used in selecting this enhanced feature. My rationale for this selection boils down to two simple statements I can make about this enhanced functionality, “better file integrity without additional cost” and “improved workflow by eliminating the single-user import requirement.”

Whereas in Part 1 of this year’s ‘My Favorite Newbies’ I gave you an even more comprehensive and ‘techy’ overview of the Data File Optimization feature, I don’t intend to do that regarding the enhanced IIF Import Utility, I simply am going to amplify the how and why of my rationale.

First, “better file integrity without additional cost.” IIF file import, while having been around since the very early days of QuickBooks, is prone to error for any number of reasons. Some developers using IIF fail to abide by all the so-called rules for using IIF which means that their data can cause corruptions. One of the biggest culprits is when someone attempts to create their own IIF files for import and they simply let this data preference or that data requirement slide by and then wonder why their QuickBooks data shows signs of corruption after an import. 

Because the IIF import process of the past has essentially inserted raw data into the QuickBooks Company file without any significant validation the extent to which an IIF file can corrupt the QuickBooks data can be horrific. For example, a few years back I discovered how easy it was to create ‘duplicate names’ in a QuickBooks Company file using the IIF by virtue of something I coined as ‘phantom duplication.’ I have subsequently written a couple of articles about Phantom Duplicates.

Early on in my own QuickBooks Technical Consulting Practice, I discovered the horrors of IIF import when a new client called me reporting that each time they imported an IIF file from their 3rd-party system, they typically had between 300 and 1200 errors show up which had to be fixed. Of course, I immediately suggested that they ‘stop’ importing the IIF files, but they told me that was an unacceptable answer. Since the 3rd-party developer told them that there was ‘nothing wrong’ with their files, that the files conformed to IIF standards, I set my mind to trying to find an alternative way of importing the data. 

My second suggestion was to ask the 3rd-party developer to reformat their system output to turn it into an Excel or CSV file that could be imported rather than an IIF file. Problem was, my new client wasn’t willing to pay the 3rd-party developer to do that.

After a little more research, I discovered two products, Zed (Axis) and AaaTex (IIF-importer). Both products would take an IIF formatted file (which is a text file that is significantly different from an Excel or CSV file) and prepare it so that it could be imported via the SDK path into QuickBooks rather than the IIF path. Because of going via the SDK path, the file underwent validation and any offending data was prevented from import. 

But there was one other advantage of these two systems that helped to overcome potential corruption. Defined mapping and data definition. With either system I could modify the way the data was formatted to prevent corruptions from either being rejected or being imported, I could substitute acceptable data for unacceptable data. 

Both the Zed and AaaTex products were substantially cheaper than having that initial customer’s IIF files either corrected in terms of format or reformatted into CSV or Excel formats. My client was happy, the QuickBooks file was happy, and I was happy.

Well, now we have the ‘enhanced IIF file import utility’ and at least half the battle is won with this enhancement. Because this enhancement essentially provides the same kinds of verification and validation routines associated with SDK data exchange, and there is a new interface for IIF Import that helps ensure that the data meets requirements before it is imported into a user’s QuickBooks Company file, we can hopefully rest easy believing that no more ‘corrupting type data’ is going to be imported via IIF.

But that is just ‘half the battle’.  While the new feature provides users with the ability to not only see the issues that fail import, but to fix those errors prior to any re-import attempt, who is to say that a ‘user’ can in fact fix those errors? Some users won’t have a clue how to fix the problems within the ‘IIF import file’, and other users (like the client I mentioned earlier) may think there are ‘too many errors to fix outside QuickBooks, I want to fix them after they are imported.’

“thank goodness”) and I think we will continue to see some QuickBooks users making use of that method and still experiencing the same old corruptions as before. The path to using it is shown in the illustration below within the ‘red box’.

But the very good news is that the new methodology works to prevent corruptions and to provide guidance on pre-import resolution of the erroneous data. And that means that users can have SDK-like validation for IIF files without having to purchase a 3rd-party product like those offered by Zed or AaaTex. 

My second rationale was, “improved workflow by eliminating the single-user import requirement.” For this rationale I return to my earlier client. As if the option I gave my client of a 3rd-party product from Zed or AaaTex was not an economical alternative to prevent as many as 1200 corruptions each time they imported an IIF file, I could hardly believe my ears when they ‘balked’ at a few hundred dollars for one of these solutions.  But I finally sold them when I gave them the other ‘good news’. When they learned that using the 3rd-party product meant that the files could now be imported while they remained in multi-user mode and other users could still be working in the file they were ecstatic.

Sure enough, the same thing applies to the newly enhanced IIF Import option within QuickBooks 2019.  Because the data is now using the SDK pathway in lieu of the IIF pathway for actual import, you are no longer required to kick everyone else out of QuickBooks, so you can switch to single-user mode during file import.

This means your day-to-day workflow is eased, the single-user burden is over. No more trying to sneak in an IIF file import while everyone else is at lunch and you are eating a cold sandwich at your desk.  No more arriving an hour early to import an IIF file before everyone shows up to drink the coffee you made since you were first on the job.  No more staying late to get that IIF file imported after everyone heads to happy hour down the street at ‘Chumkee’s’ (if such a place exists) while being left to try to figure out how to shut down QuickBooks for those who ran-off with it left open. You should now find that your life is easier because IIF as you knew it is really a thing of the past.

So, while the new IIF Import option may still have a few issues that will require attention by someone who can resolve identified problems before re-import of potentially corruption causing data, it is a great advancement at preventing corruption and enhancing workflow, and that is why it is one of “my favorite newbies for 2019".

1-"My Favorite Things"; Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music (1959), Composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein.

Figit Friends Newbies (as shown in this articles' headline graphic) are the registered trademark of Mattel, Corporation.