Newsletter - September 2011

September 2011 www.BillMaster.com www.dwcorp.com

Greetings!

As summer comes to an end, we're kicking into high gear at Data West. Our Technical Consultants are working hard to upgrade everyone to the new BillMaster build. If you haven't scheduled your update, please contact Tech Support. If you have scheduled your update, please see the webinar calendar below and take advantage of the free training on how to use the new features.

Conference Wrap Up

Singing cowboys, a train ride, watching marmots play, and meeting

Marmot

fellow users are just a few memories that bring smiles to the faces of the 2011 BillMaster User Conference attendees. Even though fun is part of the conference, the main focus is to make sure the attendees leave with some great takeaways to implement. Comments from this year's evaluation forms provide examples of benefits users derived from attending the conference.

One comment was "It was great to learn that there are faster ways to do things than the way "we've always done them"." Many of us perform the same daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly tasks and don't explore the possibility that a better way might exist. This year's conference was a great place to learn BillMaster features that help streamline routine tasks.

Another comment was "I really enjoyed the conference & my

head is full of all the things I want to do... oh to find the time!" After the conference is when the real work begins, for both the users and the Data West tech consultants. Our Technical Consultants review the questions posed by attendees during each session and follow up to help implement solutions.

We experimented with a new session this year scheduling time for each user to meet with one of our Technical Consultants. These one-on-one meetings provided users with opportunities to discuss how to implement new ideas gained at the Conference, resolve nagging issues, and clarify procedures.

Overall, a wonderful time was had by all in the mountains of Durango, Colorado. We hope to see you next year!

Bar D Train Ride

Do you need more reasons to purchase BillMaster Voice?

Is it not enough to automate the payment process so staff isn't handling every transaction? Expand customer service during and after hours? Reduce call volume by 25% to 40%? Service customers in English or Spanish?

Here are two more reasons to purchase:

Purchase BillMaster Voice and receive free outbound minutes to make past-due reminder calls, broadcast water use restriction alerts, and send other important information to your customers. Improve collections. Reduce usage. Cut delinquency shutoffs.
Waived setup fee. That's a discount of thousands of dollars.

This special offer will be available through the end of the year. For more information please contact Larry Bernath of TeleWorks, lbernath@tele-works.com or 540-953-2631 x476.

Tech Tip

Default Payment Icon

When entering payments are you frequently changing the Default Payment Icon transaction amount field because it does not show the current balance? The default setting for the Entry transaction screen displays the Previous Balance in the Trans. Amount field. This is the account balance when you closed your last billing period. To change the transaction amount to the current balance, click on the Default Payment icon in the toolbar at the top of your screen.

Planning to change hardware?

Hardware changes can be tricky and time consuming. If you anticipate needing help from Data West, please give us advance notice. Pre-planning can assure we have the appropriate resources available to assist you.

Data West Calendar

September Webinar: BillMaster Upgrade- We'll explore the changes and enhancements contained in the new BillMaster 7 build. Along with new fields, buttons and functionality you'll find out how to:

Use the Auto-Adjust feature to correct prior period mis-reads.
Simulate Move Outs to estimate final bills

October Webinar: EZ Reports - Review how EZ Reports can help you generate simple reports to extract data from BillMaster. Learn about:

EZ Report views and when to use them.
Finding the fields you want to include in your report.

November Webinar: Standard Data West Reports - What reports are included in the Standard Data West Reports folder? What are the differences among the reports in the sub-folders? Are they designed to be run at a particular time during the billing cycle? The one report Auditors will love and why you should print it.

December Webinar: BillMaster Accounting- What is the General Ledger Summary and from where does its data come? How does BillMaster determine which General Ledger accounts are affected?

Webinars are conducted every Thursday (9:30AM MST the first two Thursdays of the month and 12:30PM MST on the third and fourth Thursdays of the month). To sign up visit our Webinar calendar or email Tech Support.

Data West Holidays: We will be closed on the following holidays: