If I download a backup file of our Bivio online accounting data, is that
file then supposed to be usable in NAIC PC Accounting? I originally
uploaded our data from the PC Accounting to Bivio and it worked
beautifully!
 
Also, is a Bivio backup usable in NAIC's NOCA (online) accounting program?
 
Lindy Robertson
WISE Investors (Portland Oregon)

Lindy Robertson wrote:
> If I download a backup file of our Bivio online accounting data, is that
> file then supposed to be usable in NAIC PC Accounting?

You bring up an excellent point. We at bivio have been
trying to get the NAIC and EasyWare to upgrade their export
format. As it is, bivio has too many features which are not
supportable by the NAIC's export format.

For example, bivio allows a club to create any number of
accounts and the NAIC export format only supports four.
bivio supports equally allocated expenses, expense
categories, and allows you to change your club's tax
allocation method from year to year. None of these
features is supported by any of our competitors.

The NAIC has been unmoving on this issue. We don't
understand their position, because improved accounting
software helps clubs. You might the NAIC to ask them why
they won't update their software.

> Also, is a Bivio backup usable in NAIC's NOCA (online) accounting
> program?

If you use NOCA, you will not be able to import your data
into any other program, ever. NOCA's *export* format is
encrypted, which means neither bivio nor you can look
inside. At this stage, once your data is in NOCA, you can't
get it back. This has never made sense to us. Moreover,
you can't export from NOCA back into NAIC Club Accounting!
Go figure.

As you know, bivio's export format is readable by anyone.
Indeed it is written in a wide-spread industry standard
called XML. Any bivio competitor can import your data as
long as they implement all of bivio's accounting features.

Thanks for using bivio,
Rob

Thanks for such a prompt reply, Rob ! :)
 
Some of the features you pointed out are those we love most about Bivio -- and I now reminded of the problem with trying to put it "back in" the old software.
 
Actually, the ONLY reason I was playing with NOCA is because they have chat rooms available for our club. We really really really need a chat room as our members are scattering across the U S and to Samoa! The Yahoo setup is too cumbersome -- after setting up our club presence, I haven't been able to get the chat room to load, etc. etc.
 
I haven't seen chat rooms in Bivio. Are they coming? Or am I missing something? :)
 
--Lindy
 
Robert Nagler wrote:
> Lindy Robertson wrote:
> > If I download a backup file of our Bivio online accounting data, is that
> > file then supposed to be usable in NAIC PC Accounting?
>
> You bring up an excellent point. We at bivio have been
> trying to get the NAIC and EasyWare to upgrade their export
> format. As it is, bivio has too many features which are not
> supportable by the NAIC's export format.
>
> For example, bivio allows a club to create any number of
> accounts and the NAIC export format only supports four.
> bivio supports equally allocated expenses, expense
> categories, and allows you to change your club's tax
> allocation method from year to year. None of these
> features is supported by any of our competitors.
>
> The NAIC has been unmoving on this issue. We don't
> understand their position, because improved accounting
> software helps clubs. You might the NAIC to ask them why
> they won't update their software.
>
> > Also, is a Bivio backup usable in NAIC's NOCA (online) accounting
> > program?
>
> If you use NOCA, you will not be able to import your data
> into any other program, ever. NOCA's *export* format is
> encrypted, which means neither bivio nor you can look
> inside. At this stage, once your data is in NOCA, you can't
> get it back. This has never made sense to us. Moreover,
> you can't export from NOCA back into NAIC Club Accounting!
> Go figure.
>
> As you know, bivio's export format is readable by anyone.
> Indeed it is written in a wide-spread industry standard
> called XML. Any bivio competitor can import your data as
> long as they implement all of bivio's accounting features.
>
> Thanks for using bivio,
> Rob

> I haven't seen chat rooms in Bivio. Are they coming? Or am I missing
> something? :)

Well, we don't have chat. It's something that we "could"
add. On the other hand, we (like the Motley Fool) are of
the opinion that chat is not the ideal form of
communication. We want to please our customers, so we'll
put it in eventually.

You aren't the first one to mention chat, btw. :-)

Thanks for the compliments on our service!

Rob

Our club uses Instant messenger from AOL [AIM]. It's free,
and you don't have to be using AOL as your provider. You are
able to have chats for just your club members, and you can
save the transcript of the session. Much easier to deal with
than the Yahoo chat rooms.

Rip West
trez_talk@bivio.com