Speedy

Performance Comparison

Poor or slow performance, particularly in a multi-user system, can be very frustrating and expensive for the end user. We have noted instances where other products such as MYOB and Sybiz can "lock up" whilst certain functions are being run. This means that the entire network can be brought to a stand still, and all other business have to cease for the duration of that operation. Monthly "rollovers" are a nightmare with some software!

For comparison, on a large datafile (600+MB, 137,000 invoices), the above operations in MoneyWorks are almost instantaneous on the local network. Even over the Internet (with a high-latency 140ms connection over a distance of 1600km), MoneyWorks was still 2-4 times faster than the reported results from MYOB Premier running on a high-speed LAN.
These results are reflected in the following graph (shorter bars are better):

The Importing Experience

For further comparisons, we imported 100,000 product records...

100,000 product records may sound a lot for a small business, but the average plumber or electrician's price list will have over 40,000 items on it. Also we wanted to use a fairly large list to test searching and responsiveness on a larger data file, and to test MoneyWorks against competing systems. These tests were all done on the same ccomputer in single user without networking with these versions:

Software Versions Tested

MoneyWorks Gold 5

MYOB Mac 2008 US Version, and the "faster" 2009 US Version

MYOB Enterprise 2008 Windows

QuickBooks Premier 2008/09 (NZ Version)

Sage Simply Accounting Enterprise 2008 (Canada)

MoneyWorks, MYOB and QuickBooks allow you to align the data being imported to the appropriate data fields in the accounting system (in MoneyWorks this is called an Import Map). Having aligned the data, MoneyWorks and QuickBooks both allow you to save the mapping for subsequent re-use (in MYOB you need to realign the fields each time that you import).

During a MoneyWorks import, you can also assign default values and calculations to fields (so you don't for example need to have the sales and cost of sales general ledger codes as part of the data file). In MYOB and QuickBooks you need to physically modify the datafile if some fields are missing.

In practical terms, you can take a well structured text file (tab delineated, or CSV)) direct into MoneyWorks without changing the data file; the other systems require the file to be modified in some form or other. This is an important practical detail: if you are receiving monthly or weekly price lists or updates, MoneyWorks is the only system that allows it to be imported without change.

In terms of import performance, MoneyWorks was 25 times as fast as the next fastest (MYOB), and over 2500 times as fast as the slowest (Simply Accounting). QuickBooks has built in file limits, so it was only possible to import 14,500 products.

Table: Results for Product List Import/Delete/Sort/Search Times