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Posted by Rob Lindauer on May 6, 2007, 1:26 pm
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My questions are at bottom, following "background" info...
BACKGROUND
I've just taken over as treasurer of a local social dance group.
We have a "parent" bank account, plus an account for each of five groups.
The groups have always used Excel spreadsheets for reporting their
status monthly to the overall treasurer (all income received and
expenses paid during the month). The former treasurer did some sort of
Excel magic to consolidate or summarize the individual monthly spreadsheets.
It's highly unlikely I can get the committees to do their reporting in
any form other than Excel.
I use Quicken Premier H&B 2005 for my own financial records, and also
for two other groups for which I'm treasurer. I'd like to continue
using Quicken for this new group.
I do see that several XLS --> QIF converters exist, but I haven't tried
one yet.
ADVICE REQUESTED
I haven't researched my questions yet - am hoping for some guidance so
that I can avoid going down non-starter paths.
Can you suggest workable ways for me to consolidate the groups inputs
into Quicken (preferably H&B 2005)?
Should I set up separate QDF files for the individual groups, or use
just one "master" one?
Let's say I am able to use a 3d party tool for XLS --> QIF conversion.
What happens when I import a QIF into a Quicken session? Can it be
additive to whatever's there already, or does it overwrite what's there
already?
If I set up separate QDF files by committee, does Quicken provide some
sort of consolidation function?
Is there some other completely different solution I should look at?
Thanks, Rob Lindauer
--
Rob Lindauer - Please change "att" to "sbc" for my real email address
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Posted by John Pollard on May 7, 2007, 9:59 am
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Rob Lindauer wrote:
I took the liberty of moving one of your questions to follow
another as I think now 2 and 3 are directly related questions.
> Can you suggest workable ways for me to consolidate the
> groups inputs into Quicken (preferably H&B 2005)?
I think importing QIF files is the only approach available
(excluding manually entering the transactions yourself.)
> Should I set up separate QDF files for the individual
> groups, or use just one "master" one?
>
> If I set up separate QDF files by committee, does Quicken
> provide some sort of consolidation function?
Quicken doesn't provide any sort of "consolidation function", so
that should affect your choice of approach ... but may not be
conclusive. The best you can do here is export/import using
QIF.
If you maintain 6 Quicken files, you could be faced with some
extra effort. You could import the 5 individual group's QIF
files into their respective Quicken files, then, depending on
how you plan to consolidate, you could import those same 5 QIF
files into the master Quicken file.
If you plan to carry the data from the 5 groups and the parent
group in one "consolidated" file anyway, it might be better to
just have the one file. Have a separate account in that file
for each group and an account for the parent. Import the qif
file for each group into the Quicken account for that group.
When you do reporting, you can Customize the reports to include
any combinaction of Quicken accounts that's appropriate. If
your groups use the same "categories", creating a report for all
5 groups would more-or-less do your consolidation.
> Let's say I am able to use a 3d party tool for XLS-->QIF
> conversion. What happens when I import a QIF into a Quicken
> session?
> Can it be additive to whatever's there already, or does
> it overwrite what's there already?
Yes. But you don't have 100 percent control of the default.
If you are now doing any downloading, you're familiar with the
"Accept transactions into register" window. When you import a
QIF file, you get the same window. But the rules for
determining a "Match" for a transaction in a QIF file are more
liberal than the rules for determing a "Match" for downloaded
transactions. Depending on the characteristics of the incoming
data, you may have to "Unmatch" or "Make New" to insure that you
get New transactions for some of the imported transactions.
(And a "Match" doesn't overwrite what's already there, all it
may do is change the "Cleared status".)
But that brings up another related point: Q2005 has restrictions
on the import of QIF files. Though Intuit wished to prevent the
import of QIF files into certain Quicken account types
altogether, they finally had to leave a back door, or two, open
which allows the import into any account type ... with some
extra labor.
The simplest way to import to non-investment account types in
Q2005 is to import into a Cash, Asset, or Liability account;
then use cut/paste (or "move") to move the transactions into the
desired account. This is a fairly simple and fast process. If
all the imported transactions are intended to be "new"
transactions, this works fine since you will not be given any
opportunity to "match" them to any existing transaction with
this method.
If you want to import into an investment account, or directly
into a non-investment account, there is a more cumbersome method
available.
> Is there some other completely different solution I
> should look at?
I don't know of one, but that's the great thing about groups
like this. If there is one, someone likely will post it.
--
John Pollard
First initial underscore Last name at mchsi dot com
Please reply to newsgroup
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Posted by Rob Lindauer on May 7, 2007, 8:10 pm
Please log in for more thread options John Pollard wrote:
> Rob Lindauer wrote:
>
> I took the liberty of moving one of your questions to follow
> another as I think now 2 and 3 are directly related questions.
>
John, thanks for all the advice, info, and ideas. Regards, RL
--
Rob Lindauer - Please change "att" to "sbc" for my real email address
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Posted by John Pollard on May 7, 2007, 9:59 am
Please log in for more thread options Rob Lindauer wrote:
I took the liberty of moving one of your questions to follow
another as I think now 2 and 3 are directly related questions.
> Can you suggest workable ways for me to consolidate the
> groups inputs into Quicken (preferably H&B 2005)?
I think importing QIF files is the only approach available
(excluding manually entering the transactions yourself.)
> Should I set up separate QDF files for the individual
> groups, or use just one "master" one?
>
> If I set up separate QDF files by committee, does Quicken
> provide some sort of consolidation function?
Quicken doesn't provide any sort of "consolidation function", so
that should affect your choice of approach ... but may not be
conclusive. The best you can do here is export/import using
QIF.
If you maintain 6 Quicken files, you could be faced with some
extra effort. You could import the 5 individual group's QIF
files into their respective Quicken files, then, depending on
how you plan to consolidate, you could import those same 5 QIF
files into the master Quicken file.
If you plan to carry the data from the 5 groups and the parent
group in one "consolidated" file anyway, it might be better to
just have the one file. Have a separate account in that file
for each group and an account for the parent. Import the qif
file for each group into the Quicken account for that group.
When you do reporting, you can Customize the reports to include
any combinaction of Quicken accounts that's appropriate. If
your groups use the same "categories", creating a report for all
5 groups would more-or-less do your consolidation.
> Let's say I am able to use a 3d party tool for XLS-->QIF
> conversion. What happens when I import a QIF into a Quicken
> session?
> Can it be additive to whatever's there already, or does
> it overwrite what's there already?
Yes. But you don't have 100 percent control of the default.
If you are now doing any downloading, you're familiar with the
"Accept transactions into register" window. When you import a
QIF file, you get the same window. But the rules for
determining a "Match" for a transaction in a QIF file are more
liberal than the rules for determing a "Match" for downloaded
transactions. Depending on the characteristics of the incoming
data, you may have to "Unmatch" or "Make New" to insure that you
get New transactions for some of the imported transactions.
(And a "Match" doesn't overwrite what's already there, all it
may do is change the "Cleared status".)
But that brings up another related point: Q2005 has restrictions
on the import of QIF files. Though Intuit wished to prevent the
import of QIF files into certain Quicken account types
altogether, they finally had to leave a back door, or two, open
which allows the import into any account type ... with some
extra labor.
The simplest way to import to non-investment account types in
Q2005 is to import into a Cash, Asset, or Liability account;
then use cut/paste (or "move") to move the transactions into the
desired account. This is a fairly simple and fast process. If
all the imported transactions are intended to be "new"
transactions, this works fine since you will not be given any
opportunity to "match" them to any existing transaction with
this method.
If you want to import into an investment account, or directly
into a non-investment account, there is a more cumbersome method
available.
> Is there some other completely different solution I
> should look at?
I don't know of one, but that's the great thing about groups
like this. If there is one, someone likely will post it.
--
John Pollard
First initial underscore Last name at mchsi dot com
Please reply to newsgroup
|
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