CYMA Systems, Inc. — CYMAIV Client Write-Up

CYMAIV Client
Write-Up consists of general
ledger, after-the-fact payroll and
financial reporting. Client Write-Up
may also be run on an integrated
basis with CYMAIV
Financial Management System’s
Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable,
Bank Reconciliation and Purchase
Order modules.

The program is marketed by VARs,
accounting financial firms and other
resale/retail businesses involved
in the sale and support of accounting
systems, networks and business systems.
The cost for a single-user, new
purchase is $1,495; renewals are
$246.68 (16.5 percent of MSRP of
software + additional users). The
cost for a five-user system, new
purchase is $3,475; renewals cost
$573.38. Online training is available
in one-, two-, and three-hour sessions
that are $79, $99 and $119, respectively.
On-site consulting and custom training
is available for $125 per hour.
CYMA produces training manuals that
range from $15 to $130 for a bundle
of manuals. Telephone technical
support is either by annual contract
($395 to $795 for Unlimited Call
Plans) or per incident at $100.

LEARNING CURVE & EASE OF USE – 4 Stars
I learned the steps to create and
modify clients in CYMAIV
Write-Up’s System Manager.
This is great for a single or small
group of companies, but I don’t
need a front-end for client setup.
Give me a create/modify screen close
to data entry and other tasks, and
I’m a happy camper. Data entry
was easy to follow and had a heads-down
feel. It worked for me. ::::

REPORTING & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS – 4 Stars

Financial Reporting “ARE”
very comprehensive. Well, you know
I meant to use “IS,”
but I’m dealing with plural
financial report writers and that
can be confusing. Should I use Crystal
Reports or should I use F9. I was
hoping to find an easy-to-use flexible
report writer that would be proprietary
to “my” write-up system.
Whenever we use third-party products,
we get a mix of unknowns added to
our “equation.” Updates
and portability. What about bugs?
Who will be pointing fingers at
each other when all I want to do
is get a financial statement out
the door? Crystal Reports and F9
are current state-of-the-art, top-line
report writers, but they don’t
give me a warm and fuzzy feeling.
Now if this was a commercial accounting
system for small to mid-sized enterprises
and not MY write-up program, I might
be less inclined to worry or have
concerns. Sorry, it seems I forgot
for a moment about all the other
CYMAIV programs. Therein lies my
dilemma: Is CYMAIV
Client Write-Up the chicken or the
egg?

INTEGRATION, IMPORT/EXPORT & PRODUCTION PROCESSING – 3.5 Stars
CYMA offers high-powered integration
with other CYMAIV
modules. Otherwise, data must be
imported through use of the Generic
Import in the System Manager. I
think it needs more specific program
imports. As well, exports are available
through Generic Export in the System
Manager. However, I found no specific
bridge to any tax program.

SCALABILITY & PORTABILITY – 4 Stars

Written to take advantage of advanced
Windows features, CYMAIV
runs on low-end to higher-end Windows
operating systems with support for
Microsoft network operating systems.
While we can’t see any future
deployment with Windows 95, high-end
systems are well suited to CYMAIV’s
functionality. Scalability is apparent
from single-user to many concurrent
users on large networks –
I see no problem. Were it not for
the third-party products included
in the mix, I would give very high
grades on portability.

SUPPORT, TRAINING & HELP SYSTEM – 4 Stars
Comprehensive context-sensitive
help is available throughout CYMAIV
Write-Up. Traditional telephone
technical support is available in
both per-incident and unlimited
support packages. CYMA also offers
a professional services consulting
group that can help with installation,
report writing, data repair and
a wide variety of consulting tasks.
As well, CYMA offers Online Coaching
to help walk users through program
tasks. Live support is available
via web-enabled virtual classrooms.

INTERVIEWS – WHAT USERS HAD TO SAY

Most users felt that getting started
with CYMAIV
Write-Up was easy. One user commented
that “Payroll is more difficult,
though.” Another user stated,
“Updates are a problem for
us; we have our dealer do the installs.”
Another user “had problems
with Payroll. We couldn’t
go back and change it.”

When I asked about export of data
to tax programs, I received the
same basic replies: “Don’t
know, we don?t use that.”
When I asked about the quality and
effectiveness of support, I was
told, “Support through our
dealer is good,” and “Excellent
support through dealer.” Finally,
users were asked if they were pleased
with their selection of CYMAIV
Write-Up. Users responded, “Very,”
“Very pleased,” and
“We like it, but bugs still
exist.”

2004 OVERALL RATING: 4

The choice of a write-up program should be based in large part on identifiable attributes of the write-up program that best fits the sum of the individual needs of the practice. In no particular order, factors that lead to the sum include setup & learning curve; training & support; program pricing & cost of updates; data conversion, maintenance & storage; efficiency & flexibility; and integration with a practitioner’s other programs (tax, payroll, analysis, word processing, etc.). Finally, throw in a wild card ‘ the practitioner’s overall dedication to technology.