Price It, Ship It, Track It From Your Accounting App

Your daily grind just got a bit easier if you use Peachtree accounting software. Best Software, Peachtree's parent company, announced earlier this week that it's integrating UPS Online Tools into its Peachtree Accounting 2005 line, a move designed to help small businesses manage their daily operations more efficiently

By incorporating UPS Online Tools into Peachtree, you can calculate shipping rates, process shipments and track packages without having to exit Peachtree to go online, according to the Irvine, CA-based software company. Specific features include the following: include:

• UPS Rates and Service Selection, provides real-time UPS shipping rates
• UPS Shipping, allows shipment processing and label printing from Peachtree and sends and receives automatic notifications when a shipment is processed and delivered
• UPS Tracking, allows viewing up-to-the-minute package status

According to Jim Portner, vice president of product management at Best Software, customer research showed that many of Peachtree's customers were already using UPS Online Tools, but switching out of the accounting software to do so. "We spent a lot of time with our customers and saw that shipping was a big part of what they do. When we asked them whether integrated shipping would be a valuable tool, we got a tremendously positive response."

The next step was choosing the right shipping company, a task that didn't provide much of a challenge. "We looked at third-party vendors and considered offering multi-vendors, but we like the UPS tools best, and so did our customers," says Portner. "In fact, our customers favored UPS by a three-to-one margin."

Software titles with the integrated Tools will be available in mid-June and include the following: Peachtree Complete Accounting 2005, Peachtree Premium Accounting 2005, and the industry solutions Peachtree Premium Accounting for Manufacturing 2005, Peachtree Premium Accounting for Distribution 2005 and Peachtree Premium Accounting 2005-Accountant's Edition. Prices range from $299 to $1,200.