IRIS has announced the most significant upgrade to the Exchequer system for the past five years. Version 6 of the award winning accounting and business system was unveiled at a series of customer meetings where the software was shown running on the latest Microsoft Vista operating system. The user interface has undergone a complete overhaul resulting in a contemporary ‘Vista’ look and feel and enhanced graphics designed to make the software even more intuitive and easy to use.

Exchequer Version 6 is fully Microsoft Vista compatible, which is an important consideration for those businesses looking to upgrade their hardware during the course of 2008. It is forecast that 26.2% of businesses will be using Vista by the end of next year
(source: Gartner, PC Market by Operating System, Worldwide, 2001-2008).

Paul Sparkes, Product Director said: “This is an incredibly exciting time for Exchequer with a brand new look to the system. User interface is a huge topic in the industry and research shows that the simpler the interface, the easier it is for users to collaborate, to access applications and retrieve information.”

In addition to the new look and feel, Version 6 delivers the next generation of a much loved feature of Exchequer, the Microsoft Outlook Dynamic Dashboard. The user definable dashboard allows key performance indicators to be displayed on the user’s Microsoft Outlook screen providing a ‘birds eye’ view of company performance with full drill-down into the original transaction records within the accounting system. Users can choose to view a wide range of data from customer sales, stock performance, daily transaction totals and other indicators. Any change in figures, positive or negative, is automatically brought to the attention of the individual so they have the time and facts to act appropriately. The information shown can be tailored to suit the user’s role within the organisation and can be refreshed as frequently as needed.

New Dashboard features in Version 6 include the ability to change supplier and customer statuses from within Outlook, particularly useful for managing on-stop accounts, and new controls that work in conjunction with the Authoris-e module allowing the authorisation of purchase requisitions and purchase invoices directly from Outlook.

With a focus on providing performance benefits for Exchequer users, the IRIS Development team has made important changes to the underlying architecture in this latest version, preparing the way for a series of enhancements and developments that will be announced over the course of 2007/8.

The latest Version of Exchequer has been warmly received by users. Florian Kleinlercher, Managing Director of Between the Lines Ltd said: “I was impressed with what I saw at the customer meeting and Version 6 certainly seems to take the system forward and make it easier to expand and extend. One of the reasons for taking the decision to upgrade is based on the Vista compatibility. It is becoming increasingly more difficult to buy machines running XP so it is a relief to know that if we need to invest in new hardware, Exchequer will work on it.”