So, I've said it before and I'll say it again--if there's one thing that I absolutely hate, it's entering data twice. First of all, it's error prone and time consuming. But, beyond that, it's just plain unnecessary in this day and age.

I've complained about Billings2 and how it wasn't what I was hoping for. I've also pestered MC about SyncServices on a good number of occasions.

Why do I mention all of this? One primary reason... QuickBooks. I've looked long and hard at DL and I THINK I can make it work for time tracking (it isn't as robust or as automatic as Billings but it's multi-user and it's better than doing it manually for my purposes). That said, whether I use Billings, Daylite, or something else to track my time, I'm still left with a problem--I've got my accounting in one place and all of my time tracking somewhere else. Which, of course, puts me right back where I hate to be--entering the same data in more than one spot.

So, I've decided to take matters into my own hands. Recently, I've been looking at IIF files (Intuit Interchange Format). That got me thinking: "what if I could use F-Script to send info from Daylite into an IIF file which I could then import into QuickBooks?"

Surely, I can use F-Script to get info from DL into a tab delimited format (which is the basis for IIF). And, once I'm there, I'm pretty sure I can figure it out from there...

My intention is to first start with contacts. If I can successfully export a client from DL into QuickBooks via an IIF file, then I would like to work my way up to exporting a certain type of task in DL (one with the category "Billable") to an invoice item in QuickBooks.

So, the reason I'm posting this here is two-fold. First, is there any reason why anyone here thinks this won't work? Second, is this something that anyone else would be interested in (in any way, i.e. using, purchasing, helping, etc.)?

The IIF format is not as simple as you think. It's very finicky.

So, yes it can be done either as an f-script or as a plugin.

MYOB is much more open and easier to work with. Have you considered MYOB?

Terri from Resources for Small Business (one of our Elite partners) has a system of getting Daylite data into MYOB.

For example, you can export a vCard and import that into MYOB - eliminating the duplication there.

I realize that the IIF format isn't simple, but I certainly don't think that means that it cannot be done.

As far as MYOB is concerned, I have looked at it in the past and I really didn't like the interface. I just viewed the online demo and it doesn't look like much has changed. That doesn't mean that I'm completely against using it but I've already got two businesses on QB and I have a free license of 2007 (from beta testing).

As far as Terri's system, I didn't see anything on the website. Is this something that I would have to contact them directly about? I'm interested in what it can do, but there again, it would have to be pretty robust to get me to switch from QuickBooks...

That said, I really do think that there is eventually going to have to be some sort of integration between DL and QB for this product to be really useful for a certain segment of business customers. In some applications a close relationship between DL and accounting isn't a necessity, but in other areas it's critical (I've got one business of each type on DL).

I can certainly understand if you guys don't do anything in this area, but I do think that someone needs to do it...