ICommander also gives you the ability to actually redesign your chart of accounts with its unique chart rearrange function. You specify the current account number and the new number and ICommander does the rest. Not only does ICommander convert the current records, it also converts history records to reflect the changes to the chart.

You may also create a user-specific or department-specific (like SALES-DEPT) system selection menu which allows users to view only those systems available to them. Access to "hidden" ICommander system selection menus may also be used to vary what is available to particular users.

All the software needed for this interoperability is standard on Redhat Linux. Your investment consists of a single PC running Linux. The cost of the Linux Server will be about the same as adding another Windows PC to your network. The only additional cost is adding an inexpensive but very capable terminal emulator (Anziowin) to each PC that accesses the ICommander Systems.

ICommander also provides an option to convert any report into a PDF File (available on the Linux platform only). This allows users to provide ICommander reports to managers and others who do not have access to ICommander and Vim so they can use the readily available Adobe Acrobat Reader for on-screen exploration or selective printing of pages.

The design and functioning of ICommander does not include any restrictions on the size of an organization. However, ICommander at present is not suitable for large multi-national companies.

Each ICommander Accounting Application System took two or more years of personal effort to build and implement with the CPA firm's clients acting as both guinea pigs and beneficiaries of the results. It was always the intent to develop ICommander to be available on a broad scale ﾓsomedayﾔ. It was not until 1996 that Ken realized that ﾓsomedayﾔ was now. This realization was due to the implementation of ICommander at a large oil and gas well-servicing company with multiple locations that was not a client of the CPA firm. This implementation led to the development of additional systems including software to handle the export (or downloading)/import (or uploading) of transactions from remote sites.

The development concentration for several years has been to design and build extremely flexible accounting application systems. ICommander, as it exists now, incorporates the benefits of both the most recent ICOBOL programming language functionality and the dramatic increases in computing power that have occurred over the last several years. These benefits contribute to ICommanderﾒs longstanding underlying structure and flexibility plus a myriad of new features that benefit users and make it feasible to support ICommander on a broad scale.

The long-time it has taken to start to let the world know about ICommander reflects the extent of effort involved in its development. It also reflects the philosophy that widespread implementation would not be attempted until its developer was satisfied that a large user base could be supported in the same professional manner as the original small group of ICommander users.

Additionally each application has options for users to create tab-delimited files by free-form selection from all fields available within a particular data file. These options are simple menu choices that allow users to select fields, specify selection criteria, select sort fields, and set column order resulting in a tab-delimited file which is ready for import into spreadsheet software such as Excel, Corel, or Lotus. The files created automatically include relevant totals and are arranged in such a manner that the entire spreadsheet can have all columns automatically formatted with about six mouse clicks. Specifications may be stored with user-defined names for automatic re-use later. An option to exclude documentation and sort header lines is available to enable the output file to be imported into database applications such as Access.

You may also add your own personal manual sections to the ICommander Manuals to tailor the documentation to your specific use. Such additions are made available for user access just like the standard documentation. Subsequent ICommander updates will not disturb your personal additions. Shortcuts to specific documentation may be added. You can add personal shortcuts to menu choices that contain notes to yourself or other users on the use of the menu options.

Selected reports may be flagged for automatic archiving. This is especially useful for very long "audit trail" reports that you need to have available at some future date but for which you do not need a current printout.

If there will be several active users, addition of a Redhat Linux server dedicated to running ICommander will often be recommended. This is a very cost effective solution and enables ICommander features not available on Windows systems. It is also the most efficient to install and maintain so ongoing costs are also less. Complete interoperabilty with Windows computers is built in so file and printer sharing are easily accomplished in either direction.

Not only can you use Linuxﾒs conversion tools to convert ICommander reports to PDF files, your ICommander representative can configure your system so that any document located on your computer can be converted to PDF by printing to a special shared Linux printer from any Windows application. If you have a Linux system, ask your ICommander representative about this option. Youﾒre only charged for the time it takes to configure your system

Custom programs are created upon request. Estimates of time and fees will be provided before work is begun. ICommander Corporation reserves the right to incorporate all or parts of customized systems into software available to other customers.

ICommander Corporation strives to insulate users from the inherent underlying complexities of ICommander. Properly implemented, those complexities enable it to function very simply for each customer. The philosophy of ICommander relating to not forcing users to become programmers likewise applies to not forcing users to become system integrators. Customers that have staff members in place who can handle much of the implementation process can use the ICommander Corporation staff as a resource while others can have the ICommander staff coordinate all phases of implementation.

Please contact us for either option. ICommander is designed to adapt to the needs of particular industry types and customers. As a result there is no single set of ICommander Demo Files that fit all needs. Once we understand the nature of your operation, the face to face or internet demo will be setup to access files relating to how your organization might use ICommander.

What you will find different and better than your typical Windows entry screens where you are often forced to use your mouse is that we have preserved all the advantages of character-based legacy entry screens at the same time. This greatly increases the speed of entry, especially for high-volume transactions.

You may use the mouse where it is beneficial for selecting a menu choice, entry field, etc. and for Copy and Paste when needed. You may also use a Toolbar that duplicates many ICommander functions which may be more rapidly accessed via shortcut keys that we encourage users to learn and use. Printing to laser printers is also fully graphical now but we have preserved the ability to print to actual line printers or to lasers using line-printer formatting.

ICommander is also now fully integrated with an Intranet on Linux Servers. This includes automatic publishing of accounting information in many forms as web pages. ICommander is used to manage and maintain the Intranet content and enables providing a browser interface to information shared between ICommander and the Intranet.

Graphical yes--typical no.