Potential Purchaser

[qlinyear]

I have been looking at home inventory software and online sites for a couple of months now and HomeManage seems to be among the best. It seem that you are recently updating it, so you are still involved with the product. I like the fact that it works on my desktop computer, for some reason, I don't like adding all of my inventory via a web browser. But I do like the fact that I can back up my data online. Which brings me to this question. Can I back up on Microsoft's OneDrive (this feature is disabled in the trial version)? Also, under Item Properties there is section that says "In Vehicle." What is that? Can you explain the "Notebook" under Item Properties? Is that where you enter maintenance information.? If so one suggestion is to maybe break out the costs into labor cost, parts cost, and total costs. Also, will there be a HomeManage 2015? Last suggestion-add insurance policy number field in the "Add an Insurer" dialog box.

[garlin007]

I have used HomeManage for a month, so I think I can answer most of your questions using my own experience.

Q: Can I back up on Microsoft's OneDrive (this feature is disabled in the trial version)?

A: When you back up using the built-in Backup Data to Internet function on the Tools menu, HomeManage creates the same kind of backup file that it does with the Backup Database function on the File menu, and then it FTPs this file to Liberty Software's FTP server, using your license key as an ID. When you run the Backup Database function it prompts you for a backup location and a file name for the backup. The default is the Backup folder under the HomeManage folder where the data is stored, but you can change the folder to your OneDrive. Then, OneDrive will back up the backup file you create to the Internet.

Q: Under Item Properties there is section that says "In Vehicle." What is that?

A: I don't use this feature of HomeManage, but I believe this gives you the ability to assign an asset to a Vehicle temporarily without losing the information about which room the item will be returned to when it is removed from the Vehicle. I think you could also use Vehicle for an extra level of location refinement in a room, such as to designate which table an art object is on or which desk a computer is on. Perhaps other board users could explain the cases where they found it useful to use a Vehicle instead of just creating a "Room" for the vehicle.

Q: Can you explain the "Notebook" under Item Properties? Is that where you enter maintenance information.?

A: I don't use this feature, either, but the manual says that this is for tracking expenses. One nice thing is that the Vendor is a link to a Vendor record, so it would be possible to get a report of all items outstanding at a particular vendor (e.g. a furniture repair shop) or all the money you spent with a particular vendor over a specific period of time.

Q: One suggestion is to maybe break out the Notebook costs into labor cost, parts cost, and total costs.

A: I suppose it is up to Liberty Software to consider how granular to make the cost types, but I can think of more like Tax, Shipping, Finance, Insurance, etc. I am not saying that I need more granularity, since I don't even use this feature, but if Liberty Software takes up your suggestion to add more cost types, then I would suggest that they be user-definable (like other fields which HomeManage allows to user to rename), since I think that different users would have different needs in terms of how they might want to divide up the costs.

Q: Will there be a HomeManage 2015?

A: I think I read in a few posts from Admin that Liberty Software is planning a 2015 version.

Q: Last suggestion-add insurance policy number field in the "Add an Insurer" dialog box.

A: The Insurance Policy (and expiry) are in the Asset record. The intent is for the Insurer to be a "contact" record, like for Dealer, Manufacturer and Buyer (Sold To), and all the contact records have the same information. The Insurer could be associated with several insurance policy types (Auto, Home, Business, Pet), or several different policies/expiry dates of the same policy type (e.g. one for each of two automobiles). This is why they are in the Asset, instead of in the Insurer.

I haven't tried this, but if you want the Insurer to represent a policy, then you could create an Insurer for each policy, put the policy number and expiry in the Insurer's name, like "Alstate 12345-222-35 12/20/2015", and leave the policy and date fields blank on the asset records. When you renew the policy, you can just update the Insurer's name to have the new policy number and expiry date, and assuming that the new insurance covers the same assets, they will all have been updated with the new information.

By the way, I think it would be significantly harder to maintain this information using the Proprties button, as I think HomeManage expects. I think that HomeManage expects you to search for all the items assigned to a policy, select them all, and then change the policy in all the assets using the Proprties button. However, the Properties dialog does not have the Expiry Date on it, so I think you would have to update these one by one for each item covered by the policy. Admin, shouldn't Expiry Date be on the multiple items properties form?

BTW, qlinyear, you have posted several unrelated issues into a single topic with a vague title. This doesn't encourage others to read your post and contribute their comments. Also, once an answer has been posted, it will be difficult for future users to find and learn from the answer, so they will ask the same question again. I suggest that for your next posts that you put each idea into its own topic, and then give each a title which lets users know what the topic is about without having to read it. For example, titles like "Can I backup HomeManage to OneDrive?" or "What are Vehicles in the Asset Properties for?" or "Feature Request: Add Policy and Expiry Date to Insurer".

[qlinyear]

Thank you garlin007 for your responses.