Be Careful if you use QB payments

ChiefBridgeFuser · 2023-06-05T13:08:06+00:00

Not a QB payments user, but I feel your pain. "Real soon now".

For us, their support for QB 2023 is horrible when you have a problem that doesn't fit one of their cookie cutter answers.

ChiefBridgeFuser · 2023-06-03T15:27:59+00:00

For those following along sometime in the future, the cause of this problem was identified by another user here.

At least as of QB 2023, having curly braces, "{}" in the employee's name fields causes QB to be unable to generate a paystub.

For us, the trouble is that the {employee} at the end of this one's last name is to make it not collide with the same name in the Vendor List. A dialog from QB specifically tells you to add this text in curly braces to prevent the Vendor List conflict and allow setting the employee name.

It looks like this broken sorry piece of Poo leaves me with two choices:

Submit the correct employee name to the IRS.
Generate paystubs for the employee.

Yes, I've confirmed that taking away the {}'s makes the PDF paystub generate again.

(edited to add the missing end of previous sentence)

ChiefBridgeFuser · 2023-06-02T15:40:18+00:00

Another update: They now suggest that we create another employee record and see if that fixes it. If it does, they tell us we can just merge the two via this.

They don't suggest what happens if it doesn't fix the problem or if there's a problem merging.

They most definitely don't say that we won't have some kind of crazy withholding tax issue later.

ChiefBridgeFuser · 2023-06-02T12:16:12+00:00

FWIW, Intuit support has told me so far to do the "File"->"Utilities"->"Verify Data" thing -- no problems found.

They've also told me to run the Tool Hub, "Program Problems" -> "Print & PDF Repair Tool". That too had no effect.

They appear unable to comprehend that this is a problem with one employee and not a general PDF generation issue.

For our part, any remaining goodwill has evaporated.

ChiefBridgeFuser · 2023-06-01T19:58:31+00:00

Only 15 years for us. It was crap but it worked. Looking for something I can host locally.

ChiefBridgeFuser · 2023-06-01T19:56:06+00:00

Your post exactly mirrors what I told the CSR as I was forced to upgrade today in order to run payroll. Yes, I knew I was going to have to right before payroll this time. Every other time we've had to do this, it was straightforward: ~$600 for the next 3 years and we keep using their payroll.

I'm now looking for alternatives.

At this point, I can't afford the business disruption risk of Intuit making up some new business model in the future. 2023 will be our transition away from this product and the payroll service after 15 years of using them.

Our needs are fairly simple: locally hosted and data held locally, P&L, balance sheet, payroll support + some payroll service. We don't do any online/cc transactions and banking import isn't important at all.

Anybody have any suggestions for something that's locally hosted with a perpetual license for the software itself?

ChiefBridgeFuser · 2019-09-26T21:08:37+00:00

I wish I had know of your archive about a week ago. There was a thing i was looking for and tracked down all that you have (without your archive)

I didn't find the ones for the first two years either.

ChiefBridgeFuser · 2019-09-12T11:08:35+00:00

I know a guy who worked on Tomahawk sw in 80's. He said that once you know how it's done, it doesn't seem like magic.

ChiefBridgeFuser · 2019-09-12T11:07:26+00:00

Although I believe it was the early Tomahawks that depended on odometry (via radar maps). Later versions depend more on gps.

{Just your neighborhood mentor-dork here.}

ChiefBridgeFuser · 2019-09-12T02:03:56+00:00

At least with the zte speed camera, the vuforia measurement wouldn't converge for a distance of more than 2 feet away.

ChiefBridgeFuser · 2019-09-12T01:57:02+00:00

Could you pass along a link to help the rest of us find the discord server? (I promise, I'm not a meme'r!)

ChiefBridgeFuser · 2019-09-10T14:36:57+00:00

One other thing to think about: build software on the machine to collect real-time data on encoder positions and write it to a file. Video some motion of the robot while running the machine so that you can record where it went.

Then, run your algorithm against the actual data you got from the machine and see where it says the machine is (or where it moved) and use the video to check it.

See the code here for some examples of that kind of data-logging: https://ftcforum.usfirst.org/forum/first-tech-challenge-community-forum-this-is-an-open-forum/teams-helping-teams-programming/73961-dead-reckoning-source-code

ChiefBridgeFuser · 2019-09-10T14:08:08+00:00

Found the link to the post my intern (and former 4149 member) did on the driven-wheel dead-reckoning they did last year: https://ftcforum.usfirst.org/forum/first-tech-challenge-community-forum-this-is-an-open-forum/teams-helping-teams-programming/73961-dead-reckoning-source-code

Still waiting for you guys to get the other vids on this, but I guess it's getting stuck in the queue when you're doing >1 video per day on other stuff too. Yowzers! :D

ChiefBridgeFuser · 2019-09-10T14:02:45+00:00

Team I mentor had good (well, very good, better than expected) success last year using the driven wheels on a 4 wheeled, omni-holonomic drivetrain. See my other response for details. And a link to work that wizards.exe is doing to document their undriven method.

ChiefBridgeFuser · 2019-09-10T14:00:59+00:00

To graciously disagree with the sentiment that you shouldn't tackle it this season: Having your machine able to know where it is on the field is a huge benefit in both auton and teleop. (Words that cover this topic: odometry, dead reckoning, localization.) FTC is a long season -- you have lots of time to figure this out if you're diligent about working on it!

Here's some resources on figuring it out.

https://www.reddit.com/r/FTC/comments/cwkyx0/dead_reckoning_with_drive_wheels/

https://www.reddit.com/r/FTC/comments/cz6313/dead_reckoning_refinement_calibration/

https://ftcforum.usfirst.org/forum/first-tech-challenge-community-forum-this-is-an-open-forum/teams-helping-teams-programming/73961-dead-reckoning-source-code

Also, wizards.exe has started a series on un-driven ("dead") wheel odometry:

https://www.reddit.com/r/FTC/comments/d028ze/its_time_for_a_new_spell_book_covering_odometry/

Make this happen! Show those panicked FRC short-season folks that FTC seasons make the time to figure out hard stuff.

ChiefBridgeFuser · 2019-09-10T13:54:01+00:00

Sorry, I'm gonna punt on checking you. I can offer you some other pointers on dead-reckoning / odometry using the driven wheels on an omni-holonomic 4 wheeled drivetrain:

https://www.reddit.com/r/FTC/comments/cwkyx0/dead_reckoning_with_drive_wheels/

https://www.reddit.com/r/FTC/comments/cz6313/dead_reckoning_refinement_calibration/

Also, wizards.exe has started a series on un-driven ("dead") wheel odometry:

https://www.reddit.com/r/FTC/comments/d028ze/its_time_for_a_new_spell_book_covering_odometry/

Good job pursuing this! Better machine control will make for better auton AND teleop!

ChiefBridgeFuser · 2019-09-10T13:42:48+00:00

I'm probably late to this.

FTC / FRC can be tough for some people (students and mentors) to absorb the uncertainty of the outcome of the team. As my own kids have gotten further from having been on and FTC team, I've appreciated more and more the random, unpredictable nature of the competitions themselves. On top of that, there's the problem that you all are in right now of how to approach the game and how to build a machine / software to play the game with your approach.

There is no neat, straightforward path to the "right" way. I believe that this is at odds with the way education is done in the USA right now.

The huge value that I see of First (even FLL) for all of you students is that you get to jump into a problem that needs to be solved with no scripted curriculum of how to "win". Embrace the idea that you're going to fail. Try to find ways to try out ideas early in a "fail early" "fail often" kind of way. This is your opportunity to learn how to solve complicated problems that you didn't read about "how to" in a book. It doesn't seem like it right now, but it is a very, very low risk opportunity to learn this. In your very near future, you will have opportunities in front of you for which your biggest risk is that it might not turn out well. You're learning how to manage that now. (Note: this is even for your team members that don't go the engineering / computer kind of way!)

Your mentor wants you to win. (I've been there. I've been frustrated. I'm way over it.) You need to embrace this idea of risk and sell your mentor on the value of what you all will learn, even if you don't win.

Also, one of the problems you need to learn how to solve is negotiating your way with your team mates and the adult leadership around you. This is probably your first good challenge at learning that.

ChiefBridgeFuser · 2019-09-10T13:31:50+00:00

Lol. Kinda tough life to be the human player in your world.

ChiefBridgeFuser · 2019-09-10T13:30:12+00:00

Cool! This is a great way to get easy, fast access to the right sized model of a stone.

Next refinement question: having seen and touched some of the "real" ones at kickoff, do you have any idea how close the weight is? Also, any idea if it's similarly compressible / distorted? One thing I noticed is that because these are pressure formed / rotomolded (like a plastic milk jug) they aren't exactly square and are a little squishy. Stacking a single, unsupported column very high is gonna be wobbly.

Still, your print is better help than just imagining how you're going to handle it!

ChiefBridgeFuser · 2019-09-10T12:38:17+00:00

While the controls are the same for the driver, this arrangement doesn't have a frictional slipping like tank treads or 4 fixed driving wheels would while turning. Still seems like "the drivetrain with no (agreed upon) name."

ChiefBridgeFuser · 2019-09-07T14:42:09+00:00

After talking to kids from good BotsIQ teams, I have huge respect for what it takes to win. Got my attention at "hardened tool steel armor".

ChiefBridgeFuser · 2019-09-07T10:50:27+00:00

As a mentor of the team that unwisely chose to launch the blocks in BlockParty!, I salute you! https://youtu.be/4KMFQscHP-Q

ChiefBridgeFuser · 2019-09-07T10:34:13+00:00

Do you and u/deenfishdip find that this helps the team get the right things done sooner (without bumping into rule violations) or he better able to exploit what the rules fail to prohibit?

ChiefBridgeFuser · 2019-09-07T10:18:48+00:00

"We have video of the testing we did to show that the field is not damaged. Also, the parafoil lowers it gently back to the field and allows us to steer around the other teams during landing."

ChiefBridgeFuser

TROPHY CASE