MotoShop Software System - Best in Car Repair Workshop Management Business Accounting Database Software
Softhard Solutions Australia
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MotoShop Car Repair Workshop Management Database Software System

Best Automotive Business Accounting Database System for Businesses

MotoShop users can now upgrade to ShopMate - Best Car Repair Service Software

If you have landed on this page looking for information about your MotoShop Automotive Shop Software upgrade to more modern ShopMate Business Accounting Software or for a small to medium Business Accounting Software Program or for the Best Automotive Repair Shop Accounting Software , then you are on the right page and closer to manage your business the easy way - your way.

SoftHard Solutions MotoShop Automotive, our first successful flagship, was developed under the joint venture of Softhard Solutions Australia, Motro Automotive Pty. Ltd. and MotoSoft Business Systems Pty. Ltd., for the main purpose of Automotive Workshop Management with greater emphasis on the Accounting part of the Business.

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If you are currently a MotoShop Automotive user you might ask a question: what is the difference between MotoShop Automotive and ShopMate? The answer is they both do the same thing but ShopMate does more and does it better, is most modern business accounting software you can get, written in .Net technology and, unlike MotoShop Automotive, is fully supported by Softhard Solutions Australia.

MotoShop Automotive, name taken from combination of moto - meaning motor or automotive and shop - denoting a Workshop Business Management, was designed for the Automotive Car Repair Shop Environment such as Automotive Mechanical Car Repair Workshops, Automotive Electrical Workshops, Tyre Outlets, Exhaust Repair Centers and Suspension Specialists. It could also be used in Spare Parts Shops and Retail outlets.

MotoShop Automotive was built with the automotive industry businesses in mind, ShopMate was built, with the MotoShop Automotive engine included, for any small to medium business including the automotive business accounting of automotive industry. The Automotive Business Software component of ShopMate can be switched On or Off.

ShopMate is a collection of modules with Microsoft® Sql Server 2012® (included in the package if you do not already have one installed on your computer) serving as the back end for the data, making your data very safe and, if you wish to upgrade from MotoShop Automotive to ShopMate, supports the MotoShop Automotive accumulated data as well (see the backward compatibility below).


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History of MotoShop Automotive

Back at the end of 1995, MotoShop v1.0.0 was released. The base running engine was Microsoft Access v1.0 (16 bit) and the back end for its data Microsoft Jet Engine Databases were used.

This escalated to MotoShop v1.0.6 which became very popular. It was also one of the first (if not the first in Australia) automotive programs written for Microsoft Windows operating system. Back then, most automotive workshop programs were still only written in DOS (disk operating system - no windows).

Then MotoShop v2.0.0 was released. This was run by Microsoft Access v2.0 (32 bit) . It escalated to v2.0.6 during next couple of years. This was also a popular upgrade but was very quickly superseded by MotoShop v3.0.0. Being powered by 32 bit Microsoft Access 97, it seemed to be the answer to the more and more demanding operating systems.

Last version of MotoShop Automotive was MotoShop v3.0.2. Although it was popular with our clients, it was evident during the aging, with the new operating systems coming and Microsoft's ever increasing system security, that there may be few problems on the horizon. And there were problems. Most notably the stopping of the support for Office 97 by Microsoft in January 2006 . And, of course, we had to follow.

Important Note
Since the release of ShopMate v3.0.3. back in January 2006, after twelve successful years, All versions of MotoShop Automotive Business Accounting Software ARE DEPRECATED and Not Supported by Softhard Solutions any longer now for the above reasons. So, superseded by ShopMate, after 13 wonderful years we are sorry to say to the MotoShop Automotive users that this is the end of line for MotoShop Automotive due to Progress.


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What now for the Future?

SoftHard Solutions Australia had made the tactical decision to rewrite MotoShop Automotive to more modern .Net technology and use more robust Databases. The result of this decision was the release of ShopMate v3.0.0. At this time the strategic decision had been made to follow only the ShopMate line and deprecate the MotoShop line due to the lack of support from Microsoft for Office 97. The memory management was the major factor which was making MotoShop to misbehave.

ShopMate 2007 with file version 4.0.0.0 followed. Released in February 2007, it was designed from the ground up and swallowed both MotoShop Automotive and ShopMate versions 3.

More versions had followed, ShopMate 2010 with file version 5.0.0.0, ShopMate 2011 with file version 6.0.0.0 and ShopMate 2013 with file version 7.0.0.0 released in January 2013 and ShopMate 2015 with file version 9.0.0.0 released in December 2014 and was designed from the ground up to still support both MotoShop Automotive and ShopMate versions 3 accumulated data.

Nothing from the MotoShop Automotive features was lost in ShopMate 3.0.3. and nothing was lost in ShopMate which was built with the MotoShop Automotive users in mind and came with many more and enhanced features to cover needs of broader types of clients and businesses.

Nothing from the MotoShop Automotive features was lost even in the latest ShopMate release. It continues to support the data accumulated by MotoShop Automotive (see the backward compatibility below).


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Backward Compatibility - MotoShop v ShopMate

SoftHard Solutions Australia have developed a Transfer Data Engine within ShopMate. It enables you to transfer your data from your MotoShop Automotive database backups. Even if your .mdb database is corrupted, ShopMate may be able to extract all the good Data. The data from version 1.X of MotoShop Automotive (16 bit .mdb databases) can also be extracted by ShopMate.

All the data is transferred into your new ShopMate Database, customers, suppliers, products, shippers, vehicles etc., (except any financial records, invoices, orders, vehicle invoice history etc.). Data is transferred into your ShopMate Database on your SQL Server (supplied if you do not have one already installed on your machine).

Note that the transfer will fail if the .mdb database is more than 30% corrupted (yes Access 97 database was very forgiving). In these circumstances, MotoShop still worked and you were backing up corrupted data. Even the famous MotoShop Cleanup Method , although very thorough, often could not see the corruptions.

Parts of ShopMate were designed for the Automotive Business Industry Environment thank to MotoShop Automotive, dealing with customer vehicles, such as Automotive Mechanical Workshops, Automotive Electrical Workshops, Tyre Outlets, Exhaust Repair Centers and Suspension Specialists so it should be familiar to you. Again, the emphasis is on the accounting side of the business. The Automotive Business Software component of ShopMate may be turned on or off on demand by the users.

ShopMate can also be used in Spare Parts Shops, Retail outlets and in Wine making/selling industries because it handles the excise tax (e.g. wine equalization tax) as well. Any business that wants to keep customer records, records of products (physical or services) to sell to them and needs to issue invoices to them can use ShopMate.

With its special job tracking and job costing ability, which keeps all the invoices and purchase orders conveniently together in a package that we call Jobs, ShopMate can be used by any Small, Medium to Larger Business.

This real time database driven accounting system package includes Creditors, Debtors, Stock Inventory Control, Invoicing, Ordering, Employee Payroll, General Ledger, Extensive Reporting, Backup Procedures and a lot more.

For the extensive reports ShopMate provides, you make your own date periods, no need for complicated financial periods setups. It will help you keep track of all your records of:

  • Customers

  • Suppliers

  • Employees

  • Shippers

  • Products

  • Invoice Jobs

  • Order Jobs

  • Vehicles

  • Other Entities

  • Service and Financial history

  • Employee payroll with extensive
    commission calculations

  • General Ledger

  • Business Activities

  • Data Backup and Restore

  • And much, much more...

Softhard Solutions ShopMate helps you have complete Stock control of spare parts/products. It will also keep record of all your financial transactions including debtors, creditors and GST/Vat (goods and services tax, value added tax) - Excise tax - Employee tax calculations.

Softhard Solutions ShopMate will also provide you with a wide range of reports throughout the various modules of the program.

Just think of how much time and effort you will save now that you may subscribe to or purchase Softhard Solutions Australia ShopMate Business Accounting Software, Sql Server Database backed with a built-in Automotive Business Accounting Software component. It is very comprehensive, extensible and very user-friendly, with context sensitive help.

If there is anything we can clear up for you or help you with please contact us, we are open to your valuable suggestions or wish list 24/7.


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Business Tips

Some tips on how to avoid business failure:

  • Don't underestimate the capital you need to start up your Business.

  • Understand and keep control of your finances - income earned is not the same as cash in hand.

  • More volume does not automatically mean more profit - you need to get your pricing right.

  • Make sure you have good business accounting software for your business, software that provides you with a good reporting picture of all aspects of your business operations.


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