Adilas

adilas is an online server-based application where people and businesses can store and track their daily business operations and backend accounting needs. The word "adilas" is an acronym for "all data is live and searchable". adilas is a conglomeration of ideas, dreams, time, technology, and lots of hard work. It is safe to say that adilas and the tools we provide have become somewhat of a community effort. We've had hundreds and hundreds of folks chime in with great ideas, request new features, use the application on a daily basis, and give us great feedback. We are constantly searching for better and quicker ways to help people run their business. A huge thanks goes out to all of the people who have had a part in the dream! Keep it coming and we'll keep building... :)

We've been working on this project since 2001. It started out as a custom write-up system for a multi-location used vehicle and trailer dealership. As it grew, we found that tons of other businesses needed the same features and had the same frustrations we had already worked through. We decided to put together a full business package (data portal) and sell it to other dealers, businesses, manufacturers, and service providers for a monthly service fee. Thus, adilas was born.

One of our main goals was to figure out a "bridge" to help fill the gap between operations and accounting. There seemed to be a very large and visible disconnect between what was happening in the field (operations) and what the final output was (accounting and final numbers). In one of our brainstorming meetings, we came up with the analogy of a "zipper". One side of the zipper was operations and the other side was accounting. Our goal was to start bringing them together one cog at a time, like a zipper being pulled upwards until it came together.

We came up with the theory "track every penny in and track every penny out". With this thought in mind, we started to track each penny from start to finish. What we found was that every transaction had a life-cycle that it went through. We decided to enter the items as easily as possible on the operations side, and then track it through a number of steps until it found itself finished or completed. Along the way, we started time-stamping each step with a flag and a date. As each new flag was added, we would lock the prior steps below that based on permissions. Imagine the process of water turning in to ice. The water droplets are very loose at first (operations) and slowly become crystals, then slush, and finally becoming completely frozen or ice. This process became a built-in history of who, what, when, where, and how long it was at each checkpoint. We then used the database searching technology (queries) to figure out what was what at a certain point and time. Basically, we had the computer act as an army General giving out a roll call or a flag/status report. Imagine something like this, "I need all of the invoices that were not fully paid at such and such a date to step forward". Only those invoices would then be counted. You could then use the computer to be even more detailed and ask for something like, "I need all invoices that were created before xyz date and weren't fully paid for until or after date abc". Once again, only those invoices would step forward. In layman's terms, the roll call accounting we are talking about is an accounting term called "accounts receivable".

Basically, through a series of very simple steps (normal day to day operations), we can get very complex results like aging, histories, usage, reports, final numbers, and totals (accounting and financials). Thus the accounting becomes the date sensitive sum of the details. Because every piece of the puzzle still exists in the database with all of its baggage and histories, you are able to virtually go back in time and see what was where and when it moved out of that status. If the data is correct, let it flow. If a modification is needed, make the correction, make it right, lock it down, and let it keep flowing. The accounting becomes more of a check and stamp of approval rather than entering numbers from different journals or locations. When you put it all together, what do you know... All Data Is Live And Searchable.