Rolling out new features

One of the great benefits of using SaaS (Software-As-A-Service) offerings like QuickBooks Online and OE Companion is that you automatically receive any updates to the software. As a user, you are always using the latest version.

Now that we are out of beta OE Companion will typically roll out at least one release per week. Sometimes the update will be minor and sometimes major, but basically we plan to push out new features as soon as they are available. For example, last week we added packing slips. This week we made a bunch of usability enhancements.

On occasion, we might label a new feature as "beta." That designation is usually reserved for complex features that require testing from a broad pool of users. We love to get feedback from customers in general, but we especially encourage you to send us feedback on beta features. That helps us to improve them quickly.

As always, please email me if there are any features that you would like to see in OE Companion. Who knows? You might see it show up in next week's release!

OE Companion No Longer in Beta

You might have noticed a subtle change to our website today. OE Companion is no longer in a "beta" trial. After a successful beta program, we're moving to an official release.

You won't notice any immediate changes to the service. Everything will still work exactly the same as it did before. The main difference is that each account will now begin with a 30-day free trial period. After that 30-day period ends, you will be required to pay a monthly fee to continue using OE Companion.

I would like to thank all of our beta participants. Your diligence and willingness to try something new have made OE Companion immensely better. I also encourage everyone to continue to send us feedback. We'll keep adding features and fixing bugs on a regular basis.

Strange user showing up in QuickBooks Online

June 5 Update: I did hear back from Intuit on this (thanks for the quick response guys!). It appears to be an issue on their side and they are looking into it.

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Third-party applications (like OE Companion) are not allowed to access the user list in QuickBooks Online. That's a security feature put in place by QBOE, and it's a good one. Instead what happens is that the app is listed in the Connections List in QBOE. It's not considered a "user" like someone who logs in. It's considered a connection, which makes sense.

So imagine my surprise this week when my user list looked like the screenshot below. Somehow, a strange user had been added to my user list. When you click on that user for more information, it's clearly related to a third-party app (mine). Strange!



I have two QBOE accounts that I use with OE Companion - one for testing and one for the service business I own (the reason I developed OE Companion in the first place). This odd user only showed up in one of my companies, not both. I deleted the user, and OE Companion still works fine, so hopefully it's just a temporary glitch in QBOE. I have heard one other report of this happening to someone.

I contacted Intuit support to ask them what happened. I'll post here when/if I find out any details from them. If you have seen a user like this in your QBOE account, whether you use OE Companion or not, please drop me a comment or an email and let me know. At this point, any information would be helpful to figure out the explanation.

The good news is that it doesn't appear to affect either QBOE or the third-party apps in any way. It appears to be more of a curiosity thing at this point.