General Consultant Discussion

Monarch Data Mining software: A great client of mine recently complained that one of their distributors was trying to hold them hostage by withholding Excel reports on product placement to the tune of $20K per year, and replacing them with PDF's. These guys are a Not for Profit (Newman's Own Organics) no less. It had been a very long time since I looked at Monarch. I remember Wayne had mentioned here it a few years back when it was around $800 per license. After some self study (a definite learning curve) I am really liking the version 11 program and I'm finding it amazingly accurate and endlessly configurable. It's now $2,000 new with new ownership (DataWatch) and new distribution channels. A VAR relationship is beyond my reach so they offered me to their distributor for a small discount. I see it is available at less 5% at major retail distributors. Does anyone else have any recent experience to share? Any VAR's here?

Wow, the price has sure jumped. I started using Monarch maybe 15 years ago. It's was (is) fantastic. I haven't had an opportunity to use it for about 5 years, though. The last version I used was version 8, before it could read PDFs. Monarch and Paradox were my primary tools for migrating client data off legacy systems.

I don't have anything to add except to echo Bill's comments. I've periodically checked to see what has become of the product as I often mention it to prospects in similar situations where they need to extract data. Looks as if Monarch has probably become the victim of the new reality for software which is that you acquire or are acquired and change pricing models about every 5 years. It's awfully expensive and working through a distributor seems like somewhat of a hassle. This product has been great for data conversions where you have to extract data and the old system either has no support or the vendor is uncooperative (as in Dan's case). The last big project I used this for was to extract a ton of inventory data off an old UNIX system by print spooling and ftp-ing the txt files to a Windows machine. I also get the impression that the software has grown somewhat complex whereas the older version solved 99% of needs just by reading in a txt file. I just don't see as many conversions as I once did so the cost of the software has to be born by the customer who has the need. In the good old days I just kept a copy for myself and used it on all my customer conversion projects.

Yea, but there is probably a market for one niche product like this. Probably why the price has gone up due to reducing volume

I have always used DataImport from Spalding Software, which should accomplish similar results. Current Pricing for DataImport 6: Single User $235.00 3 User LAN $455.00 5 User LAN $595.00 http://www.spaldingsoftware.com/di/dataimpt.htm

Looks great except that it appears to only work with text input. Monarch handles PDF's well and that's not under the user's control or influence.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and suggestions!!!

There is also IDEA, but I am not sure of the cost. http://www.caseware.com/products/idea

I used to use IDEA, but it is pricey. Our entire firm only had 2 licenses for 45 CPAs to share, and our partners weren't cheapskates, so I imagine it set us back a pretty penny.

Ummmm, Aaron - ALL CPA firm partners are CHEAPSKATES! Hate to break it to you. All the ones I know have a very difficult time advising clients to spend money so they can make/save money. Why do CPA firms like Quickbooks? Because it is cheap.

I loved IDEA.

@JeffSchwenk You must be referring to CPA firm partners who actually are CPA's. I'm a CPA firm partner and I love spending money. Reminds me of Danny DeVito's line from Heist: ''Everyone needs money. That's why they call it money!''