Tag Archive for 'sage'

Help Improve Sage Products

Published
by
Brian Rice
on November 10, 2010
in MAS 90 and MAS 200
. 0 Comments

Most would agree that Sage has put your Business Care (the software maintenance subscription) to good use as the software is continually developed. Beginning with version 4.0, several modules have been released in the Business Framework. The release schedule is reliable and consistently integrate new features. Sage has also done an outstanding job of indexing and documenting all of their development work.

Some would also agree that the lack of development of the Payroll module is more than an unfortunate oversight (but that’s another story). Sage bases their development plan on different factors including the install-base for each module and the feedback they receive from users. Over the past few years, Sage has made it easier for users to provide that feedback, most recently (and most effectively) with the Sage ERP Solutions feedback site.

Now Sage has included in-product survey. If you have upgraded to version 4.30 or version 4.40, you will have noticed that after a several weeks of using these versions, a dialog box will open asking you to answer twelve questions. The timing is great because you will have already had an opportunity to apply some of the new features. The delivery is great because you won’t have to actively seek out a channel to provide feedback.

Don’t forget that Sage (and your Business Partner) want to provide the features and services you want and need. As a user, you just have to speak up.

Register For The Sage Summit Virtual Event

Published
by
Brian Rice
on October 26, 2010
in MAS 90 and MAS 200
. 0 Comments

Sage Summit is the newly combined parter and customer conference scheduled July 10–15, 2011 in Washington, D.C. Because Sage aims to make the event as useful as possible, they have created a complimentary virtual event on November 18 to preview session samples, vote of topics, and share ideas to make the time most effective. Registration is now open.

Get More Information
Sage Summit Virtual Event
Thursday, November 18, 2010
10:00 am Pacific

Sage Webcast Center

Published
by
Brian Rice
on October 5, 2010
in MAS 90 and MAS 200
. 0 Comments

Beyond the Sage Summit Virtual Event, Sage continuously offers both live and recorded webcasts through the Sage Webcast Center. When searching for events, be certain to select the proper criteria (you might be surprised how many events are offered). Upcoming events include:

  • Paperless Payroll with the Sage Payroll Paycard
  • Excel Tips and Tricks: Financial Functions
  • Sage ERP MAS Intelligence: Introducing Dazzling Reports & Brilliant Analysis
  • Reduce Payroll Costs and Gain More Control with Sage Payroll and Direct Deposit
  • Excel Tips and Tricks: Data Validation, Named Ranges &VLOOKUP
  • Sage ERP MAS 90 and 200: Tips and Tools to Help Manufacturers Thrive in a Volatile Market

2010 K2 Enterprises 9th Annual Quality Awards

Published
by
Brian Rice
on September 28, 2010
in MAS 90 and MAS 200 and Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

K2 Enterprises, a technology-focused continuing education provider for accountants and other professionals has released the list of recipients for their 9th Annual Quality Awards (which includes Sage North America in the Reseller Channel category and BizNet in the Financial Reporting category.)

Hammond, LA – September 27, 2010 ‐‐ K2 Enterprises today announced the recipients of their annual quality awards as follows:
· Reseller Program – Avalara
· CPA Program – QuickBooks ProAdvisor – Intuit, Inc.
· Installation Channel/Methodology – Intacct
· Reseller Channel – Sage North America
· New Product – iPad – Apple, Inc.
· New Module – MIP Fundraising Online – Sage
· New Technology – Intelliconnect – CCH
· Management Strategy – Thomson Reuters
· Technical Support – Conexxus
· Customer Satisfaction – AccountantsWorld, Inc.
· Ease of Use – Confirmation.com – Capital Confirmation
· Marketing Communications – Thomson Reuters
· Overall Quality – Windows 7 – Microsoft, Inc.
· Tax – Pro Systems fx – CCH
· Accounting Industry Press Coverage – CPA Technology Advisor
· Audit – Knowledge Coach – CCH
· Financial Reporting – BizNet
· Workflow – XCM – XCM Solutions
· Small Business Solution – Freshbooks
· Small CPA Firm Solution – Drake
K2 Enterprises is the premier provider of technology continuing professional education (CPE) in both the United States and Canada. With seminars in over 46 states in 2010, 1,000+ presentations, special events such as their turn‐key Annual Technology Conferences, CPE & Ski, K2 Enterprises ‐ Canada, they are the largest provider of technology CPE in North America.
K2 Enterprises CEO, Val Steed, announced five new categories this year.  “We feel like after nine years we needed to expand our awards a bit.  The accounting technology industry is becoming more specialized and I would imagine we will add a few more categories next year”.  Executive Vice President Randy Johnston said “I am especially pleased to see so many good candidates this year.  It certainly makes voting much more difficult and expanding the awards is the right thing to do”.
K2 Enterprises Annual Quality Awards are determined by a simple voting poll of the K2 Enterprises instructor team. The polling members of this team are Randy Johnston, Will Fleenor, Val Steed, Bob Spencer, Alan Salmon, Lawrence (Mac) McClelland, Tommy Stephens, Brian Tankersley, & Ilene Eisen.
K2 team votes are influenced by, end user feedback, and experience from consulting and extensive teaching. Detailed biographies on each of the polled members can be found at:
http://www.k2e.com/team

FRx Original Equipment Manufacturer Agreement

Published
by
Brian Rice
on September 17, 2010
in MAS 90 and MAS 200
. 0 Comments
The following is taken from a Sage email to their business partners.
Effective January 31, 2011, there will be an important change regarding the FRx module developed by Microsoft and marketed and sold by Sage. As a result of Microsoft’s decision to retire FRx, the module will no longer be distributed with Sage ERP MAS products. There are several changes you need to be aware of.
  • As of January 31, 2011, FRx will no longer be available for purchase through Sage for Sage ERP MAS products.
  • After January 31, 2011, customers current on maintenance and using FRx will continue to receive support from Sage. Microsoft will no longer be providing any bug fixes for issues found within the FRx product so Sage will only be able to support matters that involve the integration between Sage MAS and FRx.
  • Sage will maintain backward compatibility between FRx and Sage ERP MAS 90 and 200 V4.5 and Sage ERP MAS 500 V7.4

Most of this isn’t new. We have written about the FRx retirement and possible alternatives BizInsight and Sage MAS ERP Intelligence (SMI). The take away is that Sage is confirming backward compatibility including MAS 90 and 200 version 4.50. The January 31, 2011 date is getting nearer, but this news appears to give users which are heavily reliant on FRx a bit more time.

Extended Solutions Catalog Update

Published
by
Brian Rice
on August 31, 2010
in MAS 90 and MAS 200
. 0 Comments

With the release of version 4.40 and subsequent Product Updates, Sage rolled several Extended Solutions (add-on system enhancements) into MAS 90 and 200 and discontinued the balance of the Extended Solutions catalog. The source code for those Extended Solutions that were not planned for inclusion as standard features was distributed to a number of third-party partners certified by Sage to program for MAS 90 and 200.

In the several months since the release of the source code, several of the Extended Solutions have been updated and are being made available for the 4.40 release including some of the most popular like GL-1061 Bank Reconciliation Integration with General Journal. The result is that some organizations with a variety of Sage Extended Solutions were had to wait for these titles to be programmed and released. While the entire catalog isn’t immediately available, the wait for many may already be over and the wait for others should be over soon.

Administrator Password

Published
by
Brian Rice
on August 17, 2010
in MAS 90 and MAS 200
. 0 Comments

To log onto the MAS 90 or 200, everyone needs a User (and technically Roles). As an administrative feature, each MAS 90 and 200 installation also includes an Administrator user. This user does not have access to menu items, cannot inquire, and cannot perform data entry, but is required during each upgrade. If you don’t know your admin password, Sage can help with a completed authorization form.

Consider having your System Administrator or MAS 90 champion log on using the admin account each month to make sure everything is functioning properly. It would be wise to make sure two people (but not more), know this password.

Sage ERP MAS 90, 200, and 500 Supported Versions

Published
by
Brian Rice
on August 6, 2010
in MAS 90 and MAS 200
. 0 Comments

The long-due (or long-threatened depending on your perspective) retirement of MAS 90 and 200 version 3.71 is creeping ever closer. Originally issued in November 2002, the release has avoided the peril of Sage’s previous n-2 (current release plus two prior) policy.

While the last Product Updates for version 3.71 was released in October 2005 and Quarterly & Year-end Updates were discontinued as of December 31, 2009, Tax Table Updates and Phone and Email Support by Sage have still been available. That changes on September 30, 2010 when sage discontinues support and Tax Table updates for this release.

Versions 4.00, 4.05, and 4.10 are scheduled for a similar fate with Phone and Email Support from Sage ending as of September 30, 2011, Quarterly & Year-end Updates ending December 31, 2010, Tax Table Updates and Hot Fixes ending on September 30, 2011.

A new contradiction to Sage’s previous policies, which one might suspect could change without much notice, is that all customers maintaining their Business Care agreement will maintain access to the online knowledgebase for even these retired versions.

Support Policy MAS

Important Extended Solutions 941 Update Needed for Q2 2010

Published
by
Brian Rice
on July 19, 2010
in MAS 90 and MAS 200
. 0 Comments

Following the release of the 2010 Form 941 Update, Sage has issued notice that systems running any of a number of Extended Solutions would also need additional updates for compatibility purposes. The entire list is included below. Notice that no Extended Solutions are listed for version 4.40 (Extended Solutions were either incorporated through a series of product updates or released to select programmers)

Important Extended Solutions 941 Update Needed for Q2 2010

The Sage ERP MAS 90 and 200 Extended Solutions listed below require an update to be compatible with the Q2 2010 941 form changes. You should be using software showing a release date on or after 07/09/10. Please contact us to request your necessary title update by calling 800-390-3643 and selecting Option 1.

Effected Titles for Sage ERP MAS 90 and 200 version 4.3, 4.2:

Title Description
JC-1095 Bill Rate Specified By Job/Employee/Cost Code
PR-1003 Extended Decimal Precision
PR-1015 Deduction Calculation Based On Earnings Type
PR-1018 Automatic Earnings Code Maintenance By Employee
PR-1019 Location Processing
PR-1023 Deductions With Monthly Maximums and Minimums
PR-1024 User Defined Payroll Cycle
PR-1040 User Defined Earnings And Deduction Types
PR-1044 Career To Date Hours Worked
PR-1051 Employee/Department Allocation
PR-1054 Payroll For Saipan
PR-1055 Deduction Calculation For Pension Plans
PR-1059 Tax Accrual Account Posting By Department
PR-1062 Employee User Defined Fields
PR-1064 Tax And Deduction Liability Check Generation
PR-1067 Additional Deduction Calculation Methods
PR-1072 Enhanced W-2 Form Printing
PR-1074 Enhanced Perpetual Payroll History Report
PR-1090 Multiple Concurrent Local Taxes
PR-1091 Enhanced Benefit Accrual
PR-1094 Exclude Employees From Unemployment Accrual
PR-1098 Union Payroll
PR-1100 Enhanced Workers’ Comp Processing
PR-1102 Accrual Yearly Limit Set by Months Of Employment
PR-1105 Deduction Taxability By Local Code
TC-1005 Temporary Employee Billing
TC-1017 Incentive Pay

Effected Titles for Sage ERP MAS 90 and 200 version 4.10 / 4.05/ 4.0 / 3.71

Title Description
JC-1095 Bill Rate Specified By Job/Employee/Cost Code
PR-1003 Extended Decimal Precision
PR-1018 Automatic Earnings Code Maintenance By Employee
PR-1019 Location Processing
PR-1024 User Defined Payroll Cycle
PR-1044 Career To Date Hours Worked
PR-1051 Employee/Department Allocation
PR-1054 Payroll For Saipan
PR-1059 Tax Accrual Account Posting By Department
PR-1062 Employee User Defined Fields
PR-1067 Additional Deduction Calculation Methods
PR-1072 Enhanced W-2 Form Printing
PR-1074 Enhanced Perpetual Payroll History Report
PR-1090 Multiple Concurrent Local Taxes
PR-1091 Enhanced Benefit Accrual
PR-1094 Exclude Employees From Unemployment Accrual
PR-1098 Union Payroll
PR-1099 Reciprocal Taxation (Windows Only)
PR-1100 Enhanced Workers’ Comp Processing
PR-1102 Accrual Yearly Limit Set by Months Of Employment
TB-1000 Time and Billing Interface With TimeCard & Payroll
TC-1005 Temporary Employee Billing
TC-1017 Incentive Pay

Sage Desktop Deposit

Published
by
Brian Rice
on May 13, 2010
in MAS 90 and MAS 200
. 0 Comments

What is Sage Desktop Deposit? Maybe exactly what you expect.

Many of your financial transactions are now being handled electronically, maybe more than you would expect:

  • Direct Deposit for your employee payroll
  • ACH payments for vendors
  • Credit card payments from your customers
  • Credit card payments to your vendors
  • Online payments to vendors

In many cases, however, payment by check is still the most popular form of payment and of course, if the payment isn’t made electronically, someone has to schlep to the bank. Sage Desktop Deposit resolves that problem by giving you the ability to scan checks from your customers transmitting the deposit to your bank right from your desk. You’ll need some hardware and of course there are fees (similar to credit card merchant fees).