February 8, 2010

Sage Support for Windows 7

Posted by Amy Shaver under Business Strategy, Technology, What's ahead for Sage and Sage Products? | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Here are the latest updates from Sage concerning compatibility with Microsoft Windows 7:

MAS 90 and MAS 200:

  • Currently, Sage does not support either MAS 90 or MAS 200 on Windows 7.  Support for Windows 7 is expected to begin with the release of version 4.4.
  • Version 4.3 will not be supported on Windows 7 until the release of Service Update 18.  That service update is expected to be released by March 31, 2010.
  • Version 4.4 should start shipping to Sage business partners by mid-February.  Customers can expect their copy of version 4.4 to arrive by the end of March.

MAS 500:

  • Version 7.3 is supported on Windows 7.
  • None of the older versions of MAS 500 will be supported on Windows 7.

We encourage you to check with Aries before purchasing new PC’s with Windows 7 so that we can keep you posted on Sage’s support policy for that operating system.  Please call or e-mail us with any specific questions.

Stay tuned for another post this week regarding the new version 4.4 of MAS 90 and MAS 200.

 

February 5, 2010

The Aries e-Newsletter: Ramifications

Posted by John Shaver under Business Strategy, Technology, What's ahead for Sage and Sage Products?, Why Hire Aries? | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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In 2 weeks we will be launching the Aries e-newsletter for all of our current and future customers.  The newsletter will be e-mailed on a monthly basis and will initially contain 3 sections.  Those sections are:

  • Tech Talk.  Amy will keep you up to date on all of the Sage, MAS 90, MAS 200, MAS 500, CRM, FAS and Abra news.  You will learn about new features, upcoming new versions, tax table updates and more.  Her section will also include how-to videos on a variety of subjects such as:
    • How to reverse a payroll check in MAS 90
    • How to create a MAS 90 Visual Integrator job
    • How to create an FRx report for MAS 90/200 or MAS 500
    • Using the MAS 90/200 ODBC data source to export data
    • How to import a journal entry into MAS 500
    • How to setup the Abra Link for MAS 90/200
  • Ramblings.  John’s thoughts and observations about general business topics for small and medium-sized businesses.  Have you been thinking about social media for your business?  How do you choose a website designer?  How do you effectively manage projects for your business?  Would you like to know why work sucks and how to fix it?  Or maybe you would like to know where to get great barbecue (the noun variety, not the verb).  Or even where to eat on your vacation in Myrtle Beach.
  • Webinars.  Adrian will be posting event details for our upcoming monthly webinar series.  A list of webinar subjects can be found here.

We will be adding a fourth section titled Customer Spotlight where we will feature one of our customers every month.  The section will contain an overview of our customer’s business and how Aries has helped them achieve their goals.

You may be wondering why would name our newsletter Ramifications.  Well, the first reason is that it is play on words based on our company name.  In Greek mythology, the constellation Aries represents the ram.  Secondly, the ramifications of a decision regarding a technology project can have dire consequences for your business if you do not have a thorough understand of the issues.  To use a medical analogy, would you want to have triple bypass heart surgery without a doctor giving you an extensive check up?  The same is true of technology projects.  Undertaking one without the proper diagnosis can result in the death of the patient:  your business.

The newsletter is being designed by Chad Barr and his awesome team at CB Software.  Chad’s company is an integral part of our internet marketing strategy including the design of our website.  Keep an eye out for my upcoming blog article about how to choose a great website designer.

Below is a mock up of what the newsletter will look like:

 

February 3, 2010

Announcing the Aries Webinar Series

Posted by John Shaver under Business Strategy, Technology, What's ahead for Sage and Sage Products?, Why Hire Aries? | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Join us for the inaugural Aries Webinar on Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 11am EST.  The topic for this month’s webinar is focused on sales tax audit challenges and solutions to protect your company.

The Aries Webinar Series is a monthly educational webinar series which will focus on technology and general business subjects relevant to small and medium-sized businesses.  You can view the schedule for upcoming webinars along with a description of the topic by visiting the webinar section of our website.

These webinars will be presented by Aries team members and by featured guests.  Some of the future topics are:

  • Sales tax audit challenges and solutions to protect your company
  • 17 things you should be doing right now to reduce outstanding accounts receivable balances
  • Do you want to increase cash, profitability, sales and company value?  Learn from Johnny Gates, a partner with www.b2bcfo.com, how he has helped small and medium-sized businesses achieve those goals.
  • How can my company benefit from an internet marketing strategy?  Chad Barr, president of CB Software, will demystify internet strategies and explain how internet marketing, if used properly, can be a valuable and cost-effective tool for your business.
  • Are the costs and stresses of managing your network, workstations and servers keeping you awake at night?  Hosting and managed networks may be the answer.  Brian Strong from Claris Networks will talk about how to reduce those costs under control and get rid of the stress of dealing with IT issues.

Here are the details for the first webinar:

 

February 1, 2010

Please Welcome Adrian!

Posted by John Shaver under Business Strategy, Technology | Tags: , , , , , , |
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We are excited to announce that Adrian Montgomery has joined the Aries team as Director of Marketing.

She will be keeping all of our current and future customers up to date on the latest topics and trends in technology and business.  You can look forward to her section in our monthly e-newsletter.  She will also be coordinating our monthly series of free webinars.  For a list of webinar topics, please click here.

Adrian worked for Sage as a regional account manager for several years.  For our customers that means she understands both the software and the business challenges that small and medium sized companies face.

To learn more about Adrian, how she got into the industry and why she enjoys working with our customers, check out her bio on our website.

 

January 21, 2010

Crystal Reports 10 Export To Excel

Posted by John Shaver under Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , |
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A tip of the hat to Jeff Schwenk at Bottom Line Software for finding this article about the proper way to export data to Excel using Crystal Reports 10.

Many of our customers have asked for a “how to” on using Crystal to export data from MAS 90, MAS 200, MAS 500 and Abra.  This article provides a straight-forward, easy to understand approach for exporting that data in an Excel-friendly format.

These exports could be used to furnish MAS data to Excel for CPA audits, 401(k) administrators, import into other applications, etc.

Crystal 10 Export To MS Excel

 

November 22, 2009

Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 Extended Solutions – Dead or Alive?

Posted by Amy Shaver under What's ahead for Sage and Sage Products? | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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I received communication from Sage recently regarding the library of Extended Solutions for MAS 90/200, and wanted to share it with you.

Sage is continuing to take steps to simplify our product portfolio. We’ll now begin to phase out Sage MAS 90 and 200 Extended Solutions, which were created to address specialized needs of unique businesses. This phase-out process includes incorporating the main features and functionality of many of the top Extended Solution titles into the core product. That additional functionality will be delivered over the next several releases and product updates. This benefits our customers in many ways:

  • Adds more value for Sage MAS 90 and 200 customers — most popular features and functionality will continue to be incorporated into core products over the next few releases and product updates
  • Reduces “nickel and diming” — customers will see reduced maintenance charges on their annual renewal date when their Extended Solutions titles are no longer added in, resulting in a lower cost of ownership

Customers who own titles that will be retired, and not incorporated into the core product, will begin to see those Extended Solution title(s) drop off their renewal notices. As of November 1, 2010, we will no longer support any retired Extended Solutions titles. Please make note that the 2009 year-end updates will be the last year-end updates for those titles.

Customers who own the select group of titles that contain features and functionality that will be phased into Sage MAS 90 and 200 ERP over the next few releases will continue to see their title(s) on their renewal notices. Also, they’ll continue to receive support until such time as the features and functionality are incorporated into the core product. Once their title has been incorporated into the core product, they will see that title drop off their renewals.

To Summarize:

  • Sage will continue to sell a select group of Extended Solutions titles that are compatible with Sage MAS 90 and 200 version 4.3 (contact Amy Shaver for a list of these titles).
  • When the main features and functionality of those titles are incorporated into the product, the customers will no longer be charged M&S.
  • Customer’s who own the retired Extended Solutions titles will see them removed from renewals.
  • For new sales of the retired Extended Solutions titles, customers will purchase them directly from their reseller, working with a Source Code development partner, and not from Sage.

Feel free to contact Amy Shaver with any questions regarding your Sage MAS 90/200 Extended Solutions.  We will continue to keep customers updated as we receive information.

 

November 1, 2009

Sage’s New Support Policy for MAS 90, MAS 200, MAS 500 and FRx

Posted by Amy Shaver under Technology, What's ahead for Sage and Sage Products? | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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The following information was communicated to us by Sage Software recently, and I want to pass it along to everyone.

Historically, Sage has supported the current version of MAS software, plus five versions back.  Now, they have indicated they will change their policy over the next several years, and will scale back the number of supported Sage MAS versions.  By the end of 2011, Sage will move to a new ‘N-3′ policy for Sage MAS 90 and 200, and support only the current version and 3 versions back.  Support for Version 3.71 will end on September 30, 2010. The policy for Sage MAS 500 will be ‘N-2,’ with versions 6.3 and 7.0 support ending on September 30, 2010.

Sage believes the key benefit to this approach will allow them to focus on upgrading customers to the most current releases while allocating major development and support resources to ’solving pain points for the majority.’  At the point of product retirement, tax updates, product fixes and telephone support will end.

Another news item of interest is that Sage has announced their move to ‘product updates’ instead of service updates for Sage MAS 90 and 200, or monthly updates for Sage MAS 500.  Products updates will be scheduled every four to six months and are primarily intended to provide ongoing value to customers on maintenance between major releases.  In addition to bug fixes, product updates will also include enhancements such as new features and usability improvements.  One note from Sage:  the move to product updates as opposed to service releases does not mean they will stop fixing defects for customers as they occur.  Their answer to this is to strictly adhere to the escalation policies, thereby taking care of customers’ critical issues as they arise.

One additional item involves the FRx Report Writer.  Although Sage is committed to ensuring compatibility with FRx Desktop, Microsoft has announced an end of support date for FRx of December 31, 2012.  As a result, Sage will provide an alternative solution for Financial Reporting within the Sage MAS products.  They’ve announced a two-pronged approach for financial reporting for Sage MAS customers in the future:

  1. Sage is building an Excel-based financial reporting tool based on the existing Sage Financial Reporter module with Sage Accpac.  Sage Financial Reporter will be made compatible with Sage MAS and will provide basic financial reporting capabilities free of charge to all Sage MAS customers.
  2. Sage is also establishing an OEM relationship with a business intelligence vendor that offers advanced financial reporting, operational reporting and advanced OLAP analysis capabilities.  Sage MAS customers will be provided with one free user license for this product with the option of purchasing additional licenses.

The release timing of these two financial reporting solutions will be aligned to a future release of Sage MAS; the exact date has not yet been determined by Sage.

Please contact Amy Shaver at Aries Technology Group, (800) 990-6646 ext. 21 or ashaver@ariestech.com if you have any questions about these issues.

 

September 23, 2009

Top 10 Business Myths

Posted by John Shaver under Business Strategy | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |
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One of my mentors, Ed Kless at Sage, posted a fantastic list on his blog of the Top 10 Business Myths.  Here is the list:

While going through some old notes I found this list I developed of the top ten myths in or about business. Without further ado, they are:

1. Business is a zero-sum game

2. Price is based on cost

3. Excessive profits must be because the company is doing something evil

4. Increasing market share leads to increased profitability

5. Any focus on efficiency

6. Leadership is about changing others

7. Strategy is about analyzing, planning and doing

8. Business is science, and requires data to back up decisions

9. The customer is always right

10. Differentiation can be achieved by saying your customer focused

Do you agree or disagree with any or all of these? If so, please comment.

I especially like number 10 because it applies to all types of businesses and industries.  If all any of us have to do to make our businesses successful is say that we care about our customers, we would all be profitable beyond our wildest dreams.  Most businesses say they care about their customers but how many provide actual value to their customers?  Differentiating is all about continually proving that value to your customers.

 

August 21, 2009

Sage MAS 500 Version 7.3 coming in November!

Posted by Amy Shaver under Technology, What's ahead for Sage and Sage Products? | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Sage Software has announced that Sage MAS 500 Version 7.3 will begin shipping in November.  Many new features are included, in addition to more streamlined usability, scalability and system performance enhancements.  One of the most positive things about this new release is that it utilizes Microsoft Visual Studio 2008.  The retirement of VB 6 is indicative of Sage’s commitment to using the latest Microsoft Development Tools.

Below, I’ve outlined some of the key new features in Sage MAS 500 v7.3.

A new module, Credit Card Processing, is available to enable customers to quickly process payment receipts.  Features include multiple credit card accounts per customer, multiple credit card types and Processor types (Sage Payment Solutions, PayFlow by PayPal) and address verification and card security code.  Credit card transactions can be initiated and managed through Sales Order, Accounts Receivable and Cash Management.  There is no charge for the module if you are using Sage Payment Solutions as your processor, or if you are already licensed for Sage MAS 500 PSG Credit Card Processing.

Global enhancements include:

  • Updated Desktop.   The Tasks Explorer Bar has been updated, allowing you to display menus for one module at a time.  You can also choose from various Explorer styles to set how your menus are displayed.  The ‘My Tasks’ Explorer Bar has been modified and can be more easily personalized. 
  • Extended Platform Support.  Sage MAS 500 is now supported on Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008.  Also supported are 64-bit versions of client & server operating systems.
  • PDF Document Transmittal.  Vendor and Customer documents can be generated and e-mailed in PDF format.
  • Applications and Database Auditing:  A database auditing trigger tracks changes made to the database tables by non-Sage MAS 500 applications.  You can also track user deletions, additions and modifications made through Tasks.
  • Full Company Name Displayed During Login.  During login, the full company name is displayed (instead of an abbreviation).

Inventory Management enhancements include:

  • Physical Count.  In Inventory Management, the physical count process has been enhanced to include a new grid entry, expanded item selection criteria & sort order control, warning messages for items with missing counts, filtering a list of count items, option to set remaining uncounted items to zero, the ability to delete frozen controls from a batch, new detailed transaction report, exporting items to Excel to be counted.
  • Recalculate Inventory Quantities.  This utility can now be run on demand (executes the SQL Server “QtyOn” job).
  • Business Insights Explorer Views.  New views are available such as Pending Increase Transactions, Pending Decrease Transactions, Pending Physical Counts, Posted Physical Counts, Pending Lots (Preview) and Pending Serial Numbers (Preview).

Sales Order Enhancements include:

  • Shipment Commit Workflow.  Previously, shipments had to be confirmed before an invoice could be printed.  Now, you are able to print a pro-forma invoice before committing the shipment.  Thus, a printed invoice can be included in a shipment.
  • Cascade Sales Order Line Updates.  Updates made in the order header controls will optionally cascade down to all open sales order line items.
  • Credit Card Entry.  Credit card payment info can be entered in Enter Sales Orders and Quotes, Edit Shipments, Process Sales Orders.

Accounts Payable enhancements include:

  • ACH.  The ACH feature allows you to use electronic funds transfer as an alternative to checks.
  • Positive Pay.  You can help prevent check fraud by generating a file that is submitted to your bank to verify check information prior to a payment. 
  • Vendor Merge.  You can now easily merge vendor information from one “source” vendor into another “target” vendor and permanently remove the source vendor from your database.  All history is retained.

Accounts Receivable enhancements include:

  • Customer Merge.  You can now easily merge customer information from one “source” customer into another “target” customer and permanently remove the source customer from your database.  All history is retained.
  • Invoice Merge.  Multiple shipments can be merged into a single invoice.
  • Credit Card Refunds.  Refunds for credit card payments can conveniently be issued in the Process Cash Receipts and Process Invoices tasks.

System Management enhancements include:

  • Enhanced System Status.  View and hide other SQL Server connections outside of Sage MAS 500, set automatic refresh interval and initiate on-demand refresh.
  • New Security Events.  There are new security events in Accounts Receivable, Credit Card, Inventory Management, Accounts Payable, Purchase Order and Sales Order.

In addition, scalability and system-wide performance improvements have been made.  Processing sales orders, creating invoices, creating purchase orders, creating vouchers and creating journal entries are just some of the tasks that have been enhanced to process more transactions faster!  Performance enhancement has also been applied to  Crystal Reports, Manufacturing Production Entry and Labor Entry.

There have been no changes to the versions of Crystal and FRx.  Crystal remains at version 10.0 and Frx at version 6.7 SP 10.

 

Please call or email us if you would like further information.

Sage_MAS_500_7.3_Pre-Release_Guide-07-10-09

 

August 19, 2009

New Software = Open Heart Surgery

Posted by John Shaver under Business Strategy, Why Hire Aries? | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Recently our friends at Microsoft Business Solutions (Great Plains, Navision, Solomon and Axapta) have been attacking Sage and their partners from a truly odd angle.  Apparently the folks at MBS think that businesses purchase accounting, inventory, manufacturing, human resources and customer-relationship management software based on whichever software vendor is currently running a sale on their respective products.

For a business, implementing a new software system is just as invasive, complicated and risky as it is for a human to go through triple bypass open heart surgery.  In both cases, the patient could very well die!  Many businesses have been put out of business by software implementations gone sour.

I posed this question to several of our MAS 90, MAS 200, MAS 500 and Abra customers:  If a Microsoft (or any other software) representative called or came by your office today and offered you their software for free, would you be interested?  The answers are a unanimous NO.  Just like the kids in the Lio cartoon below, they are not interested in open heart surgery for their business even if the doctor gives it away for free.

Would you go to a doctor who discounts or offers a buy one/get one free surgical procedure?  I don’t think many of us would be interested.  So, why would any business purchase a software implementation based on price?  Especially when that software becomes such an integral and vital part of that business that it cannot live for long without the software functioning properly.

I seek out the doctors who have new patient waiting lists of several months.  They’re the best ones and they are almost always the most expensive and the most successful.  The same goes for technology consultants.  Do you really want to work with software from a consultant who isn’t busy and can only compete based on price?  Sounds like a recipe for disaster to me.

And notice how many customers Dr. Lio brought in with his free offer.Lio

 

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