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.
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:
- 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.
- 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.
