February 23, 2010

Sage MAS 500 Product Roadmap

Posted by Amy Shaver under Technology, What's ahead for Sage and Sage Products? | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Sage MAS 500 Version 7.3 has been available for a number of months now.  Major features include a new Credit Card Processing module, new Business Insights Explorer Views, numerous enhancements to Inventory, Purchase Order and Sales Order, as well as ACH processing for Accounts Payable.  Click here for a full release guide (Sage_MAS_500_7.3_Release_Guide).

As with my former post on Sage MAS 90/MAS 200 product roadmap, let’s take a look at the Sage MAS 500 roadmap.  The roadmap (Sage MAS 500 Roadmap) outlines Sage’s future plans for Sage MAS 500.  I’ll summarize a few key points below.

  • Product Strategy:  Sage wants to provide more ‘value for maintenance,’ which will include incorporating features and functionality based on top customer-requested enhancements.  The idea is to release new features & functionality over time with regular product updates, rather than waiting for “major” upgrades.
  • New financial reporting alternative:  Business Insights Intelligance, a new reporting tool in a familiar Microsoft environment.  FRx will be supported by Microsoft until December 31, 2012.
  • Focus on enhancements to advanced manufacturing/distribution.
  • Goal to reduce impact of upgrades on MAS 500 customizations.

Following is a general timeline for Sage MAS 500 product updates.

  1. Product Updates for Version 7.3 (December 2009, February 2010, May 2010)
  2. Version 7.4 (Quarter 2, 2011)
  3. Product Updates for Version 7.4 (expected to be released every 3 to 4 months after the official release of 7.4)
  4. Version 7.5 (Quarter 4, 2012)

Visit the Sage roadmap (Sage MAS 500 Roadmap) for more specific details about Version 7.3 features, as well as a retirment schedule for previous versions.  And, as always, feel free to contact us if you have any questions!

 

February 18, 2010

Sage MAS 90 and 200 Product Roadmap

Posted by Amy Shaver under What's ahead for Sage and Sage Products? | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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As you know from my article posted on February 12, Sage is in the process of delivering the major release of MAS90/MAS 200 Version 4.4.   This new release adds value for Sage customers with new time-saving features and enhancements, especially in the Inventory Management, Purchase Order and Bill of Materials modules.

It is never to early, though, to ask “what’s next?”  In answer to our questions, Sage has released a public ‘roadmap’ (MAS 90 MAS 200 Roadmap) for the MAS 90/MAS 200 product line.  This roadmap outlines Sage’s future plans for MAS 90/MAS 200.  I’ll summarize a few key points below.

  • Product Strategy:  Sage wants to provide more ‘value for maintenance,’ which will include incorporating features and functionality of popular Extended Solution titles, implementing top requested customer enhancements and providing ongoing product updates with minimal disruption.  The idea is to release new features & functionality over time with product updates, rather than waiting for a “major” upgrade.
  • Microsoft SQL Server Support
  • New financial reporting alternative:  Business Insights Intelligence.    FRx will be supported by Microsoft until December 31, 2012 and Sage is targeting Quarter 2, 2010 for this new reporting tool in a familiar Microsoft Excel interface.

Following is a general timeline for Sage MAS 90/MAS 200 product updates.

  1. Product Updates for Version 4.4 (March, June, September, December 2010 and March 2011)
  2. Version 4.5 (Quarter 3, 2011)
  3. Product Updates for Version 4.5 (September, December 2011 and April 2012)
  4. Version 4.6 (Quarter 3, 2012)

In addition, Sage has announced the following Product Retirement Schedule.

  1. Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 Version 3.71:  September 30, 2010
  2. Sage MAS 200 SQL Edition Version 3.7x:  June 1, 2011
  3. Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 Versions 4.0, 4.5 and 4.1:  September 30, 2011

Visit the Sage roadmap (MAS 90 MAS 200 Roadmap) for specific details on what’s included in the Product Updates and new versions.  And, as always, feel free to contact us if you have any questions!

 

February 12, 2010

Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 Version 4.4 Shipping Soon!

Posted by Amy Shaver under What's ahead for Sage and Sage Products? | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Sage announced that Version 4.4 has been released to production and will begin shipping February 15!  Below I’ve summarized features and enhancements in the new version, especially in Inventory Management, Purchase Order and Bill of Materials.

  • Expanded Customer Numbers in Accounts Receivable.  The Customer Number field can be expanded to 20 characters in Version 4.4.  Customers can continue to use  the seven-character customer number but you now have the opportunity to expand to include helpful information such as company name, store number, city, etc.
  • Expanded Item Numbers. You will be able to expand the Inventory Item Number field from the current 15 characters to up to 30 characters.
  • Streamlined Physical Count. The Quantity on Hand information will be printed on the physical count worksheet in the same sort order as is in the system.  When physical count is complete, you can set the system quantity as the default, so data entry personnel need only make an entry when there is a discrepancy between the system count and the physical count.
  • Automated Standard Cost Adjustments. The new Standard Cost Adjustment feature will simplify the process of adjusting the standard costs for inventory items using that method.
  • Increased Decimal Precision. The number of decimal places in the Quantity field in Inventory Management will be increased to four, making it consistent with the four decimal places in Bill of Materials.  When raw materials are converted to inventory items, rounding discrepancies will be reduced.
  • Purchase Order. Additional selection criteria will assist with identifying sales orders from which you need to generate purchase orders, for easier drop shipment processing.
  • Bill of Materials. In Version 4.4 the Bill of Materials Inquiry and the Where-Used Inquiry will present a more comprehensive view of data.  You can view everything related to the bill and its sub-assemblies or components without having to go to another window.

Other great new features include:

  • Persistent Report Preview. A user will be able to set a default magnification level when previewing a report, so that reports automatically display at that level each time they are previewed.
  • New Business Insight Explorer Views. BIE offers powerful, easy-to-use inquiry and analysis capabilities.  Views added in Version 4.4 include Item Quantities by Warehouse, Vendor History Purchases, Bill of Materials, Component Where-Used, and Open PO by Vendor Name.
  • New Business Framework. With the 4.4 release, four more modules are migrated to the new Business Framework:  Inventory Management, Purchase Order, Bill of Materials and Bar Code.  The addition of these 4 modules to the business framework adds faster entry with the dual-grid design, personalization of the entry screens (resizing, deleting or moving unneeded entry fields), hyperlinks providing quick access to related tasks.  In addition, role-based security enhancements have been added to these four modules so tighter security controls can be added by user.  Batch entry is now available in these four modules as well!  You can save report settings by user, as well as set the ‘keep window open after print or preview’ by user.
  • New Custom Office Enhancements. Custom Office provides the ability for administrators and users to modify their system screens with UDF’s and tables to add new functionality.  Enhancements in 4.4 allow the ability to program events (i.e. the clicking of a button to make something happen) without user interaction.  Customizer modifications will saved when upgrading to 4.4.
  • Parallel Migration. Parallel Migration provides the ability to migrate from previous versions of Sage MAS 90 or 200 (version 3.71, 4.0, 4.05, 4.10, 4.2 and 4.3) to version 4.4 with more freedom & control over the upgrade process, and removes some of the time constraints previously experienced with the upgrade process.  You will be able to continue normal business operations while the upgrade is being installed on a separate, parallel location until everything is ready in the new version.
  • Updated Business Desktop. A new information center section will include a Community Form, Sage Newsletter, and Tell Us What You Think Section for more real-time information about Sage and their products, training, and other information.

Additional Information:

  • Extended Solutions. Some Extended Solutions will be rendered obsolete by the new features and functionality of 4.4.  Many other Extended Solutions will be retired by Sage but continue to be available to licensed Development Partners to be brought up to 4.4 compatibility.  And, for a few select Extended Solutions titles, the main features & functionality will be incorporated into the core Sage MAS 90/MAS 200 product over the next few releases.  Please contact me for further information regarding specific Extended Solutions.
  • Other Considerations. The 4.4 release will use Sage MAS Fixed Assets 2010.1.  Business Alerts 5.1, Credit Card Processing (by PCCharge Payment Server) 5.8.2, Crystal Reports XI, and FRx 6.7 w/SP 10.

At this time Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 Version 4.4 Windows 7 compatibility testing is still underway.  Sage expects to have compatibility information published by the end of March 2010.    For more on Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 Version 4.4 new features, please click on the Sage MAS 90/Sage MAS 200 Version 4.4 Release Guide Sage MAS 90-200 4 4 Pre-Release Guide 11-30-09

And, as always, please feel free to contact John or myself with any questions!

 

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 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:

 

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 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

 

August 17, 2009

Honor System for Time Sheets? Only At Church!

Posted by John Shaver under Business Strategy, Travels and Adventures, Why Hire Aries? | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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 While visiting Charleston, SC this past weekend, my family and I stopped by the Cathedral of St John the Baptist.  It’s a beautiful Gothic cathedral which began construction in 1890 and is still a work in process.  Currently, its Connecticut brownstone exterior is being renovated and a spire is being added.

What also caught my attention are the markings on each and every one of the brownstone bricks.  Since there obviously were no electronic time keeping systems in the 19th century, the stone masons kept track of their time on an honor system.  For each day of work they completed, they would imprint one star into a brick.  The church elders were confident that none of the workers would cheat on their time because they were working on a church.  Who would dare to pull a scam on God, right?

Unfortuntely technology projects are not churches.  Time sheets and billing by the hour are fertile territory for cheating.  Rarely are time sheets accurate which means that you rarely receive an accurate bill from a consultant who bills by the hour.  In almost every situation, a consultant is compensated based on the number of billable hours she or he generates.  Where does that put you if you are their customer?  In a very unholy position!

How do you avoid being in this predicament?  Insist on an up-front, fixed price for every project before you move forward.  The consultant should be focused on your desired results and should not care how long it takes to accomplish those goals.

 

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