Aries Technology Group Blog

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!