Highlights of the roadmap include:

• New features in Product Update 5
• Announcing Product Update 6 availability in July 2011
• Overview of automated sales tax processing by Avalara
• Overview of credit card processing by Sage Payment Solutions
• Overview of Sage ERP MAS Intelligence (FRx’s replacement) including information about an FRx Conversion Utility
• New features in Version 4.5, including payroll, sales order and accounts receivable
• Overview of SageCRM
• Announcing MAS 90 Cloud Deployment (only framework modules available)
• New features coming in Version 5, including auto update

• 3.7x, 4.0, 4.05 and 4.1:  September 30, 2011
• 4.2:  September 30, 2012
• 4.3:  September 30, 2013
• 4.4:  September 30, 2014

If you have any questions about the roadmap, please be sure to give Aries a call!

Extended Solutions are customizations for the MAS modules.  Previously, Sage announced they were getting out of the Extended Solutions business and would turn over support and future enhancement of the bulk of the solutions to authorized developers.  However, they are retaining 56 of what are considered the ‘most used’solutions.  These 56 solutions will be gradually incorporated into future MAS 90/200 product updates over the next several years.

The new roadmap provides a timeline for incorporation of the Extended Solutions into the core product.  Click the link below to view the updated roadmap.

Sage MAS 90 and 200 Roadmap – March 2010

Sage MAS 90/MAS 200 Roadmap - Updated March 2010

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!

Greetings Aries Technology Group readers!

My name is Adrian Montgomery, Marketing Director at Aries Technology Group.

I will be using this blog to keep you informed of upcoming events here at Aries Technology Group.

We have serveral webinars scheduled the first one is regarding Avalara.  Please see below for a description and register today!

Join us for a Webinar on March 10

Attend this informational webinar focused on

Sales Tax Audit Challenges and Solutions to Protect Your Company.

Become fully automated and completely audit compliant with AvaTax!

AvaTax can Automate the entire Sales Tax Process, including:

• Sales Tax Rates – no more Tax Codes and Schedules to maintain
• Product Taxability Rules – map to your Inventory Items
• Sales Tax Return filing and payment remittance
• Seamless integration to all major ERP’s including Microsoft, Sage, Quickbooks, Epicor, NetSuite, Intacct, Infor and Exact
• Achieve compliance automatically – 14,500+ unique tax jurisdictions and with 100,000+ taxability rules
• Audit protection – Average sales tax audit penalty = $35,000
  Street address level tax assignment – More accurate than ZIP codes
• Industry leading training and support – included

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.4 (Tiger®) or newer

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/645291600

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!

• 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!

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:

There are many benefits to using the Sage Sales Tax solution.  First, accuracy.  Sage Sales Tax has the most comprehensive jurisdictional assignment capabilities, extensive research, and the most up-to-date rates and boundary information.  Second, speed.  Sage Sales Tax quickly applies sales tax calculations in the background of MAS via a secure, encrypted Internet connection.  There is no disruption to your workflow.  Third, reports.  Detailed, on-demand reports provide you with quick access to the information you need to prepare and submit sales tax returns.  Fourth, rules and regulations.  As we all know, the calculation of sales tax is based on more than just a simple tax rate.  Sages Sales Tax easily manages nexus and taxability rates.  Fifth, ease of use.  The set-up process is easy, enabling you to immediately begin saving effort and money. 

Sage Sales Tax is a hosted, Web-service-based solution that automatically performs address validation, sales tax jurisdiction research, and rate calculation, all on the fly within your accounting application, with no change to your existing workflow.  Sage Sales Tax integrates with Sage MAS 90, Sage MAS 200 and Sage MAS 500.  Pricing is in the form of a set-up fee as well as a monthly fee based on an estimated transaction volume for the first year.  If the transaction estimate is exceeded, you can upgrade to the next level of service or continue by paying a small per-transaction fee.  Tax rate and statutes are provided in the Sage Sales Tax database, so you never have to install an update or a rate change. 

Remember, dealing with sales tax doesn’t have to be time-consuming or error-prone.  Feel free to contact me if you would like further information regarding this service.