When Sage’s MAS 90 Extended Solutions are over the top!

I must publically object to the newest Sage MAS 90′ s “Extended Solution” enhancement announcment that was mailed to its resellers by Sage Software in last week’s Sage MAS90/200/500 mailer. The extended solution is for a “User Login Activity Log” that is being released for sale. I guess someone thoujght this was needed.

My concern about this enhancement is whether it was more ugent an enhancement than those many that are waiting to become part of the standard MAS 90? My conern is that there are programmers working at the Sage MAS 90 offices that are creating “add ons” to the “Standard” product INSTEAD of making needed changes to the base product. One example of a long needed change to the standard product is the limits we have been stuck with how the standard Activity Log stores information in every Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 system.

The standard Activity Log has not been changed in 20 years. A maximimum of 999 events can be recorded at any one time. This means that if you have mulitple companies that do lots of stuff like month end processing or install a new version, or get a slew of new user or even error, thenthe log quickly gets filled up and you find important information falling into t he computer “abyss”, never to be seen, again. We have waited for close to 20 years for the activity log to track over 999 events that are of significance, we get, instead, a brand new “user activity log”. . at extra cost. Let’s see what was offered:

“LM-1031, User Login Activity Log

For those Sage MAS 90 and 200 customers who absolutely, positively have to have every piece of available knowledge at their fingertips­including which employees are using Sage MAS 90 or 200 (and when), then we have a new tool to tell you about. LM-1031, User Login Activity Log, creates a log entry each time a user logs in or out of Sage MAS 90 or 200 . This log can be viewed on screen. It can be filtered to view by date/user/activity type, or a report with these same parameters is available for printing. A separate purge utility allows you to delete entries when they are no longer meaningful.

Price: $1,295 + $535 SLP
Version: 4.10″

So what is offered is only a way to see who logs in or out of MAS 90 and when. Not what they are doing while in the system, just when they entered and left MAS 90. It is sad that Sage is putting resoureces into developing this kind of “enhancement” instead of providing a more usable activity log to its MAS 90 and MAS 200 users. Our allies are paying an annual maintence fee that need to include increased retun on their inestment from their ERP software. This is not the kind of enhancement our allies need.

I know that the bottom line counts alot, but my fear that MAS 90/200 will NOT be upgraded as the years go by, because of the perceived “cash cow” that the “Extended Solutions” represents to Sage. There are large margins in reselling these “enhancements”, as Sage knew when it purchased one of their largest Master Developers, Macabe, to get into this business.

The decision by Sage’s MAS Mid Market division to offer new “extended soltuions” instead of putting all its resouces into improving its base product and better tools for its master develper community, is one reason why we have added the Sage Accpac ERP line to our product mix. The folks at Accpac are much more user centric. Their last upgrade included 267 enhancements. http://www.sageaccpac.com/products/new/ Now that’s what I call an upgrade.

I hope that Sage does not do away with the feet on the ground, end user in mind, kind of focus I see from its ACCPAC acquisition, as it becomes another part of its mid market division that already includes Sage MAS 90 and Sage MAS 200. Perhaps the folks from Canada will show the Mid Market division how to put the customer first, again, like when we had the “Customer for Life” focus.

Friendly Systems is building a community of “allies for life” by remembering that whatever we do must improve our allies’ business processes and quality of services, so they can become even more successful than when we met them. They depend on us, their business software provider, to get them the best return on their investment that we can provide.

We expect the same from Sage Software.

Is Your Business Software Earning its Keep?

Most companies today have automated business information systems to help them manage their business. The systems can keep track of cash on hand, who owes the company money and how late they are in paying up. I t also keeps up with vendors and the balances owed to them and how old those invoices are. All for the very important job of tracking cash flow. This is called tracking liquidity and is vital to the survival of any organization. Yet, it is not enough to ony track cash, as it only is a SHORT TERM measure of success.

If a business’s information sytem is only used to track cash, your information system is not earning its keep. There are many other jobs that need to be tracked by your business software. These other activities are measures of profitability. The LONG TERM viability of the business is measered by that number.

What items that you sell are your most profitable?
Who is your most profitable customer?
Which customers are you losing money on?
How many complaints did you have last month, year and how does that compare to prior periods?
Which salesperson(s) should be rewarded for their sales activity?
How are your vendors at keeping their promises to deliver your products on time?
Is your purchasing agent getting the best prices?
Am I notified as soon as invoices over a certain critical amount are past due?
Do we take our discounts from our vendors or are we paying more than we need to?
Are we using bar codes to help us reduce errors and speed up processing of receipt of goods and shipments to customers?
Has our company opened a website that allows our customers to order stock and track its fulfillment on the world wide web?

The list could go on and on, but the point I am making is that tracking cash, while important, is not the only job your information system needs to do. In fact, by having your business system earn its keep, you will eventually have more cash! Friendly has helped many of its allies to increase their net profit, by identifying areas where processes can be improved. We want our allies to have success in SHORT TERM liquidity AND LONG TERM profitability.

Your software ally should be able to help you to do the same. Give them a call and ask them to help you. You should get much more back than the fees you pay them for their advice.

Allies – The Power of Partnership

At Friendly Systems, we decided to call the companies and people we provide goods and services to, our ALLIES Why not just call them customers or even clients?

We see the people whose business information systems we support and care for as people whose survival depends on us. When your business information system is not working, then you are driving without any knowledge of where you have been or even where you are. You cannot get to where you want to be without your information system. We at Friendly are as much dependent on the people we support for our own survival. We know we cannot get to our destination without the people and companies we serve. To help remind us of this mutually important relationship, we decided to elevate them to the category of – ally.

Allies are people who realize that their survival is also dependant on your survival. It’s not a “hit and run” type of relationship where each tries to get the better of the other and then goes off looking for someone else to work with. We are not in the “quickie” business. Also, it’s not a professional/client relationship where one party knows so much more than the other that often the customer feels they are in the dark about what service they are actually getting. We need to know all about your business and you need to know all about ours. Friendly becomes part of your organization, without becoming part of your payroll.

So we look for allies when we are looking for people and companies to work with. Whom are you looking to work with? Another vendor or an ally? Aren’t your information systems too important to leave in the hands of a vendor?

Choose to become a Friendly Systems ally!

Learn to embrace change.

No business is perfect. You can make it better by letting go of old attachments so that you can pursue more desirable goals. When something doesn’t work the way you want it to and you can’t change it, concentrate on replacing it with something new. Think of what you want in its place. This focus on the new positive goal is helpful in letting go of the old negative attachment.

You may also find it helpful at this point to focus on the knowledge that you are now open to new opportunities. The software you use to help you to make decisions must be updated on a regular basis, to keep it abreast of the latest tools.

The newest versions of your software allow for business intelligence to be part of your toolbox. Friendly Systems invests in learning new tools so you can benefit with the smallest amount of your time needed to get the results that improve your bottom line and even your personal life.
How long has it been since you considered your business software as your ally? We can help you to embrace you most important business tool – your financial and business software.

The following applies ONLY to Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 version 4.1:

Service Update 4.1.0.4 for Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 version 4.1 had several Sales Order and Accounts Receivable issues, which have been resolved in Service Update 4.1.0.5. To check which version is on your system, select File, Run and type in “*info” (without the quotes). The System Version field will tell you. If it says 4.1.0.4 or lower, you should download the latest Service Update from the Sage Support site and install it.

Controlling Inventory: a Distributor’s largest investment!

Building Material suppliers (and other distributors, too) have to stock and keep track of thousands and thousands of products. Keeping track of all that stuff is hard work. It’s not just knowing what’s back there, it’s knowing who wants it, and when. It’s knowing whom to buy it from and at what price. It’s knowing when to add new items and when to stop buying some of the old stuff.

I remember when the purchasing agent was the person who had convinced everyone else that they knew the answers to all of the above. And the answers were all processed and kept in their heads! Of course the reality was that they would over buy, so that they would not have to say “we don’t have it” to a customer (or the boss) when an order came in. This maybe made life easier for the buyer, but at what cost to the company?

Inventory doesn’t just cost money to buy, it costs money to insure it, to store it, to count it, to keep it in saleable condition. It must be heated and cooled and even cleaned. Somebody figured that the cost to keep stock is about 30% of the cost of the inventory. And that is EVERY YEAR!

So turning your inventory becomes a key indicator of success. How many times does your “warehouse” get completely sold in a year? 2 times? 4 times? 6 times? 10 times? Or more? The number that is a “good” number varies depending on the industry you are in.

Food distributors had better have a lot of turns, or the food goes into the recycle bin. Car companies have fewer turns, but even they need to keep an eye on slow moving stock. Just watch those year end sales to see what happens when inventory is not turning.

Friendly understands why you need good numbers and even better reports. We offer software and the experience that can help you to manage the largest asset any distributor has….your inventory.

In Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 version 4.10, an unusual situation may occur where the system allows you to print an AR, SO or GL journal or batch, but you are not given the option to update that journal or batch. No messages are displayed, the system simply prints the journal or batch and returns to the launcher display. Ordinarily you will either be given the option to update or the system will display a message saying that you don’t have security authorization to update in that module.
If neither of those options displays, you may have corrupted data in one or more records in one of the journals or batches you have printed. If this situation occurs, you have two options. One option is to use the Library Master utilities menu to either rebuild or reinitialize the entry files for the journal or batch you have printed. If you have multiple journals or multiple batches, then try selecting each journal or batch individually for printing. If the system gives you the option to update that batch, then the records for that journal/batch are OK and you may update. If the system does not give you the option to update, then you must return to data entry and delete and re-enter that particular version or batch.
If you have questions or need assistance with this situation or other support questions regarding Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200, call the Friendly Systems support department at 678-273-4010 #2 for assistance.

Competition heats up in the professional builder market:

Atlanta based Home Depot has decided to be the No.1 diversified wholesaler with plans to grow the supply division to between $23 billion and $27 billion in the next 5 years. “The strategy of Home Depot is to repeat in the professional space the same type of market transformation The Home Depot executed in the do-it-yourself space” says Joe DeAngelo who leads Home Depot Supply. To help accomplish that goad, Home Depot Supply has been buying lots of distributors who sell to the professional builder.

How do you, the smaller distributor compete with a large company like Home Depot Supply? “By getting closer to the customer” says Ernie Countermarsh, senior vice president of industrial sales for F.W. Webb, a national distributor of plumbing, heating, cooling and piping products.

You can do that by investing in software that will help you to stay in touch with your customers. You can do that by knowing what they buy before they buy it, so you can provide them the service they demand. You can compete with larger companies by having even better Business Intelligence software working for you.

Friendly Systems has shown its allies how to use Business Intelligence to keep track of key events. You can be sent reports, emails or event text messages as soon as a specified event occurs. Some examples are: a sales order that becomes 10 days old; a purchase order that does not arrive on the due date for your largest customer. Perhaps you want to know when an invoice goes over 50 days old. We can do that and allow you can follow up before it becomes a big headache.

Business Intelligence: We call it the Worrying Module

This month’s National Geographic magazine (October 2006) focuses on a topic that is of interest to most business owner.. Asset Preservation.

National Geographic doesn’t call it that. They talk about “Places we Must Save”. The assets they are writing about include Arizona’s Glen Canyon National Recreation area, Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida and even Yellowstone National Park, our country’s first park. The problem is that the people assigned to preserve the parks, the National Park Service Rangers, are now doing more visitor services and less protection of the resources they were supposed to preserve for future generations.

What are the assets that you need to save in your company? Are you putting too much into customer service programs and skimping on investing on employees? Can employees who are not happy provide great customer service? Most world class organizations have figured out that they need happy and motivated employees to offer the world class customer service their customers (allies) demand.

At Friendly Systems our most important assets are the people who work here. We help our people improve their skills and reduce their stress levels by creating a workplace where each of us has a home office. Friendly doesn’t just help others use technology to improve productivity, we practice what we preach. So our servers are accessed via the internet and we communicate via e-mail and phones. Face to face meetings are kept to a minimum.

This means that we spend less time in traffic and more time learning about the products we represent and the industries we serve. This makes our people, (our assets) more valuable to our allies. Working at home also allows Friendly’s staff to be part of their children’s lives as they are usually there when they come back from school. This reduces stress on the family which helps preserve them, too.

New in Service Update 4.10.1.4 for Sage MAS 90 & MAS 200.

For the Accounts Receivable module:

Performance has been improved when printing the AR Trial Balance Report.

In Invoice Data Entry, the correct price now comes in when the item code is changed on an existing line.

In Cash Receipt Entry, previously entered receipts now correctly remain after canceling a new deposit.

In Invoice History Inquiry, “The shipping invoice failed validation on Y,N” no longer occurs when clicking on the Shipping button

For the General Ledger module:

When setting a default printer which is different from workstation default printer is selected for a Financial Report Group, the financial reports will now correctly print to the default printer saved in Financial Report Group Maint

For the Inventory Management module:

In Sales Kit Maintenance, an Error 26 program IMWMBB Line 20210 no longer occurs when clicking the OK button in Item Text Maintenance.

In the e-Business Manager module:

When viewing the RMA detail on the web, the page now correctly displays a listing of each lot and serial distribution record along with the quantity distributed.

In the Return Materials Authorization module:

Generate Transactions now correctly generates credit memos in Sales Order for invoices paid with a credit card.

The Fix RMA Detail utility now is correctly displayed on the *utl menu.

… I’ll be posting the Sales Order (15) and Visual Integrator (6) enhancements soon.

If you are using Mas90 or Mas200 version 4.10 and would like assistance with installing these changes, contact us at 678-273-4010 (support) or via our website: www.friendlysystems.com/contacts.htm