If you need to integrate your data with other software packages or data transmissions, the Visual Integrator module is the tool to use. Easy selection of data to export or import is provided, with a variety of features and formats to accomplish different tasks. For example:

Bring vendor price changes into your Inventory item file quickly.
Export your items to excel, calculate new prices, then import new prices into inventory from excel.
Import Vendor Invoices into your AP system, rather than entering them manually.
Items scattered in multiple locations? Enter physical counts into excel, then import into the Mas90/200 Physical Count Entry file.
Validation logic is built into Visual Integrator to assure that the data being imported conforms to Sage MAS 90 and Sage MAS 200 rules.
User-Defined Fields­: If you have created user-defined fields in Sage MAS 90 or Sage MAS 200, these fields will appear automatically for selection when Visual Integrator operates on the entity to which they are attached (for example, customers or vendors). You can then export or import your user-defined field data.
Import Fields Conditionally ­Conditional importing allows a field to be assigned based on the value of another field. For example, the sales tax code can be assigned based on the state field in the customer address.
Put Import or Export Jobs on the menu, so you or anyone can easily run them any time. Jobs can also be passworded for security.
Selection and Skip Record Criteria­: Multiple selection criteria for picking certain records can be specified, using standard “nesting logic” criteria, (such as: and, or). Multiple criteria for skipping records can also be defined.
Contact us if you would like assistance in purchasing or using the Visual Integrator module.

Customer Actions—Customers have their choice of returning items for credit, replacement, or repair. You can credit the customer’s account, or apply it to a credit card. Replacement returns can be exchanged for the same item or an alternate item. A single entry marks an item for repair, and provides customer return instructions.
Item Actions—Actions can be assigned to each item after it is received and inspected. Items returned to stock can be sent to a return warehouse or the original selling warehouse. Unusable items can be returned to a scrap warehouse. Repair items are returned to a repair warehouse, fixed, and returned to the customer.
Vendor Actions—When the Purchase Order module is integrated with RMA, vendor actions of return for credit or return for replacement can be assigned to each item. Selecting these actions in RMA Receipts Entry causes the appropriate documents to be automatically created during the RMA transaction generation process.
Xpress Order Entry—If a customer can’t wait for you to receive the return before you ship the replacement, cross shipments can be originated by clicking on the Xpress Order Entry button from within RMA Data Entry. This activates Sales Order Entry, and populates a new order with the urgently requested item.
Calculate Restocking Fees—Restocking fees can be assigned by inventory product line or by individual item. You can even waive restocking fees for selected customers at the time of RMA entry, giving you the utmost in flexibility.
RMA Inquiry—You don’t need to know whether an RMA is still pending or has been received in order to find it. After entering an RMA number, the program automatically determines if the RMA is open or received, and displays the requested record.
Generate Transactions—This powerful program uses the information entered in RMA Receipts Entry, along with historical and customer information, to create all necessary documents, including sales orders, credit memos, vendor return orders, and purchase orders.
Return Reason Tracking—During RMA Entry, a return reason is assigned to each line. The reasons print on the Return Reason Report to help you identify potential quality or other customer satisfaction issues.
Receipts History—Full receipts history is tracked and all returns can be reviewed on the Receipts History Report. You can drill down to RMA information throughout the Sales Order and Accounts Receivable modules.

Sometimes it may be necessary to adjust the unit cost information for items already recorded into inventory.
Standard Cost:
For Standard Cost items, although the standard cost can be manually changed within Inventory Maintenance, this change will not update the inventory value in General Ledger. Using an adjustment to bring the total quantity (for all warehouses) to 0 at the current (incorrect) standard cost will bring the total quantity and total value in inventory to 0. At that time, you can manually change the standard cost within the Inventory Masterfile and adjust the total quantity back in at the new standard cost. This transaction will update General Ledger with the new inventory value.
The Automatic Cost/Price Change utility can also be used to update the standard cost for ranges of items. This utility does not update the general ledger. A G/L Journal Entry will need to be made for the difference in inventory value. The Inventory Valuation Report should be printed before and after the change and then used to make adjustments in General Ledger.
The ‘Cost Roll up Register’ can also be used to change the Standard cost if the item has a bill of material.
Average Cost:
To change average cost, the total quantity in all warehouses needs to first be adjusted out at the current (incorrect) average cost. This adjustment will reduce the inventory quantity and value to 0. Once the inventory has a $0 value, the same quantity can be adjusted back in at the correct average cost. This transaction will update General Ledger with the new inventory value.
LIFO, FIFO, Lot, and Serial:
The negative and positive adjustments must be made to the same cost tier (i.e. the receipt date and reference for LIFO/FIFO or lot/serial number for lot/serial items) by clicking the distribute (‘Distrib’) button on the Transaction Entry Lines tab and distributing the quantities to the correct cost tier. In other words, for a FIFO item, if the cost was incorrect on a particular FIFO tier, the negative adjustment would be entered for the quantity in that tier at the current (incorrect) cost and then distributed back to that tier with the correct cost

Note: For Serial / Lot items, you must first update the negative adjustment before entering the positive adjustment. For the other valuation methods, the negative adjustment and positive adjustment can be within the same update.

When entering the Inventory Adjustment transactions:
On the ‘Lines’ tab, select the ‘Item Number’ to be corrected.
Enter ‘Quantity’ as a negative number that will relieve the total quantity on hand for the warehouse selected.
If the items has LIFO, FIFO, Lot, or Serial valuation, select the tier to be adjusted.
The old (incorrect) cost will populate the ‘Unit Cost’. Click ‘OK’.
Create a 2nd entry by selecting the same ‘Item Number’ to be corrected.
Enter ‘Quantity’ but as a positive number that will add the same quantity back to the total quantity on hand for the warehouse selected.
If the items has LIFO, FIFO, Lot, or Serial valuation, select the tier to be adjusted (or a new tier can be created).
Enter the new (correct) cost for the ‘Unit Cost’. Click ‘OK’.
Print the Inventory Transaction Journal, confirming the correct Inventory Management Posting Date before printing.
Update the Inventory Transaction Journal.
Print the Daily Transaction Register. Note: the difference between the original cost and the new cost is posted to the Inventory Adjustments G/L account for the product line in Inventory Management / Setup / Product Line Maintenance.
Update the Daily Transaction Register.
For additional info, see Sage Knowledgebase Resolution ID: 405107

Paperless Office, included free in version 4.3 of Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200, lets you store and catalog for easy retrieval journals, registers and forms in Acrobat (PDF) files. It allows you to automatically email and/or fax forms such as invoices and purchase orders to customers and vendors, according to how you set up each customer and vendor. What it doesn’t give you is an easy way to see who you have set up so far and what email addresses or fax numbers are set up.
To remedy this, Friendly Systems is making available a set of Crystal reports, one for customers and one for vendors. Download the zip file file which contains the two reports as well as a text file with instructions for adding the reports to the menu in your MAS 90 or MAS 200 installation. Click here for download and instructions.

A further capability of Paperless Office is that it allows you to attach other files to journals and registers. So you could, for example, scan and attach incoming packing lists to the PO Receipt of Goods register, or vendor invoices to the PO Receipt of Invoice register or AP Invoice register.