Sage MAS 500 ERP v.7.40 – Release Q2 2011

Sage ERP MAS 500 Version 7.4 is scheduled for release in the second quarter of 2011. Workflow enhancements across a range Of modules make for smoother, faster processing. The release is packed with usability enhancements designed to create smoother, yet more flexible workflow. In this post, we provide a high-level preview of the entire release. Also in this post we highlight the new capabilities added in the Accounts Receivable and Advanced Manufacturing modules.

Enhancements Across Modules
Version 7.4 includes enhancements across a range of Sage ERP MAS 500 modules, as well as a series of technology updates. Here is a high-level look at some of the enhancements:

• Enhancements for the Advanced Manufacturing module make it easier to enter and process manufacturing transactions. It includes enhancements to backflush processes when bins are used, as well as more flexible Work Order step completion options.
• The Accounts Receivable module enhancements include new ways to process customer credits and refunds.
• The Inventory Management module enhancements focus on decimal precision, rounding and related Unit of Measure features.
• The Inventory Replenishment module benefits from more flexibility in assigning and overriding the Primary Vendor used for replenishment orders and for MPR planning.
• Improvements to the Purchase Order module focus on Landed Cost, with options to define customized landed cost types, allocation methods, and override capabilities.
• Performance improvements have been made in Business Insights; you can limit the amount of data being processed to obtain quick results with only the information you need.
• Technology updates, including support for the latest versions of the Sage ERP MAS 500 programming language and database management system, ensure your system is compatible with the most current hardware and operating system platforms.

Now let’s take a closer look at the enhancements for the Accounts Receivable and Advanced Manufacturing modules.

Accounts Receivable Enhancements
Customers do not always submit payments that tie neatly to existing invoices. Version 7.4 of Sage ERP MAS 500 provides you with an easy way to track and apply overpayments, or issue refunds if appropriate, in a way that makes sense to both you and your customers.

You now have the ability to apply overpaid amounts to an existing invoice and track the balance using the original invoice number. This is accomplished through the ability to create invoices with a negative amount.

You can create the negative invoice in the part of the system that makes most sense to you, whether in the Enter Cash Receipts task or the Apply Payments and Memos task. You can apply the overpayment amounts to a Customer Payment, a Credit Memo or to the negative balance of another overpaid invoice.

The overpaid amount appears, with the original invoice number, in all the expected places such as:

• Print or Re-Print Invoices
• Customer Status Ledger tab
• Customer Statements
• Aged Receivables
• AR Trial Balance
• Explore Invoice Applications
• Explore Customer Payments Applications

If the unapplied payment amount from your customer is a true overpayment, you may wish to issue a refund. With Version 7.4, this process is as easy and painless as possible. Process Cash Receipts has been enhanced to allow the creation of a customer refund from start to finish, including printing the check, all from one task. Refund checks use the customer information without the need to create a vendor or a voucher to save you steps and increase your productivity.

Advanced Manufacturing Enhancements
An important focus of this release is the Advanced Manufacturing module. Workflow enhancements were designed in close collaboration with customers to make the new features user friendly.

A new check box is added that allows you to complete a Work Order step without issuing material. Using the new check box, you can clear the outstanding materials associated with a Work Order step from the quantity required for work order in the replenishment calculation. This is useful for manufacturers who use work orders to record labor and processing costs for non-inventory materials used in producing their final product. Now material issues are not required, offering greater flexibility in processing.

Another situation where the new check box can be useful is when you are generating a partial completion of a work order with no plan to process the remaining quantities. Clearing the remaining quantities allows the outstanding materials on replenishment calculations to be removed automatically; this prevents overstated demand and the potentially costly overstocking of materials.

New Production Return Entry and Progress Return Entry tasks in Version 7.4 of Sage ERP MAS 500 provide a simple way to correct data entry errors that inevitably occur in a busy manufacturing plant. Using the familiar format of the original entry, the Production Return Entry and Progress Return Entry tasks relieve the quantity produced amounts, return all of the costs to work in progress, and reopen the individual steps for adjustments as needed. Whether the error was on an individual step or on the total quantity produced, these tasks make the recovery easy and intuitive.

Bin tracking often can be an essential part of a streamlined fulfillment process for your orders, whether you are a manufacturer, distributor, or both. With Version 7.4, you now have the ability to use the backflush material issue method while also tracking bins. You can either use the existing Distribution bins for manufacturing transactions, or designate separate Manufacturing-specific bins. Once at least one preferred manufacturing bin is established for a warehouse, materials can be issued using the backflush method according to the precedence as defined during setup. This makes the workflow faster and simpler. Items that are Lot or Serial tracked will still require manual distribution.

Posting manufacturing transactions can be a complex process. Monitoring manufacturing costs, tracking those costs to an individual item, and measuring productivity are critical to running a profitable manufacturing business. With Version 7.4, the posting task has been re-designed to provide you with a central dashboard allowing you view all your different transaction types, such as WIP, labor, materials, and outside processing, all on one screen. This allows you to easily select and de-select the transactions to be posted, while saving time and reducing the possibility of errors. The new task also ensures the transaction dates in the subsidiary Inventory Management ledger always tie to the corresponding journal dates in the General Ledger, to simplify the reconciliation task for the back office.

We have given you a brief look at what Sage ERP MAS 500 Version 7.4 offers, and we will provide details of other enhancements in future posts.

Give your local Net at Work office a call (New York, NY, NJ, New Jersey, Texas, Dallas, Raleigh, NC, Boston, MA) with your questions, or to schedule your upgrade to Sage ERP MAS 500 Version 7.4.