Technology in Practice

Direct deposit is the safe, easy, and cost-effective way for your employees to have their paychecks deposited directly into their checking or savings accounts. Add Direct Deposit to your Sage ERP MAS 90 or 200 system and you can improve employee satisfaction while you save time, money, and trees by going paperless. You also save the cost of printing, storing, and securing your preprinted check forms. In this article, we will give you a feel for what is involved in setting up direct deposit and describe some of the features of the Direct Deposit module. Getting Started With Direct Deposit As with any other Sage ERP MAS 90 module, you start by activating a series of setup options. You will need to collect employeeís bank routing and transit information. The ACH (Automated Clearing House) file format also will need to be configured. You will work with your financial institution to ensure you meet their specific requirements for the layout of the electronic file. Next you will send a sample file to your bank with zero dollars filled in for each employee. This is called a pre-note. The pre-note file allows your bank to test the information in the file to ensure that it is in the correct format and that the employeesí bank information is correct before the first actual direct deposit payroll. Your bank will notify you of the status of your pre-note. Once you receive pre-note approval from the bank, you will be ready to run your first direct deposit payroll. Flexible Setup Options Payroll Setup Options includes a check box Require Direct Deposit to activate the module. In Payroll Setup Options you also will choose how direct deposit information will be transmitted to the bank. Sage has an interface, or you can use a third-party interface application. Other setup options include allowing partial allocations of check amounts, printing of direct deposit stubs, starting stub number, and setting the path where you want to save your direct deposit (ACH) files. In Employee Maintenance there is a check box to indicate a direct deposit employee. A direct deposit button provides access to a new screen where you enter the bank account and distribution information for the employee. The module supports distribution of an employeeís pay, in a fixed amount or percentage, to various accounts. For example, the employee could choose to allocate a fixed amount of $50 to savings and 100 percent of the remainder of the paycheck to checking. Track Pre-Note Process The Direct Deposit module allows you to track the pre-note process of sending the direct deposit file to and receiving the approval from your financial institution. This is accomplished through the ability to send and update a Pre-Note Selection register and a Pre-Note Approval register. The pre-note process will take about 10 days, and needs to be run as new employees are added. Direct Deposit In Operation To run the direct deposit payroll, you process your payroll and update the check register, then generate the direct deposit (ACH) file as scheduled in advance of payday. A Direct Deposit Register records the batches sent to the bank and posts them to the Bank Reconciliation module as a lump sum Adjustment. Give us a call with your questions, or to purchase the Direct Deposit module.

Raving fans are those clients that will promote you, pay your prices, and tell you what you need to hear when things donít go perfectly. It is these loyal customers that really provide the foundation in your profitability. And, the key to keeping your own employees happy can be directly related to the types of customers you have and how they interact with your staff. Research shows that a 5% increase in customer loyalty yields a 25-100% increase in profits. We invite you to join us for a breakfast networking seminar in New York where you will learn how to reduce marketing spend, retain both customers and employees, and use technology to drive the profit margins we are all seeking. Key Topics to be Discussed: Strategy How customer loyalty as a strategy gives your company competitive advantage and market dominance Why customer loyalty and employee loyalty rise and fall together How to distinguish customer service from customer loyalty, and a customer loyalty strategy from a customer loyalty program How the structure of your organization provides the backbone to empower customer loyalty What Gallup research has to say about your processes and points of connection Latest research on rewards and recognition systems to support your strategy Why people development is crucial for your customer loyalty strategy and long term competitive advantage Technology Explaining why a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) foundation is essential to any customer loyalty initiative Discussing various methods for leveraging real time information as proactive selling and service differentiators Using the concepts of workflow to enable accountability and flexibility within your operations Evaluating your current systems and creating a go forward plan to execute your business strategy Using your human intelligence to stay in touch with customers and evolving technology to keep pace with the “customer experience” Details/Register

Today, CRM Buyer – The Essential Guide for CRM Purchasers featured a story on our OnTheGo Saleslogix Mobile App for iPhone & Android. (CRM BUYER) – Sage SalesLogix OnTheGo users can access information from the Sage SalesLogix 7.52 CRM database and the SalesLogix Cloud Edition... Read the full article from CRM Buyer

Now is the time to get any additional modules, user licenses, or upgrades that you need to run your business! Sage is offering discounts starting at 15% for each user license or module.This offer will expire on September 28th. *Remember that software assurance is no longer required for “In the Family” software purchases. Call today to discuss upgrade options and quantity discounts. Contact: John Guglielmo at 1(800)719-3307 ext 4550 or via email Lesley Slepian at 646-293-1744 or via email  

Use the steps below if you would like the comments related to Accounts Payable Invoices to post through to General Ledger. Expand Modules, Accounts Payable, and Setup. Click Accounts Payable Options. Click the Additional tab. Select a comment posting option from the Invoice Comments list. (One of the options on the list includes a Detail Comment. During invoice data entry, use the Lines tab to enter a Detail Comment.) Select an option from the Manual Check Comments list. Select an option from the Check Comments list. Note: This procedure posts comments for invoices entered in Accounts Payable only.

Don’t miss the opportunity! Take advantage of these special pricing offers for Sage Abra HRMS. All must be ordered by September 24! The special pricing is for HR Actions – allowing you to easily create paperless forms; Sage KnowledgeSync – Business Activity Monitoring; and OrgPlus Organizational Charting.   HR Actions for Sage Abra HRMS Streamline the collection and approval of employee data using the web. HR Actions® for Sage Abra lets you easily create paperless forms using any fields from Sage Abra HR. Process any action from request to new hire to termination and everything in between including status changes and performance appraisals. Can be used as standalone module or in conjunction with Employee Self Service. Current Promotions: 20% off HR Actions 30% off HR Actions and ESS when purchased as a bundle 30% off HR Actions when purchased with another Abra optional module Sage KnowledgeSync – Business Activity Monitoring Sage KnowledgeSync monitors all your business data – both within any Sage Software product, and beyond. Automatically send standard emails such as new hire welcome messages, address change verification including emails with attachments. Streamline your HR and payroll processing by setting up alerts to automatically email managers with reminders of upcoming performance reviews, monitor overtime costs, keep track of paid time-off exceptions, and monitor employee certification renewal dates. Current Promotions: 20% off Sage KnowledgeSync 30% off Sage KnowledgeSync when purchased with another Abra optional module OrgPlus Organizational Charting Easily assess your current organizational structure and respond to your company’s changing needs with the industry-standard Organizational Charting software for companywide communication and planning. From creating a basic organizational understanding to fueling sophisticated workforce analysis and management, OrgPlus provides workforce decision support solutions that add value across any organization. Current Promotions: 30% off OrgPlus Professional Contact us today to learn more about these promos or to schedule a no-cost web session on any of these solutions. Contact John Guglielmo at 1(800)719-3307 ext 4550 or send John an email.

Studies show many clients choose not to upgrade due to concerns over the cost, downtime, and effort involved. Are you still running on an older version of Sage ERP MAS 90 or Sage ERP MAS 200? If so, remember that Sage is retiring Version 3.71 on September 30, 2010. The good news is that Sage has made most upgrades smoother, faster, and less costly. And because every release has been designed to help you operate your business more securely, save money, and improve customer service, you will experience a quick return on investment. Here we recap features that were added in Versions 4.0 and later, including the new easier upgrade process. Simplifying The Upgrade Process For many customers, an upgrade involves more than simply installing a new version. There are customizations to consider, internal training, and the conversion of data and reports. Sage is attacking this issue in two ways. First, Sage is offering product updates in between major releases that contain additional features and functionality that can easily be downloaded and installed. Second, major upgrades are made easier through enhancements released in Version 4.4—a new Parallel Migration tool, and additional enhancements to the customization capabilities of the software that, when applied properly, ensure that customizations survive future upgrades Parallel Migration Tool The key to improving your upgrade process is the ability to convert your system in two phases. This removes the urgent nature of upgrades—where you need to get everything done over a single weekend in order to avoid downtime, for example. The new Parallel Migration process is available for converting Versions 3.71 and greater to Version 4.4 of Sage ERP MAS 90 and 200. During the first phase, the Parallel Migration Wizard is used to convert your current data to a new installation, either on the same or a different server. Normal operations continue on your old system. Then, at a pace that suits your business needs, the new system can be setup, customized, and tested for proper function. Report printing and integration with other products can be tested. In phase two, your current data is migrated to the new system. In this way, you will very quickly be running on the new software, with less downtime and no surprises. Because upgrading is more efficient and requires minimal downtime, your return on investment is faster too. Customizations That Survive Future Upgrades Even prior to Version 4.4, the Customizer module was a powerful tool. For example, a consultant could put a button on a screen that would perform a calculation using the invoice date, calculate three years into the future, and put the result into a user-defined field labeled Warranty Expiration Date—all without needing to write program code. However, the user had to remember to click the button, or the calculation would not be made and the field would be left blank. With the 4.4 Customizer, scripts can be added that will run automatically when a certain event happens, such as tabbing out of a particular field. Using the above example, the script could automatically perform the calculation and fill in the warranty field when the data entry person finishes entering the line on the order. Scripts can run based on many software events, including before and after data is entered in a field, before and after a record is written, and even after a record is read by the software. The net result is that relatively complex capabilities can be added without changing the programs that come out of the box. This means that you will be able to upgrade to new versions and your customizations will continue to work just fine. Benefits Of Upgrading Now that upgrading is easier, why not take advantage of the many enhancements offered when you upgrade to the current version? The following are just some major benefits you gain when you upgrade your software to the current version. Business Insights If you are like many managers, you may find yourself mostly working in your business—putting out fires and making decisions about orders, products, and schedules. This leaves you with little time to analyze business data. Yet if you did, the results of that analysis could have a profound impact on the success of your business. You could find out which of your products are unprofitable and eliminate them, or identify top customers so that you can offer additional purchase incentives. If you feel you should be performing this type of analysis and cannot find the time, Business Insights can help. Business Insights Explorer, added in Version 4.2, is easy to use for on-the-fly inquiry and analysis. In each new release it has been enhanced with new features, such as quick-click charts. A familiar grid interface gives you access to information from all areas of the system. Turn data into fact-based knowledge using the powerful sort, group, and filter capabilities, and save the views that you have created for future use. Business Insights Reporter was added in Version 4.0, and helps you to generate the reports you need quickly and easily. The wizard-based tool displays data in a logical tree view, making it easier to locate the fields you need. You can specify options, such as date range, each time the report is run, and you can add it to a menu, refine it using Crystal Reports®, or export it to Microsoft® Excel. The Business Insights Dashboard is a series of 12 charts that give you an instant picture of overall business performance. In Version 4.3, the Dashboard received a new look and gained the ability to print graphs to a PDF file. Easy Report Customization Have you ever wanted to customize a standard Sage ERP MAS 90 report? With Version 4.0 and above, all reports are built in Crystal Reports, so you can easily customize any report. You also can output reports to several formats, including Excel, Word, PDF, and e-mail. Personalized Report Settings allow you to save report defaults. Do you print the A/R Aging report weekly with past due items only and the full report only at the end of the month? You can save them with an appropriate title and then run as needed. Speed Data Entry Perhaps the biggest time saver in Versions 4.0 and greater is the dual-grid data entry screen. With the dual-grid data entry screen, you can place the most common data entry fields in your main grid, and the less used fields into a secondary grid. If you come upon an entry that requires a change to one of the less-used fields, a click of a button takes you into the secondary grid. A dual-pane view on inquiry screens allows you to see a list of transactions in one pane, and the detail related to a specific transaction in another, allowing you to respond more quickly to customer and vendor inquiries. Batch Control And Auditing With the Batch Manager, in Versions 4.0 and greater, you can make batches public or private. Each batch stores the user who created or updated the batch and the date and time it was created or updated. The potential for fraud is greatly reduced and audit trails are more transparent. We have covered several of the major enhancements; however, there are literally hundreds of smaller enhancements in the releases that we do not have space to cover here. Please give us a call with your questions or for assistance planning your upgrade.

Yesterday, Sage Software announced the release of the OnTheGo™ SalesLogix mobile app developed by Net at Work. OnTheGo for Sage SalesLogix and Sage SalesLogix Cloud helps users access real-time information from internal customer and prospect databases on their iPhone and Android mobile devices. It can be downloaded from the Apple® Store or Android Market — each site also offers a free trial version. BlackBerry® and Windows Mobile® versions are in development. Visit www.myonthego.com for more information. Larry Ritter, senior vice president and general manager for Sage CRM Solutions said: “We built Sage SalesLogix to be extensible and it’s great to see this new mobile application from Net at Work leverage the flexibility of our SData™ architecture.” Read the Full Press Release

We are pleased to announce that Net at Work ranked as the #1 Sage Software Select partner and placed #9 overall on the annual VAR 100 ranking of the top accounting and ERP software resellers throughout the country. The report was published in the August issue of Accounting Today and can be found online at www.webcpa.com. We have included the story and ranking below. We recognize that this accomplishment is the result of a collective effort and we thank the entire Net at Work staff, our clients, and partners for contributing to our success.