Technology in Practice

The 32 attorneys and staff of Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams, & Sheppard LLP (CDAS) represent and counsel clients in the areas of entertainment law, publishing, art law, copyright, trademark, trusts and estates, real estate, commercial/corporate transactions, digital media and litigation. The technology infrastructure required to handle this successful law firm’s transactions is substantial, and CDAS trusts its infrastructure to the technology professionals at Net at Work. A Hot Issue As the New York-based firm grew and added attorneys and staff including offices on the U.S. West Coast and in New Zealand, the need for enhanced accessibility and connectivity grew with them. CDAS knew it needed to phase out its offsite hosted e-mail service and replace it with Microsoft Exchange Server, as well as centralized onsite systems to manage an increasing need for users to log in remotely. However, doing so would have required the firm to bring in additional servers and cooling issues in the server room proved difficult to surmount. The firm explored purchasing additional air conditioning for the space, but the expense extended far beyond the cost of the equipment. “Changes in the cooling systems called for negotiations with the building owners, permits, architects, and renovations that would have tripled the cost of the server project itself,” explains Kenneth Robinson, Manager of Operations and IT for CDAS. “Also, it would have been an investment the firm would lose if we ever changed offices.” Cool Thinking Prevails Robinson proposed that the firm move to a virtual server environment where less equipment would be required. The servers themselves can be virtually split to perform the work of two or more servers and the remote terminal workstations would be traded for virtual workstations running on the server. “At the time, we were working with another IT provider, but they didn’t have enough experience with virtual servers,” Robinson recalls. “We went looking for an IT firm with the required expertise and found Net at Work.” The team at Net at Work impressed Robinson from the first meeting. “I’ve dealt with a lot of IT providers,” he says. “Often there is a real disconnect between sales and engineering. You start by talking to the sales representative and some of what you communicate is lost by the time it reaches the engineers. These are just walls that block problem-solving. Technology changes so quickly and we cannot afford crossed signals as we plan and deploy scalable, integrated systems that need to fit each other, our needs, and our budget piece by piece,” says Robinson. “At Net at Work, there are none of these walls. Their sales representatives and engineers are highly qualified consultants who know what they are talking about.” Virtual Victory Net at Work designed, installed, and configured a virtual server environment for CDAS. Net at Work also implemented Microsoft Exchange Server allowing the firm to manage its e-mail internally. New, centrally administered virtual workstations support the increased number of employees working off site. “We invested in our systems instead of the building’s,” Robinson says. “Even if we brought in cooling equipment, we could not have kept adding to our hardware footprint and heat output to support our growth – there just wasn’t room or cooling capacity. Instead we moved to a scalable virtual environment that will meet our needs for a long time.” Net at Work deployed a BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) to support CDAS’ growing number of handheld devices. “The use of BlackBerry devices had quadrupled and BES gives us real-time synchronization between the devices and our Exchange server,” explains Robinson. “This is about the day-to-day operation and long range planning of a business that never sleeps. We deal in many time zones, and with many clients and attorneys in and outside the office, all of whom depend on secure, mobile, full-uptime systems to maintain a demanding pace for collaboration and turnaround. The system power to hold that edge and to be scalable enough to enhance it as we grow is not a luxury, it’s a critical part of our success.” Positioned For The Future “Net at Work helped us overcome our existing limitations,” Robinson concludes. “Now our network is more flexible, powerful, and secure. With Net at Work’s help, we maintain that competitive edge.”

Sage recently announced a new policy for the support of older versions, and a new structure for delivering product updates to customers. Additionally, with the release of Version 7.3, new platforms requirements are in effect for Sage MAS 500 ERP. With these changes, now is the time to consider migrating to a 64-bit platform. To assist you in planning your upgrade strategy, we will review the new support and product update policy as well as the benefits of the 64-bit platform and Microsoft SQL Server 2008. New Structure For Support And Updates Currently Sage is supporting up to five versions, which dilutes the effectiveness of support and development. Sage is moving to a policy of supporting just the current version and two versions back with the retirement of Versions 6.3 and 7.0 on September 30, 2010. Sage also will schedule product updates every four to six months instead of the current monthly updates. The new product updates will provide value between major releases by including new features and usability improvements in addition to program corrections. Note that Sage will continue to fix any defects for customers as they occur, according to current escalation policies. Supported Platforms With the release of Version 7.3, Sage MAS 500 has been optimized to take full advantage of SQL Server 2008, and will still support SQL Server 2005. Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and Windows 2003 Server are the supported server operating systems, and client machines can run on Windows Vista SP1 or Windows XP SP3. Note: SQL Server 2000 and Windows 2000 Server and Client are being retired and are no longer supported. SQL Server 2008 Benefits In SQL Server 2008, a new Resource Governor allows you to define resource priorities for different workloads to achieve consistent performance. Policy-Based Management allows you to define a common set of policies for database operations such as query optimizations, backup, and index management. 64-Bit Processing Benefits To realize the full performance benefit of 64-bit processing, the platform and all the applications need to be designed for 64-bit. Sage MAS 500 7.3 takes full advantage of the 64-bit platform through Microsoft SQL Server 2008. The 64-bit version of SQL Server allows you to allocate more RAM to server processes. This improves performance because SQL Server can work primarily in memory rather than accessing the hard drive. An important point to note here is that Windows 2008 R2 is 64-bit only. So by upgrading to this operating platform, but not upgrading to SQL Server 2008 at the same time, you might actually experience a performance degradation, because the 64-bit operating system has to do extra work to communicate with the 32-bit version of SQL Server. The release of Version 7.3 is the ideal time to upgrade your platform for Sage MAS 500, especially if you are running any Windows 2000 products. The combination of 64-bit with the performance enhancements in Version 7.3 can result in a dramatic performance boost. Please call us for assistance. This article was featured in our latest newsletter. Click here to access the full version.

Are you running an older version of Sage Accpac ERP? You may have chosen not to upgrade to save the time and expense involved. However, with the efficiencies you gain in upgrading to newer versions it is likely you will quickly recoup those costs. A slower period in the economy is the perfect time to plan and execute an upgrade. Your staff may have more time for training and testing, and your organization will be positioned to add more business as the economy improves. In this article we will review the features and capabilities added in each of the past four Sage Accpac releases. Sage Accpac Version 5.6 The latest release, Version 5.6, benefits from all the updates in previous releases plus includes even more functionality and features. Sage Accpac Intelligence helps you make better, faster decisions. You can quickly build reports using familiar Microsoft® Excel® and spend more time focusing on analysis and less time pulling data together. Built-in Accounts Receivable Inquiry tool helps accelerate collection efforts and improve cash flow. Improved workflow in Bank Services provides a clear view of your cash position. Reduce risk of penalties and fees through new Payroll functionality. Lower operations costs through better inventory management.   Sage Accpac Version 5.5 The Business Intelligence Dashboard provides management with easy access to key performance indicators, such as accounts receivable aging and sales analysis. SageCRM is bundled with Sage Accpac to integrate your front and back office, delivering a complete view of your customers, and empowering your staff to work together to build profitable customer relationships. The ability to change, combine, and copy key masterfiles such as Customers and Item numbers provides flexibility. Ops Inquiry tool included with Order Entry saves time and reduces errors. Multicurrency revaluation enhancements and language overlays smooth global commerce. Faster data throughput and multi-user enhancements speed data entry and posting.   Sage Accpac Version 5.4 This great release focused on over 250 user-requested enhancements that improved usability, productivity, and reporting throughout the system. Here are just a few highlights of what you can do: Specify by customer if you wish to use the lower of contract prices or any special offers currently in effect. For convenience, assign customer item numbers to inventory items, and then use those numbers during order entry. To speed entry, copy an order from one customer to another, and then make changes. Check a customer’s available credit based on pending transactions in both Accounts Receivable and Order Entry in addition to their aged transactions. Check the price of an item to ensure it is not below a specified cost or margin. Drill down at every level of the order, shipment, and invoice process to uncover the details behind your data. Find orders quickly with the ability to inquire into sales orders by order status.   Sage Accpac Version 5.3 The Payroll module is enhanced with the ability for staff to enter their own time remotely; a new Employee Activity window provides a detailed view of employee statistics and checks; and improvements to EFT Direct Payroll including support for additional calculations for multiple bank accounts. A new Receipt Inquiry window allows you to view customer receipts by a variety of statuses and transaction types. Integration of Purchase Order and Project Costing—track committed and actual quantities and costs by project, contract, and category. A new Payment Inquiry window allows you to view Vendor payments by a variety of statuses and transaction types.   Are you ready to upgrade? We would be happy to assist you in planning a smooth upgrade that is sure to give your organization a tremendous productivity boost. Read the full article from our February 2010 newsletter