MAS 500 Smart Updates And Helpful Hints

By: | Category:

New Smart Update
As part of the new product strategy for Sage ERP MAS 500 implemented earlier this year, Product Updates for the software now include significant workflow and usability enhancements in addition to program corrections. In order for customers to more easily take advantage of these enhancements, Sage has made the installation logic within the update smarter.

The Smart Update process comprises two components. First, it only overwrites files that have changed. The software will review the current version that is installed, and if a file is at the same level as the Product Update, it will not change it. This provides you with a smoother, faster install with less possibility for errors.

Many Sage ERP MAS 500 customers have made customizations to their software, and are reluctant to install Product Updates because they may inadvertently overwrite one of their customizations. The new Smart Update now checks all of the files it is going to overwrite to see if there are any customizations. If customizations exist, a window is displayed during the installation process. You will be able to view a list of the files that have been customized, and choose whether to overwrite them during the installation of the Product Update.

The new Smart Update process means that you can install Product Updates with confidence and quickly use the new features. The Smart Update process has been added to Product Updates beginning with Product Update 3 for Sage ERP MAS 500 7.3. Please let us know if you have any questions about the Smart Update process.

Helpful Hint:Adding Formulas To Business Insights Analyzer
It is useful to add formulas to Business Insights data for use in pivot-table calculations when you transfer your data to Microsoft Excel.

Here is how you can add a formula column to an Analyzer View based on the values in other columns:

  1. Click the Calculated Totals and Fields button on the Analyzer menu bar.
  2. At the Commands and Options window, either select the column to use in the calculation or create a new column.
  3. Click the Calculation tab.
  4. Select the fields to be used in the calculation, and then click the Insert Reference To button to pull in the fields to generate the formula. For example, to create a net profit calculation, generate the following formula: Sum of Net Sales / Sum of Net Sales Qty.
  5. Click the Change button when calculations are finished.
  6. Click the Caption tab to modify the column name if desired.

Please call us with your questions.

Helpful Hint:Making Demand Adjustments In Inventory Replenishment
You can make adjustments to Item Demand to alter the Recommended Replenishment Quantities as follows:

  1. Open Sage ERP MAS 500InventoryManagementActivitiesReplenish InventoryDemand Adjustment.
  2. Select the warehouse and item that you would like to enter or make adjustments for.
  3. Select either past or future adjustment. The adjustments are separated by periods and are based on the inventory calendar. The current inventory period is read from Inventory Management and is set in IM Options.

Things to keep in mind:

  • Positive or negative adjustments can be entered to calculate the Net Usage for the item.
  • The system uses the Net Usage in the calculation of future demands that include the specific period.
  • The Actual Usage field is based on sales. The rough calculation is Quantity Sold minus Returns quantity. To find the sales for an item, you can use the Sales Order Lines or the Inventory Transactions, Explorer view. You can filter the view by transaction type to find the sales (transaction type = 810) and returns (transaction type = 811).

Please give us a call with any questions about this hint.