Sage MAS 500 v7.4: Digging Deeper Into Inventory Calculations

Upgrading your Sage ERP MAS 500 system can be time consuming, costly, and disruptive. In this post, we dig a little deeper into the Version 7.4 enhancements relating to inventory calculations. We think you will find these new capabilities compelling enough to justify going through the upgrade process.

Solving Issues You Deal With Daily

Let’s start by asking some typical inventory and operations questions.

• Do you allow decimal quantities for any of your items?
• Have you ever struggled with unit of measure conversions?
• Have you ever tried to adjust out a quantity that was too small to view in the user interface?
• Have you ever thought rounding calculations are creating inventory discrepancies?

If you answered Yes to one or more of these questions, Sage ERP MAS 500 Version 7.4 can help you obtain the level of accuracy that you need. We will dig into each related feature in turn.

Inventory Management Unit of Measure Improvements

Units of Measure can be tricky. Your organization may need to purchase, stock, and sell goods using different units of measure, and converting them back and forth may take place many times. Enterprise software must track and convert the various methods in a consistent manner to ensure data integrity and provide an accurate view of availability and usage. Sage ERP MAS 500 Version 7.4 includes the results of an in-depth project to improve the way Unit of Measure (UOM) conversions are calculated and tracked. One new feature to address this issue is an increase in the decimal precision in the data tables to 13 decimal places.

User Defined Rounding For Base Unit Of Measure

Consistency in rounding also increases accuracy. In Version 7.4 you have the flexibility to choose how the smallest or base unit of measure is rounded in every transaction for each individual item. This takes the mystery out of how the system is calculating rounding. In Maintain Items on the UOM tab, you can now set the rounding method for the item. The options are:

• Down to unit in decimal precision
• Down to whole unit
• To nearest unit in decimal precision
• To nearest whole unit

New Auto Adjustments Prevent Invisible Quantities

Even with consistent rounding methods, there are instances when infinitesimal quantities remain for an item, too small to display on any panel or report, and therefore impossible to adjust. This issue is solved in Version 7.4 with the use of Auto Adjustments. If a transaction results in a remaining quantity less than the assigned decimal precision, a tier adjustment is generated to remove the invisible quantity.

Physical Count Records Both Expanded And Displayed Precision

Many organization use the physical count process to reconcile rounding issues and write off minute quantities. With Version 7.4, quantities are recorded in both the new expanded decimal precision as well as the displayed precision, offering the opportunity to manually clear invisible quantities while ensuring the accuracy of the counts entered.

Perform Bin Transfers In Any Unit of Measure

Many organizations with multiple locations routinely transfer goods from one to another as business needs require. Here is an example that may have created issues for you in the past: Warehouse A needs a quantity of an item equal to half the Standard Unit of Measure. Warehouse B has the quantity needed, but not the full unit required by Standard. What you need to do is process a bin transfer.

In previous versions, you were in a bit of a fix because the system only supported bin transfers in the Standard Unit of Measure with no decimal quantities. With Version 7.4 this is no longer an issue; this version allows bin transfers in any unit of measure. Use the smaller unit of measure, transfer just the quantity needed and all is well.

Call us to discuss the benefits of upgrading for your organization.