Resources for Sage X3 Users

Businesses that find a solution to their most disruptive supply chain issues will not only overcome this adversity but displace those that can’t, or won’t, adapt. Solutions can come in many forms, but the most effective solutions produce early detection of supply chain breakdowns as a result of a digital transformation. NEXT GENERATION STRATEGIES FOR SUPPLY CHAIN OPTIMIZATION Join Bryan Polozola, CFO at UniWell Laboratories, a premier contract manufacturer of nutraceuticals, over-the-counter pharmaceuticals and supplements, as he shares his transformative experience in partnering with Net at Work. After a stalled initial implementation, UniWell brought in Net at Work, including the deep industry expertise of its Fractional CIO & Advisory Services, to re-implement Sage X3 and optimize the company’s manufacturing, supply chain, and financial reporting operations. You’ll learn about: Today’s top supply chain challenges & common approaches to solve them Early detection and response of supply chain breakdowns Supply chain spotlight on UniWell Laboratories: Visibility enhancements extended to their inventory, planning & scheduling processes The ensuing reduction of 800-1,200 lines of weekly overdue items down to 5 To learn more about the value of early detection of supply chain breakdowns, watch now or contact us.

In this blog post, we will review the work order reactivation function in Sage X3 V12. Work order reactivation (FUNMREACT) is found in Manufacturing > Utilities and is used to reopen a closed work order. This means that the work order status can be changed from Closed back to a Firm status in order to authorize additional tracking. The WO Reactivation function can be used to continue tracking a work order as long as the work order cost price has not yet been calculated. If the work order is closed and costed, it is not possible to re-open the work order. FOLLOW THE BELOW STEPS TO RE-ACTIVATE WORK ORDER: Step 1: Navigate to Manufacturing > Utilities > WO Reactivation Step 2: Select Production Site Step 3: Select Work Order Step 4: Click on Reactivate Button Select yes on the prompt regarding reactivation. Step 5: Verify status change of work order to Firm That’s it. You are all set. Additional tracking can now be processed on your work order. For more information about reopening a work order in Sage X3, or for any other Sage X3 questions, please contact us.

Sage ERP X3 has a number of add-ons that you can take advantage of to streamline emailing documents to your customers, including Net at Work’s Document Distribution Module. However, you can auto email a single document (e.g., a Sales order invoice) to a customer by setting up a workflow in standard Sage X3. In this blog post, we will show you how. SET UP THE WORKFLOW Before proceeding, make sure the appropriate email settings are set up for workflows. Failure to set this up properly means emails will not generate. Setup a workflow based on the APRINT workflow, but to print a specific report. Follow article 56835, titled, “HTG – How to properly setup workflow email validation links to work.” Open Setup, General parameters, Parameter values. Expand SUP chapter and click on Action button for the WRK Group. Verify that you have an email server Entered for parameter SERMES. Click OK. Click on Action button for RPT Group. Verify that ASAIDEST parameter is set to No. Open Setup, Workflow, Workflow rules. Select APRINT workflow if it already exists or create a new workflow by changing APRINT to a new name. Be sure to deactivate APRINT or add [F:ARP]RPTCOD<>”SBONFAC” to the Conditions so that only one workflow is triggered. Also, double check that you did not make a typo. Typos will result in an error and no warning messages will be displayed. Emails will simply not generate. Set the condition on the header to only run when using your Crystal report, for example, [F:ARP]RPTCOD=”SBONFAC”. Examples using other out of the box Crystal Reports: [F:ARP]RPTCOD=”DEVICLIENT” For Sales Quote [F:ARP]RPTCOD=”ARCCLIENT” For SO Ack [F:ARP]RPTCOD=”SBONFAC”. For Sales Invoice [F:ARP]RPTCOD=”BONCDE2″. For PO Select Trigger Mail and Trigger Tracking under the Management section. On the Recipients tab, select [F:SIH]BPR as the recipient and the appropriate function. For Sales Quotes Use – [F:SQH]BPCORD For SO Acknowledgements Use – [F:SOH]BPCORD For Sales Invoice Use – [F:SIH]BPR (BPR is a Field Linked From BPARTNER Table To SIH; Not Shown On Invoice Screen) For PO Form Use – [F:POH]BPSNUM On the Message tab, verify that GFILPATH is set under attached documents. Click Save and Validate. Open Common Data, Customers, Customers. Select the customer you like to email. Click on Contacts tab and select the contact you like the email to go to and set them to the same function as the workflow function( in this example, Buyer). Open Sales, Invoices, Invoices. Create a new invoice for the customer above. Click Print to print the invoice. Select SBONFAC report (this is the report we set as part of the workflow) Choose output of message. (need to select MSGPDF in Destination which should default to Output to “Message”). Note: You may also create a Destination that defaults to Message. Click Print. If everything was set up properly, you should receive a popup box showing you which email will be sent the attachment. Click OK. Note: If you do not receive this popup box, you either made a typo in one of the above sections, or you did not set up your email settings correctly. See linked article 56835, titled,”HTG – How to properly setup workflow email validation links to work.” Your customer will receive an email with the attached invoice. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Notes: You must print from the actual invoice (Print>Record) to pull the email from the recipient. The workflow will only generate one file and one email. It will choose the last email it finds if it finds multiple. To know if the email is successful either add yourself as a Copy recipient or mark the Debug mode check box on the General tab of the workflow rule to receive a trace file. You cannot customize the name of the attached .pdf file without modification to the code. An additional topic on workflows in SageCity: https://sagecity.na.sage.com/support_communities/sage_erp_x3/f/40/p/84952/258168#258168 For more information on how to auto email documents to customers in Sage X3, or for any other questions about Sage X3, please contact us.

Recently, Sage adjusted its release cadence from a quarterly, to a bi-annual cadence of releases for Sage X3 Version 12. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOU? This means Sage will make available a new release of Sage X3 Version 12 every 6 months, instead of the current quarterly release. The first release for 2023 will take place in April (R1), with the second release available in October (R2). This means moving forward there will be a Spring and a Fall release. LIFECYCLE POLICY Sage will also be aligning its Lifecycle Policy accordingly. This will mean moving forward they will be offering maintenance on the current version 12 release and the previous 3 releases, i.e., N-3. In practice, this means customers will now enjoy 24 months maintenance cover, where they previously received 15 months—representing a 60% increase in cover. MORE INFORMATION To read more about the Lifecycle Policy for Sage X3, click here. For questions about these changes, or any other questions about Sage X3, please contact us.

Are you thinking of switching to Prepayment invoices (GESPREPI) to handle your prepayments? Have you even heard about it? Let’s take a look at Prepayment invoices and some common questions. WHAT IS THE PREPAYMENT INVOICE FUNCTION? This function was introduced in Sage X3 2021 R3 (v12.0.27). The Release notes describe the new function as follows: Create and manage prepayments for sales orders You can create, manage, and post prepayment invoices linked to a sales order in the Prepayment invoices management function (GESPREPI). There can only be one contract for each sales order line. For a standard sales invoice, you can link the invoice to the Prepayment management function by setting the PREFUN – Prepayment management parameter (TC chapter, INV group) to Prepayment invoices for the site. Payments are posted to an automatic journal until the contract is settled. The final invoice is a standard sales invoice and when it is posted, the prepayment amounts are reversed so that the open items are settled properly. This closed the prepayment contract. Where do you find the release notes? In the Online help center under the What’s new tab. The Release Notes for the current version plus all the v12 patch levels back to patch 18 are available. HOW DO I ACTIVATE PREPAYMENT INVOICES? In Activity codes (GESACV) under Development, Data and parameters, Development setup, the code PREPM, must be activated. After making PREPM active, execute a Dictionary Validation (VALDICO). Validation function is found under Development, Dictionary, Validations, Dictionary. There are Parameter values to set under Setup, General parameters. Head to Chapter TC / Group INV to set Parameter (Prepayment management) PREFUN to “Prepayment invoices.” It can be set on the company level or on the folder level. For this example, we aresetting only company NA10 to “Prepayment invoices.” WHY IS PREPAYMENT GRAYED OUT IN SALES ORDER (GESSOH) ENTRY? Once the PREFUN parameter is set to “Prepayment invoices,” the Prepayment option in Sales order (GESSOH) entry is grayed out for that company. Only one method of handling prepayments can be used per company. You will be using Prepayment invoice (GESPREPI) on this company. For site DE012’s company, we left the PREFUN parameter value as “Prepayment.” Therefore, the Prepayment option is still available in the right box. WHY CAN’T I SELECT THE PREPAYMENT PAYMENT TERM FOR MY SALES ORDER? The Payment term (GESTPT) was created under Common data, BP tables. It isn’t available for the Sales orders in the drop down menu when the associated company has the Payment type equal to “Prepayment.” When the company has its PREFUN parameter set to “Prepayment invoices,” the Payment type must be valued as “Open items.” HOW DO I ACTIVATE THE PREPAYMENT INVOICE BUTTON IN PREPAYMENT INVOICE MANAGEMENT? We have selected the Sales order, but the Prepayment invoice button isn’t activated. The Prepayment invoice button isn’t activated until the Invoice date, Prepayment percentage, and Account number are entered and the transaction saved. Hopefully this information has made Prepayment invoices management easier for you to setup. For questions about this post, or any other questions about Sage X3, please contact us. NOTE: Content for this blog post was originally posted on Sage City by Pam Nightingale, January 1, 2023.

Files can be attached to any standard Sage X3 object-based function such as Sales Orders, Customers, Invoices, etc. through the Attachments button. With Sage X3 2022 R4 (12.0.32), Sage introduced some changes to the attachments option which can be enabled optionally. Specifically, the user interface has been simplified to upload files in a single action without having to perform manual tasks. In addition, the storage of attachments has been secured in an administrative storage area rather than an open volume. And lastly, filenames are now controlled in a more consistent manner before uploading attachments. Although those changes are optional, we strongly recommend you read the following how-to guide and activate these changes to enable secure attachments and improve the overall security of your information system. ACTIVATING THE CHANGES These changes can be activated in the General Parameters menu: Go to Setup > General Parameters > Parameter Values Select the SUP chapter Select details for the ATC (Attachments) section Select Yes for parameter value ATTSECUR (Attachment protection) This will enable the changes outlined above starting the next login. This will apply to any new attachments. Existing attachments will not be changed by the system. SIMPLER FILE UPLOAD  Reminder: This is enabled only of the ATTSECUR (Attachment protection) parameter value is active. The attachments window has been simplified as follows:     The attachments list is now simpler, and the user has two options to upload a new attachment to the record: Upload file: This uploads an attachment directly from the user’s local device and lists it immediately in the attachments table with no additional user entry required. The user can either select a file through the browser’s selection window, or drag a file onto the upload section of the screen. When uploaded, the file appears in the attachments list with its filename (Document name), Type (from the extension if present), and a default Category set to Confidential (This can be changed by the user and is informative only). Select file: This opens an additional window where the user can select a file from an existing volume on the server (or to upload a file from the local device onto a volume on the server), as with previous Sage X3 releases. SECURE ATTACHMENTS Reminder: This is enabled only of the ATTSECUR (Attachment protection) parameter value is active. Secure attachments, when uploaded, are stored in an administrative volume that is accessible only to administrative users and cannot be seen by normal users through the Sage X3 volumes interface. Their filenames are obfuscated and replaced with a generic sequence number. With this option, the attachment can be retrieved only from the Attachments window on the relevant record, which means access to the attachment is subject to the same functional access rights as the actual record it is attached to. Users who do not have access to a record will not be able to browse through its attachments in any other way. LIMITATIONS With secure attachments, the Keyword interface has been disabled and cannot be accessed manually. The keyword fields, however, are still present in the attachments table and can be used programmatically. It is important to note that the actual filenames on disk will be changed by the system. The filenames can only be referred to from the attachments table, through the Document name property. FILENAME CONTROL When uploading files, the system will now perform controls to remove unwanted characters and will issue clear error messages when the file’s name cannot be used. The following characters are not allowed in attachment filenames: You cannot use @, %, and $ in Sage X3 file names (Sage X3 reserved characters) You cannot use /, , <, >, ?, :, *, “, and | in operating system filenames (e.g. Windows) You cannot use *, !, #, and ? in any file name because those are used in regular expressions. For questions about the changes in Sage X3 2022 R4 regarding attachments, or any other questions about Sage X3, please contact us.

Drive efficiencies in your manufacturing and distribution operations through increased site productivity. The new Sage X3 Mobile Automation solution has been designed with prebuilt workflows for the modern business. This includes an improved clean user interface that delivers greater user experience, is fully optimized for a cloud environment, and incorporates the latest enterprise class security features for peace of mind. KEY BENEFITS FOR YOUR BUSINESS: Use Sage X3 Mobile Automation in any environment, including the Cloud, with the peace of mind that you are fully secure. Increase productivity with streamlined processes, guided steps, dynamic fields/settings that reduce pain points for the operator and benefit the whole site efficiency. A modern and intuitive User Interface increases user adoption and time to value. SAGE X3 MOBILE AUTOMATION COMPARISON VERSUS ADC NOTE: Mobile Automation does not currently support customizations although this is on the product roadmap so stay tuned for updates. For more information about transactions available with Sage X3 Mobile Automation for Manufacturing, click here. For more information about transactions available with Sage X3 Mobile Automation for Distribution, click here. For any other questions about Sage X3, please contact us.

In 2021, ransomware attacks affected two out of every three businesses at some point in the year. Unfortunately, as more of our daily tasks become digital and cybercriminals become smarter, that number only continues to increase. The first quarter of 2022 showed us that breach incidents aren’t going anywhere. According to data from the Identity Theft Research Center, reported breaches were up 14% from the same time period in 2021. The cost of ransomware attacks increased too, up a whopping 71% from 2021 and averaging nearly $1 million in average payouts. It may seem inevitable that your business will take a hit at some point, but there are steps you can take to keep yourself and your business safe. Download this ebook to help educate yourself and employees, and work together to accomplish cyber resilience. For more information about step you can take to protect your business from data breaches, please contact us.

We all know ERP projects are stressful. That’s why it is so very important to me that our team has fun while they work. We love to meet up—with each other and with you. And we love to share pictures of our time together. Here are a bunch of pictures from 2022! I work with the best team in the industry and I’m proud and privileged to represent them all. Thank you to all our clients. We have received lots of great feedback from you that we are using to make improvements for 2023.  Please never hesitate to reach out with any comments, concerns, or ideas for the team. All the best to our Sage X3 team, clients, and partners in this holiday season and the New Year! About the Author Samantha Marshall Sage X3 Practice Director Samantha has developed and led several software development and ERP practices over her 20 years. With Sam’s leadership, Net at Work will continue to contribute to the success of our clients and alliance partners along with the growth of Sage X3. Read More