Resources for Sage X3 Users

Chemical companies need to prepare for the return of an excise tax on chemicals produced or imported that hasn’t been in effect for nearly 30 years.  In January 2022, the IRS published Notice 2021-66, related to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (“IIJA”), which revives the excise taxes imposed on certain chemicals—previously known as the Superfund Chemicals taxes. Prior to their expiration in 1995, the Superfund chemical excise taxes were used to fund the Hazardous Substance Superfund. Expenditures were administered by the Environmental Protection Agency and used to clean up hazardous waste sites around the United States. Reinstated, the Superfund excise taxes will apply to a long list of chemicals and chemical-containing substances, effective July 1, 2022 . Chemical companies will need to brush up on the body of excise tax law and IRS guidance. They will also need to undertake a detailed review of the chemicals they manufacture or import for sale or use, as well as the chemical composition of the products they import, to understand if a product is subject to the Superfund excise taxes and, if it is, how to timely report and remit tax or register for an exception. Superfund Excise Tax on Chemical Sales The return of the Superfund excise tax on chemicals affects taxpayers that manufacture, produce, or import certain chemicals, as it imposes an excise tax on the sale of 42 specific chemicals listed in Section 4661 of the tax code, including ammonia, butane, benzene, mercury, and other common products. Any manufacturer, producer, or importer that sells or uses them must pay a per-ton tax of $0.48 to $9.47, depending on the chemical. There are some exemptions, such as the use of methane or butane for making motor fuel, the use of some chemicals to produce fertilizers, and substances derived from coal. Superfund Excise Tax on Importers of Taxable Substances For importers, the IRS listed 151 substances a taxpayer intends to use or sell as subject to the tax but only if the weight of the substance contains 20% or more of a taxable chemical. Among those substances are ones with common consumer uses like glycerol and butanol. Compliance with the reinstated tax will likely require taxpayers’ tax advisers to work closely with operations and procurement departments. Reporting Requirements Reinstatement of the Tax is projected to bring in an additional $14.5 billion over the next 10 years. Taxpayers subject to the new Superfund chemical taxes will be required to report on Form 6627, which must be filed together with the Quarterly Federal Excise Tax Return (Form 720). With these taxes due to take effect on July 1, 2022, taxpayers are responsible for compliance beginning with the Q3 2022 filings due October 31, 2022. Penalties and interest may apply for late deposits, ranging from 2% to 15% depending on the number of late days. A late filing penalty may apply for the failure to file a Form 720 of 5% per month of the amount due, up to 25%. New Functionality for Sage X3: Superfund Excise Tax Calculations Net at Work has introduced new Sage X3 functionality for companies impacted by the Superfund Excise Tax. This new functionality not only manages the accounting for Superfund but can easily be extended for other surcharges or rebates based on weight of product. Net at Work’s Superfund Excise Tax solution includes: Product Master Supplier and Customer Surcharge setup Purchase and Sales Invoice element product surcharge setup Product/Customer waive surcharges Product/Surcharge/Customer waive options Product/Surcharge/Customer markup options Product/Surcharge/Customer custom pricing options Surcharge override and recalculation at Sales Order Recalculation based on shipped/received quantities and amounts Product Surcharges available at Sales Order, Deliveries, Customer returns, Sales Invoice and Credit memos. Product Surcharges available at Purchase Order, Receipt, Supplier returns, Sales Invoice and Credit memos. Product Surcharges available at automatic delivery and invoice generation. To learn more about Net at Work’s new functionality for Sage X3 and how it can help your company remain compliant, please contact us, or reach out to your Account Manager directly. For more information about the Superfund Excise Tax please see: H. R. 3684 – Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act IRS Notice 2021-66 Previously recorded webinar by KPMG: Superfund Excise Taxes – They’re Back! NOTE: Portions of the blog post were originally posted by Chris M. Hunter with Jackson Kelly PLLC on May 16, 2022 as well as by Mayer Brown LLP on March 10, 2022 for Bloomberg Law.

The visual process editor is a component that can be used to: Draw pictures and their background Create links to other pages by defining links on elements You can define most links in the visual process editor using a specific link type in the link dialog opened from an element’s toolbar, but you can also create links by using the URL link type. You need to follow some rules to create the relevant URL according to the type of link you want to generate. In this blog post, we’ll review how to code URL links to Sage X3 functions. Links to X3 functions (class and representation mode) A link is defined by a class, a representation, a facet, and, optionally, a key. The classes and representations are defined in the corresponding dictionaries in Sage X3. When the key is not specified, the URL is formatted as follows: $baseUrl}/CLASS?representation=REPRESENTATION.$facet With CLASS being the class code, REPRESENTATION being the representation code, and $facet being the facet ($query). When the key is specified, the URL is formatted as follows: {$baseUrl}/CLASS(‘key_value’)?representation=REPRESENTATION.$facet With CLASS being the class code, key_value being the key value, REPRESENTATION being the representation code, and $facet being the facet ($details or $summary). If the key value is based on several components, values are separated by a tilde (~). Here are a few examples: Access to the query for a representation and a class (TABCONTAINER, for example) {$baseUrl}/TABCONTAINER?representation=TABCONTAINER.$query Access to the detail of a table definition (the entity is ATABLE, and the key is BPCUSTOMER) {$baseUrl}/ATABLE(‘BPCUSTOMER’)?representation=ATABLE.$details Access to the summarized view of a cost accounting dimension (the key is the dimension type and the dimension) {$baseUrl}/CACCE(‘CCT~COMM-001’)?representation=CACCE.$summary For more information on creating URL links for Sage X3 functions in visual processes, please check out the Sage X3 Online Help Center or contact us.

Have you ever done a direct sales invoice (GESSIH) under Sales > Invoices and noticed that the Cost price was equal to $0.00? If you turn around and create a sales order, delivery, and a regular sales invoice, you have a Cost price value. What is the difference? You’ve used the same product, customer and quantity. Your Totals Excluding tax and Including tax are the same. This is the type of question that drives you crazy at the end of the day when you are testing and tired. Why is Cost price on the direct sales invoice different from the regular sales invoice? First, where does the Cost price come from? Per the Online Help: “The cost price is loaded by default by the valuation of the product chosen for the margin calculation (see the valuation methods defined for the Product-Site record) at the time of the creation of the document line and is expressed in sales unit. The different choices possible for the cost price valuation are: Standard price, Revised standard price, Last price, Weighed average price, FIFO price, Lot average price and LIFO price. If the valuation method happened to return a zero value, a fall value can be used by specifying another valuation method contained in the list previously described. This value is stored in the document line.” Let’s check the Product-Site record for BMS001. Its Valuation Method is STD. Now, we will look at the Cost history (GESHIC) under Costing, Performance analysis for NA012. We see that for invoice date 4/26/22, the Total standard cost is $3.07. The Cost price on the Reg Sales invoice and the Cost history for Cost type Standard tie. Why is the Cost price on the Direct Sales invoice $0? The difference is that the Stock transaction value is “No” on the Direct invoice. The Stock transaction value is “Yes” on the Reg invoice. What is this Stock transaction field? Per the Online help: “Stock movement flag that indicates if the invoice is managed with stock update.” Remember that a Direct sales invoice is not associated with an order, shipment, or receipt. So, it makes sense that the Stock transaction value is “No” for the direct invoice and therefore no Cost price is pulled. You can manually enter the Cost price on the lines for informational purposes. Hopefully you found the reason behind the $0.00 Cost price on Direct Sales invoices interesting. If you have any additional questions about this topic 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, April 30, 2022.

The following question was asked at a recent BI conference: “I’ve been looking at Analytics software and noticed that some apps have just a few reports, some have a couple hundred, and others come with thousands. How many reports do I need?” The answer – delivered with a chuckle – was: “One . . . at a time.” The speaker went on to say that there is no “right number”, because every business is different. Less sophisticated businesses often rely on fewer reports, while companies whose business is more fluid – affected by varying market conditions — often need much more sophisticated analyses. Plus, it’s typical that as a business grows, so too grows their need for analytics. The business that’s satisfied with a handful of reports today may need dozens tomorrow. The speaker then revealed his real answer: it’s not how many reports you need; it’s enabling users to get the reports they need when they need them. The best Analytics solutions offer a large “library” of pre-configured reports to choose from. Even though Analytics apps make report creation easy, most users don’t have time to create their own reports. For them, a library of reports is essential. It’s a concept drawn from the brick-and-mortar libraries of old; if you wanted to learn more about a specific subject, you went to the biggest library you could find because they had the most books on that subject. A large library of reports is particularly valued by IT staff who spend countless hours “getting info” for staffers. Although an expansive library might not have the precise report that a user is looking for, it’ll most likely have something close – a report template that is easily customized to the desired specs. But remember . . . whether it’s books or reports, you still have to manage them. So – when looking into Analytics solutions, don’t just ask how many reports it has; ask how easy it is to deploy them . . . to connect them . . . to secure them . . . and what happens when there are system upgrades. The bottom-line is that the number of pre-configured reports is a major differentiator among BI/Analytics solutions; they improve your ability to deliver the right report to the right person – when it’s needed the most. Note: Content for this blog post was originally posted on DataSelf.com May 11, 2022.

Maps are an exciting and often underutilized way of visualizing a company’s data. They are usually of great interest to salespeople as they can help visualize sales and opportunities, and streamline operations. Let’s look at the many interesting ways that SEI offers to analyze data geographically. The best starting point for map creation in SEI for X3, is the Sales Cube data model. Similar models exist for other ERP’s and the concept is similar. Let’s create a map based on it, by right-clicking on the data model. A wide and somewhat intimidating choice of maps is displayed, with maps for every continent and many major country: There really are 2 types of maps that are used here, the one labelled simply Map with a black background in the top left, and then every other map in the list. Let’s start with the more widely used type of map, as it should work right away with no modifications needed. We will use 2 examples: the World map and then the USA map. Let’s pick the World option first. On the Settings pop-up which displays afterwards, we need to specify the map name, find the field which defines the country code and then choose the field which will be used to color the countries. In our example, we will use the Sales Transaction Amount: This is an example of the resulting map. This view can be filtered on any field in the data model, just like you would any other kind of view (so one can filter by sales rep, product line, year, etc.) Let’s look at an example for a specific country like USA. It would be created in a very similar way, just by picking the USA map in the list and setting the dropdowns on the settings menu to use the state code In this example, we can go one step further and associate states with some useful information. After the map is built, one can change its look by clicking on the Map Properties button in the toolbar to the right of the screen. Then, in the Region Details, we can choose which interesting information to display when clicking on a particular screen: But what if we want to go a step further and want to see the individual customers displayed on the map? This is possible with the other kind of available map view, which interfaces with Google Maps, but requires a bit of extra preparatory work. Specifically, some data to map zip codes and latitude and longitude needs to be uploaded in the MAP table in the Cube database. This kind of information is freely available online from census offices of different countries and can be uploaded to SQL via the SSMS Import function. I recommend using a .xls (Microsoft 97-2003) file for the import file, as it can be uploaded directly in SQL Server Management Studio and one can still have access to most Excel functionality for sorting, formatting and modifying data, etc. In the end, the data in the MAP table should look something like this: Back in the Sales Cube, we can create a new map using the first map icon in the Map option list. Then make sure to match up the Latitude and Longitude dropdowns with the appropriate fields: The Drill-down is optional and can also be added later. Now, let’s see the result: We can see some markers for the exact location of each customer. This is a Google map, so we can zoom in and out as much as you wish: These maps can be treated like other views, meaning that they can be filtered, and various properties can be set. For example, using the Map Properties, we can set a number of different fields to display when clicking on a map marker, to get some useful information on a specific client: The kinds of markers available can be changed. In this example, the customer markers can have a different color depending on the value of the Sales $ and a different size depending on the sales quantity. Various other options can be changed. For example, this is the same map, with the Satellite option on and using Heat Maps rather than the marker option: As you can see, maps are a very interesting way to present sales and purchasing data and can be very useful for a company looking to expand its operations or gain a better understanding in the geographical coverage of its services. If you have any question about using maps to visualize your company’s data in SEI, please contact us.

How do you measure success? In a commercial environment, you can gain a competitive edge by making sure that your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are informed and agile, much like Superman chasing a villain. But what makes someone a financial reporting superhero? A financial reporting superhero chooses financial targets based on as much information as possible, and that means acting on intelligence. Your organization is probably already collecting a wealth of useful stats and information – but the data may be scattered throughout different databases and spreadsheets. A financial reporting superhero knows how to bring all that disparate data and knowledge together and manipulate it into targets and reporting reflective of where you’ve been, and where you’re going. In this blog post, we’ll discuss five ‘superpowers’ to give you a taste of what’s possible. Who knows – with this much power – you could save the world. Or, at the very least, deliver the best and most up-to-the-minute financial reporting possible! 1. Extreme Intelligence As well as having information scattered around the business, you’ll probably find that there are already financial KPIs in place – some you knew about, some you didn’t. That’s OK. We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel – we’re trying to give it a Nitro boost. So, get to know your organization’s existing financial KPIs – even if they’re outdated or need some work. Through the superpowers of Sage Data & Analytics (SD&A), you’ll be able to fend off any unexpected super villains (disconnected objects) to migrate all of your company data successfully. 2. Choose Your Weapon Wonder Woman has her lasso. Captain America has his mighty shield. Superman has his cape. When it comes to financial reporting, your weapon of choice is a great data platform to underpin a superb set of financial dashboards. Trying to create metrics is no job for mere mortals – it takes forever, and it only takes one mutant manual entry to throw everything off. SD&A is ERP-agnostic, so you can choose to work with our complete legion of system tools or utilize the best suited features for your mission into what you already use. 3. Become a Time Traveler If you’re trying to manipulate space and time while searching for the all-important information that financial measurements depend on – things like profit and loss forecasts, balance sheets, and so on, then SD&A can set space-time coordinates for you through its pre-packaged through its pre-packaged analytics and dashboards. Of course, you could keep collating everything manually and feeding it in yourself. But you will need more than understanding of the mystic arts and interdimensional travel to avoid getting stuck in a time warp. 4. Trust Your Sidekick Every superhero needs a sidekick. We know that many users will already have theirs such as Power BI from Microsoft, a hugely popular business analytics tool, in no small part because of its basic functionality, and is free to use. Loyalty being a superpower within itself, SD&A works with Power BI, being one of a wide range of the existing tools your organization may be using that integrates seamlessly with our financial reporting and analysis SaaS. And just like you don’t want to start a superhero adventure getting to know your new sidekick, we have a range of free apps to help you build a data warehouse that’s as robust and joined-up as possible. 5. Achieve Omnipotence Once your next data mission is revealed, you’ll want to automate the data management processes as much as you can so you can run financial reports and check KPIs proactively. Set your system to alert you if you’re underperforming on certain aspects during the month so you can take affirmative action. Schedule reports to be generated regularly without needing to do anything. Enable constant monitoring to catch all those pesky exceptions and anomalies proactively. SD&A has processes to enable all these variables and many more. If it all sounds a bit overwhelming, don’t worry – your SD&A partner will be with you every step of the way, watching over you from our secret HQ – we’re a bit like Batman’s Butler Alfred that way. Conclusion These five tips should give you measurable, manipulatable KPIs and financial dashboards you can believe in. If you’re ready to light the Bat Signal to learn more about how SD&A can make you the office Superhero, connect with your NetatWork Account manager today and tell them you’d like to see which SD&A Superhero cape fits your business best! Note: Content for this blog post was provided by ZAP Business Intelligence.

In Sage Data & Analytics, custom formulas can be created for use in a single report or resource. Custom formulas can only be used within the resource in which they are created. Calculated Members, on the other hand, are like custom formulas but can be reused across multiple resources. In this blog post, we will review how to create both custom formulas and calculated members. What is a Custom Formula? A custom formula is a calculation of returning a single input value based on specific criteria. Case Study: The Controller has a report that shows you the sales amount by sales rep/employee. This set of data can be sliced down to Year, Quarter, Month, Day. You have been tasked to add column that will calculate the commission payout based on sales rep commission % set in the system with you an extra 2.8% bonus for all sales rep. Steps to create the custom formula: 1. Go into Edit Mode -> Query 2. Right click in the Columns section -> Custom Formula 3. In the Dimension Tree, drag the Invoice line amount to the Formula section 4. Type in * and hit the enter key 5. In the Dimension Tree, drag the Commission % to the Formula section and enter in a 2.8% in the formula. You can type in the parenthesis for proper order of operation and drag it to the appropriate spot. Reminder to hit enter when you type an operator or value in the formula before dragging. 6. Apply 7. You will see a ‘Customer Formula’ in the Columns section. You can validate that the Custom Formula is doing exactly what you expect. 8. Rename the Custom Formula a. Right click the ‘Custom Formula’ -> Rename it to ‘Commission Payout’ What is a calculated member? A calculated member is like a custom formula, but it is reusable in other reports. You will see it available in your dimension tree. There are a few ways to create a calculated member, in our example, we are going to leverage an existing custom formula to modify. 1. Add the ‘Commission %’ to the columns -> Open Commission % 2. Double click on the ‘Commission %’ -> Unwarp primary field: Formula 3. Add in the .028 to the calculation with the correct operators -> Apply Before: After: 4. Save As -> Rename to ‘Commission % with Bonus’ -> Ok 5. This calculation can now be used in other reports as it is now in the dimension tree. 6. Go back to the Sales by Sales Rep report -> Refresh and you should see the ‘Commission% with Bonus’ -> Drag the ‘Commission% with Bonus’ to the columns. 7. Now you should see the ‘Commission % with Bonus’ -> Save For more information on creating custom formulas or calculated members in Sage Data & Analytics, please contact us.

A business’ success is highly dependent on its ability to act proactively and make critical decisions in a timely manner. Businesses are more complex than ever and as organization’s grow, so too does their data. This data is not only massive in volume but may also reside in a multitude of different sources. In addition to the core ERP, data is commonly housed in legacy systems and third-party applications i.e., CRMs, Payroll solutions. For this reason, organizations cannot continue to solely depend on the raw data derived from their ERP software for enterprise-wide insight. In addition, accessing and processing raw data from various sources is a time-consuming endeavor and one which can only be managed by someone with technical skills and extensive knowledge of these systems. Lastly, an organization is typically comprised of multiple departments and employees who require access to data at different levels in order to do their jobs effectively. An inability to quickly access and share information with colleagues and/or key stakeholders often results in a lack of collaboration and a siloed work environment. The importance of Business Intelligence In our data-driven world, data itself is no longer a business’ most valuable asset. The value is found in the actionable insights obtained from that data. Operating with legacy “reporting tools” or none at all results in time consuming manual work with room for error. Organizations are spending inordinate amounts of time gathering and managing their data limiting their productivity and time spent on other important tasks. Many businesses have access to their data, but do not have the tools required to actually leverage it. Business Intelligence delivers that “missing link” and is an essential proponent of an organization’s success. Winning businesses are those with the ability to easily and quickly turn enterprise-wide data- into actionable insights. Business Intelligence solutions provide users of any level, self-service access to data in a way that makes sense and facilitates decision making. But doesn’t my ERP have reporting tools? An ERP software helps organizations manage key business processes. It houses critical data but falls short with providing users an easy way to access, analyze and report on that data. Without an integrated Business Intelligence software, organizations must spend time and effort gathering and making sense of their data and are consequently missing opportunities. The ability to quickly access information through a BI’s reports and dashboards, enables businesses to act proactively and maintain a competitive edge. Do you need to have IT expertise? Business Intelligence solutions are commonly developed with the end user in mind. Many BI softwares provide users with an intuitive, easy-to-use interface allowing them to interact with data regardless of their technical level. BI provides flexibility and empowers users significantly reducing reliance on IT. So, what is the key benefit of BI? Business Intelligence provides many benefits to an organization. It reduces time spent on gathering data, eliminates manual reporting and reduces reliance on IT. The right BI solution provides a full, clear picture of an organization’s financials, operations, and overall health. It enables employees and key stakeholders to quickly react when important changes occur and base decisions on reliable information.  avoiding missed opportunities and remain proactive. Business Intelligence is no longer a “nice to have” and is a necessity for businesses who are striving for success and growth. For more information about how Business Intelligence tools can help your business, please join our Business Intelligence Bootcamp webinar series or contact us. Note: Content for this blog post was originally written by Nectari Software, Inc.

Reporting trees help define the structure and hierarchy of your organization. A reporting tree is a cross-dimensional hierarchical structure that is based on the dimensional relationships in your financial data. It provides information at the reporting unit level and at a summary level for all units in the tree. A reporting unit can be an individual department from the financial data, or it can be a higher-level summary unit that combines information from other reporting units. Reporting trees increase the power of Sage Enterprise Intelligence (SEI)and support flexible reporting as the business structure changes. Financial reports that are not based on a reporting tree use only some of the capabilities of SEI. You can use multiple reporting tree definitions to view your organization’s data in numerous ways. Reporting Tree Best Practices Before you create a reporting tree, consider the following best practices: First determine which reporting dimensions your legal entity or company requires. Consider how you have set up your structure, and then draw an organizational chart of your company. The organizational chart will help you visualize how to group the reporting units into one or more reporting trees. Start with the lowest available level of detail, such as the departments and projects that are defined in the financial data. Add as many boxes to the level of detail as are required to show higher-level divisions or regions. Each box represents a potential reporting unit in any reporting tree that you create. You can use the reporting units that are defined in your financial data system to add reporting units to the reporting tree definition. The following diagram shows an example of a reporting tree with an organizational structure that is divided by business function.   Creating a Reporting Tree In the Administration section, click on Reporting Trees in the left pane. In the left-hand corner, click on Add New Reporting Tree. In the Reporting Tree field, enter a name for the reporting tree. In the Filter drop-down lists, select the Global Parameters you want to use as filters. There can be up to 10 filters which can include Company, Site, dimensions, and any other parameter. The global parameters you define here will be used as values when you add a Root Level Filter. Click on Confirm to finish. Adding Root Level Group and Level Filter At the Level Group, the filters you define are gathered on each level from the Root (Root Level Filter) into a group so that the hierarchy stays organized and easy to navigate. It is here that you create the Nodes that will compose your reporting tree. In the Reporting Tree list, click on the wrench icon of the reporting tree you want to apply filters to. Click on Add Root Level Group to start defining the hierarchy of your filters: In the Description field, enter a name for this group. In the second field, click on the paste icon to retrieve the value from the Description field or enter the name you want displayed in the tab of your Excel Tick the Distributable checkbox to make this node and the filters within this group available for the Distribution. Click on Save to finish the creation of your group. Click on Add filter to add filters to the group you have just created: In the Description field, enter a name for this filter. In the second field, click on the paste icon to retrieve the value from the Description field or enter the name you want to be displayed in the tab of your Excel Use the prompt to select a value in the Global Parameters. Select the Distributable option to make this node and the filters within this group available for the Distribution. Click on Save to finish creating your filter. Click on Confirm to create your structure. Using the Reporting Tree in The Excel Add-In Combined with the Excel Add-In, the reporting tree allows you to quickly and easily generate several reports based on specific nodes, all gathered in one place. To use the Reporting Tree: In the Excel file, click on Reporting Tree in the menu options to select the reporting tree from which to retrieve the node. If you are not logged in (refer to Login to SEI Excel Add-in ) a pop-up window will appear so that you may do so. Click on OK. NOTE: Only one reporting tree can be used per workbook. Select the cell in the sheet to be used as reference and click on Reporting Tree Node Selector in the menu options. Select the node from the reporting tree you want to retrieve the data. Here, we select the C4 cell and add a description in the B4 cell. Click on OK. The reference cell is the cell that contains the data specific to the nodes existing in the reporting tree. It allows you to generate data dynamically when using a formula or pivot tables or performing a data extraction. Using the Reporting Tree in Reports In the Reports tab, right-click on a report and select Properties. Under the Options section, select the Reporting Tree you defined in the drop-down list and click on OK. Once the report is loaded, click on Reporting Tree in the right pane to reveal the tree architecture. In the Reporting Tree filter panel, click on one of the nodes to retrieve data and refresh the report. If you select a Group Node, (those represented by a +/- sign), it will automatically include its children (i.e., all the sub-groups and filters inside the sub-groups below this group). Tip For the title of your report, you can use the Dynamic Variables drop-down list to select your Reporting Tree. Using variables will automatically change the main title of your report when you select different nodes. For more information on creating and using reporting trees in Sage Enterprise Intelligence, please contact us.