What’s New and What’s Coming for Sage MAS 90/200 ERP

As the year comes to a close, we highlight some of the news for Sage ERP MAS 90 and 200 in 2010, and look forward to what is coming in 2011.

The Year In Review:

Product Roadmap
The first public product roadmap provided customers with a long-range view of the future direction of the product line. The roadmap looks forward as far as 2012 and includes important milestones. Some of the milestones have already been reached; for example, Sage ERP MAS 90 and 200 Version 4.4, and the replacement product for FRx were released. Sage also executed on the plan to deliver more value to customers on a regular basis, releasing four Product Updates for Version 4.4 that included a substantial number of usability enhancements.

Sage ERP MAS 90 And 200 Version 4.4
Version 4.4 was released early in 2010. This significant release included the completion of three more modules in the Business Framework: Inventory, Purchase Order, and Bill of Materials. Completing these modules enabled Sage to expand the size of the customer and inventory item number fields. Extensive enhancements within the modules include batch entry of purchase orders, improved usability for physical count, and the ability to update standard costs automatically.

Also included in Version 4.4 is the Parallel Migration Wizard. It provides customers with the ability to migrate from one version of Sage ERP MAS 90 or 200, Version 3.71 or later, to Version 4.4 in a phased process. Parallel migration gives you more freedom and control over your upgrade by removing some of the time constraints previously experienced. You can test the new installation under various scenarios before going live while you continue to run your business on the previous version. Once your testing is complete, the Wizard can be used to re-migrate current data to the new installation.

Version 4.4 also introduced e-Business Web Services. This set of tools was designed to facilitate the integration between an existing e-business website and Sage ERP MAS 90. The eBusiness Web Services solution allows you to connect your Sage ERP MAS 90 data to the internet using any popular programming environment.

Sage ERP MAS 90 and 200 gained powerful enhancements to Customizer in Version 4.4. Now events can run without user interaction, so, for example, you do not have to remember to click a button to perform a custom calculation, such as a warranty expiration dateóit can be set to run as you tab off of a field.

Sage MAS Intelligence
FRx financial reporting was retired by Microsoft and Sage MAS Intelligence is its replacement. Sage MAS Intelligence improves on FRx by giving customers the ability to report on data across all modules in the software. FRx was limited to reporting only on General Ledger data.

The module includes predefined financial and operations reports for management, sales, purchases, and inventory, along with dashboards and trend analysis reports. Sage MAS Intelligence gives you the ability to consolidate data from multiple ERP companies and databases, all protected with solid user-level security.

Similar to FRx, Sage MAS Intelligence includes various components that can be selected to meet your organization’s particular needs. The Viewer provides basic editing capabilities and drill-down functionality on existing reports; the Report Manager enables you to easily create and modify reports and set user permissions; Sage MAS Intelligence Designer allows for easy drag-and-drop creation of reports and analysis of what-if scenarios; and the Connector component allows users to consolidate data from multiple companies and multiple databases.

Many customers have purchased various add-on products for FRx, and Sage has taken that into account with Sage MAS Intelligence. Each on-plan customer will receive one free Report Manager license to replace FRx. Customers who have purchased additional FRx Licenses and Modules will receive the module and license mix that is most comparable to what they are currently using.

You should have received your keys to unlock your Sage MAS Intelligence components. Give us a call if you need assistance. Keep in mind Sage will maintain compatibility with FRx up to at least Version 4.5, so you will have plenty of time to get familiar with the new software and convert your FRx reports.

Product Updates
As planned, Sage released four product updates for Sage ERP MAS 90, all of which included usability enhancements and program fixes. Here are just a few highlights:

• PU 1: Enter cash receipts by invoice number without knowing the customer.
• PU 2: Pay vendors electronically and save the records in Paperless Office.
• PU 3: Enter bank adjustments in Bank Reconciliation and post them to the General Ledger.
• PU 4: Interim Release Download (IRD) with Year-end tax law changes.

What’s Coming in 2011:

Product Update 5
Product Update 5 for Version 4.4 is planned for March 2011, and will include some great usability features such as the ability to set a different background color for each company code and a multiple company aged invoice report for Accounts Payable.

Sage ERP MAS 200 SQL Version 4.5
In the second half of 2011, Sage will release the current Sage ERP MAS 200 product on the Microsoft SQL Server platform as an option for existing customers, combining SQL Server’s reliable, scalable, easy-to-manage, high performance database platform with the ease of use of Sage ERP MAS 200. Flexible licensing options will allow customers to purchase SQL server licenses from Sage or use existing licenses they own. All modules that have been updated to the Business Framework will be available for the SQL version. The Business Framework allows the same programs that run on the Providex database to run under SQL, so the SQL Server version can always be current with the other versions of the software.

Version 4.5 Enhancements
Version 4.5 will include benefits for all customers including the merging of the Extended Enterprise Suite with the core product line. All on-plan customers will receive a single-user copy of SageCRM, allowing them to try all the features and functionality of SageCRM.

A powerful collection of core usability features will be added in this release, such as: enhanced benefit accrual in Payroll; Lot/Serial Distribution Entry From Sales Order; and Customers with National Accounts.

Retirements
Sage plans to retire support for the following Versions in 2011:

• Sage ERP MAS 200 SQL Edition Version 3.7x will be retired June 1, 2011.
• Sage ERP MAS 90 and 200 Versions 4.0, 4.05, and 4.1 will be retired September 30, 2011.

Please call us with any questions you may have.