Oates and Company Blog

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Just when you thought Sage ERP MAS 90 and MAS 200 couldn’t get any better, Sage pulled the curtain and gave us a peek of what’s to come later this year with Version 4.5.  Here’s what we’ve learned about the newest version which is currently scheduled for release late in calendar 2011.

If you are like most businesses, your enterprise started from scratch and QuickBooks was the easy and low cost answer for accounting.  Soon, Excel and maybe some custom databases started to creep in and now, information is scattered and the systems, along with your people may be stressed.

As sales grow, your business processes tend to change.  So, it might be time to investigate a unified solution to address these challenges. 

Did you know about the Customer Merge Utility in Sage MAS 500? 

Did you know that you can import budgets directly into Sage MAS 500 via the GL Import Utility?  Using the GL Import Utility you can transfer data into the General Ledger module using either a fixed length ASCII or comma-delimited formatted source files. 

Did you know that the March 2011 product update for MAS 500 is now available?  It is critical to keep up to date with the product updates released by Sage to take advantage of the new enhancements to the software.  Product updates consist of two installers, one for the server and one for the client.  The March 2011 product update includes release notes that document all of the program changes made to the software.  These changes include: bug fixes, form changes, Business Insights Explorer adjustments and more.  It is important to keep up with the product updates to take full advantage of your software’s capabilities.  These product updates can be found directly on Sage’s website and are included in your yearly maintenance plan.  For more information on the March 2011 product update or product updates in general please contact Oates & Company.

Yesterday we met with a company and the president told us, “I don’t want you to just fix my problems today.  I want you to help me plan for what we will look like in five years”.  If planned and executed correctly, an ERP software purchase and implementation can create a strategic advantage for a company.  In this company’s case, we are looking at a short range goal of putting in a bar code WMS system into their manufacturing and distribution process.  The long term goal is to create customer and sales portals whereby the users can gain instant access to manufacturing and distribution data on the web.  Our next step is to perform a business process review and a review of the strategic vision and apply the technology tools that we have to align the two to make the company better.

Recently, we began to offer yearly fixed price support plans.  Why is this a good thing for our clients and Oates?

·        The client gets to have a “budgetable” line item for support of their ERP system.  This allows for no surprises.

·        The client does not have to go through bi-weekly invoices to make sure that each line item was legitimate and that the issue was resolved.  On the flip side, Oates does not have to create the invoices. 

·        Since neither the client nor Oates is watching the clock, we are allowed to provide a deeper level of support.  This in turn makes our clients happier. 

We think this is the right way to do support.   If you'd like to discuss your personalized plan, give us a call at 336-230-0200 or send email us at info@oatesco.com.

We know.  You were just thinking about it, right?  Well, your questions have been answered with answers directly from Sage Software.  Just some of the updates include updated controls in Business Insights, negative invoicing in A/R, and improvements to Landed Costs.  To see the presentation, click here.

Did you know that you can customize any reports that come out of Sage MAS 90 and 200?  All reports generated from within Sage MAS 90 and 200 are written and viewed in Crystal Reports.  One of the largest challenges