If you prefer not to transmit this information (which Sage say’s may happen as often as once per day and include software serial numbers, usage of key features, etc) then you can turn it off in three easy steps.

Step One

Login as the administrator to Sage ERP MAS 90 or 200. This happens directly from the initial login. Instead of using your user login code – use the login Administrator.

Enter in the administrator password.

If you do not have the administrator password – locate the person in your company who does or contact your Sage business partner – or Sage.

Step Two

Once logged into the administrative control panel – select the very last option at the bottom of the screen:

Sage Product Enhancement Program

Change your participation in the program

Step Three

Remove the check mark from the following screen where it indicates “Participate in Program”.

If you change your mind in the future you can always reverse these changes by following the above steps and checking the “Participate in Program”.

More screenshots/instructions on opting-out of MAS90 PEP

© 2011, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Formed in 2005. the 90 Minds Consulting Group is a collaboration of 100 Sage partners who independently join together online in a 24 x 7 private communication network to solve difficult issues for their customers. The group is not affiliated with Sage and our collaboration provides for unparalleled member access to early warnings of bugs and other issues which members in turn are encouraged to use to provide an exceptional customer experience.

Sage have just released a guide to year end 2011 payroll and accounts payable processing. Users of version 4.2+ of MAS90/200 can view a chart outlining when 1099 printing, W-2 printing, Electronic Reporting and tax table updates (TTU) will be made available.

via: MAS90 and MAS200 2011 Year End Frequently Asked Payroll Questions

© 2011, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Formed in 2005. the 90 Minds Consulting Group is a collaboration of 100 Sage partners who independently join together online in a 24 x 7 private communication network to solve difficult issues for their customers. The group is not affiliated with Sage and our collaboration provides for unparalleled member access to early warnings of bugs and other issues which members in turn are encouraged to use to provide an exceptional customer experience.

Here’s why.

Sage no longer sells Extended Solutions. This has been the case since they announced their discontinuation in late 2009.

However in some cases customers on supported versions of MAS90 and MAS200 may still be using Extended Solutions if they have not yet upgraded to version 4.4.

This can cause problems if users on an older (yet still supported) version of MAS90 or MAS200 need to install a service update that breaks an older Extended Solution.

Up until April 30, 2011 Sage was providing updated versions of Extended Solutions which would be compatible with those newer service updates.

After April 30, 2011 Sage no longer provides those updates except with a Sage sales supervisor approval. In most cases that approval is granted provided the service update was required to fix a critical system issue.

Now we are hearing that Sage is about to discontinue providing any further updates to their Extended Solutions – even to customers on still supported versions of MAS 90 and MAS 200.

If you’ve been holding off upgrade – and you are using Extended Solutions – we recommend that you begin proactively planning for an upgrade to version 4.4 so as not to be caught short with an Extended Solution that might not work after you load a service update.

via: Sage Extended Solutions Updates Discontinued Soon

© 2011, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Formed in 2005. the 90 Minds Consulting Group is a collaboration of 100 Sage partners who independently join together online in a 24 x 7 private communication network to solve difficult issues for their customers. The group is not affiliated with Sage and our collaboration provides for unparalleled member access to early warnings of bugs and other issues which members in turn are encouraged to use to provide an exceptional customer experience.

Looking for a phone number to call Sage for technical support on one of their products? I’ve just stumbled across a great list of every product offered by Sage(well technically not every since Sage’s flagship ERP X3 is not on their) along with the phone number, direct link to the knowledgebase and a link to the Sage Community (when it exists) for the respective product.

We think your best resource continues to be your local Sage Business Partner. However for those users without a partner or who prefer to self-support the link below can be very helpful.

Sage Support Phone Numbers via Schulz Consulting

© 2011, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Formed in 2005. the 90 Minds Consulting Group is a collaboration of 100 Sage partners who independently join together online in a 24 x 7 private communication network to solve difficult issues for their customers. The group is not affiliated with Sage and our collaboration provides for unparalleled member access to early warnings of bugs and other issues which members in turn are encouraged to use to provide an exceptional customer experience.

Expect to see version 4.5 ship in August 2011. This release concludes Sage’s efforts to roll in the last of their Extended Solutions and will included the following solutions (which may not exactly duplicate the functionality of the original enhancement).

PR-1067 – Additional Deduction Calculation Methods
PR-1116 – Deduction Recalculation in Payroll Entry
PR-1015 – Deduction Calculation Based On Earnings Type
PR-1031 – Payroll Data Entry Import Utility
PR-1091 – Enhanced Benefit Accrual
SO-1005 – Price Level By Customer/Product Line
SO-1173 – Item Pricing By Total Quantity
SO-1530 – Enhanced Sales Order Integration with Job Cost
SO-1175 – Lot Serial/Distribution Entry from Sales Order
SO-1417 – Maintain Split Commissions by Customer
SO-1354 – Commission Rate Table by Salesperson/Customer/Item
AR-1068 – Customers With National Accounts
PO-1020 – Purchase Orders Created from Sales Orders
SO-1489 – Auto Generate Purchase Orders from S/O Entry

Some other highlights include the retirement of Act! Link. This integration with ACT! had not been updated since before MAS90 version 4.4. Sage is focussing all their efforts on SageCRM integration to the Sage ERP MAS90 and 200 product line.

If you’re not yet using CRM with MAS90 — there’s good news. With the version 4.5 upgrade you’ll receive one user license of SageCRM v7.1 (both server and client).

If you are using Report Master, which is Sage’s old custom report writer, you’ll need to full adopt Crystal Reports (included with your upgrade) as of this 4.5 release. Report Master previously was kept around but only worked for legacy modules that had not been updated to version 4.x standards (ie – Payroll, Work Order). As of release 4.5 Report Master will be going away so be sure to make plans to update any legacy reports.

More information on What’s New In Sage ERP MAS90 v4.5

© 2011, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Formed in 2005. the 90 Minds Consulting Group is a collaboration of 100 Sage partners who independently join together online in a 24 x 7 private communication network to solve difficult issues for their customers. The group is not affiliated with Sage and our collaboration provides for unparalleled member access to early warnings of bugs and other issues which members in turn are encouraged to use to provide an exceptional customer experience.

The short summary seems to be that so long as you’re on version 4.3 or higher you can expect compatibility with the following:

Be sure you check for compatibility with any third party products that integrate with MAS 90 or MAS 200 since Sage only certifies that their products work in a virtual environment.

via: Sage MAS90 and MAS200 Virtual Environment Compatibility

© 2011, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Formed in 2005. the 90 Minds Consulting Group is a collaboration of 100 Sage partners who independently join together online in a 24 x 7 private communication network to solve difficult issues for their customers. The group is not affiliated with Sage and our collaboration provides for unparalleled member access to early warnings of bugs and other issues which members in turn are encouraged to use to provide an exceptional customer experience.

You’ve received the upgrade disks in the mail. Now comes decision time. Should you upgrade? And what new features are people getting the most use from?

via Wayne Schulz - Schulz Consulting – Glastonbury CT:

This really depends on the version that you are moving from.
First, I recommend you review this list of all the new features added to Sage ERP MAS 90 and 200 since version 3.50.

http://services.sagesoftware.com/mas/whatsnew/what400.asp

Second, here’s the top features based on the enthusiasm of user reactions:

Paperless Office – both saving and emailing documents
Keep window open after printing
Elimination of “buckets” in AP and AR
Attaching UDF fields to core tables
Allowing all “canned” reports to be modified with Crystal

via: Dawn Anastasi

Business Insights Explorer – for users who are uncomfortable or not used to working with Crystal Reports.

via: Robert Wood – DDF Consulting – Ocala Florida:

Adding Inventory to the Business Framework. This also makes the inventory reports customizable. I don’t know how many times I’ve created Crystal Reports from scratch just because someone wants to add or remove a field from an inventory report.

There is the option to expand the item number to 30 characters.

Positive Pay, Automatic Check Reconciliation in Bank Reconciliation and ACH Payments for AP are included with service update 2. These were paid enhancements that have been rolled into the core product.

© 2011, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Formed in 2005. the 90 Minds Consulting Group is a collaboration of 100 Sage partners who independently join together online in a 24 x 7 private communication network to solve difficult issues for their customers. The group is not affiliated with Sage and our collaboration provides for unparalleled member access to early warnings of bugs and other issues which members in turn are encouraged to use to provide an exceptional customer experience.

What’s the largest number of users you’ve seen on Sage ERP MAS 90 or 200? Were there any issues and if so how did you overcome them? Do you have a “rule of thumb” about the number of users that MAS 90 will support – and if so what is the magic number?

What Is The Average Number of Users that Can Run Under Sage ERP MAS 90 or MAS 200?

via Ed Wlodarczyk :

I’ve got a client with 80 users on MAS 200 – no issues at all. They are connected both via LAN and WAN in two different buildings that are across the street from one another. Largest MAS 90 I’ve seen is 20 users, again, no issues. I remember back when I first started that they pushed CS for over 20 users and 90 would handle up to 25.

via 90 Minds member Mark Chinsky – Clients First Business Solutions – Holmdel NJ, Birmingham, AL, Pleasant Hill, CA, Minneapolis, MN, Nashville, TN, Arlington, TX:

I have to imagine the 80 user site is running as an application and not a service. That’s the biggest problem is the too many files issue that relates to running as a service.

The biggest issue and the reason I typically don’t recommend either MAS over 25 users is the record locking architecture that doesn’t look like its going to change in our lifetimes.

Too many problems, especially with companies spread out over multiple states with the ‘can everybody exit the system so I can post XYZ” or whatever.

via 90 Minds Member Wayne Schulz – Schulz Consulting LLC – Glastonbury CT:

Agree with Mark – we’ve found the speed of MAS 90 really depends on concurrent users in the system as opposed to total license count.

Over about 15 concurrent users with Inventory and Order entry we’ll generally recommend MAS200.

We also have found that for any sized MAS 200 organization you have to run the server component as an application or risk freezing as the number of users in the system tends to produce random lockups as the MAS 200 server runs out of resources.

Sage publishes guidelines on changing registry options (actually I think this is Microsoft’s KB article) but I don’t go anywhere near making registry changes on a company server and many IT people don’t want to monkey with it either.
My experience is that somewhere around the 20 to 25 heavy user Sales Order / Inventory mark you run into maintenance issues on MAS 200 similar to what Mark mentions. Everyone needs to exit the system (no practical for multi-office locations).

Via Ed Wlodarczyk:

The 80 user site is running as an application, but there are no issues. This is a heavy SO user, with over 1000 invoices on a light day. Granted, of the 80 users maybe 30 are inquiry only users in the warehouse and the lab.

However, the sales staff has 25 users entering orders and invoicing all day. Accounting staff has 10-12 users, and Purchasing 5. I agree that this is the exception rather than the rule, but it works for them.

Via Dawn Anastasi:

We have one MAS 200 that has 100 users. All in one building. 20 of those users are shipping personnel. They are running a very beefy virtualized server and are running MAS 200 host as an application. They are testing the upgrade from 4.10 to 4.40 currently; they had not upgraded previously as you can imagine it’s quite an undertaking. They have generally about 2000 – 2500 invoices per day (and growing).

via 90 Minds Member Robert Wood – DDF Consulting – Ocala,FL:

We have one who is running a 50 seat MAS 200. At any given time there’s normally at least 35 people in it at a time. They’re running as an application. They have over 1,000,000 invoices a year.
They purge AR Invoice History 3 to 4 times a year.

How about you? What’s the largest number of MAS 200 (or MAS90) users you’ve run across?

© 2011, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Formed in 2005. the 90 Minds Consulting Group is a collaboration of 100 Sage partners who independently join together online in a 24 x 7 private communication network to solve difficult issues for their customers. The group is not affiliated with Sage and our collaboration provides for unparalleled member access to early warnings of bugs and other issues which members in turn are encouraged to use to provide an exceptional customer experience.

Sage have just updated their latest tax tables for Sage ERP MAS 90 and 200. This updated, dated 1/11/11, adds the states of Missouri and the unincorporated territory of the United States – Puerto Rico.

In addition, if you have not downloaded the latest IRS Tax Guide for 2011 – you should also visit the IRS site and obtain the payroll tax booklet for use in manually computing the first payroll run of the year. Ensuring that you have the proper tax table update also requires that you check these computations manually against what the latest IRS guide offers as the proper withholding.

Latest Sage ERP MAS 90 or 200 Tax Tables for 2011

© 2011, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Formed in 2005. the 90 Minds Consulting Group is a collaboration of 100 Sage partners who independently join together online in a 24 x 7 private communication network to solve difficult issues for their customers. The group is not affiliated with Sage and our collaboration provides for unparalleled member access to early warnings of bugs and other issues which members in turn are encouraged to use to provide an exceptional customer experience.

Please read the entire document carefully. This document contains specific steps for successful IRD installation. Skipping any step may result in incorrectly aligned forms or missing boxes. Always make a full backup before installing.

Installation Instructions:

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: The 90 Minds Consulting Group and membership specifically advise that you consult with your Sage Business Partner BEFORE making any program updates. We are not responsible for issues arising from deficiency in any instructions below. We make every effort to keep this information current however you are advised to check the Sage Software support area for the latest instructions. Always consult with your tax professional prior to making any decisions regarding tax or financial processing. 90 Minds and members are not in the business of providing tax, audit or accounting advise and specifically disclaim liability for any implementation of these instructions.

Notes:

• Verify the 2010 Q2 Payroll Update has already been installed. For more information, see How to verify 2010 Q2 Payroll Update is installed section below. This update includes the HIRE Act changes.
• Verify that the previous year’s IRD has been installed as instructed in the How to verify that IRDs are Installed section below. This is required to ensure the accuracy of your data and proper form alignment.
• Print the layout for each W-2 form before resetting your forms. Use the printed layouts to reenter any customized settings afterward.

Note: On version 4.10 and earlier, also print the 1099 layouts.

1. Expand Modules, Payroll, and then Period End. Double-click W2 Form Printing.
2. Select the appropriate form from the W2 Form To Print field.
3. Click the Form button to open the Forms Customizations window.
4. Click the Print button.
5. Repeat for each form listed in the W2 Form To Print field.

This MAS90 IRD is supported only with the following versions:

• Sage MAS 90 and 200 4.00, 4.05, 4.10, 4.20, 4.30.0.17 and higher and 4.40
• Sage MAS 200 – SQL Server Edition 3.73, and 3.74

Sage MAS 90 or 200 4.40.0.0 – 4.40.0.3

1. Verify the 2010 Q2 Payroll Update has already been installed. For more information, see How to verify 2010 Q2 Payroll Update is installed section below.
2. Install the 2010 IRD

Sage MAS 90 or 200 4.30.0.17 – 4.30.0.20:

1. Verify the 2010 Q2 Payroll Update has already been installed. For more information, see How to verify 2010 Q2 Payroll Update is installed section below.
2. Install the 2010 IRD

Sage MAS 90 or 200 4.20:

1. Verify the 2010 Q2 Payroll Update has already been installed. For more information, see How to verify 2010 Q2 Payroll Update is installed section below.
2. Verify that the 2008 & 2009 IRD are already installed. For more information, see the How to verify IRDs are installed section below.
3. Install the 2010 IRD.

Sage MAS 90 or 200 4.10:

1. Verify the 2010 Q2 Payroll Update has already been installed. For more information, see How to verify 2010 Q2 Payroll Update is installed section below.
2. Verify that the 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 IRDs are already installed. For more information, see the How to verify IRDs are installed section below.
3. Install the 2010 IRD.

Sage MAS 90 or 200 4.05:

1. Verify the 2010 Q2 Payroll Update has already been installed. For more information, see How to verify 2010 Q2 Payroll Update is installed section below.
2. Verify that both the 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 IRDs were already installed. For more information, see the How to verify IRDs are installed section below.
3. Install the 2010 IRD.

Sage MAS 90 or 200 4.00:

1. Verify the 2010 Q2 Payroll Update has already been installed. For more information, see How to verify 2010 Q2 Payroll Update is installed section below.
2. Verify that the 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 IRDs are already installed. For more information, see the How to verify IRDs are installed section below.
3. Install the 2010 IRD.

Sage MAS 200 – SQL Server Edition 3.74:

1. Verify the 2010 Q2 Payroll Update has already been installed. For more information, see How to verify 2010 Q2 Payroll Update is installed section below.
2. Verify that the 2008 IRD and 2009 IRD are already installed. For more information, see the How to verify IRDs are installed section below.
3. Install the 2010 IRD.

Sage MAS 200 – SQL Server Edition 3.73

1. Verify the 2010 Q2 Payroll Update has already been installed. For more information, see How to verify 2010 Q2 Payroll Update is installed section below.
2. Verify that the 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 IRDs are already installed. For more information, see the How to verify IRDs are installed section below.
3. Install the 2010 IRD.

How to verify that 2010 Q2 Payroll Update is installed:

• Expand Modules, Payroll, and then Main. Double-click Employee Maintenance.
• Click on the Main tab.
• Verify that the Qualified(Form W-11) checkbox exists.

How to verify that IRDs are installed:

2009 IRD:

1. Expand Payroll, and then Period End. Double-click W2 Form Printing.
2. Verify that the FLI Private Plan No. field exists

2008 IRD:

1. Expand Payroll, and then Period End. Double-click W2 Form Printing.
2. Click the Preview button
3. Verify that the Social Security Number is displaying at the top of the form.

2007 IRD:

1. Expand Payroll, and then Period End. Double-click W2 Form Printing.
2. Click the Preview button
3. Verify that the Social Security Number is displaying at the top of the form.

2006 IRD:

1. Expand Payroll, and then Period End. Double-click W2 Form Printing.
2. In the Box 12 Codes field, enter 1.
3. If the “1″ is not retained, the 2006 IRD 2006 is not installed.
4. Note: This does not apply to 4.20 which already includes the 2006 IRD. The actual code “AA” (without quotes) will be accepted on version 4.20.

2005 IRD:

1. Expand Modules, Accounts Payable, and then Main. Double-click Vendor Maintenance.
2. Select a vendor with 1099 history.
3. Click the Additional tab.
4. At Default Form, Select Miscellaneous Form.
5. Click the 1099 History button, and verify that the following fields exist:
6. 15a 409a Deferrals
7. 15b 409a Income
8. Expand Payroll, and then Period End. Double-click W2 Form Printing.
9. In the Box 12 Codes field, enter Q.
10. If the “Q” is not retained, the 2005 IRD is not installed.

2004 IRD:

1. Expand Modules, Accounts Payable, and then Main. Double-click Vendor Maintenance.
2. Select a vendor with 1099 history.
3. Click the Additional tab.
4. At Default Form, Select Dividend Form.
5. Verify that the 2b Unrecap sec 1250 gain field exists.

Note:
If Box 2b shows Post May 5 Capital Gain Distr, the 2003 IRD is installed but not 2004.

Installing IRDs for previous year:

IRDs for 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 are available on the Sage MAS 90 and 200 support page on Sage Online. Click the Interim Release Download link in the Downloads area.
Note: You must perform the data conversion for each IRD before installing the next.

1. Install the first year’s IRD.
2. Launch Sage MAS 90 or 200.
3. Expand Modules, Accounts Payable, and Main. Double-click Vendor Maintenance.
4. Perform the data conversion.
5. Close Sage MAS 90 or 200.
6. Install the next IRD as needed. Repeat until the 2010 IRD is installed.

YearEndRead.txt:

MAS 90 and MAS 200
Level 4.00, 4.05, 4.10, 4.20, 4.30, 4.40
4.30 Extended Enterprise Suite versions 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 and 1.4
MAS 200 for SQL
Level 3.73 and 3.74

12-10-10

The release of the 2010 Year End Program Changes IRD contains enhancements for Electronic Reporting.
1099 Electronic Reporting has been modified according to the Internal Revenue Service’s 2010 Publication 1220. The following changes have been made:
“A” Record
Combined Federal/State Indicator has been moved to field position 6
Type of Return field has been expanded to 2 position fields 26-27
“B” Record
Form 1099-INT–new field added for CUSIP Number positions 587-599

W2 Electronic Reporting has been modified according to the SSA 2010 Specifications for Filing Form W-2 Electronically. The following changes have been made:
“RO” Record
New field Hire Exempt Wages and Tips has been added positions 100-110
“RU” Record
New field HIRE Exempt wages and Tips has been added positions 130-144

via: Schulz Consulting MAS90 Consulting and Troubleshooting

© 2010, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Formed in 2005. the 90 Minds Consulting Group is a collaboration of 100 Sage partners who independently join together online in a 24 x 7 private communication network to solve difficult issues for their customers. The group is not affiliated with Sage and our collaboration provides for unparalleled member access to early warnings of bugs and other issues which members in turn are encouraged to use to provide an exceptional customer experience.