This solution embeds as an extension to excel and reports on not just financial data (like FRx) but also non financial data such as dashboards, aging reports, KPI’s etc.

See the Sage MAS90 and MAS200 new report writer that replaces FRx here.

© 2010, Mark Chinsky. 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.

Below is some information I had compiled a couple years back when I originally looked into Applianz and ScionASP.  I have not had the opportunity to be involved with either an Applianz or ScionASP implementation.  Clearly this information could be somewhat outdated (including pricing), but this provides some general information.

ScionASP  (www.scionasp.com)

I spoke to Rick who had some good information.

• They started with SalesLogix before Sage bought it, and they do have a large focus on CRM applications.
• Been around since 2001.
• They basically can take the place of an IT Dept.
• Everything resides at their data-centers, mostly in San Diego, CA but also in Raleigh, NC.
• All Citrix.
• They maintain all connectivity and viability, including Windows related service updates, etc.
• MAS 90 and 200′s would be on own servers for compatibility purposes.
• All MAS’ are separate installations, and they are currently hosting many.
• Scion personnel does installation of initial software; they are apparently Sage-certified.
• Their services include redundant backups and disaster recovery plans.
• For MAS upgrading, Sage business partner would coordinate with Scion.
• MAS enhancements?  Coordinate with Scion. 
• Printing issues?  some, as expected
• Typically will get system back up and running within a couple hours if something major happens.
• Pricing (the below are retail prices): 
  • Pricing includes 1st application install (e.g., MAS) and connectivity, including basic server/connectivity support, as well as Workstations setup with client contact.
    • Below pricing does not include initial $100 per user setup fee.
  • Any time related to upgrading MAS would require additional cost ($150/hr).

 
Applianz  (www.applianz.com)

I spoke to Cody Robinson there (in Wichita, Kansas), and he gave me a lot of great information.  He was very knowledgeable.

• This works with an “infrastructure device” (a box) which can basically reside anywhere.
  • Can reside at the company’s office, at any datacenter that will allow it, or at Applianz’ datacenter in Kansas
  • Has built-in remote access.
  • No CD drive (all installs, etc. would be done from a workstation via an Applianz session, very similar to Terminal Services, so it’s just like being at the server)
  • Box contains Windows 200X server – Virtual Machine
  • Highly secure; Highly stable
  • Depending on # of users, includes various XP Virtual Machines
  • Workstations get small Applianz client installed
    • MAC workstations can also be used
• Most folks have the box reside at their own office
•  
• Package includes remote services, daily backups with 30-day retention, 24-hour disaster recovery so you can keep working if there’s any kind of problem accessing your box.
• Two (2)  500gb drives.  Raid 5, mirrored, etc.
• Box can easily handle 40 users.
• MAS 200 typically wouldn’t be necessary since the box is a client/server device.
• Most printing (remote) services/issues are nicely addressed.
•  
• Pricing (retail) for MAS 90/200/500 (includes 1st year of support/service:  backups, disaster recovery, updates, etc.):
  • 5-user        $ 8K
  • 10-user      $10K
  • 20-user      $13K
  • 30-user      $17K
• Pricing for ongoing support/service (regardless of user count):
  • $295/mo    or    $2,995/yr
• Pricing to have Applianz host your device at their data center in Kansas:
  • $295/mo    or    $2,995/yr
•  
• All service and support is handled remotely by Applianz. 
  • If device fails, Applianz can restore and have company up and running pretty quickly on their production servers while the device is shipped back to Applianz.
  • Worse case, if need someone onsite, they’ve contracted with local IT folks.
•  
• Ongoing support and service by Sage Business Partner remains the same.  There just isn’t a server to perform work at.  For example, you would need to access the device from a workstation in an Applianz session, very similar to Terminal Services

Posted by Brett A. Zimmerman - www.brettzimmerman.com – Twitter: MAS90_Zip

© 2010, Brett Zimmerman. 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.

One situation with Sage MAS 90/200 where this could be extremely useful is for Visual Integrator (VI) importing.  For example, lets say you receive an Excel file from your Vendor, and it contains 25 Sheets/Workbooks which represent 25 different invoices.  To properly import you’d need to manually create 25 individual Excel files.  Kind of a pain.  But this $50 program helps to really automate the process.  And don’t worry if the master Excel file contains a reference or VLOOKUP worksheet that all the other worksheets feed off of.  The data in all the newly created Excel files stays in tact.

Posted by Brett A. Zimmerman - www.brettzimmerman.com.

© 2010, Brett Zimmerman. 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’s new Business Intelligence product, MAS Intelligence, will begin shipping to partners later this month (July) and to end users next month.  “Shipping” actually consists of a download.

The product is made up of several modules, including the Report Manager, Report Designer, Security Manager, Report Viewer, and Connector modules.  Each end user will receive the Report Manager free of charge.

The Report Manager allows users to run the standard reports that ship with it, copy these reports and modify the copies, and create new reports, as long as these reports use the “Containers” that are already setup.  Containers are similar to the Views that come with Business Insights Reports – pre-defined links to certain MAS90/MAS200 files.  Shipping with the standard version are containers for financial statements, multi-company financial statements, GL transactions,  sales history, PO information, and inventory information.  To access any container but the multi-company consolidation container, you login to the ODBC connection, much like logging into FRx or Crystal Reports (if run outside of MAS90/MAS200) and the company you have logged into will be the company used for any reporting during that session.

Resellers will also receive the Report Designer and the Connector modules.  The Report Designer allows users to create financial reports using a “drag and drop” feature.  The Connector module allows users to create connections to new files in MAS90/MAS200, or to other software packages, such as Sage CRM, etc.

As a reseller, you may create a report using a new container and export it for a client, who can then import it.  HOWEVER, the client must either own the Connector module OR a second license of the Report Manager module.  You may also create reports using the standard containers and export those, as well, but again, the end user must own a second license of the Report Manager module.

The Security Manager allows for an extra level of security by report.  A more likely route for security, though, will be the use of ODBC Security in Role Maintenance (which the end user will not have to purchase additionally).

The Report Viewer is much like the FRx Viewer, allowing users to run reports but not modify them.

All reports in Sage MAS Intelligence are actually created in Excel (not EXPORTED to Excel, actually CREATED in Excel).  Several Add-Ins allow users to more easily make changes to reports, including a Quick Pivot Table option, etc.  Reports can be emailed and scheduled, as well.

Sage hopes to have training classes for Sage Certified Trainers available in September, with classes for end users starting after that.

via: Beth Bowers – Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 Consultant – Michigan

© 2010, Beth Bowers. 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.

So far, here are some of the newsworthy items to arise from the demonstration last week:

• User licenses will be named – not concurrent.
• BII is Excel 2007 based (BII is compatible with all versions of Excel, but the new Financial wizard/designer requires Excel 2007)

• Each organization active on Basic Maintenance will receive one user license.
• There was no mention of utilities to convert FRX statements and our guess is that there won’t be one.
• Multi-company consolidations will require a separate purchase of a connector – pricing TBD.
• Data can be read from all modules and all fields – not just the GL as FRX was only able to do.
• BII will initially be available at MAS 90 level 4.4 only. Sage is looking at v4.3 support. We do not think the supported versions will go any earlier than 4.3.

For more information visit  Sage Alchemex Business Insights Intelligence Recorded Demo

© 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.

Sage MAS 90 and 200 Development Partners are an important member of the Sage partner community, providing valued specialized solutions for Sage MAS 90 and 200 ERP customers.

The library of over 1000 Sage MAS 90 and 200 Extended Solutions titles have been made available to Sage Development Partners so that they can apply their expertise and provide Sage MAS 90 and 200 customers the specialized solutions that they need. The Sage MAS 90 and 200 Development Partners shown below have expressed interest in the Extended Solutions business, and have made a commitment to provide Extended Solutions customers with a high standard of service.

If you are not already working with a Sage Development Partner, please consider one of these Development Partners.

This announcement is related to Sage’s decision to incorporate some Extended Solutions into the future releases of MAS 90 and MAS 200 (version 4.4+).

The remainder that users wish to continue using will need to be independently upgraded by the developer community (of which the Preferred Development Partners are the chosen).

Click the image below for contact information.

90Minds founding member DSD Business Systems is one of the Preferred Development Partners and can be contacted via their web site – DSD Business Systems Preferred Development Partner for Extended Solutions

© 2009, 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 has been discussing the future of their Extended Solutions since the Insights 2009 Partner Conference. At the conference it was widely discussed that certain Extended Solutions might become open source meaning that the source code would be given to select Master Developers who Sage has authorized to customize their program code. These developers would then be able to upgrade the enhancements individually (and for a separate fee) for end users.

Some Extended Solutions Incorporated To MAS 90 & MAS 200 4.4+

Starting with Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 version 4.4 expect to see approximately 56 of the popular Sage Extended Solutions incorporated to the core MAS 90 and MAS 200 product.

These select solutions will likely be added over a period of 12 to 24 months with a few titles being added with each release.

Remaining Extended Solutions Released As Open Source

The remaining catalog of Extended Solutions will be released as open source. Customers are free to select a Sage Master Developer and retain them (for a fee) to upgrade any Extended Solution that they own which was not selected by Sage for inclusion in a future MAS 90 and MAS 200 release.

Below is the list of Extended Solutions that Sage has indicated WILL be incorporated into future releases of MAS 90 & MAS 200.

Sage MAS 90 and 200 Extended Solutions Incorporation List

© 2009, 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 is a sneak peek overview of Purchase Agent by JobOps which has just been released as a standalone component of the popular Job Ops manufacturing suite for MAS 90 and MAS 200:

Purchase Agent automates the purchasing process by analyzing your supply and demand for inventory. Based on this information it creates a filterable grid to allow the purchase agent order review the demand, modify the information and automatically create purchase orders from it.

In the past, this program was called “Component Exception Manager” and was a major part of the ordering process for Job Ops program.

But now Job Ops has pulled  this functionality out of JobOps and reengineered it to work without JobOps in base MAS90.

Here are some screen shots.

Main Purchase Agent Generation Screen.

With this information it creates a work file of on all the inventory demand based on Sales Order and MRP forecasts, EOQ or by max stock.

And allow you to filter by any of the following items

This is by Vendor

It also will allow you to scroll to additional info

It also allow you to drill down on the item inquiry screen or see the demand generated for the item.

It will also allow you to review purchase history by item

Once you decide you can actually change the Vendor, price or quantity right on the screen

Once you decide to order it will create the Purchase orders

You can either a New PO, add to a PO that has not been printed or create an on hold PO

Once the PO is generated the demand is removed from the grid.

Normally the Job Ops Program costs between 5K to 20K based on modules and users.

This Program is available standalone without JobOps and retails for about $1500. The demo does a pretty good job of reviewing the product. Let me know if you are interested in seeing it.

© 2009, 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.

Upgrade now to version 4.3 and see the benefits.  Click here for the nearest reseller.

• LM1018 – Paperless Office: Journals & Registers
  

  LM1019 – Paperless Office: Electronic Forms Delivery

  LM1020 – Paperless Office: Period End Processing

  LM1022 – Associated Source Documents for Paperless Office

  AR1223 – Paperless Office: A/R Statements

  SO1437 – Paperless Office: Sales Order Invoices

  SO1463 – Paperless Office Sales Orders

  PO1165 – Paperless Office: Purchase Order Forms

  AR1225 – Paperless Office: A/R Invoices

  JC1147 – Paperless Office: Job Cost

  PR1120 – Paperless Office: Payroll Direct Deposit Stubs

© 2009, Mark Chinsky. 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.

Year end also brings one time consuming task – namely Electronic Reporting for payroll tax filing.

Many states allow you to manually key in your payroll tax data – and this works well so long as you don’t cross the threshold (50 employees in CT) or have hundreds of companies to report.

The Magnetic Media Module for Sage MAS 90 and 200 will transmit federal data magnetically as well as most states. However many states have additional reporting requirements that the standard MAS 90 magnetic media doesn’t handle.

Electronic Reporting for MAS 90 and MAS 200

One of the 90Minds members, DSD Business Systems, have developed a huge collection of magnetic media reporting tools for the following states:

* APIC – A/P DE-542 Reporting for Calif.
* MRAL – Alabama
* MRAR – Arkansas
* MRAZ – Arizona
* MRCA – California
* MRCL – North Carolina
* MRCO – Colorado
* MRCT – Connecticut
* MRFL – Florida
* MRGA – Georgia
* MRHI – Hawaii
* MRIL – Illinois
* MRIN – Indiana
* MRKS – Kansas
* MRKY – Kentucky
* MRLA – Louisiana
* MRMA – Massachusetts
* MRMD – Maryland
* MRME – Maine
* MRMI – Michigan
* MRMN – Minnesota
* MRMO – Missouri
* MRMS – Mississippi
* MRNJ – New Jersey
* MRNM – New Mexico
* MRNY – New York
* MROH – Ohio
* MROK – Oklahoma
* MROR – Oregon
* MRPA – Pennsylvania
* MRRI – Rhode Island
* MRSC – South Carolina
* MRTN – Tennessee
* MRTX – Texas
* MRUT – Utah
* MRVA – Virginia
* MRWI – Wisconsin
* MRWV – West Virginia

Standard MAS 90 and MAS 200 Electronic Filing only submits files in a generic (yet widely accepted format. In order to submit to the states listed above – you either need to manually enter the information to review one of DSD Business System’s add-ons for Electronic Filing.

If you’re required to submit magnetically (consult your tax advisor as we are not in the business of providing tax advise and nothing on our site should be taken as such) – then you should head to the DSD site and review their extensive list of Electronic Reporting for MAS90 and MAS200.

via: Wayne Schulz - Schulz Consulting a Sage MAS90 Business Partner providing support, training and consulting on all versions of Sage MAS90 and MAS 200

© 2009, 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.