Darcy Boerio

Warehouse Wizard Series Parts 1 – 3

June 13, 2019 by Darcy Boerio

From ensuring that you have an accurate picture of what you have on hand and where everything is to informed decision making on replenishment, there are many moving parts when it comes to managing inventory (pun intended).

The inventory and warehouse experts and Sage Inventory Advisor and ScanForce have teamed up to bring you a series of tips to help you become a “Warehouse Wizard”. For this article, we’ll look at the first three of the six tips.

Part 1: Two Sides of Inventory Management

From managing the physical product through accuracy in receiving, pick/pack/ship, physical counts, and labeling, inventory control is crucial to warehouse efficiency. It’s the foundation that allows you to make informed decisions on forecasting, ordering, and expediting, all in the name of inventory optimization.

In this 5 minute video, Russ Graf of NetStock and Steve Showalter of ScanForce discuss the key components of Inventory Control and Inventory Replenishment, and why even if business is booming, NOW is the time to invest in warehouse productivity tools.

Read the full article and watch “The Two Sides of Inventory Management” here.

Part 2: The Right Items in the Right Place at the Right Time

What if your warehouse had just the right amount of inventory to meet demands? Not too little, not too much, but just right?

Having the right items means faster fulfillment, happy customers, and more sales.

Having them in the right place leads to increased productivity and lower operating costs.

Having them at the right time prevents excess inventory and stock-outs.

And it all leads to increased profit.

Read the full article on how to “get it right” here.

Part 3: Hidden Costs of Inventory Spreadsheets

Who doesn’t love Excel? It’s inexpensive and easy to use. But when it comes to managing inventory, it’s not the right tool for the job.

In this 6 minute video, Russ and Steve expose some of the hidden costs lurking in your inventory spreadsheets, and how using tools designed for Sage 100 users can help you avoid the risks of spreadsheet inaccuracies.

Read the full article and watch “The Hidden Costs of Inventory Spreadsheets” here.

Watch here on the Schulz Consulting blog for parts 4 – 6 coming soon!

Want to learn more about the tools discussed in these tips? Visit scanforce.com or inventoryadvisor.co

5 reasons NOW is the time to move Sage 100cloud to the cloud

April 3, 2019 by Darcy Boerio

If you’re still running Sage 100 or Sage 100cloud on a local server, here are five reasons why you might not want to wait any longer to move Sage to the cloud:

#1. Mother Nature.

Following a disaster, 90% of smaller companies fail within a year unless they can resume operations within 5 days.
FEMA (read more)

Flooding, fires, tropical storms. All of these unexpected events can put your business at risk. Don’t wait until Mother Nature is at the door to try to come up with a continuity plan. Having your applications and data hosted in a secure data center allows you to continue operations even if your offices become inaccessible.

Actual LinkedIn post from March, 2019 by a company hit by the massive flooding in Nebraska.

#2. Support for Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 will be ending on January 14, 2020. Read more on this here.

If you’re currently using one of these versions, you will no longer receive regular security updates. And once Microsoft support ends for these operations systems, Sage will also stop supporting Sage 100 and Sage 100cloud running on these unsupported platforms.

If you’re faced with a server upgrade, it’s a great time to consider cloud hosting. Summit Hosting can provide you with a modern server environment with minimal IT effort on your end.

Chances are you aren’t the only one facing this deadline, so don’t wait until the last minute to ask for help! Contact Summit Hosting today.

#3. Remote work is becoming the norm, but some IT departments aren’t prepared for it.

Are you seeing an increase in requests from your team to work remotely? As remote work becomes more commonplace, some argue that remote workers are outperforming office workers. As the trend continues to grow and the workforce becomes accustomed to remote work, companies will find that offering some level of flexibility on this will be key to attracting and retaining talent.

Even if your business isn’t conducive to remote work on a large scale, there is still great benefit to providing employees with the tools they need to be productive while traveling for work.

But with it comes a whole new set of technology and security concerns that go beyond what you need to manage when your server resides down the hall in your own building. Hosting companies like Summit Hosting understand the infrastructure necessary to keep your data secure, yet easily accessible.

Hosting also solves the problem of “BYOD”. Users, remote or on site, can run Sage on a mobile device, iPad, or even on a Mac, if that’s their device of choice. You can also give access to your Sage partner, making it that much easier for them to provide remote assistance.

#4. “Right size” your IT.

Hosting allows you to scale your IT as your company’s needs change. Planning on a growth spurt? With hosting, you don’t have to worry whether or not your IT infrastructure can accommodate it. Or if you’re facing a potential downsizing situation, you don’t need to overspend on technology that is overkill for your future situation.

With hosting, you can easily add and remove users and storage space as needed.

And that 3rd party add-on that you’ve been eyeing? No need to stretch your existing servers to accommodate it. Because they specialize in Sage hosting, Summit Hosting has experience hosting all the major third party solutions for Sage 100.

#5. Cybersecurity is a moving target for your IT people.

More than 50% (of Chief Information Security Officers) believe they don’t have enough budget or do not have the resources to deal with the growing threat of cybersecurity attacks as they struggle to spot existing vulnerabilities within their business.”
Forbes.com – Cybersecurity Fears Drive CISOs to Drink Amid Serious Mental Health Concerns

Hosting companies like Summit Hosting are dedicated to keeping up with the latest cyberthreats. You can rest easy knowing that the burden of preventing cyberattacks isn’t on you or your team. Your hosting company has you covered.

While 62% of IT people believe that the biggest security threat comes from “well meaning but negligent end users”, hosting still helps mitigate that risk by offering an additional layer of security called 2 Factor Authentication that can prevent breaches even if passwords have been compromised.

Ready to move Sage 100 / Sage 100cloud to the cloud? Contact Summit Hosting to learn more. Don’t forget to mention “Schulz Says” for special pricing!

www.summithosting.com

ScanForce Brings Their Popular Sage 100 Warehouse Management to Sage Intacct

April 3, 2019 by Darcy Boerio

It’s not just the ERP software resellers who are expanding to offer multiple ERP solutions. So, too, are the publishers of 3rd party add-on solutions.

Who Is ScanForce?

A “household name” in the Sage 100 world, ScanForce has been providing barcode scanning and mobile warehouse & sales automation solutions for over 16 years. With hundreds of customers and a large, loyal partner channel, they’ve had great success with Sage 100 over the years. And now they’re expanding their market by releasing a version of their warehouse automation tool set that integrates with Sage Intacct.

Cloud Warehouse Management Backed By 16 Years Experience

As you may know, Sage acquired cloud-based financial management software provider Intacct in 2017. At that time, several of ScanForce’s Sage 100 partners had already started supporting Intacct, and since then, many more have chosen to enter the Sage Intacct market. It was based on demand from these partners for a trusted warehouse management provider to help them get more Sage Intacct business that the decision to build the integration originated.

ScanForce At Sage Intacct Business Building Conference 2019

Steve Showalter (l) and Dan Rodriguez (r) of ScanForce at Sage Intacct conference

ScanForce recently attending the Sage Intacct Business Building Conference in Dallas, TX, an invitation-only event for Sage Intacct partners, where their entry into the community was welcomed with much enthusiasm. They also said that the team at Sage Intacct has been incredibly supportive of their efforts, as they’re excited to add solutions that can help them expand their reach in their growing market segment of distribution companies.

Read the full press release here.

ScanForce offers Warehouse Management, Mobile Sales, Manufacturing Automation, Label Printing, and more.

From simple mobile inventory tools to full-blown WMS (and everything in between) your ScanForce solution expands to your needs. Learn more at https://www.scanforce.com/.

5 Things Your Cloud Host Isn’t Telling You

March 12, 2019 by Darcy Boerio

Making the decision to move to a cloud host seems like it should be a simple thing. In most cases, it is. Unless you’ve overlooked these five key questions.

Cloud hosting requirements are often more complex than you may initially believe. Once you move your server outside the walls of your company office there are many important things you should consider.

Here are 5 important questions to ask your cloud hosting provider

How Frequently Do You Backup?

You’ll want to have at least a week’s worth of daily backups just in case a file needs to be recovered.

Some cloud hosts charge a fee for recovering files. If you need to frequently recover deleted files it’s best to find out the policy up front.

Ask how quickly your files can be recovered. Is support available after-hours and on weekends?

What Security Is Available For My Login

Two-factor or multi-factor authentication is one of the best ways to secure a login. Instead of just a password to login, what multi-factor uses is both something you know (your password) and something you have – typically an authentication tool which generates a one-time use code.

Combine that code with your password and you have security which a hacker cannot easily breach.

There are many different multi-factor tools available. Be sure to ask which toll your cloud provider works with.

Am I Sharing Server Space With Other Companies?

In many cases dozens of companies can be hosted on the same server. Multiple users on the same computer can cause issues in a few ways.

Performance slowdowns
Security risks from virus or crypto malware
Increased risk of downtime

Are You SSAE 18 Certified?

Many organizations such as nonprofit organizations, government entities, financial service companies, IT, transportation companies, health care providers, construction companies, insurance agencies, manufacturing, real estate, and trucking now require statements of compliance for their auditors.

Make sure you first ask your auditors what their requirements are before choosing a hosting provider.

Do You Support VPN (Virtual Private Networks)?

A VPN encrypts your Internet traffic from point to point. This means that even if someone were snooping in on your data, the information would be fully encrypted and unusable.

Some companies, especially those in highly secure industries such as finance or healthcare, require that all employees use a VPN when connecting to their servers remotely.

The team at Summit Hosting have been hosting Sage 100 and most of the popular third-party add-ons for over 10 years. If you’re considering moving Sage 100 / Sage 100cloud to the cloud, contact Summit Hosting to learn more. Don’t forget to mention “Schulz Says” for special pricing!

Meeting Of The Minds 2019 Wrapup

March 7, 2019 by Darcy Boerio

Who Are The 90 Minds?

The 90 Minds Group is a non-profit trade association of over 200 North American Sage 100 consultants and independent software vendors ( ISVs ).

The group, formed in 2005, strives to provide mutual support to their Sage 100 consultant members.

Annually the group has a two-day meeting where they trade best-practices and share knowledge used for supporting their Sage 100 customers.

Meeting Of The Minds 2019

8th Annual Meeting of the Minds – San Diego, February 2019

The 2019 Meeting of the Minds was held February 28, 2019 to March 2, 2019 in San Diego, California.

Approximately 150 consultants and ISVs attended the 2.5 day conference. The majority of the conference content was focused on providing an update about the next release of Sage 100cloud.

Additional updates were provided by various ISVs who delivered updates about their integrations and any new features.

A Full Two-Day Sage 100 Conference Agenda

What’s Coming In Sage 100cloud 2019?

The main topic of conversation for this conference was the upcoming release of Sage 100cloud version 2019.

First up was Sage North American. Timothy Harfield, VP of Marketing and Linda Cade, Product Manager for Sage 100 delivered a look ahead to the expected features in the next few releases of Sage 100cloud.

Sage North America Executives Provided An Update on Sage 100

Sage 100cloud version 2019 is expected April 2, 2019. The major new feature for this release will be the upgrading of Work Order and MRP modules to the latest programming framework.

These are the last two modules which Sage had been working to bring up to their latest programming standards. This new programming standard allows for certain types of user defined fields, scripting and data import to be more easily implemented.

Having these the last two modules at framework also means that all users of Sage 100cloud now have the ability to move to Sage 100cloud Premium aka SQL.

Sage 100 Production Management – Coming in 2019

This new module, available for both Sage 100 and Sage 100cloud, will replace the Work Order and MRP module which will stop being sold as of March 2019 with support ceasing in 2022.

Some of the expected features include:

On framework ( SQL / Sage 100cloud Premium compatible )
Extended field lengths for work order numbers & steps
Work order templates and revisions
One-click purchase order for outside processing
Import materials from bill of material or flat file
Simplified transaction workflow

Three New Manufacturing Extensions for Sage 100 & Sage 100cloud

In addition to Sage 100cloud Production Management, there are expected to be three additional manufacturing extensions.

Make to Order – formerly Sage 100cloud Manufacturing
Enhanced Scheduling
Product Configurator

Less Costly Manufacturing Licenses

New to Sage 100cloud 2019 is the availability of two types of licensing for Production Management

Standard Users – Access to all tasks
Shop floor users – Transactional tasks only

Rather than purchase expensive full Sage 100cloud licenses you will now have the ability to purchase limited licenses which are less costly and provide access to only the manufacturing functionality required.

Additional New Sage 100cloud Features

The following enhancements were also discussed. Some of these features may appear in a product update issued after the April release of Sage 100cloud 2019.

Paperless Office

Electronic delivery messages – additional merge fields
HTML email
File attachments
cc and bcc email addresses
Email copies to salesperson

Grad Caps

In the lower left corner of several modules, you will now find an image similar to a graduation cap. Clicking that image will take you to additional training resources relevant to the particular task.

Payroll Enhancements

Default bank code
Payroll advance checks
Reprint employer’s expense report
Tax payment checks
Tax rate inquiry
Expand department number
Include employer contribution on check / DD stub
Check reversal outside current quarter (security option)

General Enhancements

Improved System Activity Log
Data File Display and Maintenance for Sage 100 Premium ( SQL )
Paya click to pay functionality ( 2019.x )
Payroll reports enhanced for portrait layout ( Data Entry Report, Employers Expense Report and Check Register)

Sage 100cloud ISV Updates

During this meeting several ISVs provided updates on their product lines. Listed below are three enhancements and a list of what’s new and available for these solutions.

Warehouse Management for Sage 100cloud: Scanforce

In their session, ScanForce reviewed case studies of several large manufacturing and distribution companies using their mobile data capture technology to streamline warehouse operations. They also cited examples of some pretty big names using their technology, MTV and Whirlpool, to name a few.

In addition, they announced enhanced capabilities for pallets:

Pick to Pallet – Group items together at SO Picking/Staging and printing of Pallet tag from within mobile program. User is able to scan/select the Pallet ID at SF Pallet Shipping rather than each item/qty/lot/serial.
Pallet Tracking/License Plating (avail. Q2) – Detailed grouping of items and item info tied back to an ID Tag/Pallet Tag. Allows easy data capture/entry by scan/entry of an ID or Pallet Tag (sometimes referred to as a License Plate).

The attendees got a kick out of their Million Record Challenge, which compared the speed to retrieve one million item records from Sage 100 using various technologies.

Cloud Hosting for Sage 100cloud: Summit Hosting

Putting the ‘cloud’ in Sage 100cloud by putting Sage 100cloud in the cloud.”

Summit Hosting offers private cloud hosting for Sage 100 / Sage 100cloud. Each hosting customer has a dedicated server – no shared environments.

They offer 2-Factor Authentication (aka Secure Sign-On), an added layer of security that is no longer a “nice to have”, but a “must” for any cloud environment.

In addition to the free admin login every partner receives when their customers host with Summit, Summit Hosting also announced some partner program benefits exclusively for 90 Minds members.

Integrated Credit Card and ACH for Sage 100cloud: APS

APS Payments displayed their new ClickToPay for Sage 100cloud, a secure way for Sage 100cloud users to use eInvoicing and have invoices paid by their customers with one easy click.

They also highlighted the workflow efficiencies that can be achieved by using DSD Business Systems’ InstaDocs, an embedded document management solution, in conjunction with ClickToPay. Using these solutions together lets Sage 100 users automatically eInvoice their customer a copy of the invoice, plus all related documents stored in InstaDocs. The customer receives the email with all the attachments and a link to quickly and easily make a payment, which then flows into Sage 100.

APS Payments also announced support for DSD’s multi-currency and master invoice, further illustrating their connection to so many of the tools Sage 100 users need.

Sage Summit Atlanta – May 13-15, 2019

The next event on Sage’s calendar is their Sage Summit conference in Atlanta May 13-15, 2019.

Summit Atlanta will be a good opportunity for an update on the new Sage 100 release which will have been released by that time.