Schulz Consulting

Consulting and Upgrades

Avalara Announces Intention To Go Private

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Avalara announced they have entered into an agreement with private equity firm Vista Equity for a $8.4 billion buyout which, upon shareholder approval, would result in Avalara becoming a privately held company.

The company offers an array of tax compliance services with the flagship offering – AVATAX – being a sales tax compliance integration to numerous ERP systems – including Sage 100.

AVATAX integrates into Sage 100 and completely eliminates the need for creating separate sales tax schedules for the areas which your company transacts business.

Instead of creating separate sales tax schedules, with Avalara AVATAX you generally use one schedule – AVATAX – which takes over the computation of sales tax based on taxability and local tax regulations.

Companies frequently use Avalara AVATAX to manage sales into locations where they have nexus and where the state tax laws may be more complex. Avalara also offers an option where they will file the sales tax return on your company’s behalf.

More information on the sale to Vista Equity – Avalara to be Acquired by Vista Equity Partners for $8.4 Billion.

More information on AVATAX is available here or consult your Sage partner.

The Future of Sage 100 Is In The Cloud

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Hi, I’m Wayne Schulz, a Sage 100 ERP consultant who has been working with Sage 100 since the early 1990s. You may actually remember the software as MAS 90.

I also run a Sage 100 email newsletter – Schulz Says – that I’ve been sending to 1300 people every Thursday for the past 10 years. The newsletter covers all sorts of topics on Sage 100 accounting software, best practices, tips, tricks, news, upcoming releases and that type of stuff.

Gary and I sat down during the Meeting of the Minds conference in Newport Beach, CA and talked briefly about the process that his company – Summit Hosting – takes to ease the transition for Sage 100 users from on-premises to cloud hosted accounting.

I’ve known Gary for over 15 years and he was one of the first consultants to work with Sage to host what was then known as MAS 90 in a cloud environment.

Over the last few years hosting has greatly expanded in availability. Summit Hosting now offers hosting for not only Sage 100 but Sage 50 ( formerly Peachtree), Sage 100 Contractor, Sage 300, Sage 300 CRE ( formerly Timberline ), Sage 500, Sage Enterprise Management ( X3 ), Sage BusinessWorks, Sage CRM, Sage Fixed Assets and Sage HRMS.

One important distinction is that Sage doesn’t directly host most of their applications.

Instead, they rely on a network of consulting firms with experience in cloud hosting to provide the hosting for not only the accounting applications but also third-party applications such as Office 365, etc.

Meet My Cloud Guru: Gary Feldman

Gary is the cloud evangelist at Summit Hosting. He’s been working with sage 100 Since the 80s and hosting sage 100 since 1999. His company, Summit Hosting, provides a Secure Workspace to offer Sage 100 cloud hosting.

Tip: While you can run Sage 100 on many different platforms – including AWS, Azure, Partner Cloud, and Remote Desktop ( RDP ) – you’ll want whichever way you chose to access Sage 100 remotely to be secure from unauthorized access.

How Tough Is It To Move Sage 100 To The Cloud?

One question I’m asked quite a bit which may be of interest to you is – how exactly do we move Sage 100 from my on-premises server to the cloud. Can I move to the cloud if I have third-party integrations? What limitations would I face moving to the cloud?

To that I end I asked Gary Feldman to elaborate on how many of these types of Sage 100 to Cloud migrations he has done in his career?

Gary’s reponse – around 500 migrations of Sage 100 on-premises to cloud hosted.

Okay, what obviously, it’s 100 customer, and I’ve got 15 users, right? That’s probably pretty difficult. I’ve got wholesale distribution, I’ve got some of the warehouse management stuff, I’ve got shipping, I come to you and I say, hey, look, I want to go on prem, I’m tired of managing my own servers, I want to go to the cloud, Reader’s Digest version. What’s that process like?

Migrating Sage 100 to Cloud: The Details

Well, the first thing is the contracting. Once you get the contract, and that usually is very quickly, we can spin up a server in a day.

Not everyone moves as quickly as a day. However, for purposes of conversation, the migration of your Sage 100 from an existing on premises server to a cloud host should be closer to a day than a month.

In detail, typically, what happens is you zip up ( compress ) your MAS90 or Sage 100 folder. Then you send it securely to us, usually via a file transfer system we have set up to make it fast.

And then we we install the Sage 100 version specific to your company. A lot of people use the cloud migration as an upgrade opportunity.

However, we’ve had to deal with some emergency situations such as the company was hacked on Friday, they had a backup, they send it to us, we get them up and running, they’re running on Monday.

Typically, what I would suggest to people is that, especially if they have the third party applications, that they do some testing, you know, and usually it’s, it’s no more than a day’s worth of testing to and through those major processes that you do.

Even things like content chat, you know, a check is is subject to the printer driver, right? If you go from a laptop to a server, it’s a different operating system, the printer driver might not work. But typically you zip it up, you send it up there. And in a couple of days, it works.

If you have a really large environment,let’s say a SQL Sage 100 Premium environment and you have a lot of users, we frequently recommend you do a stress test.

Sage 100 on SQL ( Premium ) Without Setup Hassles

Okay, so here’s a good question. Because I think premium is the best version of Sage 100.

Benefits of Sage 100 Premium ( SQL )

  • Data security controlled by SQL
  • Migrates your existing Sage 100 data automatically
  • Integrates to almost all third-party solutions that Sage 100 works with
  • Faster external access to and reporting on SQL tables
  • Generally easier for external IT teams to access data files in a familiar SQL environment
  • Sage no longer charges extra for Premium provided you active on subscription

Note: For more details on the pros/cons of Sage 100 Premium review my free Sage 100 Premium FAQ ( Google Doc – NO REGISTRATION ). I keep this as a Google Doc so that as I continue to make updates you’ll always have the latest version at the link above.

Hosting your Sage 100 in a cloud environment will rarely involve giving up access to third-party solutions. Popular integrations like Starship, ScanForce, DataSelf, Scanco, MAPADOC will all work in both an on-premises and cloud based environment. And upgrades are actually easier in the cloud because you have control over all the workstations during the upgrade – so no more running workstation to workstation having to run wksetup repeatedly.

Premium is Sage 100 running on a SQL database. That means the tables are secured by SQL security which larger companies almost always insist on for keeping data private and secure.

In my experience Sage 100 on SQL equals less corruption. However, one issue with SQL setup and configuration is many customers don’t know how to set up or maintain Microsoft SQL.

It can be much simpler to offload MS SQL setup, configuration, maintenance and licensing to a third-party cloud host.

Predictable Monthly Cost

And with cloud hosting that’s all done for you through monthly subscription pricing.

SQL also creates so many more opportunities, not just from a reporting perspective. But for people who are, if you’ve got a partner who has a good development partner, you can do so much with triggers or with with stored procedures with other stuff to make more automation within your software as well. So it’s just it’s just a better database.

And the nice thing with Sage 100, in almost all cases the third-party integrations which are working with on-premises Sage 100 Standard or Advances work just fine with Sage 100 Premium in the cloud using SQL.

In additon to better security you’ll have better tools for backups. If you are high volume transaction processor in SQL, you can do backups during the day. So you don’t have a recovery point of yesterday, you can have recovery points during the day as well.

How To You Setup Your Sage 100 Users In The Cloud?

At Summit Hosting we take a spreadsheet of all your users, load that into Microsoft Active Directory, and then the users receive an email with instructions on how to login and setup their desktops. Depending on the situation we might have a remote training session or two as well.

To keep all your remote users secure we have this new tool called True Grid which creates like a VPN tunnel. It also allows for multi factor authentication, which is another great security feature so that you and only you can log into it.

With multi-factor authentication we are sending you a code onto your smartphone. And what’s even better about that is that everybody doesn’t have to have it. Because you know, you have different people with different levels, even though I would highly, highly, highly recommend multi-factor ( aka MFA ). That’s the way of the future. If you do any online banking, you have to do this stuff all the time anyway. But that’s how you can also get administrative rights on the server.

We have a frequently asked questions pages, all that kind of information available for you including detailed instructions along with step by step with pictures and a whole lot of customers,

Bad Internet Connections Typically Not A Factor

One of the objections to access your Sage 100 remotely in the cloud is that one or more of your people have a bad internet or internet goes down. In reality we’ve found that most Internet is pretty table so it’s not much of a factor anymore.

The way you connect using Terminal Server consumes such a small amount of data. You’re not sending all of your data over the Internet, you’re just sending keystrokes and mouse clicks, and we’re just sending you pictures of the screen. So there isn’t significant amounts of data going over the internet, which is also why it’s secure.

We’ve seen people try to roll their own cloud solution. In most cases it makes the most amount of sense to go with somebody who has done 500 of them. It makes things a lot easier. And in my view, the future of Sage 100 is remote connections to the cloud. Especially since Sage 100 runs just like it would on an on premise just a lot easier to set up configure insecure, and support.

Support. We have 24 by seven support 365 and the partners can get in anytime they need to do

The above is a transcript of a conversion with Gary Feldman from the May 2022 90 Minds Meeting. Portion have been edited for clarity. For more information about cloud hosting please reach out to Summit Hosting directly at sales@summithosting.com.

Sage 100 Paperless Electronic Delivery Via Gmail Requires App Password or OAuth Starting May 30, 2022

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Beginning May 30, 2022 if you are using a non-Workspace GMAIL.COM email account to send forms using Sage 100 electronic delivery then you may need to make a change to your outgoing email SMTP login.

According to the Google website:

To help keep your account secure, from May 30, 2022, ​​Google no longer supports the use of third-party apps or devices which ask you to sign in to your Google Account using only your username and password.

Important: This deadline does not apply to Google Workspace or Google Cloud Identity customers. The enforcement date for these customers will be announced on the Workspace blog at a later date.

If you are using a regular ( non-Workspace ) Gmail.com email then you may need to (A) create an app specific password or (B) use OAuth 2.0 to login to your Gmail.

Errors may not begin exactly on May 30, 2022 as Google will likely phase in these changes. Also, please note that Google is not yet applying these requirements to business Workspace accounts.

Using OAuth 2.0 with Sage 100

If you are using Sage 100 2021+ then the better solution to the above issue is to use OAuth 2.0. This is a more secure way to connect to Google for sending email.

Unfortunately Sage only added this capability to Sage 100 version 2021 and higher and it requires some confusing manual configuration.

To connect your Sage 100 v2021+ to Gmail using OAuth 2.0

  • Open Company Maintenance and select Company Code
  • SMTP (Mail) Server – Authentication Method = OAuth
  • Address = smtp.gmail.com
  • Port = 587
  • SMTP Encryption = TLS
  • User ID = User’s Gmail email address
  • Client ID = Client ID obtained from Google Cloud Platform ( See Setting up OAuth 2.0 )
  • Client Secret = Client Secret obtained from Google Cloud Platform ( See Setting up OAuth 2.0 )
  • Auth End Point = https://account.google.com.com/o/oauth2/auth
  • Token End Point = https://oauth2.googleapis.com/token
  • Scope = https://mail.google.com/
  • Redirect URI = http://localhost
  • Redirect Port = 3017
  • Code Challenge Method = None
  • Select 128-bit Encryption for Password Protected Documents if 128-bit encryption is desired when password-protected documents are e-mailed

For more information on enabling OAuth 2.0 with Sage 100 please visit the following Sage knowledebase articles:

Using OAuth 2.0 with Sage 100

Best Practices for Sage 100 Security

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Sage 100 security is a concern of many companies. However, many times they aren’t quite sure how to secure their Sage 100 data against internal or external loss. Because Sage 100 is an accounting system in use by over 14,000 companies ( as of the 2021 release ), there are many end users well acquainted with its structure which means your company should be deliberate in their security measures.

Sage 100 Security: Six Best Practices

When was the last time you reviewed your security practices around Sage 100? If you’re like many users the security setup is an afterthought to the regular ongoing practice of reconciling accounts and printing financial reports.

With this in mind we’ve compiled a concise list of six best practices for securing Sage too against both internal and external threats.

Backup Sage 100 Data Files Regularly

The best protection against data loss is a backup of data which you regularly verify.

For details on what to backup within your Sage 100 system, please reference the following KB 20262 – How to backup and restore data, program and system files for Sage 100.

For a quick backup, you can usually copy the \MAS90 and all subfolders to a separate drive. There are, however, additional files and folders which may require backup ( paperless, Sage Intelligence ) depending upon your specific company usage. The knowledgebase linked above provides more details instructions on locating additional files to backup.

Please note that it’s generally NOT advisable to restore only select files. The safest way to restore is to fully restore all files that were backed up unless you’re positive that only one or two files was changed which need restoring. This can be a tricky error and we advise you consult with a Sage expert for guidance on restoring.

Although your Sage 100 security is not directly impacted by the frequency of backups, having a backup on-hand can make recovering from any type of breach significantly easier.

Update Sage 100 Regularly

The only way to ensure that you have the latest updates and fixes for Sage 100 is to remain on a supported release version.

Typically Sage supports three versions of Sage 100 – the current as well as two prior releases. However, this can change from time to time. There is a supported versions KB 31477 article available that outlines which versions of Sage 100 are supported.

This chart is updated regularly ( below is the chart as of June 2022 ). Visit the KB article to view the most current information on which releases Sage actively supports.

Staying on a current version of Sage allows you to receive technology updates that impact Paperless Office, as well as the interaction of Sage with OAUTH via Office 365 and Google.

Use Unified Login

Instead of having your Sage 100 users create their own separate password within Sage 100 you can enable a feature called Unified Login and users created within Sage 100 will authenticate based on their Windows login and password.

Why use unified login?

  • Easily disable user logins at the same time users are disabled from network access
  • Allows for a password policy ( changes, length, etc ) that mirrors the organization’s policy
  • Removes another password that users need to create and maintain/change regularly
  • Reduces Sage 100 password sharing

When implementing unified logon, users are mapped to the Windows logon allowing for unified logon to both Windows and Sage 100 with the same logon name and password. When using unified logon, Sage 100 authenticates the user’s Windows logon and password. Users are not required to reenter their logon name when accessing Sage 100 after logging on to their PCs.

To implement unified logon, users need to be set up and the user’s Windows logon name must be entered in the User Code field in User Maintenance.

The Unified Logon feature is all-inclusive. If implemented, all users must be set up to use unified logon.

Use A SQL Database for Sage 100

To protect your Sage 100 database from unwanted copying or other access you should adopt the SQL version of Sage 100. This version is known as Sage 100 Premium. For users on subscription with Sage 100 this SQL database may be available at no additional charge.

With Sage 100 Premium ( SQL ) all company data files are secured within SQL Server where they are subject to separate security.

Before you make the decision on using Sage 100 Premium, please read our Sage 100 Premium ( SQL ) FAQ to learn about the pros and cons.

Enable ODBC Security ( Non-SQL Sage 100 Versions )

To prevent end users from connecting to your Sage 100 data tables and creating reports or exports you should enable ODBC security ( not needed if you are using SQL since the SQL Server will create this security for you ).

Use the ODBC Security tab in Role Maintenance to assign permission levels to data tables and fields. This option allows you to restrict the data that can be retrieved by a user using the ODBC driver. If the user does not have the permission rights that match or the user’s permission rights are below what is assigned to the table or field, the ODBC driver will return null values. Because the use of this utility requires detailed knowledge of the data files, this option should be secured by assigning a role to the user(s) to prevent access by unauthorized personnel.

For details on how to enable this security – How to set up ODBC security for users, companies, tables and fields.

Remove Easy Access to Network Shares

If you are NOT using the Sage 100 Premium ( SQL ) version then you should consider making it difficult for users to access the network share where Sage 100 is installed ( \MAS90 ).

Sage 100 security can be improved by the use of remote desktop options such as Terminal Server or Citrix. Applications like Sage 100 can be published as icons so that general access to the underlying shares is somewhat restricted for novice users.

For more information on how to set this up please review – How to Publish Sage 100 as a RemoteApp on Windows Server 2012 or higher.

Sage 100 Security: No One Size Fits All Solution

It’s always best to make your Sage 100 as secure as possible to guard against possible data loss. Sage publishes a list of network user rights that are required for Sage 100 Advanced which can also be used as a guideline for other Sage 100 versions.

Creating a more secure Sage 100 system relies on following as many of these best practices as possible. Ensuring that you have a solid working backup of all data file ( Please test this regularly ) is a great first step to ensure your company can recover from any data losses.

Contact Us

Schulz Consulting
Connecticut Office
Phone: 860.657.8544
Email Us
Available remotely nationwide.
We are a local branch of DSD Business Systems Connecticut.