Sage 100 & CRM – May 2023 Update

May 22, 2023 by Wayne Schulz Leave a Comment

Dan Cousins, owner of MY CRM Manager, recently shared this list of what’s new in the world of CRM integrations to Sage 100. Dan works primarily with Sage CRM though he also provides services for the GUMU integration from Greytrix, which synchronizes Salesforce to Sage 100, Sage 300, Sage Intacct, and Sage X3.

Here’s Dan’s update:

In advance of Summit, I have two items we are currently working on that I wanted to share with you:

A new user interface for Sage CRM. This stems from Sage making drastic changes to the UI with their Sage CRM v2023 release. Here is a 2-minute overview video that covers:
- The historical interface for Sage CRM.
- The v2023 interface.
- Our new ‘Newport’ theme for Sage CRM.
Salesforce to Sage integrations: Because of our success in working with Greytrix on their GUMU™ Sage 100 CRM integration, our responsibilities to Greytrix have been expanded to include representing their Salesforce to Sage integrations.

The GUMU™ Salesforce to Sage 100 is already the top-selling Sage 100 integration on Salesforce’s App Exchange, with over 50 reviews and a 5-star rating.
The entire lineup of Salesforce to Sage integrations includes Sage 100, 300, Intacct, and Sage X3. To date, 100 and X3 have been the most successful.
Starting with the Sage 100 integration, we now have 5-minute explainer videos for both the user experience and how the integration is configured. You can watch these explainer videos from this link.
Just like for Sage CRM, we have a pricing calculator for these Salesforce to Sage integrations to make this easier.

Still have questions? Reach out to Dan directly via email – dan.cousins@mycrmmanager.com.

SOC Audit Reports For Sage 100

May 5, 2023 by Wayne Schulz

SOC (System and Organization Controls) reports are standards established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) to evaluate the effectiveness of internal controls over the financial reporting of service organizations.

These reports help service organizations to demonstrate their commitment to security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy to their clients and other stakeholders. The report is intended for users who rely on the services provided by the service organization, such as customers, auditors, regulators, and other stakeholders.

Not all organizations require SOC reports, but they are particularly relevant for companies that provide services critical to their customers’ operations, especially those that handle sensitive or confidential data.

When Is SOC Reporting Required?

A SOC (System and Organization Controls) report may be required when a service organization provides services that are critical to its customers’ operations, particularly when those services involve the handling of sensitive or confidential data.

Such services include data hosting, cloud computing, payroll processing, and healthcare claims processing. In many cases, the service organization’s customers may request a SOC report to assure that the organization has appropriate controls to protect their data’s security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy.

Additionally, regulatory requirements or contractual obligations may also require a SOC report. Ultimately, the decision to obtain a SOC report will depend on the specific circumstances of the service organization and its customers.

What Are The Different Types of SOC Reports?

There are three types of SOC reports:

SOC 1

A SOC 1 report, also known as an attestation report on controls at a service organization relevant to security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, or privacy, is a type of audit report that assures the design and operating effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting. SOC 1 reports are typically used by financial institutions and other organizations that are required to comply with specific regulations, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

SOC 2

A SOC 2 report, also known as an attestation report on controls at a service organization relevant to security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, or privacy, is a type of audit report that assures the design and operating effectiveness of internal controls over one or more of the following trust service principles: security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, or privacy. SOC 2 reports are typically used by organizations that need to demonstrate to their customers, partners, or other stakeholders that they have implemented effective security controls.

SOC 3

A SOC 3 report, also known as a management report on controls at a service organization, is a type of audit report that provides a high-level overview of the design and operating effectiveness of internal controls over one or more of the following trust service principles: security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, or privacy. SOC 3 reports are typically used by organizations that want to share their security posture with their customers, partners, or other stakeholders.

SOC reports can be a valuable tool for companies that outsource services. They can help ensure that the service organization has adequate controls to protect the company’s data and assets.

Is a SOC Report Available for Sage 100?

According to this knowledgebase article created by Sage on June 14, 2022 (updated March 9, 2023), a SOC report is not required for Sage 100 since “Sage 100 is on-premise software where we do not conduct SOC audits.”

The article elaborates as follows:

Available SOC reports (along with applicable bridge letters). [Not applicable, as Sage 100 is on-premise software where we do not conduct SOC audits].
Audited Financials and, if applicable, bridge letter. [As a publicly-traded company, customers may review the financial information we make available on our investor webpage at https://www.sage.com/investors/financial-information/]
Privacy Policy [Our privacy policy can be found at https://www.sage.com/en-us/legal/privacy-and-cookies/]
Terms of Service [The end user license agreement governing a customer’s purchase of Sage 100 can be found at https://www.sage.com/en-us/legal/terms/]
Business Continuity Plan/Test Results [Not applicable to on-premise software where we do not have access to a customer’s data]
Copy of Information Security Policy [Not applicable to on-premise software where we do not have access to a customer’s data]

What Are The Differences Between These Sage Fixed Asset Versions: Lite, Single-User, Network and Premier?

November 15, 2022 by Wayne Schulz

Sage offers several versions of Fixed Assets including Lite, Single-User, Network and Premier. The most important differences are that the Lite edition only manages up to 1,000 assets per company while Single-User is recommended for up to 50,000 and Premier runs on a SQL database which removes the asset limitations.

Here’s a detailed version by version look at some additional differences.

Lite Depreciation

Single user
Maintains the database on the local hard drive
Limit of 1,000 assets per company.
Dispose of assets.
Customizable user-defined fields, short years, and ERP integration are available.
Does not have built-in bulk transactions or transfer features.
Merge company feature is not available

Single User

Sybase SQL engine
Installed and maintains the database on the local hard drive (not supported on network drive even when limited to a single user)
No hard coded limit to the asset count in a single database or company but Sage suggests limiting assets to under 50,000 asset per database (starting with 2021.1 and above release version) due to performance issue which start at that number of assets
The ability to perform transfers and partial transactions, and to do bulk transactions, copy company set-up, merge companies, store asset images, and attach PDF files.
Compliance Monitoring (Audit Advisor), U.S. tax rules with IRS regulations and forms, comprehensive depreciation, replacement value, MACRS convention switch, Canadian regulations and T2S8 Capital Cost Allowance, GASB 34/35 Compliance, utility reports for SOX compliance.
Additional modules of Tracking, Planning and Reporting can be added to the license.

Network

Sybase SQL engine
The Network Service is installed on a server where the database is maintained, allows multiple users and clients based on the user licensing. Clients are maintained on a per machine basis, not by concurrent users.
No hard coded limit to the asset count in a single database or company but Sage suggests limiting assets to under 50,000 asset per database (starting with 2021.1 and above release version) due to performance issue which start at that number of assets
The ability to perform transfers and partial transactions, and to do bulk transactions, copy company set-up, merge companies, store asset images, and attach PDF files.
Compliance Monitoring (Audit Advisor), U.S. tax rules with IRS regulations and forms, comprehensive depreciation, replacement value, MACRS convention switch, Canadian regulations and T2S8 Capital Cost Allowance, GASB 34/35 Compliance, utility reports for SOX compliance.
Additional modules of Tracking, Planning and Reporting can be added to the license.

Premier

MS SQL Server database and includes reporting as part of the license
The ability to perform transfers and partial transactions, and to do bulk transactions, copy company set-up, merge companies, store asset images, and attach PDF files.
Compliance Monitoring (Audit Advisor), U.S. tax rules with IRS regulations and forms, comprehensive depreciation, replacement value, MACRS convention switch, Canadian regulations and T2S8 Capital Cost Allowance, GASB 34/35 Compliance, utility reports for SOX compliance.
Additional modules of Tracking, Planning and Reporting can be added to the license.
Global task Manager (Run Depreciation\Report Across Multiple Companies in a single batch)
Alternative Accounting Period Support (13 period, 5-4-4, 4-5-4, 4-4-5).
Improved performance for companies going over 10,000 assets.

Pricing for Sage Fixed Assets varies by version with the Lite edition starting at $1,190 per year and the network version starting at $2,766 per year.

Sage 100 Paperless Email Electronic Delivery Failing With Rackspace

November 8, 2022 by Wayne Schulz

We have had two of our customers – both using Rackspace – secure.emailsrvr.com – call to report Sage 100 Paperless Email errors. In both cases they suddenly couldn’t use electronic delivery to send Sage 100 paperless office forms.

Fortunately there is a fast fix which you can perform yourself to completely resolve this problem.

A paperless email error mean that critical forms such as sales orders, invoices, purchase orders and payroll stubs suddenly stop going out over the company’s SMTP email connection.

The first (and most common) cause of this type of error is a login password that was changed for the account used to send email in Sage 100.

If you can verify that no account password changes have happened then the resolution might be the same one that I found worked for both of these customers.

The Sage 100 Paperless Email Error Message

In all cases when Sage 100 cannot send an email it will generate a very lengthy and somewhat confusing error message. The error message may look similar to below.

If you are using secure.emailsrvr.com as your SMTP outgoing email connection and your error matches the one shown below then there’s a good chance this fix will resolve your issue.

Here’s the error which both my customers received. I’ve removed only the smtp_user: field and replaced it with [email address here]. In actuality your error message will include the name of the email account being used to send mail.

Unable to login to SMTP connection.
ChilkatLog:
VerifySmtpLogin:
DllDate: Jan 19 2012
UnlockPrefix: SBestSoftMAILQ
Username: RECOS02:Accountant
Architecture: Little Endian; 32-bit
Language: ActiveX
Need new SMTP connection
checkForExistingConnection: Elapsed time: 0 millisec
SMTP_Connect:
Connecting to SMTP server secure.emailsrvr.com:25
smtp_host: secure.emailsrvr.com
smtp_port: 25
smtp_user: [email address here]
ConnectTimeoutMs_1: 30000
calling ConnectSocket2
IPV6 enabled connect with NO heartbeat.
connectingTo: secure.emailsrvr.com
dnsCacheLookup: secure.emailsrvr.com
dnsCacheHit: 173.203.187.10
GetHostByNameHB_ipv4: Elapsed time: 0 millisec
maxTimeMs_connect: 30000
myIP_1: 210.105.50.10
myPort_1: 50785
connect successful (1)
socketConnect: Elapsed time: 31 millisec
InitialResponse: 220 smtp5.relay.iad3a.emailsrvr.com ESMTP – VA Code Section 18.2-152.3:1 forbids use of this system for unsolicited bulk electronic mail (Spam)

initialResponse: Elapsed time: 47 millisec
sendingHello: EHLO RECOS02

sendEhlo: Elapsed time: 0 millisec
helloResponse: 250-smtp5.relay.iad3a.emailsrvr.com
250-PIPELINING
250-SIZE 75000000
250-ETRN
250-STARTTLS
250-AUTH PLAIN LOGIN
250-AUTH=PLAIN LOGIN
250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES
250 8BITMIME

helloResponse: Elapsed time: 31 millisec
login_method: LOGIN
535 5.7.8 Error: authentication failed: UGFzc3dvcmQ6
Failed to get response to login password
ConnectionLog:
220 smtp5.relay.iad3a.emailsrvr.com ESMTP – VA Code Section 18.2-152.3:1 forbids use of this system for unsolicited bulk electronic mail (Spam)
EHLO RECOS02
250-smtp5.relay.iad3a.emailsrvr.com
250-PIPELINING
250-SIZE 75000000
250-ETRN
250-STARTTLS
250-AUTH PLAIN LOGIN
250-AUTH=PLAIN LOGIN
250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES
250 8BITMIME
AUTH LOGIN
334 VXNlcm5hbWU6
YWNjb3VudGluZ0ByZWVzZWNvLmNvbQ==
334 UGFzc3dvcmQ6
PlVtPDJnNVo=
535 5.7.8 Error: authentication failed: UGFzc3dvcmQ6

–ConnectionLog
Failed to login using LOGIN method
–SMTP_Connect
Failed to connect to SMTP server.
Failed.
–VerifySmtpLogin
–ChilkatLog

What Worked To Resolve This Paperless Office Email Error

In both cases the fix was the very same. And it had nothing to do with a changed email password. For some reason we had to change one parameter in the Library Master – Company Maintenance screen.

In the field marked SMTP Encryption I changed the value from NONE to TLS/STARTTLS and then tested the email ( use the “Test E-Mail” button in the lower right corner) and found the issue was resolved.

For SMTP Encryption, the following is an explanation of the encryption each option would use between the SMTP client and SMTP server when sending e-mail.

None – Select this for no encryption. This is traditionally offered on port ID 25

SSL – Also known as Implicit SSL, select this to encrypt the communication for the entire session. This is normally offered on port ID 465

Note: SSL is a deprecated standard. It has been replaced by TLS.

TSL/Start TSL – Also known as Explicit SSL, select this to begin the communication unencrypted, then later when the client issues a STARTTLS command, communication will be encrypted for authenticating and sending the e-mail. This can be offered on a variety of ports including port ID 25, 443, or 587

Important Note: The e-mail engine used in Sage 100 2018 and Sage 100 2017 and lower use TLS 1.0. TLS (Transport Layer Security) is a cryptographic security protocol designed to provide communications security over a computer network and over the Internet. TLS 1.0 and 1.1 standards is deprecated due to known security issues. Major providers such as Apple, Google, Microsoft, Cisco, etc. have either already discontinued use in favor of current TLS 1.2 standards, or have plans to do so in the immediate future.

If the above doesn’t work – and you are using the same smtp.emailsrvr.com as the example – then try re-entering the password for the email account and test your email again.

If that still doesn’t work then you should consult your Sage partner to see if you may need to upgrade your Sage 100 to meet TLS 1.2 requirements which some email providers have been implementing.

If you found this information helpful and would like to receive timely Sage 100 news on a weekly basis – you become a member of my Sage 100 email newsletter. This newsletter goes out Thursday with tips and news related to Sage 100 ( formerly MAS 90 ).

Sage 100 TLS 1.2 Compliance Update ( Nov 2022)

November 4, 2022 by Wayne Schulz

Sage updated their TLS 1.2 compliance chart with a list of Sage 100 versions which meet minimum requirements for compatibility with the company’s pending October 2023 licensing server changes.

As noted in the update, Sage will stop supporting the outdated TLS 1.0 and 1.1 protocols on their licensing servers in favor of more current (and more secure) TLS 1.2.

Note: Users of Avalara sales tax integration to Sage 100 who are using Rest v1 and SOAP will need to be on TLS 1.2 prior to February 16, 2023.

This protocol update will be required for any Sage 100 system on a subscription with Sage because the subscription requires a periodic verification against Sage’s licensing server. In order to be compatible with the new TLS 1.2 requirement you should ensure you are on one of the supported versions listed below.

Without TLS 1.2 any subscription version of Sage 100 will reportedly go into read-only mode.

Error: “Your Sage 100 subscription has expired. You can continue using the software for 45 days. Please contact Sage before xx/xx/xxxx to renew your subscription”

Which Sage 100 Versions Support TLS 1.2 As of November 2022?

As of November 2022, these versions of Sage 100 are compatible with the upcoming changes

2018 with product update 10 ( also referred to as 2018.10 or 6.0.10 )
2019 with product update 9 ( also referred to as 2019.9 or 6.1.9 )
2020 with product update 1 ( also referred to as 2020.1 or 6.2.1 )
2021 (all versions – no product update required )
2022 (all versions – no product update required )

For more information on Sage’s TLS requirements please refer to this knowledgebase article – Does Sage have plans to stop supporting TLS 1.0 & 1.1 for Sage 100?