schulz consulting | Schulz Consulting

Not so secret tips about closing the year in MAS90

January 26, 2009 by Wayne Schulz

I’m surprised to see so much confusion among my clients about the year/month end closing process.

Virtually everyone hesitates to close their books for fear of not being able to go back and make an entry when their accounting staff or CPA eventually give them the journal entries needed to close out their old fiscal year.

Here’s my tip(s):

Close your books regularly. – Before you do so ALWAYS turn on the maximum history retention in every module. Simply increase the # of months to the maximum in every setup. You can always get rid of history but it will never come back.
Print and tie out the records monthly – AP and AR aging tie to GL control account total – TB and GL Detail in balance (and printed)
Use Papeless Office (free in v4.3+) to print these reports
Use the COPY function in company maintenance to make a “dummy” company to hold your old data at year end – just in case.
Remember that 1099 forms must be printed (and closed) from the AP reports menu.

Starting with 4.2 1099 forms are less of a hassle because the totals are tracked for multiple years, but I still recommend you print and close the 1099 processing in a timely fashion. And remember that you won’t be able to take advantage of the latest software improvements if you are on an old MAS 90 version.

What so many people fail to realize is you can re-open the general ledger very easily. I recommend not developing crazy “workarounds” for year end. Close the period (most people strive to do it by the 10th or 15th of the following month) regularly and do away with worrying about keeping months open.

Want A More Stress Free Closing in MAS 90 or MAS 200?

Stay on the latest version – it’s really tempting (but a bad idea) to cling to the older versions. If you avoid moving to version 4.3 you give up the ability to go paperless with monthly closings as well as productivity features (like the ability of 1099 forms to track information for unlimited years instead of just two) that greatly enhance the speed with which you can print reports.

Close your system each and every month – pick a date by which your books will be closed out each month. And close. Don’t be concerned about having to go back and make an entry into a closed period. It’s been our experience that many more people worry about closed periods than actually ever have to re-open them to post entries.

Plan for year end – realize the consolidating 15 different entities into one is probably best accomplished outside of your annual closign process. Instead take non-year end work — out of year end. Test and implement major changes during your normally slower times of the year.

Did I miss a tip — or get something wrong? Let me know in the comments below.

Starship freight offers MAS 90 and MAS 200 users an option for Bill of Lading and multiple order shipments

January 21, 2009 by Wayne Schulz

Starship Freight is a new module ($3,500 – single user / $700 add’l user / $2,500 five user) for Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 that provides for shipments that utilize LTL trucking common carriers.

One of the unique things about Starship Freight is that the software now replaces the Shipping Data Entry for nearly all activities (packing lists are still printed in the Shipping Data Entry module).

You may combine multiple Sales Orders into one shipment and then place that shipment within separate pallets and automatically notify the carrier that your order is ready for pickup.

Here are some rough notes that I took during an hour long demonstration that was just hosted for one of my clients by V-Technologies.

Starship Freight

Targeted users are those with large, palletized freight

Starship vs Starship Freight Differences

– Initiate shipping from Starship Freight and not MAS90 Shipping Data Entry
– line item detail from Sales Order (for bill of lading)
– pick pack functionality (optional)
– print BOL and Pallet Labels
– Uses Microsoft SQL 2005
– Server/Seat licensing separate from MAS 90 / MAS 200 (previously the licensing was unlimited)

Tip: Starship 10.1 combines parcel and freight (hoping for year end 2009) — unsure on timing of final release but seems more like it will be in the first half of 2010. (Standard disclaimers about projected shipping dates apply)

Three carriers currently supported (more to be added as other carriers have API availability)

Freightquote.com
– 3pl – muli-carrier
– Electronically tender & book (don’t have to call the carrier for pickup)
– Shipment visibility (tracking) – only for freightquote.com shipments you’ve selected

Yellow
– Generate PRO #
– Electronically tender & book
– Shipment visibility

SMC3 – coming soon
– must license the tarrifs (additional cost)
–

There is no rating engine built in

– one of the rating methods is freightquote.com for rating.
– freightquote will load negotiated rates as well as freightquote negotiated rates
– service of freightquote is free if you select their rates (at least sometime)
– there is a possible monthly fee if you don’t use the freightquote rate — there’s a salesperson who is assigned to your account
– Note: Sounds like freightquote.com takes a piece of your freight and if you don’t use them then they can charge you a fee
–

Requires MAS 90 or MAS 200 4.1 or higher

– Can ship against orders (takes place of shipping data entry) and you can do multiple orders to place onto one shipment
– Most people start at Sales Order
– Shows “related orders” by looking at the ship to address of other open orders
–

Potential Issue/Concern:

Can’t look up the rate ahead of time to quote the customer on freight — rating of the carrier is not required.

If you load up negotiated rates – then freightquote.com carrier rates are not displayed (even if lower)

Freight write back can be turned off if you quote the customer the freight in advance.

SLP Pricing:

Starship Freight – $3,500

Includes:
– 1 seat
– server

User Pricing (additional)

– $700/seat for an additional single user
– 5 seats $2,500 – concurrent licensing (NOT named)

Link: Starship Freight Product Page – V-Technologies

Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 Winter 2009 Promotions

January 19, 2009 by Wayne Schulz

The latest pricing promotions for Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 have been released by Sage Software. In order to qualify for any of these promotions your order must be placed prior to March 31, 2009.

Promotions are always applied to the product portion of any software costs and not against the recurring software maintenance.

In order to participate in these promotions (and to purchase any new modules or product licenses), a current Sage Basic Software Maintenance Plan is required.

Noteworthy MAS90 & MAS200 Promotions

I’ve included a complete listing of all promotions as distributed by Sage Software earlier this month.

Some of the more noteworthy promotions are:

Reinstatement for lapsed maintenance at 40% off provided you enroll on EasyPay (this is where Sage bills your credit card monthly for the maintenance costs)
Migrate to Extended Enterprise Suite and save 40% off the cost of coming current
Receive a free copy of Sage Credit Card module for enrolling with Sage Payment Solutions
Participate in the Sage Credit Card Promo and also be eligible to buy Business Alerts for $895 (plus maintenance) and the ACH Electronic Payments (AP-1063) and AP Paperless Stubs (AP-1095) for ony $1,500 (plus maintenance).

Recommendations

New purchasers of Sage MAS 90 or MAS 200 should look no farther than the Extended Enterprise Suite. This bundle includes:

Library Master
Business Insights
Paperless Office
General Ledger
Accounts Receivable
Accounts Payable
Customer Relationship Management (aka SageCRM 6.2)
Inventory Management
Sales Order
Purchase Order
Return Merchandise Authorization
Bill of Materials
Bank Reconciliation
Visual Integrator
Custom Office
FRX & Crystal Reports
Fixed Assets (FAS)
Federal & State eFiling
Credit Card Processing by Sage Payment Solutions

We are seeing extremely aggressive upgrade pricing for existing users of Sage MAS 90 and 200 that starts at about $500 per user (minimum 5 users) to upgrade from standard MAS 90 to EES (Extended Enterprise Suite). In most instances you should strongly consider EES even if all you need is an extra module or two.

Sage Software is currently running a promotion with EES that gives you 2 extra users for every 5 you purchase.

Below is the official promotional sheet distributed this quarter that goes into greater detail about the savings that are being offered.

Sage MAS90 and MAS200 Winter 2009 Pricing Promotions

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Phone Support Agreement for MAS 90 and MAS 200

January 12, 2009 by Wayne Schulz

We provide all technical support for Sage MAS 90 and 200 under an unlimited telephone support agreement. This removes the need for our clients to worry that their staff will be charged for technical support questions. Since our plan covers as many technical questions as the staff may have – there’s seldom a need (unless additional services have been requested) for an extra suport charge.

It’s important to realize that this fee is for support and not the basic maintenance which is charged annually by Sage Software for their product upgrades.

Mas90 Support Agreement 2009

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Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 Maintenance Price List

January 12, 2009 by Wayne Schulz

The following is the updated pricing for basic maintenance (ongoing technology upgrades) for Sage MAS 90 and 200 accounting software. These amounts represent the suggested list price as charged by Sage Software. They are not discounted and must be paid annually on your maintenance renewal date in order to continue to receive software upgrades and other good and valuable program benefits.

We recommend that you renew your maintenance annually for the following reasons:

The maintenance is in essence a licensing fee that allows you to purchase new modules and licenses (you’d be surprised how many people find themselves suddenly needing one or both).
The maintenance gains you entrance to the online Sage knowledgebase where you can look up answers to common error conditions.
Included in maintenance are any ongoing software upgrades that are issued during the period of time that you are enrolled in the plan.

If You Are Thinking of Dropping Maintenance:

Remember that there is a 20% penalty plus the collection of all back years in order to come current in the future (so you don’t save any money)
Ask yourself “What would happen if our MAS 90 crashed and we couldn’t get into the system?” – if the software is mission critical you should be renewing.
Many companies think that they will never use future upgrades. With the rapid change in operating systems (Vista, Windows 7, etc) – the reality is that you’ll need technology upgrades more than at any time in the past.

Sage MAS90 Maintenance Renewals Cost

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