schulz consulting – Page 6 – Schulz Consulting

Schulz Consulting wins Best of Glastonbury 2008 award from plaque maker

October 9, 2008 by Wayne Schulz

This morning I awoke to this happy announcement in my email inbox.

It’s announcing that Schulz Consulting won the “Best of Glastonbury 2008” award. Conveniently they include a link to the site where I can order my plaque (no pricing given) from the USLBA – aka – The US Local Business Association.

Call me skeptical, but I’m pretty sure that the USLBA’s primary business just possibly could be to sell plaques to people that they’ve announced are “winners”.

Here’s a totally unintelligible explanation of what they do from their web site:

USLBA connects businesses with the kind of knowledge, people and programs that make achieving their companies’ objectives more efficient and effective.

As a local business, your needs are distinct from those of the national business environment. Broad-brush marketing associations or trade organizations devoted to a single program category can not effectively provide the required resources. You need an association that, like you, focuses on meeting the challenges presented in local business marketing, day in and day out.

USLBA is the local business’s first line of defense in changing business marketing environments. Today, we’re even better at delivering benefits that make a difference to your business…today and tomorrow. From our information-packed web site to our awards program, to papers and industry surveys, to interaction with peers, no other organization delivers the same level of commitment to the information and networking needs of local business.

We know what you want; education, training and professional development in local business marketing. We know what you need; an organization that provides access to the kind of data, people and programs to end your search on a positive and cost-effective note.

Isn’t the Internet a wonderful thing?

I’m not buying one – so if you’d like to claim my award – here’s the link.

Sage Software Readies Extended Enterprise 1.1

October 7, 2008 by Wayne Schulz

Sage Software will soon be releasing version 1.1 of their Extended Enterprise Suite (Sage MAS 90 + SageCRM + Sage FAS 100) , which incorporates the new Fixed Asset 2008.2 functionality with Sage MAS 90 and 200 version 4.3, and SageCRM version 6.1.

As a result, Sage Software will begin to phase out the stand alone SageCRM integration for the Sage MAS 90 and 200 product. Their current offering of stand alone SageCRM version 6.0 integrated with Sage MAS 90 and 200 version 4.3 will continue to be available for sale to existing users through December 31, 2008. The integration will continue to be supported until the retirement of SageCRM version 6.0 and Sage MAS 90 version 4.3.

If you are interested in SageCRM v6.1 for an existing or new Sage MAS 90 or 200 installation, you should consider Extended Enterprise Suite.

Greytrix will also continue to develop and support an independent Sage MAS 90 and 200 integration to SageCRM v6.1. For more information on the Greytrix solutions, you can visit their web site here.

For a free brochure explaining more about the Sage MAS 90 Extended Enterprise Suite – follow the link below.

Sage Extended Enterprise for MAS 90 White Paper

MAS90 and MAS200 Manuals Online in PDF Format

October 6, 2008 by Wayne Schulz

Have you been searching for a MAS90 manual to take home and read? Product manuals for Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 are no longer available in printed format. Sage software stopped shipping manuals with version 3.71 and instead has included all the information in their help files.

Several clients have said that they prefer to the paper manuals over help files since they can print off the manual to take with them when they are away from the computer.

Fortunately, there is a way for you to view printed manuals for Sage MAS 90 and 200.

Although the manuals are a little dated, there is an active link to all the Version 3.71 documentation which can be downloaded to your computer (or printed out).

Access the Sage MAS 90 version 3.71 version of the product manuals at this link – MAS90 Manuals.

Another way that users can access a more updated set of documentation is directly from their Sage MAS 90 or MAS 200 help screen. If you would prefer to review the available courses on your own – navigate to http://www.sagesoftwareuniversity.com or simply follow this link directly to the Sage Software MAS 90 self-study materials list.

Open your current version of Sage MAS 90 or MAS 200 and select Help – Help Topics – and then scroll down the Contents to the very bottom where you will see a “Module PDF” item.

Click on the “Module PDF” link and you’ll be able to view the list of all the help files (already in PDF format) from which you can view online or print to hard copy. These are essentially compilations of the help files – so they’re a little less detailed than what you have available in version 3.71’s PDF manuals.

If these manuals are not enough information, our advice is to consider the Sage Software self-study guides. These are courses sold directly by Sage Software that document the processing procedures within Sage MAS 90 or 200. Although they’re sold as a study course, we have many clients who have found them to be very useful as an ongoing resource when trying to learn a new feature in their accounting software.

Your Sage Business Partner can provide you with information about the self-study courses.

If you prefer, you can browse to http://www.sagesoftwareuniversity.com or view the list of available MAS90 self-study guides directly by following the links.

Available self-study courses include:

Core Applications Period and Year End Procedures
Distribution Applications Period and Year End Procedures
Payroll Quarter and Year End Procedures

Link: Sage Software Self-Study Guides for MAS90 and MAS200

Client Advisory: Do not install any Extended Solutions without calling Sage and asking for the latest version

October 6, 2008 by Wayne Schulz

If you are upgrading you Sage MAS 90 or 200 accounting software and are using Extended Solutions from Sage Software we strongly advise you call Sage (or your Sage Business Partner) immediately prior to installing the upgrade and request a free update to the latest version of your Extended Solution (Sage tracks the different levels by program release date).

In many instances you may be told that you’re at the latest release. Don’t let that discourage you from calling each and every time prior to upgrading.

Update – 10-7-2008: Spoke with Paula Mikkelsen at Sage Software Extended Solutions and she provided me with the name, email and phone extension of the person who is in charge of generating the Extended Solutions for customers and resellers. I’m not going to post her info here because I don’t want a flood of spam to chase her inbox. Send me an email and I’ll be happy to forward you the contact information.

Why do you need to do this?

Sage Software does not have an automated way to provide the latest versions of their Extended Solutions to resellers. When solutions are initially available they are sent out in an email to the reseller which announces the availability of the upgrade.

This email is often weeks (if not months) ahead of when a company may actually install their Sage MAS 90 or 200 program upgrade. In the passing months there are increasingly more program fixes needed for Extended Solutions.

Unfortunately there is no central place to regularly view what the current release levels are for the Extended Solutions. All of this work must be done via phone call (or email) to Sage Software.

What We’ve Suggested To Sage

In the future we are hopeful that what can happen is that the intial link that is sent to a reseller points to the very latest copy of the enhancement (including any patches made since the update was released).

Another possible solution would be for the enhancement itself to contain a “self check” where it would query a database to make sure that the latest version is being installed.

MAS90 Discussion Forum Now Open

October 3, 2008 by Wayne Schulz

One of the best places to exchange information with other users is an online discussion forum. We’ve just created a MAS90 Accounting Software Google Group that facilitates user to user discussion of issues related to Sage MAS 90 and Sage MAS 200 products.

To sign up you need to create a free Google account. If you already have a Google account you can follow the link below and you’ll arrive at the discussion forum.

If you’re looking for a place to get suggest product improvements, ask other users their opinion of anything related to MAS 90 or just browse messages then stop by and have a look.

Expect that the site will have few messages to begin with. Eventually as participatiion grows it will become a rich resource for user to user communication.

Here are some quick “Do’s and Don’ts” for participating in discussion forums:

DO:

Participate freely
Keep comments on topic
Answer questions
If you ask a question and find the answer on your own, come back and update your question by replying to it with the solution you found. This helps other users in the future who read your message and have the same issue but don’t know how to resolve it.
Ask questions – especially ones that you think are “dumb” – chances are if you have the question that someone else is wondering the same thing.
Answer questions – you’ve had experiences with the software that other users will benefit from. No matter how trivial you think your experience might be – there is someone using the software who will be interested.

DON’T:

Never insult another participant
Do not advertise – your active participation is the best advertisement you have
Post private or confidential information

Link: Google Groups – MAS90 Accounting Software Discussion Forum

Why do you need to do this?

What We’ve Suggested To Sage

Here are some quick “Do’s and Don’ts” for participating in discussion forums:

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