Monat: Oktober 2020

In Sage X3 V12 a new functionality is added which will help in enhancement in quality standard. In our previous blog we saw in detail on Non conformance management screen. In this blog we will see in details on how Use Non conformance plan function to guide and schedule corrective or preventive actions against a reported non-conformity.

New Stuff:- How to create credit memo from customer return

Once a report is logged in Non conformance it is important to address this issue methodologically and track the progress this is where Non conformance plan screen helps in planning further steps of non-conformity reported, using this function we can correct or prevent an incidence of non-conformance and this screen provides a framework for adjusting the current system or operations currently in use.

 This function supports the planning process. It becomes easier for user to track and plan since it brings together the components that must be met to successfully correct or prevent an incidence of non-conformance and provides a framework for adjusting the current system or operations currently in use.

Path: All>Non-conformances>Non-conformance plan

There are two action button available in this screen

1. Implement: On click of this button, this will advance the status of this plan to status ‘Being implemented’. This indicates to the user that they can start processing the tasks on the plan to which they have been assigned and in turn provides visibility to stakeholders of the progress of the corrective and preventive Action plan.
2. Complete: On click of this button, this will advance the status of this plan to status ‘Completed’. This in turn informs the stakeholders that the Action plan has been delivered and the product is approved.

This screens helps to maintain more details related to the plan, below are the list of fields which helps in maintaining more relatable data of tracking the plan

The header flag provides the current status of the Action plan and key information from the reported non-conformity.

A plan status can have following: ‘In planning’, ‘Being implemented’ or ‘completed’, depending on the role assigned to user handling of non-conformity is characterized. Following are the list of roles Planner (Project manager), Actioner and Stakeholder

1. Planner: As the Planner (Project manager) assigned to that non-conformance the QA manager has effectively handed over control. Planner are now responsible for planning a successful delivery of those requirements and build a set of ‘global actions’ to eliminate the problem.
2. Actioner: He is responsible for taking ownership of and delivering a line (a task or action) in the Action plan by the specified date. As soon as the Action plan is at status ‘Being implemented’ you can start processing the tasks (actions) to which he have been assigned.
3. Stakeholder: As a stakeholder at any time can access an action plan. An action plan shows you how the objectives for the design or production ‘change’ will be met. You can use it as a mechanism for referencing and managing business risk, and potentially costs.

The Non-conformance plan adds an additional feature in handling non-conformity by allowing user to guide and schedule corrective or preventive actions. Using this function we can effectively improve our quality cycle by planning the non-conformity in an effective way.

Hope this blog helps in raising your quality standards!

About Us

Greytrix – a globally recognized and one of the oldest Sage Development Partner is a one-stop solution provider for Sage ERP and Sage CRM organizational needs. Being acknowledged and rewarded for multi-man years of experience, we bring complete end-to-end assistance for your technical consultations, product customizations, data migration, system integrations, third-party add-on development and implementation competence.

Greytrix caters to a wide range of Sage X3, a Sage Business Cloud Solution, offerings. Our unique GUMU integrations include Sage X3 for Sage CRM, Salesforce.com, Dynamics 365 CRM and Magento eCommerce along with Implementation and Technical Support worldwide for Sage X3. Currently we are Sage X3 Implementation Partner in East Africa, Middle East, Australia, Asia, US, UK. We also offer best-in-class Sage X3 customization and development services, integrated applications such as POS | WMS | Payment Gateway | Shipping System | Business Intelligence | eCommerce and have developed add-ons such as Catch – Weight  and Letter of Credit and India Legislation for Sage X3 to Sage business partners, end users and Sage PSG worldwide.

Greytrix is a recognized Sage champion ISV Partner for GUMU Sage X3 – Sage CRM integration also listed on Sage Marketplace; GUMU integration for Sage X3 – Salesforce is a 5-star rated app listed on Salesforce AppExchange and GUMU integration for Dynamics 365 CRM – Sage ERP listed on Microsoft AppSource.

For more information on Sage X3 Integration and Services, please contact us at x3@greytrix.com, We will like to hear from you.

In a normal business scenario credit memo and customer return plays an important part. It has its own importance in the sales process which is integral to business processes.

New Stuff:- MongoDB Backup and Restore Procedure

A credit note or credit memo is a commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer. Credit notes act as a source document for the sales return journal. In other words the credit note is evidence of the reduction in sales. A credit memo, a contraction of the term “credit memorandum”, is evidence of a reduction in the amount that a buyer owes a seller under the terms of an earlier invoice. It can also be a document from a bank to a depositor to indicate the depositor’s balance is being in event other than a deposit, such as the collection by the bank of the depositor’s note receivable.

A credit note lists the products, quantities and agreed prices for products or services the seller provided the buyer, but the buyer returned or did not receive. It may be issued in the case of damaged goods, errors or allowances. In respect of the previously issued invoice, a Credit Memo will reduce or eliminate the amount the buyer has to pay. Note: A Credit Memo is not to be substituted as a formal document. The Credit Memo rarely contains: PO #, Date, Billing Address, Shipping Address, Terms of Payment, List of products with quantities and prices. Usually it references the original Invoice and sometimes states the reason for the issue.

Customer Returns are basically items that have been purchased from a store or any online store but then returned by a customer. In retail, a product return (customer return) is the process of a customer taking previously purchased merchandise back to the retailer, and in turn receiving a refund in the original form of payment, exchange for another item (identical or different), or a store credit.

Many retailers will accept returns provided that the customer has a receipt as a proof of purchase, and that certain other conditions, which depend on the retailer’s policies, are met. These may include the merchandise being in a certain condition (usually resalable if not defective), no more than a certain amount of time having passed since the purchase, and sometimes that identification be provided (though usually only if a receipt is not provided). In some cases, only exchanges or store credit are offered, again usually only without a receipt, or after an initial refund period has passed. Some retailers charge a restocking fee for non-defective returned merchandise, but typically only if the packaging has been opened.

Steps to be followed:

In sage X3 when you want to create a credit note against customer return the first step is to create customer return against a particular delivery. In sage X3, after trying to create a new transaction and entering mandatory fields like site and customer you can select particular delivery by left-list selection. But for delivery to appear in left-list selection of customer return it needs to be validated first then and only then it will appear in left-list selection of customer return. Kindly refer below screenshot for the same.

So, after creating a customer return against the delivery user needs to make a credit memo flag on lines of the customer return to “Yes”, then only the user can select those lines of returns for the credit note. But that flag can only be made to “Yes” when the field is active to select and that field is activated only if invoice is created against the particular delivery. If delivery is not invoiced then even after selecting that particular line on the customer return system doesn’t allow us to change the flag of the credit memo. Kindly refer below screenshot for the same.

So if a user wants to create a credit memo against that particular line of customer return then he/she can change the flag to “Yes” and then can create a transaction of the same.

Then the next step is to create a credit note against that customer return. So for that transaction we need to select a credit note transaction and while creating the same that particular line has to select from left-list selection of customer return. Here only those lines will appear for selection whose credit memo flag is “Yes” on customer return transaction.

With the help of the above blog we can create credit note against customer return in sage X3.

About Us

Greytrix – a globally recognized and one of the oldest Sage Development Partner is a one-stop solution provider for Sage ERP and Sage CRM organizational needs. Being acknowledged and rewarded for multi-man years of experience, we bring complete end-to-end assistance for your technical consultations, product customizations, data migration, system integrations, third-party add-on development and implementation competence.

Greytrix caters to a wide range of Sage X3, a Sage Business Cloud Solution, offerings. Our unique GUMU integrations include Sage X3 for Sage CRM, Salesforce.com, Dynamics 365 CRM and Magento eCommerce along with Implementation and Technical Support worldwide for Sage X3. Currently we are Sage X3 Implementation Partner in East Africa, Middle East, Australia, Asia, US, UK. We also offer best-in-class Sage X3 customization and development services, integrated applications such as POS | WMS | Payment Gateway | Shipping System | Business Intelligence | eCommerce and have developed add-ons such as Catch – Weight  and Letter of Credit and India Legislation for Sage X3 to Sage business partners, end users and Sage PSG worldwide.

Greytrix is a recognized Sage champion ISV Partner for GUMU Sage X3 – Sage CRM integration also listed on Sage Marketplace; GUMU integration for Sage X3 – Salesforce is a 5-star rated app listed on Salesforce AppExchange and GUMU integration for Dynamics 365 CRM – Sage ERP listed on Microsoft AppSource.

For more information on Sage X3 Integration and Services, please contact us at x3@greytrix.com, We will like to hear from you.

Sage X3 uses Mongo DB as a storage database for the Administration Module. It also acts as part of the first layer of security alongside the Syracuse Component. Just like Microsoft SQL and Oracle DB; Mongo DB also needs to be backed up. In this blog we will see how to take a backup of MongoDB and how to restore the procedure.

New Stuff:- Top 3 Benefits of Greytrix Professional Services

To take the backup first need to check below pre-requisite.

• Sage X3 needs to be installed on the server with same version and patch level.
• Both the server needs to have MongoDB Compass downloaded i.e. from where the data of MongoDB will be extracted and to where it will be restored.

Below are the steps needs to be followed to export and import data from MongoDB from one server to another:

• Download the stable version MongoDb Compass as per the platforms you use.
• Run the Application file with the name “”MongoDBCompass” from the downloaded folder.

• Enter the connection string as “ mongodb://127.0.0.1:27017 ” and click on CONNECT button to connect to the link.

• After the successful connection application will take you to the home page which will show the database.

In the above screenshot you can see the “syracuse” is the one in which Sage X3 saves all the data of Administration module.

Click on Syracuse Option.

• After clicking on the syracuse database it will take you to Administration

Out of all the functions the one can decide which all functions data needs to be extracted from one server and restore it in another server.

• Below we will see exporting the MongoDB data.

From the above list user can extract data of below mentioned function. (As per requirement this is just an example.)

Below are the steps to extract data from the function through MongoDB compass.

1. Groups :

In Sage X3 currently we have 4 groups out of which 1 “Super Administrator” is the standard group which comes with the Sage X3 installation.

a. Click on Group on MongoDb compass.

b. Once clicked it will take you to the below screen. In which this symbol   is the export button through data gets extracted.

c. Click on the export button it will take to the following screen.

• Click on Browse and select the path where you want to store the data and name the file with .json extension. In the above image we have named the file as Groups.json.
• Once finished go back to the selected path you will see a .json file. This file has all the groups available in Sage X3.

2. Roles :

In Sage X3 currently we have 57 roles out of which 3 “Purchase, Sales, Finance” are the ones manually created rest all are the standard ones.

a. Click on Role

b. Once clicked it will take you to the below screen. In which this symbol   is the export button through data gets extracted.

c. Click on the export button it will take to the following screen

• Click on Browse and select the path where you want to store the data and name the file with .json extension. In the above image we have named the file as Roles.json.
• Once finished go back to the selected path you will see a .json file. This file has all the roles available in Sage X3.

In a same way you can export rest of the data.

Here we will see how to restore the exported .json files into another server.

Move all the exported .json files to the new server where there is already Sage X3 is installed with same version and patch level.

Note: As mentioned earlier the exported files contains all the data from their respective function even the standard data which comes automatically after the Sage X3 installation. We need to delete the standard data so that it doesn’t get duplicated after the import.

To delete the standard data open the .json file through Notepad ++, this make easier to identify and delete the data:

Once you delete the date, the .json file is ready to get imported. Below are the steps to import the extracted data:

a. Open the MongoDB Compass by following the steps mentioned in point  1 mentioned above at the start.

b. Click on Syracuse database and from the following window click on Group function.

c. Click on the Import Data as highlighted in the below image.

d. Click on Browse and select the json file and click on Import.

e. Now login Sage X3 and click on Groups from Administrator module there you will see new groups added.

f. Edit all the new groups added. In Endpoint section add all the folders and Save

Roles:

Even for roles we have to delete the Standard roles and import the manually created roles. Below are the steps:

a. Open the Roles.json file using Notepad ++. Identify the standard roles and delete them by selecting the lines and Save the file. All the new roles created in Sage X3 you will find it in the bottom of the json file above that line all are standard ones.

b. Now the .json file is ready to get imported next go to MongoDB compass click on Roles function going to Syracuse database and click on Import Data.

About Us

Greytrix – a globally recognized and one of the oldest Sage Development Partner is a one-stop solution provider for Sage ERP and Sage CRM organizational needs. Being acknowledged and rewarded for multi-man years of experience, we bring complete end-to-end assistance for your technical consultations, product customizations, data migration, system integrations, third-party add-on development and implementation competence.

Greytrix caters to a wide range of Sage X3, a Sage Business Cloud Solution, offerings. Our unique GUMU integrations include Sage X3 for Sage CRM, Salesforce.com, Dynamics 365 CRM and Magento eCommerce along with Implementation and Technical Support worldwide for Sage X3. Currently we are Sage X3 Implementation Partner in East Africa, Middle East, Australia, Asia, US, UK. We also offer best-in-class Sage X3 customization and development services, integrated applications such as POS | WMS | Payment Gateway | Shipping System | Business Intelligence | eCommerce and have developed add-ons such as Catch – Weight  and Letter of Credit and India Legislation for Sage X3 to Sage business partners, end users and Sage PSG worldwide.

Greytrix is a recognized Sage champion ISV Partner for GUMU Sage X3 – Sage CRM integration also listed on Sage Marketplace; GUMU integration for Sage X3 – Salesforce is a 5-star rated app listed on Salesforce AppExchange and GUMU integration for Dynamics 365 CRM – Sage ERP listed on Microsoft AppSource.

For more information on Sage X3 Integration and Services, please contact us at x3@greytrix.com, We will like to hear from you.

c.. Click on Browse and select the json file and click on Import the same way we did for groups.

d. Now login Sage X3 and navigate to roles function you will notice 3 new roles added apart from 54 roles which are standard ones.

e. Edit all the 3 newly added roles. Select badges as ERPFULL and security profile as User and click on Save.

Similarly you can import data for users also.

This is how we can extract the data from the mongodb backup database using the MongoDB Compass from one system and Import the same in to another system. This MongoDb backup and restore process is mostly used to move groups, Roles, Users, LDAP from one x3 system to another.

Greytrix is one of the leading ERP vendors and CRM vendors globally, providing low cost, high quality Professional Services for ERP softwares like Sage X3, Sage 100, Sage 300, Sage 500, Sage Intacct and CRM softwares like Sage CRM, Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM, Salesforce with over two decades of experience and 250+ developers & consultants. Our team of highly qualified and certified techno-functional experts provide complete assistance for your technical consultations, product customizations, system integrations, add-on development and implementation expertise. Having dealt in thousands of product customizations worldwide, we pride ourselves with the best of services and products with a focus on characteristics, dependability, customer service and uniqueness. Greytrix bridges the functionality gaps and helps you deliver projects on time every time for an always ON business.

Greytrix Professional Services provides the following benefits:

Our team of highly skilled and certified developers have the expertise, understanding and experience in handling ERP development and CRM development involving introduction of new objects, reports and application for enhancing and streamlining your business processes.

• 
  Industry Specific Customizations

Our best in class development capabilities for Sage ERP and Sage CRM delivers new modules, add- ons, and verticals for various industries. Greytrix – software vendors, with multi- man years of experience provides you customizations including software based product configurations which enable end users to add or change specific functions of the core product to suit your organizational needs.

We provide configuration of ERP systems and CRM systems (cloud based and Windows system) and are experienced with 500+ Customers projects and services delivered across the globe. We understand the core requirements of businesses and chart out a strategic plan to best suit the needs of your organization. Greytrix offers consulting for flexible engagement models, fixed time/ fixed cost, as per your business processes including project planning, assessing business rules, configuring and optimizing the solutions.

So, if you have an ERP or a CRM software and are interested in developing it from scratch then join hands with Greytrix. Our team of highly qualified and certified techno-functional consultants will define the roadmap of how to build your system and address the most frequent questions until you are familiarized with the new technology.

About Us

Greytrix – a globally recognized and one of the oldest Sage Development Partner is a one-stop solution provider for Sage ERP and Sage CRM organizational needs. Being acknowledged and rewarded for multi-man years of experience, we bring complete end-to-end assistance for your technical consultations, product customizations, data migration, system integrations, third-party add-on development and implementation competence.

Greytrix caters to a wide range of Sage X3, a Sage Business Cloud Solution, offerings. Our unique GUMU integrations include Sage X3 for Sage CRM, Salesforce.com, Dynamics 365 CRM and Magento eCommerce along with Implementation and Technical Support worldwide for Sage X3. Currently we are Sage X3 Implementation Partner in East Africa, Middle East, Australia, Asia, US, UK. We also offer best-in-class Sage X3 customization and development services, integrated applications such as POS | WMS | Payment Gateway | Shipping System | Business Intelligence | eCommerce and have developed add-ons such as Catch – Weight  and Letter of Credit and India Legislation for Sage X3 to Sage business partners, end users and Sage PSG worldwide.

Greytrix is a recognized Sage champion ISV Partner for GUMU Sage X3 – Sage CRM integration also listed on Sage Marketplace; GUMU integration for Sage X3 – Salesforce is a 5-star rated app listed on Salesforce AppExchange and GUMU integration for Dynamics 365 CRM – Sage ERP listed on Microsoft AppSource.

For more information on Sage X3 Integration and Services, please contact us at x3@greytrix.com, We will like to hear from you.

TrainingPros, a specialized staffing agency, achieved rapid scale and agility by replacing their previous solution with Sage Intacct cloud financial management software. The key to a digital transformation in Finance, the robust system helped the company’s CFO modernize several cumbersome accounting workflows and deliver more comprehensive reporting across the organization. With Sage Intacct’s powerful automation and flexible platform services, the finance team saved dozens of hours in commissions management and payroll tasks, while delivering new dashboards that empowered sales reps to increase margins by 11 percent.

TrainingPros is a specialized staffing agency with a large and active pool of expert consultants in the learning and development arena. The company provides Fortune 1000 organizations nationwide with skilled contractors who help them effectively train internal staff. With revenues more than doubling, TrainingPros needed financial management leadership and software that could handle increasing complexity and provide needed visibility. The agency hired Jill Vogin as CFO, who selected Sage Intacct to support the next phase of business growth. “The difference with Sage Intacct is that now we’re in front of the eight ball, instead of always being behind it,” said Vogin. “By moving to our financial software to the cloud with Sage Intacct, we’re able to provide real-time information to management, invoice our customers more quickly, and pay our contractors more accurately.”

By implementing Sage Intacct and working with Sage Intacct consulting partner Dean Dorton to customize the system to their specific requirements, TrainingPros increased productivity while improving business visibility. For example, the firm:

• Saved dozens of hours of manual payroll and commissions management work: Rather than use four different applications to track staff time and payments, TrainingPros’ contractors can now enter their hours directly into Sage Intacct. Timesheets then flow through the system’s automated accounts payable and vendor payment processes, so that payroll runs take just three hours versus a week, and contractors are paid 33% faster. In addition, the finance team used custom fields and reports in Sage Intacct to streamline complex commissions calculations from days to hours.  

• Built Sage Intacct dashboards to help improve sales performance, growing margin by 11%:Using Sage Intacct dashboards and reports to help analyze data, the company introduced a bonus program for more generous compensation, and put financial data in the hands of sales reps to improve performance. “Account Managers can go to their dashboards to track and manage execution against goals and  look at their outstanding invoices. This has helped us ramp up our margins by 11%,” Vogin said. 

• Improved cash management and visibility amid double-digit growth: In addition to account managers, hundreds of TrainingPros employees—including the company’s new president—use Sage Intacct dashboards to support decisions surrounding collections, pricing, cash management, and more. As soon as the new president assumed her role earlier this year, the finance team created a personalized dashboard with all of the financial metrics she cares most about, such as daily cash balances and real-time profit and loss statements. This enables her to deliver data-driven business decisions and improve cash flow.

For more information on how TrainingPros benefits from the use of Sage Intacct, read the full case study here.

The post TrainingPros Digitally Transforms Finance with Sage Intacct Helping to Trigger 11% Margin Boost appeared first on ERP News.

Sports are more than mere pastimes. Whether you enjoy football or horse racing, there is a thing that bonds all sports lovers – the thrills of seeing your favourite athlete or team win a match or event. But have you ever wondered who the best sporting record-holders are? Those people who’ve managed to change the game for good? We surely did and put up a list of our favourite records. Check them out!

1. Michael Phelps

Swimming
may not be the most popular sport out there, but nobody deserves the gold medal
of all sporting record-holders more than Michael Phelps. We could easily call him “the
supreme swimmer,” holding over 18 gold medals in the field.

Not
only can he brag with such a record, but six of those golds come from his very
first Olympics in Athens in 2004 while a further eight from Beijing Olympics in
2008 – the most won by a single athlete throughout the history of the Games.

2. Miroslav Klose

If
you’ve ever been into placing free bets at sporting events, you probably
already know how hard it is to find the best soccer team to bet on. Especially
in the Miroslav Klose’s era. Known as Mr Consistent, Klose has already won four
World Cups and humiliated Brazil with a 7-1 score in last season’s tournament.
No doubt, a great achievement not only for Germany but also for the coach’s
personal Palmares.

3. Usain Bolt

From
football to running, Usain Bolt is another achiever that tops the charts as one
of the most iconic record-holders in history. The champion became a legend in
2012 when he managed to win the title of the fastest man on earth.

Winning
a world record didn’t stop his ambitions, so maybe we’ll have the honour to
watch him break yet another impossible speed record.

4. Lance Armstrong

You
don’t have to like cycling to know that Lance Armstrong is one of the most
inspirational figures of all time. Between 1999 and 2005, he won seven Tour de France races – seven years in a row, that
is.

Not
only did he won these races, but he did so after surviving testicular cancer.
Sure, there have been discussions about doping, but nothing can replace the
fact that he is indeed the greatest cyclist of all times.

5. Bob Gibson

Bob
Gibson is one of those names that may not tell you much unless you’re really
into baseball. If that’s your favourite sport, though, you might have heard
already about the Year of the Pitcher. If you hadn’t, all we can say is that
Gibson managed to pitch 47 consecutive scoreless innings and threw 13 shutouts
in the 1968 baseball season.

The
record still stands today, alongside other records he managed to break, and
Gibson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981.

6. Martin Brodeur

Ice
hockey is another beloved sport, and the one who has written the sport’s
history is Martin Brodeur. The Canadian goaltender spent his entire career with
the New Jersey Devils and is the only goalie in history with eight 40-win
seasons.

7. James Robinson

Ending
our list of best sporting record-holders, none other than James Robinson, the
one and only jockey that has won nine wins in the 2000 Guineas race. While this
record remains unequalled to date, Robinson holds an impressive book of
records.

During
his career, he has also won six Derbies and 24 British Classics. Needless to
say, his records remain unmatched after over 140 years from his death.

The post Best Sporting Record Holders appeared first on ERP News.

ERP News Magazine October 2020 – Issue #12 – Download Here (PDF)

ERP News Magazine is 1 year old!

When we first started this journey, we did not know that a worldwide pandemic would have shaken the whole world in less than a year.  At ERP News Magazine, our goal has always been to ensure that businesses and software vendors are aware of the latest advances in the ERP industry. But in this unprecedented crisis environment created by the pandemic, this goal has turned into the responsibility of providing the most up-to-date information that would enable our readers to survive these uncertain times.

Thanks to your participation, ERP News Magazine has been reshaped and turned into a living community. We can’t describe the pride and happiness that it brings to us! This is not just an anniversary we celebrate as a team, but the anniversary of a growing community every day! So happy anniversary!

In this issue, we have dug deeper into the ERP selection process. As we all know, ERP selection is always a very challenging and critical process for businesses. Especially, if it is the first time you are looking for an ERP system, then several obstacles are awaiting you during this thorny and complicated journey. We have compiled several suggestions and articles from industry experts to enlighten your selection process. And as in every issue, the latest news and events are ready for you to explore.

Thank you for being part of our community and hope to see you in our next issue!

The post ERP News Magazine October 2020 – Issue #12 appeared first on ERP News.

ATLANTA – Oct. 20, 2020 – Sage (FTSE: SGE), the market leader in cloud business management solutions, kicked off Sage Intacct Advantage 2020 with a keynote that showcased the transformative power of digital technology. Company executives shared how, by using digital technology, businesses can fundamentally change how they operate and deliver value to customers and colleagues, as well as improve interactions with partners and suppliers. As the current environment places more demands on the CFO, digital transformation is accelerating the trends we have seen become common place. To help CFOs navigate the new normal, Sage highlighted several new and enhanced products during the keynote designed to help companies embrace the adoption of digital technology.

Powering the Intelligent Organization

Sage is delivering on the concept of the Intelligent Organization by bringing together Sage Intacct, Sage Intacct Budgeting and Planning, Sage People, and a robust set of reporting and analytics tools—all powered by the Sage Intacct Intelligent GL^TM. The power of integrating information across the front and back office increases accuracy, reduces time, eliminates rework, and improves collaboration. It also creates new possibilities for the Finance team to play a more strategic role in leading their organization by enhancing how they partner with other business leaders, streamline workflows, drive future planning decisions, and improve the employee experience.

“Digital transformation spans every aspect of a business,” said Marc Linden, EVP and GM of Medium Segment Solutions, Sage. “When we say digital transformation, we’re talking about converting from a business model that was designed around humans performing tasks in processes, to one that elevates the work of humans and is designed around digital interaction and automation. This is about helping businesses ensure their success today during COVID, tomorrow when we emerge from the pandemic, and well into the future.”

When it comes to digital transformation for Finance, Sage Intacct helps teams transform the close process from a set of activities that happens at the end of the month to activities that happen continuously. This gives companies ongoing visibility into the state of the business, not just after closing the books—delivering unmatched insights to improve decisions and understanding of the business today and freeing CFOs to focus on guiding the business into the future. 

During the keynote, Sage highlighted several product enhancements to Sage Intacct along three key areas—continuous accounting, continuous trust, and continuous insight.

Continuous Accounting

Continuous accounting capabilities enable timely and accurate information by streamlining processes within finance and across departmental and company boundaries. In this area, Sage showcased two new products—Salesforce Advanced CRM Integration for Nonprofits and Sage Intelligent Time. 

The tight front to back-office integration between Salesforce and Sage Intacct already brings digital transformation to life by providing real-time visibility to sales and finance while streamlining workflows and collaboration between them. The new Salesforce Advanced CRM Integration for Nonprofits provides industry specific capabilities by putting data into the hands of nonprofit program and development staff for direct insight from Salesforce into transactions and budget without having to ask accounting. The integration also ensures the data stays in sync and reduces the reconciliation burden between the CRM and accounting systems. With increased levels of visibility, nonprofits can more easily guide their strategy, take a more data-driven approach to future fundraising campaigns, and continually improve performance—putting them in a better position to deliver on their mission.

Sage Intelligent Time is the first artificial intelligence (AI) powered application built directly into the Sage Intacct platform. Initially introduced last month, Sage Intelligent Time provides continuous, timely, and more accurate insights to better manage billable time in services-based businesses. It uses an AI-powered personal time assistant to enable service professionals to complete their timesheets more quickly and accurately by automatically reconstructing their workday—helping to ensure all billable time is captured to reduce revenue leakage, improve project profitability, and increase revenues.

Continuous Trust

Continuous trust capabilities enable finance teams to ensure the accuracy and integrity of financial information. The key product announcement in this area is the Outlier Detection for General Ledger—new AI-powered functionality in the Sage Intacct Intelligent GL. 

Sage Intacct’s powerful and innovative general ledger already provides the extensive visibility, scalability, and flexibility companies need to grow their business. Outlier Detection for General Ledger uses AI to automatically analyze journal entries and flag outliers that may need a closer look to deliver continuous trust in financial data. This trust is enhanced by not only flagging journal entries, but giving a reason why they were flagged.

Customer interviews have shown that 10 to 20 percent of journal entries typically need adjustment after being posted to the general ledger. These adjustments require extra staff time to find, correct, and document. Outlier Detection for General Ledger uses the power of AI to provide insights to catch potential errors and risks before they post. It reduces the cost of ensuring accuracy and enables finance teams to trust their financial information sooner—without having to wait for the close. Put simply, Outlier Detection for General Ledger enables organizations to analyse all journal entries that require approval, all of the time, as opposed to some of the entries, some of the time.

Sage Intacct customer and early product tester, Sean Skuro, controller for rapidly growing restaurant chain Tender Greens, commented: “The new Outlier Detection for General Ledger functionality works like magic and saves me a ton of time. This past month, it found a dozen small errors that I might not have caught until they had already posted to the GL, given we typically have 500 or more journal entries each month. All I had to do was quickly review the flagged entries and decline the ones that needed fixing. Having this new capability enables me to complete my job faster and increases my confidence in how we approach approving journal entries. It’s the assistant I’ve always wanted.”

Continuous Insight

Once companies transform to continuous accounting and have timely information with accuracy they can trust, Sage Intacct provides tools to analyze that information to gain insight. The latest addition to that toolset, announced today, is the Sage Intacct Interactive Visual Explorer—enabling business analysis and insights using advanced visualizations and real-time source data.

The Sage Intacct Interactive Visual Explorer propels finance teams beyond basic monthly reporting, enabling proactive decisions based on multidimensional graphical analysis and collaboration. Business leaders can easily look across and through the real-time performance of their business, giving more context to financials, comparing data over time, and spotting trends as they occur. The Interactive Visual Explorer allows companies of all sizes to identify emerging opportunities and risks they might not have otherwise been able to discover and then drill down into the data.

Availability

The new solutions and enhancements mentioned in this press release will be available from Sage Intacct and its network of channel partners along the following timeframes:

• Sage Intelligent Time and the Salesforce Advanced CRM Integration for Nonprofits are currently available for early adopters and are expected to be generally available later this year
• Outlier Detection for General Ledger and the Interactive Visual Explorer will be available for early adopters with Sage Intacct 2020 Release 4 in November and are expected to be generally available in early 2021

The post Sage Equips Customers to Create Intelligent Organizations by Embracing Digital Transformation at Sage Intacct Advantage 2020 appeared first on ERP News.

As winter is not far away, business owners will already have a maintenance and preparation checklist on top of their mind. Heating is an aspect you cannot overlook because not being prepared means that you can get into trouble once the cold weather hits. You may find that your heating system has some issues when you need it the most. It makes sense to have a good look at things well in time so that you have a system doing its best when the winter arrives. Here is a commercial heating guide that can help you get your business winter-ready.

Get service
for the boiler

Business owners often fail to notice
faulty boiler performance until the winter sets in and temperatures drop.
Booking the boiler servicing during the summer is a smarter thing to do because
professionals have ample time at this time of the year, and you may even get a
deal. Boiler servicing includes holistic checks for the system, including
assessment of efficiency, fault finding, checking the pipework,
and cleaning of the system. A maintenance check just before winters is a good
idea because it may seize up after being out of work for months.  You may consider running it for a few minutes
every day, even during the summer months, to keep it in good shape.

Stock up on
oil

Another aspect of heating-preparation
of your business for the upcoming winter is stocking up on oil supplies. It
makes sense to replenish towards the end of summer so that you are all set when
you need to turn up the system on the first cold day of the season. Ordering
your Long Island heating oil
suppliers well in time would keep you stress-free and also ensure that you stay
safe from peak prices during the rough weather. Moreover, you will receive the
delivery quickly, with minimal waiting time or hassles. Since commercial users
have more extensive requirements, getting ahead of the orders is the smartest
thing to do.

Invest in
extra insulation

Apart from arranging oil and maintaining your furnace, you can go the extra mile with the warmth of your workplace with some investment for extra insulation. It is worth spending time and money on workplace improvement in the summer so you have a more energy-efficient space when the winter sets in. Check the weak spots from where cold air can enter and heat can exit. Get these areas fixed and add better insulation means to the place so that the warmth stays inside even on the coldest days. While you will experience less heat loss, the fuel consumption will also decrease over time.

You can also opt for other jobs like
roof inspections in the summer because this is something business owners often
miss. But it can lead to serious heating issues and burden the heating system
as well. A complete professional inspection for your facility may be a smart
investment in the summer. While it may cost you a bit, you will end up saving a
lot on the heating costs in the winter.

The post Commercial Heating Guide- How To Make Your Business Winter-Ready appeared first on ERP News.

In
today’s competitive and fast-moving marketplace, companies need technology that
not only allows them to position their organization for growth but more
importantly, helps them quickly adapt to and remain profitable in the face of constant
change and disruption.   

Like many industries, my industry, the automotive industry, is in a seemingly constant state of evolution, with manufacturers driving innovation while simultaneously ensuring compliance, accurate demand planning, supply chain elasticity, revenue growth, customer satisfaction, and more. This year, the complexity of meeting these demands have increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the industry facing factory shutdowns and restarts, supply chain insecurity, workforce constraints, safety requirements, and much, much more.  

A
quality Enterprise
Resource Planning (ERP) solution can help
businesses handle this complexity and meet the demands I’ve listed above, and
many manufacturers rely on them. But the reality is that implementing
an ERP is often a huge and time-consuming process
that must be planned months if not years in advance. Furthermore, ERP is not
cheap and the costs associated with shelving one system and then choosing and
installing a new one can be enormous. Selecting
the right ERP can be daunting and one of the
most significant decisions a company must make is deciding whether to implement
a generic or an industry-specific ERP solution. 

There
are plenty of generic ERP solutions to choose from. These non-industry,
non-vertical-specific solutions are supposed to be ready to go, out-of-the-box.
They typically include a wide range of functionality. But while they may
include the functionality needed by a company in any number of industries, they
can also include functionality that a company in a specific industry probably
won’t need. For example, functionality built for retail and
banking have no place in manufacturing and can slow down and complicate
successful implementations. That might be fine, or it might
not be depending on the price of the software and your implementation
timetable. But why pay for functionality that you don’t need? Additionally,
generic ERP solutions are often difficult to adapt to last-mile needs, because
they are complicated and often expensive to customize. 

I
work in the automotive industry and it provides a great argument in favor of
choosing an industry-specific
ERP. Automotive manufacturers
face growing customer demand for alternatives to the internal combustion
engine. That means producing electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles, and the
parts and systems to make those things a reality. While attempting to meet this
growing demand, however, quality and customer satisfaction must remain job #1.
Recalls and quality-related issues can negatively impact an original equipment
manufacturer’s (OEM) brand or damage a supplier’s relationship with its
customers. As a result, the supply chain and automotive plants must transform
their organization to meet new business realities while maintaining
profitability, providing high-quality products, and delivering on-time, all in
the face of a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic.  

Each
industry faces challenges specific to that industry and any ERP selection
process should begin with an assessment of exactly what functionality the
company needs. Here are my top reasons that manufacturers should choose an
industry-specific ERP. Since my expertise is in the automotive industry, I will
use that industry as an example.

Reduced Costs and Faster
Implementation: Because generic ERP solutions are not built
to meet the demands of a specific industry, they often have to be customized or
supplemented with integrations and add-ons. These modifications can take a long
time, cost a lot of money, and make an ERP solution rigid, which we call
version lock. In addition, customizations have to be rewritten each time a
manufacturer upgrades its ERP system. An example from the automotive industry
would be customer and supplier demand variance reports that show you how demand
has changed over any period in time. If your ERP solution doesn’t provide these,
it will reduce your ability to compete. 

And because it doesn’t usually
need to be customized, an industry-specific ERP solution takes less time to
implement. It’s already got the needed functionality built-in and the vendor
has the expertise to set it up quickly. Implementing a generic ERP solution can
take a long time due to a lack of a fully documented system of processes,
procedures, and a core model implementation template that is already developed
to address the needs and best practices of the industry. 

Customer Requirements and Industry Best Practices: There is a tremendous benefit gained by selecting an ERP provider that has domain knowledge in your industry and with your customers. Choose an ERP partner that actively leads and participates in industry organizations, like the automotive industry groups AIAG (Automotive Industry Action Group) and Odette International, and builds functionality into its solutions based on the industry-knowledge gained. In the case of the automotive industry, this functionality can include best practices-based process maps, training courses, and regulatory compliance features. Additionally, OEMs and other customers have specific requirements and approvals that you must meet to do business with them, such as EDI and barcoding. Generic ERP solutions most likely include none of that. 

Support
for Industry-specific Regulatory and
Industry Requirements: Functionality supporting
industry-specific compliance, for example, with IATF 16949 (quality) and MMOG/LE
(supply chain) in the automotive industry, can be included and updated as regulations
evolve. The ability to quickly meet shifting
internationalization regulatory requirements and adapt to structural changes in
the industry is essential to automotive suppliers’ long-term success.
Automotive manufacturers should choose a solution that supports global
compliance in the areas of quality, delivery, and financial accounting
practices. 

Adaptability Through an
Industry-specific ERP Platform: With the right
platform, you can achieve greater levels of fit today while supporting the
changes of tomorrow. You can extend and create new applications that are
dependable and scalable without creating version lock-in. When upgrading is
fast and easy, you can stay current and reduce the gap between your ERP and
changing business requirements. You can also simplify the adoption of new
capabilities and advanced technologies,
pursue continuous improvement, and adapt to future disruptions and changes as
they occur in your business.

Choosing
an ERP solution can be a long and arduous journey. I believe that most
manufacturers should consider choosing an ERP that is both
manufacturing-focused and that has a proven track record in their respective
industries. The best choice for
speed-to-value will include industry best
practices and easy onboarding of proven processes and capability. This choice
not only drives faster implementations but also ensures greater fit
out-of-the-box.

The post The Advantages of Industry-Specific ERP appeared first on ERP News.