What is Server Leasing?

what is server leasing

What is a Server?

A server is a powerful computer connected to a network (typically the Internet) and provides access to some resources or services.

There are many types of servers. For example:

  • Web Server: This is the most common type of server. It hosts a website that is typically accessible over the Internet. This website can also be private, in which case, it is an intranet.
  • File Server: Store a lot of files that are accessible over a network. For example, it can be a local media center that enables your family to watch personal videos on all your home devices (television, computer, or smartphone).
  • Game Server: Used to run the server application of a specific game, like Minecraft.
  • Peripheral Server: Gives access to equipment such as printers.

There are also many specialized servers that are only used by IT professionals and tech-savvy individuals.

When Should You Consider Buying Your Own Server?

Nowadays, it is quite rare to need to own a server, but there are a few scenarios where that is a viable option.

If you plan to buy your own server, you will need some IT skills, and, just like any computer, you will need to cover its acquisition cost, handle its maintenance (fixing hardware failures) and pay for its electricity and network consumption.

considering-buying-privacy

Privacy

You may want to keep your personal data physically in your home. Usually, you would store it on your computer or some USB drives. Still, if you want to access it from multiple devices, it is better to set up a file server that can even come with some features that minimize the chances of losing your data due to hardware failure.

Similarly, a company will sometimes have sensitive data that they want to keep inside their offices. In this case, they can set up an intranet that is only accessible from their local network.

However, thanks to encryption and VPNs, it is typically possible to keep your data private while hosting it on the Internet.

Proximity

If you or your company work with a large amount of data or live in an area with a poor Internet connection, it might be more productive to store your data locally. The speed and latency of a local network will always be much better than any Internet-based solution.

Customization and Cost

There are some special scenarios where you would need a server configured in a way that is not readily available to rent. For example, you may need a managed dedicated server with a specific peripheral or hardware acceleration component. More generally, you will have the freedom to choose exactly the hardware configuration that fits your needs.

Even if you decide to buy your own servers, you won’t have to build a data center around them. Instead, you can lease some space at a colocation center and place your servers there. Leasing space will save you from having to handle issues like redundant power, networking, cooling, and physical security. It is up to the business to decide whether an unmanaged dedicated server is the right option for you.

Key Takeaway: Consider privacy, proximity, customization requirements, and cost when considering purchasing your own server.

What is Server Leasing?

Leasing servers provides a cost-effective option that can meet the needs of many organizations that are seeking the best return on investment. When leasing a server, the lessee agrees to a term and price to lease a server from the owner or lessor. This agreement often can include management of the server itself and provides several benefits not found when purchasing a server.

For example, when leasing a server, there is often no substantial upfront payment as there would be when purchasing a server outright. Once the lease is over, the lessee can choose to move on or migrate to a newer, better server without the burden of getting rid of old equipment. Additionally, many lease arrangements include the owner providing maintenance and management of the server as a way to protect their asset. All in all, leasing a server reduces upfront costs and much of the IT burden of owning a server.

On the flip side, there are a few disadvantages to leasing a server. When the lease expires, the lessee is left without an asset for the money they’ve spent. The owner is still the owner, and, presuming the lessee still needs a server, they will have to either renew the lease or find another option. Additionally, while leasing does not usually include an upfront payment, the overall price over time has the potential to be greater than if the server had been purchased outright.

Some leases allow the lessor to purchase the server at the end of the term, much like leasing an automobile. While this can make a lot of sense from a continuity of service perspective, technology has likely advanced enough for a new server to be a better option. Additionally, purchasing the server at the end of the lease would shift the management and maintenance burden back to the lessor.

Make sure to research the lease terms prior to signing any contract. Otherwise, you may find that it is very costly to cancel a lease mid-term, even if your technical needs change or your business evolves.

Key Takeaway: Consider business growth, overall cost, and your team’s technical expertise when considering whether leasing a server is the right option.

Renting

One option worth considering that has grown in popularity in recent years is simply renting server space. Renting a server means that management and support are typically included for the renter and, even better, the renter doesn’t have to worry about things like hardware refresh cycles and datacenter management, issues that both lessors and buyers do have to consider.

For a minimal upfront cost, it is possible to rent powerful servers that will be available to you within minutes. There is a large range of options, including dedicated vs. vps hosting, available to you.

You can upgrade or downgrade these servers with just a few clicks. This enables you to adapt as your needs change. If you ever decide to shut down these servers, you don’t have to deal with disposing of them.

You don’t have to worry about hardware maintenance or nor security issues. And in some cases, even the software can be maintained and managed for you.

Key Takeaway: Consider data center management and hardware lifecycles when determining whether to rent your next server.

Let the Experts at Liquid Web Help

At Liquid Web, we’ve spent two decades helping businesses and technology professionals find the server solutions that are right for them. It isn’t just about RAM and storage. It’s also about the terms and commitment that fit best for your specific needs. Our team is ready to help find the right solution for you. Contact us today to learn more about how Liquid Web can help.

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Building a Successful Subscription Business Model

subscription business model

Subscription business models are based upon the idea of selling access to a product or a service to customers on a recurring basis in order to receive monthly, semi- annual, or annual subscription revenue.

But how do you ensure your business is trending toward success?

Successful subscription businesses utilize specific metrics and pricing models to showcase growth.

What are Subscription Model Metrics?

CFOs, controllers, and financial analysts are currently facing a business environment that is more diverse and different than ever before. In the subscription world, there is a shift toward agile business models, with the focus being a customer-driven back office. The finance professionals want the ability to look forward into their subscription business to measure not only what’s happened in the past, but to analyze what is on the books today that is going to turn into tomorrow’s revenue growth.

This new way of measuring business performance is being noticed by investors too. Subscription metrics are becoming more prevalent on earnings calls. Take the New York Times – on their Q1 2020 earnings call, they referenced that their subscription business is growing at the highest rates ever.

Even during COVID, a few companies that have subscription services that are booming, such as the e-learning market, Netflix, LYFT, and Uber.

This is why companies need to create and make an investment to build analytics in their current environments. Business Intelligence is a system to provide historical, current, and predictable views of all of your business operations, sales, finance, marketing, development, and products. BI turns data into business insights that allows managers and C-level executives to make strategic and analytical business decisions more accurately.

Creating and using dashboards that show key metrics such as current MRR, expansion MRR, churn data, customer leads, and sales closed/won give power to the overall company. Being able to understand trends will streamline the efforts across the business teams and help grow and sustain the business.

6 key metrics for subscription business model

Six key metrics that should be included in your dashboards are:

1. Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)

Monthly Recurring Revenue is the calculation of the dependable revenue the company can expect to have each month. It is the most important metric for a subscription business and the basis for the rest of the metrics below.

2. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

Customer Lifetime Value is the total revenue an individual customer is expected to generate over the lifetime of utilizing the products or services of the company. The goal is for the lifetime revenue to exceed the cost of acquiring this customer.

3. Customer Acquisition Cost

Customer Acquisition Cost is calculated by adding the costs of marketing and sales and dividing that by the total new customers gained in a month. This metric will indicate how well the balance is between acquisition and retention of the customers.

4. Net Recurring Revenue Changes

Net Recurring Revenue Changes are calculated using your beginning MRR balance plus “new adds” less churn to equal your ending MRR balance in a month. You can then split your “adds” by expansion MRR and growth MRR. Expansion MRR is your current customer base growth and growth MRR being new customers added in a month.

5. Average Revenue Per User

ARPU is important when you sell multiple products at multiple tiers of pricing which makes it difficult to see what a customer spends. If you plan on bundling or packaging services or products, this will help your marketing and sales teams coordinate the efforts by demographics, regions, or other variables.

6. Churn

Churn indicates the downgrades or cancellations of customers in a given month. The need to understand the causes and effects of churn are an important visual tool and will give insight to your overall customer and business health.

Top 4 Subscription Pricing Models

How you price your subscription is a key ingredient to making your company successful.

We all wish there was a secret recipe to create a pricing structure, but there is not. Ask yourself the following questions before choosing a method:

  • Positioning
  • Ideal customer
  • Target market
  • Value needed

There are various pricing models that you can choose from. Also, you can structure it around B2C versus B2B as necessary.

1. Flat Rate Price

Flat rate pricing is the simplest form of billing a customer: offering your product/service for a set fee. This pricing model is easy for customers and C-level executives to predict. Usually, you do not see this in a SaaS model since new features and technology are constantly changing. This can be great in a B2C model for businesses, with popular examples being newspapers, Google, or Apple Cloud Storage. In our new world, this option is not as common as a few years ago.

Advantages:

  • Simplicity of billing to customers
  • Easy for C-level executives to predict

Disadvantage:

  • Hard to tell who your largest or smallest customers are

2. Usage-Based Price

Usage-based pricing is a pricing model that uses the pay-as-you-go or pay-per-use model. Determining whether to use this pricing model depends on what you are selling. If you are Netflix, you could use how many videos you download. For Wall Street Journal, you could use how many articles you read. For Liquid Web, we could choose to go off the bandwidth used in a month. This is a more sophisticated model of subscription billing.

Advantages:

  • Agility to treat customers differently
  • Better understanding of customer needs

Disadvantages:

  • Predictability of service
  • Understanding of future revenue and cash flow

3. Per-User or Per-Feature

You can charge and change the subscription based upon the amount of licenses that are required or sign-on for each user who needs access to the service that you are offering. If you want customers to only pay for what they need, the feature could be a great tool to leverage every purchase. Feature-based is becoming quite common since technology is changing and customers are becoming more aware of what they are paying for each month/year.

Advantages:

  • Customers only pay for what they need
  • Easy predictor of future revenue
  • Easy to understand more about customers and what they are using
  • Scales with the adoption of the product/service

Disadvantage:

  • Users can share logins and steal your service

4. Tiered Pricing

With tiered pricing, different levels of the product/service or different features of the product/service cost more or less depending on the number of users, features to choose, usage, or bundling of products. Typically, you would create two to four different models that customers can choose in your store.

Advantage:

  • Pricing will appeal to different customers across different platforms for optimal sales

Disadvantages:

  • Time needed to construct tiers
  • Complex tiers may drive customers away

Managing Your Pricing Model

Once you make the decision on which model best suits your business model and the subscription services or products you are selling, you need to manage the model.

Managing involves several factors such as free trials, changing pricing, and refining the product.

Free Trials

Free trials are a tool that subscription revenue companies should use to acquire new leads and opportunities. It gives the companies a mechanism to drive more MRR at a reduced cost of acquisition. All subscription business models should look into using free trials, since providing upsells or providing add-ons will help retain customers.

Pricing Changes

You need to be able to adapt to the market by testing and evaluating the pricing model you have chosen. The marketing and advertising teams need to work together to communicate when the market is driving for change. Companies should make it mandatory to review the model and pricing at least every 6 months.

Refining the Product

You need to listen and learn from your customers and revise your products accordingly. One size does not fit all, and today’s customers are more informed and intelligent than ever before. The customer’s ability to have choice will create a long-term customer and higher ARPU.

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Best Free FTP Clients for Windows and Mac

best free ftp client

Want to learn more about FTP? Looking for a convenient way of managing the files on your server? Getting tired of the limited functionality of your browser or your control panel’s file manager? We wrote this article just for you.

If you’d like to learn what your best options are when looking for free FTP software, we created this list based on client capabilities, user interface, and security. Most of them work with both Windows and Mac.

We will also dig into all the important features and protocols of these free FTP programs. After all, that’s what matters most when making a decision on which one to use.

What is an FTP Client?

FTP stands for file transfer protocol, which perfectly describes and sums up the purpose of FTP clients. It’s just a piece of software that we use to transfer data between devices on a network. FTP clients are useful for using on servers such as Cloud VPS.

When it comes to hosting, we usually use them to exchange data between local computers and servers. This includes listing, viewing, editing, copying, moving, downloading, uploading, compressing, and comparing files.

1. FileZilla

FileZilla is an open-source FTP client and is the most popular client at the time of this writing. It was first released in 2001. It’s also the number one client that we recommend to our customers. FileZilla works with both Windows and Mac.

Supported Protocols

Supported Features

  • Passive mode
  • Resume download

Special Features

  • Tabbed interface for a better workflow
  • Active and large online community

2. Cyberduck

Cyberduck creators describe it as a libre server and a cloud storage browser. It’s open-source and works with both Windows and Mac. It comes with a very important feature – support for cloud servers like Amazon S3, Microsoft Azure, OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, and more.

Supported Protocols

Supported Features

  • Compression
  • Passive mode
  • Resume download

Unique Features

  • Allows you to set your own text editor

3. Classic FTP

Classic FTP is one of the simple everyday-tool type applications created by NCH Software. It doesn’t have as many features or protocol support as FileZilla and CyberDuck, but it makes up for this with its down to earth simplicity and straightforward interface. It works with both Windows and Mac.

Supported Protocols

Supported Features

Unique Features

  • Simple and easy to use
  • Part of a set of useful everyday tools by NCH Software

4. WinSCP

Last, but not least, WinSCP is the best free FTP client for Windows only. It’s open-source and very popular with the Windows community. WinSCP is the only FTP client that allows you to fully rearrange its visual interface, which is a big plus if you use FTP on a daily basis. Similarly to Cyberduck, it also has support for cloud services like Amazon S3, Microsoft Azure, OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, and more.

Supported Protocols

Supported Features

  • Compression
  • Passive mode
  • Resume download

Unique Features

  • Comes with its own text editor
  • Highly configurable user interface
  • Allows sorting of find results

Side-by-Side Feature Comparison

Client Name FTP Over SSH SFTP FTPS Compression Passive Mode Resume Download Windows Mac
FileZilla Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Available Available
Cyberduck No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Available Available
Classic FTP No No Yes No Yes No Available Available
WinSCP Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Available Not Available

Understanding Important Features

FTP

FTP is the original file transfer protocol and it’s been around longer than the world wide web. It typically runs on port 21 and the passwords are sent over the network in a clear text form.

Internet security wasn’t yet “a thing” at the time of its creation, and that’s why FTP wasn’t planned as a secure protocol. Taking into account today’s security needs and the breadth of cyber threats, we wouldn’t recommend using this unsecured version of the protocol to exchange data.

FTP over SSH

FTP over SSH is similar to the regular FTP protocol, but with an SSH tunnel being established between the client and server. This way, it benefits from the SSH protocol’s encryption, adding additional security to data exchange.

The FTP client actually initiates it with an SSH command, but once set up, clients and servers don’t need to know about the tunnel. As long as the ports are open, we would just transfer the data like we were using regular FTP.

SFTP

SFTP stands for SSH File Transfer Protocol, and it’s also known as “Secure FTP.” It’s a completely different protocol and has almost nothing in common with FTP. Its typical port is 22, which is the default SSH port.

Both the password authentication and the data transfer are encrypted and exchanged through the same port.

SFTP and SCP vs FTP

To exchange data securely, we highly recommend that you use SFTP or SCP vs FTP.

FTPS

FTPS, also known as FTP/SSL, can be described as the plain FTP protocol over a TLS/SSL channel. Its password authentication and data transfers are both encrypted, just like with SFTP, and it uses the same port, 21. This protocol’s second default port is 990, also called the implicit port, and we use it to initiate an SSL handshake automatically.

As opposed to SFTP, this protocol uses different ports for password authentication and data transfers. This makes it somewhat more difficult to manage from a security perspective.

Compression

The FTP client’s compression feature usually refers to its on-the-fly compression capability. This feature allows for file compression to take place during the transfer itself, making the transfer process much faster. The data is compressed as it’s being sent over from the source machine and then decompressed on the target machine.

Passive Mode

To better understand the FTP passive mode, we first need to know how the default (active) mode works. Let’s say we have a local computer (client) and a server.

In active mode, the client first connects from a random port to the server’s FTP command port (21) by sending the PORT command. This command tells the server which port it should use when connecting to the client. The server then connects from one of its FTP data ports (20) to the client’s port.

For this to work, the client machine needs to accept incoming TCP connections. Since most of today’s local computers have firewalls installed, this is where passive mode comes in and saves the day.

In passive mode, the first step is the same. The client machine first connects to the server’s FTP command port, but this time it sends a PASV command. With PASV, the client requests a data port from the server, and the server indicates which port number it opened for the data transfer.

Finally, the client then connects from another random port to the port specified in the server’s response, without needing to accept an incoming TCP connection.

Resume Download

This feature allows you to resume and/or pause a download in case your connection is lost before the download completes. Losing an internet connection in the middle of an FTP download can be quite frustrating. In worst-case scenarios, it can cost you lots of time and money as well.

That’s why it’s so important to pick an FTP client that allows you to resume a download once it gets stuck.

Resume download usually comes with a pause download option as well. That means you can pause any downloads in case you need to free up some bandwidth to do other things as well. It’s quite convenient for multitasking when working with multiple files or servers.

Honorable Mentions

Here’s a quick list of some other well-known free FTP clients in case you are eager to learn more about this topic.

Windows and Mac Compatible

  1. CrossFTP
  2. cURL
  3. lftp
  4. net2ftp

Mac Compatible

  1. Fetch
  2. gFTP
  3. Macfusion

Windows Compatible

  1. CoreFTP
  2. Fling FTP
  3. FTP Voyager

Start Using FTP Today

Now that you have a better understanding of FTP features and know what the best FTP clients are, it’s time to pick one up and start using it. Choose one with features that fit your needs best.

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A guide to boosting customer satisfaction to encourage customer loyalty

Ensuring customer satisfaction should be at the forefront of every business owner’s mind as, simply put, a happy customer equals more sales. In addition to this, satisfied customers are more likely to want to return to your business in the future, forging a strong sense of customer loyalty. However, it can soon become overwhelming trying to figure out how you can ensure maximum satisfaction for your customers. To help you out, here is a guide to boosting customer satisfaction to encourage customer loyalty. 

Train staff in customer service

Perhaps the most important thing to remember when dealing with customers is to treat all customers with courtesy and respect. However, it can sometimes be difficult to keep up a constant cheerful disposition when you are not feeling great or are faced with a trying customer, the result being that there may well be an understandable drop in customer service quality. To help prevent this, ensure that all customer facing staff – including employees answering telephones – receive rigorous customer service training. Doing this will provide your staff with the tools and confidence they need to deal with a variety of customer service scenarios on a regular basis, from the positive to the more difficult, to ensure that  your company as a whole is providing a high level of customer service.

Draw up a customer success journey map

A customer success journey map outlines the different steps taken by your customer throughout their interaction with your company. Mapping out the customer journey in this way enables you to optimize each step to ensure maximum satisfaction at each stage of their journey, which can in turn promote more sales and customer loyalty. However, your customer success journey map doesn’t end at the sale; keep in communication with your customer by checking up on their satisfaction with their purchase and inviting them to VIP events to let them know how important their custom is to your business and therefore help to encourage customer retention.

Obtain regular feedback

Gathering feedback from customers on a regular basis can help you to assess what is working with your customer service model and what could benefit from improvement. Give all customers the opportunity to review their purchase, perhaps by posting it on your website. Or, you could host a yearly questionnaire, which has the added benefit of allowing you to ask specific questions and get direct customer feedback about a specific issue that is affecting your business. In addition to this, don’t discount social media as a method for getting feedback by communicating directly with customers and followers, who may want to ask you particular questions about your business. However, it’s important to remember that though it’s never nice to receive complaints, they can prove useful to your company by directing you towards areas that could be built upon to ensure that your business is providing customers with top quality service that they want to return to again and again.

Open New Business Scopes with an Electronic Signature

The flight from Atlanta to Washington and back takes 12 hours. Are you ready to spend so much time to sign documents? SignNow is an American electronic signature provider. With SignNow, you can sign pdf documents or agreements without leaving your office. Just select the document you want on your computer and then sign it using a mouse or typing your name. The process becomes 100 times faster, isn’t it?

E-signature is an electronic analog of a manual signature. It confirms the agreement of the sides on official documents. You can create an electronic signature in several ways:

  • Using a finger/stylus;
  • With a help of a mouse;
  • By exporting your hand-written signature;
  • By typing your name (you can change its font so that it looks like a manuscript). 

Client Approval

The company was founded in 2011, but it has already won several prestigious awards:

  • Enterprise. Top 25 software 2016;
  • AICPA SOC 2;
  • Leader fall. Best software awards 2020;
  • Top 50 products for sale. Best software awards 2019;
  • Leader. Summer 2019;
  • Top 50 fastest-growing products. Best software awards 2019.

SignNow has over 20 million users worldwide. Customer satisfaction is confirmed by the site rating. On such reputable review platforms as Capterra, Gartner, Crowd, and Trustpilot, the site is rated 4.6 out of 5. The users of the Capterra resource mark SignNow as “Excellent product”, “Easy to sign software”, “Good for getting signatures”, “A lifesaver”. 

Businessmen Recommend

Use the bulk invite feature to grow your business. Boost the productivity of your business by speeding up your workflow. You can turn any document into a template with a signature and then send it to several people at once. Download the list of people you need and add them to your group. This procedure significantly saves scanning and printing time. The platform makes it easy to collect and send completed documents to clients.

Legal and Safe

The company is legally recognized as the technology it applies follows the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act. So, all the SignNow e-signatures are legally binding. No one can view, change, or download documents with your signature without your knowledge. You will be immediately warned about this. Therefore, this service is considered safe.

Unlimited

You can send as many documents as you need every month. The service has no limits on the size and number of documents. 

Free Access

SignNow is available on all types of mobile devices and PC. You can download an easy-to-use mobile application or work with the site without downloading the app. Just log in and use it. Recipients do not need to have an account on the site. They can just open a document and sign it.

Inexpensive Solution

Compared to competing companies, SignNow stands out for the price of services. The cheapest plan is $8/month per user. For approximately the same set of fields, other companies set a price:

  • DocuSign – $10
  • HelloSign – $13
  • Adobe Sign – $14.99
  • Keep Solid Sign – $9.99
  • PDFfiller – $20

Cost is the most common reason people choose SignNow over others. Thus, SignNow becomes the best solution for both leadoff entrepreneurs and experienced companies. In progress, customers notice that SignNow beats competitors not only in price but also in functionality

Types of Plans

SignNow offers three tiers pricing. The first tariff is called Business, and it cost only $8 per month. The second is Business Premium for $15 per user per month. The third, Enterprise, costs $30. The Business plan includes several options. Here are some of them:

  • Additional users. You can add up to 10 senders as users for an additional penny.
  • Numerous languages. Your client or partner can read and sign documents in the native language.
  • Application. You get access to the mobile app; so, you can use it on the go from everywhere.
  • Limitless templates. You can create and save as many templates as you wish.
  • Basic fillable fields. Signature, dropdown, date text, checkbox, initials are available. 
  • Cloud archiving. Export your documents to Google Drive, Amazon S3 storage, Dropbox, iCloud, Azure Data Box, and others for archiving.
  • Automatic reminders. Be sure that your partner won’t forget to sign your documents. The automatic notification feature will remind about checking. 
  • Tracking. You can monitor all the changes in each document using audit trials. 
  • Support team. Reach out for 24/7 help with live chat support.
  • 1-signer signature saving. Use your mobile device to gather the signature in-person. 
  • A team. Share the workflows, documents, and agreements and make templates within your team. 

The Business Premium plan involves all the business fields, including

  • Branding. Create personalized documents with your branding.
  • Sharing link. Send signing link without adding addressee’s e-mail. 
  • Multiple sending. Use a CSV format to send a file to multiple receivers. 
  • Grouping. Collect a number of documents and send them for signing all at once.

Moreover, you get more than 2 signer signature saving and unlimited teams instead of 1 in the business plan. 

The Enterprise plan offers the broadest service. An exclusive range of fields and advanced options are available here. You can register and use a free 7-day trial. During this time, you will explore all the features and select the one that best suits your business. 

Electronic signature supplants handwritten one, which saves signing time and reduces paper use. This method is extremely convenient since sometimes, it is physically impossible to be in the office. The right e-signature site can take your business to the next level! Choose the best one!

How to add any description field in the left side panel

Recently we had a requirement in which client wants to add Routing description field on work order screen in left side panel and description field will be fetched from routing Master. This field addition will help user to find operation details on work order screen. Also, we can add this field on report level as well. In left side panel we can add header level fields easily but for this field addition, we have done some changes in object screen which we have explained in below step by step.

Step 1: First open work order window and go to the object.

New Stuff: Warning message on credit note creation as per the financial year

Work Order window

Work Order window

Step 2: In object go to environment tab and open a table from where you are going to take the field and also give abbreviation to table.

Step 3: In the expression field mention joining condition according to the table index.

Objects

Objects

Step 4: In object grid expression field write table abbreviation name with field and give them a column Title.

Object grid expression

Object grid expression

Step 5: Save and Validate the object.

Step 6: Do global validation of window as well as from set up.

Because of this field addition user can check operation level detail in work order screen only . he can also show this in any work order report.

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 CRMSalesforce.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.

Warning message on credit note creation as per the financial year

In Sage X3, user can create sales credit note against the Sales Invoice transaction. This can be done as per the selected date of invoice & credit note creation date. In this customization we are going to give the pop up message at the time of the credit note creation against particular Sales Invoice. As per the GST rules, whenever material is returned by the customer to supplier for any specific reason, all taxes are collected by the supplier can be reversed if return is done before 6th month of next fiscal year, if credit note i.e. return are done after 6th month of the next financial year then taxes cannot be reversed. So in this case we will provide the pop up message at the time of creation of credit note against invoice if credit note is done after 6th month of next financial year.

Let us take an example, if current fiscal year is 2017-18, user has created one sales invoice transaction on 30th June 2017, now if customer wants to return the material in next fiscal year i.e. 2018-19 in the month says August 2018 the system will allow to making a credit note entry against that particular Sales Invoice. But if Credit Note will be done after September 2018 then system will give a pop up message as “Since transaction older than 6 months of the next financial year tax credit should not be taken, kindly review the Tax applied on the document”. After displaying this message, user can click on “OK” button and can create the credit note transaction as this is just a warning message.

Create new Sales Invoice, select Sales site, bill to customer, add detail line products with taxes on 2nd July 2017 and post this particular entry, Go to Sales–>Invoices–>Select all full entry invoice, refer below screenshot:-

New Stuff: How to exclude Components on a Work Order in Sage X3

[Sample Sales Invoice]

[Sample Sales Invoice]

Now go to Sales–>Invoices–>select all full entry credit, select sales site, bill to customer, click on select invoice option from left side on screen, select above invoice no, change date as 17th November 2018, click on create button. Message box will get pop up i.e. “Since transaction older than 6 months of the next financial year tax credit should not be taken, kindly review the Tax applied on the document”. Refer below screenshot:-

[Warning message on credit note]

[Warning message on credit note]

Now user will click “OK” button on pop up message and then system will allow to create the above transaction.

With the help of above customization, user will know whether they have created the transactions as per the specific fiscal year or not. This customization can be done in other screens also as per the client’s specific requirements.

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 CRMSalesforce.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.

How to exclude Components on a Work Order in Sage X3

In Sage X3, Work orders dictate what product need to be manufactured, what raw materials are going to be required to manufacture the product, and which work center that the product needs to pass through in the manufacturing process.

New Stuff:- Multiple ways to sign a standard workflow

We have a Work Order created in Sage X3 and we are ready to start tracking it. We realize that there are some components on the Work Order that we will not be using.  We decide to exclude those components, but for some reason the ‘Exclude Line’ option is not available.

Typically we would make sure that the Component we want to exclude is NOT allocated.

Work Order Entry

STEP 1: Check the Routing and Routing Code.

A routing is defined by a product code and a routing code.

The routings are used to describe the production processes of the finished products and sub-assemblies: they are made of a set of elementary operations that must be performed in an order set by scheduling. This function is used to create, view and update a routing information.

It is possible to have several routings for a single product reference, which are adapted to the use context: technical description of the R&D Department, cost calculation, macro-routings for the global costs calculation, etc.

It is possible to define routing codes: the routing code is a number associated with the product code, which identifies the routing code and authorizes the existence of several routings for a single product. The codes must be set up in the routing code table.

If you are sure that the component is not allocated, the reason that Exclude line is not showing is because of the set up on your Routing.

Highlighted below is the Routing and Routing Code used on this Work Order.

Here, Routing is ‘SFI001’ and Routing Code is ‘40’ and Site is ‘ZA012’.

Work order entry

STEP 2: Change the set up on your Routing.

Navigate to:  All -> Manufacturing -> Technical Data -> Routings -> Routing Management

Work order is used in the work order generation by using one or more BOMs and a single production routing.

Select our Routing with the correct Routing Code from the left list.

Routing

The WO management mode based on this routing and information concerning the last release.

We will notice that under the WO management mode either ‘No change’ or ‘Operation change’ is selected.

Routing

We need to change this to either ‘Materials Change’ or as in the example below ‘Change Materials and Operations’ and we need to save.

Routing-Change Material option

STEP 3: Check the Work Order:

Navigate to:  All -> Manufacturing -> Planning -> Work order

We need to go back and check our Work Order, under components tab click on the action button.  Now ‘Exclude line’ is available.

Work Order Entry

This blog helps to understand how to exclude components on a Work Order 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 CRMSalesforce.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.

Multiple ways to sign a standard workflow

Sage X3 provide us multiple ways to sign a record in workflow process. There are various ways which helps user to save their time. Basically a user goes manually to a particular transaction and searches the record and then signs the record, this process is bit time consuming but we have few different methods to sign the workflow which are more easy and time saving.

Below are the ways to sign a workflow.

*Manual signature.

*Landing page signature.

*Workflow monitor.

*Signature from link.

MANUAL SIGNATURE:

This is the basic way to sign a particular record which we have already introduced. Here user manually goes to the particular transaction, searches the record, clicks on signature button and makes the signature.

Fig1: Manual signature

LANDING PAGE SIGNATURE:

We have a standard landing pages for some modules in X3 i.e. sales workflow and purchase workflow. In these landing pages we get all essential information of a particular record such as record number, business partner, amount, sender etc. It has an action button form where we are allowed to accept or reject the particular record.

Fig2: Landing Pages

WORKFLOW MONITOR:

We can also perform signature from workflow monitor.

Navigation: USAGE -> USAGE -> WORKFLOW MONITOR.

You can select the entry transaction according to your module.

Fig3: Signature from Workflow monitor

As in above figure we can see we also have the information of the record and we have action button where we can select the signature option and accept or reject a particular record.

SIGNATURE FROM LINK:

As we know when a workflow is triggered a notification is been sent to the recipient that notify them to sign a record. As we can see the kind of link recipient receives in the email.  

Fig4: Link we receive on email

But if user want to sign from the link, they’ll have to do the below steps once before the workflow is triggered. When we click on the link, it redirect to a webpage which shows a message as shown in the below screenshot.

Fig5: After clicking link
  1. Navigate SETUP -> GENERAL PARAMETER -> PARAMETER VALUE ->SUPERVISOR

Jump to the details for WRK group and set a directory (path) into the WRKRMTDIR parameter as shown in the below screenshot.

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Fig6: Directory Path

2. Create a recurring task of the standard task ‘AWRKSIG’ and make sure this batch task is created and is running in background before we click on the link.

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Fig7: Recurring Task screen

What happens is when we click on the link, a file with .lka extension get created in the directory which is set in the WRKRMTDIR parameter (refer the below figure) and the batch AWRKSIG picks these files and verifies the type of file (i.e. can be for VALIDATION or REJECTION) and processes the signature accordingly.

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Fig8: .lka file example

Hence above are all the various ways to perform signature in workflow which helps user to do signature in more convenient way.

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 CRMSalesforce.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.

How to perform file Import/Export function using Batch Processing

Batch processing is a method of queued up transaction executed without manual intervention on the regular interval.

The batch server is a background process that launches programs or system commands. A queue of tasks is processed by the server, executing and logging the results of each task.

we come across the scenario where file based import and export function to be performed for transferring data between x3, the process can be automated through user-defined time scheduling of batch jobs.

How to add export batch task to the batch server queue:

STEP 1: Navigate to Usage > Batch server > Query management.

STEP 2: Click on Query.

STEP 3: Task code, Enter Export.

STEP 4: Click on Validation.

Fig : Export Batch task-Query submission

STEP 5: Enter your template in the Template field

STEP 6: Select Server as the Location. Batch processes do not use client files.

STEP 7: Exports-Enter a Data file name or select one using the lookup button. The name needs to be a storage volume followed by a file name, e.g. [TMP]/SOHFILE.csv

STEP 8: Exports-Range and Criteria fields used to filter the data to be exported.

Fig : Export Template Selection

Once the status of the Export task is finished, you can select Log from the action button’s menu on the row of batch task.

Fig : Task status on Query Management
Fig : Export query Log

Create recurring batch task for export batch task

STEP 1: Navigate to Usage > Batch server > Recurring task management.

STEP 2: Click New.

STEP 3: Enter a Recurring task code and Description.

STEP 4: For the Task code EXPORT/IMPORT.

STEP 5: Select a Periodicity. Choose either Weekly or Monthly and select or enter the days the job should run.

STEP 6: Enter a Time Range or one to three Fixed times to run the job each scheduled day.

STEP 7: Click Create.

STEP 8: Click Parameters.

STEP 9: Enter your template in the Template field

STEP 10: Select Server as the Location. Batch processes do not use client files.

STEP 11: Enter a Data file name or select one using the lookup button. The name needs to be a storage volume followed by a file name, e.g. [TMP]/ SOHFILE.csv

STEP 12: Range and Criteria fields are available to filter the data to be exported.

STEP 13: Click OK.

STEP 14: Select ACTIVE button and click on save button.

Fig : Recurring Task for export batch task

Task code-EXPORT

        A standard task called ‘EXPORT’, which runs the batch export function BATCHEXP. A standard task called ‘IMPORT’, which runs the batch export function BATCHIMP.Set up a recurring task with EXPORT or IMPORT as the task code, X3 will ask you to enter parameters, which will include the template to use.

How to add Import batch task to the batch server queue:

STEP 1: Navigate to Usage > Batch server > Query management.

STEP 2: Click on Query.

STEP 3: Task code, Enter Import.

STEP 4: Click on Validation.

Fig : Import Batch task-Query submission

STEP 5: Enter your template in the Template field

STEP 6: Select Server as the Location. Batch processes do not use client files.

STEP 7: Select the Location of file to be imported.

STEP 8: Click OK.

Fig : Import Template Selection

Click on Log, if import task status completed successfully.

Fig : Task status on Query Management
Fig : Import query Log

This blog helps us to understand what is batch task and how to perform import/export using batch processing and create recurring task for import/export batch task.

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 CRMSalesforce.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.