MAS90 Support Collaboration: 90 Minds Consulting Group
April 17, 2011
One of the most important organizations that Schulz Consulting has participated in over the last several years is the 90 Minds Consulting Group.
The 90Minds Consulting Group is a non-profit association of consultants who all met while attending Sage conferences (who say’s there’s no value in attending conferences!) and we individually specialize in the Sage Software family of accounting, CRM and ERP products.
90 Minds was formed in December 2005 when a group of consultants began exchanging email questions. Gradually the group matured and expanded to provide shared technical assistance, backup support, and serve as a sounding board for our members. We share well in excess of 500 messages monthly jointly supporting each others’ practices and providing second opinions on complex technical matters.
While the group is geographically diverse – members share experiences on a daily basis to answer technical questions for group members as well as provide as a first line of questions for industry specific solutions that some of our members have experience with.
Behind the scenes our members collectively share over 500 1,000 messages each month with technical tips and other information that serves to help the client’s of our members as they request support for the various accounting systems.
- Nationwide firms
- 27 member firms represented
- About 415 total employees
- 17 States
Birmingham, AL
Aliso, CA
San Diego, CA
San Jose, CA
Larkspur, CO
Denver, CO
Watertown, CT
West Hartford, CT
Glastonbury, CT
Ocala, FL
Sandy Springs, GA
Kaneohe, HI
Ottumwa, IA
Chicago,IL
Elkhart, IN
Sharon, MA
Traverse, MI
Cassopolis, MI
Duluth, MN
Springfield, MO
Grand Forks, ND
Holmdel, NJ
Akron/Cleveland, OH
Brunswick, OH
Corvalis, OR
Portland OR
Waynesboro, VA
Kirkland, WA
Services and products:
Epicor
Sage Accpac
Sage MAS 90
Sage MAS 200
Sage MAS 500
SageCRM
SAP Business One
Microsoft Dynamics and Navision
Open Systems
Traverse
What Does A MAS90 Upgrade Cost?
April 13, 2011
We receive from 3 to 5 inquiries a week from users all across the country with one question – “About how much would it cost to upgrade my MAS90 or MAS200″. Providing a quick price is a difficult task because the cost can vary wildly depending upon:
- Use of custom enhancements (Extended Solutions, customizations)
- Number and type of modules used
- Number of workstations (local, remote)
- Timetable (when does the upgrade need to occur)
- Ability of users to participate in testing
- Degree to which forms (how many, how intricate) have been customized in modules that are being upgraded
- Degree to which screens and user defined fields have been added to the system
- Number of companies (both live and historical) being upgraded
- Whether third party solutions are used (Starship, PC Charge, Business Alerts, EDI, FRX, Sage MAS Intelligence, F9, Job Ops, etc)
- How long since the last upgrade
- Size of the data files
- Condition of the data files (are the amounts in balance?)
- Number of users of the system
There’s really no easy way to respond to this inquiry so what many consultants do is provide a guess.
They’ll suggest a range of hours — say 20 to 40 hours.
Then they tack on “but you’ll only pay for actual time used – which may be more or less”.
We price our upgrades as a fixed cost for the services that have been requested (and documented). After having done many upgrades (and other projects including annual support) this way for many years – we’ve heard from clients that they prefer to know the costs in advance rather than receive a surprise bill at the end of the engagement.
What follows then is our typical reply for users who we’ve never collaborated with on an upgrade for before. If you’re an existing Schulz client – then our pricing will likely be a lot different since we already are familiar with your system.
A project to upgrade Sage ERP MAS 90 or 200 to 4.4 for professional services (assumes you have current Sage and any other needed software maintenance) typically starts at $ 5,000.
What makes an upgrade more costly than that? Typically it’s complexity (and, yes, everyone thinks they have a vanilla system that will take no time to upgrade).
If you’re like most users who’ve asked us that question you’ve already received some type of quote — either in writing or by email from a consultant that goes something like this…..
“Your upgrade should take between X and Y hours at $ Z – but of course you’ll only be billed actual time”.
Let me ask you a question.
What if the consultant who provided the guesstimate on price is wrong. What if instead of Y hours it takes Y times three (or four)? Who pays the extra fee?
Hint: It’s you…
We think the fairest way to price services is not with an hourly rate.
The fairest price is a fixed price (not an hourly estimate or “range of hours”)
This assumes a typical straightforward upgrade with no third party integration and using default forms (no customized forms) and standard reports (no custom reports or FRX/F9/SMI conversions) and no imports or custom office use.
That’s not to say that if you have any of those items that your cost would increase dramatically (or at all). Rather when there are added items to upgrade we like to take a look first – so neither of us mis-understands your upgrade project.
A Range Of Hours Is NOT A Price – It’s A Recipe For a Billing “Surprise”
Pricing is a factor of many things — and what many of our best clients find (too late) is they were misled by a low hourly price from another consultant — which they compared with the detailed fixed price we provided.
Some of those customers become our most loyal and devoted fans — but not until they were surprised (shocked?) by a bill from their former consultants.
The reason they were surprised — and that the other consultant seemed at first to be cheaper?
The client was comparing an estimate (a range of hours at standard hourly rate) which they thought was lower…. until the bill they received from their hourly consultant showed the actual (much higher) hours — and higher billed amount.
The only thing fixed about the price they’d received was the hourly rate. At the end of the engagement they learned that the hours could vary wildly from original estimates.
When they asked their consultant why the actual bill was so much higher than the quote – the consultant’s #1 response?
“The price we gave you was an estimate – the costs could be more — or less”
If you think that hourly (range of hours) estimates usually come out less – I’ve got a surprise for you…
Surprise (excess) billings is actually the #1 reason we find companies actively look to switch consultants.
At Schulz Consulting we price and invoice based on a fixed project cost.
This means we must understand your needs at the START of the project and not learn as we go (hourly billing) and expect your company to pay for our lack of initial due diligence.
The items covered (scope) of the project are laid out clearly in a detailed proposal – so there’s no chance for a surprise bill – or even worse – a system upgrade that goes so far off the rails that you have to restore to your old version.
In cases where you ask for extra services – we clearly explain the associated cost and send a quote for your approval prior to starting on any extra cost items.
Our careful upgrade procedure has been developed after working with hundreds of similar projects.
Every step of our process is documented in our online project management system (which you’re free to review at any time).
The project plan for your upgrade includes:
1. Install and initially configure your upgrade
2. Test conversion where you can review your data prior to final conversion
3. Final or go live conversion
4. Post-upgrade followup (training, troubleshoot, additional service requests)
At Schulz Consulting we price our services in what our clients tell us is the fairest (and their preferred) way – which is as a fixed cost.
Watch Out For Prices That Are Really WAGS (Wild Ass Guesses)
“it should take between xx and yy hours at zzz rate. If it takes less then you pay less and if more you pay more”.
These are not really prices – but rather are estimates.
The costs usually don’t come in as less — but more.
Under this pricing method you will not know the true price until the project is complete.
Many of the inquiries we receive are from users that are curious about general costs.
Your inquiry may be similar — and we’re happy to provide our preliminary estimate which you can use to compare against your preferred provider’s quote .
If you’d like a formal proposal we provide one for a fee of $500 (this only applies for companies where we’ve not performed an upgrade in the last few years) which is credited against your paid upgrade cost.
Wait. A fee? Why a fee when all the other consultants on the web do this for free?
There are two reasons that there’s a cost to generate a formal proposal:
First, most consultants are giving you a “ball park” estimate based on an hourly rate. To put it bluntly they’re guessing. You’ll shoulder ALL of the risk of a cost over-run.
Second, we assume the risk of a cost over-run – however we must understand your system, your requirements and the expectations of the project BEFORE we can provide you with a cost.
Our proposal includes a single session to login and review your existing MAS system, discuss open issues and concerns and provide a 10 page document with the scope of services.
Please feel free to contact me to arrange for an evaluation and I can provide you with a cost for an initial analysis (credited against your accepted project).
Error 46 Sy_Session.pvc or Error 11 Sy_Session.pvc “Record ‘ ‘ is missing
April 12, 2011
Sage have just issued a second hotfix for Sage ERP MAS 200. This one seems to address an issue found only in MAS200 where master developer enhancements were at one time (or possible still are) installed.
Because the issue seems particularly tricky to track down – I thought it might be good to post the report and link to the fix.
Error 46 SY_Session.pvc or Error 11 Sy_Session.pvc in MAS 200 v4.4
The Problem With Billing Hourly
April 12, 2011
We’ve converted our project billing from hourly to fixed price. This happened well over a year ago and since then we’ve found that our client’s are happier because two things are known in advance:
A. The project definition – which for projects over a day is a written document outlining what will be done and who will do it.
B. The price – which is fixed for the services we’ve defined (see A above).
Infoworld has an article today titled 7 Dirty Consultant Tricks (and how to avoid them). Most of the key problems could be avoided if both parties took the time to outline a scope of services ahead of time.
Instead what we’ve often seen is that instead of defining the project in advance – one or both parties (either client or consultant) determines that they’ll “just bill hourly for whatever time is incurred”.
The conflict in this situation is that the client is assuming the time will be minimal and the project well defined. The (bad) consultant assumes the checkbook is wide open (hourly billing) to be assessed as the project grows and grows.
This is an interesting read — and a topic that we’ve found most consultants and client’s don’t “get” until they experience it.
7 dirty consultant tricks (and how to avoid them)
Aries Technology Group: The Billable Hour and ERP Consulting
April 11, 2011
My friends John and Amy Shaver operate Aries Technology Group LLS – a Sage business partner located in Knoxville Tennessee. They’ve become well known as an early leader in providing fixed price consulting services to their client base which include Sage ERP MAS90, MAS200, SageCRM and Sage Abra.
Their philosphy on business service is best summarized by the About Us page on their web site:
Here is a list of About Us information that we feel provides much more valuable information to you about whether we know what we’re doing or not:
We believe that business is not a zero-sum game. Both your company and ours should profit from a relationship between the two of us. It’s our job to prove that profitability.
We believe that all projects should be approached as a collaborative effort between your team and the Aries team.
Every single project, whether it’s implementing a complex manufacturing system or writing a report, should have a fixed price that is presented to you before starting any work.
Every single project should be backed by a 100% money-back guarantee. Why should you take the risk of project failure?
We believe that in the world of technology projects, effectiveness trumps efficiency every time.
We take our work very seriously but we also believe in humor and a relaxed, low stress work environment for both your team and ours.
Yes, of course, everyone on our team has extensive product knowledge. It would be hard not to pick up something about the products while working with them for almost 20 years. However, we prize consulting skills and behaviors (otherwise known as “bed side manner”) above all else.
We believe that the practice of billing for time is unethical because it misaligns the interests of the customer and the consultant.
We strive for authenticity in everything we do, both in business and in personal life.
We work in a ROWE (results-only work environment) and can’t imagine life being any other way.
One of John Shaver’s VeraSage colleagues, Greg Kyte, produced this for us (he plays Bob in the video). Greg is a CPA and a professional stand-up comedian.
Convofy Launches – Social Sharing For Groups – Flash Review
April 7, 2011
Yesterday marked the launch of a new sharing tool aimed at reducing email and increasing communication within companies. The product, Convofy, joins a lineup of similar tools (Yammer, Socialcast, Chatter) which allow an organization to shun some forms of email in favor of moving teams online to share comments and ideas in much the same way as Facebook allows users to post status updates and comments.
The main goal of these systems is to reduce email inbox overload — and increase participation and sharing (think Facebook status update and subsequent comments).
In many ways these tools are a closed version of Facebook for the enterprise. Instead of sharing pictures of your kids at the fair — you’ll share documents and web links where your group can comment and ask additional questions.
These solutions do a fantastic job of clearing out email clutter — though there’s usually a learning curve that your company won’t have with email (Email simplicity wins hand down – how tough is it to learn to hit “reply” or “reply all”?). Once you’re over the initial acceptance phase – you can expect increased participation from your organization (at 90Minds we’ve seen a 25% increase in comments and sharing of technical information via our use of Socialcast).
Convofy First Impressions
Interesting adaptation – I think the #1 problem that Convofy has is the UI. What’s a Direct vs a Follower — and in the year 2011 why are people still using the term follower?
Make the UI too confusing and the adoption from deep in the organization ain’t happening is going to be tough. Been There. Done That.
On the plus side I love the chat feature — the notifications worked especially well which is really important for a desktop communication tool. Not sure if group chat is supported because I didn’t get a chance to test that – but I don’t think so.
Our 90 Minds consulting group are Socialcast users and we love that service. Socialcast strikes what seems to be the proper blend of functionality and ease of use.
For our use (managing a team of 27 ERP consultants scattered across the USA) one of the more attractive features of Convofy is that we can add people to groups and the people (who may only be casual business acquaintances) cannot see the main organization feed.
Socialcast exposes that main feed to everyone — which is a huge fail for organizations that may want to invite a customer to participate in their group. The problem? In Socialcast if you invite a customer you have to make them a member of the main feed where they’ll see all the mis-posted stuff, off color jokes and personal rants that go into the main news feed.
Another problem that social sharing sites like Yammer, Socialcast and now Convofy have is there’s no easy way to move stuff from one group to another. If you mis-post to one group an administrator can only delete. How hard is it to allow for moving of content?
Top Convofy Plusses (based on a half hour look and comparison to Socialcast)
- The drag/drop (+) bar — nice for sharing
- LIve chat with notifications
- Live presence indicator (sadly absent on Socialcast)
- Group members can be added from outside the organization (email domain) AND they cannot see anything in the system except the group (do NOT overlook this point if you think you’ll want to share with casual collaborators – this is HUGE). Am not sure if Yammer has this same feature (I think it does) but Socialcast does not.
- Markup of documents (though I wonder whether this is more “demo dazzle” than a real world tool that most companies would use). On second thought I think this could be a great feature (click the image below to see a full screen example of a Sage support screen that I’ve commented on for my group). I could see my clients using this to discuss various client issues (contracts, proposals).
Top Convofy Minuses
- I login to Socialcast all the time from client sites – having only an Adobe Air client for Convofy is a mark against them
- The UI is goofy and I think the whole sidebar with Direct, Tasks, Discussions, Chats, Drafts, Trash is way too complex. It’s going to drive people away from full adoption as you go deeper in the organization.
I’m still scratching my head over what the “Chats” link does (Update: The Chat link lets you search chats. Seems that it takes a while for Convofy to index properly and the first few times I clicked the chat link nothing had yet been indexed). And just what are these things called directs? Is that people who report to me in the organization? Is it a place for direct messages? And why would that be different than followers? It’s way too confusing. First looks are critical in this area.
Clicking on “My Tasks Lists” confusingly throws me into a full screen of some type of info — away from the main feed. From there the user has to stop and figure out how to get back.
This kind of UI stuff needs to be clean (see Facebook which isn’t perfect but is easy enough for Grandma to figure out without calling the family for lessons — THAT is where these social tools need to be in ters of ease of use) so that people adopt instead of scratch their heads.
- Lack of native mobile application is going to be a minus here (and no use of email to reply is not acceptable because, heck, aren’t we using this to get away from email. Yeah the HTML site looks cool — where are the push notifications going to come from? Email? See prior comment. Aren’t we using this to get away from email. This is going to be a ball and chain for Convofy. Not a huge issue if you’re all sitting in an office but that’s not the trend today.
- Use of Adobe Air — this needs to also have a native web interface so you can login from remote workstations without a full AIR setup. You don’t stop when you are at a client site and think that you can’t check GMAIL because you have to download an app — why should you have a more inconvenient experience with Convofy which is supposed to eliminate that problem (email overload).
Just my impressions based on about 60 minutes use and comparison to Socialcast which we have used for about 6 months and Yammer (used about 2 months) for a group of 27 consultants.
Link: Convofy
Last Day For MAS90 Extended Solution Updates is April 29, 2011
April 6, 2011
Sage have just sent a notice that any users on Sage ERP MAS 90 or MAS 200 version 4.3 who need an Extended Solution updated (often required if a service update is being installed) to the latest version have until April 29, 2011 to request this.
As you probably know Sage stopped supporting Extended Solution (a catalog of enhancements for Sage ERP MAS 90 and 200) back in 2009. For a period of time they were still allowing some orders of the solutions but had noted that all updates (within the same version) would cease in 2010. That date has been extended through April 29, 2011.
If you are using an Extended Solution on version 4.3 and have a need for an updated version 4.3 copy of that solution (for example if you’re installing a v4.3 service update ) then you should contact your business partner prior to 4/29 and arrange to receive an updated copy of the Extended Solutions.
via Sage:
Last Chance to Request a Customer’s Extended Solutions v4.3-Compatible Extended Solutions Titles. On November 30, 2010, Sage sent you a list of your customers and the Extended Solutions titles they own. Please reference this list and contact the sales advisor team at salesadvisor@sage.com to place your clients’ orders. Sage has granted a grace period to request v4.3-compatible titles until April 29, 2011
Sage Summit 2011 Partner Session Guide – PDF
April 5, 2011
A few Sage partners have asked if there’s a PDF which lists the sessions at the upcoming Sage Summit 2011 being held July 10-15, 2011 at the Gaylord National Hotel and Convention Center in Washington DC.
I’ve asked over on the Sage Summit 2011 Facebook page and they pointed me to http://www.sagesummit.com/partners/experience/why-do-i-need-to-be-there/ where you can download a copy of the session guide for Sage partners.
Or I’ve embedded the document below – where you can view it online.
Sage Summit 2011 Partner Guide
Navision Support
April 4, 2011
We’re often asked if we can recommend consultants who do good work in other area’s of accounting and ERP software beside MAS90 and MAS200.
One person whose name constantly comes up is my friend Mark Chinsky of Client’s First Business Solutions. Mark’s been working with both Sage ERP MAS 90 and Microsoft products since we also started way back in 1986. His knowledge of the different systems – including Microsoft Navision and the competition – make him a valuable resource for anyone considering an upgrade or new implementation.
Mark’s first firm – OnTrack Consulting was the number one reseller for Sage ERP MAS 90 and MAS 200 in the late 1980s and mid 1990′s. His present firm – Client’s First – has diversified to offering advanced technical support for Microsoft’s Navision product.
Whether you’re a new or existing user – chat with Mark about any of your Navision questions.
Six Tips for a Smoother MAS90 or MAS200 Upgrade
April 4, 2011
After having performed many successful Sage ERP MAS 90 and MAS 200 upgrades that came in on budget (fixed fee) over the past few months – I’ve been somewhat surprised to see and hear of many mistakes made during upgrades.
Just last week two end users emailed to ask about finding another reseller. Their MAS90 upgrade had gone “off the rails” because the consultant showed up to do a same day upgrade.
No testing, no prior review of the hardware platform for compatibility, no review of the integrated third party solution vital to their business (and not surprisingly the updated 3rd party solution was buggy as all heck).
There are a lot of ways to safeguard your business from problems during your MAS90 upgrade. At Schulz Consulting we perform a four phase upgrade on any client system – no matter how big or small.
Schulz Consulting Four Phase Upgrade
Phase #1: Install and configure the system. Ensure that all the pieces are working (no startup errors) and ready for you to test .
Phase #2: Testing. Prior to going live with a major upgrade we recommend a test conversion. Since MAS90 and MAS200 allow for parallel migrations you can copy your existing data to the upgrade while users continue working in the old version. This is the best way for you to look at how your data converts and test the integration of third party add-ons – typically either custom programming or reporting tools.
Phase #3: Go Live. After you’re satisfied that the testing is successful – it’s time to re-migrate data and go live with your upgrade. Done properly – the go live phase is merely a formality with minimal downtime. Often we’ll start to convert the data remotely the prior night so that your staff can hit the ground running during the next morning without having to wait for time consuming conversions.
Phase 4: Post Upgrade Review. About three days after going live we’ll schedule a conference call. During this call we summarize any open upgrade issues and develop a plan with you to resolve them no later than 10 days after you’ve begun using the new version of your software.
What Goes Wrong With Upgrades That Aren’t Planned Well?
Here are some mistakes users and other consultants make which derailed their upgrade progress.
Probably the biggest mistake that non-savvy users make is not to involve a consultant with the upgrade. I receive calls on an almost daily basis from IT consultants scheduled to go visit a customer the next day wanting to know if there’s “anything special” they need to do to upgrade the customer to the latest version of MAS90 or MAS200.
Sometimes these consultants get lucky and the upgrade goes off without a hitch. More often we receive an emergency call that the accounting system is down and the consultant can’t understand why such a terrible system like MAS90 doesn’t upgrade in the same manner as (pick any of the consumer systems that the consultant is more familiar with).
Often IT consultants want to implement the latest cutting edge hardware. We’re all for using current hardware – except when that hardware (or operating system) is not compatible with Sage ERP MAS90 or MAS 900 (here’s the list of MAS90 compatible hardware and operating systems and virtual environments).
Top 6 Reasons MAS90 Upgrades Fail
- Failure to test: Not running a test upgrade first is acceptable for someone upgrading a very small system from a recent version to a recent version. If your company is upgrading a 25 user system from MAS90 version 3.71 to 4.4 without a test upgrade then you’ll be greatly increasing your risk of computer downtime. Running a test upgrade helps (though does not guarantee) that pesky issues like bugs and form alignment are worked out BEFORE your staff is getting ready to send out the monthly billing.
- Not checking the supported platforms matrix. Most hardware and operating platforms work well with current versions of MAS90 and MAS200. Failure to check before making an expensive network upgrade is foolish and can result in downtime if a specific operating system isn’t yet compatible with Sage ERP MAS.
- Forgetting to upgrade third party enhancements. One of the more common problems to derail otherwise simple MAS90 upgrades is a buggy third party solution that was not tested before being installed. Often the user is forced to roll-back to the old version of MAS while the previously untested solution is sent back to the developer (who usually must take several days for additional debugging). Don’t let this happen to you. Test every bit of custom software in advance of the day which you plan to go live!
- Assuming that every feature that existing in a version of MAS90 or MAS200 which was produced 10 years ago was carried unchanged into the new version. Sage publishes a what’s new in MAS90 which shows all the changes added to the program in each level. Testing the upgrade prior to going live is the only way you’ll catch subtle changes in procedures that have been made due to the software upgrade.
- Allowing too little time for the upgrade and testing. The biggest problem that we’ve seen with users is failure to test or allocate proper time for testing. Often users delay any testing and instead feel that they’ll complete the testing during the “go live” phase. The reason that testing is called testing is that it’s done before the “go live”. Almost all of the problems we’ve seen users report with their upgrade could have been caught during a testing phase.
- Upgrading a server at the same time as the MAS90 and MAS200 upgrade occurs. Another recipe for disaster is to simultaneously upgrade an entire computer network (migrating user rights, directory permissions, etc) at the same time as the MAS90 system is upgrade. Based on experience we’ve seen these types of simultaneous upgrade cause significant delays (even though at the outset it seemed like a great idea to upgrade everything at once) because of problems with network user rights, printers, file permissions, new versions of anti-virus, anti-malware, firewall settings, IP addresses, etc. We recommend you upgrade your computer network and workstations at a time independent of when you’ll upgrade your MAS90 or MAS200 accounting software. If the upgrade must be done at the same time then allow for time to work out issues that are related to the network upgrade.
Need assistance with an existing upgrade — or perhaps one that has “gone off the rails”?
Do you recognize any of the above mistakes that may have led to issues with your last upgrade?
We’ve streamlined our upgrade process. Each of our projects is tracked in 37 Signals Basecamp project management – which enables everyone on our team (and your staff) to view each phase of the project as it occurs.
What this means is we’re able to quote a fixed price for upgrade. We don’t work hourly on upgrades — and if you have a quote in hand that shows hours at best you have an estimate where the cost could be double or triple what you expect.
Anyone who is competent with MAS90 should be able to quote you the exact price (within the given scope of services – and obviously if there are additional services requested then those are changes that incur added cost).
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