I do sell the classes in conduction with other Sage Partners. Pricing is available on my web site and I have a bundle of a two hour training session that is included with most course guides. This session allows for about 30-45 minutes of questions and answers. One of my Azamba SageCRM senior consultants conducts the training.

Here’s a sample of the guides:

More information: SageCRM Training Guides

© 2011, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Sage 50, Sage 100, Sage 300 and Sage 500 are registered trademarks of Sage. Have additional unanswered questions about MAS90? You may contact Schulz Consulting here.

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You may have tried recently to download the latest FRX service pack 11 from Sage. Unfortunately as of January 31, 2011 Sage is no longer able to distribute service packs due to Microsoft (who publishes FRX) discontinuing sales of FRX (support however extends to December 2012).

If you need to download FRX 6.7 Service Pack 11 (aka R11670) you can navigate directly to the Microsoft Knowledgebase via the link below.

Download FRX Service Packs For MAS 90 and MAS 200:

FRX Service Pack 10
FRX Service Pack 11

Can we assist you further ? Provide your name and contact information so we can contact you:

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Struggling to convert your FRX financial reports to Sage MAS Intelligence (SMI)?

As you probably are aware, FRX was the reporting tool bundled with all versions of Sage ERP MAS 90 and 200. Starting in January 2011 Microsoft has stopped selling FRX. As of the end of 2012 FRX support will no longer be available. In response Sage have pledged to keep version 4.5 of Sage ERP MAS 90 and 200 backward compatible with FRX.

Beyond version 4.5 it’s anyone’s guess whether FRX will continue working with Sage ERP MAS 90 and 200. For this reason Sage have introduced a re-badged version of Alchemex (an Excel based report writer) as their FRX replacement. Marketed as Sage MAS Intelligence this reporting tool is being provided to every user of MAS.

Users of FRX have questioned whether their existing reports will migrate automatically to SMI. Unfortunately the answer ultimately is no. However Craig Juta from bxintelligence has posted this short 5 minute video that could give you an idea of the ease with which a person skilled with Excel can convert FRX reports.

FRX to Sage MAS Intelligence Conversion in 6 Steps (5 minute video)

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Sage partner Hightower Inc have just announced that their Multi-Bin for Sage ERP MAS90 and MAS200 version 4.4 is available.

The feature adds the ability to track multiple bin locations per warehouse for specific MAS 90 or MAS 200 inventory items as described below:

Inventory Management
The Sage MAS 90 and Sage MAS 200 Inventory Management module provides receipt of goods data, the movement of goods within or between locations, the sale, removal of goods, and the precise valuation and status of goods remaining in inventory at any point in time. When integrated with Multi-Bin Advanced Distribution, you will be able to track multiple bin locations per warehouse per item.

Sales Order
With the Sage MAS 90 or Sage MAS 200 Sales Order module, you’ll know the availability of specific units in inventory, or alternate items if an item is out of stock, specific customer pricing, customer credits, and much more, while entering orders. With Multi-Bin Advanced Distribution, you can mark inventory items involved in sales orders as allocated. Allocated inventory items are not available for purchase by other customers until you release the items.

Purchase Order
Streamline and organize your entire purchasing process – track shipping methods, track the date a purchase is required, track the name of person that places the order, and confirm the quantity ordered and the price. Multi-Bin Advanced Distribution modifies the Sage MAS 90 or Sage MAS 200 Purchase Order module to utilize bin locations for receipt of inventory items. Bin locations are also utilized for return of goods and material requisition entries.

Bill of Materials
Sage MAS 90 and Sage MAS 200 Bill of Materials allows you to easily create and maintain a detailed bill of components and miscellaneous charges that make up your finished items and subassembly components. Multi-Bin Advanced Distribution module integrates with Bill of Materials so bin quantities can be tracked throughout the production and disassembly processes.

Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA)
With RMA, once an item is returned, Sage MAS 90 and Sage MAS 200 will automatically generate all appropriate transactions, including credit memos, replacement orders, purchase orders, and vendor returns. Multi-Bin Advanced Distribution integrates with the Return Merchandise Authorization module so that quantity can be distributed to bins before transactions are generated.

Work Order
Issue work orders, develop schedules, and track costs associated with the manufacturing process. Sage MAS 90 and Sage MAS 200 Work Orders gives you the ability to see up-to-the-minute work in process information. The Multi-Bin Advanced Distribution module integrates with Work Order so bin distributions can be entered and updated along with each work order entry.

Bar Code
With Bar Code, collect data more quickly than ever before – warehouse and shipping/receiving staff can record bar coded items with a scanner and data is downloaded to Sage MAS 90 or Sage MAS 200. Multi-Bin Advanced Distribution modifies the Bar Code module by expanding the import files to include bin locations.

via: Multi-Bin for Sage ERP MAS 90 and MAS 200

© 2010, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Sage 50, Sage 100, Sage 300 and Sage 500 are registered trademarks of Sage. Have additional unanswered questions about MAS90? You may contact Schulz Consulting here.

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If you hate filing sales tax returns as much as most people – check this offering from SpeedTax. They’re an outsourced sales tax processing service that integrates to MAS90 and MAS200 accounting software to provide accurate sales tax calculations.

If you think the federal government isn’t looking to recoup every penny of tax owed them to make up for budget shortfalls — then just keep preparing your sales tax manually.

If however you think increased tax compliance is part of the “new normal” you might leave sales tax computation and return preparation to the professionals.

Through December 19, 2010 Speed Tax has this special offer:

SpeedTax Will Prepare Your Annual Tax Filing at NO COST!

Sign up for SpeedTax Plus Returns and Remittance Service by 12/19/10 and We’ll Prepare Your Annual Filing at NO COST!

More businesses than ever before are choosing to outsource their sales and use tax returns and remittance burden to SpeedTax, because our service is easy to use, affordable, and technologically advanced, keeping your business up-to-date on nearly 17,000 jurisdictions nationwide, and allowing you to offload the most tedious, time-consuming, resource-intensive sales tax-related tasks to us. Now is the time to outsource your rapidly expanding sales tax burden and risk to SpeedTax.

For more info:

SpeedTax Sales Tax Preparation

© 2010, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Sage 50, Sage 100, Sage 300 and Sage 500 are registered trademarks of Sage. Have additional unanswered questions about MAS90? You may contact Schulz Consulting here.

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Sage MAS Intelligence is the replacement for FRX Financial Report Writer which Microsoft is terminating support for at the end of next year. FRX had been the recommended financial report writer. With the decision by Microsoft to eliminate their product – the new recommended reporting tool is Sage MAS Intelligence.

Each user of MAS 90 or MAS 200 will receive a free copy of this program along with one user license. Watch for a notification from Sage in the coming weeks that will alert you to the availability of Sage MAS Intelligence.

Click here to view the embedded video.

© 2010, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Sage 50, Sage 100, Sage 300 and Sage 500 are registered trademarks of Sage. Have additional unanswered questions about MAS90? You may contact Schulz Consulting here.

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From the Hightower Site:

Because Timekeeper is fully integrated with your Sage MAS 90 or Sage MAS 200 ERP system, you can process all time/expense entry information into a number of the modules, including Sage MAS 90 Accounts Receivable, Sage MAS 90 Job Cost, Sage MAS 90 Payroll, Sage MAS 90 Sales Order, Time and Billing, and Time and Billing Professional. This level of integration enables you to increase overall efficiency and enhance service to your clients by tracking employee time and expenses for accurate and timely invoicing.

You can enter time/expense data into your Sage MAS 90 or 200 software using the Timekeeper module, the platform independent Timekeeper Entry application, or online via .timekeeper. All of these solutions are available when you install Timekeeper. Choose the best time/expense entry solution for your company. The following list describes each solution.

I’ve had several clients use the system and have found it to be an excellent solution for anyone looking to track time without having to invest in a more expensive time and billing system (which Hightower offers with their Time and Billing Professional for MAS90).

There’s a free online web demonstration scheduled for 9/1/2010 — click here to register or for more information .

© 2010, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Sage 50, Sage 100, Sage 300 and Sage 500 are registered trademarks of Sage. Have additional unanswered questions about MAS90? You may contact Schulz Consulting here.

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Sage has just made their MAS 90  FRX replacement available for download online. Branded as Sage ERP MAS Intelligence (say that 3 times fast) the Excel based solution connects to not only your financial data but all other module data (ex. Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, etc).

We provided you with a first look at Sage ERP MAS Intelligence (then being referred to as Sage Business Intelligence) back in March 2010 when Alchemex did a  demo for the 90 Minds Consulting Group.

View the product frequently asked questions below – or visit Sage’s site for more information and download links.

Sage ERP MAS Intelligence

© 2010, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Sage 50, Sage 100, Sage 300 and Sage 500 are registered trademarks of Sage. Have additional unanswered questions about MAS90? You may contact Schulz Consulting here.

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Many times our clients have employee expense checks that are sent out weekly, bi-weekly, monthly or even a few times a week. The employees who receive those checks often are sometimes not in the office which requires the to be mailed.

This introduces delays, increased postage cost and extra administrative time spent stuffing envelopes. Sure this may not be a big issue for those with two or three employees. Ramp the number of employees up to 100 or more — and suddenly you have a potential administrative time sink.

The newest release of Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 – which is available for download to those on the Basic Maintenance plan — adds ACH electronic processing. If you’ve used the Direct Deposit for Payroll – the ACH for accounts payable works nearly identically.

Unlike older versions of ACH for Accounts Payable – this updated feature allows you to create your own customized export of data so that if a bank needs a feed adjusted to fit their required layout you have the ability to do this yourself without hiring a programmer.

Sage has a nice 6 minute vide that showcases the ACH for Accounts Payable.

We can install and configure this during your upgrade – and help you manage the first few exports of data to your bank. Of course we have clients who have been doing this for years and we are happy to connect our clients to those already using the enhancement to get direct feedback on their experiences.

PS - I noticed after composing this article that I mistakenly pasted in the YouTube from last night’s Lou Gramm concert at Mohegan Sun. The video you want of the ACH for MAS 90 is here.

Enjoy Lou Gramm performing Jukebox Hero live at Mohegan Sun 7/23/2010 (former lead singer of Foreigner).

Click here to view the embedded video.

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One of the most exciting features of the new MAS 90 & MAS 200 business framework has been the ability to use scripts to control aspects of the software.

Almost every consultant and technical end user could benefit from learning how to do some scripting — which in the current 4.4 release is the preferred method of avoiding customizations and add-ons.

Alnoor Cassim is a genius with MAS 90 and MAS 200. He ran the support area worked at Sage for 14 years before striking out on his own last year (Callforhelp.biz). For years while at Sage Alnoor served as the ultimate technical resource and is responsible for many of the advanced level workarounds or problem resolutions.

If you have been thinking of learning more about scripting and the BOI (Business Objects Interface) then be sure to sign up for the class being held at SWK in NJ on June 22, 2010 in New Jersey. There are also two 4 hour remote sessions being held immediately following that date on June 23 and 24.

From the course description:

This training will help channel resellers and ISVs produce User Defined Scripts to solve business process issues and fulfill business requirements using the Custom Office module that previously required a Master Developer enhancement. Prior to version 4.40, Customizer scripts did not have direct access to the MAS 90/200 business objects and could only be activated via button click. However, the new User Defined Scripts are event based scripts no longer requiring a button click and offer direct access to the business objects without having to create a separate front‐end application using the Business Object Interface (BOI).

You may have already read the exciting news from Sage on the capabilities and power of scripting in 4.40 and have seen the exciting presentations on how User Defined Scripts can be used to meet a client’s business requirements. You may have also tried to understand and play with the demo scripts and put all the concepts together. To that end, the primary goals of this class are to:

a. show you what’s “under the hood”;
b. extend and apply what you have already read and seen; and
c. transition your knowledge into real world practice.

For more information – view the PDF registration form today.

MAS90 & MAS 200 BOI and Advanced File Scripting Training June 22-24-2010

© 2010, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Sage 50, Sage 100, Sage 300 and Sage 500 are registered trademarks of Sage. Have additional unanswered questions about MAS90? You may contact Schulz Consulting here.

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As you may know Sage is preparing to release a new universal Business Intelligence product which will be used on the Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 product line.

Their current release plans indicate that this will ship in Summer 2010 as outlined in a recent announcement:

Sage MAS Intelligence will soon be introduced as the ideal FRx replacement product for Sage MAS ERP. On target to be released this summer, Sage MAS Intelligence offers powerful and easy to use graphical financial reporting capabilities to access business-critical information, and makes complex reporting easy using a new report designer. Going beyond General Ledger reporting needs, Sage MAS Intelligence will provide Business Intelligence across the entire Sage MAS ERP system, including CRM and Abra.

The products compared are:

Sage MAS Intelligence (Sage’s NEW offering scheduled for Summmer 2010)
Sage MAS 90 and 200 Business Insights Dashboard
Sage MAS 90 and 200 Business Insights Reporter

FRX
BizNet
Crystal Reports
F9

The comparisons provide for ranking a wide range of features under the categories of Data Access, Report Security, Report Delivery and Distribution, Reporting Capabilities, Sorting, Aggregation and Drill Down, Database Support Provided, Operating Systems Support and MS Office Version Support.

SageMAS Intelligence Comparison- FRX, Biznet, Alchemex, Crystal, F9

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The replacement for FRX is Sage MAS Intelligence. It’s a private labeled version of a spreadsheet based solution from a company named Alchemex which is already in use with Sage’s Accpac product line.>/p>

We had an opportunity in March to take a first look at what was then termed Sage Insights Intelligence (since re-branded Sage MAS Intelligence).

One of the questions at the time was about how FRX reports would be converted. Many customers who are using FRX have created elaborate FRX layouts for their financial reporting. Understandably many users have been concerned about whether all of  this data would transfer to the new Sage MAS Intelligence.

While we don’t know exactly what data will be converted (for example it’s unclear whether reporting tree structures will convert), we can report that last night Alchemex shared the following welcome news:

..nothing new other than we most definitely will release a utility that will convert FRx reports in MAS Intelligence format, but are in discussions with Microsoft regarding the password for the FRx database and using this, so may have some delays, but realize how critical this process/function will be and are paying attention to it.

So it looks as if at least some older FRX layout formats have a chance for automatic conversion to the new Sage MAS Intelligence layout. It’s still too early to tell exactly what will convert (and how accurately) however it’s comforting to know that a conversion option remains under active development.

© 2010, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Sage 50, Sage 100, Sage 300 and Sage 500 are registered trademarks of Sage. Have additional unanswered questions about MAS90? You may contact Schulz Consulting here.

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Sage just posted FRX Service Pack 9 (which had been available directly from Microsoft since December of last year).

The changes appears to be mostly bug fixes with tweaks for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 support. Another user reports that this service pack 11 for FRX also fixed a problem with Microsoft Excel 2007 compatibility.

Of course Microsoft is no longer supporting FRX after 12/31/2012 and the sales of the popular financial reporter will stop as of 12/31/2010.

Sage has announced that Alchemex (rebadged as Sage MAS Intelligence) will be their replacement product for most users. Within an as yet undetermined time Sage also has plans to introduce FR (owned by Sage and presently in use on the ACCPAC product line as the Sage Accpac Financial Reporter or FR) as a reporting tool for the Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 product.

In addition to providing MAS customers with one free user license of Sage MAS Intelligence, Sage will have a promotion for customers who have bought additional FRx licenses to obtain the equivalent Sage MAS Intelligence licenses.

In the long run Sage is looking into bundling more basic FR functionality with no restriction to number of users, but this is not planned for the 4.5 release. This will be basic Financial Reporting. Sage MAS Intelligence will provide more advanced features and capabilities, not just to replace FRx features, but to provide a lot more advanced reporting and analysis capabilities as well.MAS90 and MAS200 FRX SP 11 for FRX6.7

Sage MAS90 and MAS200 FRX 6.7 Service Pack 11 (March 2010) and FRX 6.7 service pack 11 release notes

© 2010, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Sage 50, Sage 100, Sage 300 and Sage 500 are registered trademarks of Sage. Have additional unanswered questions about MAS90? You may contact Schulz Consulting here.

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Been looking for the FRX Service Pack 11 for MAS90 and MAS200?

Consultant Alan Niergarth found it right on Microsoft’s own site.

This 52.5 MB download patches FRX for numerous program issues. Although the “whats fixed” doesn’t mention any fixes for Windows 7 compatibility, at least one site claims that FRX Service Update 11 enables FRX to work with Windows 7. Check the What’s New for details.

While Microsoft has this patch available for MAS 90 and MAS 200 users we must point out that Sage has apparently not yet tested it. So install it at your own risk though at least one person says that “it didn’t blow my system up” when they installed it.

YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary). Consult your Sage Business Partner prior to installing – that is unless you are a Sage Business Partner which in that case consult yourself.

Link: FRX Service Pack 11 for MAS 90 and MAS 200

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According to a post on FRxBuzz.com the service pack 11 for FRX has been released with these highlights:

Windows 2008 and Windows 7 support

FRX WebPort support for Windows 2008 and Windows 7

NO Office 2010 support (this cycle) – however unofficial limited testing seems to indicate it works with FRX.

64-bit version of Windows will not be supported. Instead customers must make use of Virtual Machines (a kludgy workaround).

Read the full post at FRxBuzz

Via: Bottomline Software, Inc. – Jeff Schwenk

© 2009, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Sage 50, Sage 100, Sage 300 and Sage 500 are registered trademarks of Sage. Have additional unanswered questions about MAS90? You may contact Schulz Consulting here.

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If you’re not familiar with Extended Solutions they were pre-written customizations (sold separately) that once installed work seamlessly within MAS 90 and MAS 200.

For years Extended Solutions were the “secret sauce” that Sage consultants used when they implemented new systems for customers.

During any ERP software implementation there’s usually a tiny bit of missing functionality that’s needed. For example finding a fixed cost Extended Solution that for example performed ACH Payments for Accounts Payable (not a core MAS 90 feature) was significantly cheaper and easier than hiring a programmer to modify the software to perform that task.

Sage Extended Solutions No Longer Sold

Beginning with version 4.4 of MAS 90 and MAS 200 Extended Solutions will not be sold separately. Instead Sage have taken the list of available solutions and intends to cull out the most popular ones for inclusion in future releases of MAS 90 and MAS 200.

Extended Solutions not selected for inclusion will have their source code made available to a number of select programmers (Master Developers) so that customers can have their enhancements upgraded.

Although some solutions with few users may not make it into Sage MAS 90 or MAS 200 we understand that Sage will continue to provide support (without upgrades past version 4.3) for a period of time yet to be officially announced.

Note: As of this writing the site for Extended Solutions catalogs and pricing is down.

Exact Timetable For Inclusion Uncertain

We’ve yet to hear anything official on when these enhancements (shown below) will be included in the next release(s) of Sage MAS 90 and 200.

One source who attended a Sage meeting indicated that out of and estimated 700 titles (active & inactive) there will be approximately 56 preserved and rolled into MAS 90 and MAS 200 over the next 12-24 months in various quarterly updates.

Another approximate two dozen enhancements were listed as being un-needed due to functionality that was in the new version 4.4 release of MAS 90 and MAS 200.

An unofficial partial list (we think this list is close to what will be added in the first three rounds of updates in 2010 is almost certainly shy a few enhancements and probably subject to change – so take it with a grain of salt) of Extended Solution parts that may be rolled into the first release is:

March 2010: SO1096, PR1018, JC1046, AR1200, SO1271, AR1027, SO1035

June 2010: BR1005, BR1004

September 2010: SO1173, AP1043, AP1101, SO1354

According to consultants who’ve attended the briefings, Sage is selecting the enhancements to include based on the numbers of installed base users and the ease of embedding them in the future release.

Recommendations

While the exact timetable of when certain Extended Solutions will be included in the future releases of Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 is uncertain we recommend reviewing the official Sage document below to see which of your enhancements is being incorporated in a future MAS 90 or MAS 200 list.

If your enhancement is not on the list you may be able to enlist the aid of a qualified Sage Master Developer to assist you in the upgrade process or to purchase a similar enhancement from another developer.

© 2009, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Sage 50, Sage 100, Sage 300 and Sage 500 are registered trademarks of Sage. Have additional unanswered questions about MAS90? You may contact Schulz Consulting here.

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Now Sage has confirmed that December 31, 2012 is the last date that FRX will be supported by Microsoft. While Sage’s announcement does not explicitly state that they will stop support for FRX as of that date, it’s likely that their policy will mirror Microsoft’s.

Here’s Sage’s FRX Announcement

Product Update: FRx Reporting Software Beyond Version 6.7

Sage has been advised that Microsoft has made a decision against further enhancement or development of their FRx reporting software beyond version 6.7. Microsoft agreed to continue supporting the current version of FRx through December 31, 2012, thereby enabling Sage adequate opportunity to evaluate suitable alternatives. As a part of the evaluation process, Sage will also assess Microsoft’s Management Reporter; Management Reporter has been described as the next generation FRx and is equipped with full migration capability.

Microsoft’s decision affects not only Sage, but also other competitive ERP solution providers. In response, Sage remains committed to supporting the integrity of our products and your customer’s Sage MAS 90, Sage MAS 200, and Sage MAS 500 ERP, and Sage PFW ERP business software solutions. As a part of our go-forward strategy, we have actively initiated the process of determining what option(s) will provide the most effective solution regarding your customer’s financial report-writing needs. We will inform you of our progress as updates are available. A copy of this notification will be posted on the Partner File Center under the Product Information & Tools category.

[Sage]

© 2009, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Sage 50, Sage 100, Sage 300 and Sage 500 are registered trademarks of Sage. Have additional unanswered questions about MAS90? You may contact Schulz Consulting here.

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Are you looking for a point of sale system for Sage MAS 90 or MAS 200? Here’s a quick review done by 90Minds member Bill Pfahnl based on an implementation of AccuPOS and MAS 90 that he was recently involved with.

The integration link is straightforward and works with VI to import a daily sales totals for each till and an invoice in S/O Invoice Data Entry – all automatic. The invoice summarizes total sales for each inventory item along with the total money collected as the deposit amount for clearing later (tender summary) so the invoice should always be net zero. A special POS customer is set up for these invoices. You can also sell to MAS 90 customers (with or without terms) and those sales will import as their own invoice.
Accupos is an award winning Point Of Sale, Inventory Management and Time Clock solutions worldwide for users of QuickBooks, Peachtree by Sage, Simply Accounting by Sage, Sage MAS 90 and 200, and Line 50 by Sage.

The software is a Sage Endorsed Solution which means it has been tested and verified by Sage and is marketed by them.

Follow the link below to read more of Bill’s initial first impressions and see how he liked AccuPOS and the integration to MAS 90.

Link: 90Minds – Accupos for MAS 90 – first look and review and Sage’s AccuPOS Info Page

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To create country code on MAS90 and MAS 200 forms:

Earlier versions of MAS 90 and MAS 200 (typically prior to version 4.10 or 4.20) did not allow for easy linking of the country code name to the code itself.

While the country code could be placed on forms (Sales Orders, Purchase Orders, Checks) – the name of the country was not as easy to place for a few reasons –mainly that the data file required to pull the name from was not readily linkable.

Below is a workaround solution that you may find useful. It is primarily for MAS90 or MAS200 (it works on both) versions prior to 4.1 – so if you are using a later version you probably don’t need this procedure because Sage has wisely added country name to the tables that your forms are using.

All steps below require using Crystal Report Writer – which is included with your Sage MAS90 or MAS 200 product disks.

These are not beginner instructions – and assume some intermediate level comfort with Crystal Reports. Backup all your

For this example, assume that we are going to create a form for the ship to and bill to codes. The same logic here with slight modification can apply to any form with a bill/ship field.

Note: Technical information on creating a Crystal Sub report that shares variables is available from:

NOTE: Unfortunately links below to Crystal Reports technical documents appear to have been broken since Business Objects was acquired by SAP.

http://support.businessobjects.com/library/kbase/articles/c2007600.asp

1. Create a page header A that is above the main details (Note: It is important that this comes at the top of the page so that the shared variable calculates before the body of the report. If you do not put it at the top the whole thing doesn’t work). You will need to create a new header (Right click in the HEADER section area and select Insert Section Below. Once that section is created, right click on the section area again on the left side and select MOVE – then you can move it up).

2. Create a sub report for each Bill-To/Ship-To code. These will be placed into the page header created above.
a. Cty_ship
b. Cty_bill
c. Note: Link these back to the main table on the report. You’ll probably want to look in the Database – Visual Linking Expert to see what table is being used to hold your address information.

3. Within each of these subreports:

a. Create a formula as follows (Note: Vary the variable name depending on whether you are creating a bill to or ship to)

b. Place the above formula in the body of the subreport in the details section. Once on the report, right click the formula, select format field, then font, change the font to WHITE (or any shade that won’t show on the report)

c. Place the SY_Country.CountryName in the body of the subreport in the details section. Change the font to white so it doesn’t print on the final report.

d. Leave the Details section viewable – all other sections should be suppressed – ie headers/footers. (Note: If you suppress the details section this won’t work – so be sure to leave it viewable. The way to get around seeing the data on the report is to later change the font to white and make the field very tiny).

e. Make sure your subreport is linked from the SO1_SOEntryHeader.ShipToCountry to the SY_Country.CountryCode

f. When you’ve placed both sub reports into the header section you created above, right click on each subreport and de-select the “can grow” checkbox. (Note: If you do not remove the check you may get a “page size exceeded” message)

4. Within the main report create two variables
a. Country_bill
b. Country_ship

5. Now you can put this variable into your main report formula and the value from the subreport is carried over. The following is the example of it being worked into the @ship to address formula which is standard in the Sage SO Order and Invoice form.

6. Sample formula which has been modified with the new variable.

7. Important: Place the new variables onto the report in the main header section (NOT the sub report) – you can make the white fonts so they don’t print. You must make them viewable (Cannot suppress or this does not work).

BACKGROUND NOTES ON THIS ISSUE:

Q: Client wants to display the Country Code in the forms (SO Orders, Invoices, Purchase Orders, Checks).

A: (Prior to version 4.1 and 4.2) There is no simple way to do this in MAS90/MAS200 — though there are two standard approaches.

The first approach to adding MAS90 country names on forms

Use Alias Tables — this would allow for a table to be used in a report more than once. You give each table an “alias” and it would then allow you to link it to separate fields. This would be needed for the Country Code field because it is potentially a different result for either the Bill To or Ship To.

The problem in MAS90 4.x+ with the Alias Tables is that there is a bug of some sort preventing them from linking to the SY_Country field. This is documented in the Sage KB with the workaround to use a subreport (an ok solution but the country name is impossible to properly line up since it is a free floating field).

The better solution is to use shared variables within the report. Basically this involves creating a new section (header) at the top of the report (important because the variable has to be created before the rest of the report). Then you declare the variables as shared and they can be read from the header on down to the main body.

I did this through the SO and it seemed to work.

Here is the link to the Crystal KB article showing how to create shared variables:

http://support.businessobjects.com/library/kbase/articles/c2007600.asp

On the subreport, you have to create a main subreport, a formula (put this on the subreport) and a shared variable (reference this on the main report).

In the main report you have to create a formula, call up the shared variable (see the Crystal KB for syntax) and then use it in the address formula. Do not forget to put the formula itself onto the form or the value won’t compute.

You want to make the font be white on white. Do NOT suppress and printing or the calculation does not work. If you make it very small you can hide it on the form.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This information is being made available “AS-IS”. Prior to making any changes on your system be sure you have a backup of all forms being modified.

Subsequent upgrades to MAS 90 or MAS 200 table structures may render some (or all) of these instructions obsolete. Sage may also fix bugs that we’ve referred to above. These instructions are meant to serve as a starting point for your own use – and not as a detailed step by step guide to resolving any particular issue. We take no responsibility for updating these instructions. We are not able to provide support (except for our own MAS 90 support clients) on implementing these instructions.

© 2009, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Sage 50, Sage 100, Sage 300 and Sage 500 are registered trademarks of Sage. Have additional unanswered questions about MAS90? You may contact Schulz Consulting here.

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Scanco just sent out a nice PDF document that I think is worth posting. It’s unusual to get a document from a company that doesn’t read like pure sales hype – and this document doesn’t. Kudos to Scanco.

In case you don’t know, Scanco is one of the very long term players in the bar coding solutions for MAS 90 and MAS 200 and MAS 500 marketplace. I’ve seen them at every Sage event that I’ve ever attended.

If you’re looking for a MAS90 bar coding solution – I’d always start here.

Note: Please remember that we don’t sell advertising or accept any money for mentioning products. Take our feedback above as simply another item to add to your own list of evaluation tools that you use to research vendors that you may be considering.

© 2009, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Sage 50, Sage 100, Sage 300 and Sage 500 are registered trademarks of Sage. Have additional unanswered questions about MAS90? You may contact Schulz Consulting here.

We publish an email newsletter each Tuesday at 3pm – join here.