Sage 100

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  • 1.  Anyone find a workaround to disabling unified with Beanworks?

    Posted 12-02-2020 09:09
    I posted a few weeks/months back about an issue that arose with Sage AP Automation ( Beanworks ). 
    The sync tool used to move data between Sage and Beanworks doesn't support Unified Logon.

    This is a non-issue for customers who don't use unified.
    However, for larger sites with formal password policies - this is a big deal because the standard Sage password policy is inadequate for most.

    We tried: 
    1. Disable unified
    2, Create a Sage user/password
    3. Re-enable unified
    4. Use the login from #2 above in the Beanworks sync

    This did not work ( error messages in Beanworks log when the sync ran )

    Has anyone else tackled this and found a way around​ disabling unified?

    I've also reached out to Beanworks and explained the situation. I find most implementation teams from ISVs have very cookie-cutter approaches and very few are  experienced with larger more formal IT requirements. Once the ISV implementors get "off script" there's generally not much else they have to offer. I'm hoping someone in this group may have created a workaround or have some familiarity with this issue.

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    Wayne Schulz - Schulz Consulting - 860-516-8990
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  • 2.  RE: Anyone find a workaround to disabling unified with Beanworks?

    Posted 12-02-2020 09:58
    Did you try the trick used to access the Administrator login while Unified is enabled (on the machine where Beanworks is running)?
    Add Logon=YES (YES in uppercase) to the [Config] section of SOTA.INI
      1. Open Windows Explorer and go to the "..\MAS90\Launcher\" location on the server where Sage 100 is installed
        • Note: For Advanced and Premium editions of Sage 100, go to the local "..\MAS90\Launcher\" location where Sage 100 Workstation Setup has been installed.
      2. Double-click SOTA.INI to open the file in Notepad (or a generic text file editor)
      3. Add Logon=YES to the
        [Config] section


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    Kevin Moyes
    Technical Systems Analyst
    Munjal White Consulting Co.
    Toronto ON
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  • 3.  RE: Anyone find a workaround to disabling unified with Beanworks?

    Posted 12-02-2020 10:16
    I haven’t mostly because what I found when I used that previously is Sage appeared to only allow a login ( the first time ) with “Administrator”.

    I’m willing to give it a shot but it seemed like something else was happening behind the scenes.

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    Wayne Schulz - Schulz Consulting - 860-516-8990
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  • 4.  RE: Anyone find a workaround to disabling unified with Beanworks?

    Posted 12-02-2020 10:53

    I suppose in a pinch we could schedule the Beanworks sync at 3 am and swap in a new SY_System with Unified turned off, run the BW Sync, then an hour later swap back the original SY_SYSTEM.  The problem is with a larger company size I bet I catch at least one person working on a deadline at 3 am making this a less than ideal possible workaround. I'm also unsure whether the Beanworks synch can happen via the command line.

    There are a couple of more gotchas with this particular workaround

    a. This customer is premium - and that means the SQL table has to be swapped ( more complex but probably not an issue for their DBA )
    b. During the time that the SY_SYSTEM is swapped I believe Sage is without security - because they were on unified the user codes don't typically have any passwords - ie someone who knew what was going on could log in at 3 am ( or whatever time this fires off )  just by knowing one user code and entering a blank password. I could probably work around this by temporarily disabling unified, assign everyone a password, then turn on unified. The customer is pushing back on this because they feel nobody should know the user passwords ( there's a formal security team so this isn't as easy to implement as with smaller companies ).
    c. I might be able to throw INSTLOCK into the HOME folder but I think that would probably shut down Beanworks sync

    Still thinking



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    Wayne Schulz - Schulz Consulting - 860-516-8990
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  • 5.  RE: Anyone find a workaround to disabling unified with Beanworks?

    Posted 12-02-2020 12:12
    Premium makes it easier to make a temporary change.  SQL script to set the unified system flag off (update statement) and lock all users (except the one you want).  When done, reverse everything (unlock users and change the unified flag back on).  They'd have to be careful to only unlock users which were locked by the script (not locked manually) but anyone good with SQL should be able to figure something out.

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    Kevin Moyes
    Technical Systems Analyst
    Munjal White Consulting Co.
    Toronto ON
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  • 6.  RE: Anyone find a workaround to disabling unified with Beanworks?

    Posted 12-02-2020 13:57
    This is a great idea. I know it's probably not a perfect solution but this customer has significant DBA staff so creating the script is not an issue. And it could be easily tested by using DFDM to simulate the script.

    The biggest downside is probably that users can't manually kick off a Beanworks Sync.  If there is a need to sync Beanworks during the workday then this might not be the solution for them.

    Other than that I could see them setting this for 3 am and it would rarely be noticed.

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    Wayne Schulz - Schulz Consulting - 860-516-8990
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  • 7.  RE: Anyone find a workaround to disabling unified with Beanworks?

    Posted 12-20-2020 20:05

    12/2020
    Beanworks contacted me to say that they have updated their sync tool so that it is now compatible with Unified Login. You may need to request this update as it seems to a new feature and might not be generally available.



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    Wayne Schulz - Schulz Consulting - 860-516-8990
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