Sage 100

Anyone had experience with SAGE Active planner and Sage 100 ERP integration . Is it a tough install. What kind $$ estimate should one expect to install and setup?

@JohnHoyt posted a comment about Active Planner within the last week but I don't remember the details.

Did you see a demo of this and it looked complex @RobertWood

It would be wise to talk with Gary Maher, who basically runs that operation. 330-653-8000. gary.maher@sage.com. They do mentored implementations. It is a several-day process. The attached doc is from an exploration I did with him in June.

I didn't. It was on the Customer Symposium thread though. They had a session. I didn't go to that one. Correction: I did. It was at the Customer Symposium. I forgot or was in denial. It looked like it would be easier to do in Excel.

Thanks Jerry. That is great info!!!

But wait, @JimWoodhead , you don't have my input! My experience with Active Planner was before there was a sufficient integration with MAS 90. I sold it to a client and Gary claimed it could be integrated, but it was too difficult to deal with, so we dropped it. I also sold it to another client that had no Sage products, but had a custom AS/400 system. We were not necessarily trying to integrate data from that system, but the process of creating budgets was extremely tedious, so again that project failed. All we wanted to do in both cases was to import data from Excel, but there was no easy method of doing that. I'm not sure if any of this has improved, but the experiences were so bad that I want nothing to do with it. To this day at Summit, I walk a long way around where Active Planner is just to avoid seeing Gary. If you know me, you know that's not me. In looking at the document Jerry attached, this is from 2008 and is probably one of the same documents we had. They really want to sell their professional services group, but they are very expensive. Prior to them being involved (and our attempted implementations), I sent one of my best consultants (ex-Sage support person) to a class for 3 days on the east coast, thinking she would be prepared to implement after that. No, I was told there was a separate implementation class, so we would need this ""mentored"" implementation process. After a half day of that and reviewing the (lack of) progress with my consultant, I cut it off, because there was no light at the end of the tunnel. This kind of system cannot be that difficult that it requires the involvement of their professional services group. For that reason, if it has not changed, I don't see it as a good solution for the Sage 100 client base. With the cost of the software and consulting, these projects can easily be $20K - $30K. Most of our clients would never consider paying that for a ""budgeting system"".

Seems like it could easily go over budget.

Thanks you too John. Sounds like a standard Sage package. ;( ... Luckily I found out that I am looking for Adaptive Planning not active planner. You have experience with that one?

No, but I just looked at their website, and it looks great. Budgeting and planning is a relatively untapped market in the Sage 100 world, primarily due to the types of clients (that do a poor job of any planning). But if the process is much easier, they may try it. And this looks like that.

I am a little disappointed at John's history, but it explains why this is such a backwater product. The appeal seems natural to me. I do think that Gary had mentioned that they had very few MAS 90-200 customers. It strikes me as one that fits better with larger firms. He did say that it is much more appealing to orgs with more complex budget processes and sign offs. But given how very hard it has been for Sage to integrate anything to a level that meets customer expectations going into it, I suspect this is not as good as it could be. For a number of reasons, it now makes more sense to pursue something like Adaptive Planning, which purposely integrates with many. It is, as I recall, not cheap.

I think Adaptive Planning had been taken on by many ITA members. That product rings a bell though no experience. @ShawnSlavin?