Sage 100

Does anyone have a list of pros and cons between Sage 100 Premium and Advanced?... better yet, the pros and cons between SQL and ProvideX? Customer with v2016 Premium just bought a company that has 2018 Advanced. They want to get both companies on the same instance of Sage 100. I recommended upgrading 2016 Premium to 2018 Premium then converting the 2018 Advanced to 2018 Premium. They said the users at the new company are hesitant to move to SQL because no one in the office knows SQL. They wanted to know if we could convert 2016 Premium to 2018 ProvideX. I told them it is possible but that is not the path I recommend.

There have recently been a couple threads on this subject in Sage City where I've written some thoughts... have you seen those discussions?

@KevinMoyes Yes, I have seen the discussion that you and Big Louie commented on. Thank you, It was quite helpful.

The end users don't need to know anything about SQL. About the only thing end users notice is if they use the SOTAMAS90 for external reporting then they have to change drivers in favor of a connection to the SQL tables. Benefits - No premium for premium (a true benefit of Sage 100cloud) - External reports based on SOTAMAS90 pretty easy to convert to Premium - Customers notice a speed increase in external reporting (finally some true value added) - Virtually all 3rd party ISV solutions work with Premium - Reporting via external tools/connections is faster - Pretty straightforward to setup - The prior penalty for SQL speeds in native Sage screens seems mostly gone - DFDM goes away but you can DL free DSD SQL DFDM - Skilled users can use SQL tools for query/changes (recommend locking customer out of this) Disadvantage - Customer needs to be comfortable setting up a SQL server - Some customers reluctant to invest in a new server to maintain (especially if they don't have on-staff IT person) - Sage has poor info about how to configure the SQL server and cannot answer basic ""how to"" questions - Easy to use SQL tools to change data without Sage 100cloud which could result in lost data if not performed by a qualified person - WO, MRP users can't use Premium yet - Tricks you may do with PVX such as swapping in or out single data files are difficult/impossible with Premium

Thank you @WayneSchulz This is a terrific list. We should keep it so everyone can access it. It is a question that is asked occasionally and it is great to have a list at hand.

This is the list I had developed so far. I am going to merge Wayne's list in with mine: Advantages of ProvideX -Troubleshooting data file issues does not require that you have someone that knows SQL. -The Advanced version (ProvideX) has the fastest processing speed for smaller data sets. -The user doesn't have to purchase SQL software and licenses. ProvideX is a complete development environment that includes the programming language, and the database. Advantages of SQL -More efficient processing of large datasets. -Better integration with third-party SQL-based applications. -Easier to query. Availability of SQL data for queries and other manipulation using traditional SQL tools. -Reports run a lot faster. -Can be configured to restore to a specific point in time, and can write and schedule backend SQL queries to generate reports. -Has better data integrity. Keyed file and date formatting errors that occur in ProvideX are not possible in SQL.

no one in the office knows SQL"" - this is curable...

Business users not knowing SQL: understandable. IT (internal / external) not knowing SQL: worry.

I also summarized SQL server requirements / FAQ for a customer who kept asking how they should configure SQL (Spoiler: Sage was not very helpful when they called) - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_y2wlmQSZGVtew4zVctpQKZKnQX0kl-lcTWUZ8UdIKM/edit