Sage 100

Does anyone have customer(s) who are IT companies using Sage 100 integrated to some type of time and project tracking. Have an existing Sage 100 user who sells and services computers as well as providing professional services. They are presently not using anything integrated to Sage 100 but are interested in learning of the options. I think Time and Billing is always an option though I'm hesitant to go there given that the product still looks the same today as it did 5 years ago. Timelinx is mentioned as another option What I'd really like is if anyone has a similar type customer and can share what they are using that might integrate to Sage 100.

That customer doesn't sound like a very good fit for you @WayneSchulz !

LMAO, @JohnShaver!

I'm not expecting that they're going with me - had a first meeting today. Here's what they sent to me as their list of ""upgrade"" items. My basic recommendation was to break their quest into at least two broad categories. A - Upgrade B - Improve I'm also not terribly thrilled by these initial conversations because they're generally huge brain picking sessions from which a smart customer can take what you share and go to a cheaper consultant thinking that they're getting a deal.... I think I'd be negligent if I didn't point out that professional services is not Sage 100's sweet spot. And I'm not sure if Sage has another option within the family. These folks say they've been on Sage for about 15 years. I know there's a lot of ways to jury rig the system to meet today's requirements but I'm always concerned about what the future growth potential might be. Looking for some feedback on anyone who has tackled one of these as I advised I would gather that initial information before they decided if they were hiring me or not.

We use Sage 500, Saleslogix and Timelinx in-house. (Took an ""eat-your-own-cooking"" approach.) Sage 100 and SageCRM would be even easier for sales processing. Timelinx works well for a time and materials type shop and there is a SageCRM version as well. It's not as great for a fixed fee type provider though. (Be happy to discuss on a secondary thread if interested) We have another client using Automated Service from Ascent. They sell and service equipment servicing primarily banks and casino's. Much of their product is now automated and very similar to working with servers and dedicated appliances. Overall they are happy with the solution. They are not as happy with the remote field service component but most of the issues they have run into have been due to internal process and are self inflicted. They are a great client and open to new ideas most of the time. Yet they still suffer from 'We've always done it that way' syndrome occasionally. Dispatch and ticket processing as been the greatest source of these occurrences. I'm don't think AS would help a lot with sales management but is works well with service management and routine maintenance management. Hope this helps.

We are an IT shop as well and use the usual integrated into Sage 100 - Time & Billing for invoicing and Timekeeper for Time Entry. We use CRM for trouble tickets and are just getting started using the Self Service Portal for client ticket entry and tracking. Is it perfect... no. Is there a few minor things that SWK could fix (Paperless) in Time & Billing... yes. Is it terribly time consuming for monthly billing... no, I just did my monthly invoices in less than 30 minutes. Takes about that long to stuff the envelopes, which would go away if they would just fix Paperless. There are a few things that could be done to tie Timekeeper into CRM using a VI job. Our guys often complain about duplicate time entry since they typically track everything on their calendar as well. I've ventured down the path of adding fields to CRM Cases that could be used on the import to Timekeeper and streamline that process, but it's kind of faltered a bit and is waiting to be finished. If they would fix a couple things in Timekeeper so the browser based time entry would work better our guys would be much happier and you could probably just tie that piece into a CRM screen. I've sat through a demo of Autotask and they say they can integrate into Sage100. That will bypass T&B and go straight to SO/AR as a VI/BOI. You would do all your project tracking and management in Autotask. I like to just buy software and hate the monthly fee model, so I'm not a huge fan so far of this solution. It does some very nice things relating to the IT world, but nothing that really just blew our CRM solution out of the water and definitely not for the monthly fee we would be on the hook for forever. It all comes down to the accounting for us really and it sounds like it probably is for them as well. You still need to collect the money and pay the bills, no matter how much the IT guys want to whine about how dated their T&B screen is.

Reading @KevinWesley post, TImelinx uses tickets in SLX. We track support tickets and record activities against them. You can record time on the activities and it flows into time capture in Timelinx so no duplcate time entry. You can also enter time against projects for for implementation and other larger projects. All time goes into the same pool for billing. After reviewing all time at a period end, run a process and Timelinx creates invoices in MAS for submittal. This can then be done via Paperless as they are now regular MAS 500 invoices. (Either AR Invoices or SO Invoices depending on how you have them configure the interface.) As I said earlier, it's a nice solution for time and materials shops.

JobOps would be a good fit.

Hate to say we migrated to SAP Business One and Enprise Job. It has a web time & expense entry system, supports all sorts of billing and is real time.

I agree with @JaneScanlan's recommendation.

@GaryFeldman Enprise is good for simple project billing, if you find prospects that need true ""PSA"" check out Maringo for SAP.

Anyone mind if I copy/paste the replies into a blog post. NOBODY would be personally identified. I just hate to waste good content like this which I collected to be able to intelligently reply to a prospective user who will probably just keep shopping around. At the very least we should get some SEO out of it. Any objections? Again - nobodies name is identified with comments.

no problem at all

@JohnBroadfoot is using software that does what you are looking at. I'll see if he'll add his two cents....

Go for it

Fine by me

Thanks everyone we're live with this here: http://community.90minds.com/2013/01/10/whats-everyone-using-with-sage-100-erp-for-professional-services-automation-aka-psa/

Parsec uses ConnectWise PSA internally which Wayne already mentioned in his post. Integration to Sage 100 was created with BOI.

Thanks everyone - as anticipated had very very brief call this morning with prospect who is an existing Sage 100 ERP customer. They'll now invariably be on their way to gather hourly rates (all IT shops are basically incapable of any other math) and in two years realize that the low bidder did not work out. At that point they'll call me. I won't remember them but when I offer to help they'll point out that they spent so much money on that low bidder that there's no money left for any followup work to correct the problem(s) which remain. Rinse. Wash. Repeat. Customers never believe your advise until they've been badly burned. One of our qualifying questions should be ""have you been screwed by a partner in the last two years"" --- and only take the ones that say yes and have a budget. Those seem to be the only clear thinking prospects who realize the value of competent paid advice.