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General Ledge Budgeting

  • 1.  General Ledge Budgeting

    Posted 07-10-2019 10:02
    Does anyone have any favorites or thoughts on General Ledger Budgeting programs with Sage 100?
    My client is wanting to go beyond Excel spreadsheets and using GL Exchange to import Budgets into Sage and wants to discuss some options before year end.

    I know of Budget Maestro by Centage, but I have never used them.

    Thank you
    Michael

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    Michael Davis
    Warren Averett Technology Group
    Birmingham, AL
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  • 2.  RE: General Ledge Budgeting

    Posted 07-10-2019 10:14
    Hi Michael
    I'm currently shadowing an implementation of Sage Budgeting and Planning which is 'free' (for product) with 100c (I believe).  I haven't seen Budget Maestro, have heard Sage B & P isn't as complex but certainly the price is right.
    N

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    Nancy Hanson
    Blytheco LLC
    Eagan MN
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  • 3.  RE: General Ledge Budgeting

    Posted 07-10-2019 13:45
    @Michael Davis, about 7 years ago I 'helped' to implement Sage Budgeting and Planning for a good customer. It seemed to have potential, but learning how to install and configure was extraordinarily difficult. And the user interface ending being too difficult for my customer. It may have changed since then; well, I certainly hope so, anyway. My customer bought Centage Budget Maestro and they were a lot happier with it. However, it is a LOT of money. I can't say how much because it depends on which parts of the system you buy, but I seem to recall that the core product was $10k to start. ​

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    Karen O'Lane
    Accounting Systems, Inc. (ASI)
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: General Ledge Budgeting

    Posted 07-10-2019 14:04
    We have worked with an "x" Sage employee for Sage Budgeting and Planning; ​Doug Leasure.  found him to be patient, thorough, and informative with our clients. 

    doug.p.leasure@gmail.com

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    Madeline Stefanou
    RKL eSolutions, LLC
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  • 5.  RE: General Ledge Budgeting

    Posted 07-10-2019 14:18
    What is their budget?  Everyone wants to stop using Excel until they find that the cost exceeds their budget and the training sometimes exceeds their mental abilities to manage the program.  It would be wise to understand were their pain is.  Maybe it is as simple to remedy as getting them to use VI instead of GL Exchange.  If they don't own VI, it is free when switching over to a subscription plan.

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    Jeff Schwenk
    FORMER 90M Board Member
    Bottomline Software, Inc.
    Waynesboro VA
    540-221-4444
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    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: General Ledge Budgeting

    Posted 07-10-2019 17:16
    We really struggled setting up Sage Budgeting and Planning in a test environment on our SQL server.  After numerous interactions with Sage to get it running along with the web client we found it very difficult to figure out.  It is not intuitive.  Very powerful but it just seems outdated in my opinion. The demo data is like from 2007. Budget Maestro has been around for a long time.  Has anyone looked at True Sky?  http://www.truesky.com/  They claim to be able to interface back to Sage 100.  It is definitely more modern.  I agree the budget solutions seem to be more expensive than most clients are prepared to spend.  But it does seem to be an area ripe for add-ons to our existing base if we can find the right solution.  #Sage Budgeting​

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    alan niergarth
    Velosio LLC
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  • 7.  RE: General Ledge Budgeting

    Posted 07-11-2019 08:42
    We use Vivid Reports CPM (https://www.vividreports.com/cpm-solution/features-benefits/), which does live in Excel but uses its own back-end SQL database to allow you to create a single budget sheet and burst just the relevant parts to your employees.  You can even do attachments.

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    Steve Iwanowski, NextStep Technology Advisors, aka DSD Lancaster PA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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  • 8.  RE: General Ledge Budgeting

    Posted 07-11-2019 09:52
    @Steve Iwanowski what about write back to GL?  does it push it back in or provide data for import?  is it meant to replace SI for reporting? does it allow what if scenarios such as the change in employee payroll rates to impact the GL expense accounts?  any idea on cost versus other products like BI360? sorry for all the questions.  we could take it off line.  then again, maybe we can all benefit by knowing more about the options for budgeting solutions.

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    alan niergarth
    Velosio LLC
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    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: General Ledge Budgeting

    Posted 07-11-2019 10:38
    This would be a good topic for a 90 Minds PDF summary of member experiences.
    I find that when customers ask me about budget add-ons they are typically: 
    • Finance department
    • Bigger sized company
    • 90% of the way to making up their mind
    • Have already evaluated 2-3 options
    • Asking just to see if I know anything negative about what they are ready to buy
    • Typically do not want any consulting services ( from me )
    • The budgeting product typically don't pay any margin to consultants ( which eliminates our putting in free time up front on evaluation )


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    Wayne Schulz - Schulz Consulting - 860-516-8990
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    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: General Ledge Budgeting

    Posted 07-12-2019 08:27
    I believe Vivid Reports CPM started off as a financial report writer and then later added the Budget capabilities, so the budget doesn't have to be written back to GL since it's already stored in the same database, if that makes sense.  Since it 'lives' in Excel, you can easily do What-Ifs.  They also have an option called Flex that allows for operational reporting (query-driven), so you would have all the functionality of SI but able to communicate with other SQL/ODBC systems.  For example, we have Vivid reports that pull from our ERP (Acumatica), our ticket-system (ConnectWise), and some loose spreadsheets (for example, who was on-call a certain week).  Subscription pricing is $3550 for the CPM/budget engine, $220/viewer, $640/builder, $540/budget-entry-user, $860/budget-builder.  Flex is $1870/engine and then the same viewer/builder prices.

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    Steve Iwanowski, NextStep Technology Advisors, aka DSD Lancaster PA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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    Original Message


  • 11.  RE: General Ledge Budgeting

    Posted 07-16-2019 13:29
    I just got an inquiry on this too so will likely have to compile a list to send to the customer. The problem I have with these requests is that they typically are freebies because the customer is going to pay whatever budget solution they purchase for the installation and training. About all I wind up doing is providing a list and then making sure the customer doesn't see me as warranteeing the solution ( for which they likely won't pay me a dime )

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    Wayne Schulz - Schulz Consulting - 860-516-8990
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