Sage 100

I realize that (supposedly) later versions of Sage don't require local admin rights for workstation sync.
But there are plenty of older versions that still have this bizarre requirement.

And, nope, it wouldn't be so bad if the only time you had to worry about workstation sync was during a once every seven year upgrade ( lack of easy upgrade is another peeve of mine with Sage ). Customers on 2018 beg me to tell them they can avoid an upgrade. But that's a rant for a different day...

Last night I log in to update payroll to the 2.22.1 release.
This requires both a data conversion and every workstation to run this sync ( I think the customer is on v2019 )

First, if data conversion is mandatory.
And during the update of payroll everyone has to be out of Sage
Why doesn't Sage automatically update their data files?
My guess is the most common excuse is "well they don't know what their largely unsupervised ISV/bolt-on community might have installed "
Ok. I'll let that slide. Then how about a dialog box at the end of the update listing exactly what's needed
- Do you want to upgrade data Y/N?
- Remind users that workstation sync is going to run

Instead we have the same dialogs and install script that have been around since the year 2k.

Does nobody anywhere in Sage take a moment to ponder the vast changes underway with customers and their IT and think to themselves that requiring a workstation sync that interrupts every user on the Sage 100 system with a mandatory "log in as a local admin" moment is just pure dumb, lazy and anti-customer thinking.

Seriously. IT people stop and laugh at this.
When a new CFO comes in the first thing they wonder when they see this is whether it's time to start planning for a new accounting system.

Folks, IMO,  this is called "not keeping up with the times"

Want to know why people don't update their systems with a product update or even the latest payroll?

In some instances it's due to this crazy need for every person to be a local administrator to their Windows computer.

Anytime I ask Sage this I get a lot of "I know", "we know" and shrugs.
Then back to the isolation chamber Sage appears to go.






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Wayne Schulz
wayne@s-consult.com
Schulz Consulting
(860) 516-8990
Moodus, CT
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Update with comments from discussion at MOTM 2022:

1. Part of the reason for not automatically updating is if you had multiple backup payroll companies ( which seem to get saved almost forever ) that had not been converted then you could have a nasty surprise if Sage automatically updated all company codes.

2. It was agreed that perhaps a notification - along with maybe a button to get to company maintenance - would be a good idea.

Why is this needed? Isn’t everyone hyper-aware and working off a checklist with the focus of a pilot and co-pilot about to depart Ohare?

Spoiler: Nope.

And that’s why a pop-up reminder would be useful.

It would avoid the 8 am phone calls asking if it’s ok to convert data.

It’s an annoying issue because usually you have one or two payroll users and a dozen or more “regular” users ( who have no idea why they might be getting a convert data prompt )

3. Workstation sync - while this one is easily dismissed as “that’s easy, just upgrade your customer because the latest version pf Sage 100 doesn’t require this”, I believe the long-term solution is

(a) using either cloud hosting or terminal server wherever possible which

(b) alleviates the need to go workstation to workstation for updates and

(c) makes overall administration much easier.

I do not believe Sage 100 will ever become easier to administer outside of hosting or terminal server.







---------------------------------
Wayne Schulz
wayne@s-consult.com

Schulz Consulting
(860) 516-8990
Moodus, CT
---------------------------------