Sage 100

Observations on 2013 upgrade. We just upgraded our 4.5 Sage 100 Advanced to 2013. Here are a couple things I've noticed so far.: 1. When you do a company copy, part of the process involves running the Sage Credit Card Conversion to Sage Exchange. Not a big deal for us, but that can be a major PIA if the conversion takes a long time, and actually performs the conversion each time. 2. Our main internal user reports that performance is slower than with 4.5, but I haven't measured it. Stay tuned . ..

The long time for credit card conversion via Sage Exchange cloud is the very thing I noticed too. I upgraded a client on 4.50 with lots of data that used SPS to 2013 and I estimate that portion of it added 3 hrs to the conversion.

This was topic of discussion at the last Summit. Erika issued a big warning that the part of the upgrade could take a while. Maybe as more people do this, they will streamline the process somehow. Probably after they get the Amyuni driver, the new limitation on a single installation and a new idea or two added. Alnoor, any idea what the technology headcount is down to for the MAS group? Do they have enough farm hands to milk the cows?

I don't think that group has technology types anymore. Kevin Kawado, Russell Libby, Kim Nguyen are with X3 team and Juan Vasquez the tech QA guy was laid off in Nov. Probably there's a shared tech team and led by Sage 300 guy Stephen Smith (that was sarcasm Sheldon). I don't know what Amyuni version is on 2013 but @JohnnyPabian had been pushing Sage for the longest time to get current so hope that happened. I know his input had a lot to do with the 64-bit ODBC driver in 2013 (which I will look into taking advantage of at some point)

@AlnoorCassim Seeing as the Sage 100 resources are thinning - can 90 Minds play any role by going to Sage with one voice about tech issues? I feel we've been able to do so via public LinkedIn posts. Wonder if there's a more effective way for the group to assist with improving the product experience - especially this whole issue with upgrades which seems to preclude parallel testing (or rather easy parallel testing).

Thinning? I know bald people with more hair...... But a good idea nontheless Wayne. Unfortunately, public humiliation is the only method that will move mole hills in Irvine. Problem? That is the first I have heard of it! Watch the moving lips.....

Amyuni did not happen for initial release but I am told in one of the coming updates. I am coming to MOTM. Flight for $130 was an incentive. Arrive thur AM will head to sage irvine and will get some updates.

Atlas knowledgebase doesn't have a check box for Sage 100 2013. Only up to version 4.50. I'm getting lockfile errors in paperless office 2013. Also lost our custom ALE.

Tis a sad unfortunate downside to laying off ""unecessary"" technical people as the technical work such as updating the KB for v2013 doesn't get done...... But then, how many shareholders actually use Atlas??????

@AlnoorCassim, with your client that had the CC conversion to Sage Exchange, did you do a live 1-step upgrade or did you do a test ahead of time and re-migrate later? I'm wondering - if you test upgrade a client, do the CC conversion,and then don't go live, is there any issue with continuing to work in the old version, and re-migrate/convert later. Curious if the CC conversion will update everything, or only those that it didn't pick up the first time.

@BarbaraGoldstein Are you getting any sign offs or acknowledgements/consent from customer that it's ok to upload CC data to cloud? I'm thinking that even if this i a paragraph on our upgrade quotes that it's a must for us to inform them.

I hadn't considered that until you mentioned it. I agree that we need to inform them, not sure why we would need a sign-off. What do you see that could bite us?

@BarbaraGoldstein I did a parallel test upgrade to 2013 from MAS 200 4.50 PU4 on behalf of the client's reseller. I ended up having to do this twice actually because of a problem the 1st time. It took just as long to do the CC conversion part so it looked like it reconverted everything. The reseller she was going to remigrate and reconvert the client herself at a later point. In inquiring about this apparently she hasn't done that yet (client is waiting for a new server) and some months have passed. IOW client has been running 4.50 still and doing SPS CC transactions successfully in the pre-Sage Exchange vault fashion. Hope that helps.

@BarbaraGoldstein - What would our liability be if the Sage Exchange Vault had a security breach and customer CC info was compromised? Could our customer come back and claim that we should have told them that their customer's CC info was uploaded as part of the process? I don't think it's so far fetched. Although it may be unlikely that Sage suffers a breach - I think we owe it to our customer to explain that their data is being sent off-site. Let them make the decision. I have the same opinion on acknowledgement of EULA terms which flash by on screen - especially since Sage have changed the terms of EULA so they have the ability to In order to at least provide some notification I've added two paragraphs - one for EULA and one for CC Upload - to both my support and upgrade agreements (boilerplate)

Whether PCC or SPS, credit cards used in transactions are already being sent outside, i.e. merchant processors. Even their own physical swipe terminals do the same. V2013 removes them from on-premise. Training on the new feature may constitute this disclosure.

@AlnoorCassim Thanks, yes, that answers a question.

Anyone try running the CC Conversion utility on data in an older version (Step 5 in the CC Processing Conversion FAQs)? Results in Error 12 - File Not Found. Opened a case with Sage, who doesn't yet have an answer. My workaround in the short term is to DFDM AR_CustomerCreditCard.M4T for a record count to estimate conversion time. By the way, the analyst I spoke with said that the support team had been handed a copy of the FAQ document YESTERDAY, so that they can assist when folks call in with questions.

Temporary workaround"" provided by Sage: same instructions, but copy CI_CreditCardConversion_utl into \mas90\ci instead of \mas90\utility. That works.

@BarbaraGoldstein Thanks for being the v2013 trailblazer for the group. You're showing us some great reasons why we don't quite want to go there quite yet.......

I'd be interested to know if anyone else has started doing upgrades to 2013? so far I'm hesitant to recommend yet

I'm working on 2 now (one 90 and one 200), but they won't go live until March.

Now that I have new hardware, I will be converting the office installation to v2013. I am soooooo excited that I finally have equipment that Sage CRM will play well with............. Once I am done with that, bring on SMI!

SadoMasochistic Intelligence???

We are focusing on clients using Payroll that are at version 4.3. These folks don't upgrade often, so we want to get them on the latest version - before 3/31.

Watch out for this one - we didn't experience it in our own upgrade (Advanced), but did with a client (Standard): 110-9000788 - Cannot update Payroll when printing Graphical checks across a network in Sage 100 Standard/Advanced 2013 This article is available to everyone. Does this article apply to my products? Special Considerations or Warnings Defect ID: 101170 Issue Checks can print but are not recognized as printed. No ""Remove checks from printer/ Do you want to update"" prompt occurs. Get ""Checks must be printed"" in Check/Register Update Solution or Workaround Target or Version Corrected: Program Fix Process check run directly on the Sage 100 Server Use non graphical checks Steps to Duplicate Note: Steps must be run across network 1. Install 2013 Standard or Advanced 2. Log into 2013 from a workstation 3. Open Payroll Setup and confirm Graphical checks are enabled 4. Create payroll data entry run and run Payroll Tax Calculation 5. Print Checks. 6. Note that the printing status bar shows ""Please wait. Loading Crystal. 10%, 20%"" then done. No ""Remove checks from printer"" or ""Do you want to update check register"" message prompt. 7. Open Check/Register Update. Note the ""Checks must be printed"" message and you cannot update the check run. NOTE: the checks are physically printed, but the print window never closes and the check is never marked as Printed in check entry.

Did they post an ETA on the fix? PU 2, V2014? I vaguely remember reading about it earlier.....

No, but I don't know how they can not fix this sooner rather than later. But then, they care so much about payroll . . .

Sounds like a good question for LinkedIn. I just love calling them out publicly....

There is a group on LinkedIn that includes Users as well as consultants - that REALLY gets their attention.

Fire away. We've got your back....

Ok, I'm goin' for it.

Can you post the link here when you're finished??

Oh, I can't wait to see Kev squirm on this one!!! And then he will say something like ""please feel free to contact me directly to discuss this issue""....

As you can see, we all live vicariously through you, @BarbaraGoldstein

Here is Barbara's link http://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?view=&srchtype=discussedNews&gid=1644357&item=204450421&type=member&trk=eml-anet_dig-b_pd-ttl-cn&ut=3mxFZxxS_rYBA1

So apparently 3 people have reported this issue (including me). All 90, none on 200. R&D hasn't been able to duplicate. Think it's ""environmental"" since it doesn't happen on 90.

is it a 90 or 200 issue? Your post mentions both but not both...

It's a 90 issue. Sorry, it doesn't occur on 200.

Update: I had a long session with Ronnie Aspe yesterday, and thankfully, this appeared on the Community this morning. By the way, my client experienced an error printing AP checks, as well. This resolution resolved both problems. Also beware: the old Adobe MICR font will no longer work in Crystal 2011. It requires a true type font. Adobe does not have a TT MICR font - trust me, I wasted a bunch of time trying to work with them. On their website, they claim to have one, but we bought what we thought was an updated set, and had an open type font, not true type. It didn't work. So, if your clients print MICR, there's an unexpected expense looming to purchase MICR fonts.

Such basic stuff. How did this pass beta testing?

We are the beta testers...

They REALLY don't beta test any more. Beta testing is between initial release and PU2. Just like Sage 100, it has been rebranded.

Regarding the MICR issue, I just posted this response to the LInked-In post (I don't know how to post the link here). ------------------------------------------ Yes, that problem got resolved. The next issue to deal with is that clients that print MICR lines on their checks will discover that the old Adobe MICR fonts that have been in use for many years no longer work. A True Type MICR font is required. I've been shopping them, and most are at least 3x the cost of the Adobe fonts for a single user. I strongly recommend that for a postive Customer Experience, Sage bundles a font, just as they do with Azalea bar code fonts. -------------------------------------------- Speaking of MICR fonts, anybody worked with TT MICR font before and have one they recommend?

Is this because of the latest version of Crystal? From the top of my head, I don't see why this is an issue.

Yes, it is because of the latest crystal. Ronnie said it needed to be .NET compliant and True Type. Here's a response I just saw in the LinkedIn post: We have found that many banks no long accept the old adobe font anyway- they want MICR E13B - we have been getting our clients fonts from ID Automation. There are many free MICR fonts on the web, but we were skeptical and went with a vender we had purchased bar code fonts from in the past. It would be fantastic if Sage bundled something. Something interesting he educated me on: there are fonts out there that use different symbols for the special symbols (i.e. the ABCD) coding you use when configuring the MICR section in Bank Code Maintenance. So when choosing a font, if you use one that uses different letters in the alphabet to represent the special characters, you can use them, you'll just have to code them to match the font. Also, MAS looks specifically for a font called MICR to display the proper representation of the MICR characters in Bank Code Maint. So if you have a font that has a different name, it could look wrong in BC Maint., but still print ok. I demo'd fonts from IDAutomation and Morovia. They look good, but we haven't purchased one or had the bank validate it. I also found one for $19 from Covix. It has a wider spacing of the transit field than shows on my MICR gauge, so I'm not sure I trust it. I don't know how closely the spec is followed.

Thanks for this info. I was wotking on a related issue yesterday. Relating to the u25store.dll

Sage just sent me the attachment - a package of the 3 dll's.

What are the DLL's for?

From Sage: In the Sage 100 Standard product some DLL's needed for the Payroll Crystal reports were installed to an incorrect directory. The DLL's and the correct path are included in this email. The password for the zip file is ""password"" with no quotes. *The DLL's are included in this email so you don't have to copy them from that location. 64 Bit Sage 100 Workstation *Copy C:\Program Files (x86)\Business Objects\Common\3.5\Bin\U2LMAS90.DLL C:\Program Files (x86)\Business Objects\Common\3.5\Bin\U25STORE.DLL C:\Program Files (x86)\Business Objects\Common\3.5\Bin\U25TOTAL.DLL To C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP BusinessObjects\Crystal Reports for .NET Framework 4.0\Common\SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 4.0\win32_x86 32 Bit Sage 100 Workstation *Copy C:\Program Files\Business Objects\Common\3.5\Bin\U2LMAS90.DLL C:\Program Files\Business Objects\Common\3.5\Bin\U25STORE.DLL C:\Program Files\Business Objects\Common\3.5\Bin\U25TOTAL.DLL To C:\Program Files\SAP BusinessObjects\Crystal Reports for .NET Framework 4.0\Common\SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 4.0\win32_x86

Looking looking for your tales of woe with the Sage v2013 Saga..... You may need to bring more than wine!

By the way, the password to unlock the zip file with the DLLs is ""password"" (without the quotes).

News from the 2013 front: Finance Charge selection/calculation is broken: Rather than calculating from the A/R balance, it is calculating charges based on all invoice amounts (not balances) in the AR_Open file, whether they have a balance or not. We have a case open with Sage.

Dear Diary, we learned that the export of documents from Crystal to MAPI is no longer available with Crystal 2011. So the client reported that their new workflow, which entailed previewing the document (S/O's in this case), exporting to Adobe PDF using type Application, then selecting to send as attachment failed. Solution: update Adobe reader to version XI.

There is a hot fix out there for the Finance Charge issue. There are also 2 other hot fixes. They don't show up yet on the 2013 Product Update page, but should be in another day or so (they were released yesterday). You will find them on the Individual Program Fixes page.

By the way, the fixes are executables, and require install from server. All users must be out. Also, when you go back into MAS, you'll be prompted to do a data conversion. In our case, it reported no conversion necessary.

There is also a hot fix out for an issue with GL drill down on UG from 4.5. Not sure if that fix appears on the main 2013 PU page or if you have to go hunting for it on the individual program fixes.

The fact that Sage has thinned the support and development herd down to next to nothing tells you the future of Sage 100 and how its a ripoff to charge 21% for maintenance.

The thing working in Sage's favor is that most SaaS providers are charging one hell of a lot more money annually. And the competition for on premises is fairly weak except for the low end.

My issues from a 4.5 pvx to 2013 SQL I did last week - lots of bad dates in the database. Form codes missing from the lookups. Make sure you run Auto Run in workstation setup instead of going to Wksetup first. Conversion of lookups seem to have tons of errors. Printing and reports very fast with SQL. I am still concerned in some areas the SQL version should make certain things go fast but they are slow - same as pvx. Conversion to Sage Vault added 30 min to conversion if though this client still did not use credit cards.

Here's a link to a Community post I started last Friday. I opened a case w/ Sage on this today, which is a N/C case tied to an already acknowledged product defect. Don't look for it to get fixed in PU2, but if you all open cases and tag this one (8002714564 - the one I opened), maybe it will get fixed faster. The workaround at this time is to preview the report, then print/export. http://sagemas.lithium.com/t5/Technical-and-Installation/Crystal-2011/td-p/90931

It's not a bug, it's an undocumented feature to try to cut down on paper usage:-)

Update from my Sage Community post regarding slow performance with check printing and generation of Paperless registers. http://sagemas.lithium.com/t5/Technical-and-Installation/Version-2013-Slow-performance-with-printing-paperless-journal/td-p/90862

Note: Pre-release of 2013 PU 2 was posted to the MD site, so PU 2 is on the horizon.

Just heard from John Nichols about PU2 ""Hi Jim, PU2 is expected to be released this week, the program correction included in PU2 is not specific to paperless. The correction addresses the initial loading of the Crystal runtime .net components. We are continuing to look at paperless performance and I'll post an update on the forum once we have a solid resolution. Thanks John

4.5 PU6 is available for download! So PU2 should be close.

Actually 5.0 PU2 is available sorry should have looked closer

Why is this such a PITA to download. Trying to download PU 6 and it says I need .net v4.. I follow the instructions and .net v4 IS installed. WTF!!!

Looks like they are using microsoft download technology now. My bet is sage is trying to standardize patch downloads. This is probably coming out of Azure which I am guess is the same place the smart updates and 2013 are coming from.

I had the same .net message and also had .net v4 already loaded. Once I reinstalled it (and 2 series of MS security updates for .net v4 later) I was able to download the file.

I'd like to restate what @JohnnyPabian said about using Autorun in the WKSETUP folder instead of the new Sage 100 Standard ERP Workstation.msi - the MSI file does NOT check for the existence of some required C++ files, but running it from Autorun DOES. $#&%#$%&