However, I think the expectations for the session were different on each side. The original, defined purpose of the "Development Roundtable" was to provide a mechanism for the Dev team to get real-world feedback from our community on work they were already tasked with. Some of the questions on this thread fall more into the Product Management bucket; these readily either become a sticky wicket for them to comment on without preparation, or require longer answers than the remaining time could handle.
Speaking of Product Management, did you notice that we had three levels of PM on the call, and the Sage 100 Product Mktg Mgr listening in? It is another indication that Sage cares about our community. I think we too often diminish this.
I think it's pretty clear that Sage modified its thinking about Sage 100 shortly after the 2020 Thrive On events, and then changed again about 18 months ago. At Thrive On, Sage made a strong showing that it was all behind Sage 100. But the PM quit only a few months later -- I concluded that he saw Sage 100 wasn't going to get the support he thought it would. Then all we heard was "give us your tired, your poor Sage 100 customers and we'll lead them to the Intacct Promised Land." After a year of dealing with Reality, Sage seemed to have reversed course on the importance of Sage 100, concluding around June of 2022 that if they didn't actively promote Sage 100 to new customers, then the installed base would leave too fast to upgrade them.
I've seen some serious Sage 100 marketing assets produced. They see the importance of an active channel for this.
Sure, Sage 100 is probably not a product for 2050 - its Providex base prevented that transition to true browser-based. BUT when you put it into a good cloud environment with app mode, users now experience browser-like performance. Plus, managing a cloud instance eliminates many of annoying elements of a product using workstations/clients.
The bolt-ons and Sage Network offerings are where the product category is going for everybody, along with the activity-fee costs. We must learn to present and promote an entire package to prospects and customers, define the value for them, and then compare that to their total cost (including our value). When we can do that, Sage also wins.
I think that's why we had so many marketing managers on a Development call.
Original Message:
Sent: 12-01-2023 09:33
From: Wayne Schulz
Subject: Sage Development Roundtable new date! 11/30/2023
I think Quick Wins is a questionable title for Sage to use for these items.
Who cares if they're quick or not? It's all about how well received they are by the customer. Specifying them as "quick" makes it seem like low effort. I realize Sage has used this wording for many years.
I found it weird that the new Sage PM didn't make any introductions, but people have probably met her elsewhere, and it is just a me thing.
Overall, it felt like Sage was happy to get out without any challenging questions. Sage did not seem exceptionally well prepared about what type of features all the bolt-on acquisitions (futurli, inventory) would bring to the table or when.
If it were me, I would have left those undecideds off the roadmap and created another column labeled "under consideration." I would have put what Sage marked as quick wins onto the roadmap since those seemed like they would make it into the product.
What I liked about the enhancements for 2014 is that many of them are usable by all Sage 100 users. I'm sure Sage is just as happy to escape another all-manufacturing type release.
If I were CIMcloud, I'd wonder what I'm paying Sage for as an endorsed partner. Based on the description of Sage Network and CIMcloud, Sage didn't have a good explanation of what the differences were. I doubt that Sage Network ( aka Lockstep, aka AR Automation ) will be "free," as was quickly stated. I expect to see more of a free-to-integrate ( ala credit cards ), but you'll be paying a transaction fee to use it. And I hate to be a Debbie Downer but my guess is with all these transaction-focused add-ons, the VAR is going to make not much money which means you MUST generate new methods of billing for these ( I've already decided anyone NOT on my support plan is getting a surcharge if I'm pulled into the billing process.
Sage went by the TLS issue VERY quickly. I wouldn't be surprised if further deferrals happened. By my quick math, about 5% of what Sage claims as their active Sage 100 installed base is not TLS compliant ( see September 2023 Sage N America Value Proposition in the partner portal for info on what Sage says their Sage 100 active paid base is).
I was unsure why Sage didn't better describe the Aatrix fix before this meeting ( which appears to have been available since 11/17/23). Couldn't they have sent some memo that explained only v2020.x needed the fix, and here's where to get it. All this time, I've erroneously assumed that the release was still awaiting release and would apply to more Sage 100 versions. I'm just not paying as close attention as most of you. I continue to believe Sage has problems with their KB ( both the technology and the people who write the articles ), so perhaps it's more of an every person for themselves inside the Sage small business division.
------------------------------
Wayne Schulz
wayne@s-consult.com
Schulz Consulting
(860) 516-8990
Moodus, CT
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Original Message:
Sent: 12-01-2023 07:42
From: Beth Bowers
Subject: Sage Development Roundtable new date! 11/30/2023
The Quick Wins were all pretty impressive, IMHO. I've had numerous clients ask for the ability to enter vendor Tax ID info without being setup for 1099s, and several people have had scripting done to get the SO/PS print flags automatically set on backorders. The Received status in PO is a definitely improvement - explaining that "Backorder" doesn't really always mean "Backorder" gets old. AND I just watched a client struggle with the ALE retain search value thing during a training session yesterday. Good stuff all around.
------------------------------
Beth Bowers
(269) 358-0989
Original Message:
Sent: 11-30-2023 19:25
From: Tina Meacham
Subject: Sage Development Roundtable new date! 11/30/2023
Madeline, yes I have a few customers asking for a log of system changes and user/role changes. The activity log captures that something has been done, but it's very generic. If system changes can't be captured, then maybe only role and user maintenance edits could?
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Tina Meacham
RKL eSolutions, LLC
Original Message:
Sent: 11-30-2023 19:13
From: Madeline Stefanou
Subject: Sage Development Roundtable new date! 11/30/2023
It's a fabulous addition. Would it be greedy to ask for something similar in System Files (User Maintenance, Role Maintenance, Company Maintenance, Installed Software, etc.)? Right @Tina Leonard ?
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Madeline Stefanou
RKL eSolutions, LLC
Original Message:
Sent: 11-30-2023 18:41
From: Kevin Moyes
Subject: Sage Development Roundtable new date! 11/30/2023
I'm not sure how free I am to post here about the development webinar content, but I have to say that the pending Audit log changes for v2024 do look like a significant step forwards.
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Kevin Moyes
Technical Systems Analyst
Munjal White Consulting Co.
Toronto ON
Original Message:
Sent: 11-28-2023 18:12
From: Jeff Schwenk
Subject: Sage Development Roundtable new date! 11/30/2023
Regarding the "Create a log" post of @Wayne Schulz, @Alnoor Cassim created scripting to do that! Fields were added to the AP ACH table for date, time and changed by information. Changes were written to the activity log table. The client did not have any alert software, so we did not email anyone. Cleint was very pleased with the result.
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Jeff Schwenk
Bottomline Software, Inc.
(540) 221-4444
Original Message:
Sent: 11-28-2023 11:13
From: Phil McIntosh
Subject: Sage Development Roundtable new date! 11/30/2023
BTW getting a signature is not a good way to think you have protected yourself. Real estate transaction docs are pubic records, so anyone who ever bought property has their signature available for public consumption...
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Phil McIntosh
President
Friendly Systems, Inc.
Original Message:
Sent: 11-28-2023 10:33
From: Madeline Stefanou
Subject: Sage Development Roundtable new date! 11/30/2023
I have a Connecticut client that experienced the same thing in the last 18 months. In their case, it was an inside job. The VP of Sales set up some fraudulent email accounts and had a "few" ACH Accounts established to receive Pre-Payments for overseas Purchase Orders. It was a "mess" and I believe accounted for a $250K Loss. It is a 'big deal' for everyone; yet some AP Departments treat it so casually. I'm in the middle of writing a "blog post" about this topic.
------------------------------
Madeline Stefanou
RKL eSolutions, LLC
Original Message:
Sent: 11-28-2023 10:14
From: Wayne Schulz
Subject: Sage Development Roundtable new date! 11/30/2023
I just read this story about how a local company was defrauded out of about $160,000 because a third-party emailed asking for the account number to change for future ACH payments:
According to the arrest warrant affidavit, authorities in March began investigating a fraud complaint after a representative from Farmington-based Trumpf, Inc. said the manufacturing company's accounts payable department had received an email in January from Bertling Logistics requesting that its bank account information be changed. Bertling is a shipping and logistics company that regularly does business with Trumpf, the affidavit said.
Representatives from Trumpf at the time of the email did not realize that it was fraudulent and, following two wire transfers in February - one for about $75,000 and another for about $88,000 - using the bank information provided in the email, reported a loss of about $163,000, according to the affidavit.
- Create a log of who made changes
- Email alert that changes were made
- Possibly require two people to make the change
- Email the company contact on file using Paperless Office that the change was just made and require verification before it goes final
I can see this becoming a bigger issue in the future
------------------------------
Wayne Schulz
wayne@s-consult.com
Schulz Consulting
(860) 516-8990
Moodus, CT