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  Chronicle of
Enhancement Releases
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Chronicle of Enhancement Releases » 4.20

The following is a list of enhancements incorporated in the Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 Version 4.20 release:

Expanded Global Enhancements
New Common Information Module
Improved Vendor Maintenance
Enhanced Invoice Data Entry and Repetitive Invoice Entry
Improved Manual Check Entry
Improved Invoice Payment Selection and Check Maintenance
Improved Accounts Payable Utilities
Improved Accounts Payable Registers
New Electronic and Magnetic Media Reporting Process
Enhanced Form and Reporting Capabilities
New Business Insights Explorer

To provide feedback, or if you have questions concerning the new release of the software, contact your Sage Software business partner. To print this Web page, right-click and click Print.

Expanded Global Enhancements
Many of the enhancements made to the Accounts Receivable, Bank Reconciliation, General Ledger, Sales Order, and Return Merchandise Authorization modules in versions 4.0 and 4.10 have been incorporated in the Accounts Payable module in version 4.20.

The following items outline the enhancements made to these modules.

Enhanced User Interface:

The following features have been added to the Accounts Payable user interface to allow for streamlined data entry processing:

  • New controls for flexible line entry
  • Customizable column widths
  • Sort and hide fields
  • Undo saved changes
  • Resize windows
  • Drag-and-drop interface
  • Updated with redesigned icons
  • Scrollable data entry lines
  • Dual-grids for line item entry
  • Hyperlinks for quick access to related information, such as vendors, primary contact, and terms code

Expanded Usage of Crystal Reports:

  • You can now use Crystal Reports to customize Accounts Payable reports.
  • You can also benefit from the multiple report output options, including Word, Excel, Adobe PDF, and e-mail.

Saved Report Settings:

  • Set up predefined report selection options for Accounts Payable reports, decreasing setup time and reducing errors in report generation.
  • Establish selection criteria ranges based on the available fields, set the default printer and number of copies to print, as well as choose between summary and detailed output.
  • Saved settings can be secured in the following ways:
    • Public - Allows you to modify and save a particular report setting.
    • Private - Displays for the user who created the report setting.
    • Read Only - Allows you to modify the saved setting and print the report with the new settings, without saving the modifications to the setting.

Improved Batch Auditing:

  • Additional data for each Accounts Payable transaction batch is maintained to record an accurate audit trail of each batch created, such as:
    • The user who created the batch
    • The date and time the batch was created
    • The user who last updated the batch
    • The date and time of the last batch update
    • The record count for the batch

Memo Management:

  • Establish, manage, and display memos in Accounts Payable.
  • Determine when and where specific memos automatically display and when memos can be edited.
  • Attach documents or files to memos. These attachments can be used to track vendor correspondence, company policies, and other internal workflow procedures.
  • Certain memos can now flow from entity to entity based on the document. For example, when an Accounts Receivable invoice is updated to Accounts Receivable Invoice History during Sales Journal update, memos attached to the invoice will now be available in Accounts Receivable Invoice History also.

Flexible Security Attributes:

  • Now in the Accounts Payable module, you can set permissions for each task within a particular role, giving the administrator or a user with administrator rights complete control over who can create, modify, delete, or view entries. These controls include: Full Control, Create, Modify, Delete, and View Only.
  • Provide greater control of user access while allowing for more flexibility with security events, which have replaced module-level override passwords (previously defined in Setup Options).

Personalization of Window Attributes, Grid Settings, and Tab Sequences:

  • You can personalize the system by defining the following preferred settings:
    • Window position and size
    • Grid settings, including column sizes, column order, and dual grid field location
    • User-specified tab sequences

Expanded Numeric Fields:

  • To accommodate larger transactions, the numeric masks in the Accounts Payable module are extended to allow 999 million numbers within entry tasks and 99 billion numbers in reports.
  • Register numbers are expanded to accommodate six characters.

Purge Data Moved to Utilities Menu:

  • Purge functionality has been moved from the Accounts Payable Period End menu to the Utilities menu. This allows you to set different security options for each purge activity and prevent inadvertent data purges.

Enhanced Customizer Capabilities:

  • New export and import wizards are available for exporting and importing customized forms, user-defined fields (UDFs), user-defined tables (UDTs), and Crystal reports.
  • UDFs - You can define UDFs for any table (you are not limited to single predefined entities).
  • UDFs reside in the actual data table and not in a separate UDF table. By providing this table extension, you can easily access the UDF from the appropriate data entry task, Lookup window, or Crystal report to form a complete business process for the custom solution.
  • You can define the source of the value of the UDF when the UDF is created, allowing you to specify default values or the source from which a UDF value is inherited. For example, if you create a UDF in Accounts Payable Vendor Maintenance and create a second UDF for A/P Invoice Data Entry lines, you can then specify that the value of the A/P Invoice Data Entry UDF is populated with the value from the Accounts Payable Vendor Maintenance UDF.
  • UDTs - You can define tables to validate UDFs or some existing fields. For example, if you have a selection of possible project codes that will be assigned to a new project UDF, the UDT can be used to maintain the different project codes and descriptions.
  • An easy-to-use maintenance task allows you to maintain the data in UDTs and associated UDF links. Additionally, you can validate a UDF against the data in a UDT.
  • You can include information from UDTs on Crystal reports and forms.

External Integration:

  • Access the Accounts Payable module externally through a set of standard interfaces through the Object Interface module.
  • The Object Interface module allows tight integration with other applications without modifying the underlying source code of the application. This in turn allows you to upgrade to future versions of Sage MAS 90 or 200 with minimal impact to custom integrations.
  • You can access all data entry and maintenance business objects that are available. All relevant functions of the business object are exposed, including: adding, deleting, and modifying entries.
  • Programmers can use any language, such as Visual Basic, to interface with the business objects.
  • The use of this feature requires the activation of an Object Interface key.

User Tracking for Transactions:

  • All Accounts Payable transactions are updated with the user ID of the person who last edited the record along with the date and time of the most recent update.

Accurate Period-To-Date and Year-To-Date Data Independent of Period-End Processing:

  • Individual Accounts Payable transactions are now stored to allow you to perform reporting across multiple periods, regardless of whether or not period-end processing has occurred.
  • Multiple years of detail history can be saved and viewed in Vendor Maintenance and Vendor Inquiry.

New Company Setup Wizards:

  • The New Company Setup Wizard is available for the Accounts Payable module.
  • You can now easily set up a new company in Sage MAS 90 or 200 tailored to meet your specific business needs.

Enhancement to the Advanced Lookup Engine:

  • The Advanced Lookup Engine (ALE) has been strengthened to include the ability to pull information from subsidiary linked tables in ALE. For example, when listing A/P vendors, you can link to fields in G/L Account to obtain the fully formatted account number along with its description.
New Common Information Module

Common Access Point for Shared Tasks:

  • The new Common Information module provides a common access point for tasks that are shared by various modules. The Common Information data is maintained by company.

Improved Vendor Maintenance

Automatically Update the Remit-To Address:

  • You can now set the remit-to address to be updated automatically when the matching vendor address is changed.
  • You can select to be prompted when the vendor address is changed, if you do not want to update all remit-to addresses automatically.

Prevent Incorrect Entry of Invoices for Goods Received:

  • If the invoices for some vendors will be received in Purchase Order Receipt of Invoice Entry instead of Accounts Payable Invoice Data Entry, you can now select to be prompted during data entry to prevent double entry of invoices for goods received.

View Invoice Transfer Information from the Originating Vendor:

  • You can now view the credit card vendor information for transferred invoices. Previously, only the receiving vendor displayed the originating vendor’s information. References to the transferred transactions from both originating and receiving vendors simplify reconciliation.

Include or Exclude Invoices with Zero Balances during Inquiry:

  • In the Search for Open Invoices window accessed from the Vendor Maintenance Invoices tab, you can now select to include or exclude invoices with zero balances. This reduces the number of records when searching for specific data.

Retain 1099 Payment History for Multiple Years:

  • Vendor 1099 payment history can now be saved indefinitely; you no longer have to purge 1099 information from the previous year before entering next year’s data.
  • You can now access 1099 Payment History from the Vendor Maintenance (On the Fly) window, allowing you to enter 1099 payment history information while entering a new vendor.
Improved Invoice Data Entry and Repetitive Invoice Entry

Last Vendor Number Defaults During Entry:

  • During invoice entry, the Vendor No. field now defaults to the last vendor number used. This is convenient when entering multiple invoices for a vendor.

Enter Comment for Each General Ledger Account:

  • In Repetitive Invoice Entry, you can now enter a comment for each general ledger account number entered on an invoice. These comments, along with the account number and description, print on the Invoice Register for easier recognition and reconciliation.
Improved Manual Check Entry

Check Numbers Increment During Quick Print:

  • During quick printing, the check numbers are now incremented automatically.

Discount Retained After Check Reversal:

  • If an invoice payment check is reversed, the discount amount is placed back onto the invoice to allow the discount to be taken at a later date.

Notified for Duplicate Invoice Numbers:

  • You are now prompted during manual check entry, if a duplicate invoice number is used for the same vendor in the same batch.

Enter Alphanumeric Check Numbers:

  • You can now enter alphanumeric check numbers during manual check entry to enter wired transfer information.

New Batch Processing Capability:

  • In Accounts Payable, new batch processing capability has been added for Manual Check Entry.

Improved Invoice Payment Selection and Check Maintenance

Prevent Accidental Clearing of Unposted Checks:

  • You are now prompted in Check Maintenance if checks are printed but not yet updated.

Notified for Discounts Past Due:

  • You can now select to be prompted if you are taking a discount that is past the discount due date.

New Security Module Option to Clear Printed Checks:

  • A new security module option for the Clear button in the Invoice Payment Selection window now provides tighter control over which users can clear printed checks in Invoice Payment Selection without performing an update.

Improved Accounts Payable Utilities

Assign Vendor Tax Schedules by City, State, and ZIP Code:

  • Using the Assign Vendor Tax Schedules utility, you can now assign tax schedules by city, state, and ZIP Code, in addition to vendor number.

Warning Message for Deleting and Changing Vendors:

  • A warning message now appears when you are about to delete or change vendors; this message allows you to avoid inadvertent vendor deletion or change.

Improved Accounts Payable Registers

Print General Ledger Account Descriptions:

  • You can now print general ledger account descriptions on the Accounts Payable Invoice and Manual Check Registers.

Post Detailed Information to General Ledger:

  • You can now set up Accounts Payable registers to post detailed information such as check number, check date, check amount, and vendor name to the General Ledger module. You can also post the information in summary format.

New Electronic and Magnetic Media Reporting Process

Magnetic Media Reporting Renamed to Electronic Reporting:

  • Starting from the 2006 tax year, the IRS requires all W-2 and 1099 filings be performed electronically through the Internet. They will no longer accept filings on any type of magnetic media (diskette). In Sage MAS 90 and 200, you can continue to create a data file compliant with the IRS published standards, and save it on the hard disk.
  • Because of the change in government regulations, the Magnetic Media module is renamed to Electronic Reporting to accurately reflect the new process.
  • Some states may still require or accept filings submitted on magnetic media. If your state supports the Federal reporting format and accepts submissions on a diskette, you can create the state diskette by copying the data file you created to a 3.5" diskette. If your state does not support the Federal reporting format, the Electronic Reporting module cannot create your electronic file.
Enhanced Form and Reporting Capabilities

Print Checks in the New ANSI-Compliant Form Standards:

  • Accounts Payable and Payroll checks can now be printed conforming to the new ANSI-compliant form standards that went into effect in April 2005.

Print the Remit-To Address on Checks:

  • You can now select whether to print the vendor address or the remit-to address on Accounts Payable checks using A/P Check Printing and Manual Check Printing.

Print General Ledger Distribution on Extended Stub:

  • If you use extended stubs during check printing, you can print the general ledger distribution on the extended stub.

Print the Third Address Line on Checks:

  • You can now easily add the third vendor address line to Accounts Payable checks.

Last Form Type Used is Saved:

  • During check printing, manual check printing, and quick printing, the last form type used is saved to streamline daily processing.

Improved Accounts Payable Aged Invoice Report:

  • You can now select to print the aging based on the invoice due date.
  • You can also print aging based on a specific aging date.

Improved A/P Expense by G/L Account Report:

  • You can now sort by new options such as department and location.
  • The vendor name now prints on the report. You can also select information to print by vendor name.
  • You can now print the individual lines of an invoice if there are multiple lines posted to the same general ledger account or if there are multiple invoice transfers for credit card vendor invoices.

Improved Accounts Payable Check History Report:

  • On the Accounts Payable Check History Report, checks are now printed alphabetically by vendor name or vendor number to make the report easier to read.

Improved Cash Requirements Report:

  • You can now print the Cash Requirements Report in summary format to produce a simpler report.

New Security Option for the Vendor Audit Report:

  • You can now use a new security option to prevent users from deleting vendor audit information.

New Business Insights Explorer
Sage MAS 90 and 200 version 4.20 now includes Business Insights Explorer as the newest member of the Business Insights suite. Business Insights Explorer takes inquiry, drill-down, drill-around, and analysis to a whole new level. New users as well as current users of the Sage MAS 90 and 200 system will immediately benefit from the extensive set of usability and customization features included with Business Insights Explorer.

Preview Key Information:

  • The Preview option allows you to view key information about a specific entity such as a customer combined with related transaction header information such as invoices, orders, or sales orders. You can also apply filters to any view to display data based on your preference. For example, when you select a customer, the context of the related view changes automatically to show only the rows that apply to the selected customer. The system is bundled with a series of predefined relationships including customers, salespersons, invoices, sales orders, and RMAs.

Explore and Drill into Related Data:

  • The Explore option allows you to drill into data related to the original records. You can also change the primary view and context (for example, a selected customer) to a new set of views. At the same time, context is passed from the original starting point to the new set of views as a filter. For example, a customer service agent receives a call from a customer regarding a recent transaction. After locating the customer, the agent can view recent shipments or invoice payments. After locating the specific invoice to be discussed, the agent may need additional information related to that invoice such as the payments applied to it. This can be accomplished by drilling into the invoice to view applications against that invoice.
  • You can also navigate to a related view that contains custom preferences and predefined filters. For example, you can save a customized view that lists orders placed in the last 30 days. When looking at any customer, you can use the saved customized view to see the orders placed in the last 30 days.

Access Relevant Tasks:

  • Each view contains a set of related tasks that you can quickly access. When you access the task, the appropriate context is maintained. For example, when you view a customer, you can access Customer Maintenance from Business Insights Explorer with the customer information already entered.

Save and Share Customized Views:

  • You can sort, group, reorganize, and rename columns and save filtered views. You can use customized views within the Explore option to navigate from other related views.
  • You can save and share personalized settings from one system to another, allowing you to maintain your Business Insights Explorer settings across multiple desktops or to share your settings with other users.

Business Insights Explorer Tutorial:

  • You can learn how to navigate, organize, customize, and filter data in Business Insights Explorer using the Business Insights Explorer tutorial. This tutorial is available from the Tutorials page on the Sage MAS 90 and 200 Desktop.
     


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