Sage 300 ERP 2012 Pre-Release Guide 7-30-12 · Sage 300 ERP 2012 Pre-Release Guide PUBLISHED JULY...

2011 Sage Software, Inc. All rights reserved. - 1 -

Sage 300 ERP 2012 Pre-Release Guide

July 2012


Published July 2012

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SAGE 300 ERP 2012 RELEASE HIGHLIGHTS ....................................................................... 5

SAGE 300 ERP ................................................................................................................. 6

SAGE 300 ERP 2012 AVAILABILITY ................................................................................... 6

NEW SAGE ADVISOR FUNCTIONALITY .................................................................................. 6

NEW VISUAL PROCESS FLOWS ........................................................................................... 7

OPERATIONS MODULE FUNCTIONALITY ............................................................................... 7

ORDER ENTRY ENHANCEMENTS ......................................................................................... 8

FINDER ENHANCEMENTS .................................................................................................. 10

BATCH PROCESSING ENHANCEMENTS............................................................................... 10

REPORTING ENHANCEMENTS ............................................................................................ 11

BETTER INVENTORY REPORTING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

GENERAL LEDGER TRANSACTION LISTING REPORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

PAYMENT PROCESSING MODULE ENHANCEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

HELP AND DOCUMENTATION ENHANCEMENTS .................................................................... 15

SAGE 300 ERP PORTAL ENHANCEMENTS ......................................................................... 16

SAGE 300 ERP UI ENHANCEMENTS ................................................................................. 16

ALTERNATE LINE SHADING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

COLOR IDENTIF ICATION FOR DIFFERENT COMPANIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

USER MANAGEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

SAGE 300 ERP INTELLIGENCE REPORTING ENHANCEMENTS .............................................. 17

REPORT DESIGNER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

REPORTING TREES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

REPORT DISTRIBUTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

SAGE CRM ENHANCEMENTS ............................................................................................ 21

SAGE CRM FOR IPHONES AND TABLETS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

SAGE E-MARKETING FOR SAGE CRM .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

MAIL MERGE ENHANCEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22


Published July 2012

DOCUMENT ATTACHMENT ENHANCEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

QUOTE TO ORDER ENHANCEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

PAYROLL ENHANCEMENTS IN PRODUCT UPDATE 1 ............................................................ 23

EXPANDED COST CENTER OVERRIDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

PAYROLL TAX NUMBER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

COMMON DEDUCTION LIMITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

ASSIGN TAX TO EMPLOYEES (US PAYROLL ONLY) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

ASSIGN EMPLOYEE TAX AUDIT REPORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

SUPPORT FOR MULTIPLE QEIR, EIR NUMBERS PER EMPLOYEE (CANADIAN PAYROLL ONLY)26

WORKERS COMPENSATION CHANGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTS FOR WORKERS’ COMPENSATION GROUPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

WORKERS’ COMPENSATION CODES MODIF ICATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

WORKERS’ COMPENSATION CODES REPORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

PRE-CHECK PAYROLL REGISTER AND PAYROLL REGISTERS.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

WORKERS’ COMPENSATION TRANSACTION REPORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

TRANSACTION HISTORY MODIF ICATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

TRANSACTION HISTORY REPORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

EFT - ELECTRONIC FUNDS TRANSFER ENHANCEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

CHILD SUPPORT EFT (US PAYROLL ONLY) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

INTERNATIONAL ACH TRANSFER ( IAT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

UPDATED EFT FORMAT FOR HSBC BANK (CANADIAN PAYROLL ONLY) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

NEW FEDERAL AND STATE ELECTRONIC FIL ING (US PAYROLL ONLY) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

WORK LOCATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

SAGE 300 ERP 2012 BUSINESS PARTNER CERTIFICATION ................................................ 33

CONNECTED SERVICES UPDATES ..................................................................................... 33

SALES TAX SERVICE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

SAGE 300 ERP SHIPPING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

SAGE 300 ERP ALERTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

SAGE COMMON SOLUTIONS ............................................................................................. 34

SAGE HRMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

SAGE BUDGETING AND PLANNING (FORMERLY KNOW N AS SAGE ACTIVE PLANNER) . . . . . . . . . 34

SAGE FIXED ASSETS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

THIRD PARTY CONSIDERATIONS ....................................................................................... 35

CRYSTAL REPORTS VERSION 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

TECHNOLOGY AND SUPPORTED PLATFORM UPDATES ........................................................ 35


Published July 2012

VIRTUALIZATION PLATFORMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

OPERATING SYSTEMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

DATABASES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

BROW SER COMPATIB IL ITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS ............................................................................................... 36

RETIREMENTS ................................................................................................................. 37

SAGE 300 ERP 5.5 (FORMERLY KNOW N AS SAGE ERP ACCPAC VERSION 5.5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37


Published July 2012

This Pre-Release guide is intended for use as a “preview” of new functionality in a coming release and represents the current view of the Sage 300 ERP 2012 product direction. The information is subject to change at any time without notice.

SAGE 300 ERP 2012 RELEASE HIGHLIGHTS

1. Simplify update processes using the new Sage Advisor Update

2. Reduce time navigating through your system by customizing business processes to specific user roles with Sage Visual Process Flows

3. Improve productivity with enhancements throughout the system inspired by customer requests, such as: Entered By, On Hold Reason, and Requested By fields in Order Entry; copy order and create PO directly from order entry; and reverse GL batches

4. Enhance usability with easier to read tables, an improved Finder, and improved end-user documentation

5. Get the information you need, faster! New Inquiries for operations modules facilitate

quick access to customized lists, which provide the answers you need and lower custom reporting costs

6. Save time when processing payments ̶ capture pre-authorized payments during shipment entry or invoice entry, and invoice multiple pre-authorized payments in a single batch

7. Make informed decisions with comprehensive reporting utilizing the new Sage

Intelligence Reporting financial report designer and reporting tree capabilities

8. Expand customized reporting capabilities with the updated SAP Crystal Reports® runtime engine for .NET Framework 4, and new options in several standard reports

9. Accelerate growth and stay connected with Sage CRM enhancements that improve

information flow between the front and back offices

10. Efficiently and cost effectively manage the shipping process and rate shop with an optional service that streamlines shipping and reduces costs


PUBLISHED JULY 2012 - 6 -

SAGE 300 ERP

Sage 300 ERP (formerly Sage ERP Accpac) is a completely integrated, multinational and multilingual business management solution providing financials, CRM, operations and business intelligence. Cost-effective, quick to implement and simple to use—Sage 300 ERP provides solutions to automate workflow throughout your organization.

SAGE 300 ERP 2012 AVAILABILITY

Sage 300 ERP is on target to be released in September 2012. The main delivery method will be electronic download, with an option to order physical media for an additional fee. Beta began in July 2012. General Availability download for new sales, and the Auto-Delivery download for on-plan current customers, is expected to occur in the early September timeframe. By mid to late September 2012, orders for physical media may be placed for an additional fee.

Sage 300 ERP 2012 introduces a new way to deliver added value to customers on Sage Business Care with Sage Advisor Update technology, designed to install Product Updates with minimal disruption and maximized efficiency. Sage 300 ERP 2012 Product Updates will include new functionality and enhancements, along with hot fixes and patches. Customers will be required to be current on Business Care in order to access and use the new features.

Pay-as-you-go subscription licensing will continue to be available in the 2012 release as a purchase option. Subscription licensing enables you to take advantage of the rich functionality and data security of on-premises Sage ERP solutions, with an affordable monthly financing option and the added peace of mind that comes with unlimited technical support through a Sage Business Care Gold plan—our highest level of support.

NEW SAGE ADVISOR FUNCTIONALITY

Sage Advisor is new technology that will be implemented across all Sage products in phases to help ensure you’re getting the most out of your Sage solution. Relevant immediate advice and assistance will be provided based on how you interact with the software.

The Sage 300 ERP 2012 release will include the first phase of Sage Advisor, which is designed to perform software updates more efficiently and gather information on how users interact with their solution that will be used to develop future enhancements, such as personalized dashboards, "show me how" videos, and on-screen help.

The Sage Advisor Update tool console can be used to set notification options, review information, download and install available updates, and monitor Sage Business Care account status.

The Sage Advisor Update is aware of client/server type installations as well as security requirements for installation rights (Administrator roles for example). However, Sage Advisor is not automatically aware of any customizations, such as customized Crystal Reports or Third Party applications. Certain updates can impact or overwrite customizations or integrations, which is why they are not automatically installed. Ultimately, Sage is working toward an environment that can support a silent and frictionless installation of updates without additional user intervention. In this initial release, Sage Advisor Update will provide notification of available updates and allow for evaluation with a Sage Business Partner for each unique environment.



NEW VISUAL PROCESS FLOWS

New Sage Visual Process Flows will help increase productivity and reduce time navigating business processes by providing a graphical process-oriented interface for end-users. The predefined processes will provide end-users with a clear view of the steps and tools required to complete a task, simplifying complex tasks. The Visual Process Flow Designer can be used to easily create custom flows for unique needs and specific roles. These customizable processes will make it easy for new users to learn Sage 300 ERP or existing users to complete tasks such as year-end, which are only occasionally performed.

Version 2012 will include predefined process flows for:

GL, AP, AR, PO and OE transactions

Bank reconciliation

IC transactions and inventory management

OPERATIONS MODULE FUNCTIONALITY

Sage 300 ERP 2012 introduces new inquiry functionality in operations modules, including Inventory Control, Order Entry, and Purchase Orders. The Inquiry tool available in the Sage 300 ERP Portal provides greater business visibility and insight, designed to improve business performance. Inquiry can help minimize the need to modify a Crystal Report to access company specific information, which can reduce the total cost of ownership by minimizing customization requirements.



Inquiry enables users to easily create personalized ad-hoc query lists without the knowledge of databases, programming or web technologies. The highly intuitive interface puts custom information access within easy reach of everyday non-technical users and can decrease training and IT support.

ORDER ENTRY ENHANCEMENTS

Several updates to Sage 300 ERP Order Entry will help simplify processes, as well as help resolve errors and customer inquiries in a timely manner.

Easily create a PO directly from Order

Entry.



The ‘Entered By’ field will clearly display the person responsible for taking the order, which will save time identifying who spoke with the customer, or who made modifications to an existing order. In addition, the ‘On Hold Reason’ will define why an order has been put on hold. A new ‘Deliver By’ date ensures orders reach customers on-time and helps track and rate order deliveries. To further simplify the Order Entry process, the Ship Via Code, Description and Tracking Number fields have been relocated from the Customer Tab to the Order Tab of Order Entry.

Save time by creating a copy of the current Order



FINDER ENHANCEMENTS

Finder results using Microsoft SQL with case sensitive collation have also been improved. The Finder can now be configured to display records in search results that are not an exact match to the case of text entered in the Filter field. In previous versions, records that did not exactly match the case of the text entered did not appear in results. For example, when a search is performed for records that contain "client," records that contain "Client" or "CLIENT" will appear in the results.

BATCH PROCESSING ENHANCEMENTS

If errors are discovered while reviewing report content in Sage 300 ERP, a new option is available in Batch Entry that can be used to quickly reverse the entire General Ledger Batch.

Easily print O/E Invoices from the AR Inquiry Screen



REPORTING ENHANCEMENTS

BETTER INVENTORY REPORTING

Inactive inventory items can be excluded in the Inventory Reconciliation Report and IC Inventory Worksheet.

GENERAL LEDGER TRANSACTION LISTING REPORT

The new General Ledger Transaction Listing report (targeted to be included in a Product Update) will allow selection and printing of transactions across fiscal years in a single report. The report will provide a complete, detailed listing of transactions that have taken place in each account during any specified time period. The GL Transaction Listing report will total all debits and credits during the time period specified in the report and will include beginning and ending balances, allowing for visibility into cash flow by account. This report will assist with GL reconciliations at month or year-end processing.

Option to include or exclude Inactive Items in Inventory Worksheet and Inventory Reconciliation Reports



In addition, new functionality will allow for exclusion of inactive General Ledger Accounts in GL Chart of Accounts Reports, so clutter can be removed and focus on relevant information can be increased.

PAYMENT PROCESSING MODULE ENHANCEMENTS

Sage 300 ERP allows credit card pre-authorizations to be processed during sales order entry and captured when goods are shipped or services rendered. As part of the process, Sage Exchange sends the pre-authorization through the credit card network to verify that the customer has an open credit balance to satisfy the amount of the pending purchase, and then reserves the pre-authorized amount for that invoice. It will also automatically ‘force’ an expired pre-authorization. Many companies prefer to have the capture functionality performed by accounting personnel rather than warehouse personnel, so Sage 300 ERP 2012 will provide an

Enter a Range of Fiscal Years in the GL Transactions Listing

Report



option to capture at the time of shipment or at time of invoice. This new option will provide the ability to customize systems to workflow that works best for the company.

Improve efficiency with the new Capture Payments with Invoice screen by changing the workflow so that fulfillment of pre-authorized orders can be done in tandem with warehouse personnel creating and posting shipments without capturing the funds. Once shipments are posted, accounts receivable personnel can either create an individual invoice while capturing funds, or access the Capture Payments with Invoice screen.

The Capture Payments with Invoice screen will display all shipped orders containing a preauthorization. After a quick review, the accounts receivable clerk can click the Capture and Invoice button, which automatically captures pre-authorized amounts on all selected pre-authorized transactions, and subsequently creates an invoice for those orders. In addition, the A/R Receipt batch is created with receipt entries for all transactions that have been captured and invoiced. The Capture Payments with Invoice screen also has filtering capabilities for processing smaller groupings of shipped transactions.



To confirm the identity of the cardholder, security measures require billing address entry in addition to credit card information, allowing Sage Payment Solutions to validate the address. In order to reduce data entry, a new option has been added to the screens in Sage 300 ERP where the cardholder’s address is entered, automatically copying the customer address into the billing address fields. If the city and state/province are the same as the customer address, check the box to fill in the address, and simply edit the differences, streamlining data entry and reducing the potential for error.

Integration with Sage Mobile Payments will be available in a Product Update. This will allow a mobile phone to be used as a payments device. Sage Mobile Payments offers end-to-end encryption and PCI compliance with a credit card reader, providing the lowest "card present" rates. There will be no additional fees for mobile transactions and this feature will work on more than 400 mobile devices.

Optional signature capture for the lowest credit card rate

Add additional invoice information.

Enter amount, tax and tip if applicable

Securely login

Optional ‘Card Swipe’



The Sage Exchange Portal offers real time updates of consolidated payment activity across the entire organization. It also has a self-service administration of users and management of connections to any payment device to Sage 300 ERP for automatic reconciliation.

HELP AND DOCUMENTATION ENHANCEMENTS

The English Help for Order Entry and Purchase Orders has been improved with more usable and accurate content, and search results that yield better results. Revised help for additional Sage 300 ERP modules will be available in future updates.

New English guides are now available in-product, starting with PDF User Guides for Order Entry, Payment Processing, and Purchase Orders. Guides in ePub format will follow soon, and guides for additional Sage 300 ERP modules will be available in future updates.



Translated Help and guide content also available in this release:

French and Simplified Chinese Help for the Portal, Order Entry, and Payment Processing

French and Simplified Chinese guides for Order Entry and Payment Processing

Additional translated content will be available in future updates.

Help videos are available in the Portal Learning Center and on YouTube.com/Sage300DOC.

SAGE 300 ERP PORTAL ENHANCEMENTS

The Sage 300 ERP Portal was introduced in Version 6.0 to simplify desktop navigation and allow faster, customizable access to information. The classic Sage 300 ERP Desktop will co-exist with the Portal. The Portal was designed to eliminate many challenges associated with the classic desktop reported by customers: it simplifies layout and maximizes multi-tasking. With 2012 the Portal will include a new easy access link from the Windows Start menu, as well as additional Inquiry templates.

SAGE 300 ERP UI ENHANCEMENTS

2012 introduces a variety of changes in the look and feel, or User Interface (UI), of Sage 300 ERP screens. These enhancements are strategically designed to increase intuitiveness and ease of use of Sage 300 ERP without impacting traditional workflow.

ALTERNATE LINE SHADING

Alternate line shading in Sage 300 ERP grids will improve readability. Often referred to as color banding, every second row will be filled with an alternate color to make data easier to read. The row shading is dynamic and will persist even if rows are inserted or deleted within the original range.



COLOR IDENTIFICATION FOR DIFFERENT COMPANIES

The ability to distinguish between open companies by assigning each a different color will help reduce errors while processing data for two or more companies open simultaneously. This functionality is currently targeted to be available in a Product Update.

USER MANAGEMENT

Multiple companies can be accessed within Sage 300 ERP 2012 on the same computer, with only one user license (Lanpak) used versus one license per company opened.

SAGE 300 ERP INTELLIGENCE REPORTING ENHANCEMENTS Several Intelligence Reporting enhancements are planned for the Sage 300 ERP 2012 release. In addition to the twelve standard pre-defined reports that are fully customizable, and provide the ability to drill down into the data, this release includes a new Report Designer, Reporting Trees, and new Reporting Distribution capabilities.

REPORT DESIGNER

The new Report Designer in Sage Intelligence Reporting provides a graphical interface, which allows for simple drag and drop of columns and pre-defined calculations to include on financial reports with multi-level groupings. The built in “Formula Builder” gives the option to create additional calculated fields. In addition, the “What If Analyzer” allows use of a sliding scale to dynamically change amounts on the report to assist in forecasting/budgeting or creating projections. It also allows column and page level groupings by any field such as Segments, Companies, or Regions. The Consolidated Financial Report Designer supports multi-company consolidation. Eight predefined layouts are provided with the Report Designer for the easy generation of customized income statements and balance sheets.



REPORTING TREES

A reporting tree allows modeling of a very sophisticated reporting structure and the ability to view the organization in many different ways with the click of a button. Some companies may have very complex corporate hierarchies that require hundreds of tree units, as well as other hierarchies that require fewer tree units.

Most organizations have a hierarchical structure in which departments (or other business units) report to one or more higher-level units. In a traditional organizational chart, the lower units on the chart typically report to increasingly higher units.



Sage Intelligence Reporting uses the term “reporting unit” for each box in an organizational chart. A reporting unit can be an individual department from the general ledger, or it can be a higher-level, summary unit that combines information from other reporting units. For a Report Designer layout that includes a reporting tree, one report is generated for each reporting unit and at the summary level. All of these reports use the text columns, row and column layouts that are specified in the Report Designer. Each reporting tree contains a group of reporting units. Sage Intelligence Reporting offers the ability to easily add or change reporting units without requiring a change to your financial data. After saving a Reporting Tree, simply link it to one or more Report Designer layouts that are saved within a workbook. Sage Intelligence Reporting also supports multi-company consolidations.

REPORT DISTRIBUTION

Improve workflow and speed up business processes by automating report delivery and distribution. Report distribution is a powerful feature which saves time and effort by allowing reports to be sent to a file, FTP site or email in a number of standard formats. Distribution is ideal for sending reports out to line managers or providing corporate management with tailored reports.

Choose the reports you want to distribute, who will receive them, and customize each email format using your existing MS Outlook profile and address book.



Features include the ability to customize each email format, utilize existing outlook profiles and address books, or specify a SMTP or Exchange server. The same report can be set up to be distributed to different destinations. Conditional distribution can also be set up based on the content of the report.



PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENTS

Significant performance related enhancements are provided with this release. A new dashboard report is available. Modifications have been made to the ‘Financial Reports’ process within Sage Intelligence Reporting to ensure that financial data is inserted into Microsoft Excel faster than ever. In addition, the Trial Balance Sync has been enhanced to improve excel formula rendering on any version of the reports below. Windows shortcuts can be created easily for any report and drill down on reports can be performed easily by right clicking.

SAGE CRM ENHANCEMENTS

Growing a business in today’s economy can be challenging. To help ensure success, Sage 300 ERP 2012 includes Sage CRM, connecting the front and back offices to dynamically link processes, information, workflows, and communication channels.

Sage CRM 7.1 SP2 includes exciting new functionality to assist in maximizing workplace effectiveness, driving staff productivity, and putting the customer at the heart of their business processes.

SAGE CRM FOR IPHONES AND TABLETS

Equipping sales teams with the necessary tools enables them to do their job effectively, which is crucial in today’s competitive market. Having access to critical customer information on the road or at customer sites can help drive revenue and keep customers satisfied. The Sage CRM mobile solution delivers a rich user experience and provides sales teams with the ability to work effectively regardless of their location using online access. Sage CRM maximizes user productivity by enabling users to access critical real-time customer data while on the move and



increase sales and service effectiveness at every stage of the sales cycle. Tablet support is currently in testing with early adopters and beta sites.

SAGE E-MARKETING FOR SAGE CRM

Sage E-marketing for Sage CRM delivers all the power of e-marketing software directly through Sage CRM for end-to-end e-marketing campaign management. It enables users to execute high-quality, targeted email marketing campaigns and create drip marketing campaigns quickly and easily, automatically delivering email communications to the right people at the right time for maximum impact. Open, click, and bounce rates are automatically tracked, enabling marketers to calculate accurate ROI and deliver hot leads to the sales team. Users can benefit from a simple three-step wizard to create new e-marketing campaigns with ease and a choice of over 90 templates to get started immediately. Follow-up call lists can then be based on e-marketing responses, closing the loop between email and telesales. Features include:

Over 90 attention-grabbing templates out-of-the-box

Simple 3-step wizard for rapid execution

Custom landing pages for easy execution of cohesive, integrated marketing campaigns

MAIL MERGE ENHANCEMENTS

The Sage CRM mail merge functionality has been revamped and is now a server-side feature. With this new update, Microsoft Word does not need to be installed on the client machine and an Active X plug-in (or any other plug-in) is not required, making implementation of this functionality easier and less costly. The new release features an easy to use rich text editor within Sage CRM for template creation and customization, so HTML templates can be created from within Sage CRM regardless of which web browser is being used – Internet Explorer (IE), Safari, Firefox, or Chrome. Sage CRM will offer continued support of predefined Microsoft Word templates and upload of MS Word templates can be continued as normal. New merge templates can also be created in Word and merged. Additionally, the new release provides access to new HTML templates out-of-the-box.

One of the great new features is the ability to create mail merge documents on custom entities. Mail Merge can now be run against any custom entity that has a Documents tab.

DOCUMENT ATTACHMENT ENHANCEMENTS

Ultimate flexibility and choice are offered when filing documents in Sage CRM from an IE, Firefox, Safari, or Chrome browser, as the dependency on the Document Drop ActiveX control has been removed (although one can switch it back on for Internet Explorer if they wish to file emails or drag-and-drop files). In addition to enhancing the feature to work across popular browsers, the following additional functionality has been added:

Select and upload multiple files in a single transaction (Chrome and Firefox)

Attach multiple files to a single task

View attachments drill-down from document and task lists

Pre-upload screening of file quantity, size, and type including the ability to exclude specific document extensions and to limit files by size (Firefox, Chrome and Safari)



Intuitive drag-and-drop zone for attaching files into Shared Documents (Chrome and Firefox)

QUOTE TO ORDER ENHANCEMENTS

In Sage 300 ERP 2012, sales person split functionality has been added into the Quote to Order workflow within Sage CRM. Sales Split allows users to view, update, or change the salesperson of record and commission splits right from within CRM and the specific order. In a Product Update, the ability to take credit card payments for orders entered into Sage CRM will be introduced, as well as Inventory Lookup capabilities.

PAYROLL ENHANCEMENTS IN PRODUCT UPDATE 1

Sage 300 ERP 2012 Product Update 1 is currently targeted to be available in the November-December 2012 timeframe, and is expected to include a variety of enhancements to the Canadian and US Payroll modules. These enhancements are expected to simplify payroll processing and ensure compliance.



EXPANDED COST CENTER OVERRIDE

You can now define the cost center override for Flat calculation method deduction code on the Basic Info tab in the Earnings/Deduction setup. After an earning is associated with a flat deduction type, the deduction will be allocated based on the associated earnings allocation.

PAYROLL TAX NUMBER

US Payroll and Canadian Payroll require employers to report taxes by the assigned Employer Identification Number (EIN) or the Canadian Business Number (BN) respectively. A new Tax Number field has been added to the Company tab on the Payroll Options window. You can assign a Tax Number for each company (database).

The value entered in the Tax Number field will update the Reporting ID field for the USFIT tax code. For existing database, Payroll copies this Reporting ID value to the Tax Number field and disables the Reporting ID field in the USFIT during data activation. The Government Report windows in U.S. Payroll will display the value from the Tax Number field by default when the user generates a tax file or form. The Canadian BN will be used for integration purposes only, and will not affect the current functionality of the Reporting ID field. This Payroll Tax Number field value will be used for Electronic Tax Filing in US Payroll.



COMMON DEDUCTION LIMITS

Multiple deductions can now be combined to allow a single annual maximum to be applied (for example, multiple garnishments, retirement plans, and union dues). A new menu item, Common Deduction Limits, has been added to Payroll Setup. Using this new feature, multiple deductions can be associated based on a single limit and ensure that employee deductions do not exceed defined annual maximums. Using the Common Deduction Limits functionality, manual calculation of group limits for multiple deductions such as union dues, garnishments, and retirement plans are no longer needed.

COMMON DEDUCTION LIMITS REPORT

A new report lists the information for the deduction groups defined in the system.



ASSIGN TAX TO EMPLOYEES (US PAYROLL ONLY)

Assigning a tax to multiple employees in a single operation is now available in US Payroll, instead of assigning taxes to one employee at a time as was done in previous releases. Selection criteria can be used to assign taxes to groups; for example, a state tax can be applied only to employees who live in a selected state.

ASSIGN EMPLOYEE TAX AUDIT REPORT

A new report allows the ability to determine which taxes have been assigned to an employee using the Assign Tax to Employees process.

SUPPORT FOR MULTIPLE QEIR, EIR NUMBERS PER EMPLOYEE (CANADIAN PAYROLL ONLY)

You can now enter both EIR and QEIR for employees who are working between Quebec and other provinces. The system will calculate EIR if the province field is set to other provinces in the employee profile and calculate QEIR if the province field is set to Quebec. Users will no longer have to add or remove EIR or QEIR depends on what province the employee is working in.



WORKERS COMPENSATION CHANGES

GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTS FOR WORKERS’ COMPENSATION GROUPS

Employer expense and liability accounts from the general ledger can now be associated to a workers’ compensation group and have the expense and liability codes associated with that group post in the general ledger batch file. With this enhancement, a complete picture is provided of the employer cost associated with each check run.

In 2012, each workers’ compensation group will include the ability to:

Define an employer expense account

Define an employer liability account

Include wages associated to a workers’ compensation group in the general ledger

WORKERS’ COMPENSATION CODES MODIFICATIONS

Modifications were made to the Payroll Workers’ Compensation Codes window and will allow assignment of a GL account to a WC Group, including:

Two new fields were added: Expense Account - The general ledger expense account will post the employers’ portion of workers compensation. Liability Account - The general ledger liability account will post the employers’ portion of workers' compensation.

For US Payroll, the “Adjust Overtime Pay to Regular Rate” option is no longer editable after activation to Payroll 7.0A (this selection is not applicable to Canadian Payroll)

For US Payroll, the “Calculation Method” option of “Rate per Hour Worked” or “Rate per 100 Dollars” is no longer editable after activation to Payroll 7.0A (this selection is not applicable to Canadian Payroll)

WORKERS’ COMPENSATION CODES REPORT

The Workers’ Compensation Codes Report has been modified to include the workers’ compensation Expense Account and Liability Account on the report.



PRE-CHECK PAYROLL REGISTER AND PAYROLL REGISTERS

The Pre-check Payroll Register and Payroll Register have both been modified to include workers’ compensation information when applicable, both as a total and on the employee level, detailing the employee’s earnings or hours and their associated assessment amounts, bases, rates, and group codes.

WORKERS’ COMPENSATION TRANSACTION REPORT

A new report format, G/L Transactions, lists the applicable assessment amounts of employee earnings and the amount of the general ledger transaction, as well as the associated expense and liability accounts. This report can also identify check details with missing GL account associations. The Workers’ Compensation Report window also has a new option available. The Retrieve Assessments from Payroll Register option will allow processing of four new transaction reports. Existing reports have not been changed.

TRANSACTION HISTORY MODIFICATIONS

With the introduction of workers’ compensation calculations, the user can now enter any adjustments for workers’ compensation using the Transaction History window. This window now contains additional fields needed for adjustments to workers’ compensation - Base, Rate, and Assessment.

TRANSACTION HISTORY REPORT

The Transaction History Report has been modified to include workers’ compensation information, applicable both as a total and on the employee level, detailing the employee’s earnings and the associated assessment amounts, bases, rates, and workers compensation groups/codes.

EFT - ELECTRONIC FUNDS TRANSFER ENHANCEMENTS

CHILD SUPPORT EFT (US PAYROLL ONLY)

The system has been enhanced to generate federally compliant Child Support EFT files for all states that require electronic submission to a State Disbursement Unit (SDU). A new tab Garnishment is added to the employee setup, which allows entry of data pertaining to a specific



employee's garnishment. The data entered on the Garnishment tab is used in the creation of EFT file using Generate EFT File that meets Federal and State guidelines.

The Create EFT File window has been modified to accommodate Child Support EFT. The following changes were made:

A new EFT Type field has been added. At this field, Direct Deposit EFT or Child Support EFT can be selected from the dropdown list. The selection at this field determines which additional fields on the window are enabled.

The Payroll EFT Options window has been modified to accommodate Child Support EFT.

On the General tab, the Direct Deposit File Name field has been renamed to Deposit File Name and you can now edit this field.

INTERNATIONAL ACH TRANSFER (IAT)

The new NACHA International ACH Transaction (IAT) rules require each transaction to be classified as foreign or domestic, allowing the depository financial institutions to identify whether the transactions meet their review requirements as outlined by the US Treasury Department. The IAT rules exist to identify the financial institution that is moving the funds rather than the originator or receiver of the funds. Any financial institution outside the territorial jurisdiction of



the US that is involved in a payment transaction where the institution is moving the funds from the originator or receiver are required to transmit the transaction using the new IAT format.

New fields were added to the Payroll EFT Options window:

A new section, International Transfers, was added to the bottom of the Other tab. This section is only visible if IAT Transfers is selected at the Bank Format field on the General tab, and the section includes the following fields: Foreign Exchange Indicator - The following options are available from the drop down list:

o Fixed to Fixed - Entry is originated as a fixed amount and is received as a fixed amount in the same currency denomination. This is the default selection.

o Fixed to Variable - Entry is originated as a fixed value and will be received as a variable value.

UPDATED EFT FORMAT FOR HSBC BANK (CANADIAN PAYROLL ONLY)

A new Bank format for HSBC was added in the Payroll EFT Options window.



NEW FEDERAL AND STATE ELECTRONIC FILING (US PAYROLL ONLY)

A new format of submitting electronic reports in the USA has been introduce with Federal and State e-filing by Aatrix. With over 250 federal and state forms for Unemployment, Withholding, New Hire reports and W-2s. Aatrix offer free printed forms and a low cost option for electronic filing. The State Tax Filing window is a new feature that allows entry of a new supported state tax forms or review of forms created in the past. This service also allows for the setup of a reminder system for the states in which you file where text or email messages can be sent automatically as a reminder to file on time and without penalty.



SAMPLE AATRIX FORM:

WORK LOCATION

A new tab, Work Location, was added to the Payroll Employee window. On this tab, employee’s work location demographics can be defined, such as address and country.



US Citizen Field (US Payroll Only)

A new US Citizen field was added to the Class/Schd tab of the Payroll Employee window. Selection of this option designates the employee as a U.S. citizen.

SAGE 300 ERP 2012 BUSINESS PARTNER CERTIFICATION

Business Partners are required to maintain specific product certifications available on SagePartnerUniversity.com. Existing certifications will be updated to reflect the new 2012 release. For existing Certified Consultants, a recertification will be required to provide training on the new features and enhancements, and prepare them for successful upgrades and implementations. Certification and re-certification details will be available on SagePartnerUniversity.com in the Product Certifications section.

A “What’s New” Anytime Learning course will be made available to partners and customers, and will be available on the customer and partner Sage University sites at www.SageU.com.

CONNECTED SERVICES UPDATES The following Connected Services will provide Sage 300 ERP 2012 customers with additional specialized features and functionality.

SALES TAX SERVICE Sage 300 ERP Sales Tax, Powered by Avalara is a web-based solution that automatically performs address validation, sales tax jurisdiction research, and rate calculation on the fly. Access a professionally maintained tax engine over a secure internet connection to apply address, jurisdiction, and rate information to every transaction—within the same order-entry or customer set-up screen typically used. The integration is seamless with Sage 300 ERP and all sales tax jurisdictions in the US and Canada are covered.



SAGE 300 ERP SHIPPING Sage 300 ERP Shipping by SmartLinc is our new web-based system that helps get your products in the hands of customers quickly and efficiently. It will help streamline shipping activities for all parcel carriers, Truck Load and Less Than Truckload (LTL) shipments, and Company Vehicles. Shipping offers easy and secure methods to use the best rates to deploy quickly, either on-premise or in the cloud, and manage your shipping processes all the way to the printed labels, and originate shipments from the USA or Canada.

SAGE 300 ERP ALERTS Monitor and respond to critical business conditions with real-time alerts. Sage Alerts by KnowledgeSync is a new connected services invisible assistant, monitoring business for events and conditions that require awareness and immediate response. Identify the elements that are crucial to the success of the business and trigger personalized alerts about any changes via email, fax, pager, cell phone and screen pop-up. Dynamically analyze data between multiple business functions (e.g., Accounting, Inventory, and CRM) and take the right action quickly. Sage KnowledgeSync is optionally available to customers using Sage 300 ERP 2012 and streamlines workflow through the entire manufacturing cycle for greater efficiency:

Automate delivery of forms, documents, and reports to clients and staff Schedule follow-ups to ensure actions are taken and tasks completed Automatically respond to incoming email messages and Web form submissions Execute workflow to deliver invoices and purchase orders, and schedule intelligent

follow-ups

SAGE COMMON SOLUTIONS Sage will continue to provide solutions across the entire enterprise for Sage 300 ERP customers, including:

SAGE HRMS

Sage HRMS 2012 provides tools and critical analytical workforce information the organization needs to:

Drive business objectives and improve Return on Employee Investment www.ROEI.com

Make extremely well-informed decisions about employees, programs, and costs

Share accurate, timely information easily with the right people across the organization

More key capabilities, including time-off management, advanced customization, and easy import and export capabilities, are now included with all Sage HRMS installations. In addition, customers who have Sage ESS will appreciate powerful new features that make it easier than ever for HR professionals, managers, and employees to access information and complete routine HR tasks. Sage HRMS 2012 is optionally available to customers using Sage 300 ERP 2012.

SAGE BUDGETING AND PLANNING (FORMERLY KNOWN AS SAGE ACTIVE

PLANNER) Sage Budgeting and Planning (formerly known as Sage Active Planner) will be available for the Sage 300 ERP 2012 release to provide customers with the ability to transform a budgeting



nightmare into a collaborative budgeting and planning process. Empowering the financial staff with more control, shorter planning cycles and time to focus on continuous performance improvement will help the company realize its strategic goals.

SAGE FIXED ASSETS

The Sage Fixed Assets 2012.1 Tax Update contains exciting new features and enhancements to Sage Fixed Assets (formerly Sage FAS). It incorporates tax law changes made during the year including the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 and the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010.

THIRD PARTY CONSIDERATIONS CRYSTAL REPORTS VERSION 2011 SAP Crystal Reports® 2011 will be used with Sage 300 ERP 2012 to provide access to data formatting and delivery as meaningful information, both inside and outside of the organization. Enhancements to the Crystal Reports 2011 release include:

A .NET runtime engine component The ability to export directly to Excel .XLSX format Adobe Flash integration Built-in bar code support New .RPTR format that is tamper proof for customized reports Improved report grouping, sorting and filtering Enhanced Report Designer features

TECHNOLOGY AND SUPPORTED PLATFORM UPDATES Most notable changes in the Sage 300 ERP 2012 release are web components require a web server to operate, along with support for the following:

VIRTUALIZATION PLATFORMS

Many companies are using server virtualization, which allows multiple operating systems to be installed on a single server, and can reduce the amount of hardware that is required to run all the software needed by the business. Since virtualization allows a variety of operating systems and software configuration settings to be used on a single machine, application virtualization provides a much more flexible way for companies to run applications, such as Sage 300 ERP. The flexibility benefits of virtualization mean that all those operating systems and applications could potentially be run on a single piece of hardware. Sage 300 ERP is now supported running in virtualization environments using:

Microsoft Hyper-V Citrix Xen Apps VMware ESX

OPERATING SYSTEMS

Sage 300 ERP 2012 will be supported running on:

Microsoft Windows 7, and 8 (when released) Microsoft Windows Server 2003, 2008 and 2012



Microsoft Small Business Server 2011

DATABASES

Sage 300 ERP 2012 will be supported running on:

Microsoft SQL 2008 R2, and 2012 Pervasive 11 Oracle 11g Office 2013

BROWSER COMPATIBILITY

Sage 300 ERP component IE Chrome Safari Firefox

Sage 300 ERP Portal (Navigation, Snapshots, Inquiry)

6.0 and 2012 releases

2012 release

2012 release

2012 release

Sage CRM Version 7.1 Version 7.1 SP2

Version 7.1 SP2

Version 7.1 SP2

Sage CRM for iPhone Version 7.1

Sage CRM for iPad Currently in beta

Quote/Order ERP-CRM integration 6.0 and 2012 releases

2012 release

2012 release

2012 release

*IE support for the Portal requires a minimum of IE9.

DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS Sage understands that business automation requirements extend outside of ERP software, and an end-to-end solution is needed. “Interoperability” refers to the ability of diverse systems and organizations to work together. To support better interoperability between systems, Sage has introduced a common technology platform based upon using industry standards like HTML5, ATOM, RSS and XML. Using the Google Web Toolkit as a foundation, Sage Data (SData) and the Sage Web Toolkit (SWT) provide developers with tools to easily and rapidly build applications that integrate into Sage 300 ERP. SData provides a common Web Services interface and communications protocol to communicate information to the server. SWT provides a User Interface toolkit for development partners to build consistent screens and utilize common API’s. Applications built using the SWT and SData will have a consistent look, and will be able to share and synchronize data, and seamlessly launch one another’s screens within the Sage 300 ERP environment. Sage 300 ERP utilizes SData as the common communication and integration platform for our connected services and gateway to cloud applications. The following changes have been made to the SData capabilities:

New SDK and SData web services improve the integration ability of Sage 300 ERP Server Side Framework enhancements

o GWT 2.3 support



o Multi-Browser support – IE, Chrome, Firefox, Safari Easier interaction with the Views (Business Logic) Development Partners can hook in custom application logic Support for Global Schema for better Sage CRM Dashboard integration SData updated to work with the Argos Mobile SDK Support for SData related resources Ensuring Sage 300 ERP SData support passes the Sage SData validator

RETIREMENTS To help plan customer upgrades, we want to give advanced notice that with the Sage 300 ERP 2012 release, several retirements are planned or will have already taken place.

SAGE 300 ERP 5.5 (FORMERLY KNOWN AS SAGE ERP ACCPAC VERSION 5.5)

With the release of Sage 300 ERP 2012, a "90-120 day grace support period" will be extended for customers with an active Business Care plan that are running Version 5.5. However, Sage 300 ERP Version 5.5 Payroll tax updates will retire after the Jan 31, 2013 update.

Business Partners and customers have a voice in our roadmap and in features and functionality that will be incorporated into future Sage 300 ERP releases. Please use your voice on the feedback and request site www.sage300ERP.com/feedback. Sign up, view ideas already submitted, suggest new ideas, collaborate on suggested enhancements, and—most importantly—vote on the ideas that you value. It takes just a few minutes to participate.

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800.854.3415 www.SageERPSolutions.com

The information contained in this document represents the current view of Sage on the issues discussed as of the date this document was prepared. Sage cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information presented after the date of publication. The capabilities, system requirements and/or compatibility with third-party products described herein are subject to change without notice. Contact Sage for the most current information. Always consult a network specialist to discuss the security risks involved before implementing any Internet solution. Sage is not responsible for the content or maintenance of third-party Web sites referred to herein. This document is for informational purposes only and may not be distributed to third parties. SAGE MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, IN THIS DOCUMENT.

©2012 Sage Software, Inc. All rights reserved. Sage, the Sage logos, and the Sage product and service names mentioned herein are registered trademarks or trademarks of Sage Software, Inc. or its affiliated entities. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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