Anyway their main criticism was that Sage did not give them the information they wanted and it was useless at helping them manage cash-flow.

WOW. I am aware of several issues with Sage but a lack of information is definitely not one of them.

But it did get me thinking of how we have handled installations of Sage with our clients. Have we shown you where all the information is……how this information can be manipulated to suit your requirements, help you minimise Stock, help you make sure Debtors stay within credit terms, have relevant Monthly Accounts comparing results against budget and prior year. I hope we have spent the extra time with you explaining how to retrieve this information ….but I am sure that some slip through the cracks.

So, are you VERY happy with your Sage? Does it HELP you run your business effectively?

If NOT….then please do something about it.

Call Compuland on 021 4544144 or reply to this email and tell us what issues you are having and we will try and get you a solution ASAP. This phone call costs nothing.

Our role as a Sage Business Partner is to adapt Sage to suit YOUR requirements. By amending reports we can help improve your cash flow and improve profitability.

By the way, each of the “disgruntled” users were critical about the Sage Aged Debtors report. They wanted X, Y and Z. I showed them the following Aggressive Debtors Report. They said it was exactly what they wanted but did not know who to ask for this type of report. If you want a copy of this report for your Sage then just ask us and we will sent to you – no charge!

Best Regards

Alison Power

Sage Support

021 4544144

If you use Sage I presume you know how you can easily sort data by just clicking the top of any column…especially useful to sort the companies that owe you the most money!

Or you can add columns of info….so to quickly check out email addresses for your debtors. Go to the column headings…right click and you will then see options of columns that you can add….and select email address…or select others columns that suit your business.

Or if you want to send out statements to all your debtors that owe you money you can do a search in Customers. In the Search Option select – Where, Balance, Is greater than, 0. Then select Swap, Then statements. And then they all print or better still email out.

However, we came across a new trick this week!

Above you can see how you can add or subtract columns…

But you can also add and subtract columns in different places.

So, for example – In the area where you want to Input Supplier Invoices you normally select a supplier account, accept the date and then hit the TAB button several times to get across .. so TAB across  Ref, Ex Ref, Project, Dept. etc. and then input supplier details and the amount. Can be quiet frustrating doing all the “tabbing”.

In these areas go to the column titles, right click the mouse and DESELECT the columns that you will not be using.

Then you will not have to waste time tabbing and hence become more efficient and thus save money!.

If you want any more tips like this then just reply to me     lydia@compuland.ie or my colleague alison@compuland.ie

Regards

Lydia.

It saves so much TIME and MONEY.

However, I do find it a pain that I have to double click each email from my “Outbox” to ensure it actually sends. But, being “old fashioned” I actually kind of liked the fact that you have the chance to double check everything before it is sent.  So there I was happy working away and everything was good.

Then one of my colleagues explained that I was using the email system incorrectly for the last 3 years. Arghhhhh. It turns out that there is a little utility that you can add to Microsoft Outlook so when an Outgoing Email goes to your Outbox/Draft/Inbox and waits there for “review”…..it will now just automatically send the mail.

If you want the utility just email me, or my colleagues lydia@compuland.ie or alison@compuland.ie and we will send you out the necessary link. The utility is free so don’t worry there is no cost to this.

Or if you have any other issues with Sage please come back to us and we will try and help.

Changing the VAT rates from 21% to 23% is a relatively easy thing to do in Sage.

The only complication is that you will be recording January transactions @ 23% but you will still need to process some December transactions at 21%.

Will you consider the following please.

When you are happy with its implications will you follow the instructions?

1. Take a Backup of your Sage company data. Use this opportunity to check for errors.          If you have errors these need to be eliminated. If you can’t do this yourself then please come back to us for advice.
2.  Log into your Sage Accounts, go to Settings and Configuration
3. Click on the Tab for Tax Codes
4. Highlight the tax code you are currently using for 21% and click on Edit
5. Change the Vat Rate and Description from 21% to 23%
6. Click on OK to close
7. Scroll down to T6, or something similar
8. Change the Vat Rate and Description from 20% (or whatever it is) to 21% and in description say Old 21% Rate. Make sure there is a tick to include in VAT return.
9. Click OK to close
10. Click on Apply and Close when you have finished editing the Tax Codes.

Then, from the first of January you will be using T1 for the 23% rate for sales and purchases.

Where you are entering 2011 transactions and need the 21% rate then you use the T6 or appropriate label.

If you have any problems come back to us at mike@compuland.ie

Sage Line 50 Release 2012 (VER 18) has now been given its second update. At this stage most if not all of the bugs have been addressed. We would be happy to recommend that all Sage users upgrade to the latest version at this stage. After using Version 2012 for a few weeks we find that the best feature is the simple printing of Invoices. You can now select a preferred layout and save this. Then when you want to print you just hit this short cut and out it comes! No more scrolling through different layouts to get your preferred option.

We were also reminded of another printing option. At month end you might have to print off a few reports – Stock Value, P&L Account, Trial Balance, Debtors list, Suppliers list etc. Rather than printing all of these individually….are you aware that you can create a “Batch Report”. Basically group all these reports into a folder and each time you want to print all of the above just go TOOLS, BATCH REPORTING, PRINT. This must save you time and also the embarrassment of missing reports!! Check out the Sage 50 product suite…

We have installed Sage Version 2012 on our own system now with the first Update. We are expecting some more updates so we would advise our clients to not install Version 18 yet.

However, some of the features sound as if it is well worth the wait for version 18. Nearly all new clients request the option of been able to close monthly accounts. We have always said this was not possible. At last this is now available in Version 2012. Now that it is available I am sure we will not get any customers looking for this feature!!!

I have to admit that we are disappointed in the Option to submit the VAT details on line. We were lead to believe that you would be able to press a button and everything would be uploaded….like the excellent Micropay Payroll System. What it actually is that a report can be printed that contains all the info in one place that allows you to easily submit the data to the ROS website.

Now in hindsight…I suppose this might be considered as a safety feature!!!! Print out the report which gives you a chance to make sure al is 100% correct before you manually upload the data.

Microsoft Office 365 has at last been released in Ireland. For the last 18 months we have been using and selling the original product called BPOS. We were a little nervous of the upgraded product but delighted to say that it is a far better product…..Especially the Web Access part. Whether you are accessing Outlook from your Desk or Via the Web…it looks exactly the same product.

We just installed Office 365 for a client over a weekend. We never told the staff of the change….on Monday morning not one call from the users! Fantastic…they were not aware of the change yet all backoffice roles are now secure with far less traffic on the Server which will save the company money! Job Well Done!!