What’s new in Accpac ERP Version 5.6?

As our business environments are constantly evolving, so must our business management software. Sage is committed to continually improving your experience with Sage Accpac by delivering new functionality to help you get more out of your solution. By meeting with over 5,000 customers worldwide through surveys, interviews, on-site visits and observational studies Sage has delivered the features in V5.6 that customers have requested most often, including more efficient installation and activation processes and major enhancements throughout the entire suite of modules.

An overview of the benefits for each module is listed below. For a more detailed look at specific features in Sage Accpac ERP V5.6, download the What’s New documentation.

Better Insight into your business:

A new business intelligence tool – now included in V5.6 – enables you to adapt successfully to changes in today’s markets and make better, faster decisions. Sage Accpac Intelligence (SAI) lets financial managers create reports and analyze Sage Accpac data using OLAP cubes and Microsoft Excel, and ties to unlimited ODBC sources to deliver a graphic dashboard of your company’s financial position.

Proficiently Manage Bank Services

Get better insight into cash flow with the improved usability and new functionality of Bank Services. Version 5.6 empowers you with a more straightforward way to reconcile your accounts and finish month-end in record time. The new, simplified user interface allows for greater flexibility and more efficiency. New functionality includes bank security resources for separation of duties, an improved reversal process, and a bank entries posting journal.

Streamline Operations

Boost profitability and cut costs by dynamically linking processes, information, workflows, and communication changes through improved SageCRM integration. Ensure your sales and customer care professionals have access to critical data-regardless of whether or not they have internet access. With Version 5.6, you can now view and synchronize SageCRM data on the Solo client when integrated with Sage Accpac. Many new menu items are also available directly from SageCRM along with other enhancements to this already comprehensive interface.

Better Inventory Management

Many improvements have been incorporated to Inventory Control in Version 5.6 to help you reduce costs and improve customer satisfaction. Faster access to information, a new Internal Usage form, additional costing and transaction creation options, item inquiry and drilldown functionality, and a new field to track posting dates for transactions are just a few of the enhancements you’ll realize with V5.6. Improve workflow and performance with built-in serialized inventory and lot tracking.

Increase Productivity

Optimized reporting delivers faster access to critical information, as many of the reports you use daily have been refreshed to incorporate requests from users. Version 5.6 includes global enhancements to reports that allow you to save parameters easily and quickly export reports into Microsoft Excel. In addition, the AR Inquiry tool is now included with V5.6, optimized payroll management with security by user, and the ability to run your solution on virtualization platforms for cost-effective performance.

Quickly get all employees up to speed on the improvements in V5.6 through the "What’s New" Anytime Learning course offered by Sage North America. This online course demonstrates how you can put all the new great enhancements to work in your business. Best of all, it’s FREE. Visit http://www.sageu.com/accpac for details, or contact us for more information.

NextLevel Joins Accpac Product Advisory Council

The Sage Accpac Product Advisory Council (PAC) is responsible for providing feedback on future product design and enhancements to Sage product management, designers, developers and business analysts. We are very pleased to announce that Jeff Weidenfeller, Partner at NextLevel in our Tampa office, has recently been appointed to the Sage PAC.

Sage looks to the nation’s leading Business Partners to support the long-term success of Sage products through validation of product plans and designs. Business Partners selected are those who maintain a strong product knowledge based on “hands-on" involvement in Accpac implementations, and who are able to represent a broad range of customers and markets. NextLevel was selected based on our 16 years of extensive product experience and long-term customer commitment in a broad range of markets.

Jeff’s role in serving on the PAC team will allow us to provide strategic guidance directly to the Sage developers, and reinforce our commitment to the future enhancements of the solutions we offer.

Sage Accpac ERP and SageCRM Deliver the Right Amenities to RTI Hotel Supply

At NextLevel, our success is measured by our clients’ success. So, when our clients obtain notable return-on-investment with our solutions, we are pleased to shine the spotlight on them.

RTI Hotel Supply, Inc. has been providing specialized procurement services to the hospitality industry for twenty years. The company has built a solid reputation as a single-source provider of high-quality products, and also builds customized hotel furnishings. Since its inception, RTI Hotel Supply has relied on Sage Accpac ERP as its accounting and distribution software, and recently added SageCRM giving them a 360-degree view of its customers and operations.

Read the Success Story to learn the challenges and results RTI Hotel Supply has achieved with Sage Accpac ERP, SageCRM, and NextLevel Information Solutions.

Let us help you get the word out about your success with Sage products! Contact us today to learn how.

Live Access to Your GL Means Quick & Easy Financial Reports

F9 by Infor is an easy-to-use report writer that allows you to create custom reports within Microsoft Excel by accessing data from Sage Accpac ERP. Once a report is designed, recalculating a report is as easy as pushing the F9 key and reports are always timely, consistent, and complete. If you know Excel, you know F9!

New data analysis and visualization tools help you analyze information, spot trends, and access your company information more easily. New options in Excel 2007 for sorting and filtering by color and “quick filters" make F9 V5 the ideal tool for creating reports to analyze complex business data.

NextLevel is hosting a FREE webinar for anyone interested in learning more about the benefits of using F9 to generate financial reports. Mark your calendars now for this free and informative webinar: Thursday April 21st at 2:00 PM EST. Watch your email for further details and registration information, or contact us today to sign up.

Tech Tips

Service Packs

How do you know if your system is running the latest service pack or product updates?

It is very easy to check the Accpac configuration to ensure you have the latest product updates installed.

Inside Accpac, go to Help/System Information. The version of the service pack/product update installed for each module will be listed.

Starting with Version 5.5, Sage Accpac has changed the terminology used from "service packs" to "product updates". You may notice that we use the terms interchangeably, but from Sage (and therefore what you’ll see on your system) pre-5.5 it’s “service pack" and for 5.5 and all subsequent versions, it’s “product update".

The latest product updates/service packs are:

V5.6:	V5.5:	V5.4:
No PUs released.	AP = PU3 AR = PU3 GL = PU3 IC = PU3 PR = PU3 PJC = PU3 PO = PU3 SM = PU3	AP = SP3 AR = SP3 GL = SP2 IC = SP3 OE = SP3 PO = SP2 PJC = SP2 PR = SP3

Scheduling Your Recurring Transactions

Sage Accpac ERP makes it easy for you to schedule payments to vendors that occur on a regular basis, like lease payments or insurance. Follow the steps below to create recurring transaction schedules:

1. In Common Services, open the Scheduling folder and double-click Schedules.
2. Insert a Schedule Code and Description.
3. Select whether you want to Schedule a Reminder, and who will receive this notification. If “Specific User" is selected, enter the user name.
4. Select the Frequency of the recurrence (daily, monthly, etc.).
5. Click Add.
6. In GL, AP, or AR, Attach your recurring transactions to the Schedule you just created.

If you need any assistance with service packs/product updates, or Recurring Transactions please contact us today.