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Sage ERP MAS 500 Version 7.4

Workflow Enhancements Across a Range of Modules Make for Smoother, Faster Processing

Enhancements Across Modules

Version 7.4 includes enhancements across a range of Sage ERP MAS 500 modules, as well as a series of technology updates. Here is a look at some of the improvements:

• Advanced Manufacturing module changes make it easier to enter and process manufacturing transactions. It includes enhancements to back-flush processes when bins are used, as well as more flexible Work Order step completion options.
• The Accounts Receivable module enhancements include new ways to process customer credits and refunds.
• The Inventory Management module improvements focus on decimal precision, rounding and related Unit of Measure features.
• The Inventory Replenishment module benefits from more flexibility in assigning and overriding the Primary Vendor used for replenishment orders and for MPR planning.
• Improvements to the Purchase Order module focus on landed cost, with options to define customized landed cost types, allocation methods and override capabilities.
• Performance improvements have been made in Business Insights; you can limit the amount of data being processed to obtain quick results with only the information you need.
• Technology updates, including support for the latest versions of the Sage ERP MAS 500 programming language and database management system, ensure your system is compatible with the most current hardware and operating system platforms.

Accounts Receivable Enhancements

Customers do not always submit payments that tie neatly to existing invoices. Version 7.4 of Sage ERP MAS 500 provides an easy way to track and apply overpayments or issue refunds, if appropriate, in a way that makes sense for both you and your customers.

You now have the ability to apply overpaid amounts to an existing invoice and track the balance using the original invoice number by creating invoices with a negative amount.

You can create a negative invoice in the part of the system that makes most sense to you, whether it be the Enter Cash Receipts task or the Apply Payments and Memos task. You can apply the overpayment amounts to a Customer Payment, a Credit Memo or the negative balance of another overpaid invoice.

The overpaid amount appears, with the original invoice number, in all the expected places, such as:

• Print or Reprint Invoices
• Customer Status Ledger tab
• Customer Statements
• Aged Receivables
• AR Trial Balance
• Explore Invoice Applications
• Explore Customer Payments Applications

If the unapplied payment from your customer is an overpayment, you may wish to issue a refund. Version 7.4 tries to make this as easy and painless as possible. Process Cash Receipts now allows you to create a customer refund from start to finish, including printing the check, all from one task. Refund checks use customer information without the need to create a vendor or a voucher, saving you steps and increasing your productivity.

Advanced Manufacturing Enhancements

An important focus of this release is the Advanced Manufacturing module. Workflow enhancements were designed in close collaboration with customers to make the new features user-friendly.

A new checkbox allows you to complete a Work Order step without issuing material. Using the new checkbox, you can clear outstanding materials associated with a Work Order step from the quantity required for work orders in the replenishment calculation. This is useful for manufacturers using work orders to record labor and processing costs for noninventory materials used to produce their final product. Now material issues are not required, offering greater processing flexibility.

Another useful situation for the new checkbox is when you are generating a partial completion of a work order with no plan to process the remaining quantities. Clearing the remaining quantities allows outstanding materials on replenishment calculations to be removed automatically; this prevents overstated demand and potentially costly overstocking of materials.

New Production Return Entry and Progress Return Entry tasks in Version 7.4 of Sage ERP MAS 500 provide a simple way to correct data entry errors that inevitably occur in a busy manufacturing plant. Using the familiar format of the original entry, the Production Return Entry and Progress Return Entry tasks relieve the quantity produced amounts, return all of the costs to work in progress and reopen the individual steps for adjustments as needed. Whether the error occurred on an individual step or on the total quantity produced, these tasks make the recovery easy and intuitive.

Bin tracking can be an essential part of a streamlined fulfillment process for your orders, whether you are a manufacturer, distributor or both. With Version 7.4, you now have the ability to use the back-flush material issue method while also tracking bins. You can use the existing Distribution bins for manufacturing transactions or designate separate manufacturing-specific bins. When at least one preferred manufacturing bin is established for a warehouse, materials can be issued using the back-flush method according to the precedence defined during setup, making workflow faster and simpler. Items that are Lot or Serial tracked will still require manual distribution.

Posting manufacturing transactions can be a complex process. Monitoring manufacturing costs, tracking those costs to an individual item and measuring productivity are critical to running a profitable manufacturing business. With Version 7.4, the posting task has been redesigned to provide a central dashboard, allowing you to view all your different transaction types, such as WIP, labor, materials and outside processing, on one screen. This allows you to easily select the transactions to be posted while saving time and reducing the possibility of errors. The new task also ensures the transaction dates in the subsidiary Inventory Management ledger tie to corresponding journal dates in the General Ledger, to simplify the reconciliation task for the back office.

We have given you a brief look at what Sage ERP MAS 500 Version 7.4 offers; details of other enhancements will be forthcoming in future issues. Call your BKD Technologies consultant with questions or to schedule your upgrade to Sage ERP MAS 500 Version 7.4.

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