If you are running Sage instant Payroll with either Windows 7 or Vista, before installing the new tax year updates, you must make sure you are logged onto the current Sage Instant Payroll software as an administrator, otherwise you may encounter problems. There is more information about this on the Sage website, so if this affects you please search for Ask Sage Article 11921 from their website.
Sage 200 2010 now incorporates the same report designer as Sage 50 Accounts, Sage 50 Construction and several other products, with a few extra features. It will provide great opportunities for ongoing development, but some existing reports may need some changes. If you have amended one of the reports it will still work. After upgrading to Sage 200 2010, just copy customised versions of reports from the backup area into the relevant folder, the software will detect it and pick up the older reporting framework. The same applies for completely bespoke reports, even if they are not originally based on one of the existing Sage reports.
The old reporting framework will be retired, although we do not yet know within what time frame.
The new features include
The extra features to those already in Sage 50 Construction and Sage 50 Accounts are:
From Monday 21st June 2010 The Sage Construction Software range will not include the diary or fax modules, both modules are being withdrawn from sale, any existing customers will however continue to be supported but development will cease. Neither module has had significant development for a number of years and the uptake on them has been very low for some time.
As members of Sage’s Business Partner Action Comity for the construction software range, we are aware that there has been talk about integrating Microsoft applications with the construction software, particularly Microsoft outlook, so we hope this will encourage the Sage development team to push it up the priority list, as it would add useful functionality, especially for those who use Outlook as a simple CRM system along side Sage Construct already.
In addition, the reasons the Fax module is not used very often is probably due to the reduction in business faxes which are sent these days, Construct will already PDF documents and add them to an email, this in most cases is much more practical for most companies. There is a 3rd party module available called Spindle, this will provide automatic faxing direct from Construct if required.
So, all in all, we see this as a positive move by Sage, so they can focus on development of the core products, hopefully to include MS Excel integration sometime soon.
From 01/04/10 Sage will be applying their lifecycle policy to Sage Payroll v12 and 2007. So from March 31st 2012 support will be withdrawn for both versions. Even if you do not have support with sage for either product at the moment, it could still affect you as you would not be able to buy Sage Cover for them in the future.
The software is under constant development, so as the years roll on, older products are discontinued. This enables Sage to focus support on the latest products, whilst enabling the development team to take advantage of new technologies.
Your software will not stop working, it’s just the support which will be withdrawn, this will happen in a phased approach. Please also consider that once support is withdrawn for a particular version of Payroll, there would be no guarantee that a simple upgrade could be run if you did decide to upgrade much later, as testing will not be done once a product is effectively obsolete, so you could find that you have to manually transfer any data.
There are some special offers available for those who wish to keep using these versions for the time being:
Until 31/05/2010 you can get 10% off the price of an upgrade or sage cover extra (this is valid for 15 months and entitles you to upgrades free of charge) Plus a free £50 voucher for any authorised Sage training course.
A very common question is why don’t certain transactions appear in the unreconciled transaction list. If you know the transaction number , first sort the unreconciled transaction list into transaction number order.
If the transaction still isn’t listed, open Financials, select the transactions and check the following columns:
Transactions could also be grouped with other transactions, this is most common with bank payments or receipts. Usually transactions can be grouped if they are entered at the same time and have the same date and reference.
The Sage Day Works module for Construct, with both Sage 50 and 200, will be withdrawn from sale on 21st June 2010.
Anyone already using these modules will continue to be supported either by their Business Partner or directly by Sage, as they have been previously, they will also be entitled to upgrade to any future developments. So license and support for any existing customers will continue as it has done to date, we do not have a date that the support will be discontinued, and at this stage do not expect it to be in the foreseeable future.
This decision has been made due to relatively low usage of the module compared to the core product and Estimating, so the focus for development can be on these core products. The Day Works module is for companies who need to bill construction work on a cost plus basis, so although it’s not been announced, it’s quite possible that this functionality could be integrated to the core module in the future if customer demand is high enough.
We will keep you updated as and when we hear any more.
In Sage 50 HR 2010 you can print employees names and addresses onto labels. The software includes layouts for the following formats:
Laser A4 Employee Address Labels – 3 across by 7 down
Dot Matrix Employee Address Labels – 3 across by 8 down
These layouts can be amended to fit specific label stationary.
1. Employee Module / Tasks Pane / Employee Reports
(to print labels for certain employees, select the required employees before selecting “Employee Reports”)
2. Select the required label layout, for example, Employee Address Labels (laser A4) / Print (if required, enter criteria) / OK
3. From the Print Employee Address Labels window, choose the correct printer / enter the required number of copies / OK
(if you are starting part way through a page of labels, click Label Settings, you can select where on the sheet to start from here)
During the testing of Sage 50 P11D 2010 on Windows 7, several major issues have been identified, these will take significant time to develop and test before release. Therefore a decision has been made to release the 2010 version of P11D for Vista, XP and 2000 only. The alternative would have been to delay the release, this was decided against.
It is assumed at this stage that next years release will be fully compatible with Windows 7, but please do check this when the time comes, either with Sage directly or with Ledger Services.