What’s new guide – Sage 50 & 200 Construction v2011

Sage 50 & 200 Construction 2011 (v15) are scheduled to launch in August 2011. The latest version has been revamped to improve usability of the product and enhance the look and feel, so it’s easier to use. This follows the update to the Client Billing User Interface in recent years and in this version we have improved the processing of purchase documents to follow suit. These updates tie in with our core strategy and link in with the key themes of improving usability and information management.

Enhancements to individual purchase areas

All Purchase forms now have buttons and transaction entry is made via tabbed dialogue boxes.  New buttons have been added and some menu items have been removed and added to the input screens. New document messages are shown and highlighted in orange or red at various levels of the transaction entry screens.
Status indicators include:
•     Account on hold
•     Cannot modify checked invoices
•     Certificate printed
•     CIS verification required
•     Contract complete
•     Document posted
•     Document status = complete
•     Max retention exceeded
•     P/order status = complete

This means a much more flexible and user friendly system, which provides:
•     Simplified processing
•     Improved menu structure (easier to find what you need)
•     Status indicators provide important information to the user about Contracts, Documents, Users, Suppliers or Subcontractors.

Purchase orders:
•    Copy button: allows the user to copy another document of the same type
•    Reverse button: allows the user to create a reversing document from one selected, e.g. this button will create a Return note from a selected Purchase order.
•    Complete button: allows the user to easily set and unset the Complete status at document level
•    Print button at detail level: allows the user to print the document when creating detail lines
•    Auto generate check box: available by Contract at header level.  This will enable the user to easily generate a document for all variation items against the supplier selected.  Selecting this will also activate an Auto tab where the user can select various options to generate the document
•    Stock tab at detail level (when linked to Sage 200 but not the Sage 50 Accounts range): shows the user the location of a stock item
•    Summary tab at detail level: summarises information of the complete transaction

Deliveries:
•    Reverse button: allowing the user to create a reversing document of a selected one
•    Auto generate check box: available by Purchase order at header level. This will enable the user to generate a document for undelivered items against the order selected, please note you do not need the PO functionality from Sage 50 Accounts Professional to use them in Sager 50 Construction.
•    Print button at detail level: allowing the user to print the document when creating detail lines
•    Stock tab at detail level (when linked to Sage 200 but not Sage 50 Accounts): shows the user the location of a stock item
•    Summary tab at detail level: summarises information of the complete transaction

Work orders:
•    Auto generate check box: available by Contract at header level.  This will enable the user to easily generate a document for all variation items against the supplier selected. Selecting this will also activate an Auto tab where the user can select various options to generate the document
•    Print button at detail level: allows the user to print the document when creating detail lines
•    Stock tab (when linked to Sage 200 but not Sage 50): shows the user the location of a stock item
•    Summary tab at detail level: summarises information of the complete transaction

Purchase invoices:
•    Copy button: allows the user to copy another document of the same type
•    Reverse button: available for Invoices & Credit notes – allows the user to create a reversing document from one selected, e.g. this button will create a Credit Note from a selected Invoice.
•    Check button:  enables the user with the required status to easily check or uncheck the document to allow posting
•    Auto generate check box: available by Purchase order at header level. This will enable the user to generate a document for items against the Purchase order selected
•    Release button at detail level: allows the user to release retention on posted Invoices on items with outstanding retention
•    Print button at detail level: allows the user to print the document when creating detail lines
•    Deductions tab: shows information
•    Stock tab at detail level (when linked to Sage 200):  shows the user the location of a stock item
•    Summary tab at detail level: summarises information of the complete transaction

Nominal transactions:
•    Copy button: allows the user to copy another document of the same type
•    Reverse button: available for Bank transactions (when linked to Sage 200) – allows the user to create a reversing document from one selected, e.g. this button will create a Payment from a selected Receipt.
•    Print button at detail level: allows the user to print the document when creating detail lines
•    Stock tab at detail level (when linked to Sage 200): shows the user the location of a stock item
•    Summary tab at detail level: summarises information of the complete transaction

Timesheets:
•    Copy button: allows the user to copy another document of the same type
•    Hold button: allows the user to place the timesheet on hold to prevent posting
•    Print button at detail level: allows the user to print the document when creating detail lines
•    Stock tab at detail level (when linked to Sage 200): shows the user the location of a stock item
•    Summary tab at detail level: summarises information of the complete transaction

Over three hundred fields have been increased in size to allow input of more characters.
Main areas affected are address and contact fields and posting reference fields which are now bought in line with the accounting systems.
Reports and layouts have been altered to reflect the new field sizes.
Other key fields are:
•    Line type – now 10 characters
•    Item reference -  now 30 characters
•    Unit of measure – now 10 characters

Therefore contact and posting reference fields: Data passed between Construction and the accounting system will no longer risk being truncated due to smaller field sizes in Construction. Line type, item reference and unit of measure fields: The increase in these field sizes means the references can be more detailed to aid clarity and improve reporting.

In January 2012, the Irish RCT scheme will change to include a new tax rate of 20% in addition to the existing rate of 35%. New fields on the HMRC/RCT tab (within Accounts parameters) have been introduced to allow the entry of the new tax rate.  Within S/C Data, a new CIS type “R” has been added to represent the reduced tax rate. The calculation of tax on a purchase document will be based on these two fields being changed accordingly.

Compliance with the new RCT tax scheme being introduced by the Revenue from January 2012.

Valuation detail line totals are now calculated by applying the percentage uplift to the quantity field and then multiplying the new quantity by the estimated rate to get the line total. Previously Construction applied the percentage uplift to the line total and then divided this by the estimated rate to get a new quantity, resulting
in rounding errors in the quantity field because the line total is only stored to two decimal places. When a valuation has been calculated Construction will identify all top level printable composites where rate * quantity does not
equal the line total. For these composites it will apply a rounding adjustment to items within the composite in order to make the composite total equal rate * quantity. This means that the rounding adjustment applied at document
or sub-valuation level has to exclude items contained within any composite (not just top level printable composites) to prevent the introduction of more rounding errors in top level printable composites. If there are no items outside of a composite then Construction will not be able to perform document/sub-valuation level rounding If the user has made an amendment at section or composite level then this rounding adjustment will only be performed on items
contained within the section or composite. A top level printable composite is defined a composite not contained within another composite that has its print flag set. Note that composite rounding is only performed if the contract
option flags have been set so that recharge composite total = rate * quantity. If composite rounding is disabled then rounding adjustments applied at document and/or sub-valuation level can be applied to any item on the document which includes items contained within a top level printable composite.

Quantity Rounding: When applying percentage uplifts to client billing documents the quantity will now show a more sensible rounded number i.e. adding a 10% uplift to a line with quantity of 5 will produce 5.5 rather than, for example,  4.9999.

Composite Rounding: Composite line totals will now be rounded to the expected value of unit rate multiplied by quantity.

When generating a new sales document or amending an existing one, the VAT total for the document is calculated by summing the VAT of all the individual detail lines. This can cause rounding errors as the line total for VAT is stored to 2 decimal places. To solve this Construction now sums the VAT on all the detail lines and compares this to the net total x VAT rate on the document header. If the two differ then the difference will be applied as a rounding adjustment in the same way as the document gets adjusted for net, discount and retention.To utilise VAT rounding a new flag has been introduced within System Parameters>Job Costing “Include VAT in rounding” which must be checked. Note that rounding can also be disabled when creating or amending a sales document by selecting the “Don’t apply rounding adjustments” flag in the advanced screen. The rounding will occur when creating or amending documents headers or when amending the details or sections of a document.  If a single variation, VAT rounding will be performed when the user returns to the document list, if a multi variation then it will occur when returning to the sub-valuations list.
Rounding will only be applied if there is just one VAT code in use. Note that if creating a sub valuation then the one VAT code restriction will apply just to the sub-valuation being created or amended.

Sales documents will print with the expected VAT total without rounding errors. Previously a sales document with lots of items on it that had a total of £600 might have had a VAT value of £119.99 Now the VAT will be rounded to £120.00

A new Clients workspace has been created that will work on the Sage 200 Mobile solution. This workspace can be used as a starting point for anyone wishing to create their own Construction mobile workspaces and utilises two new queries that return a smaller amount of data, in order to be compatible with the mobile solution The existing content parts have also been modified so that they will work on the mobile solution. Please refer to the Sage 200 Mobile Setup Guide, located on the Sage 200 DVD on steps required to install the Sage 200 mobile solution. In line with improvements that have been made in the Sage 200 client, we have increased the speed of our existing workspaces.
Various improvements have been made to the way the Construction features and targets are seen from within
the Sage 200 SA tool; the Construction workspaces are now accessed through their own feature group. Also the “by document” orphaned workspace only features are now available within the appropriate documents type feature group. Finally, if no Day Works features are enabled for a role within the SA tool, the appropriate users will no longer
see an empty Day Works stack bar item from within the Sage 200 Client.

Enables you to set up your own personalised Construction workspace and access critical business information on the move. Smarter, faster access to information anywhere, anytime. Allows easier analysis of data.

Sage 50 & 200 Construction 200 (v15) release – due end of August 2011

The release is still on track for delivery at the end of August and contains the following high level features:

• Improved processing of purchase documents
• Field size increases
• Client billing improvements
• Accommodates new Irish RCT scheme starting January 2012
• New Construction workspace so customers can personalise their dashboards and reports and access business critical
• information on the move

Sage are currently testing Sage 50 Construction 2011 (v15 of Construction) against Sage 50 Accounts 2012 to ensure Construction customers who integrate with accounts will be able to use the latest versions of Sage 50 Accounts.

IMPORTANT:  Customers will need to update to Sage 50 Construction 2011 in order to take advantage of the new Sage 50 Accounts 2012 features.  Running Sage 50 Accounts 2012 with earlier versions of Construction may cause issues with posting.
For further details about the release please see our Sage 50 Construction Features page or contact us.

We are pleased to announce that the new versions of Sage Manufacturing and Construction products will be released on the following dates:

Sage 50 Construction 2011 (v15 of Construct) – end August 2011
Sage 200 Construction 2011 (v15 of Construct) – end August 2011
Sage 50 Manufacturing 2011 SP1 – end August 2011

Highlights of the releases:

Sage 50 Construction 2011
• Improved processing of purchase documents
• Field size increases
• Client billing improvements
• Accommodates new Irish RCT scheme starting January 2012

Sage 200 Construction 2011
• Improved processing of purchase documents
• Field size increases
• Client billing improvements
• New Construction workspace so customers can personalise their dashboards and reports and access business critical information on the move
• Accommodates new Irish RCT scheme starting January 2012

Sage 50 Manufacturing 2011 SP1
• This service pack will contain bug fixes only

Sage are currently in the process of testing the new releases of Construction and Manufacturing with different versions of the products and expect this to be complete at the beginning of August. At that point we will be able to confirm the compatibility of previous/current versions.

If you have any queries in the meantime, please let us know.

What’s new guide ‐ Sage 200 Suite v2011

Sage 200 Suite 2011 is scheduled to launch in summer 2011. This latest version of the Suite builds on Sages market led strategy and takes us further on our journey towards our vision of Sage 200 for a connected world. We have listened closely to feedback, utilising wish lists and focus groups, as well as adding new features which support those trends in the lower mid‐market which are relevant to our customers, highlights of the release include:

• New improved Web, Time & Expenses
• New Migration Utility
• New Business Intelligence for Project Accounting
• New improved Sage 200 mobile – now includes iPhone
• CRM v7.1 Integration

The 2011 release builds on the key themes of:

Accessibility – Market trends tell us that customers want accessibility of information and immediacy of response – our customers want the ability to make smarter faster decisions. This release takes further steps to providing customers with the choice of how they access their data wherever they are on using whatever device they choose to use.

Information Management – Our phased approach to the information management strategy continues by the delivery of business intelligence for Project Accounting, giving business intelligence an even broader reach within the Suite.

Improved Usability – We want systems that are easy for our customers to use and require little or no training, so we have really focussed on improving usability within this release, particularly for Web, Time and Expenses (WTE) and the new migration tool. So far we have conducted over 30 usability tests with end users, partners and internal candidates who had never used the system before. These hands‐on tests helped us spot design flaws early on and makes us confident that users will find it easy to use.

The new version of Sage 200 Construction will be issued following the release of Sage 200 v2011 – expected in June/July 2011. The next release will include a number of bug fixes and update the user interface for purchase documents. We will be providing additional details of the contents of this release over the coming weeks. Please note this means that any Construction customers wishing to upgrade to Sage 200 v2011 will only be able to do so following the release of Construction later in the summer, as no compatible CD will be issued in May.

The Upcoming release/update to Sage Payroll (2011) has been tested and is currently NOT compatible with Sage Construct/Sage 50 Construction. Testing has shown that the problem arises with the Internet Submissions module within Sage Construct as it uses some of the same files as Payroll (Internet Submissions).

Sage hope to produce an update (to either Payroll, or Construct) soon, but until that time Sage Payroll 2011 is not recommended/approved for use with Construct.

We will update here as soon as a patch is made available.

Sage 50 Construction New Reports

The latest version of Sage Construct Advanced, or Sage 50 Construction, when linked to Sage 50 Accounts, is now available and has several new reports as standard:

ESTIMATE REPORTS
Tender Summary – Summary of quote

Library List & Library Details – List of libraries & details

CONTRACT REPORTS
Summary Report (Totals) & Summary Report – Summarises costs & sales revenue by cost head per contract

List Order (Totals) & List Orders – Summarises costs and sales revenue by contract

Variation Sections & Details and Variation Detail Only – Reports variation levels with budget and costing information per contract

Variation Order Summary – Reports variation levels with costing, recharge & nominal code information per contract

Purchase Order/Works Order/Timesheet/Delivery Note/Nominal List – Lists transactions which can be reported in various sequences

Plant on Hire – Lists plant currently on hire by contract

CLIENT REPORTS
Applications Outstanding – Reports sales applications and their outstanding value for each client by contract

Client Invoice Summary – Reports sales revenue values for each client by contract

Contract Customer Summary – Summarises costs and sales revenue by cost head per client

Client Retentions – Reports outstanding client retention values for each client by contract

Client List – List of client details

Client Activity – Financial summary per client

S/C REPORTS
Insurance Summary – Lists type of insurance cover per subcontractor

Renewals List – Lists dates of re-newel letters sent per subcontractor

Insurance by Contract – Lists active insurance cover per contract

As always, new reports can be written, however changing and creating these reports in the Sage Report Writer means that small changes to existing reports will be much quicker.

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.

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.

We’re pleased to announce the release of Sage 50 Construction 2010 and Sage 200 Construction 2010 today.

 Sage Construction welcomes the new improved Client Billing module. Client Billing is effectively sales invoices for the construction industry, it’s always been present in Sage Construction however it has been re-written to improve usability. The replacement Client Billing module simplifies the production of sales documents, adds flexibility, improves integration and adds some new features.

 And there’s more

 These latest releases of Sage 50 and 200 Construction have more to offer than just Client Billing. Both versions offer several other enhancements such as:

• VAT on applications
• Cumulative billing with nominal, VAT and stock codes
• Cumulative and non cumulative billing to multiple client accounts on one contract
• Multiple numbering sequences for sales documents
• New stop functions
• Improved integration
• New improved user interface
• Simplified navigation
• Simplified data entry

For further information please call us on 0845 25766905

Ledger Services will be offering online training sessions for all our existing customers to cover the new functionality available in Sage 50 Construction 2010.

Because the new release has significant updates to the sales module, we will be offering scheduled online training sessions for all our existing customers. As yet we do not know how  long these are likely to be, as we have not seen the new release ourselves yet, although we expect 1 or 2 1 hour sessions would be adequate for those using the sales module already and in a fairly standard way.  The updates will affect creation of valuations, applications certificates and invoices, however the process will be simplified, so the training should not take too long.   As soon as we know more about the release date and have had a chance to have a look for ourselves we will both update these news pages and email all existing Construct users, with dates and  information on how to access the training sessions.