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Posts Tagged ‘california’

Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 Version 4.5 Starts Shipping

Wednesday, September 14th, 2011

Version 4.5 of Sage MAS90 and MAS200 Now Shipping

Sage started shipping Version 4.5 of MAS90 and MAS200 on September 8, 2011.  This new version includes a variety of functional enhancements.  Details of these enhancements are in the following pre-release guide:

MAS 200 for Microsoft SQL Server now Available in the Business Framework

This is the first release where new purchasers of MAS200 have the option to use Microsoft SQL Server, version 2003 and 2008.  Bringing SQL Server to MAS200 allows for much faster reporting and an easier time integrating potential custom or 3rd party solutions.  Note that this doesn’t mean a 3rd party solution should directly write to the underlying MAS200 SQL Data tables.  Always do that through either the Business Object Interface (BOI) or Visual Integrator which ensures the integrity of the accounting transactions within the system.

Remember that the SQL Version will not support the non-business framework modules such as payroll, work order, MRP or Job Cost.

Highlight of Enhancements for MAS90 and MAS200 Version 4.5

  • Payroll
    • Enhanced Benefit Accruals, More Deduction Calculation methods
  • Automatically create Purchase Orders from Sales Orders
    • There was basic functionality of this in prior versions of MAS90 and MAS200 but this gives much more automation and granular control to those companies that wait to get an order from a customer before creating a purchase order to their vendor or supplier
  • Price Level by Customer and Product Line
    • This gives an additional granularity level in using the 36 available price levels because now instead of it being a single level for the customer, you can say if a custom buys say, tires, any tire, they get “good pricing” which is 10% off list, but if they buy headlights, they get “best pricing” which might be 20% off of list.
  • Family Pricing.
    • I.E. if you by 10 or more markers you get a discount, BUT now you can mix and match colors.  They don’t have to be the same exact item number to group up for quantity pricing.
  • Enhanced Sales Order integration to Job Cost
  • Distribution by Lot and Serial Number
    • This is a long standing feature request.  You can now ‘allocate’ a specific lot or serial number during Order Entry, not just invoicing.  This means the warehouse picker no longer has to be the one to choose which serial number or lot to ship to a customer.  Especially useful for companies that might sell something like carpet where the person taking the order wants to ensure the customer gets more from the same lot so that the colors match better.
  • Split Commission by Customer
    • The ability to setup, up to 5 salespeople associated with a customer.  Previously, MAS 90 and MAS 200 supported split commission, but only as a manually entered, per order, setting.
  • Commission by salesperson, by customer by item. 
    • Now at the intersection of a specific salesperson, selling to a specific customer, a specific item, you can setup a specific commission.  Of course you can set it up less granularly than that as well.
  • Sage MAS Intelligence Improved
    • Some performance improvements and the ability to handle Reporting Trees.  A concept more advanced GL users were used to in FRx.
  • Free Sage CRM Server and user license.
    • Now all users can install Sage CRM and one single user free to see if you like the solution. If you do, simply purchase additional user licenses.  No need for a separate installation of the old MAS90/200 EES which conceptually goes away with this release.

What’s new in prior versions of Sage MAS90 and MAS200?

This MAS90 and MAS200 blog post we published earlier shows you what was added with each prior release of MAS90 and MAS200 so if you are on a version older than 4.4, you can get a feel for all of the new functionality you will receive.

Upgrade your MAS90 or MAS200 Now!

Call us at 866-677-6290 or email us at info@clientsfirst-us.com to talk with an expert on what it would take to upgrade your current version of MAS90 or MAS200 to version 4.5.

Sage ERP MAS 90 and 200-4-5 Pre Release Guide 6-24-11

Sage Releases MAS 90/200 Version 4.5

Tuesday, September 13th, 2011

We are all very excited about the release of Sage MAS 90/200 Version 4.5

Having  had the opportunity to examine its new features and capabilities in detail, we believe this new release brings even greater value to an already proven ERP solution.  Sage has made significant enhancements to the following application areas:

  • Payroll
  • Sales order processing
  • Commissions
  • Lot and serial number allocations
  • Sales order integration with job cost
  • National accounts
  • Purchase order processing
  • And more

We have provided a link to the detailed product brochure below.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/64743610/MAS-90-200-4-5-release-2

Take a minute and download this to learn more about how MAS 90/200 Version 4.5 can help make you and your team more efficient and productive.

If you would like more information, or would like to see Version 4.5 for yourself, then give us a call.  888-222-8827, extension 321 and ask for Jeff.

Thank you for your time.

Key Features and Benefits of the Dynamics AX 2009 Food and Beverage Solution — Part 1

Thursday, May 19th, 2011

by:  Donald Clark CFPIM, CSCP

People in the food and beverage industry already know that “standard” ERP systems can be less than ideal when it comes to product definitions, production management and materials management.  The Dynamics AX 2009 Food and Beverage Solution changes all of that.  It was designed with industry-specific functionality and capability that managing the processes in food and beverage companies a great deal easier and more effective.

I have spent a great deal of time with the solution and will share some of its key features and benefits, ones I think add value to these In the food and beverage industry, in the next several posts here.

Here are some starters.

  • Yield Planning and Tracking

Users can define yields at the top level of the product, or for individual ingredients.  This has a few benefits.  First, the system will allow users to calculate an accurate cost for the produced items and for their individual ingredient contributions.  Second, when determining material requirements using MRP, users get the “real” requirements, thus helping to eliminate material shortages.

  • Integrated Quality Control

Users can design any needed quality control tests for incoming materials or produced items.  Once created, users can associate those tests to production steps or receiving activities and define disposition codes for failed tests.  With integrated QC, users always know the test results and dispositions of tested materials – all within the system and all without mandating this information in spreadsheets or other external systems.

  • Expiration Date Management

The Dynamics AX 2009 Food and Beverage Solution can automatically track expiration and best-before dates for raw materials and produced items.  The system also tells users that expiration dates are approaching so that they can take appropriate action.  This saves users from having to track dates off line and helps to reduce the waste

If you are interested in further information on this solution, then go ahead and give us a call at 888-222-8827.  We can show you how the Dynamics AX 2009 Food and Beverage Solution can help solve your issues effectively.

At Clients First Business Solutions, we welcome opportunities to deliver software solutions that help make people’s lives easier and more productive.  If you would like to see how we can help you, we would love to hear from you.

Dynamics AX 2009 Food and Beverage Solution – Formula and Recipe Management

Wednesday, May 18th, 2011

by:  Donald Clark CFPIM, CSCP

Companies in the food and beverage industry have software needs that are unlike those found in other manufacturing companies.  One of these needs is managing their formulas and recipes.

Many times when we talk to prospects that produce food products, we hear the same thing about how they manage formulas and recipes – they do it outside of their systems in Excel or they use work-around’s in their ERP systems.  The fact is that traditional ERP does not provide the necessary tools to properly manage formulas or recipes. they are based on discrete models for product definitions and do not handle well products that are based on percentages like those in the food and beverage industry.

The Dynamics AX 2009 Food and Beverage Solution provides users with the ability to define their products whose components, or ingredients, are percentage-based.  Some of the features in the solution include:

  • Formulation by percentages
  • Yield definition and tracking at the ingredient level
  • Ability to globally change ingredients or percentages
  • Capability to define co- and by-products
  • Security control that permits only authorized users to make changes

All of these capabilities deliver a much better way for food and beverage producers to define their products accurately and manage those definitions more easily and effectively.  So why are you still using those spreadsheets when there is a much better way?

If you are interested in discussing formula or recipe management, or other food and beverage specific issues, with us then go ahead and give us a call at 888-222-8827.  We can show you how the Dynamics AX 2009 Food and Beverage Solution can help solve your issues effectively.

At Clients First Business Solutions, we welcome opportunities to deliver software solutions that help make people’s lives easier and more productive.  If you would like to see how we can help you, we would love to hear from you.

Dynamics AX 2009 Food and Beverage Solution — Catch Weight

Wednesday, May 18th, 2011

by:  Donald Clark CFPIM, CSCP

I worked with a company once who had an interesting problem.  They are a frozen foods distributor selling into institutions like schools and hospitals.  A product they sell a great deal is frozen chicken breasts that come in large cases.   Managing a seemingly simple product like this actually caused them a great deal of trouble.

The trouble came from the fact that they bought and sold the chicken in cases, yet the product itself was costed and valued in pounds.  When purchased or sold, users needed to track, offline in Excel, the associated number of pounds per case.  This was a time-consuming and inefficient process for them,

What this company needed was a way to track two different units of measure.  As it turns out, there is a solution.  The Dynamics AX 2009 Food and Beverage Solution provides a host of functionality that makes the lives of people in the industry much easier.  One of these capabilities is catch weight management.

The catch weight solution allows users to track and manage multiple inventory units of measure at the same time, thus eliminating the headache created by off-line or manual methods.  Catch weight functionality lets users transact inventory by either of the defined unit of measure.  So, in the case of the chicken breast distributor, each case has a weight associated with it and when they sell cases, the system automatically knows the total pounds and, therefore, value sold.

If you are interested in discussing catch weight, or other food and beverage specific issues, with us then go ahead and give us a call at 888-222-8827.  We can show you how the Dynamics AX 2009 Food and Beverage Solution can help solve your issues effectively.

At Clients First Business Solutions, we welcome opportunities to deliver software solutions that help make people’s lives easier and more productive.  If you would like to see how we can help you, we would love to hear from you.