Sage Accpac Community

It's amazing what people will do for years without asking questions

Jay Converse — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:20:00 GMT

Today I'm upgrading one of our clients from version 5.4 to 5.5, and as part of that upgrade, all batches in AR and AP have to be deleted or posted.

I thought they were ready before I arrived. But when I got to the A/P Payment Batch screen, there were over 75 open payment batches, dating back to March of 2006. One was for several hundred thousand dollars!

I asked the head accountant how had they ever managed to balance their books.

She said, "Well, Mary (name changed), who's been doing checks forever, told me that manual checks can't be posted. You have to do journal entries to credit cash and debit A/P".

I was astonished. "What!?!? You've been doing this for three years? Didn't you think something was a little strange about that?"

"Yes I did, it's a lot of extra work, and the auditors question it every year, but everything balances".

I laughed. "Is Mary here today?".

"No, she'll be back tomorrow"

"Well, when Mary comes in, tell her that Jay said to smack her with a wet noodle. All you have to do is this...", and I showed the head accountant that indeed, manual checks can be posted.

She was ecstatic at the work that would be saved. I was silently dumfounded at all the years of lost effort.

Declarative Programming in Sage ERP Accpac 6.0A

smist08 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:27:00 GMT

In the Sage ERP Accpac 5.x series of product, all screen definitions were part of the Visual Basic programs that made up each user screen. The only way to get at these screen definitions was to embed the OCX for that screen in a VB program or VBA macro and then manipulate the screen programatically. With Accpac 6.0, we wanted to make many screen customizations way easier. The solution was to separate the screen definition from the User Interface program. In Accpac 6.0 each screen is defined in an XML file that contains all the layout information. This screen can be edited in a Visual Screen Designer that is part of the product, or since XML is just a text file, it can be edited in a standard text or XML editor. For that matter the screen can be generated from another program. The definition of the screen layout file (xsd file) is available and the format is completely open.

In Accpac 5.x, we saved a lot of programming time by binding the individual UI elements to datasources. This meant that an edit control was actually attached to a View field via its properties in the VB form designer. Then the control would be data aware and handle setting its data into the view and retrieving updated data from the View. In this way, no programming was required for most of the forms on the screen. We have exactly the same concept in Sage ERP Accpac 6.x. Only each control is bound to a field with in an SData feed and that SData feed could theoretically come from any Sage application that provides SData feeds or from any other application that has adopted the open SData format. Thus again no programming is required for most fields on the form.

Then we have gone one step further and provided standard actions that can be attached to controls in the layout. In Accpac 5.x you had to code all the logic that happened when a button was pressed. In Accpac 6.x we provide standard actions, so for instance you can attach a save action to the save button which will perform the save operation on the configured SData feed. This way we can develop simple forms with navigation, save, new and delete operations, with no programming. The declarative layout actually produces a complete running program can run with no additional code. Many of the Accpac setup and other simple screens can be developed this way, greatly speeding the development of Accpac 6.x.

The layouts for Accpac 6 are quite different from the screens in Accpac 5.x. For one thing all controls were placed on 5.x screens at specific x,y co-ordinates. In Accpac 6, all layout is handled by browser document object model layout nodes. Nothing is specified in x,y coordinates, you just specify which controls line up and how and then the process is dynamic depending on the length and size of the text. This is a great benefit when translating into languages that take more space like Spanish since the form will automatically adjust to the longer text. When running a right to left language like Arabic, it’s even smart enough to be able to re-arrange all the controls into a right to left ordering. All this is just functionality built into every browser and something we gladly don’t have to worry about.

These are just some of the new things that declarative layouts are bringing to Sage ERP Accpac 6.0A. This will really be a strong and flexible foundation to develop on.

Sage Summit 2009 - a Great Success!

Kurt — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:58:00 GMT

I was at Sage Summit 2009 last week, and I have to say that it was a very successful event. It was well organized, smoothly run, and greatly satisfying for our customers, business partners and our own Sage staff.

City of Atlanta gave us a few days of warm November weather that I have not experience in Vancouver. It also showcased a city with long history, as well as new and trendy city planning and designs. The CNN center tour was spectacular, so was the World of Coca-cola, not mentioning how many different soft drinks I have tried there. The Night at Aquarium brought all of us to the largest aquarium in the world, where we saw some amazing ocean species.

I was even more impressed with Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s speech and the emotional stories he told us about war and about people, and also the stories of our customers – how they deal with the economical crisis, how they manage and fight through tough situations, and how they succeed.

I was glad that I could meet many of our customers, and talking with them face to face, hearing the difficulties they were experiencing with software, and helping them by doing everything we could. And I was happy that I was able to give them a hand, a piece of information they needed, and ultimately helping them with their business needs.

It was overall a great experience for me, and many people at the Summit. It was upbeat, encouraging, and informative. If I get the chance again, I would go again, and I would encourage all of you to participate as well.

It's Windows 7 Time

Tyrone — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:00:00 GMT

I think the new Windows 7 TV commercials have a really nice personal touch and are very cute, especially the little girl, Kylie, although I still think Mac has the funnier commercials. With the launching of the new Windows operating system, you must be wondering if Sage Accpac ERP is compatible with it.

Sage Accpac ERP version 5.6 will be compatible with Windows 7 when it is released in December. Although there will be not official testing of version 5.4 and 5.5 with Windows 7. We will also start support them with Windows 7 when 5.6 is released.

If you are using Pervasive SQL Database Engine, you will need version 10 SP3 (10.3). Only a trial version is available at the moment, but the full version should be available at the beginning of 2010. If you are using MS SQL Server, you will be require to install SP3 for SQL server 2005, and SP1 for SQL server 2008.

Once all the testings have been finalized, the information will be posted on our website. So for the most current and updated information, be sure to check our knowledge base and our system requirements page. I never had the chance to play with Vista, mainly because I'm happy with XP, and because of all the bad experiences I've heard. Hopefully, Windows 7 will be a much better experience.

I really hate Honda Acuras

Jay Converse — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:46:00 GMT

Am I the only one who hates it when there's an Acura in the rearview mirror with its lights on? Always way, way, way too bright. You even have to set the mirror to night mode in the middle of the day. Even Hummers aren't this bad.

I'm not lazy, I'm saving the environment

Jay Converse — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:36:00 GMT

Years ago I made the decision to replace the grass in my front and back yards with ground covers like ivy and periwinkle, mostly because I was tired of mowing. Besides, I live in a surburban townhouse, I have more square feet of carpet to vacuum then yard to mow.

Now I'm convinced I made the right decision. Recent studies have proven that one of the primary pollutants in the Chesapeake Bay is excess fertilizer runoff from lawns. So, do your environment a favor, replace your lawn with something greener.

Accpac is Now Agile

smist08 — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 02:04:00 GMT

For Sage Accpac ERP 6.0A development we are adopting the Agile Software Development Methodology. Within the Agile world there are several widely used sub-branches, we are using scrum without going all the way to extreme programming (XP).

For previous versions of Accpac we used the waterfall method of software development has been around a long time, and many successful products have been developed using it. However it does have a number of drawbacks:

1. It relies heavily on all the requirements being defined upfront and then complete accurate specs being developed before coding begins. Practically speaking this has turned out to be humanly impossible. Requirements change as market conditions evolve. No one can review a large spec and ensure that something hasn’t been missed, or gone in a bad direction.

2. The handover from programming to QA leads to huge scheduling problems. You can schedule how long to code something (at least relatively) and how long to perform functional tests. But how do you schedule how many bugs will be found? How long to fix those? How long to retest these? How long QA is delayed because they are blocked by these bugs?

3. Combining 1 and 2, practically speaking the worst design defects are found in QA when it is quite expensive to fix these. Again this tends to be un-sheduleable work and usually is the cause of the biggest product delays.

Agile looks to fix these problems (and many more besides). The idea is to keep units of work manageable without requiring super-human powers. Another idea is that you don’t need the requirements up front, nor do you need the specs up front (if at all). Some of the key ideas:

1. Break down requirements into small easy to manage “user stories”. This makes the requirements more customer focused and really forces functional decomposition right from the beginning. It then lets you prioritize these requirements and tends to limit designer gold plating.

2. All team members are involved for the whole project. There are no hand overs from one group to another. Traditionally these hand overs lead to delays (due to people not being available at the right time), defects due to misunderstandings, and lack of teamwork. With agile the design analyst, programmer, UCD specialist, QA person and product owner are always working together as a team through the whole process.

A lot of the rest of the Agile Development Process is then executing these ideas in a best practices type environment using the experience of previous teams. From the experience of others, leads to the scrum principles:

1. Short fixed length iterations (for use these are 3 weeks).

2. The product is “shippable” quality at the end of every iteration. This goes hand in hand with the idea of continous integration. The product is built everynight complete and automated test scripts are run to ensure nothing is broken.

3. How to break down the user requirements, and pick the ones to implement in each iteration.

4. How to prioritize the requirements and handle things that go wrong, like too hard user stories, key team members on vacation, etc.

5. Better visibility to all stake holders. Everyone can see the list of user stories and the time estimates associated with them. This allows everyone to know how long something will take and why it will take that long.

Generally many product groups have discovered that Agile Development Process’s are more productive (more features or products are developed), quality is higher and the process is more predictable. Probably the hardest thing with adopting Agile is just to forget all those practices taught in older Software Engineering courses in University and accept the newer methods.

Sage Accpac 5.6 Controlled Release program is recruiting!

Kurt — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 18:00:00 GMT

Here's the newest from our Product Management Team:

The Sage Accpac 5.6 Controlled Release program is starting to recruit. Take the plunge and be the first in your industry to go live on Sage Accpac 5.6. Apply Here.

Taking part in this program will give you access to priority Support (via phone) during the program.

What’s expected of you?

If you’re interested, talk to your Partner about applying. If accepted, your Partner will be sent a copy of the newest version to install at your work site. You are expected to run live on the latest release, and if you encounter any issues, report them to us immediately.

Incentives are offered and are listed on the Controlled Release website. Apply early and note that not all applicants will be accepted.

I have to say that it is a great opportunity to take advantage of the incentives offered, to try out the new features in 5.6, and most importantly to give us your “real world” feedback on how the new version works with your specific business needs.

Our last Controlled Release program for Sage Accpac ERP 5.5 was a great success. We are confident that the same will happen for 5.6.

Like, where can a sousaphone player practice, part 2

Jay Converse — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 04:01:00 GMT

Usually, Friday night is poker night with the boys. But tonight, being that it's the middle of August, most of the boys are on vacation, so without a quorum, poker night was called off.

After dinner, the wife has things to do, and the teenagers don't want me around, so I think, where's a nice spot to wail on the sousaphone for awhile? Definitely not Walmart...

Wait, I know, there's a huge new multi-level parking lot just down the road for the Virginia Railway Express (VRE). Nobody is catching commuter trains on Friday night, I won't bother anybody!

And for 45 minutes, it was awesome! Remember when you started playing and you discovered the echo in the school bathroom? This big-ass parking lot was so-o-o-o much better. You're in the middle of nowhere, and you can crank on the arpeggios and 7th chords, and the overtones last and last and last.

Then, the police car pulls up.

He says, "what, did your wife kick you out?"

"Hello, officer. I'm so sorry, was there a noise complaint?"

"No, but it's my job to keep the teenagers and vagrants from hanging out in the garage at night."

"But officer, I'm just practicing. If poker night hadn't been called off, I wouldn't be here. Do you know officer Rich (name redacted)? He's one of my poker buddies, and he had to work tonight."

I figure if I mentioned I knew a cop, it might go easier on me.

"Yes, I know officer Rich. He works for me".

Oh crap. Not only am I in trouble, I'm getting a friend in trouble.

"Sir, I'm really sorry, I was just looking for a place to practice for awhile. How much more time do I have?"

"10 minutes"

"OK, I'll finish up"

And he pulls away to patrol the next level.

After ten minutes, I called my buddy Rich to warn him I might have gotten him in trouble. As we're talking, he gets a text from his boss. It's about his crazy neighbor playing the sousaphone on the second floor of the VRE parking lot. We laugh, I guess I'm not really in trouble after all.

Until next time...

Win 2k8: latest platform for Sage Accpac ERP

Kurt — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 23:52:00 GMT

Windows 2008 server has been certified as a supported platform for Sage Accpac ERP since the release of 5.5 Product Update 1.

But from what we have heard from our customers and partners, it still gives them occasional headaches when they need to setup Accpac on Windows 2008 Server machines.

Again, our analysts here are working hard to make sure the latest information on Windows 2008 Server is in the online Knowledge Base at kb.accpac.com.

Here are a few common questions related to 2k8 server, and the answers to them:

Q: I want to setup Web Deployment on my new Win 2k8 server, but it has a different IIS, I don’t know where to start!
A: The detailed setup documents in KB article 27089 can walk you through the process.

Q: Can Pervasive 9.6 be installed on Win 2008 server?
A: According to Pervasive, such configuration is not support, please check KB article 26876 for more details.

Q: We can not use our Windows Vista machines to sign into Accpac, the sign on procedure hangs. The shared data folder is on our Windows 2008 server.
A: The combination of Vista and 2008 systems might be causing the issue, KB article 27000 explains the situation and gives steps on how to resolve it.

And there are many more articles on other win 2008 related subjects.

If you are not able to find your answers in our KB however, please don’t hesitate to give us a call or drop us an email. We like challenges.

Could You Be the Next Winner?

JanD — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 23:31:00 GMT

Are you the Sage customer who will be our next winner? Nominations and applications are now being accepted for the Second Annual Sage Customer Awards Program. This program is a great opportunity for customers like you to be truly recognized for your outstanding achievements. Last year's program was a great success and this year is primed to be even better. Check out the 2008 Sage Customer Awards Winners brochure. This year it could be your turn. We will be crowning winners in each of the following six award categories this November at Sage Summit.

Innovation
Rookie of the Year
Best End-to-End Deployment
Best Use of Customization
Community Stewardship
Lifetime Achievement

Bragging rights aren't enough? Well, we have some other great benefits in store for our 2009 award winners as well, including:

Free registration to this year's Sage Summit customer conference in November
Two complimentary nights hotel accommodations at Sage Summit
Special VIP access at Sage Summit
Crystal trophy recognizing your outstanding achievement

Don't delay your entries! The deadline for submitting applications is August 31, 2009. If you have any questions on the program or the application process, feel free to email Scott White at customer.awards@sage.com.

Like, where can a sousaphone player practice?

Jay Converse — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 04:40:00 GMT

I've got a gig coming up next month playing the Star Spangled Banner at a pro baseball game, so I need to get my shoulder in shape as much as my chops (it's an old nickel-plated Holton BBb sousaphone).

Tonight I had to pick up my daughter at Walmart when her shift ended at 11 PM. So I figured, what the heck, I'll get there around 10 PM, hang out at the end of the parking lot, and blow the heck out of the horn. Nobody is there that time of night, what harm can I do?

It was a decent 50 minutes of practice. I pointed away from the store at the grove of trees at the back of the lot. Don't want to scare the customers, ya know. There were a few horn honkers, but no big deal. I have the same problem with honkers when I practice on the road next to my house. Geez, doesn't anybody see sousas practicing these days? Whatever, just smile, wave, and keep working on scales and arpeggios.

So anyway, at the end of my practice set, a random couple pulls up, and they want pictures of themselves with me and my car and my sousa. I laugh, oblige, and tell them my stock joke "Why does my car's license plate say 'TUBA'? Because 'SOUSAPHONE' is too many letters." LOL, I smile for the camera.

And then, another car pulls up. Two 20-something girls in a Toyota, and one leans out the window and asks, "How much longer is this going on?". I reply, "Gosh, I was just practicing until my daughter got off work". "Oh good", she says, "we could hear you over at the apartments, and it was so annoying we drove over here to see what the heck was going on".

Oh crap... There was an apartment complex beyond the grove of trees.

So in conclusion, the question for my fellow tubists is, where the heck can an honest, tax-paying sousa player go to practice hard? I was joking with my daughter on the way home that I probably need to practice on the top of a mountain, but she said it would probably piss off the goats...

Get More from Sage Summit

Tyrone — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 15:05:00 GMT

It's almost time for Sage Summit again. For those of you who are not familiar, Sage Summit is our annual conference that allows our customers to discover proven tips, tricks, strategies, and skills that will help you boost productivity and save your organization money. Have you register for it yet?

I highly recommend attending this year's event if you have not been to one yet. If you have, we would love to have you there again. I had a blast when I attended last time in D.C.

This year's Summit will be in Atlanta, Georgia November 9-12. There will be hands on training sessions, round table discussions, trades shows, and networking events. And besides work, you can attend Summit's Night at the Aquarium at the world famous Georgia Aquarium. Oh, and if you visit the Support Center, you will run into Kurt and Dave from the Support department. Yes, this is the very Kurt that partners with me on this Blog. Be sure to drop by and say ‘hi’!

For more information, you can visit http://www.sagesummit.com/index.cfm. If you have any questions, you can always message Kurt or me.

Financial Reporter trouble?

Kurt — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:00:00 GMT

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;}

I personally like Financial Reporter a lot.

It’s a compact and yet powerful tool. FR does not require additional software other than Sage Accpac and Microsoft Excel, also the reports are portable. And since it utilizes Excel as the macro base, all the handy Excel functions are the added bonuses.

My favorite thing about Financial Reporter is that the process of customizing a report is very thought-provoking.

All the benefits, of course, would only be beneficial if Financial Reporter starts properly, right? I have compiled a list of error messages that we get questioned about the most, as well as the Knowledge Base articles that could resolve them:

Runtime error '429': ActiveX component can't create object – KB 21493
Error on running STARTGL9200 or STARTGL9100 in xla macro – KB 24244
Microsoft Visual Basic. Run-time error '91':Object Variable or Width block variable not set – KB 23601
cmdStart: Error on running InstalledAddinAndXLStard – KB 26267

There are more that people might encounter, but generally speaking, FR errors could be resolved if the following conditions are met:

Users have sufficient permissions on the operating system
Excel installation has the proper components required by FR
Security clearance is given to FR regarding macro or file permissions
Accpac and Excel applications are up to date
Last but not least, the shortcut to start Accpac should be pointing to the correct Runtime folder.

After resolving the initial errors, Financial Reporter will be much more interesting to work with. If you happen to run into any different error messages starting FR, we’d like to hear from you.

Monopoly, competition, and irony

Jay Converse — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:12:00 GMT

In classical economics, one of the problems with monopolies is arrogance. The monopolist doesn't truly care for his customers as long as the money keeps flowing.

For nearly two decades, Cox Communications has had a near monopoly in our neighborhood for TV and internet. It's been a near monopoly instead of a true monolopy because you can get TV via satellite, and internet via dialup. Yeah, sure, like my family of computer geeks could live with dialup.

In any case, I've been a customer of Cox since the first coax cable was laid. In addition to TV and internet, Cox has phone service. I call it the communications trifecta. With all this and DVR rentals, we've been paying over $200 a month. And that doesn't count our Verizon cell phones.

So a year ago, in a moment of weakness, my wife listened to a Cox rep on the phone, and signed up for a year of Showtime and Movie Channel at a reduced rate. The kicker to the deal was an early termination fee that was more than the cost of the monthly subscription. Fine, it was just a couple of dollars a month, so I agreed to it.

Ten days ago, since we had rarely watched any of those channels, I called Cox to cancel the service. I had a short, friendly chat with the Cox rep, and as he processed the cancellation, he noticed that we had the trifecta with Cox. He said he could save us a bunch of money because we had all three services. "Cool", I said, and our conversation ended in about two minutes.

Yesterday, June 27, I received a letter from Cox, dated May 28, welcoming me to my new service plan. It detailed how I was saving $15 a month because I had all three services, and that I had agreed to a one year service plan with an early termination fee of $180 if I did not cancel this agreement within 15 days. Excuse me? I just received a letter that was void as soon as I received it. I immediately called Cox, and asked for a supervisor. I was astonished and firm, she was calm and professional, and she agreed to indicate in my account record that I would not have to pay the $180 termination fee.

So where's the irony? An hour after I get off the phone, there's a knock on the door. It's Verizon. I greet the young man with the blue Verizon polo shirt. He's selling FIOS internet service. It's much faster than Cox, and it's $50 a month cheaper. And, it comes with a free Netbook (MSRP $300). I had forgotten that Verizon had been laying fiber in our neighborhood for almost a year, and that many of my neighbors had switched over, including one of my poker buddies. "OK", I said to him after 20 seconds of his pitch, "if I sign up can I cancel?". "Of course", he said, "in the state of Virginia it's a state law that you can cancel contracts like this". So I signed up. What the heck. All it took was about 20 minutes and a conversation with that third-party company that verifies that the Verizon rep in the blue polo shirt hasn't coerced me into signing up with his company.

But the irony gets better. Today, Sunday, I check with my son to make sure that the switch of communication providers won't mess up his life. No worries, his DVR recordings don't interfere with ours. So the only issues to our transation is that my wife will need to get a Gmail account instead of a Cox account.

Then, I figure this situation would be good for a blog post. It's classical economics at its best - competition breaking a monopoly.

I turn on my laptop, turn on the TV, login to this forum, and switch to the NASCAR race. I type for five minutes, and the race goes black. This is a common problem with Cox, a single digital program disappears without warning. Fine, I switch to ESPN2 for the 2008 Poker championships. Another five minutes, and this channel goes black.

You have to be kidding me! I'm writing an article about how I'm dropping my Cox service, and their service gets worse! All other channels still work fine, but the only two channels I want to see don't work.

Triple irony. Goodbye, Cox, hello Verizon.

Got Rates?

Tyrone — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 21:29:00 GMT

Now a days, you can find almost everything on the internet, restaurants reviews, bank account information, cheap flight tickets, etc. And if you are using multicurrencies in Sage Accpac ERP, you are probably using the internet to check the latest exchanges rates.

Instead of manually entering the exchange rates, have you tried using the GETRATES macro? It grabs the exchange rates from the internet and puts that information into Sage Accpac ERP. "Didn't you talk about macros in one of your previous blog already?" You may ask. I did, except we recently notice an issue with the website where the exchange rates are retrieved.

Like many websites, the addresses can be updated or they may no longer be valid. As a result of a change in the website address to Sauder School of Business from the University of British Columbia, the GETRATES macro no longer works. That is where the macro grabs the latest exchange rates. Their new address is http://fx.sauder.ubc.ca/today.html. So to get the macro working again, you will need to modify it. Refer to KB 27004 if you need the instructions on how to do so.

Now that I have finished my blog, I can go back online and search for cheap flight tickets and hotel rates for my next vacation.

Is your Customer Number change running slowly?

Jay Converse — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:26:00 GMT

With the release of version 5.5 edition, the Customer Number change module is now free, so I'm sure there are many people taking advantage of it.

I was at a client yesterday who had over 9000 customers and 9 years of transaction history in AR, and my tests were showing that the customer number change would take around 65 hours to complete. Using the MSSQL profiler, I saw that the choke point was the ARPJD table, it was taking 30-35 seconds to change each customer number.

Solution? Add an index on IDCUST to the ARPJD table. The 65 hours of processing time went down to 12, which meant we could run it overnight without disrupting the business. Make sure you take the index off when you're done, it could interfere in a future upgrade.

Having trouble with Windows Firewall when configuring Sage Accpac ERP Web Deployment?

Kurt — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 22:05:00 GMT

Web Deployment issues are among the most popular topics we discuss in Customer Support.

A common error message that users encounter when logging onto an Accpac ERP 5.4 or 5.5 servers via Web Deployment is:
Error occurred when connecting to Sage Accpac Server

Whenever users need to access the Sage Accpac Web Deployment either internally or externally on their network, ports 9000 to 9180 (by default) are opened on the web server.

If external connection is desired, the externally facing router or gateway could be configured to properly redirect all traffic from these ports to the web server.

By default, when Windows Firewall is enabled, these ports are blocked. It is never a good idea nor is it a best-practice to turn off the firewall, even during testing.

We could not find a convenient tool to easily open a range of ports for Windows Firewall. For that, the Support team developed a utility (KB 26903) which will allow users to do just that -- open/close a range of ports for Windows Firewall. At this time, it has been tested for following operating systems:

Windows XP x32 and x64
Windows Vista x32 and x64
Windows 2003 Server x32 and x64
Windows 2008 Server, x32 and x64

Go ahead and download this handy utility. Should you run into the above scenario, try it out and come back and tell us about your experience. Did it resolve the issue for you? Could we fine-tune the utility further to make it more user-friendly? We would love to hear from you.

Openings for 5.6 Testers

Tyrone — Tue, 26 May 2009 12:35:00 GMT

Would you like to be one of the first to try out Sage Accpac 5.6? Would you like the chance to have a voice in your product? There is no better way to do so than to sign up for the version 5.6 Beta testing program.

It is not going to take up too much of you time, maybe about 8 hours a week. Basically, you just have to complete the Test Plan that you get from us each week. The testing includes procedures such as installation and conversion. You start by downloading and installing 5.6 on a system that doesn't affect you current operations. You will then receive a Test Plan once a week to focus testing on certain areas. Once you have completed the testing, you will need to e-mail the results back to us. Further to the set-forth requirements, you are welcome to the test areas that you regularly work with to identify items that matter to you most. In total, there are 8 Test plans.

By completing these Test Plans, you may qualify for either 3 moths of free AnyTime Learning from our online Sage Universiry, or 3 months of free Unlimited Customer Support. To qualify, you will need to complete at least 7 out of 8 Test Plans. The program is starting in June 1. Unfortunately, not everybody will be chosen. If you are still interested, click here to find out more information or to signup for it.

Project and Job Costing Hot Fix Alert

Kurt — Tue, 12 May 2009 00:08:00 GMT

While actively testing our program, the Quality Assurance team has identified a potential issue in PJC 5.5A with Product Update 2. When using PJC to generate Billing Worksheets, taking certain steps in a specific order may cause corruption in the database which would require repair.

Although we have not received any reports from any clients or partners regarding this issue, we felt that it is important for us to inform all users about it.

We highly recommend that all users who use PJC 5.5A with Product Update 2 to apply the Hot Fix attached in our online knowledge base article 26641, as a precautionary measure to prevent running into this scenario. The detailed steps to replicate the issue could be found in the article as well.

If you have any questions or comments regarding this, please discuss it under this topic in our forum, leave your feedback in our blog, or contact our tech support at 1-800-253-1372.

Why does software suck so badly?

Jay Converse — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 22:47:00 GMT

Are you a computer geek? I am.

Are you not a computer geek? My wife isn't.

And, we both loved this book: http://www.whysoftwaresucks.com/.

Get it, it's a fun read for both ends of the geek spectrum.

Spam and Gary Reeves, businessman

Jay Converse — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 12:00:00 GMT

I run a very tight spam filter on our company's email server. The result is we get a handful of spam messages every day, sometimes none. I do this using an RBL, or a Real Time Blacklist. The good news about an RBL is that it's free, requires no maintenance, and has zero impact on the email server. The bad news is that occasionally we'll get false rejections from clients who are emailing from their home.

Why from their home? Tons of worldwide spam is coming out of people's homes on compromized computers. And since 100's of computers will share a central address at an ISP, one bad PC means an entire neighborhood will be blacklisted. But, it's not all bad news for our business when mail is falsely rejected, because my server sends a replies to the senders telling them they've been blacklisted, and to call us. Spammers don't know what our phone number is, but real people do. They call us, and I put their location onto the whitelist.

So anyway, when something gets through my server and into my junk mail folder, it's quite often not spam at all. Most of the time it's ads from companies that I've bought things from before, like Dell and HP. Junk mail for sure, but not true spam. Which gets to the point of this post.

Last week the email in my junk folder was from Gary Reeves. He runs a company called Artist in the Sky, and it does low-level, high-resolution aerial photography. According to the email, his company moves from state-to-state as the seasons change, selling high-res photos of whatever you want. I smiled when I read it. It was a high tech version of those flyers I get stuck to my door that say "we're coming to your neighborhood next week to do gutter cleaning".

Do I personally have a need for an aerial photo of my townhouse? Not really. But I was so intrigued about getting a piece of junk mail from somebody that wasn't selling Viagra or Rolexes, that I clicked over to his site to check it out. Son of a gun, this guy is legit, and the photos look pretty cool.

So why is this significant? Remember when email was new, and it had the promise of essentially zero-cost advertising for anybody's business? Gary Reeves is a real person, at a real company, selling real stuff. I don't personally need his stuff, but I might have. Guys like Gary should be able to do advertising that doesn't get automatically moved to a trash folder. Spammers have ruined email for honest commerce.

Ding Ding Ding! School's in Session!

garrick — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 20:18:00 GMT

Summer may be coming up, but it's time to go back to school! Economy's getting rough, so going back to school might be a good way to stick out from the crowd.

Sage University (www.sageu.com/accpac) offers a variety of training, and multiple ways of delivering it. Learn about each module of Sage Accpac ERP in depth (and other products, like Sage CRM), and even a few other things, like Crystal Reports. You can get training a few different ways, Classroom, Anytime, Realtime, Lunch & Learn, or even Custom Training.

You can also become Certified in different areas of Sage Accpac ERP. You already know the stuff, why not have something that proves it?

Check out the MindLeaders section too: http://sageu.com/mindleaders/mlhome.html. There's a whole lot of courses there, ranging from MS Access to Business Ethics.

Need CPE Credits? Many of our Live Courses will get you that.

Just remember, it's never too late to go back to school. =)

IFRS - What are you doing in 2011 ?

richardj — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:03:00 GMT

2011. Its still a couple years away, but for publicly accountable entities in Canada it marks the beginning of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). For companies in the U.S. the timeline is still unclear, it could be as early as 2014 or possibly even 2016, either way there’s more breathing room if you have to report to the SEC. Business in other parts of the world such as Australia, the European Union and Singapore moved much earlier to IFRS – 2005 in the case of the european Union. The transition from GAAP to IFRS will touch on many areas of a business including accounting policies, business processes and of course your accounting software. Sage Accpac customers in these countries made the switch to IFRS and relied on Accpac’s flexibility and features to meet their reporting needs. In the next series of articles we’ll take a deeper dive into this topic to see what companies are doing. In the meantime if you have any questions we'll like to hear from you.

My son, the modern entrepeneur

Jay Converse — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:15:00 GMT

My 16 year old son happens to be one of the few kids in his social circles with wheels. Trust me, they're not great wheels. It's a '98 Nissan Sentra with almost 200K miles on it. We don't know exactly how many miles because the odometer stopped working over a year ago. But heck, they're wheels, beggars can't be choosers, and he has lots of friends.

I keep it running safely with regular oil changes (see this post), duck tape, and bi-monthly trips to Autozone. When the headliner was falling down the other day, all it took was a staple gun and 30 staples to bang it back up again.

Since he's only in high school, I'm the one still paying the gas. When I ask him, "Where are you going, son?", and he says "I'm giving Alex a ride to the mall", my response is "Isn't this the third time this week you gave Alex a ride to the mall? Gas costs money, boy!". He rolls his eyes, and leaves.

But today, I'm very proud of him. I'm just getting home from work, he's on the way out.

"Where are you heading, boy?"

"Uhh, like, two of my friends need rides to a concert at the Patriot Center"

"Uh, huh..."

"But wait, Dad, it's OK. They said they had 8 bucks between them, they're paying for gas."

"Good job son, drive carefully."