Sage 500 – Planning for the Future

Robert Kramer Supervising Consultant BKD Technologies

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• What We Know from Sage Software

• Issues & Concerns

• Process to Informed Migration Decision

• Migration Decision Work Plan

• Questions

Agenda

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• MS Visual Basic 6 no longer support by Microsoft

• Sage Software guaranteeing support until 2017

• 2013 - 2017

o R&D focused on quality of code

o Limited new functionality

o Limited marketing support

o Developing migration path & tools (to Sage 100, Sage 300, & Sage ERP X3)

o Ongoing Sage Software support

What We Know from Sage Software

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Sage 500 Roadmap

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Sage 100 Roadmap

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Sage ERP X3 Roadmap 2012/2013 2014/2015 2013/2014 2015/2016

6 This presentation is intended as a guideline and for information purposes only, and represents Sage’s current view of its product direction. The information is subject to change at

any time without notice. Any one of the milestones, features, release periods or versions could change. None of the information should be interpreted as a commitment on the

part of Sage.

Extended Functionality: Fixed Assets, Finance, Product Management EDM Sage SalesLogix Integration Sage CRM Integration

Extended Compliance: Romania, Slovakia, Angola

Install & Upgrade Simplification: Multi-legislation install. Retirement of add-ons (functionality incorporated in core system).

PLM, APS, Green Mgmt (REACH)

Sage CRM, Sage SalesLogix, Sage Shipping, Sage Sales Tax, Sage Payments

New Web Client (Syracuse I): Browser-agnostic HTML5/Ajax graphics Lightweight data interchange (JSON) Non-blocking I/O (node.js) Business Data Visualization

MS Office: Active documents

New Mobile Applications: Sage Mobile Sales Sage Mobile Services

Extended Functionality: Sales, Inventory (landed cost)

Cloud Deployment

WMS, MSDS

EDI, E-commerce Sage Accounts Billing & Payment

Extended Functionality: Financial management processes Manufacturing (Engineering change control, Available to Promise, Capable to Promise) Project Management & Job Costing Business Intelligence Integration: HRM, EDI New Mobile Applications

Platform Evolution (Syracuse II)

Extended Industry Solutions

Extended connected services

New Platform Completeness (Syracuse III)

Personal Productivity Usability & Collaboration

Mobile/Cloud Performance

Extended Functionality

Integration Quality

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• No new product development after 2017

• Availability of support after 2017 o Sage Software = Unknown (but most likely)

o BKD Technologies = Yes

• Third-party add-ons development & support after 2017 = Unknown

• Is it migration or reimplementation

• Stay current with annual maintenance (until after migration to replacement product)

o Access to technical support

o Leverage financial incentives from migration offering(s)

Issues & Concerns – Sage 500

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• System utilization review

• Functional needs assessment

• Sage 500 annual spend (last three years) review

• Sage Software migration offering(s) analysis

Process to Informed Decision

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• Sage 500 software – purchased vs. used

• Third-party software

• Gap software (Excel, Access, etc.) outside Sage 500

• Issues Log – issues & problems

• Current IT projects & plans

• Next planned upgrade

• Inventory tool to capture above for review

System Utilization Review

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• What are business system needs?

• Work flow analysis

o Order-to-cash

o Procure-to-pay

o Back office accounting

• Future business plan(s)

o Changing markets, products, customers, etc.

o Acquisitions

o Regulatory issues

Functional Needs Assessment

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• Technology strategy

o O/S at server & client

o SQL server

• Assessment outline/tool

Functional Needs Assessment

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• Nonintegrated disparate systems

• Out-of-control product costing

• Manual business processes

• Growing pains

• Customer satisfaction issues related to inaccurate quantities

• Difficulty extracting meaningful data

• Poor system performance & lack of data integrity

• Software no longer supported by publisher

• Decreasing top line revenues…poor sales cycle

• Regulatory or compliance reporting

10 Signs You Need an ERP System

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• Three-year history & average spend (vendor purchase analysis)

o Sage Software

o BKD Technologies

o Third-parties

o Internal IT staff (dedicated to Sage 500)

o O/S server & client software

o SQL server

• Annual spend calculation tool

Sage 500 Annual Spend

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• Sage will develop offerings approaching 2017

• Within scope are Sage 100, Sage 300 & Sage ERP X3

• Determine solution fit relative to

o Issues Log

o Needs assessment

o System utilization

o Future business plan

o Technology strategy

• Calculate total cost of ownership

o Software, equipment & migration/implementation fees

Sage Migration Offering(s)

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• Timeline & constraints (busy season, fiscal year, elapse time, offer expiration)

• Migration tool’s version requirements (do I need to be on current version of Sage 500?)

• Do I need to be current with annual maintenance?

Sage Migration Offering(s)

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• Sure to evolve as Sage Software changes its mind

• BKD tools & work plan to support “informed decision” process

• Next steps o Begin planning

Decision in conjunction with another significant enterprise event

Business as usual…allowing for a five-nine month implementation

o Begin budgeting

o Stay current on annual maintenance

o Schedule advisory consultation to discuss process & timing

Call your favorite BKDT consultant

We will be calling you about next steps

Summary

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BKD Technologies Support Center

Sage Support Center – 866.832.4253 SageSupport@bkd.com

Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., Central time

Support Center toll free

Robert Kramer | Supervising Consultant | 314.231.5544 | rkramer@bkd.com