Nectari, also known as Sage Enterprise Intelligence (SEI), is a fully integrated Business Intelligence and Data Management solution that helps organizations make informed decisions based on real-time data.
Most ERPs don’t have a standard method of accessing enterprise-wide information. They usually work with outdated tools that take considerable manual effort to use correctly, which is time-consuming and expensive. Because of this, clients work in silos without efficient ways to collaborate and access the information they need.
Nectari was built to provide you with a standard way of accessing, visualizing, analysing, and reporting information in your enterprise, all in one place.
Gain insight into your organization’s performance and make better decisions faster by leveraging Nectari’s real-time data access from any device, platform, or language. Our intuitive interface provides you with the ability to access views, dashboards, and reports quickly. Plus, the Excel add-in, and new Web Workbook, combines the best of Excel with the power of Nectari, saving you time by eliminating manual tasks.
With Nectari, you can easily share the right information with internal and external stakeholders. You can schedule when reports are sent and decide what information each recipient can view, so they only get the information they need. Additionally, you can highlight key details by annotating your reports before sharing them. Plus, with automatic distribution, you can take advantage of added features like conditional alerts, data security, reporting packs, and more.
With Nectari, employees of all technical backgrounds can easily access and analyse their enterprise data. Its intuitive user interface and powerful features, such as filters, pivots, ranks, and KPIs, allow users to quickly generate customized reports without relying on IT. The platform also offers over 100 visualizations and flexible reporting capabilities, with advanced calculations and customization options for deeper analysis.
Manage data from multiple sources and locations using the extract, transform, load (ETL) process that blends data and prepares it for analysis and reporting in Nectari. With Nectari DataSync, you can cut down on the time and costs of additional labour or tools for prepping or cleaning data and continue making business decisions on data you can trust. Migrate data from legacy or third-party systems, consolidate data between disparate databases and centralize data into a data warehouse.
Nectari offers pre-configured views and dashboards tailored to your ERP system. Our Universal Data Models are designed to easily access and consolidate large amounts of data, providing KPIs for Finance, Sales, Inventory, and CRM. With minimal set-up and ready-to-go reports and dashboards, you can start analysing your enterprise’s performance right away.
Contact Mysoft for more information.
Financial processes are in dire need of transformation. Disparate data sources, legacy applications, time-consuming manual processes, error-prone disconnected spreadsheets, and lack of collaboration delay important insights, hamper agility, and push finance and accounting teams to their limits.
Prophix is a highly available, scalable, and secure financial performance platform designed by finance professionals for finance professionals. The platform streamlines processes with workflow automation, accelerates insights with visual analytics and artificial intelligence and provides users with the flexibility to work anytime, anywhere, on any device.
Prophix solutions include:
Budgeting & Planning – Budgets are no longer a burden. Improve budgeting accuracy, reduce risk, and leverage automation to increase buy-in.
Reporting & Analytics – With a few clicks, build a dashboard that provides a comprehensive, easy-to-understand view of company performance.
Financial Consolidation & Close – Enhance financial consolidation by adding processes and controls. Prophix automates collection and accuracy.
Workflow & Automation – Automate repetitive processes and build comprehensive workflows to save you time and give you confidence in your reports.
Virtual Financial Analyst – The Virtual Financial Analyst leverages the power of artificial intelligence to automate processes and provide meaningful insights.
Want to see Prophix in action? Watch the demo.
Sage users recognise that you must invest in the Office of Finance to build a more agile, future-ready organisation. Prophix is the ideal companion to the Sage platform, allowing users to manipulate their data to provide insight into the future. A seamless integration between the two platforms expands the capabilities of those in finance and beyond.
With Prophix, Sage users can:
Partnering with Prophix
Prophix is proud to collaborate with an extensive partner network to deliver best-in-class service to 3,000+ customers in over 100 countries. Prophix partners distribute, resell, refer, and support our industry-leading financial performance platform, empowering organisations to simplify and automate financial processes to drive performance.
Ready to transform your finance processes? Contact Mysoft for more information.
ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning, and an ERP project refers to the implementation of an ERP system in an organization; a project that starts in procurement and, in a growing and thriving business, one that will likely continue to evolve over a long period of time. An ERP project is a combination of complexly interleaved elements:
We will address each of these in turn, but as with everything – the devil is in the detail.
ERP software tends to spring to mind when ERP is mentioned. Whether you are considering Tier 1 software or Tiers 2 & 3, the first thing to consider is the functionality (and the brand). Questions you may ask yourself include:
These things are all relevant but are only part of the story. Many of the mid market solutions are functionally very capable, and very similar, so selecting between them tends to come down to factors beyond the mere scope of features.
Enterprise software is rarely an off-the-shelf affair, it will always require configuration of the settings and parameters to provide value to the end customer. Likewise, enterprise software is not commonly delivered by the OEM/vendor.
In most cases it is delivered through a value-added reseller, or ‘partner’. This is actually the optimal method of delivery as the vendor can specialise on software development and the partner can specialise in project roll out and business analysis.
Implementation services range from consultancy to installation or project management to training – each are specialised forms of professional services and should be balanced in a well-run project. This ensures a smooth and professional delivery, expert knowledge and skills, and the partner is able to absorb much of the heavy lifting for the customer.
Each business is unique. Whether you’re a casino or hospital, manufacturer or insurer your organisation will have to keep financial records and manage operational processes. However, despite core accountancy standards, each business will have its own management spin on the numbers and the way that these are analysed and treated. Similarly, with operational processes these will vary on a case by case basis. This is why few ERP projects are able to be delivered out-the-box and usually require a small degree of modification to really excel.
In the 1990s and early 2000s the decision of where to host your ERP would not have been an issue – it wouldn’t have even been a conversation. Large servers and miles of cabling ensured that an office, warehouse and factory were suitably provisioned with access to the ERP system. Rolling the clock forward, we now have Wi-Fi and high-speed internet, cloud servers and remote workers; the days of office-based ERP access are gone – so why would the ERP live on-premises if much of its use is not? Private hosting and cloud provision both offer competitive alternatives to traditional on-premises hosting and provide extensive business benefits such as guaranteed up time & RTOs, outsourced IT staff costs, upgrade management and disaster recovery redundancy options.
ERP is a business-critical system, therefore the support for this must be treated with comparable priority. Furthermore, the nature of ERP is that it is complex and addresses the processes of the entire operation from finance to customer experience to manufacturing. It therefore requires a distinct set of skills both internally and externally to ensure the smooth operation and consistent delivery of support to the business.
Support is not the place to skimp on a contract and should be a primary driver in the selection of a business partner for an ERP project. This is due to the fact the relationship with your partner will continue for years after implementation. On average, an ERP system lasts in situ between 7 and 12 years.
Much like John Donne’s poetic proclamation that “no man is an island”, we can take this as true for ERP. No ERP system is an island – it is part of a wider web of line-of-business and secondary systems. To drive process efficiency, automation and data integrity there are a set of decisions that need to be made, including which systems to integrate and how these integrations will take place. This is a driving force for the potential scope (and cost) creep of a project.
An ERP project is a complex project which requires planning, and commitment. It is a project with multiple parties involved and multiple internal and external stakeholders. It is a project which will impact on the full breadth of business operations. As such, a strong project team will be of the utmost importance; with project executives on both sides (customer and supplier), project managers in both organisations and a unified delivery team of consultants, developers and key users.
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To drill into this in more detail, the top 3 ERP weaknesses mentioned were:
The key take-aways here are that the ERP systems being used today do not help Food & Beverages operations tackle their business challenges due to lack of “real time” intelligence, siloed activity or information, and functional misalignment.
The most notable challenges for F&B operations according to this report are:
It is clear, on a superficial level, that the failures of legacy ERP systems are preventing the above objectives being achieved. We will look at how addressing these shortfalls can assist with the top five challenges.
Firstly, “real time” information means different things to different businesses. Most operations do not require to-the-second latency of data for the majority of tasks, although in some cases it is relevant. For example, WIP (work in progress) costing doesn’t need to be accurate to the instant (2-3 times per day might be sufficient), whereas stock movements need to be immediate in order to ensure that sales are controlled and stock-outs are avoided or managed. There are operational challenges which preclude true real-time data, most typically those processes that require human intervention, and therefore, expectations must be tempered.
There is a combination of processes and reporting mechanisms that will come into play to enable “real-time” information and by virtue of this unlock many of the benefits of modern ERP:
The autonomous processing of operational activity to reduce the points of manual intervention (e.g. intercompany back to back purchase & sales orders, stock movements etc.). Sage X3, being a natively multi-site & multi-company system, can support automation of this nature. The removal of manual (human) intervention is a key step in maximising the efficiency of the ERP system and modern ERPs, such as Sage X3, making use of full system integration to automate as much as is viable; allowing for straight-through processing of key business processes, such as from sales order to shipping, with minimal human intervention.
Enabling the smooth hand-to-hand processing of tasks that must be undertaken manually. Workflows with email notifications can play a key role here in avoiding delays, which thereby enables closer to “real time” data and increased operational efficiency. Using the Sage X3 workflow engine, and Mysoft’s enhancements around this, can significantly accelerate activity turnarounds and increase process visibility.
In order to take advantage of this new “real-time” data, it must be accessed in “real-time” too, in an integrated and intuitive UI/UX. Interactive business intelligence (BI) and reporting solutions will assist with this at the level of reporting, and solutions such as Sage X3 have been developed (and undergo constant review and enhancement) to ensure that the end-to-end user experience is streamlined and as accessible as possible. In X3 we implement solutions such as Sage Enterprise Intelligence or Sage Data and Analytics to open up the possibilities of data management and “real-time” reporting, tailoring the ERP interface by each business role to maximize the efficiency of the system for end-users.
Aligned to the above point on access, there is a consideration for technology also. As the events of 2020 and 2021 have shown us, the working environment is no longer limited solely to the office, warehouse or factory. Being able to access business-critical systems remotely is not a “nice to have” but is now essential for ensuring business continuity – moving to a Cloud-native solution such as Sage X3 can provide business resilience to allow for seamless continuation of activity with a distributed workforce and market shocks.
For a Food and Beverage distributor or manufacturer, having “real-time” information in the system allows for more accurate FEFO (first expire first out) stock management and increased sales agility, which can contribute to resolving challenges around waste while enhancing compliance and traceability. When used in combination with integrated processes it will, as the IDC report notes, help with cost control, highlight inefficiencies and have an impact on consumer trust at a macro level. Access to “real-time” data and having a holistic view of a business allows for increased business agility; this enables an operation to pivot to new market opportunities and maximize growth potential.
The IDC report places modern, innovative, cloud-based ERPs at the heart of the business ecosystem; while not claiming that it is a panacea for all business requirements (there is still a case for some best-of-breed applications) the IDC report highlights ERP as a focal point for business systems and processes. Leveraging emerging technologies such as AI, blockchain, cloud, etc. can transform the relationships businesses have with their ERP, from a point of contention to a source of operational intelligence.
To learn more about how the future of ERP could affect your business, please read the IDC Report and contact us about our (and our customer’s) experiences.
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According to the Food and Drink Federation, Food and drink manufacturing employs 430,000 people across every region of the UK and is a key part of the food and drink supply chain, which employs 4.3m people and is worth more than £120bn to the economy.
As a food and beverage manufacturer, you must efficiently manage industry-specific criteria and legislative restrictions that have been imposed on your organisation. Excellent coordination of all activities from ordering raw ingredients, to distributing your finished product is vital.
Focusing on operational excellence is critical as a manufacturer. When you have ERP, CRM, and supply chain processes working separately, it’s impossible to streamline your operation. Production errors, such as waste, spoilage, recalls, and safety issues as well as non-compliance with regulatory requirements, will have a negative impact on your organisation.
Using a solution like Sage X3, along with the expert support from Mysoft, gives your business the ability to consolidate systems, improve business processes, and reliably and easily access real-time data to take on the challenges head on. There are a number of key features in Sage X3 that make life for a food and beverage manufacturer a breeze, we’re going to briefly cover them in this article. You can download the full E-book here.
Food and beverage companies face more regulatory pressure every day. Sage X3 will help you comply quickly so you can focus on growing your company. The software’s robust core functionality enables companies to easily streamline compliance and eliminate inefficiency, providing a significant advantage over legacy systems and other less powerful ERPs.
Bad weather strikes, crops fail, a new food trend pops up and all of a sudden you have far too little product – or far too much. good business intelligence can help you predict seasonal changes in supply and demand so you can stock up or sell out accordingly. Sage X3 provides that intelligence in a customisable, easy-to-use interface.
Predict and optimise the yields of multiple outputs of a production job by comparing planned inputs to planned outputs and plugging these values into a recipe or formula specification prior to initiating a production job.
Track and maintain quality specifications and test results for raw materials, intermediates and finished goods at various stages in their life cycle.
Compare loads on work centres imposed by existing and proposed work orders and manage the load capacity of each work centre, improving customer service and inventory levels.
Eliminate inefficiencies and streamline your inventory levels with end-to-end integration of your warehouse management as well as reduce inventory write-offs with expiration date, use-by-date, or re-control date management.
Based on the availability of your ingredients or resources, plan your production run and instantaneously rescale up or down to reflect constraints as well as maintain composition of each batch.
Improve food safety with robust traceability and allergen tracking to ensure that you know the sources of your ingredients and what pressures might be affecting your suppliers during fluctuations in the food supply.
Sage X3’s allergens function allows tracking of manufactured products whose components have been identified with one of the food allergens.
There’s no doubt that Sage X3 has the power and flexibility to deal with most eventualities and scenarios that we might throw at it. But it’s true that no two businesses are the same, not even competing businesses within the same industry. There will always be differences in processes, regulatory requirements, or levels of competency among staff that mean you need more than even X3 can offer.
At Mysoft we have over 250 collective years of experience working with Sage X3 and since 2005 we have been developing both bespoke solutions and more generic Sage X3 Plugins for our customers to help enhance the overall solution, including enhanced stock enquiries, and carrier and WMS integrations.
If you want to find out more about how Sage X3 and Mysoft can support, optimise, and drive forward your business then get in touch today to book a Sage X3 demo!
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A food and beverage industry’s worst nightmare — and greatest opportunity — is the continuously changing nature of what consumers desire. Successful food and beverage companies must be able to anticipate and accommodate these rapidly changing expectations, which include an increase in healthier, more personalised, and ecologically conscious options.
This article discusses 6 trends within the industry that consumers are driving and our Mysoft tips as to how you can create engaging new consumer experiences at scale.
Digital marketing is evolving at a rapid pace. It’s almost as if it’s a living entity that continues to grow and evolve year after year. As a result, conventional frameworks for digital advertising like websites, social media, search engines like Google, and e-mail marketing are making way for new, more innovative frameworks such as marketing automation, omnichannel marketing and chatbots. It appears as though there is no generic formula for the success behind these frameworks, but getting stuck in and finding out what works for your business is the best place to start. With such a vast range of new tools to be trialled, there is so much to explore.
Before the internet, manufacturers had few alternatives for reaching out to their customers, ranging from catalogues to mail-order purchases, it was frequently easier to sell products at wholesale prices to retail outlets that would do the job for you. With the rise of social media and online presence, today’s marketing landscape is so drastically different that direct-to-consumer marketing has become more of an attractive tool to manufactures. Direct-to-consumer marketing (or D2C) is a marketing technique in which businesses advertise and sell their products to a customer directly. The D2C market has been growing with double digit rates for several years already and is projected to maintain a further 19.2% growth throughout 2021 (Calafell 2020).
In recent years, emerging technologies such as traceability, artificial intelligence, and blockchain have substantially improved food safety control, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic. Farmers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and customers will all be affected by this development, which will improve the transparency and efficiency of the entire food chain.
You may gain control and boost responsibility at all phases of manufacturing and retail by digitising your processes. It provides the most practical and seamless means of maintaining compliance, allowing supply chain traceability to begin in the farmer’s field and continue all the way to the point of consumer purchase. Digitalisation of your processes not only ensures traceability, making your food supply chain more efficient and transparent, but it also improves customer loyalty, trust, and brand recognition by allowing your customers a greater insight into your business.
Pressure from the governments and consumers driving the need for more information about ingredients, animal welfare and child labour is one of the main reasons for the push for a more transparent supply chain.
It’s been proven that consumers are willing to pay 2% to 10% more for products from companies that provide greater supply chain transparency (Bateman & Bonanni, 2019). After incidents such as the Horsemeat scandal around Europe in 2013, in which a large percentage of horse DNA and horsemeat was found in supermarket beefburgers and ready meals, consumers have started to demand greater transparency from large food companies.
Today, food manufacturers realise the need to integrate their existing ERP software with a single comprehensive tech-solution that presents a dashboard of complex issues like safety, security, transparency, compliance across the siloes of field, factory, suppliers, payments to farmers, distributor network, and retail to eventually provide field-to-fork data view of each and every product in their supply chain.
It’s almost certain that at some point, even you have purchased an ‘own brand’ item from a supermarket. From Tesco’s Finest to Waitrose No 1, a private label is a standard addition to supermarkets nowadays. Private labels can offer benefits such as higher gross margin, customer loyalty and more control over cost and price management.
Consumer expectations have prompted retailers to ensure that their Private Label items are more creative, diversified, and hence more desirable than ever before. As a result of achieving a considerably better mix of quality and cost, Private Label goods have exploded in popularity, resulting in many more prospects for these products than ever before.
Due to issues such as post-Brexit uncertainty, customers in the UK are increasingly choosing Private Label items. In a recent survey done by Retail Economics, 48 percent of 2,000 customers asked, said that if their weekly food shopping prices increased, they would switch to cheaper own-label alternatives.
Companies all around the world are committing to better environmental policies as a result of a drive for increased consumer transparency and a desire to make the world a better place. Eco-friendly packaging is a hot topic on social media and within the news, and finding innovative new ways to package products that are focused on repurposed, reusable and recycled materials can generate a lot of positive noise around your brand.
It might be claimed that at the end of 2021, dubbed “the year of digital transformation,” there is still a great deal of ambiguity about what the sector will look like in the future. One thing is certain: the advantages of using a flexible ERP system like Sage X3, a solution which will provide you with complete control over how you customise the core system to operate your business more efficiently. From financial management to production management, and even supply chain management, Sage X3 is designed to help streamline processes and gain your business efficiencies, increasing margins and allowing you to meet the complex demands of your industry.
While Mysoft is better than most at fine-tuning Sage X3’s basic capabilities, we also recognise that there may be a best-of-breed solution out there that provides you exactly what you need, just the way you need it. In any case, we have a lot of experience in optimising solutions and helping clients to get even the most value out of their X3 investment, whether it’s through new capability development or seamless interfaces with other solutions.
Contact us today.
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There are a number of strands that feed into this and in this article, we’ll take a look at how, by using Sage X3, you’ll be able to:
Starting with the manual option, entering orders into Sage X3 from scratch is quick and easy, with order screens configured to your own specific requirements, lots of ways of looking up customer details and easy item selection.
Alternatively, you can create imports, EDI documents and/or use APIs to communicate with a website.
Buying again? For repeat customers, you can either copy whole previous orders, or cherry pick previously ordered items to save you time.
When you’re processing your customer’s order, you have a number of tools at your disposal for generating some additional margin. Whether that’s, as we’ve mentioned above, reordering a product that they’ve bought before, building up a kit of complementary items (“Wireless mouse with that keyboard, sir?”), or, using a Mysoft Plugin, offering cross-sell and up-sell opportunities. You can also view current stock levels and offer alternatives if a particular item is currently out of stock.
In a previous article, we talked about how you can use Location Management in Sage X3 to define specific locations for all of your warehouse stock. Well, once you’ve got that organised, a number of enquiries allow you to view your products in real time. There are several prompts around the system such as while you’re raising orders, allocating stock for picking and delivery, and also when you’re reordering, for instance, that will provide you with snapshots of:
Your organisation has invested quite heavily in stock, so it makes sense to make the best use of it and minimise wastage. Sage X3 can help you to ensure that you’re using use the oldest stock, or perhaps the stock with the closest Best Before date, first. Allocation rules allow you to define how stock is going to be automatically assigned to orders, so that you can direct your pickers to the earliest dated products, or the items with the oldest batch or serial numbers, at the right time.
So, the customer has ordered and you have (or are getting) stock to cover the order. Now all you have to do is despatch it.
In Sage X3, Preparation Plans allow you to book in your picking slots in advance based on anticipated delivery dates. You could arrange things an order at a time, or by product, or by vehicle. Then you are picking the order lines, scanning barcodes as you go until the pick is complete before creating your Delivery Notes (automatically perhaps) for everything due to go out on any given day.
Another Mysoft Plugin allows you to book the delivery directly with your chosen carrier for the customer and then print out the carrier’s label to place on the package. The carrier knows where and when to deliver; when the customer’s site is closed for deliveries, for instance; and whether there are any special instructions.
If you’re organising your own deliveries then X3 can help you to optimise your delivery routes and, if the customer is overseas, print your supporting documents in the customer’s domestic language. There are all kinds of documentation that you can print from X3 to support the export process, like commercial invoices and forms specific to your own particular industry, which might be triggered by an order or delivery.
The Sales process is one of the most critical operational areas to get right and it’s important to remind ourselves that, in this context, no two organisations are the same. So there clearly shouldn’t necessarily be a “one size fits all” approach to systematisation.
Sage X3 provides complete flexibility in terms of how you configure the core system. But at Mysoft, as well as being able to fine-tune Sage X3’s standard functionality better than most, we also appreciate that there might be a particular best of breed solution out there that gives you precisely what you need, just the way you like it. Either way, we have a wealth of experience in optimising solutions and enabling customers to derive even greater benefits from their investment in X3, whether that’s through development of new functionality or through seamless integrations with external solutions.
Contact us today to find out more about how Sage X3 and Mysoft can help you to a more efficient sales process.
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Whether you’re working out of one location or you have multiple sites, Sage X3 gives you the flexibility to arrange these to suit your internal requirements. Locations can be internal or external, linked to a customer or supplier, and generally set up according to how you arrange your own storage facilities (warehouses, aisles, racks, bins, etc). If you want to restrict certain locations to certain products, then you can do that too, as well as determining limits on quantities of each product that can be stored there. Allocation and picking rules can be configured based on the type of location, so that stock is always taken from the most appropriate places.
When it comes to consignment stock, we’ve seen a number of different situations amongst our own customers, some involving stock held on-site, some off-site and with myriad different reporting and processing requirements. So, it goes without saying that X3 is flexible enough to deal with most scenarios in this area.
Whatever you call them and whatever your industry, you can create categories, or templates, to make new product set up easy.
Do you need Lot and/or Serial Number management? Expiry Dates? Version management? Allergen tracking? Barcoding? Customer and Supplier Product Numbering? The list goes on and can, on the face of it, appear a bit daunting. But the ability to define Product Categories means that the whole process can be made easy for your staff.
If you’re involved in manufacturing or simple assembly you can also define a full multi-level bill of materials. Or, if you want to offer complementary products to your customers as part of their order you can use a sales kit – all fully costed using a variety of different methodologies.
Once you’ve defined the structure, X3’s comprehensive solution then allows you to manage the full range of warehouse movements, from Goods In and Put Away (if needed), through to Transfers, Stock counts, Despatch, and Adjustments. These can either be recorded on screens, including tablets, or using hand held scanners all in real time. Plus, more functionality in this area is due from Sage over the next year or two.
If you prefer the idea of integrating with a state-of-the-art warehouse management system (WMS) however, then Sage X3 is designed to make real time integrations seamless.
In industries like Food and Beverage and Pharmaceuticals, it’s also critical to be able to trace the origin of a product and its ingredients back to the source as well as going the other way, to know where else a particular batch of an ingredient may have been used, in case you need to consider a recall. With Sage X3, this comes as standard and is flexible enough to provide you with the level of detail that you need, whether that’s at batch, serial, pallet, all three or simply product level across all of your sites.
If the condition of your stock is important and you need a rules-based approach to managing movements according to that condition, then you can define any number of stock statuses in Sage X3. At the simplest level, you can start off by defining a status in terms of whether an item is Available, in Quality Control or Rejected. But you can also have multiple variations on each of these three main headings, with rules and processes linked to each.
When a stock item is returned, spoiled or defective, or simply on receipt or after manufacture, then you may need to place it in quarantine, pending the result of testing. With Sage X3 you can record the results of a quality test in as much or as little detail as you need, with supporting results and documentation attached for future reference and analysis. You can also use Non-conformances to manage issues and assign responsibilities for staff involved in corrective or preventive actions.
Optimising your stock usually only means one thing: ensuring that you have enough of the right kind of stock available when you need it without burning an unnecessarily large hole in your finances. With X3 you can define or calculate minimum stock levels, reorder points, and take account of existing demand and forecasts for your products when calculating what you need to reorder. Sage X3 can then provide you with suggestions based on how you order. So for some products you might need to raise POs, manufacturing or subcontracting work orders, or simply organise a transfer of stock between warehouses to fulfil the expected demand.
If you regularly need to plan ahead, then you may also need to build your own forecasts, based on historic activity, and a tool like Sage Inventory Advisor (also known as Netstock) can be used to dynamically forecast demand for each product and recalculate stock levels accordingly – all fully integrated with Sage X3 and all designed to optimise the stock that you hold in each location.
There’s no doubt that Sage X3 has the power and flexibility to deal with most eventualities and scenarios that we might throw at it. But it’s true that no two businesses are the same, not even competing businesses within the same industry. There will always be subtle (or maybe even not so subtle!) differences in process, regulatory requirements, or levels of competency among staff that mean you need more than even X3 can offer.
At Mysoft we have over 250 collective years of experience working with Sage X3 and since 2005 we have been developing both bespoke solutions and more generic Sage X3 Plugins for our customers to help enhance the overall solution, including enhanced stock enquiries, carrier and WMS integrations, and industry-specific solutions such as our Pharmaceuticals Pack.
We also believe in a best of breed approach to both ERP (hence why we only work with Sage X3) and complementary solutions that exist in and around it, for example Sage Inventory Advisor which we talked about earlier in the article. As we’ve pointed out already, Sage X3 is a highly scalable solution built for companies just like yours. We’d be happy to talk to you about your own particular requirements, whether you’re looking at the short, medium or longer term.
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Tasks from the initial set up of a supplier right the way through to invoice processing, payment and bank reconciliation can be made more efficient, free up your staff to be more productive in other areas, and reduce the overall time it takes for documents to be processed.
Below we will explore some of the following areas of Sage X3:
When setting up Business Partner records, such as Suppliers, Carriers and Staff for payables purposes, you can make use of Categories in Sage X3 which provide default settings and timesavers for various elements of a payables account: numbering sequences, currencies, payment terms, approval process, and so on. You can also decide whether setting up or amending a record should generate some form of notification email, such as if the supplier needs secondary approval before it can be used, or if you need to track changes in payment terms, bank accounts, and so on.
Workflows are also a great way to streamline the approval process for purchase requisitions and orders. You can base these on any number of criteria, such as to highlight variances against a supplier price list, invoke approvals based on overall order values and even making use of budget controls. It is also possible to use them to notify the person who raised the order when their goods have been received.
Automated, scheduled despatch of approved purchase requisitions, and particularly orders, is another way to ensure that precious time isn’t wasted through unnecessary admin.
Then, when the invoice comes in, AP automation solutions can allow for supplier emails to be processed and the invoice presented for review. Using either OCR technology or text recognition (depending on how the document was created and received), and with reference to its ever-growing global invoice library, X3CloudDocs can help you to code up your invoices quickly, accurately and efficiently, suggesting account codes to use or matching the invoice to the originating PO and receipt lines from Sage X3. After a while, you may find that invoices from certain suppliers only need a cursory glance (and maybe not even that!) before they move through to the approval or posting stage.
Approvals can be based on a number of criteria and involve different steps depending on your different lines of business and the requirements of different entities and departments around the business. Supporting documentation can be attached and comments recorded, so that your staff have all the information that they need in order to approve their invoices and send them on for processing into Sage X3. Invoices can then be viewed in a number of places, so whether you need to view the associated accounting entries, approval comments, or the original email and its attachments, your documents are securely stored electronically and available precisely where your users need to see them.
Journal traceability in Sage X3 also means that you can track your invoice back to its originating PO and forward to its payment details, so you can quickly and easily deal with supplier queries and audit requests.
Using Sage X3 you can also set up a schedule of daily, weekly and/or monthly payment runs based on the relevant supplier groupings (external, intercompany, or staff for instance), invoice due dates and whether you’re paying them by BACS, SEPA, or any other payment method. Remittance advices can be automatically sent to suppliers and payment files routed securely to your banking or payment portal, from which you would also expect to be able to download payment responses and statements that you can then use to systematise your bank reconciliation process.
So, from the setup of your suppliers and configuration of approvals, right the way through to the automated delivery of orders and processing of invoices and payments, Sage X3 has the Accounts Payable process covered. You’ll save your company time and money, ensure that documents aren’t lost as they travel around the business, ensure a high level of control and visibility, and even maintain positive supplier relationships, as they see the benefits to their business of an efficient, automated process in yours.
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Developed by veterinary surgeon John Burns and founded in 1993, Burns Pet Nutrition is a mid-size, UK-based organization that manufactures and distributes pet food developed specifically to manage common health problems in cats, dogs and rabbits.
Prior to implementing Sage Data & Analytics (SD&A), Burns was using Sugar CRM, Excel and Sage X3 for their sales and financial reporting, which required a lot of manual work and became very time consuming to manage. “Within accounts we would do manual exports from Sage X3 using printout and requestors,” explains Jake Pyle, Financial Analyst at Burns Pet Nutrition. “This would require a lot of formatting of the data to get the required reports needed. We also used Excel for a daily sales report but this still required significant manual intervention.”
Another challenge arose when ad-hoc reports were requested. Due to the large volume of data stored within Burns’ infrastructure, it was taking a considerable amount of time to format and adjust reports which was simply not productive.
By mid-2020, the team at Burns decided that enough was enough. Too much time was being taken up by manual report building and not enough spent on wider business projects. This was around the time SD&A was first introduced to Burns by their technology consultancy partner and Sage X3 provider, Mysoft.
With over 250 cumulative years of Sage X3 experience and 45 (and counting!) successful ERP software projects under its belt, Mysoft’s Sage X3 knowledge is unrivalled. Winner of the Sage Excellence Partner of the Year 2019 and a Sage Gold Business Partner, they’re also a longstanding recommender and reseller of both SD&A and ZAP Data Hub.
After Mysoft and ZAP delivered a demo of SD&A, 2 months later the solution was installed and in daily use, along with a first project to build a sales dashboard which would automatically be distributed to the sales and finance teams daily. From that point onwards, Burns was able to build numerous reports on both a monthly and ad-hoc basis in a fraction of the time spent previously.
SD&A seamlessly integrated with Burns’ existing solutions, easily collating information from Sage X3 and Sugar CRM, making light work of the large volumes of data that Burns’ stored.
This new and improved reporting solution for sales data was so well received by internal stakeholders that Burns has also since started using SD&A for management reporting.
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As a consequence, the ERP systems that are implemented into organisations must be adaptable and scalable to the changing needs of the users and operations.
With the continual changes to legislation and compliance requirements imposed it all comes with different pressures. Ensuring that the systems handling tax and compliance are of the utmost importance as well as maintaining levels which will enable businesses to utilise key functionality and configurations to assist with meeting the standards of an ever-changing global economy.
Companies implement ERP solutions for the efficiency gained from single systems covering multiple operational areas, minimising data entry errors or losses. Adopting one area of the system would also mean updating the whole system to have a central streamlined system.
ERP systems which haven’t been kept up to date or have been heavily modified can be challenging to update. An outdated ERP system will lead to a diminishment of efficiency within your business and consequently an increase in costs.
Sage has, over the years, continued to improve processes and methodologies for Sage X3. They have now moved to a bi-annual rolling release for V12 which simplifies the upgrade process and allows customers to stay current while minimising the effects on a business. . For customers on older software versions, a ‘classic’ approach would be required to bring the system up to date then regularly maintained with patching. For customers on later versions of Sage X3 an ‘easy upgrade’ approach can be adopted.
Mysoft are working with a number of customers to configure their Sage X3 systems to accommodate a raft of business changes in light of the European tax framework changes around Brexit, in addition to their global expansions (some predicated by the changes to the UK’s status within Europe).
As a result of customer demand, Mysoft has also commenced offering a variety of management services to assist with staying updated with administrative and maintenance for Sage X3. Through these services Mysoft are able to ensure that our customers get the most value from their Sage X3 system, by making use of new functionality, closing security gaps, and reviewing processes consistently and often.
The ROI for upgrading takes into account micro-improvements to intangibles such as cyber-security risk, improved UI/UX, etc. as well as macro-benefits of tangible process improvements and compliance. Below is a list of key reasons to upgrade and stay updated:
Businesses who don’t keep up to date with their ERP systems not only lose out on efficiency but succumb to the diminishment of static processes in a dynamic world.
If you would like more information regarding updating your ERP system, contact us here or find out more below
Corporate Performance Management (CPM) software has the power to change every aspect of your financial operations.
What is CPM software? Corporate Performance Management software is a comprehensive solution that helps you manage all of your budgeting and finance activities. With CPM software, you can automate repetitive or complex tasks, streamline your operations and boost productivity.
So, how does Prophix do it differently? With Prophix, you can:
And so much more!
Natural disasters, a pandemic, and global protests have put businesses to the test this year. Now, more than ever, organizations need to be able to weather the economic downturns caused by these disruptions.
To navigate these uncertain times, resilient companies use scenario planning. A comprehensive scenario plan enables organizations to pivot and make better financial decisions regarding future operations.
This blog will detail the benefits and best practices of scenario planning. It will also explore how to leverage innovative tools to improve the scenario planning process.
Also known as “what-if analysis,” scenario planning uses current data and assumptions to consider multiple, potential outcomes. The definition of scenario planning is “a set of assumptions on what the future is going to be and how your business environment will change over time in light of that future.”
A scenario plan can help you explore different narratives to determine how to best support future business operations. By assessing how variables will interact under distinct conditions, you can identify which variable will have the biggest impact on your financial plans. These variables can include the pricing of products, operational expenses, market fluctuations, and more.
All industries, including public, private, not-for-profit, and government sectors apply scenario planning as part of their financial planning and analysis. C-suite executives, senior finance management, and financial analysts are typically the individuals who lead the scenario planning efforts at their organisation.
Without proactive scenario planning, many companies will struggle to weather the storm. This is evident from the many businesses filing for bankruptcy in 2020 such as 24 Hour Fitness, Hertz, JCPenny, and more.
Scenario planning is an important part of a company’s risk management process. It’s essential for agile organisations to have a scenario plan in place to:
Scenario planning is best suited to predicting the impact of large-scale changes or disruptions. Examples of major changes include:
Conversely, scenario planning can also help you better navigate unexpected success, such as explosive growth, or sudden increased demand for your products and services.
Businesses need a scenario plan during an economic downturn when it’s uncertain how market volatility will play out. During major disruptions, what’s worked before simply doesn’t cut it anymore. Historical trends are no longer good indicators of future performance.
Scenario planning should not be confused with sensitivity analysis. Sensitivity analysis only accounts for changes in a single variable, while keeping all others constant. To best predict the performance of multiple variables, you will need to use scenario planning to capture their impact.
For effective scenario planning, you will need to identify relevant data and assumptions. For example, you may want to consider company-wide data, market intelligence, and historical events. Collecting company-wide data from your ERP, CRM, and HR systems can help you see the bigger picture. Keeping track of new competitors or innovations in the market will also help you better prepare. Keep in mind any historical events that have led to major shifts in your industry. If you can formalize the relationship between different data elements, then you can create a quantitative model.
A key challenge to scenario planning lies in an over-reliance on manual spreadsheets. Spreadsheets often have missing data, inconsistent formulas, and broken links. All these things can make the scenario planning process feel cumbersome and difficult to execute.
Many organisations will need to consolidate data from disparate systems. Trying to combine data from your ERP, CRM, and HR systems into a cohesive scenario plan can be quite the feat. With so many systems, financial analysts may struggle to find relevant data in a timely manner.
Businesses that are serious about scenario planning will need a dedicated tool. It is essential to invest in a tool that was created with scenario planning and analysis in mind.
Instead of traditional spreadsheet-based systems, innovative companies use cloud-based software to create scenario plans. Corporate Performance Management (CPM) software allows finance leaders to easily create scenario plans based on existing actual, budget, and forecast data without the headaches of massive spreadsheets.
In the 2020 CFO Benchmark Report, 72% of respondents said their organisations were ready for testing new technologies that would empower and enable their finance teams. By using CPM software, finance teams can access relevant data at any time, and easily manage resources to improve decision-making based on opportunities and risks.
By leveraging CPM software, you can create robust and comprehensive scenario plans easily and quickly.
A. Gather model requirements and data
Prophix’s CPM software minimizes the time and effort needed for scenario planning. While spreadsheets can be error-prone, cloud-based CPM tools sync data from your ERP, CRM, and HR systems to ensure full validity. Through direct data integrations, you can easily organise information from various systems. By planning in a CPM tool like Prophix, you can quickly account for different outcomes and make informed decisions.
B. Determine the number of scenarios needed
For scenario planning to be effective, it’s important to outline various different scenarios. However, it’s also crucial to not have too many scenarios. An over-abundance of scenario plans can cause confusion.
To easily create effective scenarios, you can leverage Prophix’s Infoflex process. The Infoflex process transforms information using existing data or user-defined inputs. It can allocate data or increase data values by a percentage. Consider using Infoflex in these three scenarios as a basis for your planning process:
In times of market volatility, it’s beneficial to focus more on negative case scenarios. There is really no limit to the number of scenarios you can build. You can leverage responsive CPM models to create business plans that mimic economic forecasts. For example, you can have separate scenario plans that align with either V-shape or U-shape economic rebounds.
C. Distribution of scenario plan
For a plan to be relevant and timely, financial teams need to share it with their senior management.
One method to share data quickly and efficiently is to use Prophix’s Report Binders. This allows finance teams to group related reports and send them out to the C-suite. Report Binders enable easy distribution of key data straight to a user’s email inbox. You can group documents comparing each scenario into a single report binder.
To get an overview of your scenario plans, Prophix Dashboards offer intuitive visual analytics. These dashboards can illustrate different variables and scenarios. Prophix can pull together integrated data for a quick pulse on how the business is performing. This can include key metrics from your ERP, CRM, and HR systems. Users can view dashboards based on custom security settings. Senior managers can view a different dashboard than financial analysts. This allows for customized dashboards that show the right data to the right people.
Prophix’s cloud-based CPM software also leverages artificial intelligence to improve scenario analysis. The Chart Insights feature uses natural language processing to automatically create detailed narrations, which clearly explain any insights behind the displayed data.
By using a dedicated scenario planning tool like Prophix’s CPM software, finance teams can automate manual tasks. This saves time, enabling finance teams to focus on higher-value priorities, such as scenario analysis. CPM software also improves your analysis by ensuring you have access to the most current and accurate data. With better information at your fingertips, finance leaders are empowered to make better business decisions.
Scenario planning is a powerful exercise to reassess your organization’s financial health in both prosperous and challenging times. With the right tools, finance teams can quickly identify the key drivers, data, and assumptions needed to plan for a better future.
Prophix’s cloud-based CPM software empowers finance teams to scenario plan with ease. With these insights, finance professionals can make better business decisions and improve business resiliency, regardless of what the future holds.
Clearly, under the current circumstances this process is impracticable given physical-distancing measures, restrictions on travel, the absence of fully operational office spaces. As such, both suppliers and customers of ERP are having to get creative!
For the immediate future and likely the rest of 2020, for reasons which are self-evident, face-to-face engagements for first meetings, reviews and discovery are off the table. Thankfully, applications such as Zoom or Teams allow for the video conferencing and screen sharing which is required to simulate a face to face meeting.
The key to ensuring that the value is fully translated is to ensure that the following elements are implemented:
These are general, common sense tactics to optimise remote working but really come to the fore when applied to ERP which is a notoriously detail-oriented topic that tends to rely heavily on extended (2-4hr+) sessions to cover the material required.
Next time we will look at the optimisation of project delivery remotely, using more agile delivery methodologies, when you need it most.
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If that’s true, then the passwords and authentication methods you use with your ERP system can determine how secure it is. That could be bad news. There is some good news, however. In fact, it is very good news. Sage X3 supports a vast plethora of authentication methods, many of which are on the cutting edge of security technology.
Sage X3 has built-in authentication where the user’s password is stored (as a hash) in MongoDB. This authentication method is known internally as ‘Basic’. This method does not let you control your password policy (password complexity, length or expiry). This is not recommended as an authentication method in a production environment. If you use this method, it is highly recommended that your use HTTPS and a certificate otherwise the credentials can be exchanged unencrypted over the network.
Sage X3 can also integrate with Active Directory by making use of LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol). With this authentication method your password policy is controlled by your internal AD password policy. The authentication itself is also passed to the domain controller or a Read-Only Domain Controller in the datacentre. Users can also then be managed from the Active Directory.
The cutting-edge stuff starts when you consider implementing OAUTH2 and SAML2 authentication methods. With these you can integrate with AzureAD (e.g. Office 365), Google, Okta and other major platforms in the authentication security space. With these you can implement 2FA (two factor authentication) and MFA (multi factor authentication) functionality where you login requests need to verified through an Authenticator app on a mobile device, an extra code texted to a mobile (SMS), extra security questions asked in another browser session, and various others.
The huge advantage with being able to integrate with these technologies means that Sage X3 can use enterprise level authentication services to grant users access to the ERP system. Organisations can then also use these authentication methods across multiple systems, not just the ERP platform.
So, if your organisation is still using basic authentication to grant end-users access to your ERP system consider upgrading to a more secure authentication method.
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If you are about to embark on an ERP journey, you will most likely have a project manager, or a team member nominated as the project supervisor, within your organisation to manage your own team. However, obtaining a project manager from your ERP supplier should not be overlooked. Mysoft deliver two types of Project Management during an ERP project: ‘In-Project’ and ‘Out-of-Project’.
Firstly, what is this and why would you need it?
This covers the work that occurs outside the framework of a formal project. This can be a request for bespoke software delivery, an integration with a third-party piece of software, or the delivery of a series of consultancy activities. All of these tasks require a degree of Project Management.
Project Management for these activities is important because it ensures that all services delivered to your business are correct and bring value to your business, as well as guaranteeing that the resources from your supplier are in place.
This particular type of project management is key to the success of your ERP project. ‘In-Project’ Project Management ensures that:
A Project Manager will be there throughout your ERP project to navigate the ups and downs and quickly resolve any clashes or catastrophes that may occur. They will allow your business to fully benefit from the resources that both parties are providing.
There are 7 key phases that Project Management are involved in during a project:
Each area has its own set of sub-activities and a Project Manager provides the resource to be able to carry out these vital tasks, bringing team members from both the customer’s business and their own business, together to work efficiently.
A Project Manager provides a key point of contact for your business and helps to ensure continuity and clear communications for all of the parties involved.
The crucial activities that apply to all of the phases listed above are:
It goes without saying that the snapshot of benefits listed in this blog, far outweigh the cost of Project Management.
Please contact us to discover the complete list of Mysoft Project Management capabilities.
**COVID-19 Update**
The UK’s HMRC has announced that the 1 April 2020 second phase of Making Tax Digital for VAT has been postponed by one year until 1 April 2021. Businesses now have until their first VAT return period starting on or after 1 April 2021 to put digital links in place.
Broadly speaking, we found that most businesses have handled the change without much difficulty. If you are using an up to date ERP solution, like Sage X3, then the new functionality that is MTD compliant will be built in. If not, then there is an array of third-party solutions on offer that are able to “plug the gap” and make your tax digital.
There were various caveats to the 2019 legislation that were relevant for many companies using Sage X3; for example, those based in multiple countries or those with complex processes would have a longer transition period. The government announced in March 2019 that the focus will be on supporting businesses to transition and will therefore not be mandating MTD for any new taxes or businesses in 2020.
More recently the government has announced that due to the transition period of Brexit the introduction of Making Tax Digital for Corporation Tax will be delayed until at least 2021 to allow for Brexit delivery.
The main purpose of MTD is to simplify how the British government processes tax so if you are already using a digital system to manage your accounts, which most users of Sage X3 will be doing, then it will be fairly simple to prepare for the changes to the legislation.
If you are using an older version of Sage X3 then the best course of action is to speak with your Account Manager about patching to a suitable level or upgrading if required. Not only will this then equip you with the functionality to be MTD compliant but your business will also gain all the modern technological enhancements from the latest version of Sage X3, such as improved data insight and more user-friendly user interface.
The key digital records that HMRC needs from you include:
If you are keeping this information in various disparate solutions, or separate spreadsheets, then it is worth considering the benefits of updating your software to one solution that can manage this entire volume of data. This not only helps with being MTD compliant but will provide you with a much clearer view of your organisations performance and minimise duplications of workloads.
Ultimately, as a result of the MTD legislation you will need to translate your spreadsheets into compatible software in order to be MTD compliant. There is a multitude of third-party solutions available which HMRC calls ‘bridging software’, which convert your records to the right format before you submit. Your digital records don’t all have to be in one place, but HMRC requires data to flow and be exchanged digitally between applications by 31 March 2020. In cases where the customer cannot upgrade, or complete the VAT process within X3, Mysoft have worked with VitalTax who can provide “bridging” solutions for companies using Sage X3 and other financial solutions in order to become MTD compliant.
There is limited and conflicting information available on when Making Tax Digital will come into play for Corporation Tax. HMRC are measuring the success of the VAT rollout first before making any further decisions. It is believed that the earliest possible that this would be introduced would be at a point during 2021.
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Moving to a new ERP system is no small feat. It is one of the larger projects that a business will face, but once in place can last a lifetime. One of the most crucial aspects to address during this time is your team. Your team is the end user after all, and naturally, they will be opposed to change – it’s only human nature!
Your workforce is directly impacted by changes to an ERP system, so you need to make sure they are on board with the new plans as well as achieving a positive mindset. This is where change management comes in.
Change management is a structured approach in preparing, equipping and supporting your organisation and its individuals to successfully adopt change in the future. In this blog we will discuss the strategies around managing your workforce during an ERP project.
In order to achieve success amongst change, you must develop a Strategic Workforce Plan as the ERP project starts. A plan will ensure that you are aware of how you need to organise your team in order to achieve the best results during the ERP implementation. A Strategic Plan allows your business to assess opportunity and risk in order to plan for cultural changes and mitigate risk.
Try to focus on assessing current skills, abilities, experiences and capabilities within the team. From this information you can determine how the project may impact different departments and individuals.
A secondary step is to identify and evaluate the attitudes of the individuals that are most resistant to change. Ask yourself:
The answers to these questions offer a good starting point to further develop the plan of how you intend to tackle this. For example, some users may raise a concern about their computer illiteracy. A good solution for this would be to offer additional training sessions to make them feel more comfortable about the new ERP system.
Before go-live ensure that you develop and implement training strategies to close learning gaps. It is important to involve the whole team, from end users to leaders, by understanding how their processes and work will be impacted.
Managers, supervisors and leaders play a key role in managing change. If those at the top of the organisation aren’t prepared for change, you can’t expect the rest of the workforce to be. Ultimately, a manager has more influence over an employee’s motivation to change than any other person. Unfortunately, managers can be the most difficult group to convince of the need for change and can be a source of resistance.
It is the job of the ERP project team to convince those in higher management positions that embracing change will bring a host of benefits to both them and the rest of the team. They will need to provide training and guidance strategies to equip managers in coaching their employees through the change.
During this process it is also important to educate leaders on Resistance Management as persistent resistance can threaten a project. Resistance Management is the processes and tools used by managers and executives, with the support of the change team, to manage employee resistance. It is vital to address this in order to progress successfully in the ERP project.
It is vital that employees across all levels of the business feel involved. One way of achieving this internally is tailoring training programs to suit different departments. This will likely make your workforce less resistant to change as their needs are being understood and ultimately, they will feel more engaged.
Don’t forget about your other stakeholders too though. Communication is key during an ERP implementation project. You should devise a detailed Communication Plan that lists:
The answers to these questions will provide you with the basis for your Communication Plan. Planning for the transition process, through implementation to post go-live, will allow you to fully understand your requirements, including the human resource you might need and how the change could impact your workforce structure.
The above tips will help you and your leadership team to anticipate the impacts of change and therefore create strategies around this to minimise disruption to the team. With meticulous planning, your workforce should feel more receptive and positive towards any ERP transitions.
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The ‘right time’ will differ from business to business, but there are important points that every organisation should consider when looking to upgrade your ERP system.
The benefits of upgrading your ERP system hugely outweigh having an outdated ERP system. Upgrading your system will allow your business to continue to perform at full capacity, allowing you to efficiently manage daily business activities. The latest versions of ERP software are capable of keeping up with today’s business and technological demands.
The following will explain the risks you might face by not upgrading and the benefits of having an up-to-date ERP system. .
By using a legacy ERP system, you might find yourself on an unsupported version of the software. Software developers release new updates and, subsequently, stop supporting older versions.
Remaining unsupported could lead to running issues such as bugs and slow performance which may have a negative impact on your business’s efficiency. Legacy systems were not designed to keep up with today’s fast-paced developments.
Upgrading to a supported ERP system means that any issues that are encountered can be solved from the root of the problem by working together with your ERP vendor and ERP supplier. It also means that you can avoid the unnecessary costs of fixing patch issues and instead focus on the full efficiency capabilities of your upgraded ERP system.
An outdated ERP system could leave your company’s data at risk. Storing data in a legacy software will leave it vulnerable to hackers and viruses. This is particularly prominent when a business is using an old on-premise server.
The benefit of upgrading your ERP today is that the majority of ERP systems operate using a secure cloud domain. This, partnered with the management of a reliable provider such as Mysoft, will keep your business safe from any external threats.
As well as being more secure, Cloud based ERP is perfect for growing companies who want to take advantage of the latest and most advanced business management technology. All new ERP updates are automatically installed, system maintenance and user support are managed by the ERP or Cloud vendor and the system will reflect regulatory changes. A Cloud based ERP is ideal for mobile employees working on-the-go as all data is stored in a remote database, accessible anywhere but safe from anyone external to the organisation.
As mentioned previously, legacy software eventually becomes unsupported. This means if new regulations come in, for example the introduction of GDPR in 2018 or MTD in 2019, the older versions of the software risk not being compliant.
The fines incurred with failing to be GDPR compliant can be huge, for example you could be fined up to 20 million pounds. Therefore, ensuring that your ERP system is fit for purpose is not only important for the runnings of your business but could also reduce your costs.
ERP is designed to maximise efficiency within your business so that it can grow and become more profitable. It would therefore be inefficient to continue using a solution that could land you behind your competitors. By going forward with upgrading your ERP system, you will be making the most of the functionality and business benefits the ERP software offers.
Using the latest ERP technology will allow your business to continue working at a high level of productivity, using automated processes will allow time to be saved and costs to be reduced as well as allowing your business to work and trade more freely with customers and suppliers.
ERP software that can keep up with your evolving business needs, integrates seamlessly with other software, and is in line with your growth strategy will make you stand out from your competitors.
By implementing Sage X3 your company will gain an advanced business management solution, streamlined business processes and detailed insights on company wide data. Sage X3 is a solution that can handle all of your company’s requirements in one. There is no need for any additional integrated software to manage separate areas of the business.
If you are using any add-ons alongside your ERP software you’re at a higher chance of experiencing risks. If one was to fail there is a risk that it can affect the whole suite which in turn may affect the running of the business. Upgrading to Sage X3 means the pressure of ensuring seamless integration is lifted. Upgrading to Sage X3 from a lower tier Sage product, such as Sage Line 50, Sage 200 or Sage 1000, means that your business can achieve complete visibility and control across the entire organisation including multi-site and multi-territory capabilities, and multi-language and multi-currency functionality.
Sage X3 is a solution that grows with your business. Once live, you will be able to use the solution thereon after, simply scaling up your business processes as required.
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Often in a multi-site business, each site operates as its own legal entity, perhaps specialising in a particular area of the business or local experts in a certain region/ country. Each site will run independently so rather than having to separately manage each site on a smaller Sage solution, Sage X3 will allow you to gain data analysis across your entire organisation from a single point of access. Sage X3 is multi-company, multi-location, multi-site, multi-currency and multi-language, all as standard. You can use the solution to create insightful intercompany reports as well as eliminating hours of number crunching through its intercompany transaction functionality, all of which will aid your company’s growth.
Find out the key differences between Sage 200 and Sage X3 here.
Multi-company activity and reporting is a common requirement for companies looking at or using business management solutions. This is an area where Sage X3 excels. A truly global solution, Sage X3 not only features multi-company capabilities but it also handles multiple languages and legislations. All your data is held in one solution and can be reported on at multiple levels, so you not only gain an insight into how one business unit is performing, but insights into how your company as a whole could be working more efficiently.
The benefit of having complete visibility over your whole business is that you will be able to respond efficiently to changes from any part of the company and subsequently smooth out any arising problems.
Read more about how Sage X3 consolidates Intercompany accounts, and how it can produce company-wide reports in order to see where you could be working more productively here.
The term ‘intercompany’ in the context of transactions (and indeed Inter-Site, if referring to activity taking place within a single company) applies to a number of areas of Sage X3, including Sales, Purchasing, Inventory and Finance. In basic terms, Sage X3 will manage the process of an activity in one entity generating an activity in another.
You’ve got another company in your group that you need to transact with. The process of doing this means that the same numbers are entered and re-entered numerous times, with hours of unnecessary time wasted by keying and re-keying the same information in different systems to achieve the end result.
Sage X3 can manage this whole process in one place and eliminate the need for this duplication of workload as well as the inherent risk of human error when numbers are being repeatedly, manually entered into a system.
A key feature of Sage X3, in terms of intercompany accounting, is the flexibility and breadth of the general ledger set up. A single user has the ability to control financial processes throughout the entire business via one point of access, for example, you can set up a specific invoicing process at a global level and then apply it to all sites. The use of the general ledger in Sage X3 is particularly beneficial for multi-territory organisations due to X3’s capability to handle multi-currency environments.
This means that all of the data surrounding these processes can be analysed at a deeper level as it is all set up in the same way, controlled by the global entity. With Analytical Dimensions the user can drill down into the information and statistics from a global point of view or individually at each site, which allows full company visibility. As the dimensions on a journal can be checked and if necessary, amended before final posting, this does allow you to ensure that your postings have been accurately analysed before you run reports.
As your business expands, the number of users expands and so does the range of internal roles. This is particularly true for companies with multiple sites. Different departments and/or subsidiaries need to use different parts of the solution. With Sage X3 it is possible to control access to information on the system for different users.
Set permissions or limit access to information for particular users to improve the security of data internally and tailor the experience. The fully configurable nature of the solution means that Sage X3 is a more sophisticated offering and has a higher level of control and accountability.
However, setting up the stock and inventory management processes can be a challenging a task. Below are some common stock errors we have come across in Sage X3, and how to resolve them.
This blog will explain how to troubleshoot the following in Sage X3:
When any issues occur with Stock, they can often be fixed by running the following resynchronisation processes.
a. Inventory > Utilities > Valuation > WIP Resynchronisation
Make sure you choose the appropriate site and check automatic Correction
b. Inventory > Utilities > Valuation > Quantities Entered Resync
There is no selection on this resynchronisation and it will launch straight into the function.
c. Inventory > Utilities > Valuation > Stock Resynchronisation and Control
This resync is used to resynchronise stock data at site or folder level.
This function can be limited to processing for a company or site.
d. Inventory > Utilities > Valuation > Storage Plan Resync
There is no selection criteria for this resynchronisation.
In addition to generic error messages shown above, the following can appear when running the resynchronisations:
An anomaly in the site stock file is detected. The ITMMVT table is automatically updated according to the information recorded in the files concerned (STOCK, STOALL..)
An anomaly in the stock lot file. The update of STOLOT with respect to STOCK is automatic.
Record in STOQLYD has no corresponding record in STOQLYH and STOCK. Similarly, there may be an instance where STOQLYH has no corresponding record in STOQLYD.
A serial number is not issued nor in stock, the deletion of the record in STOSER is automatic.
The FIFO stock price and the stock control has found an anomaly. The correction needs to be made manually.
The Mysoft team have 250 cumulative years of experience working solely with Sage X3. Our experienced team is capable of supporting you throughout your entire Sage X3 journey; scoping, implementation, customisation, development and beyond.
Our Support team has a unique depth of technical knowledge. This blog demonstrates a tiny fraction of their knowledge. We want your solution to be perfect for you and we focus on building long-lasting business relationships with our customers, to ensure they continue to gain the very most from their investment over the months and years to come.
Governing bodies such as the World Trade Organisation, have strict regulations over the movement and tracking of goods. Failing to comply with these can have severe consequences, emphasising the need to monitor stock and the supply chain in detail.
Gaining supply chain visibility means that dealing with issues such as stock accuracy or damaged goods will be less time consuming and less labour intensive. Whilst, gaining supply chain traceability allows a business to pinpoint exactly where a product is at any given point, meaning that reacting to product recalls is time efficient.
An industry that often faces track and trace obstacles is the food and beverage industry. Food and beverage companies regularly face challenges such as:
The points mentioned so far illustrate the value of using an ERP solution that can tackle the issues and cope with the complexity both in single and multi-territory organisations.
A solution such as Sage X3, puts all data into one integrated system that is accurate, reliable and available in real time. It is possible to have a precise view of stock and, through factoring in sales forecasts, resources are always in tune with market fluctuations.
The food market is a complex industry with multi-buy offers, seasonal trends and even the weather affecting stock levels. System software can keep track of variations in prices, stock levels of multiple manufacturing sites and movements between warehouse and production. This could not be achieved to such a high degree if carried out manually.
Using an electronic system designed for resource management allows a high level of accuracy to be met with all of the data surrounding the supply chain. Sage X3 can identify profits that have been generated through promotions or ingredient/component changes within a product. The solution shows how this affects the whole financial outlook.
This information allows companies to make strategic pricing decisions, clearly identifying which products and customers are the most profitable. The accurate stock data allows full traceability of a product from manufacture through to point of sale.
Data management enables complete traceability and visibility which ensures compliance to quality control bodies, whose certifications are based on the quality of the data they are given. This is an area where ERP systems outperform other data collection methods and systems. A solution such as Sage X3, is able to integrate all areas of your business, to streamline processes and highlight cost saving opportunities, enabling the growth of your company.
Poor quality control can result in non-conformance where a product, service or process does not meet the defined specification or industry standard. A common problem within the manufacturing world is that defects are often not spotted until the end of the manufacturing process. This creates a risk where an entire batch might be produced with flaws, for example, a packet of biscuits might have the incorrect ingredients printed on the packaging for a batch of 2000 units. Non-conformances can negatively impact a company in terms of cost, reputation, efficiency and effectiveness.
Ensuring that quality controls are in place is a never-ending task for operations and quality managers. Non-conformance management software is a useful quality tool that helps manufacturing and distribution companies satisfy compliance requirements.
Non-conformance management is the process whereby the organisation manages quality control issues so that they are identified, documented, evaluated/investigated, segregated and resolved as appropriate. This allows a business to improve profit margins and keep costs lower for the customer, therefore, remaining competitive within the vertical market.
Sage X3 allows operational performance to seamlessly integrate with a production control plan. Up to date work instructions and quality measures can be accessed across the whole business through the solution.
Within Sage X3, users are able to preconfigure parameters and specifications for each item/product in order for the system to effectively manage non-conformance. Preventative and corrective action plans can be created from the Non-conformance Form or directly created without link to a non-conformance. From this stage, actions can be implemented to resolve and avoid future non-conformances.
A manual or paper-based system would not be able to achieve this process to such a precise and efficient standard that an electronic system can. Once a system, such as Sage X3, is in place, it is possible for costs, reputation, efficiency and effectiveness to improve within an organisation.
If you need more information, please do not hesitate to contact us.
MTD started on the 1st April 2019. It is a UK government initiative that is designed to be more efficient, more effective and easier for taxpayers (individuals and businesses) to get their tax right. The system aims to eradicate the errors made when inputting data manually.
At present (2019), the initiative only requires UK VAT registered businesses to submit their VAT returns digitally to HMRC. At some point during the next few years, income tax and corporation tax will also be required to be submitted digitally. The government will announce this at a later date.
The final deadline to submit your VAT returns digitally is 1st October 2019 although this may have been earlier depending on your business’s financial year. Please note that you can submit at any time before your deadline. Make sure you understand your financial year so that you understand when your VAT return is due.
However, there are some exceptions. About 3.5% of VAT registered companies do not have to submit until after 1st October 2019. They are categorised in the ‘Deferred Group’. These are mostly not-for-profit organisations or NHS businesses. You will have received a letter in January 2019 informing you if you are categorised in the ‘Deferred Group’ and this will allow you an extra 6 months to submit.
There is also a ‘Soft Landing Period’ which lasts 12 months from 1st April 2019 which put simply is extra time for more complex businesses to digitise their financial processes.
Quarterly submissions are the most common so for example:
Version: | PU9, V11 and V12 | PU8 or older | All Sage X3 users |
|---|---|---|---|
Solution: | A software patch | An additional Sage module | A third-party solution |
PU9, Version 11 and Version 12
Via the latest patch you will be able to submit your taxes directly from your Sage X3 solution to HMRC. The patch update will require some professional service time so remember to allow for this.
PU8 or Below
Sage have released a Making Tax Digital module that can be implemented within Sage X3 PU8 or older allowing you to pull data from Sage X3 and into HMRC. The module will require a separate purchase and professional services time to implement.
Third-Party Solutions
A range of third-party add-ons are available, however, be aware that not all are compatible with Sage X3. At Mysoft we have been successful using VitalTax that uses Microsoft Excel. This requires minimal download time and incurs a small monthly fee.
“You don’t need to have a particular data format or spreadsheet template to use VitalTax, as it can be used with any user-defined Excel spreadsheet. You can also export VAT return from your current accounting solution and use VitalTax to submit it via MTD gateway.” Vitaliy, Director, VitalTax
Please note: All of the above information is for compliance according to 2019 legislation. There will be further requirements for 2020 legislation which we will release information on in due course.
Please contact us for more information.
Mysoft consultant, Liz Parker, has previous experience of multi-national implementations of Sage X3 and has advice for anyone looking to undertake a global ERP project: “Your system model should be built knowing about the legislations for the territories you’re working in and include them where appropriate. It’s also vital to engage experts who can manage the configuration of your system for each legislation. Once you’ve decided which is the main legislation for the Group, you should collectively scope out and build a model that works on that main legislation. That’s your global blueprint.”
Click for larger image
Download our step-by-step guide on multi-territory implementation for Sage X3 to find out what our consultant, Liz Parker advises. The document will cover:
What does this system model look like?
Step 1
The first thing you need to do is determine the broad scope of your project – which companies are involved, what territories are they in and what should Group reporting look like?
Step 2
Once you’ve established the reporting requirements and the practices that provide a best fit across the Group, the next step is to prove the model.
This can be done by setting it up on a subset of the companies and territories involved, on the basis that if it works for the selected companies and/or legislations, then it should be possible to then test it on a company wide basis. Changes to the global model should then only be to cater for legal and fiscal changes for the different territories, importantly taking into account VAT considerations.
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Step 3
It is important to document how each territory will be supported, as well as which elements of the configuration can be changed at a local level and those that must not. It is vital to keep control over those areas that should only be changed on a group level, such as product prices, to avoid serious company-wide implications. Issues such as time zones, language and currency should all be made editable at a local level.
It is essential for a project’s success to ensure that all important parties are involved right from the start. Those in the Group position need to ensure that they maintain control over the processes being implemented, and that their decisions are carried through to all locations involved. This ensures that the all-important global view, for reporting and informed decision-making moving forward, is achieved.
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Sage have been busy collecting feedback from partners and customers and have concluded that the best, and most useful course of action for the future is to change the solution’s name back to Sage X3. The consumer research data illustrated that the name ‘Sage Business Cloud Enterprise Management’ was not reflective of the market or technology segment the product serves so well.
The name change avoids the need to abbreviate to Sage EM, making it simpler and clearer for both customers and partners to use the term Sage X3. At Mysoft we hope that this change will help to strengthen brand recognition among our existing customers and ensure continuity for the future. Sage and partners embrace the change, confident that the name will make it easier to use within go-to-market activity, events and lead generation marketing.
In 2001, Adonix owned the solution which was formerly named as X3. 2005 saw Sage acquire Adonix resulting in a rebrand to Sage ERP X3. Some employees at Mysoft have been working with the solution since it was originally identified in 2001 and subsequently, we are pleased to see the name going back to its roots.
Mysoft Management Team, many of whom have been working with X3 for over 12 years
Mysoft have been partnered with Sage for the past twelve years and have a wide breadth of knowledge and experience working with the solution. Collectively we have over 100 years of Sage X3 experience and a wealth of expertise in business, finance and IT. Having implemented Sage X3 in a wide variety of vertical markets we can make suggestions, drawn from working examples, of the most effective and productive way to manage your business processes.
Take a look at our Customer Testimonials to find out more.
Sage say that the process of re-branding will be fully complete by October 2019. Moving forward Sage Enterprise Management (Sage EM) will now be referred to as Sage X3 on all Mysoft marketing material and communications.
Apart from referring to the software as Sage X3 now, customers will not need to take any further action to this news. Sage X3 will continue to enable your business to grow, streamlining business processes and detailing insights on company wide data.
Find out more about Sage X3 functions and the Mysoft team using the links below:
One way is to create an Analytical Budget in Sage X3, which provides a flexible method of recording and monitoring projected revenues, costs and even quantities at whatever level of the organisational hierarchy you need. You can, for instance, enter a motor expenses budget, including mileage figures, for each of your cost centres (in their own company currency) and then roll the figures up by company and group. You can budget monthly or annually and you can even store budgets spanning multiple financial years for reporting on projects, for instance.
Budget by period screen in Sage X3, click for larger image
In functional terms, budgets are input or imported for a GL account and multiple combinations of analytical dimensions (e.g. cost centre and project). You can then adjust your budgets, either by overwriting an existing draft budget or creating multiple versions. Alternatively, you can even complete new budgets for the same period, which can all be reported against each other using a variety of methods within Sage X3 and BI tools such as Sage Enterprise Intelligence (SEI).
Then, once you’ve got your budget finalised, you can use Purchasing controls in Sage X3 to alert you to when a Purchase Requisition or Order is taking you over budget, either for the year or for a month, which might also then prompt an additional approval for purchases. You can also configure audit tracking and workflow alerts to provide you with regular updates via an email or dashboard as your monthly or annual spend hits a certain percentage of budget.
“Budget exceeded” alert in Sage X3, click for larger image
Additional valuable functionality is available using Prophix. Prophix is a browser based corporate performance management solution which is fully integrated with Sage X3, providing you with powerful tools for not just budgeting and forecasting, but also financial consolidation and strategic planning. In terms of budgeting, its intuitive interface makes it really easy to streamline the input, submission, approval and auditing of budgets and forecasts across multiple departments. Information entered into Prophix is also fully integrated with Sage X3 for reporting purposes, using either a BI tool like SEI or a Prophix dashboard. For more information on Prophix, please get in touch, or visit their website by clicking here.
Prophix dashboard in Sage X3, click for larger image
As an aside, if you’re purchasing stock using a reordering strategy like MRP, you can also use Sage X3 and Prophix to drive your stock replenishment. Budgeted stock quantity details can be fed into Sage X3 as Sales Forecasts, which can then be used to help shape your future purchasing and manufacturing requirements.
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Most of what he spent was with reputable suppliers, but it was all paid out of petty cash and we were lucky if we saw the receipts. We just assumed that Mick was trustworthy and was getting the best value for money possible for the company.
If our company had had a more structured ordering process involving the use of Purchase Requisitions and Purchase Orders, Mick could have provided his line manager with a requisition detailing his list of nuts, bolts, bits and bobs (and where he was getting them from), which could have been approved and progressed to an order. The account could probably then have been settled via a monthly invoice, thereby reducing the need for Mick to carry cash.
Sage X3 purchase request IPad screen, click for larger image
Taking this further, if the “Bits and Bobs” budget was being monitored, then his manager could perhaps have been alerted to potential overspend and questioned whether these were really needed at all, or whether they could get them cheaper elsewhere, and possibly nipped the potential order in the bud.
In a not-very-scientific survey of Mysoft prospects in recent years, approximately 100% have indicated that they would be interested in the following when considering a new ERP solution:
In the area of Procurement, then, it’s a wonder why more companies aren’t interested in implementing a more formal Purchasing process like the one outlined above, often relying instead on tried and trusted paper based processes that usually start with a Purchase Order, may encourage over-spends and can in extreme cases also be a catalyst for fraud within their businesses.
At the time, Mick was a bit “old school” as an odd job man, but nowadays he would probably be using an ERP solution like Sage X3, where:
Purchase Request within Sage X3 on phone, click for larger image
Mick could have been purchasing fixtures and fittings for the office, or alternatively stock for his van or warehouse – the Purchasing process outlined above works for both. For the latter, you could incorporate Purchase Requests into an MRP or Statistical Reordering process for additional control.
A formal Procurement process using Sage X3 allows you to standardise the way you purchase, add control and visibility to the process and also provide transparency regarding department and ultimately company spend, and that means that we’re all a bit happier about how modern-day Mick’s spending the company’s money.
Thinking of implementing Sage X3? Receive your free quote.
Irrespective of the size of your group, one issue with having multiple systems (or even multiple instances of the same system) across multiple companies is the level of control that you have over account coding and then the ensuing reporting. Adding a new code to your trial balance in one company can cause inconsistencies across the group if that code isn’t replicated elsewhere, leading to, at best, manual workarounds to ensure that everything is reported correctly and, at worst, potentially incorrect consolidation leading to financial decisions based on an “apples being added to pears” scenario.
With Sage X3, you maintain your Charts of Accounts centrally as master data, so that changes in any chart are immediately updated across the various accounting models (and therefore companies) using that chart. That means that you can share a single set of accounts across multiple companies, safe in the knowledge that any new accounts will be automatically reflected across the group. A centralised approach to GL account maintenance is advisable in this situation, to ensure that consistency is being maintained.
If different companies are using different charts of accounts, however, then there are still a number of ways to aggregate relevant totals to provide meaningful results, including:
Account Pyramids: Using Account Pyramids you can create a multi-level reporting structure to suit your requirements, click on image to enlarge
The concept of a multi-ledger instance becomes even more powerful when we consider a group of companies located across different territories. In certain countries, such as France and Germany, local legal reporting requires a standardised chart of accounts, meaning that group level reporting usually then requires some form of mapping exercise. Tax rules and rates also differ from country to country, so being able to assign an appropriate Legislation code to the company will also impact how the legal ledger is used and coded. A number of countries have complex purchase and sales tax structures and so the number of tax accounts in the different legal ledgers may vary enormously – hence the need to then think carefully about mappings into a group structure.
Mappings: In a multi-ledger set up you can map accounts in one chart of accounts to accounts in others, so that postings flow through automatically
Finally, if legal reporting is required in local currency then the system of choice must be able to easily translate activity into the group reporting currency. Using Sage X3 each company can transact in its own local currency and then maintain and update multiple exchange rates, so that your reporting ledger is always using a consistent conversion rate for budget comparisons, for instance. For example, you can transact in GBP, with an automatic conversion into USD at a group exchange rate into the group reporting structure in real time.
When it comes to intercompany activity, Sage X3 allows you to automatically post cross-charges between companies, as well as offering a number of options for including or excluding intercompany postings. These mainly revolve around the ability to filter transactions in or out based either on how they were generated or on various attributes attached to postings – these include: dimension values, document types or even special company codes set up to identify cross-charges before they are posted into the receiving company’s books.
A financial reporting structure using Sage X3 may incorporate elements of all of the different options above, depending on the complexity of group reporting requirements. The best fit solution will be robust and repeatable, while at the same time being adaptable to changing circumstances, enabling you to keep control over group finances. While we’re not necessarily advocating throwing your Excel models away, Mysoft’s team of consultants have the experience to help you design strong solutions using standard functionality within Sage X3, providing real time information, to enhance, streamline or simply complement your existing reporting solutions.
Find out more:
Technology analysts The Aberdeen Group report increased levels of concern amongst mid-market companies unable to fully track processes, alert decision makers and even ensure regulatory compliance. All of which is critical in certain industries. Click for enlarged image:
Configuring your controls using Sage X3 may encompass a number of areas, including:
When you are processing hundreds of orders each month, you need to ensure that they are processed efficiently and with full traceability from quote right the way through to invoice. There may be multiple departments involved (sales, manufacturing, distribution, finance) so you need as much visibility as possible of precisely where each order sits within the supply chain.
Sage X3 enables you to:
Through business process management Sage X3 greatly improves the efficiency of your company. For example with the sales process, you can determine the extent of the steps to be followed and the level of automation required so that you just focus on those relevant to your business, such as:
A number of these can be handled either one at a time or as standard batch processes, so it’s easy to generate mass shipments and invoices. This can be a real time saver on a daily basis and at busy times of the month. Sage X3 also allows for functions to be scheduled for regular occurrence, so you can configure a daily invoice run to include all goods shipped up to that date and not have to repeat this task every day.
You’ve got another company in your group that you need to transact with – you raise a Purchase Order in your PO spreadsheet, which then needs to be transferred into the accounting system; the other company then raises the corresponding Sales Order and then has to confirm delivery of goods/ services back down this same chain. The same numbers are entered and re-entered numerous times with hours of unnecessary time wasted by keying and re-keying the same information in different systems…
Don’t panic! It doesn’t need to be this way. By using a truly inter-company solution like Sage X3 you can manage this whole process in one place and eliminate the need for this duplication of workload.
Firstly, I should point out that the term Inter-Company (and indeed Inter-Site, if referring to activity taking place within a single company) applies to a number of areas of Sage X3, including Sales, Purchasing, Inventory and Finance. In basic terms, Sage X3 will manage the process of an activity in one entity generating an activity in another, such as a Purchase Order in one company generating a corresponding Sales Order. The solution also allows you to map elements of the resulting invoices, so if, for instance, the selling company in an invoice transaction offers a discount, then the buying company can have that discount mapped to the appropriate “Discount Taken” account in their Trial Balance (which may be within a different Chart of Accounts). So in general terms we know that both sides of an inter-company transaction will balance according to the accounting principles in place on each side.
Well, if you’re processing orders and then invoices, then it makes sense that you’ll need a Customer on one side and a Supplier on the other. In Sage X3 these need to be flagged as Inter-Company with a link to the other entity in the transaction, and attaching these flags then has an impact on the order and invoice processes.
We then need to ensure that Sage X3 knows the type of documents and how they should be handled for the companies involved in the transaction – for example we might have to consider different document types where there might be legislation differences between companies, for instance for local taxes and the way that discounts are handled, as above. In terms of processing financial transactions across multiple companies within the same instance of Sage X3, there are two basic methods involved: Invoices and Journals.
Invoice processing itself can be automatic in X3 when it comes to simple management-type recharges. For example, the sales invoice entry generating a corresponding purchase invoice posting to be checked and finalised in the other company, or else simply linked, so that the Invoice is manually “attached” by a user to the AP entry and the corresponding costs carried over to save re-keying. There are rules and settings around this, of course, but that’s it in a nutshell…
If you need to post journals rather than, or even as well as, invoices, then you need to consider the suspense account that sits in-between the debit and credit sides of the transaction. As long as you have the appropriate mappings in place and have the relevant Inter-Company parameter switched on, then there’s a separate journal screen in X3 for posting across multiple companies at the same time – not just two, as with invoicing, but potentially many.
Once this is all set up in Sage X3, you can be confident that you’re able to post a journal or invoice, and know that its corresponding activity in all other entities will be automatically generated. Everything is linked, even if it’s coming from separate business units or even different countries, and all happens the first time the information is added. No duplication of workload. No entering and re-entering the same numbers. Just one solution that you can trust to automatically update information on every entity that needs it.
Postings happen automatically based on what you tell the solution and there is full traceability of activity for auditing and corporate governance purposes.
From a security perspective, you can also define user access to the n-th degree, from company and site level all the way down to deciding whether a person can type into a given field on a given screen. There are landing pages to help you work out what you need to focus on and then visual processes to ensure procedures are followed correctly. For volume processing, you then have a multitude of import templates and output files for payments.
This is all great from a day to day point of view, but what about management reporting? If you have to log into the system every time you want to compare one number against another then surely exporting will only get you so far…?
Step forward Sage Enterprise Intelligence, or SEI for short, which is Sage’s Business Intelligence solution.
It’s intuitive and simple to use and provides real time information on all aspects of your Sage X3 solution. You can use it to create views in different styles, such as bar charts, graphs, scatter diagrams and work sheets. These can all be integrated with Microsoft Office or published as PDF or HTML documents. Dashboards can be created to display multiple views of your Sage X3 data at the same time, to provide business users with valuable insights into company performance.
To get you started, SEI comes pre-packaged with a number of commonly used views across the whole spectrum of Sage X3 modules. This includes listings of records, summary and detailed enquiries. You can then customise these to make them more relevant – add more fields, change the level of detail, change the sorting order and even include your own calculations. You can then save your versions and add them to your Favourites. Before long you’re then building up a reporting pack which effectively updates itself as it’s going along, due to its direct link with the operational data in Sage X3.
To save even more time, you can also subscribe to individual views. This can be for your own regular email updates on particular pieces of information, or scheduled regular mailshots to colleagues who (whisper it gently!) don’t even have to be SEI users. If they are users, by using an Excel plug-in, they can independently refresh their templates for the most up-to-date figures.
To take all of this to another level entirely, you can also link SEI to external data sources, such as Oracle, Access, SQL or other databases. This provides you with a full 360-degree view of all of your business critical data within SEI, whether the original data comes from Sage X3 or not. SEI is a powerful and feature rich data mining tool to have at your fingertips. It allows users to build reports on the fly, carry out analysis and make decisions; all in real time.
Mysoft’s team of experts can help you to set up your electronic payment file template and then there are a few simple steps to follow to ensure a successful payment run in X3:
If you have a mixture of domestic and overseas suppliers, then bear in mind that the payment file formats for BACS (or Faster Payments) and SEPA will be different. It may make sense to put those suppliers into separate supplier categories and apply the file formats and payment methods at category level. Remember also to check that your payments have been made successfully. If you are paying by BACS, for instance, as well as providing you with an online portal for you to collect your reports, BACS also enables you to sign up for email alerts to let you know when a new report is waiting for you.
The above also applies if you’re thinking of collecting payments from your customers by direct debit. You would need to obtain further sponsorship from your bank if you want to join the BACS or SEPA DD schemes. There are various scheme rules you would need to consider in terms of customer communications, notice periods, and so on, but when it comes to X3, the process for collecting payments from customers is very similar to what we’ve just seen above for payments.
