Sage Software, Inc. — Sage Accpac 500 ERP

Article Tools

• Print This Article
• Email This Article to a Friend
• Save This Article
• Order a Reprint

From the Dec. 2006 Review of High-End Accounting Systems

Sage Accpac 500 ERP (enterprise resource planning) is one of the most powerful members of Sage Software’s mid-market business management systems portfolio. The system includes a full suite of modules including core accounting, distribution, project accounting, and a number of enhancements called “Accpac Options.” It also provides tight integration with a number of other business management systems — including CRM (customer relationship management), HR (human resources), e-commerce, WMS (warehouse management system), EDI (electronic data interchange) and POS (point-of-sale) — to form a complete “end-to-end” solution for a medium-sized business or small enterprise.

Version 5.4 was released earlier this year and introduced a cornucopia of new features (267 by Sage’s count) across the various modules. Some of the more notable enhancements include multilevel bills of material, customer refunds, credit checking, more extensive drilldown across the various modules, and the addition of an RMA (return merchandise authorization) module. Version 5.4 will also run on 64-bit Intel Pentium and AMD processors.

Modules/Scalability -- 5 Stars
Similar to other mid-market packages, Sage Accpac 500 ERP has an extensive list of core accounting and distribution modules. Accounting modules include: GL, GL Security, GL Consolidations, Multicurrency, Optional Fields, AP, AR, National Accounts Management, Project and Job Costing and U.S. and Canadian Payroll. Bank and Tax services are built in to the System Manager module. The distribution suite includes Purchase Order, Order Entry, Inventory Control and Return Merchandise Authorization, as well as a number of powerful analysis tools including Item Inquiry, Ops Inquiry and Sales Analysis. One drawback of the Accpac system is that serial and lot tracking functionality are not included in the inventory module and must be purchased as separate enhancements.

While Sage Accpac 500 ERP lacks its own manufacturing modules, Version 5.4 now allows companies doing assembly work to set up multi-level bills of materials in inventory along with support for sales kits. For the manufacturer, third-party add-on developer MISys, Inc. offers an advanced suite of modules written using the Accpac Solution Developer Kit (SDK). The capabilities of these modules rival any mid-market manufacturing package and include purchasing and multi-level bill of materials, MRP (manufacturing resource planning), planning and scheduling, work orders, shop floor control and product configuration.

With an extensive module list and broad feature set, Sage Accpac 500 ERP represents a great solution for a broad range of industries and companies in the mid-market. Yet, there are specific modules and features of the program that make it a particularly good fit in certain environments. International companies with multicurrency and/or multi-language requirements are one example. Service-based organizations have always been a strong suit. Another example is businesses needing operating system or database platform independence and flexibility. Sage Accpac ERP supports and can be run on both Linux and Microsoft Windows operating systems, including the ability to run Linux and Windows clients in parallel against the same database. Sage Accpac ERP provides users the freedom to choose from a variety of databases, including IBM DB2 (a three-user DB2 license is included free of charge with a license of Sage Accpac ERP), Pervasive.SQL, Oracle, and Microsoft SQL Server, in addition to deploying on either the Microsoft, Linux or IBM OS400 operating systems. It can also be deployed either on premises, or hosted online (www.accpaconline.com). And if that’s not enough, the entire Sage Accpac ERP product line can run natively from a web browser (all data-entry screens are actually ActiveX controls), making it a great solution for the occasional mobile user and branch office locations without having to deploy additional infrastructure to support this functionality.

Sage Accpac ERP is quite scalable, as it comes in three different editions: Accpac 100, which is limited to five concurrent users; Accpac 200, which scales to 10 concurrent users; and Accpac 500, supporting unlimited users. Advantageous to the end user is the ability to move from Sage Accpac 100 ERP to 200 to 500 with no data conversion or end-user retraining. Essentially, an upgrade is simply purchasing the next level of the Sage Accpac ERP family. The bottom line is that a very small company can begin with Accpac 100 and grow all the way to a small enterprise without having to undergo the pain and suffering of a single software conversion, relearning the product or losing any customizations or enhancements that have been developed and put in place along the way. Talk about an upgrade path!

Usability/User Experience/Security -- 5 Stars
Similar to some other mid-market solutions, Sage Accpac 500 ERP has a Windows Explorer look and feel. The modules are listed down the left-hand side, with specific tasks and icons located on the right-hand side of the screen. Tasks are associated with various icons. Users who wish to simplify their experience with the program can set up custom folders with user-defined tasks and reports. The vendor has gone to great lengths to design screens that enable users that are tasked with more traditional heads-down data entry to enter all required data from a single screen (i.e., without the need to click on a lot of other supporting tabs, buttons or drilldown windows).