Sage Software, Inc. — Sage MAS 500 ERP 7.0

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

Sage Software MAS 500 ERP targets the upper mid-market space and represents the most powerful member of Sage Software’s strong lineup of mid-market accounting solutions, which also includes Sage Accpac ERP, Sage Pro ERP, Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 ERP, and Sage PFW ERP. First released in 1997, the system has grown to a full suite of modules that includes distribution, manufacturing and project accounting. MAS 500 was developed from the ground up, exclusively using Microsoft tools (Visual Basic, Visual Studio.net and Microsoft SQL Server) and is optimized to take advantage of the Microsoft platform in ways that competing multi-platform products cannot.

Version 7.0 introduced significant enhancements to the Sage MAS 500 distribution suite that included streamlined distribution workflow, warehouse management and automation (pick, pack and ship from radio frequency devices), Accounts Payable – Accounts Receivable invoice settlement, support for phantom routings in manufacturing, enhanced expense tracking and project approval within their TimeSheet module, and Business Insights Explorer — a powerful, integrated business intelligence tool that leverages Microsoft’s .NET technology.

Modules/Scalability -- 5 Stars
Generally speaking, Sage MAS 500 is ideally suited for companies with 50 to over 1,000 employees, high transaction volume environments, or complex environments that require extensive customization or integration with a specialized vertical application. Sage MAS 500 is available in three editions: Small Business (10 or fewer concurrent users), Standard Edition (up to 50 users) and Enterprise Edition (50 plus users for the SQL Enterprise Environment). Sage MAS 500 can be separated into a number of functional categories including the following: core accounting and advanced financials, wholesale distribution, discrete manufacturing, project accounting, customer relationship management, e-Business, human resources and payroll, and business intelligence. Core accounting includes GL, AR, AP, Cash Management, Fixed Asset Accounting, Advanced Consolidations and Multicurrency. GL includes built-in capabilities to handle Intercompany Transactions, which typically requires an additional module in most other systems. One of the other features that sets Sage MAS 500 apart from the competition is the ability to provide a secondary tag for all transactions, thus allowing the user to analyze GL transactions by codes that could represent a salesperson, employee, project, etc.

Manufacturing options include Light Manufacturing (back flush only capability), Advanced Manufacturing (full work order processing with labor, material and outside processing entry), MRP, Advanced Scheduling, Product Configurator, Estimating, and Engineering Change Management modules. The wholesale distribution suite includes Purchase Order, Sales Order, Inventory Management, RMA, and Advanced Kitting. The 7.0 release added modules for warehouse automation and warehouse management, including support for handheld barcode scanners. Inventory also includes a very robust demand replenishment module that factors in user-defined demand, safety stock and lead time formulas to forecast demand. Sage Software consulted directly with inventory management guru John Schreibfeder in developing this module. Project Accounting includes remote time and expense capture and built-in integration to Microsoft Project.

Sage MAS 500 business intelligence tools include an executive dashboard and robust analysis tools, including eExecutive and Business Insights Analyzer (BIA). Business Insights Explorer (BIE) extends BIA to include ad hoc inquiry, drilldown and drill-around functionality. The BIA and BIE tools can be used to analyze data in pivot and chart views; export data to Excel, Word and XML formats; and easily create reports using the Business Objects report creation wizard.

Usability/User Experience/Security -- 5 Stars
Data-entry screens are well-organized, intuitive and easy to use. Multiple tabs are used in a number of cases to prevent screens from becoming too crowded. Using the Customizer module, screens can be modified for users, groups or specific companies to hide or disable fields and add or remove tab stops. A right mouse-click yields context-sensitive Help for any field as well as contextual menus for accounts, vendors, customers, orders, transaction numbers, and inventory items. All of these options provide extensive drilldown and drill-around capability with context-sensitive access to BIE or BIA. For instance, a user might start by viewing a GL transaction for a sales entry, drill back to the source invoice, drill to that particular customer’s information or ledger, and finally navigate to sales history for that customer for a specified period of time — all without ever using the menu tree.

Ample lookups are provided on all screens using the Sage MAS 500 Navigator that allow the user to easily search using simple strings or advanced filters involving multiple fields and criteria. The Navigator can be customized to add or remove columns and to save specific filters. Search results obtained from a Navigator query can be exported to Excel. Tasks are organized by module in a consistent manner from module to module, and users may define their own personal task list coinciding with their workflow. Task menus can also be designed and saved for specific users or roles. Sage MAS 500 Office allows users to easily attach documents to just about any record.