Each time Sage Software releases a new product update for Sage 100 - which happens frequently - we receive a bevy of calls from clients asking if they can just install it themselves. The simple answer is, "Yes, of course you can." However, we also get numerous cries for help of varying severity from customers who began the update the process only to realize that it can be a little more complicated than clicking a button or two. If you're considering updating your Sage installation, here are a few things that our Technicians recommend you keep in mind.

Years ago, when software manufacturers would telephone our clients trying to sell them something they had not originally purchased, or a new item that had just been produced, we would tell clients, “Just ignore the man behind the curtain and call us if you have questions. We know how your system is configured better than anyone else, so please call us and just ignore the man behind the curtain.” (You know, The Wizard of Oz - in which the man behind the curtain was pulling all kinds of levers and pretending to be something else - someone much more knowledgable - than he actually was?)

We were recently notified that Sage Software will be directly calling our clients who have not yet converted from Sage 100 to Sage 100cloud, letting them know that Sage 100cloud is a “superior” product and has many features that Sage 100 does not.

And so again we say to you: “Just ignore the man behind the curtain.”

Sage Software will only be updating Sage 100 version 2018 and Sage 100Cloud version 2018 to accommodate the new, statewide Oregon Transit Tax, which goes into effect on July 1 of this year. As we mentioned in our preview last month, the Transit Tax is 0.1% of each and every Employee’s Withholding Wage, is to be reported quarterly, and is reported on a separate form that is not part of the Oregon OQ Quarterly filing. For Sage Payroll clients on versions 2014, 2015, 2016, or 2017 (or even older versions!), we’ve had to be creative to accommodate the new tax. For clients using Sage Payroll version 2018, you’ll receive the update automatically through the new 2018 Tax Engine at month end.

Since the release of Sage 100 version 2018 last October, Bennett/Porter has allowed time for Sage to release the first Product Update – as well as time to familiarize ourselves with the new version – before upgrading clients to 2018. We are pleased to announce that we are ready to begin scheduling for upgrading Sage 100 to 2018.

Sage 100 has a new field this year on the ACA Employee Maintenance screen: 'Plan Start Month'. In the process of helping customers complete their filings, we've noticed that not a single one of them have had a correct value in this field. How can such a seemingly straightforward field be incorrectly filled so frequently? We suspect the problem is that Sage has set the default value to “00”, and those people filling out the field simply move through it assuming that the value is valid. So what should people do instead?

You can see the full list of 2018 enhancements here:

• What’s New in Sage 100 2018
• What’s New in Sage 100 Payroll

If you are running Sage Fixed Assets, it is important to make sure you stay up to date with the latest version of the product. At the moment, the current version is 2017.1, which was released in January. We recommend that, if you haven’t already upgraded to 2017 this year, that you do so before the end of the year.

The Task Scheduler is a valuable, time-saving feature in Sage 100 that lets you automate your journal transactions. You can save all sorts of time, for example, by automating your daily Accounts Receivable processing, including the AR Sales Journal, followed by the AR Cash Receipts Journal, and finally updating the Daily Transaction Register. The same is true of those Accounts Payable and General Ledger tasks. Cool, right? Even cooler is that the arrival of version 2016 expanded the capabilities of the Task Scheduler. A new drop-down box called 'Type' now allows you to combine the flexibility of the Task Scheduler with the powers of Visual Integrator and reporting. Here are a few things that you can do with this new capability.

Sage has just announced that the Interim Release Download (IRD) and the Payroll Tax Table Update for Sage 100 are now available. Here are some things you should know about installing them.

Here we are, on the verge of 2016's close. The end of the year can be a hectic time for those with accounting-related duties. There are books to square up, new guidelines to learn about, and tax season to prepare for. We've assembled some information that will hopefully make those tasks easier...or at least more approachable.