Sage 500 2017 Release – New Features

Last year, Sage came out with the Sage 500 2016 release which included significant updates such as better inventory management, color-coding, improved navigation, accounting, customer memos and design reports. Building off of that, Sage just announced a new 2017 release for Sage 500.

This new release includes features that are extremely valuable and will bring ease of use to your team’s day-to-day interactions.

Sage 500 2017 Features

Doc Transmittal creates a paperless AP EFT Remittance Advice Copy

This enhancement is specifically targeted to customers who are using the Doc Transmittal function within Sage 500. Previously, the only Accounts Payable document you could send electronically using Doc Transmittal was a Purchase Order but now with this update you can create a copy of your Accounts Payable EFT Remittance Advice and send it electronically to unlimited vendors.

Even if you use a document management solution, like DocLink or Orchid, in conjunction with Sage 500, this feature is still useful. It will give you a quick way to send EFT Remittance Advice copies to as many contacts as you wish with the simple click of a button. However one thing to note is that the added benefit document management solutions offer is that they generally also store the document in PDF format and index it for fast retrieval in the future.

The electronic document capabilities for Accounts Receivable and Sales remain the same as in previous versions, which already include the ability to send electronic copies of invoices, credit memos, debit memos, finance charges, customer statements, sales orders, return merchandise authorizations, sales contracts and more.

Microsoft Office 2016 Compatibility

Compared to previous versions, Microsoft Office 2016 and Microsoft Office 365 offer improved accessibility, new charts and graphs and better collaboration with Outlook (to name a few). While you may not leverage all of these improvements directly from Sage 500, integration of MS Office 2016 with Sage 500 2017 ensures that you can run the newest version of Office without being tied down to older versions because of your ERP compatibility.

Integration with MS Office will benefit you in tasks that have a Sage 500 ERP Office link (as seen below). You can use Sage 500 ERP Office to automate routine correspondence tasks (such as letters and e-mails) which enables users to communicate faster and more effectively with customers, vendors, employees, and other business partners by using predefined or customized templates. For example, letter and e-mail templates can be used for situations such as welcoming new customers to a company or spreadsheets can be used as analysis tools that are populated with business data in Sage 500. There are predefined global templates that are provided with the system which can be used as is or customized. You also have the ability to create your own templates which ensures that you are utilizing templates that meet your unique business requirements.

sage 500 2017

Additionally, integration with MS Office will benefit you in any of the Business Insights Explorer views when you are exporting a view to Microsoft Excel. In nearly every module there is an ‘Insights’ menu with an ‘Explore’ sub-menu where you can find Explorer Views. These views are customizable, such as the ability to add subtotals or arrange and sort columns. All of the data (or just the results) can then be exported from Sage 500 to one of several formats, including MS Office Excel or Word.

sage 500 2017

Sage 500 ERP now works seamlessly with Microsoft SQL Server 2016

With the new 2017 release, you can use your Sage 500 database with SQL Server to enhance your data capabilities and reduce manual data manipulation. This affords a number of advantages, first and foremost of which is the advanced security inherit in the SQL Server database structure which means that there is enhanced security protecting your data. SQL Server 2016 includes industry leading data structure, analytical capabilities, breakthrough scalability and performance which ultimately means that you can get your data faster, easier, more reliably and do more with it.

As described by Linda Cade, Senior Product Manager at Sage, “while some think of Sage 500 as an aging solution, the fact that it runs seamlessly on the latest SQL Server platform means that the possibilities for private cloud, advanced business intelligence, mobility and the hybrid cloud with Sage 500 are limited only by the creativity of the database administrator”.

If you’re a Sage 500 customer on a Sage Business Care Plan, this release is included in your plan benefits. If you would like to start benefiting from the new features or if you’re not on plan but would like to explore options, we recommend contacting your account manager, or info@theanswerco.com.