ISYS Project

Rosie Cupcakes

Hi All

I am onto the cost benefit analysis for my ISYS project using a case study.

One of my recommendations is to upgrade their sage accounts software from Sage 50 to Sage 200.
Whilst I can get a specification for Sage 200 from the internet, prices aren't available only on application.

Can I use a made up figure that seems reasonable eg £5,000

Any help appreiciated.

Kelly7

Hi
I had a similar question when I had to use the cost of employee members time which I obviously don't have access to and I was told to use estimates. Other than that try emailing Sage and say you need an estimate for your project, that could be used in the appendices as well.
x

CeeJaySix

Hi Rosie,

The reason prices aren't published for ERPs is that nearly all installations are tailored to the business needs, forming a bespoke package. The same is true if you look at Access/Microsoft Dynamics/etc etc. There is one exception to that rule, I can't remember who now (maybe xTuple), but if you google ERP packages you should turn it up. However, if you google 'how much does an ERP cost' or similar, there are several sources which give rough costs which you can quote in your bibliography. I found a study that also gave projections for improvements in productivity, inventory holding periods etc etc based on several factors which I used for cost/benefit analysis. Estimates are more than sufficient but you should be able to justify them - £5,000 is very low for a package of this type unless you are just going for the basic finance aspects of Sage 200 (in which case why not just use Sage 50).

PS. don't forget hardware costs if the network needs updating to support an ERP, and a rule of thumb given in one of the sites I found was that implementation costs tend to be roughly the same again as the cost of the software itself. Then you've got initial training and support packages to factor in.

Rosie Cupcakes

Thank you both for your replies

In the case study I am working on, the organisation already uses Sage 50 Accounts Professional but does not use all the features as they do not apply to their business model.

The business is a medium/large organisation with around 230 staff. They have a head office accounts department with 8 staff where Sage is used. All computers in head office are run on an integrated basis.
But the business has 14 branches which are not networked into head office and these produce invoices on Word and details sent to accounts dept by email. The branches also have a stand alone inventory system with inventory levels being emailed to accounts.

My recommendation is that they upgrade to Sage 200 which is networked to the branches so that data can be input directly into the system which will avoid duplication of tasks and mean information is up to date.

CeeJaySix

Hi Rosie,

Your recommendation seems sound; hopefully some googling can turn up an idea of cost. This thread on Accounting Web may give you a quick start point - http://www.accountingweb.co.uk/group-thread/sage-50-upgrade-200-or-alternative - you'll notice even for an 8-user system they're looking at £25k plus tailoring costs. The rest of the thread regards pros and cons of Sage in their particular circumstance (and a lot of Sage-bashing, which is fairly common!), but at least they have a quote for upgrading to start from.

atrium

Dear Sage Users,
I would like to ask you if you have experienced similar problems with Sage X3 that I have mentioned below. If yes, please advise me how can I fix them.
I am the first customer of Sage X3 in Poland. Since September 2014 there has been an extensive implementation of Sage X3 software in my 120-person company for 60 software licenses. My company has been using Sage X3 since August, 1st 2015. The overall cost of our investment so far amounts to 280.000 EUR.
After one year of my experience with Sage X3 I can say that each day is marked with new defects emerging in Accounting and Finance and Inventory and Warehouse modules.
Unfortunately, the Sales and Inventory Management Modules of Sage X3 possess very serious flaws that have been discovered in August of last year and have not been remediated so far. The most important flaw of Sage X3 concerns the phenomenon of uncontrolled change of prices of goods in different warehouse locations. This defect results in our inability to accurately account the result of the company and provide reliable financial data to tax offices, external financial auditors, banks, and to calculate sales commissions. For example, during transfer of one product of 100 EUR value from warehouse A to warehouse B, Sage X3 unexpectedly and randomly changes its value into 103 EUR or 95 EUR or other value. The values of goods can be decreased or increased without any logical reason. Over the course of last 9 months, there have been numerous attempts of repair. There have been many announcements from Sage Poland that the problem has been eliminated. In reality, the problem continues to exist and is deepening. The issue concerns both old and new deliveries, also two large recent deliveries, each of them encompassing few containers of goods.
Problems with X3 implementation are causing significant financial losses to my 120-personnel company.
Beside malfunction of purchasing prices mentioned above, there are also other problems in Polish version of X3:
Accounting and Finance
no module fixed assetsInconsistent data provided by the various modules of Sage, eg. different statements of the same warehouse in Accounting and Sales modules. Three different statements of the same warehouse, show three different inventory amount.In PL version no proper reports of profit and loss account, balance sheet, etc.no automatic posting clearing counterparties in this settlement with cash reports
Purchasing Management/Material Requirements Planning
no automatic integration of datavalues of minimum stock have been entered into Sage X3, but optimal replenishment recommendations not working
Manufacturing Management
no production module of the working properly and thus no possibility to connect production to accounting system
Sales Management
incorrect prices of goods accepted for saleSage X3 changes prices of goods transferred from one location of warehouse to anothercustomers’ balances mistakes, also incorrect information of debts of the customer 'total balance' and even a few minutes of disappearing balances in SAGE. The program then gives the debt of "0". Bizarre is that the issued invoice can be seen in the Cashier and Sales module only after posting, so it is after 1-3 days.
It is possible to see scanned examples mentioned above at www.sage-reviews.com

Pozdrawiam, Best regards

Maciej Juchkiewicz