Sage products - tips, tricks, development and improvement suggestions

[AirWolf]

Sage people very reluctant to offer public advice I see.

 

[maumau]

Sage people very reluctant to offer public advice I see.

That's because Sage charges for every support call they want you to phone them.

BTW where did you learn to write Crystal Reports (if you don't mind me asking)..... AirWolf? Ho3n3r?

 

[AirWolf]

That's because Sage charges for every support call they want you to phone them.

BTW where did you learn to write Crystal Reports (if you don't mind me asking)?

Sage VIP does charge sometimes - depends on the problem.

I'm not familiar with Crystal reports - I see that is on Sage 100 ERP. I'm using Sage Evolution and Sage VIP Payroll only.

 

[AirWolf]

Sage VIP 4.5a Classic

Problem exporting garnishee orders. Only exports the first garnishee on employees with multiple garnishees.

Need to check how far back the problem started when back at the office tomorrow.

**Suspect it started after I installed 4.5a in November.**

Called the call centre earlier - they said I should extract the 4.5a patch to the VIP classic folder, which I did - problem still exists.
We are using FNB though and not Standard Bank which the patch notes referred to.

Any ideas?

Yep, problem started after I installed update 4.5a in mid-November 2015.

Of the garnishee list, only 3 employees have 2 garnishees. All 3 are missing the second garnishees (all different garnishees) from November to February. Strangely one of the 3 employees did have both his garnishees go through in December only, but the other months it does not export.

 

[AirWolf]

Sage VIP 4.5a Classic

Problem exporting garnishee orders. Only exports the first garnishee on employees with multiple garnishees.

Need to check how far back the problem started when back at the office tomorrow.

**Suspect it started after I installed 4.5a in November.**

Called the call centre earlier - they said I should extract the 4.5a patch to the VIP classic folder, which I did - problem still exists.
We are using FNB though and not Standard Bank which the patch notes referred to.

Any ideas?

Yep, problem started after I installed update 4.5a in mid-November 2015.

Of the garnishee list, only 3 employees have 2 garnishees. All 3 are missing the second garnishees (all different garnishees) from November to February. Strangely one of the 3 employees did have both his garnishees go through in December only, but the other months it does not export.

According to the call centre there was a revised verision of 4.5a that solved the problem - installed and working again.

The file was actually version 3 of the 4.5a update - would have been nice to know earlier that the original install file had been updated .

Also, miss the view-on-screen option for reports.

 

[SBSP]

I have something you could possibly look at and test, Its an issue which has been bugging be since many versions ago of Accpac.
If I remember correctly this issue comes from 5.3 even up until Sage ERP 300 (Version 6.1A)

When posting and shipping items from an order in order entry, there is a popup screen that asks if you want to print the shipment, If user leaves the box open it creates a lock on the database (Not a dead lock) and (Using MS SQL Server 2008)

And I have a very good idea why this happens.
When you select no you do not want to print the lock will go away and the screen terminates normally, when you select Yes you want to print it, It will flag the shipment as printed in table OESHIH.PRINTED or ISPRINTED or what ever the field's names is I don't have the object model in front of me right now.

Initially you we were generating Invoices directly from Order entry but our operations changed slightly and we are now generating documents Orders-->Shipment--Invoices but even if the setting is set to generate invoices directly from Orders in the OE setup screen it also locks the database as explained it think it then updates both OESHIH.PRINTED and OEINVH.PRINTED

Not sure what the solution will be but maybe it will help by letting the screen open with query (OESHIH.PRINTED with no lock)
I cant see how the printed flag is important enough to open the table and with a hard lock.

I would be very surprised if other people don't experience the same issue on MS SQL Server , In between upgrades we have moved from physical to virtual using brand new OS installations and the same problem has always been there.

Funny enough its only one user out of 50 that leaves the screen open and then go on lunch.

 

[AirWolf]

I have something you could possibly look at and test, Its an issue which has been bugging be since many versions ago of Accpac.
If I remember correctly this issue comes from 5.3 even up until Sage ERP 300 (Version 6.1A)

When posting and shipping items from an order in order entry, there is a popup screen that asks if you want to print the shipment, If user leaves the box open it creates a lock on the database (Not a dead lock) and (Using MS SQL Server 2008)

And I have a very good idea why this happens.
When you select no you do not want to print the lock will go away and the screen terminates normally, when you select Yes you want to print it, It will flag the shipment as printed in table OESHIH.PRINTED or ISPRINTED or what ever the field's names is I don't have the object model in front of me right now.

Initially you we were generating Invoices directly from Order entry but our operations changed slightly and we are now generating documents Orders-->Shipment--Invoices but even if the setting is set to generate invoices directly from Orders in the OE setup screen it also locks the database as explained it think it then updates both OESHIH.PRINTED and OEINVH.PRINTED

Not sure what the solution will be but maybe it will help by letting the screen open with query (OESHIH.PRINTED with no lock)
I cant see how the printed flag is important enough to open the table and with a hard lock.

I would be very surprised if other people don't experience the same issue on MS SQL Server , In between upgrades we have moved from physical to virtual using brand new OS installations and the same problem has always been there.

Funny enough its only one user out of 50 that leaves the screen open and then go on lunch.

I doubt they considered that scenario during design .

Can't test your problem as we have Evolution. Have experienced the database lock when a particular accounts payable transaction type did not have a default account to post VAT to, and the pop up asked for input.

On the invoicing side, I have not experience a user leaving the yes/no print option open locking the database.

 

[AirWolf]

Where can I find a list of partners for biometric clocking systems that integrates into VIP Payroll?

 

[froot]

Where can I find a list of partners for biometric clocking systems that integrates into VIP Payroll?

Not sure, but if for Premier, you can give the ODBC (Special Solutions) dept a call. 012 420 7000. These usually end up as an integration solution.

 

[AirWolf]

Product | Version | Question/Suggestion/etc

Sage Evolution

7.20.2.000

Debtor's Manager Module 2.1.10 (170)

Had an issue with Debtor's Manager in one company only with the error, "You are not authorised to use this program" from even an admin account.
Called call centre. They had me uninstall and reinstall on my laptop. Problem persisted. They asked me to send screenshot, and they would get back to me the next day at 9am. They didn't. Noticed the top bar used a "cc_" in front of the company database name on another company that the debtors manager was still working, which made me realise that the Debtor's Manager module makes a copy of the company database. Tested by opening Debtor's Manager in another company that had never used Debtor's Manager, and there is was a new cc_ database.

So I remained the problem database, forcing that companies Debtor's Manager to create a new "cc_" database, and working.

Next issue: the keywords to pull data into email reminders.


[COMPANYNAME] does not display the customer/debtor name. It displays your own company name. You enter your own company name under the PDF Invoice layout under setup, so it appears on the copy invoices (that you can attach if you so choose).
In the screenshot I was testing with [AccName], which also does not work.
The other keywords do work accordingly.

Have requested help from the call centre again - still waiting.
Anyone with an insiders ear, please ask them to get their act together on the Debtor's Manager module .

Here is the email it produces:


My company name removed in all screenshots.
Look at that ****ty incomplete table 1.
I mean really? :wtf:

Anyone with a keyword list, and how to fix the above table, would be much appreciated.

 

[AirWolf]

Sorted the keyword issue. For anyone interested:

[Name] = customer/debtor Name.
[CompanyName] = your company name (needs to be filled in in PDF invoice setup to work, or it will show a blank)
[AccNo] = customer/debtor account number.
[Outstanding] = Balance outstanding.

 

[AirWolf]

Still waiting for a keyword list from support (a week later). Got the above by looking through the database in MSSQL.

Note for anyone using the above: [OUTSTANDING] will give the full outstanding balance, and not the amount due as per the customers credit terms i.e.

R100 bought last month (or older), and R50 bought this month will show R150 and not the R100 on an account with a credit terms of 30 days from statement.

 

[ShamusVW]

Connection string

Is it possible to connect to VIP Premier from an application using a connection string?
I've seen hints that it might be an Access database, but I can't confirm. Even the consultant at Special Solutions wasn't sure, all he knew was that it was written in Cobol.

 

[froot]

Is it possible to connect to VIP Premier from an application using a connection string?
I've seen hints that it might be an Access database, but I can't confirm. Even the consultant at Special Solutions wasn't sure, all he knew was that it was written in Cobol.

It uses a proprietary db format as far as I know. Definitely not an Access db :wtf:
Yes you are able to connect, you can use the 32bit ODBC driver together with the ODBC connection string.
It is read-only though, via the ODBC connection, so you can only query the database.

Send me a pm and I'll send you a piece of code you can use.

 

[AirWolf]

The only ODBC functionality I use is the StatsSA excel report, which is painfully slow.

 

[froot]

The only ODBC functionality I use is the StatsSA excel report, which is painfully slow.

I've wished many times for a better driver, but alas...

 

[AirWolf]

Sage Evolution:

Have one stock item that shows different quantities at the same date on two different reports:
- Valuation report on a particular date;
- Movement report over say a month.

How do you fix this as in theory any posted entry should affect both the same.

The error actually goes all the way back to October 2013.

 

[AirWolf]

Sage Evolution:

Have one stock item that shows different quantities at the same date on two different reports:
- Valuation report on a particular date;
- Movement report over say a month.

How do you fix this as in theory any posted entry should affect both the same.

The error actually goes all the way back to October 2013.

The resulting difference shows in October 2013, but I have traced the transaction to a bill of materials manufacture in January 2018 which was entered by a branch.
Probably the result of a problematic VPN connection where the item draw was double processed somehow and posted to hell in the system.

Call centre solution - use the enquiries valuation by date "as it gives the correct values if you have multiple warehouses and back date transactions". This was before I found the BOM transaction.
How is it even possible for Reports-Movement Report and Reports-Valuation Report to show different values from the same data?
They're drawing information from different tables???

 

[NewPerspectiveStudio]

I dnt have much to say about these guys i developed a website for a non profit organisation as a donation pr type thing. They opted to go with sage pay to assist them with they payment gateway and moreover better control of their finances using the user dashboard i could se it wa good for that purpose. What left me in shock as this is a paid service was that my client asked me to install the api on their worpress , since this is a donation site and has no cart i had to work a different method as nothing is being checked out. I then though heck these guys are getting paid for this service let them do it they would probably do it in a hear beat. they absolutely refused ad kept shoving documents for programmers down my throat until i finally caved and just wrote my own script for their "product".

 

[AirWolf]

Sage Evolution

Any way to disable the remove button on the pop-up login window for users that "accidentally" remove companies?