
STELLAR TIMES A monthly newsletter from Orion Business & Accounting Solutions

August 2008 Edition

FOOTBALL SEASON IS AROUND THE CORNER!,

Odds and Ends from Orion:

Busy Summer - We hope all have a had a great summer, school is just around the corner and most important, our Fall Customer Conference is just around the corner (see, you thought I was going to say football). I will send out an invitation shortly, when we have all the details on classes and dates.
Just a reminder, for those thinking of upgrading your computer hardware. We can help! Here in the last few weeks, we have been offering our clients hardware from the HP Refurbished Inventory department. This type of equipment is fully functional HP business products — returned to HP for a variety of reasons. Most are cancelled orders and customer return units, while others are overstocks, evaluation units, cosmetically blemished or discontinued products. The big advantage is - you can save up to 50% off the price of new equipment and it carries the full HP product warranty. Please contact us if you are interested in the details.
For those on Level 4.1, Level 4.2 and Level 4.3. Sage has been consistently releasing a new service update for 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 on a monthly/bi-monthly basis. Level 4.1 is on service update number 19, Level 4.2 is on service update number 18 (both of these are their Microsoft Vista compliant releases) and 4.3 is on service update number 2. These updates are available to you as part of your Client Care subscription with Sage. If you need help installing any of the service updates or have any questions, please give us a call.

Till next month,

THIS MONTH'S FUN FACT

August has National Waffle Day (Aug24) :

A Quick Waffle History Lesson

13th Century - Ancient Greeks cook flat cakes between two metal plates. These early waffles were called obleios and were primarily savory in nature, prepared with cheeses and herbs.

1620 - The pilgrims bring Dutch "wafles" to America.

1735 - The word "waffle" - with two "f"s - appears in English print for the first time.

Late 1800's - Thomas Jefferson returns to the U.S. from France with a long handled, patterned waffle iron.

1869 - Cornelius Swarthout patents the first U.S. Waffle Iron.

1953 - Frank Dorsa's Eggo Frozen Waffles are sold in Supermarkets for the first time.

1964-65 - Brussels restaurateur Maurice Vermersch brings his wife's Brussels Waffle recipe to the World's Fair in New York. The fluffy yeast-infused waffle becomes a huge hit and becomes known as the Belgium waffle.

Sizing up the Level 4.3 Upgrade

The past few MAS90 upgrades have focused on re-writing standard MAS90 modules in the new business framework. So far, we have seen General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Sales Order Processing and Return Merchandise Authorization. The level 4.3 release does not re-write any standard MAS90 module, but is a collection of features that are designed to increase your productivity and promote a more earth friendly software (the paperless office features will save you reams of paper). Click on the link to see more information on what's included in Level 4.3

Implementing a MAS90 upgrade is only part of the upgrade process. The real benefit comes from integrating the new MAS90 features into your business model.

There are basically three aspects to any successful MAS90 upgrade implementation.

• First, to correctly install and configure MAS90 Level 4.3 on your system.

• Second, to customize the settings in the new features of Level 4.3 to maximize the efficiency of your staff in their day to day work flow.

• Third, to train the users so that they understand how the features in the new level compliment and enhance their work. Our goal in working with clients is to adapt the use of MAS90 into the existing workflow of your company.

Some of the questions we ask to help our understanding of your existing workflow are:

How your company uses paper. MAS90 forms, daily reports, period end reports, etc...
How can your company take advantage of electronic forms delivery.
How your company communicates with customers. manufacturer reps.
How your company communicates with vendors. how do issue PO's.
How your company communicates with salespeople.
Who manages your IT infrastructure.

We look forward to working with you on your MAS90 Level 4.3 upgrade and helping you create an MAS90 environment that is more "Earth" friendly, "Customer" friendly and "Vendor" friendly.

Summer 2008 Promotion!

Extra savings when you "Add a Module" this summer.

Orion and SAGE are offering a great promotion this summer to help you add any MAS90 module to your existing system. Purchase any standard MAS90 module and save 20% during July and August. During September this promotion will step down to a 10% savings.

For example, Payroll users looking to add the Direct Deposit module (yes it is now its own MAS90 module) can do so for $995.00 (a savings of over $200).

Manufacturing Services 1. Inventory Management 2. Bill of Materials 3. Materials Requirements Planning 4. Work Order	Services 1. Job Cost 2. Sage TimeSheet MAS 90 Edition
Distribution Business Productivity 1. Inventory Management 2. Purchase Order 3. Sales Order 4. Return Merchandise Authorization	Productivity 1. Accounts Payable 2. Business Alerts 3. Visual Integrator 4. Direct Deposit

Please note that this promotion only applies to standard MAS90 modules and does not apply to 3rd party modules offered through Sage MAS90. The following products do not qualify: Credit Card Processing, StarShip, Sage, Abra, Fixed Assets, ACT! by Sage, DynaLink, F9, and FRx. Also note that all promotions are calculated off of the product portion of the sale and do not apply to maintenance. Maintenance is calculated based off of full sales list price. These offers cannot be combined with any other offers.

For more information contact Jim Steele at 248-893-1060 or jimsteele@orionbas.com
Promotions here are valid through September 30th, 2008.

Spotlight on Sage Extended Solutions

Dear Orion,

I'm having a problem with my sales staff continuing to sell products which have been discontinued. I have created a product line "DSCO" and routinely place the products which we no longer carry in it.

I know, the real solution is to beat the salespeople mercilessly until they learn not to sell discontinued items.

Until then, is there a way, short of deleting the part numbers in question, to prevent a discontinued item (or product line) from being placed on a sales order.

signed,
Frustrated Inventory Manager

Dear Frustrated Inventory Manager,

Sage has an extended solution, IM-1244 Inactive Item Designation ($1,530) that allows you to designate certain items as ‘inactive’ by means of a check-box type Inventory Item Custom Office UDF. Sales Order Entry, Sales Order Invoice Entry, Purchase Order Entry, P/O Receipt of Goods Entry, P/O Return of Goods Entry, and I/M Transaction Entry will all be modified to disallow entry of Items that have a checked ‘inactive’ UDF. For more information follow this link. IM-1244

This month's Windows Tip : Your Desktop is a Folder Too (XP)

Did you know that the Windows XP desktop is a folder, too.

You can run Windows Explorer and move files into and out of the desktop. Let's take a look at this option. Run Windows Explorer and click the desktop folder to select it. Explorer's right pane now displays the desktop contents.

Now let's say you would like to place a shortcut to a specific folder on your desktop. Use the right mouse button to drag the new folder to the Desktop folder. When you release the right mouse button, choose Create Shortcut(s) Here from the menu.

Dragging a folder to the desktop using Windows Explorer has no particular advantage over just dragging it to the desktop. However, if you're already working in Explorer, you can use this method to avoid juggling windows on your screen.

Orion Business & Accounting Solutions
23900 Orchard Lake Rd
Suite 170
Farmington Hills, MI 48336-2513
Phone: 248-893-1060
Fax: 248-893-1063
Email: jimsteele@orionbas.com
URL: http://www.orionbas.com

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