Sage Master Builder Version 14 and the Paperless Office!

Most contractors have probably given thought to going paperless. When one factors in the cost of storing paper documents, the environmental impact of consuming large quantities of paper, and the general inconvenience of having to dig in a filing cabinet when one wants to research an issue, going paperless seems like a terrific idea. But until now, the idea also required a significant investment in separate software to capture and organize the information, and the link between the captured electronic document and the accounting record was tenuous at best.

Sage Master Builder Version 14 includes an exciting feature that users will surely have to consider – Attachments. If you can create or find a file or website, you can attach it to a record so that the file or website is available to anyone following in your footsteps in the program.

Consider the following scenarios that represent real opportunities for Master Builder users:

• An accounts payable bookkeeper has an inexpensive flat bed scanner (cost less than $100) attached to his computer and scans vendor invoices to a .pdf file saved to the desktop. During the entry of the vendor invoice with a Review status and the hot list box checked, the bookkeeper attached the .pdf image of the invoice to the record. Later, the project manager reviews the hot list for his project, sees the Review status invoice on the hot list, opens up the AP invoice record, opens the .pdf image of the record, records a comment indicating approval of the invoice and how it was job-costed, removes the hot list status and changes the status to Open. The paper copy of the invoice never gets lost or misplaced, the bookkeeper can keep track of invoices in need of approval, and there is no file cabinet required as the image is in the computer, attached to the proper record!
• An Estimator is assembling subcontracts for a project by preparing Requests for Proposals in menu 6-11-1. Pages of the plan specifications book are scanned to pdf, along with the applicable section of the drawings, for the scope of work requested. The RFP record is completed along with careful notes and instructions in the Notepad note. The RFP report is printed to a pdf for emailing to the potential subcontractors and the pdf is attached to the RFP record also. The RFP pdf, along the specifications and drawings are emailed directly from the RFP attachments button. When the proposal comes back from the potential subcontractor, the proposal is scanned and attached to the RFP record as well as noting that the RFP has been responded to. When the proposal is accepted and a subcontract record is created, the attachments can be attached to the subcontract record, along with a scan of the fully executed subcontract document. Since everything is attached to the subcontract record, a superintendent in the project field office can remote into the office computer and see all of the important and related documents while online. This couldn’t be done if all the documents were still on paper, filed in a filing cabinet!

These are just two of the hundreds of possible scenarios where Sage Master Builder Version 14 and its Attachments feature can be used to go paperless and drastically improve efficiency in the office.