How Do You Know What You Don’t Know?

One of my favorite clients sent me an email this morning that asked for my assistance with the following:

“One of my goals is to find out from you what is in [Sage 100 Contractor] that we can use for more effective results for this next year.  I don’t know what I don’t know.  I am familiar with what I use all the time but I believe there is more available that I am not aware of.  We will experience great growth this year.  We will be hiring additional staff but I want to make sure we are effective and efficient with the tools we have in hand to maximize our results.”

This client has used the program for decades and might be described as a “power user,” but she has a nagging suspicion that there may be more functionality in the program than what they are currently using.  This is a pervasive problem with many of the users that I come across.  This is often understandable since initial implementations are often geared toward getting a new user up and running with the basic accounting capabilities they had with their previous accounting package. Too little time and attention is devoted to identifying and learning new functions that can benefit their organization.

How did I respond to my client’s request for assistance? My reply included the following:

“There are a couple of ways to assess the "not knowing what you don't know" problem.  I could spend a day nosing around your office, observing and asking questions to try to identify areas that can be improved.  Or you and your staff (accounting and project management) can make lists of things that annoy them, things that they spend valuable time doing in Excel or Word, things they wish they had, things they suspect the program should do but they just don't know how to do, etc. The lists can be compiled and sorted and a [training] plan can be developed.”

Many clients have purchased modules of the program and then left those modules unused for years! I often see Estimating, Document Control, Equipment Management, Scheduling, Change Orders (!), Insurance Certificates (!), Credit Card Management, ACH/Direct Deposit Payroll and Vendor Payments, and similar modules forgotten and unused, or perhaps just underused.  Wise clients will take a little time to scan through the program menus just to remind themselves in general sense of what the program can do, and then call us to ask if it might be of use to them.

Clients are always calling with requests for a report that shows certain information that they need to run their business.  Often the report already exists in the program and we can point them in the right direction and give them pointers on how to use report selection criteria to hone in on their specific need. If a report doesn’t already exist, we can usually create a custom report to meet their need.

If you wonder what you don’t know, take the time to jot down notes about those things that annoy you about how you use the program, what tasks or reports you spend too much time preparing with Excel or Word, what things you wish the program could do for you, or what data you want from the system that you currently aren’t receiving.  Then give us a call and talk it over with us.  It may cost you some consulting fees, but the end result is usually well worth the investment.

Current Version Information

Sage released the 2016 Payroll Tax Table update on December 17, 2015. Version 19.7.28 contains all federal and state payroll tax table data available as of that date that will be effective in 2016. It also contains a few enhancements and fixes related to payroll processing.  Install this update after all payroll to be paid in 2015 has been final computed, and before any 2016 payroll is processed.

Archive Locally to Minimize Problems

While users can usually archive data across their network, running the program on their local workstation on the data folder located on the server, this involves pushing and pulling massive amounts of data over your local network, in thousands of operations and processes.  This tends to require much more time to process since pushing and pulling that data over the network is inherently slow. Sometimes networks fail to make a connection reliably, and this can cause the archiving process to fail.

There are two ways to get around these potential problems:

• Perform the archiving process from the server’s desktop, rather than a workstation. This eliminates entirely the network’s effect on the process, or
• Copy the company data folder to your workstation’s C:\MB7 folder.  Perform the archiving process on the copy of the company residing on your C: drive, and then copy the two resulting data folders – the cleaned up current company data folder and the new archive folder—back to the server.

Users working in a cloud configuration typically are not presented with network speed or reliability issues and can ignore this tip.

For assistance with archiving data, give us a call at 480-471-5305 or send an email to walt@mathiesonconsulting.com.

Backup before Archiving!

The archiving process, whether for payroll closing or archiving the general ledger, is a destructive process.  Every discussion of archiving starts with an admonition to back up (twice for safety) your data .

Most users have invested in significant backup systems and processes that they rely on to prevent catastrophic loss of critical data.  Too many of these same users do not regularly test the backup process to ensure that their backups are effective and able to be restored easily and quickly.

Too often we find that users are relying on these overnight backups as their only backups when archiving their data.  If they have a problem with their archiving process—and problems do occur—they must restore from backup and start the archiving process over again. And since they have relied on their outside networking consultant to administer the backup process, they must wait for the networking consultant to restore the data from the overnight backup, losing valuable time in the process.  And this is NOT the time to find out that your overnight backups haven’t been working properly!

The easiest, and most expedient, way to make a quick and restorable backup is to use Windows Explorer to copy the current company data folder and paste it onto your workstation’s desktop or some other location in your network.  To ensure that no one has any files open that may not copy properly, just log into the company with Sage 100 Contractor with Exclusive Access, and then log out to make your “copy and paste” backup.  If the archiving process has any problems, you can easily recover by deleting the file folders affected by the failure and restoring the data folder from the “copy and paste” backup data folder.

Backups when archiving are important to cloud users also.  Check with your cloud hosting provider to ensure that you can make a quick and easy “copy and paste” backup as well.

Give us a call at 480-471-5305 or email walt@mathiesonconsulting.com if you have any questions or need help.

Closing Out the Year

With the introduction of multiyear general ledger functionality in version 19 of Sage 100 Contractor, year-end closings have become much more relaxed.  No longer do we have to worry about closing the general ledger before we can record any transactions relating to the new fiscal year, and no longer do we have to understand how Period 0 postings work.

However, let’s not get too relaxed….  The Payroll Year must still be closed and a 2015 Payroll Archive must still be created! Fortunately, this is not a terribly difficult or time consuming process, but you have to time it correctly.

In December

• Ensure that you have the latest version of the program, currently version 19.6.54, installed.
• Ensure that your employee names, addresses and social security numbers are up-to-date.
• Determine with your tax advisor or benefits administrator whether you will be required to file forms 1094-C and 1095-C to comply with the Affordable Care Act.  If so, ensure that the monthly data is present and up to date on the ACA Tab of the 5-2-1 Employees records.  Doing this before the Close Payroll Year process will help you avoid making entries twice.
• Run 5-3-7 Payroll Audit regularly and ensure that any audit errors are corrected.
• Be aware that you may receive information from payers of Third Party Sick Pay that can affect your payroll tax reporting.  Ensure that any notices received have been properly reflected in your payroll records.
• Determine with your tax advisor that all amounts that should be reported on W-2 forms have been included, including taxable vehicle allowances and certain taxable benefits for owners.  Also review which payroll calculation amounts may have to be reflected on the W-2 forms.

After the Last 2015 Payroll is Processed and Before Any 2016 Payroll Records are Entered

• Run 5-3-7 Payroll Audit and ensure that there are no audit errors.
• Make a complete backup of the current company’s data folder.
• Decide ahead of the closing how you will name the 2015 Payroll Archive folder.
• Decide ahead of the closing whether you want to remove employee records for workers that have left the company.
• Log into the current company as Supervisor with Exclusive Access.
• Run 5-3-8 Close Payroll Year and follow the prompts and instructions carefully. It’s really rather simple!

Remember – prepare your 4^th quarter payroll returns and your W-2 and W-3 forms from your 2015 Payroll Archive company.

Contact us at 480-471-5305 or walt@mathiesonconsulting.com for additional information or assistance with closing your payroll year.

Current Version Information

The latest version of Sage 100 Contractor is version 19.6.54, the release of which was announced on October 1, 2015. In addition to getting the most up to date tax tables, there are changes to the program to accommodate compliance with the Affordable Care Act.

Fall Maintenance

Look at the calendar! The end of the calendar year is fast approaching. There are a few things that Sage 100 Contractor users should start working on so that the end of the calendar year goes smoothly.

Affordable Care Act Compliance
Make sure you know what your responsibilities are for reporting and compliance with the Affordable Care Act. Check with your tax accountant and your benefits provider to get the best information about your responsibilities. Current versions of Sage 100 Contractor will generate the data and forms required.

Form W-2 Wage Statements
Make sure that your employee data is up to date. Verify employee addresses and social security numbers. Make sure your payroll account bank reconciliations are current and complete (and thus all payrolls are recorded), and investigate why payroll checks are still outstanding long past the time you would expect. Run the Payroll Audit (menu 5-3-7) and ensure that all errors are corrected. Discuss with your tax accountant what payroll calculations should be shown in which boxes on the W-2s.

I am a huge fan of the built-in Aatrix E-File feature, especially for W-2s. Aatrix will print and mail all employee copies of W-2s and will submit electronically the data to the Federal and State governments. All you need to print is the employer copy for your records and that can be printed to plain paper. With Aatrix E-File, you don’t have to order preprinted forms and special envelopes. The cost of the Aatrix E-File W-2s is so reasonable when you consider the cost of acquiring the forms, applying postage, and the manual labor of stuffing special envelopes, I strongly endorse E-Filing.

If you do not wish to use the Aatrix E-File feature, you should order now the forms and envelopes required from Sage Checks and Forms. DO NOT plan on getting your forms from Staples or other office supply stores as the paper (4-up perforated paper) and envelopes are not typical.

Form 1099 Statements to Recipients
Make sure that your vendor data is up to date. Obtain W-9s from all vendors so that you can verify addresses, federal identification numbers and legal status, such as corporations, individuals, limited liability companies, partnerships, etc. With this information, you can then ensure that each vendor has the correct 1099 Type assigned. Use report 4-1-1-61 Vendor 1099 Report to see the 1099 Type of each vendor and whether or not you have a federal identification number for those vendors to whom you may be required to provide a 1099.

The built-in Aatrix E-File feature also works for 1099s! As you might guess, I’m a big fan of this feature as well. The comments above about W-2 E-Filing also apply to 1099 E-Filing.

If you do not wish to use the Aatrix E-File feature, you should order now the forms and envelopes required from Sage Checks and Forms. DO NOT plan on getting your forms from Staples or other office supply stores as the paper (4-up perforated paper) and envelopes are not typical.

If you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to send us a note or give us a call.