Accounting Software Shreveport

Sage 100 ERP Integrated Supply Chain and Customer Service Solution

Posted by Keith Perkins on Wed, May 06, 2015 @ 07:59 PM

Sage 100 ERP Integrated Supply Chain and Customer Service Solution

Sage_100_ERP_Sage_CRM_Automate_Order_Processing

Title:   13 Ways to Automate Sage 100 ERP Order Processing with an Integrated Supply Chain and Customer Service Solution

Date: Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Time: 11:00 AM PT / 2:00 PM ET (1hr)

Learn how Scanco, StarShip,  SPS Commerce, MAPADOC, Avalara and Sage CRM work together to bring you an integrated streamlined supply chain, sales and customer service automation solution for Sage 100 ERP. 

During this complimentary webinar learn the following 13 ways Sage 100 ERP customers can automate the entire warehouse sales and customer service process here's how:

  1. Sales and customer service personnel use Sage CRM via the web or a mobile device to access Sage 100 ERP Data without using Sage 100 ERP to:
    • Place and track orders 24/7.
    • View real time customer specific pricing and inventory levels 24/7.
    • View sales orders, invoices, payments and shipments 24/7
    • View customer contact information 24/7
    • View customer sales history, item sales history, invoice history, open invoices 24/7
    • Generate quotes and orders 24/7
  2. Automatically calculate sales tax and insure sales tax compliance
  3. Warehouse personnel reduce time in picking orders and eliminating mis-picks
  4. Sage 100 ERP users get a real time view of inventory levels inside Sage 100 ERP
  5. Print ASN labels from the handheld
  6. Achieve real time validation
  7. Seamlessly integrate the entire Pick, Pack and Ship process with Sage 100 ERP
  8. Automate shipping from the scanned information, parcel and freight
  9. Sending email shipment notifications complete with item to package detail
  10. Reducing carrier address correction fees using the embedded address validation features
  11. Taking advantage of 3rd party insurance to save up to 85%
  12. Easily reporting on late deliveries to obtain refunds
  13. Reducing duplicate data entry and associated errors
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Tags: Sage 100, Sage 100 ERP 2014, SageCRM, Sage 100 ERP

Sage 100 ERP Accounts Payable Video: 3 Steps to Set Up ACH Payments

Posted by Keith Perkins on Mon, Jul 14, 2014 @ 07:51 AM

Sage 100 ERP Accounts Payable Video: How to Set-Up ACH Payments and Pay Bills Electronically

As Sage 100 ERP consultants that have worked with hundreds of clients, we often get requests from our Sage clients who want us to to help them with implementing this electronic ACH functionality. Sage 100 has the ability to allow your Account Payable staff to pay your Vendors electronically through the ACG network. ACH is built into out of the box Sage 100 ERP.  However, in order to set up ACH, you must first follow a few important steps. Check out this 15 minute video demonstrating how to set up electronic ACH payments in Sage 100 ERP for vendors in Accounts Payable. This is a very efficient way to pay your bills.

Here's the 3 basic steps to successfully setting up electronic ACH payments in Sage 100 ERP.

  1. Get Bank Format: ACH needs to be formatted for the different standards each bank will have for its own format. It's much like payroll that has it's own formatting requirements that are different between banks. It's generally a similar process with Sage 100 ERP Accounts Payable. We always coordinate with the client's bank and find out what ACH format they require.
  2. SetUp Options:  To activate ACH, you need to set it up in Sage 100 ERP.  Go to Accounts Payable and in the Setup Options folder you will see the ACH tab where you will have various ACH options. You turn on emails to store your ACH emails.  You can select partial allocation and how many years to retain history Further down the Setup menu, we have the ACH interface maintenance.  Here you can have different formats for different banks.  This is where you would hold the routing numbers and other information required to complete an ACH transaction. Usually we associate it with one vendor like a test vendor for testing purposes.  We would make sure it works before we start soliciting this information from our vendors.  You would need to set up each vendor with their information in Sage 100 ERP in Vendor Maintenance.
  3. Paperless Office Setup - Next, go to Paperless Office - Form Maintenance Setup - Enter Company Code - Accounts Payable - Check enable electronic delivery - enter email address - point to directory for PDF storage. Now you can send all your PDF documents via email. This is also the place where you can decide if you want to have the electronic remittance devices sent out when we update our check register. Since Sage allows you to save mulitple contacts per vendor, you can choose to send the PDF to several emails per vendor.

Customers really appreciate activating the ACH functionality in Sage 100 ERP because they save time and avoid the costs of stamps and the effort of mailing checks. It makes it easier to manage vendors. The vendors appreciate it because their payments coming electronically which is faster, the deal with less mail and paperless records. 

Sage 100 ERP Accounts Payable ACH saves man-hours and is eco-friendly.  If you're not using ACH today, you may want to consider it! We hope you find this set up video useful.  As always, consult with your Sage 100 ERP consultant bfefore making any changes ot your system. We are also available to help.

If you would like to learn more about Sage 100 ERP and setting up ACH, please contact us!   As ERP consultants with over twenty years of experience, we've helped hundreds of businesses become more efficient and profitable.

Posted by Keith Perkins at Accounting Software serving Sage 100 ERP customers in Shreveport, LA and surrounding areas.

Tags: Sage 100 ERP Accounts Payable, accounting software implementation, Sage 100 ERP AP, Sage 100 ERP ACH, Sage 100 ERP AP ACH

Sage 100 ERP 2014: Cloud Sync Mobile Sales, Mobile Service and More

Posted by Adrian Montgomery on Fri, Jul 11, 2014 @ 11:45 AM

2014 Sage 100 ERP New FeaturesThe Sage 100 ERP 2014 new release has some awesome new features including mobile sales that have many of our Sage 100 ERP customers excited about upgrading. In our You Tube video below, we will share with you some of the key features in this new release. We think you will find like our customers did that now may be a good time to upgrade your Sage 100 ERP system to benefit from the improvements in 2014! As certified and experienced Sage ERP consultants we are here to help with any further questions.

Learn about Sage 100 ERP 2014 Mobile Sales, Mobile Service and More:

Click on the video below to learn more about the Sage 100 ERP 2014 release:

 

Sage 100 ERP Mobile Sales and Mobile Service

Sales people in the field can manage customers see orders, invoicing and full catalog of all their items. The full catalog is different than what you see in your ERP. Sage 100 ERP 2014 Mobile Sales now has up to four pictures per item. There is a sister service called Mobile Service. Sage's Mobile Service helps field service customers manage technicians, work orders, scheduling, in the field the technician can see what he wants. From your iphone you see what he is supposed to do next. This doesn’t require the Sage 100 ERP Work Order module; it replaces it.  Mobile service has a website where the back office can log the work orders managed by the technicians. All very helpful where you have technicians in the field.  Made changes to Sage Intelligence. Available directly from Menu, create reports that are Excel powered modify format the way you need them aggregate consolidate etc. If you need more power customizations that is where Sage Intelligence comes in. Report viewer ran out of one on their demo companies, can see how created format under templates. There is a report viewer where you can see a dashboard with Key performance indicators, designer, financial reports, trend analysis, vendors purchases report. All the reports are accessing Sage 100 data and putting it into preformatted excel templates, you can print them and distribute them how you see fit.

Sage 100 ERP 2014 Release Summary:

2 Cloud Sync Features Added

  • Mobile Sales
  • Mobile Service

Other Added Features

  • Improved User Experience Items
  • Sage Intelligence Directly to the Menu
  • Sage Inventory Advisor
  • Improved User Experience Items
  • Main Body Improved User Experience Items
  • Library Master Improvements
  • Main User Maintenance New Fields

Added Fields

  • Added Employee Email, Titles, Auto Complete, Electronic Reporting, efiling, W2’s 1099 or any kind of e-filing.  Print or just mail off what you want to mail off.
  • The W-2’s 16 box codes where before you could only do 4. 
  • In Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable, under repetitive invoices added flashlight, you can see at a glance what is set-up under repetitive invoices
  • General Ledger reports and Financial reports added keep window open button.  Now you can mark this keep open and window will stay open.
  • Change to quick find in Sales Order and Purchase Order lines – Quick Find – Automatically goes to first column in the grid to find it much faster. 
  • Bank Requisition added Quick Find
  • Bank Reconciliation defaults to check number or deposit date, etc.
  • Sage Inventory Advisor Added Cloud Based Service - Allows Inventory Manager or whoever you designate to monitor inventory while they are away from their ERP.  Manage Remotely with all the tools tied into Sage 100 ERP. This is an added service.
  • User experience improvements, user maintenance flashlight, repetitive invoices, quickfind
  • Removed some legacy menu items off
  • Payroll period end and federal e-filing and reporting and 1099 information can now can be accessed from the left hand drop down and you can efile automatically. 
  • Sage Intelligence add-ons are important to this release. 

If you need assistance or would like to learn more about the Sage 100 ERP 2014 release, contact us at Accounting Systems Consulting Group, LLC. As ERP consultants, we have over twenty years of experience in helping hundreds of businesses become more efficient and profitable. 

Posted by Keith Perkins at Accounting Software, a Sage 100 ERP consultant firm serving Sage 100 ERP customers in Shreveport, LA and surrounding areas.

Tags: Sage 100 ERP 2014, Sage 100 ERP upgrade, Sage 100 ERP, Sage 100 ERP consultant

Sage Payment Virtual Terminal Sage 100 ERP Integration Demonstration

Posted by Keith Perkins on Mon, Mar 03, 2014 @ 04:16 PM


We are excitied to present our YouTube video explaining how Sage Payment Virtual Terminal integrates with Sage 100 ERP. In this video we will cover how you can process credit card directly into the ERP software.  The integration will also be demonstrated showing why Sage Virtual Terminal is so pupular with our Sage customers.

In our last blog and video, we talked about how virtually anyone can you process credit cards directly into Sage Virtual Terminal with out having an integrated system. For more information, check out our last blog entitled “Sage Payment Virtual Terminal - Get Paid Quick & Easy

In this YouTube presentation, we will demonstrate and review how you will save time and money with the integration with Sage Virtual Terminal and Sage 100 ERP. In this video, we will look at how the Sage Virtual Terminal is set up, how it operates and integrates. We will show how you get credit cards into the system and how they are processed.  

The Sage Virtual Terminal is a web interface that processes payment transactions when credit card information is manually key entered into the browser. A secure connection is made to transfer card information from the Sage Virtual Terminal to the Sage Gateway for authorization. Sage Virtual Terminals can be accessed 24/7 with an internet connection and a web browser. Data security and PCI compliance is ensured with Sage Vault which is an encrypted and secure credit card number storage center.

With a Sage Virtual Terminal, merchants have the flexibility to accept debit and credit card payments virtually, that is, without having to buy a point-of-sale swipe terminal. This can be useful for merchants that don't take customer payments in person or if payments are web based, mailed, phoned, or faxed in. Many businesses that do accept payments in person still process through a virtual terminal to avoid the cost of a card swipe terminal and also to allow for back office processing.

Increase your customer's satisfaction by offering them a convenient time saving payment option through the Sage Virtual Terminal. With recurring payments you can automatically charge your customers a fixed amount of money on a schedule that works for you and for them. The exact payment is made directly to your merchant account on time, every time.

Sage Payment Virtual Terminal:  10 Reasons to Get Started

  1. PCI complaince to meet data security standards 
  2. Easy to set up and use
  3. Integration saves time
  4. You can handle credit card transactions quickly whil on the phone
  5. Reduces postage, paper, labor expenses, and bank fees
  6. Tracks card expiration dates to avoid interrupted payments due to expired data
  7. Free 24/7 Online Reporting
  8. Recurring Payments
  9. Lowers accounts receivable and collection costs
  10. Online Shopping Carts

If you need assistance or would like to learn more about Sage Payment Virtual Terminal, contact us at Accounting Systems Consulting Group, LLC. As ERP consultants, we have over twenty years of experience in helping hundreds of businesses become more efficient and profitable. 

Posted by Keith Perkins at Accounting Software, a Sage 100 ERP consultant firm serving Sage 100 ERP customers in Shreveport, LA and surrounding areas.

Tags: virtual terminal for Sage, Sage merchant services, Sage Credit Card Processing, Sage virtual terminal

Sage Payment Virtual Terminal: Credit Card Processing Demo

Posted by Keith Perkins on Fri, Jan 31, 2014 @ 11:55 AM

Sage Payment Virtual TerminalBusinesses who offer more flexible payment options are the businesses who succeed in today's cash strapped economy. The Sage Payment Virtual Terminal is a web interface that allows customers to easily manage and process credit card payment transactions.  You can use this payment service as a stand alone, a mobile payment application on your cell phone or as an integrated extension of your Sage ERP system. Sage Payment Solutions with Virtual Terminal helps customers keep their competitive edge making it easy to collect money from their customers.

The Sage Virtual Terminal is a web interface that processes payment transactions when credit card information is manually key entered into the browser. A secure connection is made to transfer card information from the Sage Virtual Terminal to the Sage Gateway for authorization. Virtual terminals can be accessed 24/7 with an internet connection and a web browser. 

With a virtual terminal, merchants have the flexibility to accept debit and credit card payments virtually, that is, without having to buy a point-of-sale swipe terminal. This can be useful for merchants that don't take customer payments in person or if payments are web based, mailed, phoned, or faxed in. Many businesses that do accept payments in person still process through a virtual terminal to avoid the cost of a card swipe terminal and also to allow for back office processing.

Increase your customer's satisfaction by offering them a convenient time saving payment option through the Sage Virtual Terminal. With recurring payments you can automatically charge your customers a fixed amount of money on a schedule that works for you and for them. The exact payment is made directly to your merchant account on time, every time.

Sage Payment Virtual Terminal:  7 Reasons to Get Started

  1. Easy to set up and use
  2. Reduces postage, paper, labor expenses, and bank fees
  3. Tracks card expiration dates to avoid interrupted payments due to expired data
  4. Free 24/7 Online Reporting
  5. Recurring Payments
  6. Lowers accounts receivable and collection costs
  7. Online Shopping Carts

Online shopping carts assist with purchases made over the web. Having a shopping cart on your website will allow customers to add items, as they shop, to their virtual shopping cart while it keeps a running total of all items in the cart. When the customer is ready to "check out," the shopping cart will total the items, shipping, and tax automatically. This helps customers feel more comfortable with the purchase process.

Sage Payment Virtual Terminal is briefly demonstrated in this 7 minute You Tube video below presented by Keith Perkins at Accounting Systems Consulting Group, LLC: 


Sage Payment Solutions wants your online business to thrive. That's why we provide a free shopping cart for all businesses with a web presence.

There are many compatible third party software providers and shopping carts that can be integrated to our gateway. Please inquire with your third party provider to determine if their product is already certified to our gateway.

If you need assistance or would like ot learn more about Sage Payment Virtual Terminal, contact us at Accounting Systems Consulting Group, LLC. As ERP consultants, we have over twenty years of experience in helping hundreds of businesses become more efficient and profitable. 

Posted by Keith Perkins at Accounting Software, a Sage 100 ERP consultant firm serving Sage 100 ERP customers in Shreveport, LA and surrounding areas.


Tags: Sage payment solutions, Sage merchant services, Sage Credit Card Processing, Sage Payment Virtual Terminal

Business Process Challenges: Human Related or Software Related?

Posted by Adrian Montgomery on Thu, May 16, 2013 @ 01:12 PM
Business Process Efficiency

We are covering the eight steps to conducting a Business Process Assessment in this blog series.  Learn how to unleash profits by finding ways to work more efficiently.  In previous blogs we covered; how to compare current ERP systems to new goals, how to create a business process project management committee, who to nominate as the business process project management committee leader, how to develop a comprehensive business process anlysis document to measure and assess the existing business processes, how to define your milestone and project projections and how to prepare a project time line.

In our sixth part of this series we will cover how to determine if your business process challenges are human related or software related.  We will take into consideration technology, people and company organizational goals.  This part of the business process assessment targets results and goals of organizational tasks.  

First, we consider the current company technology business processes within each company department by reviewing the following 5 bullets:

  1. Business Process Automation Design
  2. Business Process Execution
  3. Business Process Integration
  4. Business Process Documentation
  5. Business Process Measurement
Second, we consider human related business processes:
  1. Strategy and Leadership
  2. Business Process Performance Training
  3. Business Process and Management Measurement
Each criteria above is measured on a 5 point scale, 5 being the best.  A score of 5 means the department has reached maximum efficiency, therefore the process cannot be improved, where a score of 2 would mean; business process improvement is needed.
This part of the business process assessment reveals business process performance problems, process management problems, performance improvement targets, measures against improvement efforts and assists to identify training needs.

Tags: MAS 90, Accounting System Consultant, Accounting Systems, MAS 90 and MAS 200, MAS 200, business process consultant, ERP Consultant, Business Process Assessment, Business Process Improvement, ERP software consultant, ERP System

Business Process Assessment: Compare Current ERP System & New Goals

Posted by Adrian Montgomery on Wed, Feb 06, 2013 @ 03:53 PM
Business Process Assessment

In this blog series we are covering 8 steps to conducting a Business Process Assessment.   If you haven’t looked into performing a business process assessment for your business, please read our series to learn how to unleash profits by finding ways to work more efficiently.  In our previous blogs we covered;  how to create a business process project management committee, who to nominate as the business process project management committee leader, how to develop a comprehensive business process analysis document to measure and assess the existing business processes, how to define your milestone and project projections and how to prepare a project time line.  

In our fifth part of this series we will cover in more detail why it is important to compare your current IT and accounting functionality against your newly identified requirements or recommendations based on the business process assessment.   We will also offer suggestions on how to create a matrix to compare each business process need against the capable functionality of your internal personnel and accounting, human resource, customer-relationship-management systems.

In our previous blog about setting milestones and project projections we gave the example of Ruth (the committee leader for the Accounts Payable department) who has identified several business processes that took up too much time and led to inefficiencies.  She is looking into possible accounts payable automation software as a solution to integrate with their ERP system.  The priorities of the AP department are to eliminate manual invoice processing, improve invoice approval process and automatically generate an electronic notification to recipient when payment is processed.   

Now let’s review how Ruth will use these next steps to 1) compare your current IT and accounting functionality against your newly identified requirements and 2) how to create a matrix to compare each business process need against the capable functionality of your internal personnel and accounting, human resource, customer-relationship-management systems.

Compare current IT and accounting functionality against newly identified requirements

Ruth has mapped out a business process for the check writing and approval in the Accounts Payable (AP) department.   She has identified a few areas that take up time and expense to the AP department’s resources.   Now she is comparing the existing accounting software and how the new areas for improvement will or will not work with their existing ERP solution.  She has reported back to the committee that there are several areas that are manual within their existing solution.  She has researched AP automation software and found a few add-ons or enhancements that integrate with their existing accounting and ERP solution that will help automate their manual and inefficient processes.     Ruth will explore the 2-3 ERP enhancements and report back to the committee her findings and recommendations.  She found one solution that seems to fit the best and is scheduling out demonstrations with the ERP consultant she works with to service their entire ERP system. 

Develop a Matrix

Developing a matrix on an Excel spreadsheet is the most basic way to help the business process assessment committee and the ERP consultant easily identify what is the description of current business process in the AP department, for example.  It will also list all of the issues with current process and also list the recommendations for improvement of the existing processes.  Tracking these business processes is an essential step since there could be a long list to track across departments.  This will allow the business process assessment committee leaders to prioritize what processes should be improved on first.  Now you can sort by priority and set-up an action plan to improve the overall efficiency and profits of the business.  Your business process assessment committee and ERP consultants will be essential in starting the improvement plan moving forward.

Within one business process, like in the example of the AP check writing and the check approval process, there may be a combination of multiple processes that are common given different scenarios.  It is important to outline the various processes that are linked with one activity like check writing, for instance.  This comparison of current functionality with the requirements to change must take place across the entire organization.  This will involve investigating the resources and capabilities of personnel, the current ERP system including accounting, human resource management and your customer relationship management (CRM) systems.   With a little teamwork and involvement across departments your business is now on its way driving toward continuous improvement and maximizing profits. 

If there are inefficiencies eating away at your business profits and tying up costs it is best to detect them and eliminate them before more damage is done!  We have performed hundreds of business process assessments please contact us for more information.

Tags: MAS 90, Workflow, BPM, MAS 200, Process Automation, Busienss Process Automation, business process consultant, ERP Consultant, Sage 100 ERP, Business Process Assessment, Business Process Improvement

Business Process Assessment: Define Milestone and Project Projections

Posted by Adrian Montgomery on Wed, Jan 30, 2013 @ 04:51 PM
Business Process AssessmentIn our fourth installment of our eight part Business Process Assessment series we will be covering how to go about defining milestone and project projections and why is it important.   After reading our previous blogs, you now understand the importance of why your company should institute a business process assessment (BPA) in the first place.   You also understand the importance of selecting a Business Process Project Management Committee and have hopefully started developing a series of questions to establish how business processes are currently running in each department.  Once you have the answers back from each department, you will have a snapshot of what improvements need to be made and how to prioritize them in order of importance.  Now let’s review how to get started on defining milestone and project projections.

The objective of a Business Process Assessment is to challenge your business to strive for continuous performance and profitability.   Once the list of issues in each department is prioritized, you can now get to work on setting milestones for the objectives laid out in the plan.   This will help break things down into stages and monitor the progress.  If resources need to be allocated to accomplish a department’s objective then you will have a way to plan out what amount of time or money needs to be budgeted and spent to accomplish the goals.  Here’s a closer look at the next two steps in moving forward: 

Defining Business Process Assessment Milestones

Business Process Assessment Milestones help break up each department objectives with communication of issues and coordination of activities that need to be accomplished along with a tracking tool to manage toward success of each objective or project.  An Excel spreadsheet would be an example of a basic tool that is often used to track this progress.

  • Milestone = activities + required resources (funds or activities) + deadline + progress to date + status of activities
  • EXAMPLE:   Objective - Accounts Payable Department wants to improve check writing procedures to vendors – Owner - Ruth (AP department BPA committee leader)
  • Milestone Activity #1 – Ruth will investigate how current check writing and check approval process creates backlogs + deadline Friday, February 8, 2013 + progress to date = Ruth is interviewing AP clerks, managers and vendors and will report findings and recommendations to the committee.  Ruth will explore options on how to improve process based on findings.
  • Milestone Activity #2 – Ruth will report back to BPA committee findings and recommendations + deadline Wednesday, February 13, 2013 + progress to date = pending completion of Activity #1

Business Process Assessment Project Projections

Business Process Assessment Project Projections help companies achieve their goals and lower operating costs by helping to manage and prioritize multiple projects by department.  Project projections also help to ensure the proper resources of time (by role) and anticipated budget are allocated appropriately.  

  • Project Projection = Projected project cost + individual task total cost + expended costs to date + balance to complete + pending costs + anticipated hurdles or delays to completion
  • EXAMPLE:  Objective - Accounts Payable Department wants to improve check writing procedures to vendors.  Owner - Ruth (our AP department BPA committee leader) has completed her milestone activities for project and has reported her findings and recommendations to the committee. Ruth has prioritized the next steps on how to improve the AP department check writing and approval process. Based on the committee approval and prioritization, it is determined that the check writing and approval process should be improved. 
  • Project Projection #1 - Ruth estimates that it will take her 2-3 days to explore recommendations for improvement to the current process + this will take her away from her normal duties which will require overtime pay or an AP clerk temp will be hired while Sally the AP clerk backs Ruth up + $1,200 is allocated to hire a temp or pay for Ruth’s overtime + pending costs will be tracked + Ruth may need to purchase an ERP system add-on or total system change to automate process =  1 week is the goal for Project Projection #1  completion
  • Project Projection #2 – Ruth determines that the check writing and approval process is wasting the department’s time totaling 10 hours per week with their current manual process and Ruth is exploring ERP software check writing and approval enhancement options that will integrate with their Sage 100 ERP software system. + Ruth will take 1 day to explore options and review estimated costs + pending costs TBD ($2,000 to $4,000 is estimate for ERP enhancement add-on) = ERP enhancement for Sage 100 ERP software recommendation will be presented to committee in 1 week

Project Projections help organize the costs and success of each individual activity for each department in your organization.

You may have heard the saying, “It is wise to begin with the end in mind.”   If you don’t have a clear and defined destination from a leadership perspective and within the leaders of each department, it is very hard to have the whole team rowing with you in the same direction.  Your milestones and project projections will serve as a guide to measure where priorities fall within each department.  Working to develop a Business Process Assessment and culture within your organization will help your business improve how it works together to facilitate change and continue to evolve as a high performing and profitable business.  Working at all levels of your business through department committee leaders will enable leadership and accountability for results throughout your organization.  

 Contact us to learn more about our free 30 minute ERP software needs assessment.

Tags: MAS 90, Sage Needs Assessment, MAS 90 Needs Assessment, MAS 200 Needs Assessment, MAS 200, Sage 100 ERP. Sage 100 ERP Accounting System, Business Process Assessment

Business Process Analysis: Develop Department Specific Questions

Posted by Adrian Montgomery on Mon, Jan 14, 2013 @ 02:12 PM
Business Valuation India

This the third part of our eight part series describing why every business should incorporate a Business Process Assessment.  In previous blogs we discussed the importance of creating a Business Process Project Management Committee and electing a leader to represent each department within a company.  The third step is to develop a comprehensive business process analysis document with a series of questions.  

The business process analysis is a series of questions each department in the company is required to answer.  This gives the business process management committee a blueprint of the business process opportunities to improve between departments in a company.  The answers to these questions serve to reveal bottlenecks within a company and improve on efficiency.

Examples of questions a business process assessment would ask the Accounts Payable (AP) department include:

  1. What is your check writing procedure?
  2. How are AP cash requirements determined?
  3. Are there requirements for prepayments to vendors?
The business process analysis is a comprehensive examination of each department within a company.  The business project management committee develops a list of questions the business project managment department leader is assigned to answer with the help of employees within the each department.  This gives the employees the opportunity to contribute to the discovery process and the ultimate solution associated with each problem. Each answer should associate a weight of importance, i.e. low priority = 1, medium priority = 2, high priority = 3 and essential = 4.  This will give you an immediate snapshot of the most important issues to focus on first.
If it is discovered there is a need to replace the business process automation software or improve upon the current systems via enhancements it is our experience the employees will likely accept that change easier and take ownership in making the software change successful.

Tags: Business process management, business process analysis, Business Process Assessment, Sage 100 ERP consultant, MAS 90 consultant, ERP software consultant

What is a Business Process Project Management Committee?

Posted by Adrian Montgomery on Thu, Jan 03, 2013 @ 04:45 PM
Project Management Lifecycle

The Business Process Project Management Committee is a group within an organization assigned to maintain the health of interdepartmental business processes and dependencies. Usually an organization will form a Business Process Project Management committee to measure the efficiencies of human and software related business processes.

Each department within an organization elects a Business Process Project Management Committee representative.  Each department representative is asked a series of questions to identify human and software related bottlenecks and inefficiencies.  The department employee surveys the department to identify opportunities to improve and reports the information back to the Business Process Project Management Committee.

The Business Process management Committee then determines how to solve the inefficiencies through employee training or implementation of business process automation software.  If the Business Process management Committee decides the inefficiencies are Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software related the committee will define the business process management objectives and write a request for proposal from ERP software vendors.  Once the ERP software selection is final the Business Process Management committee overseas the new ERP software related implementation to insure it meets the objectives of resolving the business process inefficiencies.

The Business Process management Committee focuses on the following objectives during ERP software implementation related projects

  • Consistent program and project execution
  • Meeting commitments
  • Staying within the parameters to measure progress across the entire organization
  • Employee project inclusiveness
  • Employee culture change

If you are interested in learning more about Business Process Management or Business process assessments please contact us to learn more!

Tags: Business process management, Business Process Assessment, Sage 100 ERP consultant, MAS 90 consultant, ERP software consultant