What services does ASP Accounting Software provide?

ASP Accounting Software sells, services and supports the Sage Accpac line of accounting and e-business solutions. We provide a quality product combined with professional service, enabling our clients to work to maximum efficiency in identifying, recording, managing and reporting their financial and business information.

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What does the engagement process entail?

An engagement to provide a fully functioning accounting system typically involves the following sequence of steps or events:

• Initial contact, introductions and preliminary requirements assessment
• Product demonstration
• Comprehensive requirements gathering
• Generation of hardware, software, implementation and training options
• Creation of costs estimates for selected hardware, software, implementation and training configuration
• Selection of chosen configuration, issuance of purchase orders and signing of engagement implementation contract
• Implementation of all systems and training programs
• Project completion and commencement of post implementation support

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What are the benefits of new accounting software?

Understanding your business’s financial information capabilities and weaknesses is critical to selecting the appropriate accounting software solution. The more you know about the challenges you expect the software to solve, the more informed decision you’ll make.

Many organizations stay with their current system too long. It’s comfortable to use, and the cost and time investment needed to change systems can be significant. But comfortable is not always sufficient—especially when it comes to maintaining the financial health and long-term success of your business.

Properly installed and implemented accounting software can contribute many benefits to your organization, including:

• improved cash flow
• more accurate information
• better decision-making
• more control
• scalability

The challenges to successfully choosing, installing and implementing new accounting software are many. But it is worth your time to consider the opportunities to enhance your business significantly.

More information on this topic is available in the publication “How to choose an accounting system.” To download this document, click here. (Requires Adobe® Reader®). 560k

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How do I know if I need new accounting software?

While there are no hard and fast rules to use here are some indicators that your current system may not be delivering all of the value that it should. Answering yes to any of the following questions is a good reason to start looking:

• Do you need to use more than one system or service to get the business information that you need?
• Is your system using outdated technology such as Dos, Unix, or other non-graphically based operating systems?
• Is your system using a proprietary database?
• Is the user forced to conform to the system?
• Was the system created before the use of current technologies such as email, direct faxing, electronic payment?
• Is is difficult or impossible to easily extract date for analysis?
• Is there only one way to access your system?
• Is remote access difficult, costly or prone to problems?
• Are you restricted to using only the reports built in to the system?
• Can you modify and automate procedures within your system to suit your particular business requirements?

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How do I know what software products I’ll need?

With professional accountants leading our engagement teams, we at ASP Accounting are readily familiar with the financial capabilities you might require in your accounting software. Our in-depth knowledge goes beyond software design; we understand day-to-day functionality requirements that will help us design the best system for your needs.

Before you make your software acquisition decision we will provide you with a thorough analysis of your business requirements. Based on your business requirements we will give you several possible system alternatives and work with you to choose the one that is right for you, both today and into the future.

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Why are there different editions of Sage Accpac ERP?

Sage Accpac ERP currently has 3 editions, Sage Accpac 100, 200, and 500. For the differences between the editions, click here.

It’s a marketing strategy, and a strategy that works for you. While Sage Accpac ERP is truly a mid-market information system capable of managing hundreds of users and many thousands of transactions the use of “editions” has allowed this powerful system to be made available to smaller organisations as well. At the same time as both small and mid-size organisations are able to make use of the system the upgrade path is absolutely seamless to the end users in moving either up or down the edition scale.

This has been accomplished by use of a well thought out licensing scheme where limits are placed on the lower level editions for numbers of users, numbers of companies, numbers of segments on codes, etc. However, the underlying program and all related functions are exactly the same between the editions. This means that moving from edition to edition is normally a simple process that takes relatively little time and is completely transparent to the end user.

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Do I own the software when I buy it?

No you don’t, but then again, if you read any of the modern software licenses for any of the other software that you use you likely don’t own that either. What you buy when you buy software today is the right to use it. In the event that your organisation was sold or merged with another organisation it is possible to transfer the software to the new entity. If you acquire a new or different software package to replace Sage Accpac ERP, according to the licensing agreement that you accept at the time of purchase, you will not be allowed to sell Sage Accpac ERP to a third party.

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How does Sage Accpac ERP licensing work?

Sage Accpac ERP is licensed on a concurrent user basis. What this means is that you need to have the same number of licenses as you have simultaneous users. What this also means is that you can have the program installed or accessible on all of the computers in your business as long as only the licensed number of users are using the software at any one time.

Managing the licensing situation within Sage Accpac ERP is quite simple. Once you reach the maximum number of users any additional potential users will receive a message at log in to the system that all of the licenses are in use. The potential user will be able to log in once one of the existing users logs out.

New licenses can be added at any time up to the limit for the particular edition that you are using. The process of adding a license takes less than 5 minutes and can be done without technical support assistance.

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How does Sage CRM licensing work?

Sage CRM is licensed on a named user basis. What this means is that you need to have the same number of licenses as you have users. Licenses are consumed by users regardless of whether they are currently active in the system or not.

Managing the licensing situation within Sage CRM is quite simple. When you add an additional staff member you need to add a new CRM license in order to have that user capable of using CRM. If you replace a staff member you can reuse the existing license by making the outgoing staff member inactive, thus releasing the license, and create the new user who will consume the newly released license.

New licenses can be added at any time up to the limit for the particular edition that you are using. The process of adding a license takes less than 5 minutes and can be done without technical support assistance.

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Does the system run stand-alone?

Believe it or not, this system, capable of serving hundreds of users can be run on a stand alone computer and that stand alone computer can also act as the server (depending on the operating system that is being used) for other users.

There are practical limits to this type of set up but the system functions perfectly well. This capability is very useful for setting up “training” workstations, using the system within small departments or project areas that do not use the main system or for the smallest of business applications where business complexity does not allow for a typical “small business” system to be used.

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Can the system be used remotely?

Yes, definitely! Not only can the system be used remotely, giving rise to the slogan that Sage Accpac ERP is an, “Anytime, anywhere end-to-end business solution”, it can be used remotely using a number of different methods and strategies. There are different methods to suit the different needs of: branch offices, remote worksites, home based staff, and staff that travel the world. With the remote access provisions of Sage Accpac ERP combined with the provisions of today’s modern operating systems there is never a need to be out of touch with your vital business information, unless you want to be alone.

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How often is the software upgraded?

On average over the past 4 years the system has seen a significant upgrade approximately every 8 months. The reason for this rapid upgrade cycle is that the developers of Sage Accpac products have fully committed to the pace of development of hardware, software and internet technology capabilities.

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How do I get the upgrades?

When you pay your annual Software Assurance maintenance fee you are guaranteed all upgrades for the duration of the service agreement. Once an upgrade has been released for public use you will be notified by Sage Accpac that the upgrade is available.

Most of the upgrades require technical assistance in order to install them to ensure that all system set up, customisations and modifications are also correctly upgraded. As most of the upgrades involve changes to many of the modules it is also necessary to have a short training session to inform all personnel of the changes and modify processing routines as required.

Not all upgrades will work smoothly in all situations. In order to avoid problems and downtime with system upgrades ASP Accounting Software tests each upgrade extensively on our in house client databases prior to installing upgrades on your system. In addition, each time an upgrade is made to your software a full implementation plan is developed to ensure that nothing that is required gets left out. Also, at upgrade time we routinely check your system for problems or deficiencies to help you gain as much value from your system as is possible.

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Will Sage Accpac ERP integrate with our other business software?

Sage Accpac ERP can be integrated with practically any software. The system has been developed using the three tier concept for database programming. The three tiers are: User interface, Business logic and database. Depending on the requirements of the integration it is possible to integrate at any of the three tiers.

Most simple systems integration can be accomplished using the tools that come with the system. For more complex integration requirements or to enable an organisation to write its own modular integration components an SDK toolkit is available from Sage Accpac giving you all of the same Sage Accpac programming specific tools that are available to the Sage Accpac development team.

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What are the system requirements for the products you sell?

The system requirements vary depending on the product mix chosen and the underlying databases being used. For a complete detailed view of the system requirements please visit our software requirements pages:

Sage Accpac ERP | Sage Accpac Exchange | Sage CRM

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How much does Sage Accpac or Sage CRM cost?

Depending on the type of software that you choose, the edition that you use, and the complexity of the installation and training requirements a software installation of Sage Accpac products can range from $5,000 for the simplest of upgraded systems to well over $100,000 for complex high user systems.

Regardless of cost our staff is committed to finding the most cost-effective solution to meet your needs. With a wide array of software products, we’ll work with you to design the right program to fit your budget. A wisely chosen system will generate more value than it cost within a relatively short period of time.

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Is Sage Accpac software better than the other accounting software on the market?

Sage Accpac accounting and e-business software solutions stand up to the most stringent selection criteria. We expect that you will want to research comparable products on the market to determine what will work best for you. However, we’re confident that the more people know about accounting software, the more likely they are to seriously consider—and ultimately choose — Sage Accpac.

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How does billing work?

There are two components to the billing for a system and two requirements for payment.

The software component requires a payment of 50% of the quoted cost on acceptance of the quote and the final 50% on substantial completion of the software installation. Subsequent purchases of software products are billed on a Net 30 days terms basis for organisations with acceptable credit.

The implementation component requires payment monthly based on billings generated at the end of each month. Billing is tracked according to the detailed implementation plan and variances greater than 10% are discussed with and approved by management prior to proceeding. Changes to the implementation plan require written approval of both the client and ASP Accounting Software. Payments are due 15 days after receipt.

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How can I get more information?

Contact us to describe your needs in detail and help us learn more about how we can serve you. Click here.

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