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Nov 9, 2011
Press Release: Ron Ketterling Of Business Automation Specialists Of Minnesota Is Named To Microsoft Partner Advisory Council

Oct 13, 2011
Press Release: Business Automation Specialists OF MINNESOTA Attains Microsoft Managed Partner Status

Sep 12, 2011
FREE Barcoding Webinar Series

Jul 19, 2011
5 Ways to Accelerate and Improve Your Companys Cash Flow

Jul 18, 2011
Inventory Management Systems

Sage PRO

Sage has been hard at work adding new features and functionality to Sage Pro. No matter how you use the system, you are bound to find some exciting improvements. Here’s a quick highlight of all you can expect to see in the Sage Pro 2011 release:

Posted in Articles, Sage PRO on Monday, May 16th, 2011 | No Comments »

Bonus Depreciation Provision for Businesses (2010-2012) – US

President Obama signed House Bill H.R. 4853 (Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010) into law on December 17, 2010. H.R. 4853 includes a two-part extension of the bonus depreciation provision for all businesses, regardless of size. The potential tax benefits may be useful for your customers.

On December 17, 2010, President Obama signed into law House Bill H.R. 4853. This new law could allow businesses to write off an additional 100% of the cost of qualifying assets (including software) acquired and placed into service after September 8, 2010 through December 31, 2011. This law could also allow businesses to write off an additional 50% of the cost of qualifying assets placed into service after December 31, 2011 through December 31, 2012. This bill was signed in an attempt to encourage capital investment through 2012.

We want to let you know about this bill now because some of its provisions will only apply to qualifying assets put into service in 2010 and 2011. Further, there is no guarantee that a similar bill will be signed into law in 2013. As such, it is possible that certain tax benefits offered by this bill will only be applicable to qualifying asset purchases that occur over the next two years.

To further illustrate the potential tax benefits that this bill may offer to you or your customers, we have attached a copy of the text of the bill. We encourage you or your customers to review this bill and its implications together with a qualified tax advisor.

THE CONTENTS OF THIS ARTICLE WERE WRITTEN AS A CONVENIENCE TO YOU. THIS ARTICLE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE TAX ADVICE FROM Business Automation Specialists of MN INC OR ITS EMPLOYEES AND REPRESENTATIVES. IT IS OF A GENERAL NATURE ONLY AND IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR CAREFUL TAX PLANNING AND ADVICE. THIS ARTICLE IS NOT INTENDED TO CONSTITUTE A COMPLETE ANALYSIS OF ALL TAX CONSIDERATIONS RELATED TO H.R. 4853. AS SUCH, ALL READERS ARE URGED TO CONSULT WITH THEIR OWN TAX ADVISORS CONCERNING THE U.S. FEDERAL TAX CONSIDERATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH H.R. 4853, AS WELL AS ANY CONSIDERATIONS ARISING UNDER THE LAWS OF ANY STATE, LOCAL, OR OTHER TAXING JURISDICTION.

THIS ARTICLE WAS NOT INTENDED OR WRITTEN TO BE USED, AND SHOULD NOT BE USED, BY ANY READER FOR THE PURPOSE OF AVOIDING U.S. FEDERAL OR OTHER TAX PENALTIES, OR FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROMOTING, MARKETING, OR RECOMMENDING TO ANOTHER PARTY ANY TAX-RELATED MATTERS.

Posted in Articles, Business Intelligence, CRM, ERP, Food Industry, MS Dynamics NAV, Sage PRO on Thursday, March 31st, 2011 | No Comments »

BASM and Sage Pro Mold Discover Plastics for the Future

Discover Plastics realizes dramatic efficiency gains with new ERP distribution software

Read the full testimonial

Posted in Client Testimonials, ERP, Sage PRO on Wednesday, August 26th, 2009 | No Comments »

UpDate Ltd. is a service company that provides equipment, parts and supplies for the finishing industry.

“We haven’t significantly changed the information we put into our system, but the information we get out of our current system is a vast improvement over our previous system. Our business management system has harnessed the power of our data. Any business owner or manager could certainly benefit from these powerful tools! “

Read the full testimonial

Posted in Client Testimonials, Sage PRO on Thursday, April 9th, 2009 | Comments Off

Speed up your Sage PRO ERP with these Maintenance Tips and Tricks

Sage PRO ERP Maintenance Tips and Tricks
Maintenance	Description	Frequency
Clear Temporary Files from Workstation	This procedure will delete temporary files created by all programs on your hard drive. These files take up space on your hard drive and could cause problems. Your computer/network support person can also create a batch file that will automatically delete them every time you log in to the network.	Every Week
Disk Defragmenter	This procedure will find scattered files on your hard drive and fix any problems. This can speed up your processing.	Monthly
Scan Disk	This procedure will check disk surface, files and folders for errors.	Requested by Technical Support
Clear Temporary Files from PRO Directories	This procedure will delete temporary files created by PRO on your hard drive. These files take up space on your hard drive and could cause problems.	Every Week
Clear Mem Files from PRO Directories	This procedure will delete all mem files created by PRO on your hard drive. Mem files are temporary files used by PRO to speed up movement within the program and are recreated if they don’t exist.	Requested by Technical Support
Check available space on C: Drive	This procedure will check how much space you have available on your C: drive. This is where your temporary files are placed. Make sure you have plenty of free space. The amount required varies with the size of your databases.	Requested by Technical Support
Check available space on network Drive	This procedure will check how much space you have available on your network drive(s). If you run low on disk space your processing can slow down and if you run out, your application will crash and you will lose data.	Requested by Technical Support
Move CDXs	This procedure will move CDXs found in PRO to a different location on your hard drive. CDXs are indexes PRO creates to find data more quickly. You must recreate them after moving them.	Requested by Technical Support
Delete CDXs	This procedure will delete all CDXs found in your PRO folder. CDXs are indexes PRO creates to find data more quickly. You must recreate them after moving them.	Requested by Technical Support
Verify File Structure and Indexes	This procedure compares file characteristics (such as field names, lengths, and types) and related indexes against the data dictionary and reports any discrepancies. This is only a reporting function; file structures and indexes are not updated.	Requested by Technical Support
Validate Database	(Visual FoxPro tables only) This procedure checks for inconsistencies in the database and attempts to repair them. It adds free tables to the database container and repairs broken links to files already in the database container. It also removes files that do not belong in the database container.WARNING: Do not do this unless directed to by Technical Support.	Requested by Technical Support
Update from Data Dictionary	The data dictionary stores information about data files and their indexes. This procedure updates the structures of existing data files to match the table structures defined in the data dictionary. It also rebuilds indexes. WARNING: Some program modifications may be adversely affected (or BROKEN) by performing Update from Data Dictionary. If you have ANY modifications or are not sure if you have modifications, DO NOT Update from Data Dictionary without first consulting with a qualified, professional.	Requested by Technical Support (someone who is aware of all your modifications.)
Check Table Integrity	(Visual FoxPro tables only) In the event of a system interruption or power failure, use the Check Table Integrity feature to verify the integrity of your tables. WARNING: Using this may cause loss of data. Do not update tables with this function unless asked to do so.	Requested by Technical Support (someone who is aware of all your modifications.)
Re-indexing PRO Applications FilesRe-indexing PRO System Files	Most PRO database files have one or more related index files. These indexes enable you to find information in the database files quickly and in a variety of ways. Indexes for each data file (table) and a description of their use are included in the data dictionary. Sometimes indexes lose track of their pointers to related data files. When this happens, you need to re-index. Re-indexing deletes and rebuilds the index files for the database files you specify. Since it is not possible to jeopardize your database by re-indexing, the general rule is: when in doubt, re-index! Here are some reasons you need to re-index your files: You deleted some index files (those ending in .CDX). You get an error message such as “Record is out of range” or “Index does not match database”. You cannot find a data record, such as an inventory item, and you know you didn’t delete it. You see a different record than the one you wanted. You changed the structure of a table that uses an index. You add or change an index in the data dictionary. You can also use this feature to remove all records marked for deletion during the re-indexing process by selecting the Pack option.	Nightly
Clear PRO Flags	If your system is interrupted in a way that forces users to exit without formally logging out, an administrator-level user must log in to the system and clear the user flags and file locks. Until that time, operator-level users who were forced out of the system will not be able to log back in. After restarting the system, administrator users have the option to override the system lockout to get to the flag clearing routines. The options on the Clear Flags submenu enable you to override and reset multi-user file locks, clear user flags, close corrupted session numbers, and delete unnecessary temporary files. These functions are useful in the event program operation has been terminated prematurely.System Manager gives you flexibility in the scope of these utilities. You can choose to clear only the file locks, clear the active users, close sessions, or just delete temporary work files. You can also use the Clear All Flags option to perform all these operations at one time.	Nightly or as needed
Recalculate File Balances in PRO	The Recalculate Application Balances option on the System Recovery submenu enables you to identify and resolve certain inconsistencies that may develop in your customer, vendor, or inventory balances. For example, if customer balances don’t match the amount of open invoices, you can recalculate file balances to reconcile them. You can use this option to update any data files where discrepancies may be encountered, or simply to see a report of the discrepancies. When you recalculate Inventory Control balances, discrepancies in on-hand quantities are not updated automatically. Discrepancies in other inventory values, such as allocated quantities, will be updated if you choose to update files during recalculation.If System Manager detects a discrepancy in on-hand quantities, it produces reports that enable you to track the discrepancy between quantities in the item master file, the item-at-location file, and the quantity file.	Requested by Technical Support
Clear Flags	When you log into PRO and do various processes, the program sets a flag that you are logged in and doing something. The flag is a field entry in one or more databases. If your computer crashes or you have an error in PRO and exit without quitting, this entry is not cleared Clearing Flags removes the entry. Clearing Flag, like Reindexing, never hurts. Just make sure that you don’t clear flags for someone who is actually logged in to PRO.One important thing to understand is that clearing flags does not close the files that are open. PRO closes these files when you exit properly. If someone is in PRO and you clear flags, they are still working and you will not see them listed on the list of people logged in. In addition, because your have cleared flags they may experience data corruption. If you are trying to shut down the server and do so without checking the server for open files, you may experience significant data corruption.	As needed

Tags: Sage PRO | Posted in Sage PRO on Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 | No Comments »

What a Value Added Reseller Really Means to You

You’ve likely heard the term “Value Added Reseller” or “VAR”, but you likely don’t know what this really means to you. We gathered our team together and asked them for examples of how Business Automation Specialists of Minnesota has provided value to our clients. With a flurry of answers, and after 90 minutes, we realized we had too many examples to cover in one article. The resulting case study on “Company X” represents just a few examples of how a VAR adds value.

Company X had purchased Sage Pro using another reseller (not a value added reseller). This reseller decided to get out of the business which left Company X needing someone to support their systems. Instead of looking for another reseller, they hired an IT professional hoping he could pick up where their reseller left off.

Posted in Sage PRO on Thursday, January 22nd, 2009 | No Comments »

Upside to Upgrading

Sage Software released their newest version of Sage Pro ERP early last year. Version 7.4 contains significant new automation features and performance enhancements to help improve efficiency, productivity, and profitability for small and mid-sized businesses. So how do you know if you should upgrade? There has never been a time where Pro has had so many new features with enhanced stability and ease of use. Any client that is on Pro 7.2 or previous releases should upgrade. Otherwise, you will be missing out on a lot of new features that add a big return on your software investment. There are too many new features to list, but here are a few of our favorites:

Tags: AP EFT, Bar Code and RFID Support, Document Routing, Drill Downs, Enhanced Manufacturing Productivity, Executive Dashboard, Quotation and Bid Manager, RMA Module | Posted in Sage PRO on Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008 | No Comments »