Green Green Grass of home.

Every industry is going green and ICT is no exception. From green bulbs, green servers, notebooks and routers. Green the hottest colors in business marketing these days. Increasingly, customers prefer brands that use resources wisely and respect the environment.Corporation large and small are taking note and in their PR drive - pushing the “GREEN” image. They want to be associated with this cause. Even big MAC has its color change to green  But SAGE has its original color in green, an environmental friendly color image..

What about ERP and Accounting Software provider?

Going “Paperless" is what it’s recommended in order to save trees. But, we all know that ERP/Accounting is very form based, so the publicist slogan “toward a paperless office” remains a myth. In fact with the implementation of ERP the usage of paper has increase for some as automation and computers make it easy to churn out documents. So is it a lost cause?

Can Sage 300 ERP (formerly Sage Accpac) promote Green?

I believe so, as one goal is to reduce the use of paper. A paper “LESS” office is what we should be striving for. And for good reason Sage 300 ERP built-in functionalities help reduce the use of paper. By converting forms, like PO, DO, Statements, reminder letters & others into PDF format within it application and to be electronically mail out to its target recipients. This is one way to promote a paper “less” office and also reduce mailing cost.

Another way to eliminate paper is by automating paper-based processes that rely on forms, purchase requisition and approval and quotations can be electronically approval online via a automated workflows based purchasing and approval functions. So we reduce paper by automating these processes.

Transforming Paper-Based Documents
Another aspect is the use of technology to convert paper based documents, pictures, engineering plan into to digital documents. Document managements system working in tandem with a high speed scanner is the key to achieve this. Software Sage 300 3rd party solutions provided such functionalities to quickly transform these into digital documents that integrated with your Sage 300 ERP.

Business Intelligence and Analytics

Sage 300 ERP 6.0 brings Business Intelligent and Management dashboard to the desktop. Executives no longer have to print rolls of reports and sieved through them. But will know at their finger tips what’s happening to sales, collections, profitability and so on. I believe this too contribute toward a paper “less” office.

“Although a completely paperless office is not a realistic goal for us, we believe that Sage 300 ERP functionalities and together with its 3rd party application, like works flows & electronic document management and access is helping to reduce our reliance on paper and manual processes."

In Short Sage 300 ERP GREEN friendly.

Sage Asia Top Premier Partner Award - Malaysia

The news is out; Careware Systems Sdn Bhd has been awarded the Top Malaysia Sage Premier Partner 2009. In fact she is the only Premier Partner in Malaysia. Careware is also the Asia Sage Premier Partner 2009.

We would like to take this opportunity to THANK YOU to all our value customers for your continued support without which we will not be achieve this in the challenging market situation brought about by market downturn. Also big thanks to our dedicated team of staffs who work hand in glove to minimize cost and provide the same level of support to our valued customers.

Another year is coming to end, and a new year is on the verge of beginning, we look forward to another fruitful year ahead. “Together we can Excel”

 Robert Tan receiving the Award from Mr. Low Gee Sing MD of Sage Asia

ERP - History

INTRODUCTION

ERP is a Business solution that addresses all the needs of an enterprise with the process view of an organization to meet the organizational goals and integrate all the functions of the Enterprise.

Traditionally an MRP system runs on minis and mainframe computers in the early 60s and 70s. Initially corporate mainly runs the inventory control, sales and financial accounting systems. Some of us are old enough to remember fondly the IBM 3090 mainframe which need water chillers to cool the CPU and hard disk the size of our desk. Then came the Minis Systems IBM Systems 36, 38 and then the AS400 in the 70s where MRP1 was introduced to the corporation, mainly the manufacturing companies.

CAN LANS REPLACE MINIS?

That was the big question for corporate America in the 80s and rightly so. Can I have complete confidence that the system will perform reliably, that it will be up to the task, that I will get support and that I will keep my job.

Aside from the quality of the available application software, die-hard supporters of big-iron system argue that LAN-based servers don't have the storage capacity or ability to handle multiple simultaneous input /output request present in mainframe - systems

Not until the launched of the Intel 80386 CPU in 1985 that reportedly eclipse the procession power of mini system like IBM Systems 36, 38 and network operating systems as Novel Netware 3x with the support of 32 bit and the introduction of Netware 3 SFT-III (System Fault Tolerance) which allowed a logical server to be completely mirrored to a separate physical machine that we see the drive to move the “Big Iron Systems” software to the LAN and client/server mode. The buzzword in those days were Downsizing & Rightsizing.

More and more MRP/ERP systems was being re-engineer to take advantage of these “tiny” servers on the LAN with capacity of carrying many hundreds gigabytes of hard disk storage. The beginning of the 1990s new software systems known as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems have surfaced in the market, targeting mainly larger complex business organizations.

Today Intel Xeon based servers should coast along as they support hundreds of active concurrent users running on Windows, Linux with SQL databases.

PRICE PERFORMANCE RATIO. WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU?

Corporate America's growing dissatisfaction with the results achieved for the money spent on corporate information systems is becoming mere apparent in recent years. What defines a traditional Mini is not simply its size and capacity. Its proprietary architecture, proprietary operating system, proprietary networking protocols, and proprietary application software lead inevitably to the semi-monopoly pricing that is an inescapable part of its operation.

Information executive are open-minded on the alternative solution provided by less costly client server and Internet ready system. Anyone who is dumb enough to insist on solving problems with a Million Dollars Mini System when they could solve it with a system when they could solve it with a System Costing a Hundred Thousand is just begging for a new career, perhaps in consulting.

Depending on your particular requirement and budget you will select the combination of equipment and software that will achieve what you want.

With the unprecedented growth of information and communication technologies (ICT) driven by microelectronics, computer hardware and software systems has influenced all facets of computing applications across organizations.

In this context, management of organizations needs efficient information systems to improve competitiveness by cost reduction and better logistics. It is universally recognized small-to-medium-size enterprises (SME) that the capability of providing the right information at the right time brings tremendous rewards to organizations in a global competitive world of complex business practices. This is serve today by the many ERP solutions that is affordable to the SME.

ERP TIMELINE

Because there are a lot of younger team members that weren't around for the first few decades of ERP, the ERP Timeline was created by Mr. Houston Neal that will help the new IT workforce to have a macro view the ERP history and development on the time- line basis. It's a quick way to understand the context of current enterprise software sequences and events. It has also brought me down the memory lane as I reflect upon its contents with nostalgia. Maybe things weren’t that fast in those days.

See : http://www.softwareadvice.com/manufacturing/#timeline

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Thanks to Mr. Houston Neal for providing me this informative website.

SAGE ASIA TOP PARTNER 2008

During the Sage Vision 2008 conference held in Kota Kinabalu, which was attended by business partners from all over Asia, Careware was awarded the Asia Top No. 1 Sage Business Partner. So we are not only Malaysia Top Business Partner but are now Asia no. 1 as well. Now we can truly say Malaysia Boleh!!

This is certainly a resounding testimony to our team capability and expertise in the sales and support in the Sage software solution that we carry. Truly we want to say a big thank you for the support of our loyal customers and friends over the years.

We take this opportunity to seek your forgiveness for any shortfalls that we may have and look forward to work with you together to face the coming challenging year ahead.

Together We Can Excel!!!!!!

Sage ACCPAC Mobile SalesPerson - Van Sales

If your mobile sales force process orders while on the move, Sage ACCPAC Mobile SalesPerson or Van Sales solution will help boost their productivities by allowing them to process Orders and Invoices at remote locations. This solution is certified by Sage to work with your Sage ACCPAC ERP modules.

Optimized to run on the Pocket PC or PDA with Windows Mobile, Mobile SalesPerson© or Van Sales solution takes full advantage of new and unique features which provide ease-of-use through a more natural interface that is just like using pen and paper to process orders.

Developed using Sage ACCPAC SDK, it distinguishes itself from others without the need to install and customized a costly and error prone "integration" module - a costly mistake which often overlooked.

Our Mobile SalesPerson© or Van Sales solution integrates with Accpac 5.3 / 5.4 / 5.5, it enables sales force to work with customers and manage accounts in person and also have all the information they would normally need to access sitting at a desk in their office.

As a result , Mobile SalesPerson© or Van Sales solution can help salesperson better manage their daily customer visits, track POS items, take orders on the move and access information to help them up sell and cross sell with little or no learning curve– all in real time with the customer.

Mobile SalesPerson© or Van Sales solution is the perfect solution for sales professionals who need to process orders directly with their office while conducting business at a remote locations.

Key Benefits

• Increase in salesperson productivity

• Increased customer satisfaction

• No back office order entry clerk

• Instant access to customer and item information to the Salesperson on the field

• Improvement of sales force efficiency by providing access to the correct information at the right time

• Reduced manual order entry errors

• Quick order execution – no time lost due to time

• Enable seamless data flow between mobile workers and the central office

• Facilitate real time communication between the field and the central office

• Reduction in sales process cycle time

Key Features

Critical Data: Instant access to contract pricing and Item status. Complete access to customer's data that improves decision-making.

Scheduling: Route schedule organize a sale person's daily customer visit priority.

Portability: The Mobile SalesPerson© interface enables automatic updates to Order Entry completely eliminating paper work. The 2 way data flow is like carrying Accpac 5.3 / 5.4 / 5.5 Order entry on a PDA. Data transmission can be via email, wireless, activesync or Internet connection.

Security: Device level security is embedded in Mobile SalesPerson© to ensure only authorized sales people have access to confidential company data and order processing capability.

Fast/Easy: With an easy to use interface and full screen, field representatives are never more than few clicks away from necessary information.

Customer-centric: All customer information and Item details are instantly available any time, anywhere.

Reports: Printing of Sales Orders can be accomplished through hand held printers.

CALL 03-79588232 or sales@careware.com.my for more information.

Ship Sales Order

Ship the right goods to the right customers, the first time!

At the core of most businesses is the desire to provide their customers with the right goods in a timely fashion. For this reason shipping sales orders is an essential part of many operations. Perhaps our most popular functionality, ACCU-DART makes shipping orders quick, accurate, and easy.

The old way: When an order was ready to be shipped, the warehouse staff took the order, grabbed all the items, and wrote down what they shipped. At various points in the day, all the paperwork was delivered to a data entry clerk who manually entered all items into the accounting system.

The ACCU-DART way: When shipping an item, the warehouse staff simply take the order, scan each item, enter a quantity, and scan the next item. When the order is complete, they press "Post". ACCU-DART automatically updates the accounting system. There are no additional steps or manual data entry to be processed. You can also set ACCU-DART to generate invoices, etc.

In addition, ACCU-DART makes tracking serial and lot information* easy. ACCU-DART can scan, verify, and update the accounting system with the correct serial or lot information for each transaction.

The old way: manually writing down serial and lot numbers can be very time consuming and mistakes can be easily made. For example, when the warehouse staff manually ship serialized items, they write down each serial number as they pack the box, and then pass the paperwork to the office staff for entry. But what if one of the serial numbers was written down incorrectly? The staff then need to unpack and recheck the entire order, or if it's already shipped, just select another serial number even though it is incorrect. These costly mistakes lead to inventory inaccuracy.

The ACCU-DART way: ACCU-DART verifies in real time that the correct serial and lot information is being recorded. So when a serialized item is being shipped, the warehouse staff simply scan the serial numbers into the system, and it validates that this is the correct serial number. Upon posting, ACCU-DART automatically updates the accounting system with this crucial serial and lot information.

Shipping the right orders the first time can have significant benefits to your clients' bottom line. When your client ships the wrong goods to their customers, the mistake needs to be fixed, usually by resending the correct item, at the company's cost. This can negatively affect profitability many areas: they may lose long-term business by decreasing customer satisfaction; then they must pay the staff wages as they process the return and reshipment; they also will need to pay the freight charges to correct the mistake. In addition, having inaccurate inventory will lead to loss of sales and incorrect purchasing decisions, all of which affect their profitability. With ACCU-DART, your clients will reduce the number of errors made, saving countless dollars, increasing staff efficiency, and improving profitability overall.

By shipping sales orders with ACCU-DART, your clients will be able to ship the right goods to the right customers the first time, and have the information be instantly updated in the accounting system. This in turn enhances customer satisfaction, increases productivity, and improves inventory accuracy.

For more information about ACCU-DART, please visit http://www.careware.com.my/

* Serial and lot functionality available as separate modules for Sage Accpac ERP.

Bin Tracking

Make Bin Tracking easy and efficient with ACCU-DART!

The ability to identify what items are in which bins can be of substantial benefit to many organizations. Attempting to track bins without a real-time radio-frequency system can be incredibly difficult:

The Old Way: Your clients may be storing their inventory in bins, but not tracking this information in their accounting system. If they are tracking bin information in the accounting system, they may be recording this manually. Every time an item is picked for shipping, or moved from one bin to another, the warehouse staff manually record what bin the item was taken from and where it is going. This information is then entered into the accounting system. Because bin movements are not being recorded in real-time, errors are easily made and inventory is constantly out of date. The usefulness of bin information is greatly reduced.

The Sage Accpac Way: With ACCU-DART, when an item is picked for shipping, or for any other bin movement, the warehouse staff scan the items with radio-frequency scanners. ACCU-DART will prompt the user to enter the current bin they are taking the items from, and the "destination" bin - either another bin (for bin transfers), or a shipping area (for picking orders) etc. ACCU-DART validates and, upon posting, automatically updates the accounting system in real-time.

For Sage Accpac ERP users, this functionality is available through integration with the Bin Tracking solution designed by Orchid Systems. This new third-party solution allows Sage Accpac ERP users to track inventory items stored in multiple bins within a warehouse or Inventory Control Location. For more information, please visit www.orchidsystems.biz.

ACCU-DART makes it easy to maintain inventory and bin accuracy within the warehouse. For more information about ACCU-DART, please visit  http://www.careware.com.my/ .

Physical Inventory Count

Physical counts can be one of the most time-consuming and tedious tasks in a warehouse.

Traditionally, all inventory transactions are put on hold for up to several days while the warehouse staff count and record every item in stock, and then manually update the accounting system with the latest inventory levels. This slow process can also lead to numerous inaccuracies - data can be lost in translation from the original count, to the paper, to the computer system. If your client needs to record lots or serial numbers, this problem becomes even worse: hand-writing long serial/lot numbers for each item is both exceptionally time-consuming and can lead to countless mistakes.

Using radio-frequency scanners, ACCU-DART improves accuracy and timeliness for updating inventory counts.

When performing physical counts with ACCU-DART, the warehouse staff scan the items and quantities (as well as serial or lot numbers, where appropriate) as they count. Once all items have been scanned, the data is updated in the accounting system. By scanning barcodes for the items (and serial/lot numbers), ACCU-DART ensures that the correct information is recorded in the accounting system. This module can also be used to perform periodic cycle counts.

Scanning items for physical count also saves countless man-hours. One ACCU-DART client - with several warehouses across the country - used to take 4 days to count their inventory and get it into the system. With ACCU-DART, it took less than a single day.

By performing physical counts with ACCU-DART, your client will be able to quickly and accurately manage their inventory in the warehouse.

For more information about ACCU-DART, please visit  http://www.careware.com.my/

Warehouse and Inventory Management

ACCU-DART is the Ideal Inventory Management Solution!

ACCU-DART is a real-time warehouse and inventory management solution, designed to integrate directly with Sage Accpac ERP. It is easy to install and easy to use. Using radio-frequency scanners, it allows the warehouse staff to instantly update the accounting system, ensuring that all users throughout the organization have the most up-to-date information. ACCU-DART will:

1. Improve Accuracy of Shipping: Ship the right goods to the right customer - the first time
2. Increase Efficiency: Reduce manual data entry
3. Enhance Productivity: Minimize inventory dollars – Maximize sales
4. Improved Inventory Control: maintain accurate inventory in real-time

ACCU-DART has been designed to integrate with accounting/inventory control systems. All inquiries and
updating occur against the existing system. Having a single source of data eliminates synchronization and reconciliation issues. Functions can be performed using ACCU-DART or by using the regular accounting system. The same updates are performed in either case.

Posting happens in real-time. No data synchronization or additional steps are required!

Ship the Right Goods to the Right Customer, the First Time!

ACCU-DART is a comprehensive inventory management tool that enhances accounting and inventory systems. ACCU-DART comes equipped with the most common required functions for efficient and effective warehouse and shop floor management.

ACCU-DART’s Functions Include

• Ship Sales Orders
- Option to Print Invoices/Packing Slips
- Option to Ship Kit Components
• Receive Purchase Orders
• Physical Inventory Count
• IC Warehouse Transfers (one-step)
• In-Transit Warehouse Transfers (two-step)
• Change Warehouse
• Lot Tracking Integration
• Serialized Inventory Integration
• MISys Integration (level one)
• Various Inquiries
- Item Inquiry
- Sales Order/Purchase Order Inquiry
- etc.

For more information about ACCU-DART, please visit www.careware.com.my or contact sales@careware.com.my

Economy Recovering?

CFOs Express More Confidence in Economy in the US economy which will augur well for those who operates from Asia as well.

The economy slow down has affected the ERP Business in Asia with factories retrenching workers particularly the semi conductors and consumer electronics industries that are largely dependence on the US market.

Tourism and its related industries were hit too with the Swine Flu (H1N1) that swept through the world including South East Asia. So actually we are hit with a double whammy, which is much worse than the previous 1997 recession.

But recently, particularly in South East Asia where we operate from, we see the economy and consumer spending are showing signs of picking up. Also factories that previously halted spending or which has KIVed their buying decision are resuming their evaluation of ERP systems again. Factories CFOs tells me that they received some large order that will keep them in production for the next two years. This is a good sign of recovery.

Our government reiterated its view that exports are picking up, with shipments to Asia particularly China rising and those to the United States and Europe showing signs of improving. It maintained its assessment that industrial output is also picking up, as manufacturers claw back production cuts from last year.

Off course we are not out of the darken tunnel yet but we are beginning to see the light.

Needless to say we have got some large orders which were KIVed since the beginning of the year, to help us closed off with a good showing in September in line with Sage Asia year end.

And I heaved a sigh of relief after that!

Window 7

Windows 7 is fast approaching its launch. Some who has tested and experienced what this latest operating system can do, have offer praises for its stability and memory thriftiness.

The potential of Windows 7 continues to grow as developers and consumers gain interest in it rapidly.

You can find out what the community is already saying about Windows 7 on  Facebook as well as on the Windows 7 local community portal. Microsoft has also created an official site to tell you more about the operating system here. Don't forget to take a look at the Facebook product page as well. On October 23, take off occurs!

Finally, if you are able to do sign up for the launch of three exciting and innovative products from Microsoft: Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 at The New Efficiency session. The day-long event will address your questions about what these three products can do for you and enhance the way you work, simplifying systems and optimising the office environment for the best solution.