CAREWARE-ERP

Happy Chinese New Year 2012

2012-01-13T07:57:00.003+08:00

We want to wish you a

Happy and Prosperous Chinese New year 2012.

Gong Xi Fa Cai

2012 The Year of the Dragon

Thank you again for your continuous support and friendship. May the year of Dragon bring golden opportunities and fruitful rewards your way. We look forward to a prosperous Chinese new year as we go into the year of the 2012! The coming 2012 year of the water Dragon is just about the corner.

In contrast to European dragons which are considered evil, the Chinese dragon is a kindly creature that controls over water, rainfall & thunderstorms. It’s brought rains to the farmers but also punishes those who are disobedience to their parents.

In Chinese daily language, excellent and outstanding people are compared to the dragon while incapable people with no achievements are compared with other, disesteemed creatures, such as the worm. A number of Chinese idioms feature references to the dragon, for example: "Hoping one's son will become a dragon" (望子成龍, i.e. be as a dragon).

The Dragon symbol of the 2012 year is an potent intelligent and laborious worker who never puts aside work though sometimes this leads him to excesses. The water Dragon has enough courage to face challenges and easily finds weak points that stand on his way to success.
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Note : Since you cannot keep a dragon, maybe you can keep an arowana. The picture show an arowanas, in Chinese, is called "Kam Lung Yue", or Golden Dragon Fish. Arowanas are popular aquarium fish in Asia. It is a majestic fish that the Chinese believe will bring a steady flow of fortunes and success in business.
I believe that success and fortune is a result of our diligence and blessing from the Lord.
You can make many plans, but the LORD's purpose will prevail. (Proverb 19:21. NLT)

Malaysian manufacturers to comply with new US law

2012-01-12T10:20:00.000+08:00

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian manufacturers exporting to the US will have to ensure usage of licensed IT softwares in their business operations following the newly imposed Unfair Competition Act (UCA) in Washington and Louisiana states.

The two states have passed the bill in July last year, making it a violation for any business to carry out manufacturing and commercial activities using stolen or misappropriated IT infrastructure in its entire supply chain.

Open Computing Alliance regional representative Michael Mudd said that Malaysian companies that obey Malaysian law would already be compliant with the UCA.

“All they need is to get an audit certification from their external auditors to confirm that the software used is paid for. For this, I would imagine incremental cost to be low,” he said at a seminar at MATRADE Hall.

“I believe that Malaysia has an early bird advantage of about six to 12 months to comply with the UCA, in advance of larger economies,” he said, saying that China, for one, will need more time to shift to the compliance mainly because of the scale of its economy.

He added that smaller companies can act quicker because of faster decision-making and use its compliance as a competitive advantage.

Although the new civil law is still in a communicative period rather than enforcement already, Mudd said that it would be an inevitable as it is gaining traction across the US.

“The fact that the Attorneys General (representing 39 states and territories) wrote a letter to the US Federal Trade Commission asking for to enforce similar law across the country is indicative of (the law) moving forward very fast,” he said.

The US is the fourth largest trading partner and export market for Malaysia, accounting for RM51.19bil worth of Malaysian exports from January to October last year.

In 2010, the total trade between both countries were RM117.21bil or 10% of Malaysia's total trade volume.
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http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=%2F2012%2F1%2F11%2Fbusiness%2F20120111123628&sec=business

Season Greetings.

2011-12-20T08:39:00.000+08:00

Dear Values Customers & Supplier,

Another year is coming to end, and a new year is on the verge of beginning and the holiday season approaches.

We'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued partnership. It is business associates like you who make our jobs a pleasure and keep our company successful.

May your holiday season and the New Year be filled with much joy, happiness and success. We look forward to working with you in the coming year and hope our business relationship continues for many years to come.

Happy holidays!

Management & Staffs

May your Christmas sparkle with moments of love, laughter & goodwill. And may the year ahead be full of contentment & joy.

Sage Products gets New Names.

2011-10-31T09:51:00.000+08:00

Sage Re-Branding

Sage is rebranding most products in its portfolio to be consistent with their naming conventions worldwide. However, there may be some confusion as, for example, Sage has a product in the UK called Sage 100 ERP and what we know as MAS 90 in US today will become Sage 100. The two products are completely different but Sage’s hope is that they are different customer sets and the confusion will be minimal….

We in Asia need not be concern about the confusion as we have only one (1) product that is Sage Accpac name change.

Sage ERP Accpac becomes Sage 300 ERP

Old Name                                                                   New Name
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Sage ERP Accpac 100                                    Sage 300 Standard ERP

Sage ERP Accpac 200                                    Sage 300 Advanced ERP

Sage ERP Accpac 500                                    Sage 300 Premium ERP

The other product will be Sage ERP X3, newly introduced to our market.

This rebranding shouldn’t have much effect on our clients, but clearly you may be surprised to see these new names and new terms. Please call us if you have any questions about this.
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Sage Asia Premier Partner Award for 2011.

2011-10-24T14:44:00.002+08:00

Sage Asia Premier Partner Award for 2011.

We want to thank our valued customers for your invaluable support over the years. We are honored to announce that we have been awarded the Sage Asia Premier Partner 2011.

The award was given out during the Sage Vision 2011 conference held in Royal Orchid Sheraton, Bangkok, which was attended by business partners from all over Asia

Thank you again for your support and look forward to a prosperous year as we go into the year of the 2012!

Boss Day on October 17

2011-10-16T23:45:00.001+08:00

I guess that very few people knows that there is a "Boss Day". They will know about "Secretary day" but Boss Day, unheard off until i read in The Starpaper this evening. I guess that bosses are not very popular judging from the Boss jokes that is circulating around. :)

Remember this poem when we used to send around and still do when we were not yet become boss? Have a good laugh!! See below.

Differences Between You and Your Boss

When you take a long time, you're slow.
When your boss takes a long time, he's thorough.
When you don't do it, you're lazy.
When your boss doesn't do it, he's too busy.
When you make a mistake, you're an idiot.
When your boss makes a mistake, he's only human.
When doing something without being told, you're overstepping your authority.
When your boss does the same thing, that's initiative.
When you take a stand, you're being bull-headed.
When your boss does it, he's being firm.
When you overlooked a rule of etiquette, you're being rude.
When your boss skips a few rules, he's being original.
When you please your boss, you're apple polishing.
When your boss pleases his boss, he's being co-operative.
When you're out of the office, you're wandering around.
When your boss is out of the office, he's on business.
When you're on a day off sick, you're always sick.
When your boss is a day off sick, he must be very ill.
When you apply for leave, you must be going for an interview.
When your boss applies for leave, it's because he's overworked
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http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=%2F2011%2F10%2F16%2Fnation%2F9707418&sec=nation

Hyundai Construction Equipment moves from Excel to new CRM

2011-10-11T09:10:00.000+08:00

Hyundai Construction Equipment moves from Excel to new CRM that integrates to their Sage ERP Accpac

Construction company Hyundai Construction Equipment Australia (HCEA) has moved from using Excel spreadsheets for client management to implementing a customer relationship management (CRM) system.

Systems Manager, Matt Golby, said the upgrade is the first step in HECA’s move to the Cloud, and that it was necessary after staff communication became problematic.

“The CRM is the first tool that we’ve put in through the net and the rest is systems based and driven back through the internet… Cloud services will provide a more user friendly platform for us,” he said.

“With this CRM portal we’re using, it provides us with flexibility, and [beforehand] it was very stagnant because we couldn’t communicate back to our management team.”

After informally looking at a few companies, Golby said he chose Sage as a vendor because of HECA’s use of the vendor's ERP Accpac.

“We didn’t get anyone else involved, but we did have a look with other offerings like Salesforce and SAP, but to go down that path we probably would have changed our whole environment and systems,” he said.

“Sage was a natural progression for us [because of] the cost benefits we incurred and [because] the... package itself works well.”

Six ways to get your employees to use CRM software

With some 70 staff in Australia and a dealer network extending to Papua New Guinea, the rollout at HECA was fairly slow, Golby said.

“We took baby steps with this and... we made sure that it was an easy transition for staff so they could go from an Excel environment to more of a systems environment that could integrate between departments,” he said.

Next on Golby’s agenda is a continued effort to embrace mobility, with HECA now looking at implementing a tablet strategy.

“The next step for us is to look at tablets between now and when Sage CRM provides services in a tablet form,” he said. “We’re looking at using iPads and taking that next step and... the business is looking at taking its next step in upgrades.”

http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/403394/hyundai_construction_equipment_moves_from_excel_new_crm/

Steve Job - A passing of a Legend

2011-10-08T11:58:00.004+08:00

A Tribute Artwork to Steve Job that has becomes Viral

This is a terrific article about Jobs. A long interview last year with Sculley: http://www.cultofmac.com/63295/john-sculley-on-steve-jobs-the-full-interview-transcript/
He emphasizes how much Jobs was a DESIGNER. Design is what mattered to him. This one of several passages that really struck me:

"The thing that separated Steve Jobs from other people like Bill Gates — Bill was brilliant too — but Bill was never interested in great taste. He was always interested in being able to dominate a market. He would put out whatever he had to put out there to own that space. Steve would never do that. Steve believed in perfection. Steve was willing to take extraordinary chances in trying new product areas but it was always from the vantage point of being a designer."

The unusual mix of design talent with a personality that could "warp reality" around people he was wooing, and also be stubborn as hell is what made him the force he was.

It also helped that made a mountain of money early, so that he could keep control longer than most entrepreneurs.

I've read a lot of retrospectives on Jobs today. I think it's relevant to what WE want to do with our Sage-related business. Jobs and Gates will always be linked together, but I suspect that Jobs will be remembered for his industry influence long past Gates. And yet Gates built a far larger business. I suspect that Gates will ultimately be remembered, 100 years from now, much as Carnegie is remembered: for his impact on philanthropy.

From the Sculley interview:

"Steve’s point of reference was Sony at the time [early 80's]. He really wanted to be Sony. He didn’t want to be IBM. He didn’t want to be Microsoft. He wanted to be Sony.

... It was always an end-to-end system with Steve. He was not a designer but a great systems thinker. That is something you don’t see with other companies."

Which leads me to the strategy question I'm pondering now: what sort of firm would SmartBridge Partners be if we focused much, much more on the final user experience, the DESIGN experience? I am a "recovering engineer" and this is hard ...

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Jerry Norman : CEO at SmartBridge Partners, A Sage Partner.
Comapny Website : http://www.smartbridgepartners.com/

A guide to successful software implementation from MISys Manufacturing

2011-09-22T10:43:00.000+08:00

Of the 7000+ software installations we have performed, the most successful implementations came from businesses that did their homework! It boils down to these critical steps:

Define Goals

What are your pain points? And what would success look like? Invite others into the conversation and listen to multiple perspectives.

Get and Maintain Buy-In

Consider the impact on the organization and make sure you have buy-in from the top to bottom. Revisit and reinforce the commitment to a new software implementation every step of the way. If you don’t have it, don’t do it.

Don’t “Buy the Brochure” - Get the Real Story

Most marketing materials make software seem about the same. They’re not. Get a demo of the software. Ask the hard questions and make sure it meets your needs. Find what fits and what doesn't.

Assemble Your Implementation Team

This team will make sure that the software they selected will be implemented without surprises and on time. Everyone on the team will have an important role to play,

but it will be vital to assign one very capable person with the time and authority to manage the implementation. If you’re not confident that you have the proper expertise on staff, don’t wing it. Consider outsourcing
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Source: http://misysmfg.blogspot.com/2011/09/top-tips-guide-to-successful-software.html
Free download: http://www.misysinc.com/support/assets/pdf/MISysPrep_03_team.pdf

Happy Mooncake Celebration

2011-09-12T09:16:00.002+08:00

~~ Happy Mooncake Celebration Everyone ~~
~~ 中秋節快樂 ~~

Do celebrate with love and consideration for the less fortunate.

2011-08-27T18:14:00.000+08:00

Universiti Tun Abdul Razak Selected Careware System Sdn Bhd to implement Sage ACCPAC ERP.

Petaling Jaya, 25 August 2011. Universiti Tun Abdul Razak (Unitar) is one of the first private universities in Malaysia. The university welcomed its first batch of 162 students in September 1998. On 21st December 1998, the university was officially launched by Tun Abdul Razak's eldest son, the then Minister of Education YB. Dato' Seri Najib Tun Abdul Razak.

Since its inception, Universiti Tun Abdul Razak has proven herself to be the Centre of Excellence in fostering Managerial Leadership and Entrepreneurship in the Development of Human Capital through Quality Research, Teaching and Learning, and Professional Services. With more than 8,000 students studying in 55 academic programs at the diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate levels, the university prides itself in developing relevant programs to meet today's needs. The next phase of growth will see even more students and programs at various levels at the university.

In view of the university projected growth Unitar embarked on a software selection exercise to replace their current ERP system which was not able to handles thei unique requirements of the education industry. Various top brands of ERPs has been short listed and demoed and after an extensive evaluation process Unitar selected Careware Systems Sdn Bhd to implement the Sage Accpac ERP for entire university. The first phase will see the following modules install at the PINTAR campus in Petaling Jaya.

Sage Accpac ERP Modules comprises :

The Financial suites include, System Manger, General Ledger, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Cash Book, Fixed Assets Management, and Fixed Asset Maintenance.

Operational suites include Purchase requisition, Purchase Order, Document Flow, Inventory Control and Optional fields and Transactional analysis. Work flows for purchasing operation with multiple approval flows and checking of funds allocation for budgetary controls.

Careware customized programs include, Amortization of fees, Advanced Allocation, Profit sharing and Allocation, Consolidated Purchase Order from difference database.

According to a spokesman, “we selected Careware because of the company track records and experiences in the Education sector. Careware has successfully implemented Sage ERP for many of the universities in Malaysia who has vouched for her. The other factor was that Sage is one of the top three ERP software company in the world. We are confident that there will be continuity in R & D and enhancement of the Sage ERP software that we rely upon to run our entire business for long term basis”.

In the second phase Careware will help in interfacing with the existing front office software as well as looking into POS systems for the bookshops and web/internet access requirement for our agents.

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Note : Sage Acppac ERP is the registered trademark of Sage Group PLC. Microsoft SQL is a register trademark of Microsoft Corporation.

Selamat Hari Raya!

2011-08-24T11:13:00.000+08:00

Dear Value Customers & Friends,
We like to wish you Happy Holiday!

CAREWARE SYSTEMS SDN BHD
Management & Staff
Tel: 03-79588232    Fax: 03-79577230
Website : http://www.careware.com.my/
Blog       : http://www.careware-erp.blogspot.com/
Facebook:  Sage Accpac Connect

Sage ERP and CRM Portfolio Update: Clarity at Last

2011-08-03T16:00:00.001+08:00

Technology Evaluation Centers' (TEC's) recent three-part blog series focused on the general sessions of Sage North America's Analyst Day in Boston in February 2011. At that winter event, Sage, nine years since its last analyst summit, took a gigantic step forward in clarifying its position in the market. Prior to the analyst day, during its Insights 2010 user conference, Sage had come up with its own extraordinary customer experience (ECE) three-pronged strategy dubbed "Enrich, Connect, Grow" (see Figure 1). Enrich refers to maximizing performance of existing information technology (IT) assets (Sage products), while Connect is about incremental growth via the connected (cloud-based software) services. Finally, Grow is all about new customer acquisition, by various means.

Figure 1.

This article covers the afternoon of Sage's Analyst Day 2011, which consisted of several concurrent sessions that focused on various horizontal product lines and vertical solutions. Each breakout session was presented through the prism of aligning the product line with the overall corporate "Enrich, Connect, Grow" strategic framework.

Making Sense of Sage's Hefty ERP Portfolio

The first breakout session that I elected to attend was the presentation by Laurie Schultz, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Sage Business Solutions' mid-market enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions. Sage North America's ERP division has a significant ecosystem of more than 75,000 customers paying 8 million of their employees every 2 weeks and processing 300,000 credit card transactions. In the North America region, the vendor also has over 2,000 value-added resellers (VARs) and 500 independent software vendor (ISV) partners.

While having a hefty number of ERP solutions in its portfolio has traditionally presented an integration and positioning puzzle for Sage, it has also given the vendor the ability to cover more ground, being able to offer solutions for the lower mid-market all the way through upper mid-market enterprises, for both local and global operations (according to customer preference). Today, there are many migration paths between these products (with investment protection pricing arrangements by Sage), and these ERP solutions also tend to cover diverse verticals.

Sage North America has recently simplified its ERP portfolio positioning into three tiers (see Figure 2).

Figure 2.
Sage ERP MAS: The Lower End

The Sage ERP MAS product line serves the lower end of the mid-market for companies with local operations in the light manufacturing and assembly and healthcare segments. These products are the most mature and the least technologically advanced of all Sage ERP products, but come with the lowest total cost of ownership (TCO). Converted into subscription equivalent pricing, Sage ERP MAS 90 software can cost as little as US$67/user/month (for 10 users over 7 years, in this example).

Sage ERP MAS 90 and Sage ERP MAS 200 will be enhanced in 2011 and 2012 via SageCRM, Sage Intelligence, and Sage Advisor capabilities as well as via the connected services (which were explained in great detail in the aforementioned blog series). At the same time, somewhat behind the market trends, these products will be Web-enabled and, since November 2010 they support Microsoft SQL Server (in addition to their proprietary and esoteric ProvideX database).

Accpac in the Middle

Sage ERP Accpac and its hosted counterpart, Sage ERP Accpac Online, cover lower to core mid-market companies with multi-country operations (especially in English-speaking countries) and local processes in the light manufacturing, service, mining, and hospitality sectors. Sage ERP Accpac has about 45,000 customers, 250 ISV partners, and 1,000 resellers worldwide.

Compared with its MAS siblings, Sage ERP Accpac is technologically superior, is international (with a solid market share in Canada, South Africa, India, etc.), and offers more choices to customers. Its major modules are finance and operations, along with Sage customer relationship management (CRM) and business intelligence (BI) capabilities.

Accpac has long had three-tiered product architecture with separate user interface (UI), business logic, and database layers. The product supports the Pervasive, Microsoft SQL Server, and Oracle databases, and Microsoft Windows and Linux (both the Redhat and SuSE versions) as server operating systems (OSs).

As previously mentioned, Sage ERP Accpac offers the best of both worlds when it comes to deployment. Companies can select either on-premise or on-demand software deployment (with traditional perpetual license or subscription pricing) options and, if necessary, move between these relatively easily, since both product instances are delivered from one source code. Hence, Sage's partners can also offer a choice to their customers without users having to learn a new product.

In February 2011, Sage released Sage ERP Accpac Version 6.0 with a few major objectives, starting with the goal to increase the product's overall competitiveness. That goal is to be achieved via a new "pure Web" framework, browser-agnosticism (i.e., users can use either the classic UI or the new mobile-enabled Web UI), mobility support, embedded BI tools, simplified user/role personalization, and a blurred (integrated) CRM and ERP experience.

Another objective was to provide a compelling value proposition for the installed base by helping to alleviate users' major pain points. To that end, SData (Sage Data) integration technology and Google WebToolkit have been used for reporting and usability, and for the purposes of lower TCO. A smooth upgrade transition was made possible by introducing a new, optional Web-based UI layer that customers can adopt whenever they are ready. The Sage ERP Accpac Version 6.1 release is expected to make all core modules Web deployable (and browser agnostic).

Sage ERP X3: The Global Platform

Sage ERP X3 (formerly Adonix X3) has meanwhile become Sage's true global offering for the core mid-market to upper mid-market. The product is targeting companies in the following verticals: hard goods manufacturing, chemicals, food and beverage (F&B), life sciences, and wholesale distribution. Within the Sage Group, Sage ERP X3 has a collaborative governance board, global marketing and communications, global product management and research and development (R&D), and a global Sage ERP X3 practice.

The product is an extended ERP solution designed for international mid-market companies with advanced manufacturing and distribution needs. Sage ERP X3 comes in the following three pre-configured offerings:

1. Process Manufacturing Suite
2. Discrete Manufacturing Suite
3. Distribution Suite

With its open and scalable infrastructure, Sage ERP X3 is suitable for upper mid-market companies with up to 1,500 concurrent users. The product features a multi-tier, Web-oriented architecture (WOA), and supports multiple database, OS, and deployment models. With its Sage Application Framework for the Enterprise (SAFE) X3 platform, upon which partners can build their solutions, Sage ERP X3 resembles Microsoft Dynamics AX with its global platform play (Microsoft’s chosen ERP platform offering, previously detailed).

After Sage acquired former Adonix in 2005, the next major product release was Sage ERP X3 V5.0, which featured a major UI revamp, a Web 2.0 portal, Microsoft Office integration, embedded BI capabilities (from SAP BusinessObjects), and the Sage Visual Processes tool. The product was made available in 35 countries. (For more information, see my article "A Traditional 'Local Touch' Leader Espouses a More Global Vision.")

Sage ERP X3 V6 was released in 2010 with enhanced multi-legislation Representational State Transfer (REST) architecture, with availability in more than 50 countries. The product currently has 3,000 customers, and its ecosystem consists of 1,500 consultants and 200 partners.

Sage ERP: Going Forward

To express Sage North America ERP through the prism of Sage's "Enrich, Connect, and Grow" strategic framework, Enrich is about maximizing performance of existing assets. To that end, Sage has made major efforts to shore up its existing install base. Using an internally adopted Net Promoter Score (NPS) (briefly described in our blog series) on a scale of 1 to 10, Sage has reportedly grown so-called evangelists (customers answering 9 or 10) by 5 percent, while at the same time reducing so-called detractors (customers who respond 1 to 6, who are unlikely to recommend Sage's products or partners to their peers) by 7 percent.

The vendor hopes to gain economies of scale by leveraging common modules and technologies, such as SData and Google WebToolkit. This approach should help in terms of quality, usability, TCO, reporting, functionality, etc., as well as promoting favorable NPS metrics.

Connect refers to growing revenue per customer or share of wallet (SoW) through various connected services. The idea is to add value for customers by bridging their on-premise ERP systems to cloud-based solutions, for merchant payments, employee payments, and sales and marketing purposes (as explained elsewhere). Grow is about acquiring new customers by exploiting unique differentiating traits in terms of vertical solutions, sales channel areas of expertise and geographic reach, and the relative complexity of customer businesses.

Sage CRM: Wising Up to the Cloud

Another afternoon session that I attended was the update on Sage's CRM solutions by Joe Bergera, then Executive Vice President and General Manager of Contact Management Solutions, and Larry Ritter, Senior Vice President and General Manager Global Product Management and Marketing, Sage CRM Solutions. Contrary to its ERP counterpart, Sage's CRM portfolio is straightforward to position and has always had a global nature. The portfolio is constituted from only two acquisitions (former Interact Commerce SalesLogix and Accpac), compared with the umpteen ERP and accounting acquisitions Sage has made in North America alone.

Sage's family of three CRM solutions supports over 75,000 businesses and 3.6 million users with a wide range of business requirements. Sage ACT!, a popular contact management product, is used by small business owners and sales, marketing, and other professionals, often sold on an individual (1:1 and 1:many) basis. The product serves 56,000 small businesses and 2.8 million individual users.

For their part, SageCRM and Sage SalesLogix together serve nearly 20,000 corporations and 850,000 users. While SageCRM targets the users in finance and back-office operations, Sage SalesLogix is primarily a sales and marketing and front-office operations tool.

CRM Market Trends

Sage is cognizant of the key trends in CRM, primarily the consumerization of business. This translates into modern CRM systems that incorporate social media, promoting user interaction that is personalized and intent-driven. Other trends are the need for predictive, ad-hoc, and real-time analytics as well as for business process optimization via turnkey configurable systems and role-based workflows.

Possibly the most prominent CRM trend is mobility—particularly device-independent mobility—with a rich user experience and allowing task-oriented user actions. Smartphones with Web browsers have become standard, since their ease of use and ready access encourage mobile CRM adoption, and there is increasing support for employees to use their own devices (as opposed to employer-supplied devices). Moreover, real-time updates reduce latency. Last but not least, the CRM software category has seen mainstream and ubiquitous adoption of cloud computing for its rapid deployment, flexibility of IT infrastructure, and buying and ownership options.

Sage's Response to CRM Trends

Thus, Sage's CRM strategic focus is to provide CRM solutions that are proactive, collaborative, adaptable, mobile, and services-enabled. Adaptability and services-enablement come from SData-enabled integration between Sage’s ERP and CRM products and to third-party solutions (services).

The aforementioned SData Framework is at the core of adaptive ERP and CRM integration with real-time data availability, whereby dynamic transactional data (e.g., prices, accounts, contacts, orders, etc.) are managed by ERP business logic using two-way synchronization. Static master data, such as products, units of measure (UOM), etc. are handled with one-way synchronization.

Relevant user experience and data consistency and control are preserved. ERP and CRM integration includes processes (cross-application workflow) and visibility (insight) across applications. For the latter, CRM users can hereby visualize back-office information in order to manage customer credit information, evaluate the invoice pipeline, etc.

Sage CRM systems’ proactive nature advances out of personalized and contextual user experience, with alerts for high-priority tasks and events. Task-relevant views drive user productivity and adoption. The aggregation and "publish and share" capabilities as well as advanced analytics with actionable insight also help in this regard.

Collaboration is achieved through expanded enterprise search capabilities. Search is a common CRM task, and the current speed, simplicity, and depth of search in Sage's CRM products matches a typical Web experience. Social media plug-ins, which are available today for Sage ACT!, Sage SalesLogix, and SageCRM, are another collaborative feature. They help users find and import information from social networks to create immediate awareness; the necessary actions are then assigned and tracked.

Mobile CRM has been enabled via the SData integration framework and with support for HTML5 to deliver ease of use and browser and device independence. Sage’s CRM products currently support several browsers—Safari, Firefox, and Chrome—and mobile devices—Apple iPhone and iPad, Google Android, and Blackberry OS6. Indeed, Sage's significant new competitive differentiators in the CRM market are SData-based integration for unified ERP and CRM and its mobile CRM capabilities, including ease of administration, device coverage, and price.

Sage SalesLogix Cloud

With its large market footprint, Sage CRM is positioning itself to play a leadership role in future waves of cloud computing adoption. Sage SalesLogix is another Sage product line, in addition to Sage ERP Accpac, that already offers multiple deployment options and has the same code available in on-premise and single-tenant cloud software editions.

The Sage SalesLogix Cloud CRM deployment offering is built upon the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) infrastructure. The offering has been available to new North American customers since June 2010 for US$65 per named user per month. Current Sage SalesLogix on-premise customers who wish to migrate to the cloud can do so for US$35 per named user per month. Multi-user and multi-year discounts are also available.

Sage has been expanding its CRM cloud solution to other regions. Sage SalesLogix Cloud provides buying and ownership experience choices. Companies that prefer to buy on-premise perpetual licenses do so for the lower TCO, existing IT infrastructure, regulation and compliance, and on-site control. On the other hand, some enterprises prefer to buy on-demand subscriptions for the instant on, the outsourced IT resources, payment flexibility, and reasons of operating expense (rather than capital expenditure).

As depicted on Figure 3, Sage SalesLogix Cloud is a subscription-based, hosted solution on Amazon Web Services (AWS) in a private instance for each tenant (customer). The cloud edition has a full SalesLogix feature set and is built on open standards. The private tenant setup in the database layer allows for upgrades to be controlled by customers at their preferred pace. Sage manages the cloud operations in terms of database tools, instance management, provisioning, network bandwidth, monitoring portal, recovery, support, etc. Given multi-tenancy on the application layers, Sage SalesLogix partners can get a piece of action by taking care of applications configuration, integration, customization, and administration.

Figure 3.

As a nice-to-have feature, 100 GB of storage is included, free, for every 50 users on an account (which other cloud CRM providers charge for). Additional storage is available to purchase (100 GB for US$50 per month). Users have an ample choice of subscription packages, starting with the functional scope of the user (e.g., core CRM, analytics, and remote use). There is additional pricing for some capacity-based capabilities, such as a customer portal, alerts, and e-marketing, and for some system services provided by Sage, such as a data staging environment and managed server.

Sage CRM Vision Aligned with Sage’s Global Strategic Framework
The vision for Sage's CRM Solutions is closely aligned with that of Sage North America and provides significant new opportunities. In terms of Sage's "Enrich, Connect, and Grow" strategic framework, for Sage North America CRM Enrich is about maximizing the performance of existing assets. To that end, Sage pledges to ensure best-in-class user and administrator usability, the highest possible rate of end-user adoption, and the lowest TCO.

Similarly as for Sage North America ERP, Connect refers to growing revenue per customer (or SoW) through various connected services and new features-as-a-service, where the features are adjacent and can be discovered and selected for download by users. Grow is about acquiring new customers via mobile CRM modules; fully integrated analytics with pre-built, role-based content; and integration via adaptive workflow with ERP and Sage Online business solutions.

Conclusion

This is not your older brother’s Sage. While in many ways Sage has stayed true to its values and principles, the vendor has judiciously embraced cloud computing and constructed a plausible future direction for its partners and customers that was hard to imagine before. Many mid-market companies in industries that Sage targets should inform themselves about the vendor’s most recent CRM and ERP enhancements, as they might be pleasantly surprised with the wealth of enhancements and capabilities.
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This is an informative article written by :
P.J. Jakovljevic - May 13, 2011, from Technology Evaluation Centers' (TEC's).

Sage Summit 2011

2011-07-16T10:48:00.000+08:00

It seem that one big announcement at Sage Summit 2011 conference that was held at Washington DC at the Gaylord Convention Center was streamlining the brand Sage across all the products. How and when this is going to take place perhaps we in Asia will be able to get a better picture of it in our own Asia Summit 2011 at Bangkok, Thailand scheduled in October.

Stephen Smith's blog about it and provide an excerps of the announcement in the keynote by Pascal Houlin's below:

Branding

In Pascal Houillon’s opening keynote, the first big announcement was the product branding announcement. Basically we have been marketing our products as things like Sage ERP MAS, Sage ERP Accpac, Sage Simply Accounting, Sage Peachtree, Sage Act!,Sage Saleslogix, etc. Now we are going to drop all the legacy product names (the MAS, Accpac, Peachtree, Act! part) and now combine all the separate marketing programs into one that will be focused on promoting the “Sage” brand. When partners are pursuing a new leads, often they will be competing with Microsoft, SAP or Oracle. All these companies have a strong brand and the customer will have heard of them. Having to establish who Sage is and what the company does puts you at a disadvantage. The primary goal of this change is to make Sage a well-known and respected company within North America like it is in many other parts of the world. The branding change allows us to combine our separate product marketing resources and launch large scale campaigns across North America that promote the Sage brand and as a consequence all the separate Sage products. Now hopefully when you are pursuing a new customer, they will already know who Sage is, and be willing to enter into a business relationship based on that knowledge. The other thing this does is help with cross-sell. Often if a customer has a Sage ERP product then we would like to sell them a Sage CRM or Sage HR product. But as it stands today the customer thinks they have MAS or Accpac and then selling them Abra or Saleslogix appears like completely unrelated products. We would rather they think they have Sage ERP and adding Sage CRM or Sage HR is just a natural thing to do.

Anyway there is a lot of emotion associated with all the individual Sage product brands, but it seems like here at the conference once people have a chance to think about these changes they see how they can benefit them.

REad all about it here at Stephen Smith's Blog : http://smist08.wordpress.com/2011/07/16/sage-summit-2011/

Service Manager 6.0A Release, Tuesday July 5th 2011.

2011-07-05T16:06:00.000+08:00

Service Manager 6.0A Release, Tuesday July 5th 2011.

Technisoft would like to announce the release of Service Manager 6.0

Service Manager 6.0A contains all features introduced in the recently released 5.6B version. See the What's New in 6.0A for a brief list of those features.

Service Manager 6.0A also supports the new Fiscal Calendar that lets you lock and unlock fiscal years and periods separately for each Sage ERP Accpac program your company uses to process transactions.

We encourage all our Business Partners with customers using Service Manager 5.6A with Sage Accpac 6.0A to upgrade those clients to Service Manager 6.0A to maintain continuity immediately.

Those Business Partners that recently installed new Service Manager 5.6B sites, or recently upgraded customers to Service Manager 5.6B with Sage Accpac 6.0A, should consider upgrading to Service Manager 6.0A as well.

We also encourage all Service Manager 5.6A users to consider upgrading your customers to Service Manager 5.6B or 6.0A as soon as possible please, as these later versions contain many new features that are likely to be of great benefit to your them.

Note: Service Manager programs do not run in the 6.0 Sage Accpac Web Portal and must be run from the Sage Accpac System Manager Desktop.

UMW Equipment STREAMLINES OPERATION PROCESSES TO ACCOMMODATE PROJECTED GROWTH WITH SAGE ACCPAC ERP

2011-07-05T11:33:00.000+08:00

UMW Equipment, the regional’s leading distributer of Toyota Forklift and industrial equipments, selected Careware Systems to implemented Sage Accpac ERP with Service Manage add-on from Technisoft.

UMW Equipment, a wholly-owned subsidiary of UMW Group today signed the agreement for the supply and implementation of Sage Accpac ERP with Service Manager from Technisoft. Careware will provide the consultancy and customization of the entire suites of Sage Accpac ERP that is specially geared toward a service orientated business.

This is In line with the growth projection and in improving operational efficiency, productivity and streamlining the technology processes to accommodate future growth.

According to the General Manager for project who oversee the selections and implementation process, "UMW selected Sage Accpac ERP because it meets the sophisticated needs of UMW Equipment in the forklift and heavy equipment business which tracks sales, rental agreement, service agreement, complex configuration and warranty tracking which was catered for in its Service Manger module. With Service Manager we can also track WIP, tools and labor hour efficiency of individual or groups of service technicians. All these are fully integrated to the solid accounting functionality that Sage Accpac is renowned for. We believe that with the systems in place, it will go a long way to increase our competitiveness in the market place."

The agreement was signed by Mr. Lee Chin Min, Director of UMW Equipment & Engineering PTE. LTD and Robert Tan the Managing Partner of Careware Systems Sdn Bhd in a simple signing ceremony held at UMW premise.

“The solutions we offer is will be a multi-phase implementation and will be rolled out first in the Head quarter and then to other major branch offices throughout the country. We believe in a partnership for a win-win situation with UMW and we are proud to be associated with an illustrious company as UMW Equipment. We are committed to the successful implementation of the Sage Accpac ERP solution. As our customer success is our success.” says Robert Tan, Managing Partner, Careware.

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About CareWare Systems : Through its partnership with Sage, CareWare Systems helps small and mid-size companies in Malaysia reach productivity levels at the top of their respective industries. CareWare represents a variety of business management software including Sage Accpac ERP, SageCRM, and Technisoft Service Manager Software. For companies interested in growth, profitability and superior software support, CareWare is the Sage business partner for you. For more information, please visit our website: http://www.careware.com.my/.

An Engineering Company Optimizes Project Administration and Accounting with Sage Accpac ERP.

2011-06-13T21:46:00.000+08:00

Dolphin Engineering (m) Sdn Bhd is one of the leading engineering companies based in Selangor. She is the dominant Solution Provider for the Integration oil palm process and palm oil milling industry in the region. Its main business is machinery & engineering and its main product is hydraulic power park system, hydraulic cylinder.

In view of their bushiness growth Dolphin needed to replace their existing local system with a project based enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution that could give the company detailed control over the administration of complex engineering projects.

Dolphin has strong criteria and narrowed downed its evaluation to the main requirements that are unique to an engineering project based companies. This helps them to eliminate many erp systems that are not geared toward project based and cut short their evaluation process. Careware Systems was selected as it understands and was able to demo the software toward their unique criteria. Sage Accpac ERP will help Dolphin to monitor and track cost from the design, development, manufacture, integration, installation and testing commissioning of their technological products for palm oil milling customers in the region and internationally.

Some of the immediate benefits and clear business advantages by using Sage Accpac are:

• First, all engineering personnel can process their data (time card) directly by logging into the Web-enabled Accpac central server at the headquarters through a through browser, so time cost and finance can immediately be updated on line. Sage Accpac need not be install at the notebook of the engineers who are at site and always on the move.

• Second, project accountants have insight into the progress of projects. During a pre-calculation process, the project managers attribute a number of hours to a given project. Project accountants will know of Time cost, (idle time, split time, chargeable time, and non billable time) of the project. The system also track material and equipments cost and work in progress. The project manager can follow the progress of the project and monitor cost overrun.

• Third, efficient accounting as the system will handle all the difference type of revenue recognition methods and also retaininage accounts. Progress billing and project purchases are charge to the respective job and phase automatically. The old system cannot handle such complexity of accounts. Now every function is fully integrated into one central database that is run on the local Area Network as well as Remote Access via the Web.

With Sage Accpac ERP Dolphin Engineering will be on the pulse of their business and its augurs well for the future.

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About CareWare SystemsThrough its partnership with Sage, CareWare Systems helps small and mid-size companies in Malaysia reach productivity levels at the top of their respective industries. CareWare represents a variety of business management software including Sage Accpac ERP, SageCRM, and MISys Manufacturing Software. For companies interested in growth, profitability and superior software support, CareWare is the Sage business partner for you. For more information, please visit our website: http://www.careware.com.my/.

LOYALTY

2011-05-24T11:44:00.001+08:00

IF …

YOU WORK FOR A MAN,

IN HEAVEN’S NAME, WORK FOR HIM;

SPEAK WELL OF HIM AND

STAND BY THE INSTITUITION HE REPRESENTS

REMEMBER …

AN OUNCE OF LOYALTY

IS WORTH A POUND OF CLEVERNESS

IF …

YOU MUST GROWL, CONDEMN AND

ETERNALLY FIND FAULT,

RESIGN YOUR POSITION

AND WHEN YOU ARE ON THE OUTSIDE,

DAMN TO YOUR HEART’S CONTENT

BUT …

AS LONG AS YOU ARE A PART OF THE INSTITUITION,

DO NOT CONDEMN IT

IF YOU DO,

THE FIRST HIGH WIND THAT COMES

ALONG WILL BLOW YOU AWAY,

- Elbert Hubbard

BizCloud Overview of Top 10 Security Threats of Cloud Computing

2011-05-18T07:00:00.001+08:00

From BizCloud Computing Security Watch: Cloud computing is the next big thing in technology arena and it has the potential to grow immensely thorough continuous innovations which we are still unaware of. It provides tremendous opportunities in reducing the costs as well as helping businesses to concentrate on their core business goals, relying on a third party provider to manage its computing resources.

Even though the potential that cloud computing provides is flourishing the business, there are still mixed feelings among customers about implementing the Cloud, mainly due to the underlying security threats & risks. These cloud security issues if not properly addressed can impact the business in a significant way.

Cloud Security Alliance and Gartner published several research reports addressing cloud computing security issues. There are numerous risks that can hamper the integrity of a Cloud Infrastructure, but here we will focus on those that emerged as the Top 10 Security Threats and Risks of the cloud.

1. Abusive use of Cloud Computing Resources:

Cloud computing technologies can be used as a platform for launching attacks, hosting Spam/Malware, software exploits publishing and for many other unethical purposes. Cloud computing service platforms, especially PaaS with its enhanced service portfolio and the independence, allows anyone to propagate their malicious intent. IaaS based perforations are also picking up pace with PaaS. Cloud computing service providers normally provide literally anyone with a valid credit card to avail their services, thus opening wide horizon of users to facilitate from their platform; malicious hackers & crackers cannot be filtered easily from that large pool of users.

2. Privileged Access & Malicious Insiders:

Cloud computing provides flexibility by outsourcing the services, but it also brings inherent risks of malicious insiders and abusive use of login access by an unauthorized person. The customer’s security controls remain outside the cloud security mechanism and customer has no control over the service provider’s internal security control. This brings substantial risk where any infiltration of such sort can deliver organization a great deal of loss in terms of financial, productive and /or brand image depreciation.

3. Insecure API’s:

Cloud computing vendors provide APIs for customers to interact and avail services and often the customers using these APIs are offering much more services based on them to facilitate their own customer base. Cloud APIs with weak authentication and access control can jeopardize the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the pertaining customer. As the services are spread over vast domain of users, any vulnerability in the API can be exploited for malicious intents.

4. Shared Technology and Data Segregation:

Public cloud infrastructure components are typically not designed for compartmentalization and are prone to vulnerabilities than can be exploited. There might be scenarios where an attacker tries to gain unauthorized access or excessively use the resources which can affect the performance of other user residing in the same infrastructure. One of the prevailing cloud security issues is the lack of encrypting schemes which can dent the integrity of the data stored and absence of proper controls can make the data totally unusable.

5. Identity or Service Theft:

Account or service credentials if stolen can jeopardize the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the entire services linked with that account. It’s just like giving the keys of all cloud resources to the attacker. Furthermore cloud computing service theft can be used for array of attacks which take illegal benefit of the user’s cloud infrastructure as their launching platform.

6. Data Loss:

Cloud computing architecture provides greater challenges in controlling and mitigating risks due to its unique framework and operational attributes. Data in the cloud is prone to so many threats, such as deletion of record, loss of encryption key and weak encryption, resulting in corruption of data. Any organization no matter how big or small relies heavily on data, and any puncture, trespassing by an unauthorized person can have devastating impact on business.

7. Forensic Support:

In cloud computing, it’s very difficult to get forensic evidence in case of a breach or incident because your data might be spread across many different hosts & data centers and possibly reside in a multi-tenant environment. Usually the applications deployed on cloud computing service models are designed without data integrity and security in mind hence being left with vulnerabilities & security issues. Contractual support by the provider for investigation on when and where the incident occurred is a must have clause in the Service Level Agreement otherwise a business can be exposed to serious threats.

8. Geographical Location of Data and its Recovery:

There is a big question mark when it comes to geographical location of data in the cloud computing environment. The data can be stored on many severs, in different locations, possibly different cities, even different country or continent. In case of a disaster, systems with no Disaster Recovery Plan and no Business Continuity Plan to ensure that business runs smoothly again are most vulnerable to failure. There might also be legal or government regulations involved in recovering data if the data is hosted in a different country. This can get tricky if there has been a breach or a criminal act associated with that specific data.

9. Regulatory Compliance in Cloud Computing:

Cloud computing services have certain benefits for an end user. But what about the internal control, compliance, internal security procedures and patch updating of all applications? Lack of adherence to regulatory compliance is a serious risk considering that provider is the custodian of your data. In case of an incident, providers who are not complying with regulatory standards and not providing the auditing and logging of data, leave the customer with high risk profile and it’s a cloud computing security issue worth considering.

10. Stability of the Cloud Provider:

Perhaps this is not a security risk but it’s a very threatening risk if the provider is not financially stable enough to sustain the operations as per the goals of the customer. A cloud computing provider if swallowed up by a merger can ring bells for the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data. Absence of a Recovery Plan resulting by a disaster or a complete shutdown can affect the operations of the customer until it’s recovered. Any cloud computing provider with meager financial stability, lack of back-up infrastructure and no long terms plans to complement the needs of the customer is a definite risk for any mission critical deployment.

Source : http://bizcloudnetwork.com/2011/bizcloud-overview-of-top-10-security-threats-of-cloud-computing/
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IEV Groups fuel growth by upgrading to Sage Accpac Project ERP for the entire group of companies.

2011-05-09T11:36:00.001+08:00

Petaling Jaya, Malaysia – 03 May, 2011: In line with their expansion IEV Group of companies has entered into a ERP implementation engagement with Careware Systems Sdn Bhd the leading Sage Accpac Business partner in Malaysia,

The implementation will cover the entire groups of companies staring from its Head office in Kuala Lumpur and rolling out to other region simultaneously.

IEV group of companies are upgrading from their previous ERP system as it was unable to cater for their unique project requirement in the Oil and Gas industries. According a spokesman Careware was selected as she has established itself as a leading supplier of business solution for the project & engineering based industry based on Sage Accpac Project ERP suites with many successful implementations and references. Careware offer the project based companies a complete and integrated business solution that manages the entire lifecycle of contracts, projects, assets and services.

The major Sage Accpac modules that will be implemented are Financial Management, Project & Cost Management, Materials Management, Assets Management, Sales Distribution Management, Purchasing Management and Sage Accpac Intelligence & Analytics.

With the implementation of Sage Accpac Project ERP, IEV group will significantly realize benefits by improving efficiencies in processes such as “procure for project” and “cost overrun monitoring” which are critical for bringing transparency and efficiency into its business. Significant benefits are also expected through integration of business processes, standardized systems, processes and controls. Being a highly diversified Group, they embarked on this project in order to have a seamless integration across all companies and points of presence for financial consolidation, better control and standardization.
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About IEV Group
IEV Group is one of Asia leading engineering solutions provider to the petroleum and marine industries. The company is presently servicing customers throughout North America, North Sea, West Africa, Middle East and Far East. Its subsidiary IEV Gas is one of Asia’s leading providers of integrated subsea engineering solutions to the oil and gas industries. She is also a leading provider of mobile gas (CNG & LNG) infrastructure in the South East Asia region.

About CareWare SystemsThrough its partnership with Sage, CareWare Systems helps small and mid-size companies in Malaysia reach productivity levels at the top of their respective industries. CareWare represents a variety of business management software including Sage Accpac ERP, SageCRM, and MISys Manufacturing Software. For companies interested in growth, profitability and superior software support, CareWare is the Sage business partner for you. For more information, please visit our website: http://www.careware.com.my/.
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http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/5/prweb8414563.htm

Amazon's cloud nightmare

2011-04-25T07:22:00.000+08:00

The exact feature that was supposed to be Amazon EC2's strength -- reliability -- is what failed and brought the cloud low yesterday. Still, cloud computing isn't going anywhere.

By Dan Mitchell, contributor

FORTUNE -- The snafu at Amazon's EC2 hosting service on Thursday, which knocked several big web sites out of service, is being called a "black eye" for the cloud-computing business -- a "we told you so" moment, according to cloud critics. But it could simply be a black eye for EC2.

It seems unlikely that this incident will cause startups to turn away from cloud computing, which for smaller companies is much cheaper than self-hosting. More likely, some of them will think twice about hosting with EC2, one of the industry leaders. That's because this was a particularly nasty, widespread, and long-lasting outage. A whole bunch of sites were thrown totally or partially out of commission for most of the day Thursday, including Quora, Foursquare, Reddit, and HootSuite. (Update: some sites are still down as of midday Friday.)

Technical glitches are bound to happen, of course, whether they're in the cloud or in an expensive, staff-managed corporate server room. Sites go down all the time. But most often, the outages are brief and isolated. Apparently, this one jumped across various parts of Amazon's cloud like lightning – in a way that Amazon had vowed it never could thanks to its "Availability Zones."

"Availability Zones are distinct locations that are engineered to be insulated from failures in other Availability Zones," Amazon (AMZN) says . The zones "protect your applications from failure of a single location."

"It would seem they don't exactly work as they're designed," notes The Register's Cade Metz, who goes on to explain how Amazon's cloud is (or is supposed to be) set up to avoid such failures. The company isn't talking yet, but promises to publish a "postmortem" on the situation.

Some customers and observers said on Thursday that Amazon has a history of cloud trouble, though never anything this bad. Michael Hussey, chief executive of PeekYou, told Dow Jones that he's been "seeing problems all year long" from Amazon's Northern Virginia facility, where the failure occurred. The problems haven't been severe, he said, but they have caused his company to consider moving its data to a different cloud provider.

PeekYou didn't go down, because it also runs many of its own servers. Foursquare was knocked out entirely, but said in a blog post Thursday morning that Amazon is a "usually amazing" provider that was suffering "a few hiccups."

The notion that this outage says anything about cloud computing's utility as a whole seems far-fetched. "We don't think the cloud is enterprise-ready," Jimmy Tam, general manager of Peer Software, told The New York Times. His company provides data-backup services. "Are you really going to trust your corporate jewels to these cloud providers?" he asked.

Well, sure. Why not? Lots of companies have been doing it for years now (since before "cloud computing" became a popular term, as Oracle (ORCL) chief Larry Ellison has noted), with little trouble. And even this glitch, though nasty, didn't put anybody's "corporate jewels" at risk. Many companies, like PeekYou, use the cloud for routine data handling, and keep their more "mission critical" tasks in-house. It all comes down to quality and service -- there's nothing inherent in cloud computing that makes it less reliable than the alternative.

According to the research firm Gartner, the cloud market will grow to $102.1 billion net year, up from $68.3 billion last year. Startups and other companies will continue to weigh the benefits of cloud computing -- mainly, massive cost savings and easy scalability -- against the relatively small risk and annoyance of outages. Risk and annoyance, by the way, that they would likely have to face anyway.

The level of cost savings from moving to the cloud depends on all kinds of variables, of course -- from the size of the enterprise to the nature of the data being handled. But just for example, a 2009 study by Booz Allen Hamilton, "The Economics of Cloud Computing," found that "the benefit-to-cost ratio of a non-virtualized 1,000-server data center could reach 15.4:1 after implementation, and total life cycle cost may be 66% lower than maintaining a traditional data center." In other words, Amazon and its cloud customers will learn from this outage, but those savings are simply too great to dismiss.

It's unknown how much Foursquare, for example, has saved by operating from the cloud. But if the savings are typical, it's probably worth the occasional annoyance of its users being temporarily unable to become mayor of their local coffee shop.
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Source : http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/04/22/amazons-cloud-nightmare/?iid=EAL

Read also :
Why Amazon's cloud Titanic went down

Amazon EC2 outage downs Reddit, Quora

Dubious Awards in Asia.

2011-03-25T09:50:00.000+08:00

So you want to get an award to boost your company or your own image. There are many in the market: Golden XXXX awards; Entrepreneur of the year for difference level; Brand awards & “C” level executive awards of the year. It is easy and the public is none the wiser. And the event organizer move on to various countries in Asia.
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Dubious awards: 'Winning' firms asked to provide sponsorship

PETALING JAYA: Winning an award may not be all that good as some companies have found out.

The practice of dishing out awards has become a lucrative business with the “winning” companies being asked to provide sponsorship or buy tables during lavish presentation ceremonies.

Starprobe discovered that this form of sponsorship can range between RM4,000 and RM30,000, with the “winners” being made to understand that if they fail to fork out the money, they may lose out to business rivals.

Some companies have admitted to being forced to pay up, calling this an “investment” for their business.

Industry players, concerned that such dubious awards may be jeopardising the country's competitiveness and misleading the public, want more transparent and better methods in the selection of winners.

They also call on all parties to work together in stamping out such awards.

Source : http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/3/25/nation/8347889&sec=nation

Related Stories:
Winners' say they were forced to foot hefty bill for brand awards presentation

CareWare Systems Teams up with Sage to Announce Launch of Sage ERP Accpac 6 and SageCRM v7 in Malaysia

2011-03-11T13:23:00.001+08:00

Top Sage ERP reseller in Malaysia organizes a Sage solutions seminar for Sage ERP Accpac customers and prospects at The Garden City Hotel in Mid Valley City, Kuala Lumpur

Petaling Jaya, Malaysia – February 28, 2011 – CareWare Systems Sdn Bhd (http://www.careware.com.my), Sage’s top business software reseller in Malaysia for 2010, teamed up with Sage to hold a seminar and announce the launch of Sage’s latest product upgrades: Sage ERP Accpac 6 and SageCRM v7.

“Rapid advances in technology are driving major gains in efficiency for small and medium sized businesses across Malaysia,” says Robert Tan, Managing Director of CareWare Systems. “Our close partnership with Sage on the Accpac 6 and SageCRM v7 launch in Malaysia was a way to showcase Internet-based solutions that are available today to help our customers and prospects be more successful.”

The seminar hosted at The Garden City Hotel featured two separate meeting tracks focused on Project & Job Costing and Manufacturing. “We have a concentration of customers in manufacturing and the construction and engineering industries,” Tan says. “We were able to show how technology can make an important contribution to successful performance in those highly competitive industries. From real-time reporting dashboards to automated transaction processing, many SMB companies have much to gain by keeping up to date on technology.”

According to Tan, Accpac 6 and SageCRM v7 form a seamless platform to provide an unprecedented level of integration and information sharing between sales, operations and accounting departments. “Accpac 6 marks an important development in the way an ERP system can functionally integrate with CRM as one integrated suite to help SMB companies achieve new levels of visibility to business performance,” he says.

Unlike most traditional ERP applications used by SMB companies in Malaysia, Accpac 6 and SageCRM v7 operate over the Internet in a browser environment. “Sage’s new Internet-based approach helps companies organize their ERP activities based on roles assigned to employees, a fact which makes it even easier for us to deploy Sage solutions for our customers,” notes Tan. “For instance, accounts receivable clerks, general ledger accountants and controllers will have separate and unique roles with pre-assigned access to their respective functions in Accpac. This degree of operational functionality and productivity represents a huge leap forward for many SMB companies looking to compete and win in today’s marketplace.”

About CareWare Systems

Through its partnership with Sage, CareWare Systems helps small and mid-size companies in Malaysia reach productivity levels at the top of their respective industries. CareWare represents a variety of business management software including Sage Accpac ERP, SageCRM, and MISys Manufacturing Software. For companies interested in growth, profitability and superior software support, CareWare is the Sage business partner for you. For more information, please visit our website: http://www.careware.com.my/.

CareWare Systems Selected to Implement Sage ERP Accpac 500 for Construction giant WCT Berhad

2011-02-18T01:54:00.001+08:00

Top Sage ERP reseller in Malaysia expands upon its extensive record of Sage ERP Accpac 500 implementations for construction and engineering companies.

WCT Berhad, a construction & Engineering giant in Malaysia, have chosen to use Sage Accpac ERP 500 to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their business processes.

WCT cites Sage Accpac’s flexible chart of accounts and project accounting capabilities as the fundamental reasons for choosing the Sage Accpac 500 software. Sage Accpac unique feature helps WCT in the timely reporting of project profit & loss and other financial statements.

They were impressed with Sage Accpac premier partner Careware Systems Sdn Bhd domain experience and track records in the construction & project based business. Careware was able to present to WCT the Sage Accpac’s capability and flexibility that meets WCT current needs and allows future growth path with its modular modules concept.

WCT while maintaining its presence and businesses in Malaysia has successfully established a strong presence in other parts of the world including the Gulf region with the undertaking of high profile mega projects. WCT’s presence in the Gulf region has been in the Kingdom of Bahrain and Qatar with the successful construction of Bahrain F1 International Circuit, Manama Corridor Improvement Project - Al-Seef flyover and Bahrain City Center. In Qatar, WCT together with its JV partners are currently undertaking 2 (Two) projects, namely, the RM1.88 Billion civil and infrastructure works of the New Doha International Airport and 780 Million Dukhan Highway. WCT will continue to be active in Malaysia as well as other parts of the world, most notably in the Middle East countries.

The Sage Accpac 500 is being installed and implemented at WCT Doha, Qatar office and also in the Shah Alam Head office in Malaysia. Moving forward in phase 2 will see WCT implementing Sub Contractor Claim Management module developed by Careware.

Robert Tan, managing partner, of Careware is pleased to be WCT business solution partner. “We are pleased to provide WCT with a flexible and comprehensive business solution to manage their global businesses. Sage Accpac ERP is the best choice for mid range software with its project accounting capability, modularity and flexibility to help WCT compete globally. We are also thrilled to find that one of the major deciding factors was based on our track record and domain experience which is a testament to Careware’s dedication and commitment to our customers’ success, and to building long-term partnerships.”

About CareWare Systems
Through its partnership with Sage, CareWare Systems helps small and mid-size companies in Malaysia reach productivity levels at the top of their respective industries. CareWare represents a variety of business management software including Sage Accpac ERP, SageCRM, and MISys Manufacturing Software. For companies interested in growth, profitability and superior software support, CareWare is the Sage business partner for you. For more information, please visit our website: http://www.careware.com.my/.

The Sage Group strategy on Cloud computing on Fox Business News interview of Guy Berruyer, Sage Chief Executive

2011-02-13T21:05:00.000+08:00

The Sage Group CEO Guy Berruyer on how more and more of the company’s clients want to shift toward cloud computing.

Mr. Guy Berruyer seems to be advocating a hybrid solution that is the same message he “preached” in Asia when during a partner conference. And it is a good message. What is a Hybrid Solution?? Application on the cloud but data (confidential & sensitive data) on premise? I like this idea because it will prevent “Data Ransom.”

Also Data migration is a very important point that customers need to look out for when signing up with a Cloud provider” when you decided after two years or so to terminate the contract. Look out for the fine print in the contract. What happen to your data? And reputable providers like SF will NOT hold you to ransom, but you get back you data in a big chunk of spaghetti. It’s True, It’s True!!!

Hybrid is certainly part of Sage strategy where Sage ERP Accpac Online provide competitive advantages on cloud computing.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Sage-Accpac-Connect/163664220334568

http://ht.ly/3TUmB

MISys Announces Accpac ERP v6.0 Compatibility

2011-02-02T18:01:00.000+08:00

MISYS MANUFACTURING SOFTWARE IS 100% COMPATIBLE WITH SAGE ACCPAC ERP v6.0

Manufacturing Information Systems, Inc. (MISys), makers of MISys Manufacturing software, today announced that it has completed compatibility testing of MISys Manufacturing SBM version 4.2 and that the software has been deemed fully compatible with the newly released Sage Accpac ERP version 6.0.
Because MISys Manufacturing SBM version 4.2 is also compatible with Sage Accpac ERP version 5.6, users who are making the transition from version 5.6 to version 6.0 can be assured that their MISys/Accpac manufacturing system will function without interruption.

“We are committed to supporting Sage Accpac ERP users,” said David Brown, MISys CEO. “We tested the software extensively to make sure that the integration points work seamlessly as intended, and it does. We are pleased to continue the partnership with Sage Accpac that we started over 25 years ago.”
Last November, MISys released the details of its Compatibility Roadmap which assures Accpac users of continued compatibility and technical support for its software ranging several versions back. A view of the Roadmap can be found online.

MISys is inviting users and resellers of Accpac accounting software to a series of four webinars entitled “Manufacturing for Accpac ERP v6: Points of Integration” starting on February 3rd. Further information and free online registration is available now.
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About MISys:

Manufacturing Information Systems, Inc (MISys) develops comprehensive software applications for small to mid-sized manufacturing entities. First established in 1977, MISys has integrated its software with Accpac accounting software since 1985 and has more than 7,000 installations in over 40 countries. For a complete description of MISys and its services, visit http://www.misysinc.com/
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Source: http://misysmfg.blogspot.com/2011/01/misys-announces-accpac-erp-v6.html

Happy Chinese New Year

2011-01-24T09:12:00.001+08:00

Dear Valuable Customers, Partners & Friends,

May the New Year bring you & your family happiness and good health.

Careware will be closed for Chinese New Year Holiday from 2nd February, 2011 (Wednesday) to 8th February 2011 (Tuesday). We will resume work on the 9th of February, 2011.

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Website : http://www.careware.com.my/
Blog : http://www.careware-erp.blogspot.com/
Facebook : Sage Accpac Connect

CAREWARE Number 1 in Malaysia 2010.

2011-01-13T08:23:00.000+08:00

Careware Systems is honour to receive the Sage ERP Accpac's top Business Partner for Malaysia again for the year 2010. Careware has been consecutively five years in the running the Sage ERP Accpac’s Top Business Partner in Malaysia and they once again received the title of Sage ERP Accpac Asia Premier business partner.

“Being number one position is no easy feat, but remaining number one is even harder as everyone is gunning to topple you. But thanks to our dedicated staffs both in sales & supports, amidst a difficult market scenario we are able excel. The other key factor for our success is One 1Solutons concept that we offer to our clients, a total solution from consulting, training, support, development, and planned maintenance we offer which differentiates Careware from other business partners and enable to us to deliver a Total Solution for Peace of Mind to our clients. The other keys factor is our domain experience in the project & manufacturing segments where we compete aggressively against other brands of ERP in Malaysia says Robert Tan, Managing Director of Careware Systems.

A big thank you to all our valued customers and staffs and may 2011 be another year of bountiful harvest for us all.

Careware Systems Sdn Bhd

Careware Systems Sdn Bhd has been for more than two decades a Sage Accpac ERP solution provider. She specializes in Verticals market such as project / Services & manufacturing and is consider the manufacturing master in Sage Accpac ERP. Careware Systems Sdn Bhd has been awards winners since 1990 from Computer Associates he previous owner of Accpac software. She was awarded the Asia number 1 Business Partner by Sage for 2008.

Sage

The Sage Group plc is the number one supplier of accounting and business management software solutions for SME and the third largest supplier of business software in the world. It comprises market-leading businesses throughout Asia, Australia, North America, Europe, United Kingdom, and Africa .The Sage group plc has over 5 million small and mid-sized customers in 55 countries and nearly 15,000 staff.

Sage Accpac V. 6.> (Advance and ever advancing)

2011-01-01T08:42:00.000+08:00

There have been much talk and anticipation on the soon to be release Sage Accpac V. 6.

This version of the software is a leap forward for Sage Accpac ERP in that it presents the user with a browser-based user interface (UI) that has been designed using the Google Web Toolkit (GWT).

Specific Improvement that the customer are asking for:

1. The new UI enhance usability of the product with user friendly interface and simplify navigation quickly and as intuitively as possible, based on their specific job duties (i.e it's roles-based).

2. The dashboard style screen, displays their mission-critical data in a graphical format, and allows user to navigate accordingly. Each user can personalize their own portal, and system security assures that each user will only be allowed to view or change information that they are allowed to access.

3. The UI also allows quick access to inquiries on an ad-hoc basis and facilitates the creation of quick information lists and reports. User-created queries can be saved and reused. Providing manager with KPI so they can better monitor business. The new UI will replace the existing Sage Accpac ERP desktop.

4. Sage has also added significant functionality to SageCRM7 and to the Sage ERP modules. Improvements have been made to SageCRM in the area of quote-to-order workflow, which Improve Accpac integration with Sage CRM, so sales rep can be efficiently turn quote into sales order.

5. Last of all, a much requested change has been made to the ERP module functionality. Users now have the ability to lock fiscal periods by module. Modules can now be locked down until the fiscal period closing has been completed, preventing unwanted postings into the wrong fiscal period.

We shall see Sage Accpac V6 in Malaysia in the beginning next year. and it is eagerly anticipated by the Sage Accpac ERP partner channel and by end-users.

The use of the GWT in the design of the UI, and in the design of the version 6.1A accounting modules, will bring Accpac ERP one step closer to being a truly web-deployable product.

The new design will allow it to be deployed in a public or private cloud, and we'll undoubtedly begin to see a high end-user adoption rate for Accpac ERP delivered in a SaaS model. Sage has beta-tested Sage Live in the UK, and I don't think it's a stretch of the imagination to expect to see a version of it soon in Asia, using Sage Accpac ERP and SageCRM.

For a short Video of Sage Accpac 6.

New Year Greetings

2010-12-15T09:33:00.000+08:00

Dear Values Customers & Supplier,

Another year is coming to end, and a new year is on the verge of beginning and the holiday season approaches.

We'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued partnership. It is business associates like you who make our jobs a pleasure and keep our company successful.

May your holiday season and the New Year be filled with much joy, happiness and success. We look forward to working with you in the coming year and hope our business relationship continues for many years to come.

Happy holidays!

Management & Staffs

Sage Accpac Solution: Inventory Planning for Sales Distribution.

2010-12-13T17:35:00.000+08:00

The Inventory Planning (I/P) module is an easy to use purchase planning solution for small to medium-sized trading enterprises. With I/P, trading companies can now generate full scale purchasing plans for all their inventory items.

I/P makes full use of the sales information in Accpac O/E, sales forecast information in I/P, stock data within Accpac I/C, purchase information in Accpac P/O in generating a realistic purchase plan. I/P is fully integrated with Sage Accpac’s Financial and Logistics modules. By planning ahead, I/P minimizes inventory stock, prevents item shortages leading to improvement in customer service levels. With I/P , inventory planners actually spend more time planning instead of just tracking, compiling and calculating stock requirements.

Main Features

Available to Promise (ATP)

• Allows salesmen to query and view online the available to promise quantity of selected items
• Provide stock inventory information such as on hand quantity,PO on order quantity,SO allocated quantity by location
• Displays the default sales price based on Accpac I/C
• Displays summary ustomer credit status based on AccpacA/R
• Includes a date-based sales history information
• Displays detailed item planning information for the selected item

Buyer Information

• Allows definition of unlimited number of buyers for purchased I/C materials
• Create planned purchase orders by buyer
• Generate planning inquiries by buyer

Item Planning Information

• Allows the user to define safety stock levels for each item record in I/C
• User may also define an order multiple(e.g. purchase unit)for each I/C item
• Purchase Lead Time can be maintained for each I/C item
• Option to automatically generate planned orders for selected items

Minimum Order

• Generate realistic purchase plans with minimum order quantities per item
• Minimum order levels are useful to simulate purchase economic order quantities(EOQ)and supplier minimum order requirements

Consumption of Sales Forecasts

• Sales forecasts can be inputted or imported or use during planning runs
• Actual Accpac O/E sales orders can consume user-defined salesforec as tsthus preventing excessive estimation of item demand.
• Consumption tolerance can be defined by using backward and forward consumption days

Flexible I/C Location Coverage

• User-defined I/P Distribution Networks determine the scope of purchase planning runs
• I/P Distribution Networks are used to group I/C Locations to form supply chains
• Supports unlimited number of I/P Distribution Networks

Planning Calendar

• Allows user-defined working and non-working days
• Sets the default working days for a normal week

Simplified Planning Runs

• User-friendly planning run interface requires only one click of a button to run the entire purchase planning process
• Includes option to exclude I/C stock, P/O orders, O/E orders
• Includes option to ignore minimum stock levels and work calendar

“What If” Scenarios

• Allows four(4) other planning records per Distribution Network to simulate “What If” scenarios
• Option to copy a source planning record to any target planning record

Auto Generation of Purchase Requisitions

• Planned orders can be automatically converted to P/O Requisitions via the I/P Generate PR routine
• Buyer has the option to combine or generate separate P/O Requisitions
• Buyer has the option to change order dates, due dates and order quantities for planned orders prior to generating P/O Requisitions

Reporting & Inquiries

•Purchase Planning Summary Report
•Purchase Planning Summary Report by Buyer
•Purchase Advice Report –Detailed or Summary
•Purchase Advice Report –Detailed
•Item Planning Inquiry –Detailed or Summary
•Sales Forecast vs. Actual Sales Report
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AutoSimply Inventory Planning is an add-on module that facilitattes sales forecast & planning.
For more information call Careware at : 603 79588232 or email : sales@careware.com.my

iPad Now Officially Available in Malaysia

2010-12-01T14:00:00.000+08:00

The long awaited Apple iPad is now officially available in Malaysia as of yesterday. No longer do Malaysian enthusiasts need to buy from parallel importer or grey importer as in the pass months at a higher prices and non warranty by Apple Malaysia. It was report in newspaper that Hundreds of buyers queued up for hours for the launch of the Apple iPad at the Mid Valley Megamall yesterday. Some arrive as early as 8am before the official launched at 10am, so as to be among the first to own the iPad in Malaysia.

They are priced as below:

iPad with Wi-Fi
16GB – RM1549
32GB – RM1849
64GB – RM2149

iPad with Wi-Fi + 3G
16GB – RM1999
32GB – RM2299
64GB – RM2599

As for now you are only allow to purchase a maximum of three units, and you can only purchase them at Apple Premium Resellers’ and selected Harvey Norman’s branches.

And for Sage Solutions customers, be informed that with SageCRM7 and Sage endorsed Service Manager from Technisoft will work and is compatible with iPhone and iPad.

So should you rush out to join the queue?

Service Manager 5.6 now working on iPad

2010-12-01T07:01:00.000+08:00

Since launching the Apple iPAD it has taken the market by storm. It may revolutionize how people work in the future. Apple is obliterating the distinctions between consumer and professional devices and for more and more professionals work & play goes hand in hand.

Sage Accpac ERP Solutions are among the forefront of progress, and has always kept abreast of technology changes and advancement. The latest Service Manager 5.6 an endorsed solution by Sage from Technisoft is really to work with iPAD.

Technisoft is excited and proud to announce the release of the latest version of the Employee Portal which now supports Apple iPad.

We are presently in development with iPhone and Android Phones and hope to have some exciting news in that regard early in 2011.

Remember Apple touch screens are designed primarily for finger use only but there are now styluses available for the iPad as well.

Those on Software Assurance can download the latest version of the Employee Portal to try this out.

Licensing is as per the Employee Portal which is Named User based using Sage Accpac IAP’s. If you are already using the Employee Portal you will have no additional requirements.

We hope you enjoy the new options

Please stay tuned for some further exciting releases prior to year end.

Please check out brilliant first views.

Paying too little.

2010-11-14T18:00:00.000+08:00

During my early as a young man selling engineering product the maxim of John Ruskin has been drummed into our mind by the Senior Sales Engineer.

“It is unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little.

When you pay too much you lose a little money - that is all.

When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought

was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do.

The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot;

it cannot be done.

If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run,

and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better"

John Ruskin (1819 - 1900)

Too many disasters occur because the customer wants to have something very good for very little cost. All too many public sector procurements end up as lemons (to be polite) because they insist on the lowest price as being the main discriminator. Price is important, but so are:

the track record of the supplier - which includes their reliability.
the experience of the supplier in this area of requirements and their quality regime.
the facilities available in the product(s) or service(s) offered.
their product support, training and maintenance services.

It is easy to mistake price and cost. The price is what you pay for an item. Cost has many dimensions and many of them are intangible, ongoing costs which can potentially cripple a business. Which brings me to the most important point.

Do not buy for fashion, or appearance, or whim - buy because it brings to your business clearly identifiable and quantifiable benefits. You should write down what you intend to achieve, because at the end of the process you should be able to check that you have indeed achieved the benefits you expected.

The cost of any product or service must be proportionate to the business benefit to be derived. If the benefit is high, then some risk is likely to be involved too. There are very few cheap, quick and effective fixes. You rarely get great benefit for no effort.
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“There is hardly anything in the world that someone can’t make a little worse and sell a little cheaper – and people who consider price alone are this man’s lawful prey”.

John Ruskin (1819 - 1900)

Project Management for Accountants

2010-11-12T16:54:00.000+08:00

Project management is a client-focused process that significantly increases the probability of providing the desired results to the client. It can help an accounting firm plan its resources more effectively and ensure that work is delivered to clients in a timely manner. The project management methodology enables an accounting firm to manage its engagements prospectively, not retrospectively, such as through time sheets. When properly implemented, project management can provide your firm with a competitive differentiation by defining the success of your firm the same way your clients do—through results. This article explains the important tools and objectives underlying project management.

For complete article follow this link : Project Management for Accountants

ONE (1) SOLUTION

2010-11-05T13:05:00.000+08:00

CAREWARE launched the One (1) Solution Concept.

The challenge involved in establishing a computer Client Server Network System and Web Deployment from initial planning to the final up and running system is opened to a selected few and as you know from your experience, the reward is euphoric.

No doubt about it, the Multi user Software has become essential! But the right product choices must be made and all the elements unit function together harmoniously and efficiently

It has now become obvious that designing an Enterprise Wide system involves half a dozen different firms, each supplying any of the items or services described above. Every one of the components is essential for the support of your computer system.

Recognizing these enormous disadvantages of dealing with several different firms and point of responsibilities which could prove detrimental to the Enterprise System, Careware put together a team of experts, a group of TOTALLY dedicated, specialized and trained personnel to offer the CAREWARE ONE (1) SOLUTION and TOTAL SUPPORT for our customers..

The Careware approach is unique, a single source for a ONE (1) Solution, from design, preparation, management, control and planned maintenance of both Hardware and ERP Software.

CAREWARE specialized IT systems engineers helps you design, install and maintain your IT infrastructure while enabling you to resolve your day-to-day business challenges. Each of our network consultants are technically experienced and certified, providing you with the benefits of new and emerging technologies together with consulting services.

Together with our Sage Accpac ERP and Sage CRM solutions, we offers a complete IT infrastructure on which your ERP and CRM software can operate with optimum performance and data integrity in a secure, effective business environment.

CAREWARE's One (1) solutions include:-

- Designing, installing and managing LAN/WAN
- Providing remote access solutions for Sage Accpac ERP and Sage CRM
- Troubleshooting application and network connectivity issues
- Providing performance fine tuning on network, applications and database
- Support IBM, HP, Cisco & D-Link routers, etc.

We will provide your company with the absolute highest level of technology support so you have only ONE (1) company to count on for all of your technology needs.

MISys SBM for Sage Accpac – Whats new?

2010-10-11T10:49:00.000+08:00

MISys SBM: Manufacturing software that is more powerful, yet simpler to use; with more deployment options, and with flexibility to insure a lasting fit in a growing company. And all this at a price you can afford today.

Manufacturing Information Systems, Inc., makers of the award-winning MISys Manufacturing System, for the Sage Accpac user has introduces a new version of Manufacturing Systems for the SME. MISys SBM; software is been designed specifically for smaller-sized manufacturing firms and is based on the cumulative experiences of more than 25 years in building manufacturing software. Its former MISys SAE has been the Premier manufacturing modules for the Sage Accpac since 1982 and with over 7,000 manufacturing companies running this manufacturing software in over 48 countries around the world make it proven internationally used manufacturing software.

Best of Breed

One may think that buying all components from an big names ERP publisher would solve all your problems. But the fact remains is that these ERP systems are geared toward the large companies are seldom well suited to SME. Not only they are expensive to purchase and maintain, its complexity and length of time it takes to implementation is beyond what most small-medium sizes companies can afford to wait and purchase.

Some of these ERP have been focusing on manufacturing side of the software in their development time and haven’t spent many of their development dollars producing equally capable accounting or distribution software. While others are top class financial accounting systems but weak in manufacturing but has little or no development efforts in the manufacturing side. This dilemma has for the SME companies have been solved by going with the best of breed software. MISys SBM with Sage Accpac give you the best of breeds’ solutions for the SME.

Built-in Growth Path

Like other software developed by Manufacturing Information Systems, MISys SBM offers all the functionality a small manufacturing firm needs today, with plenty of room to grow in the future. Start with the basic inventory control module, with multi-level bills of material and revision control. Whenever you're ready, add advanced purchasing, bin tracking, production control, master production scheduling, shop floor control, rules-based configuration, serial/lot tracking, or bar-coding.

Quick and Easy to Learn

The new Misys SBM is built from ground using pure Microsoft .NET technology. MISys SBM has a Microsoft SQL database at its heart. Users familiar with Microsoft Office will find its familiar look and feels easy to navigate and use as anyone who knows their way around the most popular email or word-processing programs will quickly feel at home with MISys Small Business Manufacturing.

Run Stand-Alone or Fully Integrated

MISys SBM can be run stand-alone, or integrated with Sage Accpac Financial and Distribution software systems to form a complete manufacturing business management system. By communicating directly with your accounting software, time-consuming and error-prone exporting and importing is eliminated. All your manufacturing transaction will impact your accounting and with its integration to Sage Accpac your CFO will be glad to know that your company financials finally reflect your manufacturing activities.

Low Total Cost of Ownership

MISys SBM is one of the most affordable manufacturing software systems available, not just because of its low purchase price, but because the unexpected expenses that can escalate the total cost of owning software have been eliminated in the design. With MISys SBM there are no surprises, no obsolescence; total cost of ownership is never a gamble. The design of MISys SBM is certain to give companies greater value for their investment than any other manufacturing system available.
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About MISys Inc.
(MISys Inc.), the developer of the MISys Manufacturing System. MISys has been a leader in the manufacturing software industry for more than 25 years. MISys products are sold directly and by hundreds of business partners worldwide. Visit www.misysinc.com or call 802/457-4600.

About Careware.
Careware Systems Sdn Bhd is the leading Sage Accpac Premier Business Partner in Malaysia and has extensive Domain experiences in the manufacturing segments. To learn all about Sage Accpac ERP with MISys Manufacturing software contact CAREWARE by calling (03) 79588232 or emailing to sales@careware.com.my

The Right People

2010-09-13T14:02:00.000+08:00

Recently I was involve in assembling a team from my company for a regional project and the thought came to me about the recent debacle of the France soccer team in the World Cup 2010. France exit in disgrace. What went wrong? They have some of the best professional players. It was apparent that they fail as a team.

Philippe Tétart, a French sports historian, said that France’s players had acted like spoiled celebrities instead of potential champions, creating damage beyond the team’s image.

Acting like prima donna, they revolted against the management, the coach and influence the younger players to boycott training. Even the France sport’s minister couldn’t persuade them. The only way France can repair its image and regain her pride is to “cut off,” these prima donnas and rebuild a young team from ground up.

Someone has sent me this quote:
"it's the best five players that win the game, not the five best players."
Do you know the differences?

Which lead me to ponder on the devotional that I read some time ago.
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Read : 1 Corinthians 12:7-18
God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. --- 1 Corinthians 12:18
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The film Miracle tells the true story of the 1980 US Olympic ice hockey team as it marches to an improbable gold medal. At the outset of the story coach Herb Brooks is shown selecting the players for his team. When he gives assistant coach Craig Patrick a list of names he has chosen, Craig syas in surprise, “ You’re missing some of the best players.” Brooks responds, “I’m not looking for the best players, Craig-just the right ones.”

Brooks knew that individual talents would take the team only so far. A willingness to fit into his style of selfless play would be far more important than talent. Clearly, team success, not individual glory, was the priority.

The Biblical call to service has a similar emphasis. In God’s purposes each believer does his or her part, but the results are team-oriented. After explaining the wide differences in the spiritual gifts of believers, Paul says, “the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for profit of all” (1 Cor. 12:7). When we use the skills God gives us, His purposes are accomplished, and He get the glory. In God’s service it’s not about been best, the most talented, or the most gifted. It’s about being the right people—the ones God “set…..in the body” (v.18)—joining together to serve the same team.— Bill Crowder

Sage Accpac Project Job Cost for Construction & Engineering

2010-08-05T07:24:00.000+08:00

CareWare Systems Takes Lead in Job Costing Solutions for Construction, Engineering and Manufacturing in Malaysia
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Sage reseller in Malaysia prepares for 20th implementation of Sage Accpac ERP’s project and job costing solution for global engineering firm KTA Tenaga.

Petaling Jaya, Malaysia (PRWEB) August 4, 2010

CareWare Systems Sdn Bhd (http://www.careware.com.my/), a Sage business software reseller based in Malaysia, is preparing to implement its 20th Sage Accpac ERP project and job costing solution for KTA Tenaga, a global engineering firm with offices in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi. The latest sale of Sage Accpac makes CareWare one of the largest resellers of project and job costing solutions in all of Asia.

The number of Malaysian firms competing for construction and engineering projects across Asia has increased in recent years. According to Robert Tan, managing partner of CareWare Systems, one of the best ways Malaysian companies can gain a true competitive edge is by implementing world-class ERP software (enterprise resource planning) with integrated project and job costing functionality. “An uncertain economy and greater global competition has many engineering and construction firms looking for the most accurate and timely business information possible,” says Tan. “An ERP package with a fully integrated project and job costing module provides the insight many firms need to control costs, manage subcontractors and create competitive bid proposals for future work,” says Tan.

KTA Tenaga wanted customizable ERP software that could also seamlessly manage its future international growth and internal reporting needs, which is why the firm selected Sage Accpac from among several other well-known ERP applications. “The strength of Sage Accpac is in its ability to integrate data from across the organization so that decision-makers have the information they need real-time,” says Tan. “Sage Accpac synchronizes and shares data across all departments and parties such as procurement, accounts payable, invoicing, operations, and management.”

One of the reasons why CareWare has developed a leadership position in selling ERP for construction and engineering firms is the deep industry expertise of its consultants and add-on applications it has developed to help its customers gain additional operational efficiency. “What separates us from many software resellers is the completeness of our project and job costing software solution,” Tan notes. “We developed additional functionality to AP in order to help our customers manage subcontractors. We also built a more robust offering around intercompany and project purchasing consolidation as well as business intelligence and CRM integration.”

CareWare has experienced a double digit increase in sales compared to this time last year. According to Tan, not only has growth come from project and job costing consulting but also from manufacturing and business intelligence deployments. “We’re looking at the possibility of having to hire additional consultants to help with the growth,” Tan says. “With the world economic recovery looking brighter, many Malaysian companies are looking to Sage Accpac and CareWare for the competitive edge they need. We are pleased to be part of the formula for long-term success of so many growing companies.”

About CareWare Systems

Through its partnership with Sage, CareWare Systems helps small and mid-size companies in Malaysia reach productivity levels at the top of their respective industries. CareWare represents a variety of business management software including Sage Accpac ERP, SageCRM, and MISys Manufacturing Software. For companies interested in growth, profitability and superior software support, CareWare is the Sage business partner for you. For more information, please visit our website: http://www.careware.com.my/.

Source: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/08/prweb4345434.htm

The Father’s Day Balance Sheet

2010-06-22T11:34:00.000+08:00

I had wanted just to post the link to this article but then I decided to put it full on my blog just in case post was archive and remove. It is worth keeping it permanently. Please read it for all its worth…. God Bless!
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The meaning of Father’s Day has changed for me over the years. My father has been gone a couple of years now, and my kids are almost out of the house. I’ve been a father for 28 years, an entrepreneur for 32. As with any demanding job, balancing the responsibilities of parenthood with the responsibilities of the business has been a challenge. My perspective has changed, and I write today’s post for the benefit (I hope) of younger parents, fathers and mothers, who are dealing with this struggle.

People used to tell me, “There is no old man lying in his death bed wishing he would have spent more time at work.” When I used to hear that, I understood and felt confident that I wasn’t one of those guys who were out of whack. I didn’t travel too much, I was usually home before the kids went to bed, and we took some vacations. The words I would use to describe my 32 years in business include drive, excitement, disappointment, resolve, adventure, fear, satisfaction and progress. I have a new word to add to my list: regret.

I avoid using it in business because I have learned that while torturing yourself can be useful in learning a lesson, it can also be a waste of time and bad for the psyche. I have made hundreds of mistakes over the years and would like to think I have learned from them. I have learned not to look down and not to look back. That is why I love business. You usually have an opportunity to improve things and make them better, using your new-found wisdom from your latest mistake. The end of each year is an opportunity to start with a clean slate.

But your kids’ childhoods don’t work like that. Whether it is that gut-wrenching day when you drop them off at college, if you should be so lucky, or the day they move out, there is an end to their childhoods. There is no going back. And there is plenty of opportunity for regret.

While you are at battle every day to build the business, or even just to stay in business, it is easy to justify skipping the vacation, coming home late, or working on the weekend. The harsh reality is that it is sometimes necessary. And sometimes it is not. That is where the regret comes in. I was home, but was I really there? Or was I thinking about the bank loan? Or the problem employee? Or the end of my lease? And then there is the pushing for fast growth. Instead of enjoying a few years of sanity when you finally get things under control, you seize the opportunity to expand and get in more trouble! It is hard to control ambition, but like many things in life you can have too much of a good thing.

I went to dinner years ago with a neighbor who had taken over his family’s business. He casually commented, “I’m sure you have your kids’ college educations taken care of.” I said no, not a dime. It was all in the business. I was not surprised that he had money put away. He was running a very successful business that, to his credit, had grown considerably after he took it over from his father. What surprised me was that it apparently had never occurred to him that not everyone in business was in the same financial position he was. He took more vacations than we did, played golf regularly and belonged to a country club. He didn’t work weekends. I don’t think he lost a lot of sleep over paying bills. It didn’t really bother me; I just knew that I was in a different situation.

Which gets me to my Father’s Day (and belated Mother’s Day) wish for all of you who are raising a family while trying to raise a business. Add one more thing to your list of goals, along with more sales, increased profit, improved products or service, lower debt and whatever else. Call it an investment in your kids’ childhood equity: time spent going to the zoo, taking vacations, helping with homework, playing catch, baking cupcakes, doing whatever your kids want to do. And doing them even when you are tired, frustrated, distracted and broke.

They really will be on their own before you know it, and you will be running (we hope) a successful business. Here is the million-dollar question: Would it be better to be worth 20 percent less and know that you went out of your way to spend as much time as you could with your family? At the end of each year we look at the income statement to evaluate our company’s performance. Maybe we should do the same for our personal life. We could call it the outcome statement. It might give a whole new meaning to the term “balance sheet.”

Happy Father’s Day.

By : Jay Goltz
http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/the-fathers-day-balance-sheet/

SageCRM 7 officially Launch in Malaysia

2010-06-16T23:48:00.000+08:00

CareWare Systems and Sage Are Set to Transform the Business Software Experience for Malaysian Companies with June 2010 Launch of SageCRM

CareWare Systems Sdn Bhd to offer comprehensive software demonstration webpage showing Malaysian companies how SageCRM 7.0 will streamline business processes and improve productivity.

Petaling Jaya, Malaysia (PRWEB) June 13, 2010 -- CareWare Systems Sdn Bhd is taking an active role in the June upgrade launch of SageCRM 7.0, which is customer relationship management software from Sage for small and mid-size companies. CareWare Systems, a Sage business partner in Malaysia for the last 20 years, has developed a comprehensive webpage it believes will demonstrate how SageCRM will help Malaysian companies of all sizes operate more efficiently and with greater visibility across the entire business.

According to Robert Tan, managing partner of CareWare Systems, SageCRM has the potential of transforming the way a company runs the front and back office. “SageCRM 7.0 used as a stand-alone CRM system offers many ways to automate sales, marketing and customer service functions,” explains Tan. “Combining SageCRM with Sage Accpac ERP, Sage’s flagship ERP software, takes that productivity gain to a much higher level through system-wide integration between the two applications.”

SageCRM features out-of-the-box integration with Sage Accpac, which means that a company running Accpac has to do no actual work beyond a simple set up of SageCRM to begin enjoying the benefits of integration. Tan says: “Much of the work a Malaysian company does in accounting ERP systems can be done in SageCRM. Businesses can utilize SageCRM’s easy-to-use online interface to create quotes, place orders, view and order inventory, send invoices, handle cash collections and much more. Plus, having it all online means employees can work from virtually anywhere while easily accomplishing key business tasks,” he adds.

According to Tan, CareWare Systems prides itself on offering cutting edge technology to give companies in Malaysia an advantage over the competition. One way he plans to demonstrate the extent to which SageCRM will save Malaysian businesses time and money is to invite them to a webpage created especially for the CRM launch. “We want Malaysian business customers to get the complete SageCRM experience, which is why we have links to online software demonstrations,” Tan says. “To stay competitive in today’s market, businesses have to work smarter, anticipate customer needs better and eliminate process redundancy. SageCRM with integration to Sage Accpac does just that,” he adds.

For more information on how SageCRM and CareWare Systems can turn your business into a productivity leader, visit :http://www.careware.com.my/index.php?mid=1740 to watch a CRM software demo today.

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CareWare Systems and Sage Are Set to Transform the Business Software Experience for Malaysian Companies with June Launch of SageCRM , was successfully distributed via PRWeb on June 13, 2010 and is now available online at: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/06/prweb4128604.htm

SAGE Accpac CRM for Insurance

2010-04-27T22:14:00.000+08:00

SageCRM is part of the Sage Accpac Extended Enterprise Suites give you a 360 degree views of your business.

Whether your business is in the Service, Financial or Insurance industry, CAREWARE has the solution for you with the award winning selection of Accpac ERP modules in conjunction with our Customer Relationship Management product – SAGE CRM.

SAGE Accpac CRM for Insurance

SAGE Accpac CRMfor the Insurance Industry allows you to Consolidate claims management, policy management and application management with OCR and document management capabilities. This in turn allows your employees, agents and CSRs (customer service representatives) with a holistic view of your customer’s

portfolio. This level of information at your fingertips will result in better service, up sell and cross sell opportunities as well as targeted marketing campaigns and activities through key attribute profiling.

SAGE Accpac CRM for Insurance provides the following key benefits

• Complete suite of modules that enables insurance companies to manage and integrate all customer communications embracing all channels of communication through one view. This increases productivity and efficiency throughout the sales force.

• SAGE Accpac CRM embraces all sale channels including brokers, agents, call centres as well as direct employees.

• Manage Claims with integration to external claims/billing systems.

• Quote Management and Policy Management tracking with automated workflows.

• Claims Management with integration to web self service.

• Complete document management and OCR capabilities for storing

all documents such as insurance certificates, ID certificates etc.

• Risk assessment is improved through managing and storing all information and having access to live data from all business unit Self service allows a web based integration platform to manage relationships with insurance brokers, agents as well as customers.

• Customer service costs should reduce as self service is introduced to reduce call burden.

• By integrating with billing systems, this assists with automating the billing process and matching payments.

Service Manager 5.6A Released Today!

2010-04-16T16:36:00.000+08:00

Technisoft is proud to announce the release today of Service Manager 5.6A for Sage Accpac ERP 100/200/500 5.6

Service Manager 5.6A

Service Manager 5.6A is a full major upgrade release with significant internal changes to accommodate the new features of Sage Accpac 5.6A. Service Manager 5.6A is fully compliant with all core Sage Accpac ERP 5.6A modules.

Enhancements and new features include:

• Fully accommodated the new Serialized Inventory and Lot Tracking features of IC 5.6A including the new SN and LT costing methods.

• A new usage Agreement Type has been added allowing a ($) Dollar Financial performance usage tracking function including automatic re billing when a "Threshold" level as specified is reached.

• New Budget Editor displays Budget consolidated by Phase. Compare Original Budget, Current Budget, Actual and Variance. Includes Mark-up on Cost by % options.

• New Equipment Task Listing Report

• All views have been upgraded to the 5.6A Template so they adopt current Sage Accpac ERP performance and enhancements, improved memory management, and new single stream Data Activation methods.

• Significant performance enhancements in the Multi Post and Posting Schedules programs.

• It is now possible to add multiple Internal Equipment to a job at once without the necessity of using Transfer function

• Auto Create Equipment has been significantly enhanced to minimize user intervention.

• Equipment may now be marked as Site or Internal.

• Internal Equipment and Subcontractor resources may now be assigned and managed as Job resources.

• Merged the Service Manager Day End Processing into the IC Day End Processing so the same Sequence is used.

• Comments can now be entered for each Task Activity in Document Entry.

• Added the ability to bulk update Job information after posting of Maintenance Worksheets.

• Added the test results to Maintenance Loading to show the values tested and their results.

• Meter readings are now present in the Maintenance Loading transactions.

• Enhancements to Meter Warning settings and predicted Reading options.

As many of you are aware a completely new Job Manager Scheduling and Planning tool is in development.

For more information please visit : http://www.careware.com.my/index.php?mid=1769
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Received in my mail today

Sage Accpac ERP for Engineering and Project Consulting companies

2010-04-05T09:33:00.000+08:00

Engineering Services and Project Consulting companies can keep their projects ‘on track’ with Sage Accpac ERP

What business challenges made it necessary for the project engineering vertical to adopt Sage Accpac ERP solution?

Our customers faced typical challenges related project and material management. For every project that is won, post analysis and requirement scoping, a detailed design and component selection is undertaken. A Bill of materials is then created which goes to the purchase department wherein it has to be logged in against the specific project. In such a complex scenario there is a major challenge in material management, tracking and planning. Also since there are various costs to be incorporated into the project billing, such as material cost, time cost of man-hours spent by personnel from multiple departments, you require a system that could ensure accurate time and materials costing. The billing process is also quite complex as invoices need to be raised at any phase of the project. To summarize accurate project cost visibility across all phases is a major challenge

Apart from needing a project job costing solution, there is also a requirement for robust accounting software tightly integrated with the project job costing module to ensure accurate financial visibility.

What are the modules of Sage Accpac ERP used in this vertical?

Purchase Order, Inventory Control, Project and Job Costing, General Ledger, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable and Optional Fields are the modules which the Sage Accpac ERP system for this vertical.

How has the process improved and what are the benefits accrued with the implementation of Sage Accpac ERP?

• Project Engineering companies require strong material management. The Project Job Costing module of Sage Accpac ERP enables companies to do efficient material management, keep inventory costs under control and streamline material procurement process. The benefit- timely delivery to customers

• Sage Accpac ERP with its project cost tracking capabilities ensures accurate tracking of various cost elements relating to people, material and travel. Since it automatically tracks the project cost throughout its life cycle, it allows the managers to keep track of project profitability at all times.

• Tight integration of the Project and Job Costing system with finance and purchase functions benefit to evade duplication of entries and ensures accuracy of data. Also the automated billing features in the job cost accounting software streamlines customer invoicing this makes certain there are no leakages in the billing and it takes place on time.

SAGE CRM for Financial

2010-04-03T03:31:00.000+08:00

SageCRM is part of the Sage Accpac Extended Enterprise Suites give you a 360 degree views of your business.

SAGE CRM for Financial

SAGE Accpac ERP provides a complete solution for sales, marketing, and customer service. The markets that SAGE Accpac serve include banking, institutional finance, wealth management, capital and brokerage. As commission revenues reduce, financial institutions are faced with huge demands to better manage customers’ portfolios to deliver a service that warrants solid return.

SAGE Accpac’s suite of solutions include the following core

Deliver proactive targeted marketing on wealth management and tailored plans and proactive.

• Focus on improving customer care through workflowed and SLA managed tasks.

• Remove islands of information caused by disparate systems.

• Deliver a holistic view to solve specific issues – company wide.

• Integrate to Sage Accpac operational system of your customer.

• Allow cross selling and up selling and better co-ordination of products and resources.

• Deliver better service and improved productivity.

• The integrated modules look to assist organisations to attain and retain customers as well as extend services into existing customer relationships for increased profitability and improved productivity. Naturally, by retaining all interactions, it is possible to analyse data for cross selling and up selling capabilities.

Our Goverment Office.

2010-03-26T11:56:00.000+08:00

Have a good laugh!

Now, isn't this true?

Receive Purchase Orders

2010-03-19T08:07:00.000+08:00

Receive Purchase Orders
Help your clients get a handle on their inventory as soon as it comes through the door!

ACCU-DART will quickly and accurately update inventory levels directly into the accounting system, while verifying that the items being received are the ones ordered.
When a delivery arrives, the warehouse staff scan the items and quantities as they are receiving them.

ACCU-DART verifies in real-time that the correct items are being received, and warns the user if they attempt to over-receive. Once all items have been scanned, the user simply presses “Post” and the inventory is automatically updated into the accounting system.

♦ Manually writing down serial and lot numbers can be very time consuming and mistakes can easily be made, leading to numerous issues down the road.

♦ With the serial and lot control (add-on modules for Sage Accpac), ACCU-DART will automatically update the accounting system with the correct serial or lot information for future tracking and transactions.

♦ ACCU-DART can put-away items as they are being received into the appropriate bins (For Sage Accpac this functionality is available with the upcoming Orchid Systems’ Bin Tracking Functionality*).

By receiving purchase orders with ACCU-DART, your client’s inventory will be instantly updated into the accounting system, allowing the sales and office staff to know their exact inventory levels for making sales, ordering stock, etc.

It will appear “in stock” as soon as it’s received with ACCU-DART. No more waiting for someone to manually enter the receipt before they can sell the products.

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

MISys SAE 5.6 is now available for compatibility with Sage Accpac 5.6.

2010-03-04T15:45:00.000+08:00

With the launched of Sage Accpac ErP 5.6, Misys Manufacturing Systems a Sage endorsed Manufacturing add-on to Sage Accpac has quickly make its software compatible.

Careware is proud to announce the release of MISys Manufacturing for Sage Accpac ERP (MISys SAE) version 5.6A!

The primary focus of the MISys SAE v5.6 release is to ensure compatibility with Sage Accpac ERP v5.6 and all its components.

• Support for System Manager v5.6A Multi-application activation.

• Support for Inventory Control v5.6A with Serialized Inventory and Lot Tracking.

• Support for Order Entry v5.6A.

MISys SAE v5.6 Serial/Lot Tracking has been updated as follows:

• Added pre-assignment of SL numbers for direct stock transfers.

• Added pre-assignment of SL numbers for batch stock transfers.

• Added pre-assignment of SL numbers for sales transfers from a Manufacturing Order.

• Added new functionality to the Assign SL Numbers function to support retrieving both new SL Numbers and SL Assignments from the same barcode generated file.
For more information about Sage Accpac Manufacturing Solutions, please visit: here.

Sage Business Solutions – Spotlight on: Manufacturing-AutoSimply 5.6

2010-03-02T14:48:00.000+08:00

Sage Business Solutions – Spotlight on: Manufacturing-Auto Simply 5.6.

With the launched of Sage Accpac ERP version 5.6 in Malaysia this month of March. AutoSimply a developer of the manufacturing systems for Sage Accpac has announce the official release of Service Pack 1 for Manufacturing Order (M/F) version 5.6A. This release primarily makes the M/F v5.6A compatible with Sage Accpac v5.6A and includes other major fixes.

Sage Accpac Auto Simply series is an easy-to-use manufacturing solution for small to medium-sized enterprises. Its design is fully integrated with Sage ACCPAC Finance and Logistics modules. Simple yet powerful, manufacturing order enables an efficient manufacturing operation flow covering material purchase, processing manufacturing orders, work in progress, routing cost calculation, material consumption, material scrap and item substitution and order closeout. The design of Manufacturing Order is conceptualized to fully accommodate users’ business processes needs and expectations.

Sage Accpac Manufacturing Order

AutoSimply’s Manufacturing Order is an easy-to-use manufacturing solution for small to medium-sized enterprises. Using ACCPAC SDK, its design is fully integrated with Sage ACCPAC Finance and Logistics modules. Simple yet powerful, Manufacturing Order enables an efficient manufacturing operation flow covering material purchase, processing manufacturing orders, work in progress, routing cost calculation, material consumption, material scrap and item substitution and order closeout. The design of Sage Accpac’s Manufacturing Order is conceptualized to fully accommodate users’ business processes needs and expectations.

Sage Accpac Production Planning.

AutoSimply's Production Planning module is an easy-to-use production scheduling and materials requirement planning solution for small to mediumsized enterprises. Developed using ACCPAC SDK, it is fully integrated with Sage ACCPAc's Financial and Logistics modules. The P/P module is the second installment of AutoSimply's manufacturing suite for ACCPAC. It makes full use of the manufacturing and BOM information in AutoSimply's Manufacturing Order (M/F), sales information as contained in ACCPAC O/E, stock data within ACCPAC I/C and purchase information in ACCPAC P/O. With AutoSimply's P/P module, ACCPAC can now truly generate a full blown basic MPS and MRP plan!

Disclaimer: The views express in the article are the personal views of the blogger and do not represent the official views of Sage Inc or SageAsia.

Sage Accpac 5.6 Business Intelligence launched

2010-03-01T22:00:00.000+08:00

Business Intelligence and Reporting is a buzz phrase in today's marketplace-and for good reason. Gone are the days of trying to glean key information from a monthly balance sheet, profit and loss statement, and cash flow statement. Today's business leaders demand more insightful, more comprehensive metrics because their ability to serve their stakeholders and outflank their competitors depends on it.

What should you look for in business intelligence and reporting solution?

Full integration with your ERP, SCM, CRM, and the ability to pull data from anywhere in your enterprise, and total ease of use. You'll find these qualities, and more, in Sage Business Intelligence solutions.

Sage Accpac Business Intelligence

Sage Accpac Intelligence is a reporting and analysis solution offering Excel based Business Intelligence for Accpac ERP users.

Careware specializes in Excel-based reporting for easy and affordable business intelligence for small to medium enterprises; Sage Accpac Intelligence integrates seamlessly with Sage Accpac ERP by connecting automatically to the data source.

ERP systems produce significant amounts of data which can, if interrogated correctly, provide valuable insights to a company’s CEO, Sales Director or Marketing Director. Sage Accpac Business Intelligence makes this technology available for all business decision makers.

Immediate ROI, the software delivers automated and pre-formatted management packs and other decision-support reports on demand in Microsoft Excel directly from your Sage Accpac ERP applications.

The standard report pack includes:

• Management Dashboards

• Management Account Packs

• Sales Master

• Purchase Master

• Inventory Master

Experience enhanced productivity, performance and presentation with automated monthly management packs. Sage Accpac Intelligence will minimize manual, repetitive work done in Excel and ensure your reports have only a single version of the truth.

The Drill Down capabilities allows detailed transactions to be accessed with the click of a mouse.

Driving a business to success is easier when the organization’s vitals are readily available in a dashboard style view various modules present the following benefits to organizations...

Management Dashboard

• A one page summary of key performance indicators (KPI’s), providing a daily health check on your business

• Incorporate data from other Accpac modules and/or systems

• Dynamically drill down to detail across modules

• Totally flexible and customizable within Excel

With Sage Accpac Intelligence your management information is at your fingertips. You can keep an eye on the health of your company at anytime and anywhere.

Support & training

Comprehensive product and skills training is available from Careware Training Centers. Careware has three (3) certified BI consultants to supports and train you. Our training will take you through 3 stages, Beginner, Intermediate and Advance level. Aimed at business analysis our courses can either introduce or enhance the skills required to be able to produce meaningful analytical reports.

For more information please about the Sage Accpac BI go to Careware.

I am reading - Good to Great

2010-02-23T11:00:00.000+08:00

I am now reading Jim Collins book, “Good to Great.” A good read I suppose, but find the concept level 5 leadership hard to fathom initially. As I progress in reading it becomes clearer and clearer. The book contains lots of good principles and concepts. From Level % leadership -> Hedgehog -> Flywheel. It is a good read and having sold to date more than 3 million copies worldwide there must be some worth to reading it.

Jim Collins teams research the fortune 500 listed companies for years. As there are published data and interviews to based on. It makes to feel that surely there must be some Great Small Companies out there.

To me, reading a management/business books is somewhat similar to the act of going to church … you know the core principles but you need to listen and internalize the subtle nuances so that you truly stay on the right path.
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So far as I progress in reading the picture becomes clearer.

Level 5 Leadership built a team of capable executives.

He is usually not egoistic, The “I” word is seldom used but the” we” word is often used.

He assembled the right people in the “bus”

Usually has a succession plan in place.

Level 1-4 Leadership built only himself.(He is usually a genius, capable and charismatic)

Consider himself as God gifts to the company. I able to do this, I, I, I is often his vocabulary.

He doesn’t have a team of executive but a 1000 “helper.”

He usually set the route for the whole company without much consultation.

When he leaves the whole company crumbles.

As I read through the “Good to Great” in between appointments & seminars, (3/4 way through)

Come to a realization that Careware is actually following the “Hedgehog” principles all the while. We do not get sidetrack with all the noise in the ERP world, but focus on Sage Accpac and what we do best for our customers. No wonder in a small market in Malaysia, we are consistently number ONE for 10 years plus. No wonder we are among the Top Business Partners in Asia.
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Year of Tiger 2010.

2010-02-14T00:20:00.000+08:00

Wishing you a prosperous

and Happy Chinese New Year

Year of Tiger 2010 :

The Tiger is said to be lucky vivid, lively and engaging. Another attribute of the Tiger is his incredible bravery, evidenced in his willingness to engage in battle or his undying courage. Maybe he’s so brave because he is so focus. So we will engagged our business with the “Eyes of the Tiger” The killer instinct for businesses.

In the wild, seeing the "eyes" of the tiger signifies death, because right before a tiger attacks, it turns its ears forward so that the spot on the back of each ear faces nearer its prey. The "eye spots" on the back of tigers' ears serve to confuse predators and reduce the risk of attack from behind. Hence, once someone sees these "eyes", the tiger is about to attack.

The song used in Rocky is "Eye of the Tiger" by a band called Survivor. Some of the lyrics....

It's the Eye of the Tiger,
It's the thrill of the fight,
Rising up to the challenge of our rival,
And the last known survivor
Stalks his prey in the night,
And he's watching us all
With the Eye of the Tiger.

Sage Business Solutions – Spotlight on: Manufacturing-Process.

2010-02-03T00:00:00.000+08:00

MISys/ACCPAC* has been successfully used for process manufacturers worldwide If a product is formula or recipe-based. MISys could dramatically improve operating effectiveness and efficiencies. We may not offer it right out of the box, but MISys is very adaptable to a wide range of industries, and for a small and mid-sized process manufacturing companies MISys may be a better fit financially as well as ease-of-use.

Key Benefits

Powerful Yet Easy to Use

Although MISys or ACCPAC ERP is not designed specifically for pharmaceutical or biosciences, but we have some good and satisfied customers who use it worldwide. Its helps to automate batch process manufacturing environments, MISys /Accpac ERP solution combines fully integrated process manufacturing, production planning and financial management capabilities. By implementing this solution, you will be equipped with the software you need to coordinate your entire manufacturing operation, including:
• Lot Traceability.

• Infinite locations for QA steps.

• Routing details.

• Formula can be looked at as a recipe. (i.e. x gallons of this, y oz of that.)

• 16 levels of sub-assembly/BOM

• Bar-coding and bin tracking.

• Expire or spoil date tracking.

• Return Merchandised Authorization.

• Integrated Sales order Processing.

• Integrated Retail management. (option)

Whether you manufacture chemicals, pharmaceuticals, or food, this powerful solution equips the process manufacturing industries with features required to improve operations, streamline workflow, and build profits. Choose the solution that many businesses have used to overcome the same obstacles you're facing today - MISys & Accpac ERP.

Integrated Business Solutions

MISys integrates seamlessly the Sage Accpac Accounting module seamlessly with the same look and feel. Unlike other ERP-accounting integrations, the distribution and manufacturing in some cases are handled by other software, with accounting in a difference software. . This means that the end-users have to learn two systems with difference look and feel and have put up with loose interface via import and export.

Careware Domain Experiences

Some users of Sage Accpac ERP/MISys

Martek Biosciences Corporation
Nuplex Resins
SamChemicals
Applied Chemicals
Zhulian Industries Sdn Bhd
SamLube
Omni-trac
Ridgemonde Resins
Oak State Products - (Cookies)

This list is by no means exhaustive but give an indication of our domain experiences.

Disclaimer

* Once complex formulae that involve temperatures, gasses and pressures, (as in Oil and Gas ) it is out of our league and MISys will not be a good fit.

What are The Problems with Cloud-Based computing?

2010-02-02T13:01:00.000+08:00

Executives considering adopting an ERP application on the cloud are concerns about some of these things.

There are several problems with cloud-based computing as follows:

1. Functionality – As a general observation, cloud erp is not ready for prime time yet. It is a good option if your functional requirements are limited, you are likely not to change your business requirements AND you plan to use the system for only 2-3 years before evaluating ERP again. It is usually an entry level type of application that is on the cloud with vanilla flavor as is basis. The business model falls apart when you need to customize and/or interface other software products. So vanilla flavor Quickbook, Salesforce, Netsuite and a host of entry level systems is for you?

2. Speed - Dial up access to the internet is not enough. It takes cable, DSL, or business class high-speed internet access to make web-based erp work at acceptable levels of performance. If you have dial-up access, don't even bother. What about your Streamyx broad band in some area like Sri Kenbangan and Subang it is fast enough? And if you are using dial up, don’t even bother.

3. Reliability - Web-based computing relies 100% on the internet being up and running and available. I can assure you, the internet is not always up and running and available. Ask yourself, how many times has your internet access been down this year? If the internet is down - you are down, and most likely your business is down as well. Ouch! The weakest link is its ULTIMATE SINGLE POINT OF FAILURE and you can’t do anything about it. This is a valid concern and there really is no answer other than employing a local on premised solution.

4. Viruses - because of rampant viruses and media attention, many people fear that they might be at a higher risk to contract a virus if they run their operation on a web-based system. There is little basis for this. Yes, viruses are a serious threat. You should be running virus protection software and a firewall device anyway. Theoretically, you are at the same risk level of contracting a virus whether your accounting system is on line or stored locally. The threat of viruses is not a very valid concern in my opinion.

5. Security - Most companies are very concerned about sending their data over the internet. They fear that their data will either be viewed or compromised. The reality is that with 128 bit encryption, sending you data over the internet is as safe as it can be. If you currently keep your data on a file server at the office, the thieves could steal the computer, unauthorized employees might access the system at night, backup tapes could be left in non-secure environments, etc. While nothing in this world is 100% safe, it boils down to managing your systems. Security is not a very valid concern in my opinion.

I have said it often; don’t be too hung-up on technology. Have a reality check. Don’t be clouded by the buzzword that is ringing around in the IT world. Ask the question how does this application help me to solve my inventory control problems, my operational issue? Careware is not against Cloud computing as our principals Sage also has its software available via SaaS for years already in US/Canada and someone is offering Sage Line50 in Ireland as well. This concept has being around for a long time.

Do some checking and you will find that just as fast as new customer signed-up the equal amount of customers sign-off and revert to the traditional model of running their ERP. But the biggest real obstacles for Malaysia and some South East Asia end users are those stated in point 1, 2 and 3.

Damage to underwater cable disrupts TM's internet service

2010-02-01T07:28:00.000+08:00

Published: Sunday January 31, 2010 MYT 7:07:00 PM
KUALA LUMPUR: Telekom Malaysia Berhad's (TM) internet service on Sunday has been disrupted by a damaged underwater cable circuit at the Asian American Gateway (AAG) at Lantau, China.

A TM statement said with the damage at AAG which links Malaysia to the United States, customers surfing websites hosted in Hong Kong and the US would experience slow connection.

Those using internet protocol (IP) like virtual private network (VPN) and critical business applications linked to Hong Kong and US might encounter service disruption.

The statement said to overcome the problem, several internet lines were directed to alternative connections to reduce traffic congestion.

With the repair work, traffic to North America and Hong Kong would experience disruption while traffic to other countries would remain the same.

TM customers can report problems by calling the 100 line and choose "internet service" or sending email to help. - BERNAMA

http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/1/31/nation/20100131191135&sec=nation

Sage Business Solutions – Spotlight on: Manufacturing

2010-01-09T01:05:00.000+08:00

Manufacturing company has unique business processes that revolve around generally accepted manufacturing principles. SME in particular face new challenges in today globalization of market. Evolving a manufacturing company to a new level of growth is more challenging than ever. To achieve growth goal in the world that is increasingly complex and globally competitive, manufacturer need to implement and share common manufacturing processes and systems. Manufacture globally at a lower cost and rely on a flexible system that enable advanced approaches like demand driven, lead and outsource manufacturing.

Sage Manufacturing Solution solves these challenges. And it does so with a comprehensive solution that is both easier to use and less expensive than the alternative.

Accpac is probably the most well known in the world of Financial Accounting. And for good reason most ERP software out there in the market started out with the Accounting modules and add on other functionalities or modules in due time. After all the foundation of the entire business application is the accounting as all will finally integrate to it. On top of my head right away I can think of at least three (3) well known brands of ERP that started off that way.

The creator of the world’s most popular accounting software is now increasing its offerings for business solutions for small and mid size companies in Asia. Sage works through a network of world-wide Partners and Developers who are the leaders in their area and often specialize in particular vertical industries. This means that Sage customers get the best of global software coupled with local support. These best of breed manufacturing system like Misys is the endorsed solution of choice for the Sage Accpac series. It is not a bolt on solutions but an integral solution with the same look and feel of Accpac. MISys has more than 25 years experiences in developing the Manufacturing modules for Accpac and it is a stable and proven solution with over 7,800 installations worldwide.

Careware being the Top Premier Partner for Sage in the region is well suited to provide manufacturing solutions for the SME in Malaysia. Careware’s manufacturing domain experiences is unparallel in Malaysia as it managements comes from difference disciplines such as mechanical engineering in manufacturing and project, accounting and programming background. These synergy and years of cumulative domain experiences enable Careware to provide a total solutions for the manufacturing segments that they serve.Sage Manufacturing Solutions is one of Careware’s four core business pillars.

1. Manufacturing Solutions

2. Wholesales & Distribution Solutions
3. Project Job Cost solutions
4. Sage CRM Solutions.

Sage Accpac Manufacturing Solutions are particularly well suited for Asian manufacturers; Manufacturing oriented modules are already available; Specific set-up and templates may be easily created to satisfy a particular need; Country-specific modules are available and language packs enable non-English speaking users to access the system in Traditional Chinese or Simplify Chinese Character. (Only English and Chinese version is supported by Careware)

Careware’s has a experience to serve all kinds of manufacturing environments including discrete, process, chemical, pharmaceutical and fashion.

In this "Spotlight on Manufacturing" we would like to introduce you to the various Sage Manufacturing Solutions available.

MISys SAE - Sage Accpac Enterprise. An integrated business solution for growing small to medium sized manufactures that need the capability of the full ERP systems. It combines the ease of use and set up for quick deployment. Covering discrete, made-to-order, made-to-stock and job shops, Misys Manufacturing is designed to leverage integration across Accpac’s business solutions for the medium business range.

Misys SBM – Small Business ManufacturingMISys SBM is for small manufacturer that need a easy to ease system that is adaptable and who need a high degree of accounting functionality along with manufacturing inventory management, BOM, production scheduling and it is economical to owned. It will integrate with Sage Accpac and Sage Peachtree Quantum.

Depends on your budgets and requirement Careware can provide a solution for the small medium manufactures in Malaysia.

For more information on Sage Accpac Manufacturing Solutions visit : http://www.careware.com.my/index.php?mid=1957

Gartner 10 strategic technologies in 2010.

2010-01-02T09:25:00.000+08:00

Gartner articles here identified 10 hot technologies for 2010. How useful is the list as a guide to CIO, CEO in planning for next year priority is anyone guesses? I have place my humble opinions and comments below each of the items listed. Read it, think about it and share what is yours.
1. Cloud Computing. – I do think that it is over hype as this is not new. It has been around for more than a decades. From Asp to SaaS to Cloud computer. Slap on a new label-buzzword and you have people all excited. Cloud computing simply means that we are all going to access our mission critical applications from the internet “cloud”. From my observation to date it is usually entry level type of applications (SOHO) that has gone to the cloud. Corporate Malaysia running mission critical application like ERP and other has too many issues to handle than to be too hung-up on technologies and predictions. The writer has not done business in south Asia I presume. We have unacceptable slow internet connection and frequent outage in the 3rd world countries.

2. Advanced Analytics. -- I would think that Business Intelligence and Analytics is the next big thing to decision makers, CEO,CFO , head of states and our Prime Minister need to feel the pulse of their businesses/nation and to act and react on the fly. Gone were the days of sieving through pages and pages of reports and worst still informal reporting. And the DRIP syndrome. (Data Rich Information Poor) Having plenty of data in the server but not able to mine them. So Idris Jala our named minister in PM’s dept to oversee KPI initiatives would have to use some of these BI and Advance Analytical tool. So I would think that there are good opportunities for BI and CRM solution providers in Malaysia.

3. Client Computing. -- Has been around for ages and still viable. Client runs an application or system that accesses a remote service on another computer system, known as a server, by way of a network. The client-server model is also used today on the Internet, where a user may connect to a service operating on a remote system through the Internet protocol suite. Thin clients vendors like Citrix and MS Terminal Service will continue to flourish as Fat clients computing will dwindle. Come to think of it a dumb terminal that connects to a mainframe is also a client. Now I am beginning to sounds confusing.

4. IT for Green. -- Yes, Green is the in-things today as very corporation is going green as it is good image-ing. But unless it has actual benefits and cost saving features rather then just for PR only I would not buy it. The movie Avatar has subtle environmental and social messages like anti-war, anti-plundering of the mother earth. See my write-up here on Green.

5. Reshaping the Data Center. -- Don’t know what it means, I guess that Data centre will continue to by re-models, re-sized with green in mind and also security and fault tolerance (100% redundancies) computing. But more energy efficient UPS power supply will continued to be used but the water chillers computing (if you are old enough to know what I am talking about) will be things of the past.

6. Social Computing. -- Yep, social computing is all over the net. It is an economical way for smaller companies to make themselves visible. It’s great for networking and sharing of information and business matching. Some are able to make a tidy sum selling eBook on How to make money on Internet or Facebook etc. But not sure how much business value it will brings to ERP vendors. But we should all embraced social computing.

7. Security. -- Activity Monitoring. -- Security, confidentiality and data integrity as usual will continue to be important to all corporations. More so when cloud computing become more pervasive. Companies like Symantec and others will be churning Internet security – Fire wall, Virus Wall against Malware and viruses.

8. Flash Memory. -- Ahh! An invention by a Malaysian. Thumb drive is one of the most valuable and convenience gadgets for people on the move. With capacity growing and prices falling it surely will be improvise for other used in entertainment. But not sure of its security aspect of moving data around. Remember those days when floppy drive was being disabled by some corporation.

9. Virtualization for Availability. – I am not an expert in this technology (so I read up) and will keep my comments to a minimum. High availability means duplications of servers, OS, hard disks, NICs or power packs. As anyone of these component may fail and in order to have 100% redundancy Fault Tolerance, every components need to be duplicate or triplicate. As Virtualization software creates a Virtual Machine (VM) that emulates a physical computer. This creates a separate OS environment that is logically isolated from the host server. By providing multiple VMs at once, this approach allows several operating systems to run simultaneously on a single physical machine.

However, since each server runs multiple virtual server workloads, a single point of failure, the server, is created. This escalates the issue of availability for that physical server. In other words, if you put all your virtual eggs in one basket, then you want to take very good care of that basket. Some of our larger customers are moving into virtualizations as of today but for the smaller sme this don’t seems to be high on their priority.

10. Mobile Applications.-- Everyone has a handset. There are already thousands of applications for it, be it games or dictionaries, concordance and others. But with the new mobile OS has enabled accessibility more than ever as we can have the mobile handset used as a front end of the ERP applications. It is much cheaper than carry a notebook. Productivity increases with Mobile sale person taking orders on the move or querying stocks and customer information to the HQ server or back office Service ERP/CRM issuing work order to the serviceman on the move. I see this augur wells for solutions provider that is ready to offer their solution to the market place. Careware has the solutions with the almost full features miniature Sage Accpac ERP and Sage CRM. For more information read here.

Conclusion -- So this is Gartner list of 10 strategic technologies in 2010. (Has anyone done a score of Gartner prediction over the last 10 years, I would like to read it. I should think below 30%).

Every sales person will floored you with new technology jargon to impress you that they have the latest and sleekest application or devices.

But my advised is not too hung-up on technology for the sake of technology. Use Gartner list as aides by all means but do not let them set your strategic path. But your strategic direction is driven by a clear and details understanding of your business needs and your business mission. -- taking into account, processes, costs, technology direction, availability and etc.

Introducing Sage Accpac Version 5.6

2010-01-02T02:30:00.000+08:00

Introducing Sage Accpac Version 5.6

As the world of business is constantly evolving, so must your business management software. Sage works to continually improve your experience with Sage Accpac Extended Enterprise Suite and develop new functionality to help you get more out of your solution. Working directly with an extensive customer base (over 45,000 companies and 200,000 users) Sage ensures its products work the way you do to improve processes and enhance productivity.

The key enhancements developed in Version 5.6 will help to automate workflow and reduce costs throughout your organization, helping you accomplish more in less time. How you can get your hands on all of the dynamic new features packed into this version? Great news! If you are an existing Sage Accpac user with a current Client Care plan, you are entitled to software upgrades and maintenance updates as part of your Sage Accpac Software Assurance plan.

Here are just some highlights:

What's New In V5.6

• Better Insight into your Business

Increase insight into your business to realize your strategic vision! A new business intelligence tool enables you to adapt successfully to changes in today’s markets and make better, faster decisions.

• Proficiently manage Bank Services

Get a fast and accurate view of your cash position and better insight into cash flow with the improved usability and new functionality in System Manager Bank Services.

• Increase productivity

Now you have more ways than ever to accommodate your unique procedures and get your job done even more quickly.

• Streamline Operations

Boost profitability and cut costs by dynamically linking processes, information, workflows, and communication channels through improved SageCRM integration.

• Better Inventory Management

Several enhancements assist you with inventory management–a key area for process improvements used to reduce costs that also result in better service and greater customer satisfaction.

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Sage Accpac Intelligence

A new product within the Sage Accpac Extended Enterprise Suite–empowers you to quickly and easily obtain the information you need for operations and strategic planning from your Sage Accpac solution. Effortlessly create reports and analyze data, utilizing the familiar Microsoft Excel application. You can spend more time focusing on information analysis and interpretation and less time pulling the data together. Best of all, Version 5.6 provides you with the Sage Accpac Intelligence application at no additional cost, along with a single user license of the Report Manager. A new Reverse Transactions form lets you reverse both payments and receipts quickly and accurately.

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Proficiently Manage Bank Services

Version 5.6 empowers you with a more straightforward way to reconcile your accounts and finish month-end in record time. The new user interface simplifies the user experience and allows for greater flexibility and more efficient daily task management. Cash management processes are greatly improved. You can also take advantage of new functionality such as bank security resources for separation of duties, an improved reversal process, and a bank entries posting journal.
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Better Inventory Management

You will find many improvements to inventory management, including an optimized Inventory Valuation report, faster access to information, a new Internal Usage form, improved integration to Sage FAS Fixed Assets, additional costing and transaction creation options, Item Inquiry and Drilldown functionality, and a new field to track posting dates for transactions. Version 5.6 also takes Serialized Inventory and Lot Tracking to the next level, as this functionality has been completely redesigned to improve workflow and performance and add customer-requested functionality.
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SAGE CRM for Service Based Businesses

2010-01-01T16:21:00.000+08:00

SageCRM is part of the Sage Accpac Extended Enterprise Suites give you a 360 degree views of your business.

SAGE CRM for Service Based Businesses

Sage Accpac provides a completely integrated suite of applications to streamline your service and support processes from virtually any touch point. As a service business, you will know that the key to success is a streamlined and efficient call centre that presents all the information your staff need when they need it. Moreover, this level of information must flow throughout the business from the Board to the Technicians on the road and out to the Customer via a web login or SMS technology.

SAGE Accpac’s suite of solutions include the following core

• Holistic view of all customer interactions from call logging to dispute resolution.

• Complete integration to either SAGE Accpac service suite or third party product sets.

• SAGE Accpac Service module allows tracking of sites, equipment, jobs, SLA and staff skills to name a few…

• Full tracking of jobs and planning of resources and sub-contractors.

• Integrated Call Centre with escalations and alert management.

• Web and Wireless presentation of any information anywhere, anytime.

• Full PDA capability for mobile sales force and mobile technicians allowing them to receive and process jobs on the move.

• Award winning integrated e-marketing solution for permission based communications.

Green Green Grass of home.

2009-12-18T09:46:00.000+08:00

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 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 Accpac 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 Accpac 3rd party solutions provided such functionalities to quickly transform these into digital documents that integrated with your Sage Accpac ERP

Business Intelligence and Analytics

Sage Accpac 5.6 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 Accpac 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 Accpac is GREEN friendly.

Careware - Mascot

2009-12-16T10:06:00.000+08:00

Mascots are representations of groups and organizations such as schools, sports teams and corporations. Typical examples of mascots include people, animals or objects that embody a desired character trait or symbolize the mascot's organization and purpose.

Malaysia has used various animals as mascot such as Orangutan, (KL commonwealth Games) Mouse deer (Sukma game) to Turtle. (Monsoon cup) And off course all of us can remember the famous DiGi slightly overweight man in yellow spandex suit that epitomized DiGi liveliness and couldn’t care-less youth culture.

Mascots generally symbolize something relevant to the country (where games are held) or company in connection with company concept and ideal.

A person, animal, or object believed to bring good luck, especially one kept as the symbol of an organization such as a sports team.

While Careware do not actually believe in lady-luck (see articles here) but, we have decided to adopt a Golden Retriever as our official Mascot.

Golden Retrievers has a kindly expression, pretty dark eyes, and a wagging tail, the Golden Retriever has captured the hearts of many. Known for its temperament, a well-bred Golden Retriever is gentle, kind, loving, happy, confident and outgoing. (See about My dogs)

Golden Retriever was chosen as Careware mascot as it portray the friendly & caring personality of the company, strong and proud and yet gentle and humble.

Rainbow-sky actually is the golden retrievers of our Managing Director and aptly use as Careware Mascot because it epitomized our character & Ideals. (See our Ideals)

A Picture of Sky Smiling after a bath. He is a handsome dog.

Sage Asia Top Premier Partner Award - Malaysia

2009-12-15T20:35:00.000+08:00

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

Introducing ACCU-DART for AutoSimply

2009-12-12T12:01:00.000+08:00

Introducing ACCU-DART for AutoSimply

Bring efficiency, simplicity, and accuracy to small and medium-sized manufacturers with ACCU-DART's integration with AutoSimply.

AutoSimply's Manufacturing Order (M/F) is an easy-to-use manufacturing solution. It is fully integrated with Sage Accpac ERP, and covers: manufacturing order entry, release & tracking, material issuance & return, work-in-progress tracking, consumption & scrap, MO receipt & costing, master production scheduling, material requirements planning, and MO lot tracking.

With integration with ACCU-DART, users will be able to update this essential manufacturing information directly in Sage Accpac ERP through hand-held, radio-frequency bar code scanners.

Real Time Updating - ACCU-DART allows the staff on the shop floor to instantly carry out AutoSimply's functionality. For example: when receiving assembled goods, the plant employee simply scans the goods being received, and ACCU-DART will - through AutoSimply's functionality - automatically update this information directly into the Sage Accpac system.

Direct Integration - Both ACCU-DART and AutoSimply believe strongly in direct integration: both systems read and post data directly into Sage Accpac. There is no second database to maintain, no second set of data to reconcile. This makes the solution simple and easy to use for manufacturers,

Functionality - ACCU-DART provides real-time, radio-frequency updates of AutoSimply's functionality in one module set. This includes: Issuance of Materials; Return of Materials; Receipt of Assembled Goods; and Closing MO.

By updating in real-time directly to the Sage Accpac Data, ACCU-DART and AutoSimply allow manufacturers to get control of their inventory and improve their operations.

For more information on ACCU-DART and AutoSimply, please contact sales@careware.com.my or visit http://www.careware.com.my/

ERP - History

2009-12-09T10:54:00.000+08:00

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

2009-12-05T17:21:00.000+08:00

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 - Peachtree Quantum Manufacturing Edition.

2009-11-07T01:06:00.000+08:00

Peachtree by Sage - Quantum Manufacturing Edition.

I would think that this release gives the market a credible and full function manufacturing solution that integrates back to sales and accounting. Small & medium manufacturer now has an alternatives to the cumbersome big manufacturing ERP systems that requires a large teams and resources to run and managed.

Peachtree Quantum Manufacturing just hit the sweet spot, for SMALL Manufacturing companies that is not the level in terms of budget-prices or complexity. (Debatable as some small manufacturer do have complex requirements) They can’t go too entry level accounting + inventory and some bom functions throw in but they are not up to the Tier 2 ERP level.

So Sage release of Peachtree Quantum Manufacturing is just right for them. It scale from 5, 10, 20 to 40 users. Just nice for sme.

“ The new Peachtree Quantum Manufacturing Edition rounds out Sage's manufacturing portfolio by providing a powerful solution at a very affordable price and low ongoing total cost of ownership, and is designed to help manufacturers address the many varied challenges they face daily to stay ahead of their competition," said Connie Certusi, general manager, small business accounting solutions, Sage North America. "

Small to mid-sized manufacturing companies face a host of market challenges; increasing operational and material costs, along with increased competition from larger firms moving down market and pressure from global competitors. Many firms are struggling to maintain profitability with reduced headcount and in the face of inconsistent customer order volume, making it difficult to predict and keep pace with demand.

The new Peachtree Quantum Manufacturing Edition helps small- to mid-sized manufacturers face these and other challenges head on, and is ideal for job shops, custom manufacturers, and make to order and make to stock manufacturers in a variety of industries, such as electronics, medical devices, defense manufacturers, medical/control instruments, transportation, plastics, auto parts, industrial equipment producers, food industries, and process manufacturers. It provides easy to use core accounting and manufacturing functionality to companies that need an out-of-box solution, including inventory control, WIP tracking, multi-level bills of materials, multi-warehousing, work orders, and other key features, at a price small manufacturers can easily afford.

For more information on Peachtree Quamtum Manufacturing Edition visit here.

Sage ACCPAC Mobile SalesPerson - Van Sales

2009-11-03T08:33:00.000+08:00

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

2009-10-26T15:02:00.000+08:00

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

2009-10-26T14:54:00.000+08:00

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

2009-10-26T14:47:00.000+08:00

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

2009-10-26T14:41:00.000+08:00

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?

2009-10-08T11:09:00.000+08:00

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

2009-10-02T08:59:00.000+08:00

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.

Sage ACCPAC Myth Busters

2009-10-02T08:54:00.000+08:00

MYTH: I heard ACCPAC was hard to use.

BUSTED: Sage ACCPAC is a comprehensive system but well worth the investment to learn. The upfront investment will result in you having the accuracy and control you need, ensuring that you get the numbers right and avoid surprises down the road. Sage ACCPAC ERP comes with several tutorials and an extensive in-product help system. Once set-up by our qualify consultants it is easy to use – we’re there to take care of you and help you get the most out of your product.

MYTH: ACCPAC is only for larger businesses with an accountant in-house.

BUSTED: While Sage ACCPAC ERP is being used by many large (ERP500) businesses. But it comes with a number of editions for medium (ERP200) to small (ERP100) businesses and is used by hundreds of thousands of SMB ranging from 10 to over 1000 employees. Many of the companies that use ACCPAC do have an accountant in-house. While some of the smaller company may not have accountant in house.

MYTH: I heard you need to know accounting to use ACCPAC.

BUSTED: Sage ACCPAC is based on true accounting principles. It is useful to know accounting but you don’t need to know accounting to use it. The product is, in fact, very easy to use and comes with several tutorials to help you with key tasks. It’s easier than you think.

MYTH: Is ACCPAC still around? It must be old and outdated. Will they be around in the years to come?

BUSTED: Yes, ACCPAC is still around and in fact, better than ever. During the DOS era it grew up with the PC revolution as the accounting software on PCs; together with WordStar, Lotus and Dbase. Under Sage it has been upgraded and enhanced to enterprise class ERP software. Sage has just release the version 5.5 version. Celebrating over 30 years of serving SMB needs, Sage ACCPAC ERP is used by hundreds of thousands of small-medium to large business and is part of the Sage Software family with over 5 million customers worldwide.

MYTH: I heard that ACCPAC on Windows is slow, buggy and unstable.

BUSTED: This must be the oldest story that competitors ever told and continue to tell. While this is true during its first Window’s version launched way back in 1995. (Ca-Accpac/2000- that comes with a dongle). Today almost 15 years later and in its ten (10) releases all known bugs would have been cleared. Sage Accpac is due to release the 5.6 that comes with ACCPAC Business Intelligence and much added functionalities. Sage ACCPAC ERP is used by hundreds of thousands business and its stability data integrity has never been in questions.

MYTH: ACCPAC is only an accounting system for smaller companies and not suitable for larger business with complex manufacturing or project accounting needs.

BUSTED: Sage ACCPAC ERP has a solution for difference size and type of business. From the start-up service operations to more mature, *complex industry-specific organizations, Sage ACCPAC will provide scalability across small-medium-large businesses. It can support every stage of your business, from single users to hundreds of concurrent users.

* See industry specific software from Careware website.

The Blame Game.

2009-09-14T14:29:00.000+08:00

While reading the article posted at Inforworld about Dirty Vendor Tricks.

My thoughts are is it always the vendor faults? What about the end-user, do they share the blames on the failures of an ERP implementation?

Based on my experience, while there are unscrupulous vendors, very often the end-user is as much to be blamed and has to bear responsibility for the failure as well.

1) They do not have a proper understanding of their requirement. Not documenting their requirements strategic, reporting, functional, processes and pain-points that they are now facing. So there is no benchmark to compare.

2) They are told that their friend, uncle, neighbor and some big name company are using it. So they reckon well, if it is good enough for them it is good enough for me.

3) They are won over by a salesman who is a top class demonstrator with slick graphics and colors. And it looks cool and with sexy interface and yes, believes it or not its “look and feel” as MS Office.

4) And worst of all the go for the lowest bidder and squeeze every little margin there is from the vendors. This is surely a win-lose negotiation.

Remember ERP is not a panacea for all ills nor it is a quick fixed (of years of accumulated problems) It is just a tool and the other side of the equation is planning, management of process and users (employees) expectation.
------------------------------------------------------------
If you buy cheap-you buy twice!

It's unwise to pay too much,
but it's worse to pay too little.

When you pay too much, you lose a little money-that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do.

The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot-it can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better.

JOHN RUSKIN (1819-1900)

SAGE SOLUTION – Sage Accpac ERP- Food & Beverages

2009-09-08T07:30:00.000+08:00

Razor-Thin Margins, Cutthroat Competition – It’s Tough out There

The Food and beverages business operate in an environment where retail and restaurant chains are consolidating and becoming more powerful and demanding. Responsiveness and delivery accuracy determines who wins and who loses a customer’s business. In a competitive market with pressure on prices resulting in low margins, cost control is imperative.

You have to source and supply rapidly in an environment of unexpected change, an environment often driven by seasonal and promotional demand. On top of this, rules and regulations are becoming increasingly complex. With food safety and traceability now a major concern, end-to-end transparency along the food supply chain is essential.

To stay in the race, you have to be able to manage these processes effectively. At CAREWARE, we understand this.

That is why our food distribution solution offers:

• Better information visibility to improve your responsiveness and agility;

• Better support for your customer-facing activities to ensure customer satisfaction and loyalty;

• Improved integration and consolidation of your business process to reduce redundancy, maintenance needs and cost.

Careware has successfully implemented Sage Accpac ERP for Food and Beverage industry with fully-integrated solution that is easy to install, and inexpensive to operate. It can handle all types of products and processes in the food and beverage industry.

Some of the biggest issues in the food and beverage industry today is that of food safety and quality. As a result of growing concerns about food contamination risks, threats of bioterrorism and other food-related health and ethical issues, tougher standards are being implemented globally that are redefining the way imports enter some countries.

Lot traceability is a unique requirement of the food distribution business. Our solution for Food and Beverage provides support for total supply chain management and accommodate the unique needs, as spoil date, RMA, Stock aging, weights and units of measurements.

Operational Modules

• Order Entry

• Inventory Control

• Purchase Order

• Lot Tracking & RMA

Manufacturing Modules

• Manufacturing Order Level 1

• Production Planning Level 2

• Manufacturing Lot Track

Financial Modules

• Accounts Receivable

• Accounts Payable

• General Ledger & Financial

Corporate Culture

2009-09-07T14:19:00.000+08:00

Who will care for the children?

We believe our corporate character is defined by our actions both at work and in our communities. Thanks to the efforts of our founder & Managing Director, Careware has a history of social responsibilities specifically aimed at helping children succeed.

The results have been euphoric. Many of these children are from very poor family from the squatters’ house of Kuala Lumpur, which lack the basic amenities. Many of these children are not send to school. Some of them are from Tamil school and because of their living conditions are not regularly attending classes and not performing up to par with others.

But the most meaningful and significant benefit has been building something that is far greater than us by helping to positively transform the lives of children. We believe we are better for it.

We are truly committed to making a difference in children lives. And we take our commitments seriously.

Belief Statements

• We believe in going the extra mile for our customers

• We believe in striving for excellence

• We believe in realizing dreams through teamwork

• We believe in tolerance & fairness between one another

• We believe in human dignity & individual strength

• We believe in kinship & in helping one another in time of difficulties

• We believe in contributing back to society

(Our MD Teaching English to the squarters children)

Enterprise Software Mergers and Acquisitions

2009-09-04T11:52:00.000+08:00

If you run an ERP system, software industry consolidation is a very important issue. Your entire business is running on your application and you have placed a long term and expensive investment in your ERP vendor, not only in where the company's products are going but also in the very company itself. Once you buy, you are normally locked in for about a decade.

In the last few years there has been a tremendous amount of mergers and acquisitions in the enterprise software industry. The turmoil of the recent large downturns in the economy, has affected the manufacturing industry. Adding insult to injury, the chaos in both ERP solutions and solution providers has created a challenging predicament for manufacturers as they adjust to a myriad of changes in the global marketplace and also in their own businesses.

Fourth Shift has a colourful history. It was acquired by AremisSoft in 2001, a public company that had already bought some hospitality software vendors Softbrands. AremisSoft filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March 2002. After some reorganization SoftBrand emerged as an independent company.

Fourth Shift->->AremisSoft->->SoftBrands->->Infor

One of its flagship products is Fourth Shift manufacturing which has dwindling sales. Recognizing the potential of Fourth Shift in the SMI market, it makes a special arrangement in 2004 with SAP to integrate/interface to its manufacturing suite to SAP Business One. Business One is SAP's small company system, which does not have extensive manufacturing systems functionality requires to serve small manufacturer of its own.

SoftBrands has stopped selling the non-SAP flavor Fourth Shift completely some time ago. Its own website and literature indicated a departure from selling the traditional Fourth Shift application but that it now focuses on Fourth Shift for SAP Business One.

Industry observers are on the consensus that SoftBrands are hoping that they will be acquired by SAP. But after batting eyelids for a number of years without response from SAP, a new suitor in Golden Gate and privately held business software company Infor Corp then becomes the knight in shining armour to acquired SoftBrands.

What is there in it for infor? She already owns many ERPs for manufacturing on all Tiers level. Perhaps the acquisition is for SoftBrands suites of Hospitality software.

Will Infor carry on the Fourth Shift's special arrangement with SAP thereby promoting and enhancing competitor ERP sales?

Will small manufacturer that is already on SAPB1 + Fourth Shift get further support and enhancement for the manufacturing portion?

Well you guess is as good as mine.

SAGE SOLUTION: Project Manufacturing ERP

2009-09-02T08:17:00.000+08:00

THE CHALLENGES

Engineer-to-order (ETO), manufacture-to-order (MTO) and project-based manufacturers face business challenges that simply cannot be resolved by traditional ERP software. Engineer-to-order companies need to be able to provide accurate cost estimates to customers, manage all aspects of complex projects, deliver on time and on budget—all while keeping a close eye on cash flow. There is intense pressure to reduce costs, shorten cycle times, while maintaining high quality. Finally, engineer-to-order companies need an accurate picture of the profitability of each project in order to comprehend the impact on the business.

Sage Accpac is the leading provider of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems for:

• Engineer-to-Order (ETO) Manufacturers
• Project-Based Manufacturers
• Project based Engineering Contract
• Construction Based Contract

Our ERP software was specifically designed for engineering-intensive companies.

Is This YOUR Company?

Designing and building complex products to exact customer specifications frequently involves long lead times and heavy engineering content. Engineer-to-order, project-based, and custom manufacturers typically have most of these characteristics:

• Complex products, long lead times
• Design and build to a project or contract
• Need to estimate and quote to win business
• Uniquely design and build to customer specifications
• Need to track customer revisions
• Purchase material to a project
• Collect actual costs to a project
• Install products on customer’s site
• Need to track warranty and provide aftermarket services
• Significant spare parts business

SAGE ACCPAC ERP - Project Manufacturing and Job Costing

SAGE ACCPAC ERP Project and Job Costing series is a sophisticated module that provides the tools necessary to manage the simplest to the most complex contract or job. It makes the estimating, tracking, costing and billing of projects easy and manageable – simplifying cost control and planning. With the powerful features included in Project and Job Costing, you can identify potential issues and determine success factors for any project.

Project and Job Costing provides an effective solution for project managers in construction, job service and other professional industries, as well as for businesses that require a time and materials system.

Highlights:

• Powerful estimating capabilities.
• Flexible contract management.
• Full Web deployment.
• Comprehensive transaction processing.
• Extensive inquiry capabilities.
• Complete integration.

Features

Powerful Estimating Capabilities

• Assign staff, material, subcontractors, equipment, miscellaneous items and overhead to each project within the contract.
• Set up complex estimates by specifying the quantity (for example, hours), unit cost and billing rate (for time and materials projects) for each staff member, material (inventory item), subcontractor, equipment, miscellaneous item and overhead expense allocated to a project. Assign the cost categories to which they apply to automatically calculate cost and revenue estimates for each cost category, or simply define the cost and revenue estimates for each category within a project.

Flexible Contract Management

• Manage contracts or jobs at three levels – contract (job), project (phase) and category.
• Maintain multiple projects or phases within each contract and track multiple categories within each project.
• Change contract, project and category names to match industry-specific terminology.
• Maintain multiple contracts or jobs per customer.
• Use as many as five segments in your contract numbers to represent types of contracts and divisions.
• Easily navigate through the projects and categories within the contract using the optional Tree view.
• Choose from three different project types – time and materials, cost plus and fixed price. Each project within the contract can be a different type.
• Select the accounting method (revenue recognition method) for each project within the contract. Choose from total cost percentage complete, category percentage complete, labor hours percentage complete, billings and costs, project percentage complete, completed project or accrual-basis. Mix and match the project types and accounting methods for very complex or simple projects.
• Specify begin and end dates for each project to allow for timelines.
• Set up projects and categories that you can use for default information.
• Assign each category to one of six cost types (labor, material, equipment, miscellaneous, overhead and subcontractor) to track costs at an appropriate level for your company.
• Assign up to seven progress statuses to each contract and project. Choose from estimate, approved; open, on hold, inactive, completed and closed.
• Close a project to billings and/or costs at any time.
• Automatically override General Ledger revenue account segments for each project and cost account segments for each category.
• Easily set up a new contract using the step-by-step wizard.
• Quickly create a new contract by copying an existing contract.
• Maintain records for subcontractors, equipment, staff, miscellaneous items, overhead expenses and charges that can be assigned to any project. Record the Accounts Payable vendor on each subcontractor record.
• Allocate overhead and labor burden to each category.

Comprehensive Transaction Processing

• Specify whether each transaction is billable, non-billable or no charge.
• Automatically create a customer's invoice based on the transactions that are due to be billed.
• Review the generated billings for a customer and make necessary changes before updating SAGE ACCPAC ERP Series Accounts Receivable.
• Bill a customer for different contracts, projects and categories on the same Accounts Receivable invoice. Create billings in the customer's currency.
• Transfer inventory items to a contract, project and category and bill the customer for the inventory used.
• Return inventory items not used in a project to inventory for availability on other projects.
• As equipment is used within a project, record the cost and billing rate (for time and materials projects) of the equipment so that you can bill the customer for usage.
• For small contracts, post contract transactions directly to revenue and cost accounts using the accrual-basis accounting method.
• Allow employees to easily manage their time and billing records from any location (on site or at the office) by entering timecards using an Internet browser.
• Approve employee timecards and expenses before updating SAGE ACCPAC ERP or Canadian Payroll.
• Record miscellaneous charges such as service fees for time and materials projects.
• Update revenue and cost estimates at any time with a full audit of all changes.
• Allow a project manager or another designated employee approves each transaction before updating the contract.
• Recognize revenue at the project level and costs at the category level.
• Choose when to recognize revenue based on GAAP requirements and your business needs.

Extensive Inquiry Capabilities

• As actual costs are recorded, use the comprehensive inquiry tools to determine whether the project is within budget.
• Review the current state of each project through the centralized inquiry capabilities. Review the project status, profitability and estimate-to-actual comparisons.
• Track original estimates, current estimates and actual amounts for each project.
• Track costs for labor, material, equipment, subcontractor, miscellaneous item and overhead expense categories.
• Track original estimates, current estimates and actual amounts for staff, equipment, material, subcontractors, miscellaneous items, overhead expenses and charges assigned to the project.
• Drill down to the originating cost and billings transactions.
• Print comprehensive, customizable reports to analyze project status and profitability.

Integrated Solution

• Integrates with SAGE ACCPAC ERP modules General Ledger, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Inventory Control and Purchase Order, Budgetary Control & Funds Availability.
• Integrates with Microsoft Project for additional control of your projects and resources

Announces the release of MISys SBM Version 4.0 with Shop Floor Control.

2009-08-30T20:07:00.000+08:00

For the last 20 years MISys SAE has been the Accpac manufacturing software of choice in Australia, Asia, India, Africa, the United Kingdom, and parts of western Europe.

Since we released MISys SBM a few years ago, fully integrated a number of Sage accounting products like Peachtree by Sage & Sage Simply Accounting. But now it will also integrate to Sage Accpac which traditionally has being integrated to its big brother MISys SAE.

For small manufacturing company of up to 75 workers MIsys SBM is an ideal and cost effective solution. MISys Small Business Manufacturing (MISys SBM) is an integrated manufacturing software product based on .Net technology is fully integrated to Sage Accpac ERP series Sales Distribution and Financial Application.

MISys SBM comes out of the box with Basic Manufacturing Level 1 - Manufacturing Inventory Control, Multi-level Bills of Material, Revision Control, Integrated Purchasing and accounting integration.

The base functionality included in MISys Small Business Manufacturing should be sufficient to meet the needs of most small- to medium-sized manufacturing firms.

• Extensive tracking of manufacturing inventory and work in process (WIP).

• Multi-level bills of material with full explosion down to 16 levels deep.

• Net-change physical inventory with cycle counting.

• Batch-oriented or direct entry of all stock transfer transactions.

• Full backflushing of all assembly transactions.

• Choice of standard, average, LIFO, or FIFO costing methods.

• Cost adjustment with roll-up through all BOM levels.

• Stock check processing to identify impending shortages.

• Configurable alerts to show you critical events and status.

• Extensive reporting using industry-standard report generator (Crystal Decisions).

You may extend the capabilities of the MISys Small Business Manufacturing by adding the following extra-cost options:

Level 2

• Master Production Scheduling

• Manufacturing work Order

• Material Requirements Planning

And now with the released of MISys SBM Ver. 4, you can add shop floor control to your systems.

MISys SBM Shop Floor Control delivers the ultimate solution to running a manufacturing plant efficiently and profitably.

MISys SBM is well suited for many types of manufacturers, including discrete, process, repetitive, hybrid, and most job shops.

MISys SBM has been called an “accounting-centric” manufacturing system because one of its primary tasks is to create and maintain a manufacturing sub ledger. Many of the inventory control, cost management, purchasing, and production functions of the system create journal entries which are transferred to the Sage Accpac ERP100 general ledger .at fiscal period end. With MISys SBM, managers can easily monitor and analyze manufacturing activities in their monthly financial statements.

MISys SBM runs on Microsoft Windows 2003 Server and Microsoft XP Client, depending on the deployment option you choose. MISys SBM runs on Microsoft SQL Server or Pervasive SQL Server.