Introduction
The Sage 200 Suite provides an organisation-wide accounting solution, so flexible that you can customise, deploy and access it in a way that fits with the way your business works today. In addition to the broad range of accounting and other modules, the Sage 200 Suite also incorporates a powerful, integrated Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) system, sophisticated Business Intelligence software and a flexible, user-friendly Report Designer. Sage 200 allows you to analyse and share information throughout your business.
Structure
Sage 200 is priced per concurrent user, which means that the Sage 200 client can be installed on as many PCs and laptops as you wish and users are connected on a ‘first come first served ‘ basis. Additional users can be added at any time. Unlike other accounting software, once you have purchased Sage 200 there is no effective limit to the number of company data sets that can be created (within the terms of the licence, of course). So, you can have a demo data set, training data sets and test data for trying out unfamiliar techniques ‘off line’, as well as ‘snapshots’ of previous years’ data for historical purposes. Also, you can implement a complicated structure of parent and subsidiary companies (see Nominal Ledger).
Target Market
Although Sage 200 is aimed at companies with a turnover of between £1 million and £50 million or between 20 and 200 employees, there are countless examples of smaller and larger organisations that have chosen the product due to its wide range of features and because it is designed to fit your business, it has room to grow.
Accessibility
Sage 200’s flexibility extends far beyond its intrinsic functionality. For instance, one can access its data at anytime and anywhere via a range of smartphones and tablet computers using Sage Mobile. Not only can data be viewed but the user can interact with Sage 200. For example, Purchase Order authorisation can be effected via Sage Mobile.
Reliability
Sage 200 operates in conjunction with Microsoft SQL Server. This is the industry-standard database management system and is extremely reliable, scalable and responsive. SQL Server is a relational database, which means that different groups of data are held in separate but linked tables. No matter how your business grows, you will not suffer the drop in performance experienced with other ‘flat file’ databases. In addition, many third party applications ‘know’ about SQL Server and you can easily build connections between (for example) Microsoft Excel and the data held in your SQL tables.
Cost of Ownership
Sage has responded to the changes in methods of ownership and operation of software in the IT world by introducing a Subscription version and an Online version of Sage 200 in addition to the conventional model of purchasing the software and running it on your in-house file servers. In addition, Lowfield Systems can host your Sage 200 system on our own servers. Also, as part of the annual licence plan, you will be entitled to free of charge version updates as well as any Service Packs released during the year.
Integration
Each business has its own requirements in terms of functionality and integration. The Sage 200 Suite is a dependable and fully integrated system. All transactions are entered once and automatically posted to all the relevant modules. In addition, a unique number is attached to the transaction, called a Unique Reference Number (URN). This number is made up of a sequential number, the user’s number and a source code, identifying which module originated the transaction. This URN will be attached to all postings of the transaction, in whichever module the transaction appears.
