Partner Pulse U.S.

Partner PulseSage Accountants Network

November 2012

Product news, support, and benefits in each issue

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Inside This Issue

Product

Tracking sales orders with Sage 50 Quantum AccountingSage 50 Quantum Accounting order process workflow

Training Opportunities

Partner training site—Finding the right training courses made easySage Accountants Network webcastsSage 50 Accounting 2013 Product CertificationHow do I find my Data Path in Sage 50 Accounting?What forms do I need to process W–2s/W–3s in Sage 50 Accounting

Newsworthy

Five reasons to ditch your dress code

Take a Break

Social Media tip of the month—creating a Twitter profileThe best careers for your zodiac signWant to be a guest columnist in the Partner Pulse?

Features

Update from Jennifer WarawaTen productivity-boosting tools to help you work smarterSage 50 Business Intelligence tip of the month: report scheduler

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Update from Jennifer Warawa Ten productivity-boosting tools to help you work smarter

It’s a Catch-22—you need tools to help you become more efficient, organized, and productive, but you’re too busy to search for them. To help, we’ve assembled a list of ten of the best productivity tools we’ve found. With many of these tools, you don’t have to download or install anything, and many are free or offer a free trial.

1. Social Media Management. HootSuite is a market-leading social media dashboard that enables teams to collaboratively schedule updates to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, WordPress, and other social networks using the web, computer, or mobile device. It also offers extensive data tracking and analytics. With this tool you’ll spend less time managing your social conversations and more time growing your business.

2. Project Management and Collaboration. Basecamp is one of the most popular browser-based project management tools around. Very intuitive and easy to use, it helps you manage multiple projects with to-do lists, file sharing, chatting, messages, calendars, and time tracking. With Basecamp, your whole team will be more organized, efficient, and productive.

3. Online Group Calendars. Google Calendar is a simple, free, shareable, and straightforward way to keep track of events and tasks. Standout features include a color-coded layout that helps you organize multiple calendars, “Next 4 Days” and “Agenda View” options that are perfect for short-term planning, and rights-assignable group calendaring that makes it a fast, easy, and efficient way for groups to share calendars.

4. File Hosting. Dropbox is a free web-based file hosting service that has a simple intuitive interface. It lets you store photos, documents, and videos online for easy and convenient access and sharing. Use Dropbox as an online backup system and you’ll never be without that “one file” you forgot to save to your desktop or suffer from a system crash—which can be a real productivity buster.

5. Note Taking and Archiving. Evernote at its most basic level lets you save bookmarks and lists, but it does much more than that. You can capture entire web pages or selections of web pages. If you download Evernote, it will sync all of your notes across all of your computers, phones, devices, and the web—or you can just use it online.

6. Speech to Text. Dragon Naturally Speaking is a really useful tool— you talk, and it types. Use just your voice to create and edit documents or emails, launch applications, open files, control your mouse, and more. Quickly and easily capture your thoughts and ideas—entirely by voice—for new levels of personal productivity.

7. Online Meetings. GoToMeeting is a much used online service that makes it easy to meet and collaborate online. By sharing your desktop, you can perform live demos, give presentations, and collaborate on documents, thus improving the productivity and efficiency of your remote meetings. You can even host a video conference. There are no limits to the number of meetings you can hold and no limits to their length.

8. Password Management. KeePass is a free open-source password manager that enables you to securely manage all your passwords. All of your passwords are housed in one online database, which is locked with one master key or a key file. This means you only have to remember one password (or select the key file) to unlock the database and access your passwords.

The last few months have been extremely busy (but also extremely great!) for us. We have been attending and speaking at back-to-back trade shows and conferences across the U.S., which is one of my favorite ways to spend my time. There is nothing more valuable than face-to-face conversations with the accounting community—we always love learning what’s happening in your practice and how we can help you.

We know getting new clients can be a challenge for you in your practice. We are currently working on opportunities for our Certified Consultants to host events in their area around the Sage 50 Accounting—U.S. Edition product. We’ll provide the presentation templates and train you how to deliver the training in advance of the event, and we’ll even invite our customers! What a great opportunity for you to meet new Sage 50 customers in your area whom you can start working with on an ongoing basis. If you’re interested in learning about how you can become a Certified Consultant, please contact Latisha Carter, and she can give you more information so you have the opportunity to host an event next time and meet some Sage 50 customers in your area who can become clients!

As we head in to the final stretch of 2012, the accounting community is already starting to think about tax season—after all, it’s just around the corner. Here are some tips to help you get ready for your busiest months of the year:

• First, get organized! If you start tax season behind, it will be hard to catch up once things get crazy. Set some time aside to organize your office, get everything caught up and wrap up some of those projects that have been lingering.

• Second, start communicating about tax season to your clients. Remind them what documentation you’ll need them to get together to complete their taxes or finish their year end and when you’d like to have it by. If they start getting things together now, there’s a better chance you may actually get it on time.

• Finally, start looking after you. If you’ve been pushing exercise or self-care to the bottom of your priority list, it’s time to move it to the top. You need to be rested and feeling good before your busy season starts, so now is the perfect time to start an exercise routine, take a look at how you’re eating and get rested up. If you don’t start tax season feeling great, it will be hard to get on-track once the work starts piling up.

I hope you have a great November and enjoy some pretax season relaxation!

Sincerely,

Jennifer Warawa Vice President, Partner Programs & Channel Sales Sage North America [email protected] Twitter: @jenniferwarawa

SAN Partner Pulse November 2012

Sage 50 Business Intelligence Tip of the Month: Report Scheduler

Sage 50 Business Intelligence report scheduling allows you to automate the report process for regularly scheduled reports, from creation to publication, with the assistance of the standard Windows Scheduler. This is ideal for creating reports and sending them to a specific network location, a printer, email, or even published in HTML to a specific location at whatever time you determine.

Two very important points to remember:

• The workstation where the Scheduled Task has been created must be turned on at the scheduled time.

• An output file location is necessary.

This in a three-part process:

1. Specify the Output Location of the file.

2. Generate the scheduler command.

3. Set up a Windows Scheduled Task.

1. Specifying the Output File Location

a. In the Sage 50 Business Intelligence Report Manager window, highlight the desired report.

b. On the Properties window, select Show Advanced.

c. In the Generate Output File field, browse to the desired location.

Ten productivity-boosting tools to help you work smarter (continued)

Sage 50 Business Intelligence tip of the month: Report Scheduler

Sage 50 Business Intelligence tip of the month: Report Scheduler (continued)

9. Time Tracking and Invoicing. Sage One is a great web-based time tracking service. But it doesn’t stop there. The simple but elegant interface makes it easy for your small business to track hours, log expenses, invoice clients, and keep track of income and expenses. Plus, your entire team can see tasks, exchange files, and track project due dates. It’s easy to get started, and there’s nothing to install.

10. Reporting. Sage 50 Business Intelligence, using Microsoft Excel®, lets you effortlessly create reports and analyze the information. You’ll boost productivity because you can quickly and easily obtain the information you need for improved decision making across your entire business. Turn your Excel spreadsheet application into a powerful business intelligence tool.

Bonus: Download these Microsoft Excel Keyboard Shortcuts to improve efficiency so you can work smarter, not harder!

(Figure 1) It is possible to specify a new file name to be used or to select an existing file that will be overwritten when the scheduled report run takes place. If an existing file from a previous scheduled run exists in the specified scheduled location, it is automatically overwritten.

Note: You could use a system variable such as @Date@ in the File path, and this results in the report run date appearing in the report name and thus the prior day’s report is not overwritten.

2. Generating a scheduler command

a. From the Object window, right-click on the desired report.b. Select Generate Scheduler Command.

(Figure 2) If the report expects parameters then a prompt appears. A message box is displayed that shows the syntax for running the report and is simultaneously placed on the Windows clipboard so that it can be pasted into the scheduled task command field.

(Figure 3) Hint: You can copy this to Notepad and replace the current date with the @DATE@, which will run the report for the system date, making it dynamic.

3. Setting up a Windows Scheduled Task

a. Open the Windows Control panel and then open the Administrative Tools, Task Scheduler item.

b. From the menu choose Action, Create Task. The Create Task window appears.

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Sage 50 Business Intelligence tip of the month: Report Scheduler (continued)

Tracking sales orders with Sage 50 Quantum Accounting

Sage 50 Quantum Accounting Order Process Workflow

(Figure 5)

g. Click OK.

h. Confirm the arguments specified by clicking Yes. This Task pane is shown.

(Figure 6)

i. In the “When running the task, use the following user account” box, enter the user name that should be used to run the report under (for domain user accounts, use the format domain_name\user_name). The user name must be a valid account on the domain or local machine with sufficient privileges to run Sage 50 Business Intelligence reports and must have sufficient permissions to access all the necessary resources (as per relevant add-ins) to run the report.

j. To set the Schedule for the Task, click the Triggers tab.

What if everyone on your team could have real-time access to the latest status and up-to-the-moment notes on your company’s open sales orders? Imagine how much more smoothly your operation could work. No one would have to wonder, ask, or spend time tracking down what’s happened or what needs to happen next. With just a couple of keystrokes, a user could see a bird’s-eye view of the total sales order process or drill down to immediately answer questions about the most detailed aspects of a specific order.

With minimal setup, your Sage 50 Quantum Accounting system can be set up to provide a dashboard with the provided views to the right. You can arrange these views on your own dashboard in a number of meaningful ways. So how is it done? Sage 50 Quantum Accounting Order Process Workflow is the key. Order Process Workflow is built into the Sage 50 Quantum Accounting system. You just need to set it up and start using it.

The Order Process Workflow system in Sage 50 Quantum Accounting (formerly Sage Peachtree Quantum) keeps everyone informed in real time of all the details related to your sales orders so that anyone with approved access can instantly know where the order is, when it’s due, who’s handling it, or what the problem with it is. You can customize the triggers, steps, and statuses that are crucial to your particular company.

• Keep track of all the moving parts of your order process so nothing gets missed and everything moves along as planned.

• Notify the next person in the process with a status and specific notes as needed.

• Have one centralized place to keep track of all the work involved in the process or see just your own tasks.

• Automatically send notifications to designated employees once a task is completed.

• My Inbox on My Dashboard monitors the status of a user’s processes and transactions and allows them to take action.

Want to put this feature into action? You can watch the video or contact a Sage 50 Certified Consultant to learn more.

(Figure 4)

c. Give the task a meaningful name.

d. Click on the Actions tab.

e. Click New.

f. Under Program/script, paste the command from the clipboard.

SAN Partner Pulse November 2012

Training opportunities Training opportunities (continued)

Finding the right training courses made easy!

The new Partner Training landing page provides you with the ease of finding and registering for various types of training. Simply click the link provided to take you directly

into Sage University where you can register for the course.

• Start on the training path that’s right for you at Sage University. Register for Realtime Training—classroom and seminar-style training.

• Boost yourself to a new level by becoming part of a unique group with Sage 50 Accounting Gold Certified Consultants.

• Help your business grow with Sage 50 Accounting Platinum Certified Consultants.

Sage Accountant Network webcasts

Don’t miss out on these complimentary webcasts for all Sage Accountants Network (SAN) members during November and December. Expand your knowledge and earn CPE credits; just log onto Sage U for more details.

Course Date Time CPE Credits

Sage 50 Accounting—Managed payroll business partner program

November 8, 2012

2 p.m.–3:30 p.m. ET

1.5

Five key sales tax trends that will affect your clients

November 13, 2012

1 p.m.–2 p.m. ET

1

Employment issues and the lawNovember 14, 2012

2 p.m.–3:30 p.m. ET

1.5

Sage 50 Accounting—Staying informed on payroll regulations

December 11, 2012

2 p.m.–4 p.m. ET

2

Basic Report Writing webcast series

These sessions will give you a good understanding of the modules and standard reports that are available with Sage 50 Business Intelligence. You’ll learn everything from the basics to customizing reports and using the Report Designer.

Register Now Tuesday, December 4, 2012 | 11 a.m.–12 p.m. ET

Register Now Wednesday, December 5, 2012 | 11 a.m.–12 p.m. ET

Register Now Thursday, December 6, 2012 | 11 a.m.–12 p.m. ET

Sage 50 Accounting training videos and more!

Learn what Sage 50 Accounting—U.S. Edition can do for your business with getting started videos and quick reference guides. See the accounting basics, check out the latest news, increase your skill level using Sage 50 through a series of short training videos, read white papers, and see all the benefits of Sage 50.

Sage 50 Accounting 2013 Product Certification

All Sage Accountants Network (SAN) members who wish to take their Sage 50 Accounting—U.S. Edition product knowledge to the next level can become a Premier Advisor—Certified. Once you are enrolled for the Certified Premier Advisor certification:

• You will have access to the 26-hour Sage 50 Comprehensive Anytime Learning course containing over 120+ topics/classes located on Sage University.

• You will have access to purchase additional training and a host of other benefits detailed in the Sage 50 Partner Program Guide.

In order to become a Premier Advisor—Certified, you must:

• Complete the 26-hour Sage 50 Comprehensive Anytime Learning course at your own pace.

• Study and review all related product resource topics and material listed on Sage University.

• Register on Sage University and successfully pass the product certification assessment.

To maintain your certification, you must pass the product recertification exam each year encompassing topics from the new release as well as existing product.

SAN connectivity series—Networking

Interested in connecting with Sage Accountant Network members in your area?

One of the most beneficial relationships you can have is connecting with peers through local regularly scheduled meetings. We are committed to supporting these connections and want to involve as many community members as possible. If you are interested in organizing or attending a local meeting in your community, contact [email protected] for details.

Page 8

Five reasons to ditch your dress code

What forms do I need to purchase in order to process my W-2s / W-3s in Sage 50 Accounting—U.S. Edition?

Talented people are as diverse as the clothes they wear. You may be stifling your employees with your dress policy.

When I got out of college, in 1989, I worked double duty: My primary job during the day was for a local TV station called WCBS-TV, and my second job was at Express, a hip retail company, in the evening. (New York City is expensive out of college, no?) Both places required that their people dress pretty sharply (even if we were never in front of clients), and Express even made us wear pantyhose if our legs were showing. Archaic? Today, maybe. But each business wanted its image to be "put together" and its people to be the same.

Fast-forward more than a few years to my email marketing company, VerticalResponse, and you'll often see me and my team in jeans and T-shirts. Why? I think it's important that people are comfortable in their clothes each and every day. Even when we go to trade shows, we oftentimes wear pretty casual clothes. When I speak in front of large audiences, I'll dress up in a pair of dark jeans with a jacket. (How conservative!) In general, I want our customers to know that they're doing business with real and generally casual people.

But it's not the same for every company. Tech companies are different from law offices, which are different from car detailing shops, which are different from construction sites, and so on. You need to have the proper dress code for each.

I do believe that if more "cubicle"-type companies offered a more casual work environment, they might just attract more talent. Talented people are as diverse as the clothes they wear.

Some benefits that might be considered if a corporate dress code goes casual:

1. People get creative. At VerticalResponse, we had "great shoes Friday," which made dressing up to work fun. We even had people vote for their faves!

2. People love to wear their logo'd hoodies wherever they go—a great culture driver.

3. Our employees are comfortable doing their work in what they want to wear, not what we require them to.

4. No one judges colleagues for what they're wearing.

5. There is less stress on "picking the right outfit" each and every morning.

The worst dress-code experience I've had: a lovely engineer who showed up to work in a bathrobe and Birks. Not a good look if you have people coming into the office; your jeans, all of a sudden, look like a tuxedo!

Article by: Janine Popick CEO and founder of Vertical Response

If you use Sage 50 to prepare your year-end tax forms, your W-2 choices are:

• For form only use item #LW2BLANK4, laser W-2-4-Up—plain perforated paper with filling instructions on the back.

• For form bundled with compatible self-sealing envelopes use item #LW2BK4DWS, laser W-2-4-up, plain perforated paper with filling instructions on the back and compatible self-sealing envelopes.

The latest release of your accounting software includes “Print-n-Sign Tax Forms” functionality for payroll tax forms. This feature eliminates the need for some preprinted forms—allowing you to instead print on plain paper. However, IRS regulations require that the employee’s copy of Form W-2 (Copies B, C, and 2) be printed on perforated paper and individual filing instructions be given to each employee (IRS Publication 1141 Sec. 2.05 and 2.19).

Sage Checks and Forms now offers plain paper W-2s in the required perforated format, with individual filing instructions preprinted on the back. These blank forms will save you money and eliminate waste by combining the employee’s tax information and filing instructions, giving them both essential documents in one. Don’t order unnecessary forms that will not be compatible with your software. Simply contact one of our tax form specialists at 1-800-617-3224 to order the right IRS-compliant forms— the first time!

Sage 50 users who are also Sage 50 Simple Payroll or Sage 50 Select Payroll customers are required to use blank paper for their payroll tax forms in conjunction with the new “Print-n-Sign Tax Forms” functionality. These forms include 940, 941, 941b, 943, 945, W-2, W-3, and over 230 state forms. IRS regulations require the use of perforated paper in conjunction with W-2 (Copies B, C, and 2). Additional fees required.

How do I find my Data Path and Program Path in Sage 50 Accounting—U.S. Edition?

To find the location of your Data Path and Program Path, use the following steps:

1. Open My Computer (Computer) from the Desktop or the Start menu.

2. Double-click the C drive, then Program Files [or Program Files (x86) if using a 64-bit operating system] folder, followed by the Common Files folder, and finally the Peach folder.

3. If using Sage 50 Release 2013, open the file named Peachtree200.ini with Notepad. If using Sage Peachtree Release 2012, open the file named Peachtree190.ini with Notepad. If using Sage Peachtree Release 2011, open the file named Peachtree180.ini with Notepad.

4. To find the Data Path, scroll down to the bottom of the third paragraph and look for the line starting with DATAPATH=.

5. To find the Program Path, scroll down to the bottom of the sixth or seventh paragraph and look for the line starting with PROGRAMPATH=. To find the location of your Data Path and Program Path in Sage Peachtree releases 2010 and earlier, follow the instructions in this Knowledge Base article.

SAN Partner Pulse November 2012

Being social Key contacts

Take a break

The best careers for your zodiac sign (This article is for entertainment purposes only)

Scorpio (October 23–November 21)

Key traits: Dynamic, creative, resourceful, strong willed. Outspoken and self-starting, you can only work in a career that you feel very passionate about. Best careers: psychologist, designer, law, humanitarian organizations, or charitable foundations. Careers to avoid: anything you perceive as shallow or materialistic.

Sagittarius (November 22–December 21)

Key traits: Philosophical, optimistic, straightforward. You enjoy your freedoms of movement and self-expression and do best working in a field that allows you both. Best careers: Entrepreneur, airline pilot, sports industry, police officer, flight attendant. Careers to avoid: Any full-time desk job.

Want to be a guest columnist in the Partner Pulse?

You can submit your 500-word article or send us your article idea or feedback:

[email protected]

Submissions may be published at the discretion of Sage. Any ideas or feedback submitted may be used by Sage at its discretion.

Quote of the month

" Don't worry about how you're going to pull it off. First lock on to WHAT you're pulling off. Then how gets clearer."

—Danielle LaPorte

Prioritized Technical Support:

Call: 1-866-665-2559 Option 2, Option 1 (English), Option 2 (Technical Support). All Sage Accountants Network members are entitled to free, unlimited priority technical support with a second-level support representative.

Account Management:

Call: 1-866-665-2559 Option 2, Option 1 (English), Option 4 (Account Management).

Key Web Resources:

www.Sage50Accounting.ca

www.Sage50Accounting.com

www.SageU.com

Calendar of events

Looking for training? Regional partner meetings? Conferences? Webcasts? Check out the Sage Accountants Network Calendar of Events

If you are hosting a Regional Partner Meeting, we can add your event to the SAN Calendar of Events. Just email your request to [email protected]

©2012 Sage Software, Inc. All rights reserved. Sage, the Sage logos, and the Sage product and service names mentioned herein are registered trademarks or trademarks of Sage Software, Inc., or its affiliated entities. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. SPK 12-02610 11/12

Creating a Twitter profile

The first step to getting connected on Twitter is creating your Twitter profile. Your Twitter profile is your homepage or persona to the other users and potential followers on Twitter.

Your Twitter profile can be viewed by your followers and also is indexed by search engines in search results.

What is a “tweet”? A tweet is a 140-character update posted from your Twitter profile, either online or through a mobile device. The update is shared with your followers and has the potential of being retweeted.

What is a “retweet”? A retweet is the ultimate social media compliment. A retweet means one of your followers liked your tweet so much, he wants to pass it along to his followers as well. It’s a way of giving “high five” to someone who shared good content. Being retweeted doubles your exposure. Now your tweet isn’t viewed by just your followers, it’s viewed by the followers of your followers, thus expanding your reach.

Learn how to create a Facebook page and more in the Sage Social Media Guide for Accountants.