Expertech South Africa to Promote MISys Manufacturing in southern Africa

Bernard Ford, Expertech CEO, adds the manufacturing software to a portfolio of products that integrate with Sage 300 ERP Accounting software.

“We are very fortunate to be working with Bernard Ford at Expertech,” said Dave Brown, CEO and President of MISys. “He has extensive experience selling and servicing Sage accounting products in South Africa and the bordering countries. We are confident that he will be effective promoting MISys Manufacturing software to Value Added Resellers and end users. ”

“I have known MISys for more than 15 years,” said Ford, “and appreciate how the software gives Accpac, now Sage 300, users a very strong manufacturing system tied into their existing accounting system. I believe there are some real opportunities for MISys in the market and I hope to reach the largely small and medium sized businesses in the region requiring powerful yet simple-to-operate manufacturing software.”

About Manufacturing Information Systems:
MISys has been a leader in the manufacturing software industry for more than 25 years. MISys Manufacturing is the current version of its software, first released in 2006 as MISys SBM, version 6.0 was released in September of 2012. MISys is an Endorsed Development Partner with Sage Software, the developer of Sage 300 ERP (Accpac), Sage 50 US (fka Peachtree) and Sage 50 CA (formerly Simply Accounting). Intuit, the publisher of QuickBooks, has recognized MISys as a gold development partner. MISys software products have been sold and serviced in South Africa by Sage Softline. A privately held corporation headquartered in Woodstock, Vermont, MISys has more than 7,500+ customers worldwide. Visit MISys online at www.misysinc.com.

About Expertech Pty:
Expertech was founded by Bernard Ford in 2011 to promote third party software applications to channel partners for Sage software products in the South African region. Bernard has more than 20 years of experience in business applications, accounting and ERP software in the mid-tier market across all industry types. He previously worked for Sage software resellers in sales and marketing roles at Softline Lorge, Acctech Systems and Sage Softline. In addition to MISys Manufacturing, Expertech markets Orchid Systems, Systronics, Orion Digital Integration and others.

Learn more about MISys Manufacturing software. Visit misysinc.com.

accpac, Bernard Ford, Expertech Pty, misys, misys manufacturing, MISys SAE, MISys SBM, peachtree, Sage 300 ERP, Sage Softline, simply accounting, South Africa, Woodstock.

MISys Manufacturing Software Version 6.0 | FAQs

(Used with permission. This content created by Sean Fitzsimmons of Central Nervous Systems - an experienced MISys Implementation Partner).

Today, MISys announced the release of the next major version of MISys Manufacturing - MISys 6.0. I am writing to let you know what this means for your business, in the form of a Q&A list as follows:

Question: How is this different from a minor patch?
Answer: A minor patch (i.e. upgrading from 5.0.0.50 to 5.0.0.60) is a small modification to the program in the existing folder on your server. A major release, on the other hand, is a completely new installation of the program, in different folders, on your server.

Question: How is the upgrade process different?
Answer: Instead of logging into the administration module (on the server) and pressing the upgrade button, we have to download an executable file and follow a 15 step process to ensure that the system installs properly.

Question: Do I need Central Nervous System's help doing this, or can I attempt the upgrade on my own?
Answer: You are completely free to try the major upgrade on your own - please don't think you are not. We just know that many customers will want assistance because they are uncomfortable with the idea of coping with a manufacturing system that doesn't work should anything go wrong. Should you choose to include us, our process involves upgrading your system on a test server (that we bring with us to your office) to ensure that the upgrade processes properly before doing the upgrade on your operational server.

Question: How many hours will Central Nervous Systems bill to come on-site to upgrade my MISys installation?
Answer: Central Nervous Systems staff - Paul, Nigel and Nick - have already been testing the upgrade process. We anticipate it will take between 3 to 5 hours to complete the upgrade at client sites.

Question: What's in it for me, the MISys customer?
Answer: There are a lot good reasons to upgrade to MISys 6.0. For one, there are dozens of improvements to the code to consolidate previous updates and streamline the integration with different accounting programs. Secondly, MISys has added a bunch of new features and fixed some annoying bugs. You can see the full list on the MISys 6.0 landing page at the following link:

- http://misysinc.com/6/

But the feature that we think people are going to be most excited about is the MISys Query Report Designer. This will give you the ability to quickly create new, custom reports without any prior training. MISys corporate has a video uploaded on their website that gives you a preview of what it is like. MISys Query does NOT replace the standard reports in MISys Manufacturing. You are still able to modify existing MISys reports or create new reports using Crystal Reports.

Sean Fitzsimmons, Partner
fitz@centralnervoussystems.com
O: (604) 602-4375
C: (604) 990-0082

Back from Scaling New Heights

Back from Scaling New Heights

The MISys Guys have recently returned from Nashville where we participated in the Scaling New Heights Conference and Exhibition.

SNH turned out to be an excellent opportunity to connect with QuickBooks consultants who wish to push their practices to more profitable market segments. Visitors to the MISys Booth will soon be receiving more information about the MISys Manufacturing System for QuickBooks.

Next month (August 2012) we will return to Nashville for the Sage Summit Conference where MISys will exhibit our manufacturing solutions for Sage Peachtree, Sage Simply, and Sage Accpac accounting.

MISys Up and Running at Scaling New Heights

MISys Manufacturing is organizing an informal 5k fun run/walk in East Nashville during the Scaling New Heights conference. The run is Monday, June 18th at 6am.

To participate, meet in the lobby of the Renaissance Hotel at 5:45am to get a ride to the start point/end point at the Bongo East Java coffee shop at the corner of 11th and Holly in East Nashville. This is 2.7 miles from the hotel.

Check out the 5k route suggested by the East Nasty Running Club: http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/50173664

To make sure we have enough seats in the van/bus, send an email indicating you are going to participate to charlie@misysinc.com with the message SIGN ME UP FOR THE EAST NASTY 5K!

What does this have to do with manufacturing software?  Remember that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  The run is for fun while at the conference.  

Custom Mobile Alerts in MISys Manufacturing

One of my customers wondered how the sales and/or shipping staff would know when an order had been completed in MISys and transferred to Sage 50 Quantum Accounting (formerly Sage Peachtree Quantum). This would apply, of course, to a Make-to-Order scenario where there is a specific sales order linked to each production order (either Work Order or Mfg Order).

So I created a Sales Order in Sage 50 and did a “Process Sales Orders” transaction which brought in the details of the SO:

Notice there are several details captured automatically: the item required (I50), the quantity (200), the customer name (xyz), the sales order # (1179) and the ship date (5/29/2012). No data entry required at all.

I’ll skip through the building of the 200 but at the point we have built it we’re ready to transfer the 200 units to Sage 50. I have already created a Custom Alert called Sales Transfer Notification, and included a mobile alert with an e-mail (or e-mails) to people in shipping/sales. The alert criteria looks like this, but of course it could be further tweaked:

You might want to limit it to active MOs only, not closed, or within the last week, or whatever -- you don’t want a long long list of every sales transfer you ever made, so make it relevant to the needs of the shipping/sales folks. I do the transfer from within the MO and my custom alert shows me this:

And I also get an e-mail, which is key since I, in the shipping department, am not a MISys user, ever, and that e-mail says:

You might note that the Sales Order # did not come over in the e-mail, but the customer name and ship date did. That’s a little tweak we can solve, but even with just this information we in shipping now know that 

1. finished goods were delivered into Sage 50 
2. who the customer is 
3. what day the goods need to be shipped by 
4. what the goods are and 
5. how many.

We love custom alerts and mobile alerts, and you should too! 

Posted by Michael Byrne on behalf of
Al Alessi

MISys Sales

Take the tour at misysinc.com

Confirming Serial/Lot Numbers in MISys Manufacturing

There is little chance that you’ll decide to track serial/lot numbers for the sheer fun of it. Most manufacturing companies take on the added burden of tracking raw materials and finished good because some regulatory agency demands it. One of the other things that regulatory agencies demand is the assurance that, once you have assigned a serial number of lot number to an item in a stock transaction, it is impossible for someone to change that assignment. It’s understandable. If, as a regulator, you were concerned about maintaining the integrity of the data created by a computer system, you would certainly want to build in barriers against unscrupulous users who felt the need to change the data.

When we were first designing the Serial/Lot Tracking module for the MISys Manufacturing System, we considered long and hard the implications of this security rule. What bothered us most was the knowledge that tracking serial/lot numbers through multiple levels of assembly requires no small amount of data entry. Human beings, imperfect machines that they are, can be depended on to make data entry errors when assigning serial/lot numbers to item transactions.

Just about everywhere else in the MISys Manufacturing System, it is possible to fix a data entry error by editing a form, or making an adjusting entry. But, to satisfy the regulators, there should be no way to change the assignment of a serial/lot number after the fact. Obviously, a compromise was needed.

Ultimately, the compromise came in the form of an “Undo” function for the serial/lot number assignment process. That is to say, if you make a mistake when assigning a serial number or lot number to an item transaction, you have a certain fixed period of time during which you can undo the assignment and try again before the “ink” as it were sets.

So, in the MISys Manufacturing System, every serial/lot assignment transaction that you enter gets stored in a temporary register. If you have an “Oh sh…” moment and want to undo the transaction you’ve just entered, you can go to the Assignment Register, select the transaction you wish to undo, then click the Undo button.

Recognize that the process of undoing a serial/lot transaction is just as complex as doing it in the first place. The MISys software not only undoes that item assignment transaction itself, but necessarily, it also undoes all the ancillary assignments that were made automatically.

The regulatory consultants we contacted weren’t crazy about the transactions being left in the Assignment Register for all time. We agreed that doing so would open (and keep open) a large security hole that could easily be breached. For this reason, MISys requires that you confirm serial/lot tracking assignments with 30 days of making them.

MISys Manufacturing periodically checks to make sure there are no un-confirmed serial/lot number assignments older than 30 days. If it finds any, the program will remind you of the need to confirm the outstanding serial/lot assignments by triggering a dashboard alert.

Serial/Lot Tracking Ease of Use Factors

As I’ve discussed in previous posts, manufacturing software that performs real serial/lot tracking is more difficult to use and more labor intensive to maintain than software that “fakes it” by just providing a text field in the item master to record serial/lot numbers. Therefore it is incumbent on the designers of the software to make it as easy as possible to use while maintaining the integrity of the data being collected.

For example, when serialized or lot-tracked raw material items are being received, their serial/lot numbers may have been assigned by the supplier -- or that may be job of the customer (the manufacturing company). If the serial/lot assignment is done by the manufacturer, then it is likely that the serial/lot numbers can be assigned in sequence. Good manufacturing software will ease the burden of assigning serial/lot numbers by letting you create a sequence of, say 100 serial/lot numbers starting from XYZ001. Poorly designed software would require you to enter 100 serial/lot numbers.

On the other hand, if the serial/lot assignment is done by the supplier, then good manufacturing software will allow you to enter 100 unique serial/lot numbers (even though doing so is more time-consuming) because there is a good chance the parts will come to you that way.

Then there is the matter of when serial/lot assignments are most conveniently done. If your receiver can open a box and readily read the numbers printed on serial/lot-tracked items, then it may be most convenient (and efficient) to assign the serial/lot numbers right then and there.

However, if serial/lot tracked items are being used in the production process, then you may not wish to hold up production while you update the computer with the serial-lot numbers of the items being used. Deferred entry of serial/lot numbers may be the best (or only) entry method you would consider at this phase of the manufacturing process.

You will rarely find manufacturing software that gives you the option of entering serial/lot numbers in real time, or deferring the entry process to a more convenient time. The MISys Manufacturing System is among the few systems that give you the flexibility of both methods.

For more information about MISys go to www.misysinc.com.