Strategy for SAGE 2015 Upgrades

Earlier this year SAGE launched its latest upgrade to the SAGE 50 range, SAGE 50 Accounts 2015. The upgrade from the industry leading accounting software for small businesses has major performance improvements for customers with multi-user networks, as well as the highly anticipated automated back-up facility, designed to protect small businesses’ accounting data.

Below we have listed some of the other key changes:
• New interface - The SAGE 2015 upgrade has had a makeover and now benefits from a more intuitive interface that is easier and quicker to navigate.
• Automated back-up manager – SAGE’s automated back-up manager allows you to schedule data back-ups throughout the day.
• Hide inactive customers, suppliers and products – You can now choose to view only active records.
• Multi-user limited increased – SAGE 2015 will support up to 20 users.
• Transaction limited increased – SAGE 2015 has been tested to support up to 1.5 million transactions.
• Performance improvement – During testing the average time to complete tasks using SAGE 2015 was reduced by 44%.
• Sage Share Drive – Allow your accountants and remote users to access live SAGE data.

Creating an upgrade plan

There are a number of reasons you may want to upgrade to SAGE 2015, here at Grant McGregor we can help with whichever approach you choose. The main reasons behind people upgrading is because their current version of SAGE is about to become ‘end of life.’ Another reason may be that one of the new features outlined above is particularly attractive to them e.g. the Sage Drive that allows remote access to live data.

Below we have provided a number of factors for you to consider when creating a strategy for SAGE 2015 upgrades.

Don’t upgrade at a critical time

Our first tip is to avoid upgrading to SAGE 2015 at a critical time. For example, upgrading now, at arguably the busiest time of year for businesses, would make little sense. If something was to go wrong with the upgrade, you would be left without an accounting system at a time where you are likely to have the highest volume of transactions. Due to this, it is also advisable to avoid times such as payroll and month end.

Plan to upgrade when your operations are likely to have slowed down a little. For example, if you find your small business is particularly quiet in the New Year, this may be the best time for you to carry out your SAGE 2015 upgrade.

Consider where your data is stored

Before upgrading you also need to think about where your current SAGE accounting data is stored. Sage 2015 has a new function called Sage Data Service, which is designed to improve security, robustness and optimise performance. However in order to make use of this new function, SAGE Data Service needs to be installed on the same computer where your SAGE data is held. The SAGE Data Service is not compatible with Windows Small Business Server 2008 (SBS) to 2011, so you may need to upgrade to a server with a higher specification or standard operating system. We can help you with this.

One solution is to create a dedicated folder on a spare PC to hold all of your SAGE data. The folder will then need to be shared for all your SAGE users and the PC will need to remain turned on whenever anyone needs access to SAGE.

Who needs access to your data?

Finally, you need to consider who needs access to your SAGE data. If your business does not have remote workers, then the upgrade may not be essential for you.

However, if you have accountants working remotely, it is likely that you will need to upgrade to SAGE 2015 in order to make use of the new SAGE share drive.

Conclusion

For more information on upgrading to SAGE 2015 or for help creating a software upgrade plan, feel free to get in touch with the Grant McGregor team on 0131 603 7910.