by Ann Jenkins

Enacted March 18, 2010, the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act provides two benefits to employers who hire certain previously unemployed workers (qualified employees).

The first benefit provides employers with a payroll tax exemption from the employer’s 6.2% share of the FICA tax on wages paid to qualifying employees. This is effective for wages paid from March 19, 2010, through December 31, 2010. In addition, for each employee retained for at least 52 consecutive weeks, businesses will be eligible for a general business tax credit (new hire retention credit) of 6.2% of wages paid to the qualified employee over the 52 week period up to a $1000 maximum credit.

These wages are still considered FICA wages and must be included on your 941 form and the W-2 forms. The IRS has issued new 941 forms required for 2nd quarter filing to accommodate the 6.2% employer FICA tax credit. We expect the new form to be available on the Sage Online Support site before the end of the 2nd quarter and it will need to be installed prior to printing and filing your 2nd quarter 941 form.

Your payroll process within MAS 90 or MAS 200 will not change with this credit. It would be a good idea to track the wages eligible and the employer 6.2% tax credit in a spreadsheet for audit purposes.

PSI Innovations - June 2010

Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 customers can save 20% when they purchase two or more eligible distributions modules, which include the following: Bar Code, Credit Card Processing, Inventory Management, Purchase Order, Return Merchandise Authorization, Sales Order, Sage SalesTax, and StarShip. This offer does not apply to Sage maintenance or support fees and cannot be combined with any other product offer.

MAS 90 and MAS 200 customers who enroll in Sage Payment Solutions will be eligible to have the cost of the Credit Card Processing module waived - a savings of $1,100!

PSI Innovations - June 2010

With each quarterly Product Update new enhancements will be added to MAS 90 and MAS 200. Product Update 1 was released in March and here are just a few of the new features.

Job Cost – Define Allowed Job Status in Data Entry Screens
This option allows the ability to prevent posting to closed jobs in each of the data entry screens in Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Inventory, Payroll, Purchase Order, and Sales Order.

Payroll – Set Up Automatic Earnings Codes for Each Employee
Reduce your Payroll data entry time by setting up an unlimited amount of earnings codes and corresponding earnings types so that the appropriate line items are automatically created during the Auto Pay option. You can split an employee’s hours between departments or even assign Pay Rates to an allocation to a specific department. A new Payroll option “Remove Earnings Lines with Zero Amount” will clear lines with no amounts.

Accounts Payable – Record Wire Transfers in Manual Check Entry
With this AP option enabled, a new wire transfer Payment Type is available in Manual Check Entry and the system will generate a unique Wire Transfer No. associated with the transaction. This number begins with W and will appear wherever check numbers would appear and will update to the Bank Reconciliation module.

Accounts Receivable – Cash Receipt Entry by Invoice Number
From the Cash Receipts entry screen you can now locate the correct customer by using just the referenced invoice number. When the correct transaction is found, the Customer No. field is populated with the associated customer number. If the invoice shows a balance, then the Amount Received, Invoice No. fields and related fields on the Lines tab are also populated.

Accounts Receivable/Inventory – Search for Invoices and Transactions by Lot or Serial Number
Now you can search for invoice or inventory transactions by the lot or serial number of an inventory item in AR Invoice History Inquiry and in Inventory from Item Maintenance and Item Inquiry.

Sales Order – Enhanced Picking Sheet Printing
More controls and additional safeguards were added to prevent unintended duplicate Picking Sheet printing. Back ordered information can now be printed on Picking Sheets. Quick Print options from Sales Orders have also been added for Picking Sheets, shipping labels and COD labels.

Up Next for Sage

4.4 Product Update 2 Enhancements:
Bank Reconciliation

• Basic Positive Pay Export
• Limited Number of Predesigned Exports
• Additional Usability Enhancements

Accounts Payable:

• ACH Electronic Payments for Vendors
• Paperless Office AP Direct Deposit Stubs

4.5

• MAS 200 SQL

Windows 7 Compatability Update: Sage now supports Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 versions 4.3 and 4.4 running Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate (32-bit and 64-bit), but only with a Service Update and a Hot Fix download available at Sage Online (current subscription plan and login required) or call PSI. This Hot Fix is only for Versions 4.3 or 4.4. Versions older than 4.3 will not be supported on Windows 7.

PSI Innovations - June 2010

We all use Google, but these are some cool search options you may not be aware of.

by Simon Mackie
Reprinted from The New York Times, April 2, 2010

1. Use the “site:” operator to limit searches to a particular site. I use this one all the time, and it’s particularly handy because many site’s built-in search tools don’t return the results you’re looking for (and some sites don’t even have a search feature). If I’m looking for WWD posts about GTD, for example, I could try this search: GTD site:webworkerdaily.com.


2. Use Google as a spelling aid. As Rob Hacker — the WWD reader I profiled last week — pointed out, entering a word into Google is a quick way to see if you have the right spelling. If it’s incorrect, Google will suggest the correct spelling instead. Additionally, if you want to get a definition of a word, you can use the “define:” operator to return definitions from various dictionaries (for example, define: parasympathetic).


3. Use Google as a calculator. Google has a built-in calculator — try entering a calculation like 110 * (654/8 + 3). Yes, your computer also has a calculator, but if you spend most of your day inside a browser, typing your calculation into the browser’s search box is quicker than firing up your calculator app.


4. Find out what time it is anywhere in the world. This one’s really handy if you want to make sure that you’re not phoning someone in the middle of the night. Just search for “time” and then the name of the city. For example, try: time San Francisco.


5. Get quick currency conversions. Google can also do currency conversion, for example: 100 pounds in dollars. It only has the more mainstream currencies, though — if you’re trying to see how many Peruvian nuevos soles your dollars might buy, you’ll be out of luck.


6. Use the OR operator. This can be useful if you’re looking at researching a topic but you’re not sure which keywords will return the information you need. It can be particularly handy in conjunction with the “site:” operator. For example, you could try this search: GTD or “getting things done” site:webworkerdaily.com.


7. Exclude specific terms with the – operator. You can narrow your searches using this operator. For example, if you’re looking for information about American Idol but don’t want anything about Simon Cowell, you could try: “american idol” -cowell.


8. Search for specific document types. Google can search the web for specific types of files using the “filetype:” operator. If you’re looking for PowerPoint files about GTD, for example, you could try: GTD filetype:ppt.


9. Search within numerical ranges using the .. operator. Say, for example, you want to look for information about Olympic events that took place in the 1950’s, you could use this search: Olympics 1950..1960.


10. Area code lookup. Need to know where a phone number is located? Google will let you know where it is, and show you a map of the area, too. For example: 415.

PSI Innovations - June 2010

by Mary Mays

Are you aware of the threat “poisoning of search results?” It’s one of the main ways that the “fake antivirus” is being distributed. The bad guys have found a way to intercept search results on popular events, such as the Gulf oil spill, Tiger Woods, or the Iceland volcano, and insert their own poisoned sites in the results.

The poisoned results look just like the actual site – so you think you’re going to MSNBC or ESPN, but actually you are being directed to a site that belongs to the bad guys and then the pop ups start and that fake antivirus junk starts loading. Other search engines can be affected, although they aren’t as targeted as Google. This applies to all browsers.

According to an article on Net-Security.org, “Analyzing their own recorded Google search results (on an hourly basis) between March 30, 2010, and April 18, 2010, Symantec researchers also revealed some depressing figures:

• On average at any given hour, 3 out of the top 10 search trends contained at least one malicious URL within the first 70 results
• On average, 15 links out of the first 70 results were malicious for search terms that were found to be poisoned (had at least one malicious URL)
• On average on any given day, 7.3% of links are malicious in the top 70 results for top search terms
• The most poisoned search term resulted in 68% of links leading to malicious pages in the first 70 results
• Almost all of the malicious URLs redirect to a fake anti-virus page.”

An automated system usually determines which search terms to poison. This system tracks search trends and hot topics, leaving the entire process mostly automatic and continuous.

We hope that Google and the others are working hard on new ways to keep their search results clean. In the meantime, users must continue to be careful when using search engines. This is yet another reason to keep your antivirus products up-to-date. Trend Worry-Free 6.0 Standard and Advanced has URL filtering for blocking risky web sites.

I use Google searches all the time for mostly technical themes and I depend on my Trend Micro and my SonicWall Total Secure firewall to keep me safe – so far so good! But if you aren’t sure you are protected, and you are looking for information on a specific news item, sports figure or event, it’s best to go directly to ESPN or MSNBC, CNN, Fox News or any other news sites, rather than using a search engine.

PSI Innovations - June 2010

by Ann Jenkins

As many of you are already aware, the state sales tax rate for Kansas increases 1% beginning July 1. This new 6.3% rate needs to be reflected in the Kansas tax codes in Sales Tax Code Maintenance for the Tax Classes TX (taxable) and TF (taxable freight). If you are using the standard State of Kansas jurisdiction codes (for example, WICSG), each jurisdiction tax code must be increased by 1%. Since this new rate basically goes into affect overnight, we know there is a need to make this process more efficient and easier.

We have developed an export/import process that will export all of your Kansas jurisdiction codes to a Crystal Report, which is designed to automatically increase the rates by the 1%. We will then use this report to import the new rates back into Sales Tax Code Maintenance.

This will be available for Sage MAS 90 or MAS 200 versions 4.10. 4.20, 4.30 and 4.40 and does require that you own the Visual Integrator module.

If you are not using the standard Kansas jurisdiction codes and instead have assigned your Kansas state sales tax rate to one tax code such as KS and it is currently set as 5.3%, then you would just increase that rate to 6.3%. If you have questions as to which process works for you, give us a call.

Keep in mind that there are additional city and county sales tax increases and those changes will not be addressed as part of the export/import process described above. Those changes will still need to be entered manually. The rate change is system wide and only needs to be done once for all companies. Once your rates have been updated, MAS 90 and 200 have a utility that will recalculate the sales tax on your open Sales Orders to adjust for the tax increase and if any invoices for July are in AR or SO Invoice Data Entry the taxes on those invoices can also be recalculated.

If you are interested in using the Sales Tax Rate Increase Export/Import, contact our office. To efficiently schedule for this at the end of June and first of July, please let us know as soon as possible if you’ll need our help with this process.

PSI Innovations - June 2010

Sage Software offers customers typically lower rates on credit card merchant processing fees through Sage Payment Solutions. If you are using the Credit Card Processing module you can authorize and process payments directly through Sage MAS 90 or MAS 200 without using the third party software, PC Charge. If you don’t yet own the Credit Card Processing module, Sage offers the module free if you use Sage Payment Solutions. Through Sage Payment Solutions you can accept credit cards, debit cards, electronic checks, recurring payments and gift cards. Online reporting, which is complimentary to all customers, includes batch, transactional and deposit data plus monthly statements.

Why choose Sage Payment Solutions?

• A member of the Sage Software family
• Low Sage customer rates
• Integrated payment processing with the Credit Card Processing module
• Full online reporting at no additional cost
• Maximum security features and Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliant
• No equipment purchase necessary

Even if you are not using the Credit Card Processing module you can still process your credit card transactions directly online using Sage Payment Solutions via a secure Virtual Terminal. An email notification is generated and sent to you and your customers when the batches are processed and you have full access to the online reporting. Studies have shown that accepting credit cards can help to increase your sales and improve your cash flow. If you are interested in a faster, easier and more affordable solution for processing your credit card transactions, then this is the solution for you.

PSI Innovations - June 2010

by Doug Jenkins

Sage has been working toward the goal of reducing the cost of software upgrades while still allowing customers to modify their Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 systems to fit the precise needs of their business. As many of you know, custom program modifications can add extra cost to each upgrade. In some cases we simply need to review a custom feature to make sure it still works within the new version. In other cases we must re-program the custom feature, which adds cost to the upgrade.

“User Defined Scripts” are a new component of the Custom Office Module on the MAS 90 and MAS 200 menu. Scripts can be added to any field, form, or button and won’t have to be rewritten or updated with each software upgrade. When certain events occur, such as adding a new customer or deleting a transaction, your custom script can execute automatically.

The scripting tools are available to every customer with the Custom Office Module. Our plan is to convert existing modifications to scripts as we upgrade each customer to version 4.4 and beyond. For those of you who have your own programming staff, the scripting process may be something they can do. The skill sets require knowledge of VB Scripting and the Sage MAS 90 Business Objects Library. As with any new technology there is a learning curve, but most programmers will find the process to be familiar.

With version 4.4, full scripting capabilities are available for all Business Framework modules. Payroll, Work Order, and Job Cost modules are not yet included in Business Framework. If you would like more information about scripting, contact Doug Jenkins at PSI.

PSI Innovations - June 2010

by Ann Jenkins

In an effort to mitigate credit card data compromises, the credit card brands (VISA, Master Card, etc.) have mandated new compliance requirements for any business that stores, processes or transmits cardholder data. This affects any business or service provider that accepts credit card payments, whether the business uses the Sage MAS 90 Credit Card Processing module or if they process payments through a secured Web site.

Businesses must be in compliance by July 1, 2010, or your processor may either not allow you to process your credit card payments or may assign fines until you are in compliance.

Compliance for the merchant consists of three parts:

1. Completing the PCI Self-Assessment Compliance Questionnaire annually at an Approved Scanning Vendor site.
2. Undergoing Vulnerability Scans performed by an Approved Scanning Vendor quarterly. This is accomplished with a download from an Approved Vendor site.
3. If you are processing with the Credit Card Processing module you must be on a certified compliant MAS 90 or MAS 200 version.

The Approved Scanning Vendor that Sage and Sage Payment Solutions are using is Trustwave. There are other Approved Scanning Vendors and your credit card processor will determine which they require you to use. Validation actions vary depending on your Service Provider or your Merchant level (based on the number of credit card transactions annually).

If you do process and transmit your credit card payments using the MAS 90 or MAS 200 Credit Card Processing module or if you even just store customer credit card information within MAS 90 or MAS 200, you will need to be on MAS 90 or MAS 200 version 4.30 with Service Release 18 or on version 4.4 with Product Update 1. Only these specific versions are certified by Sage to be compliant with the Credit Card Compliance Requirements.

If you use the MAS 90 or MAS 200 Credit Card Processing module or store customer credit card data in MAS 90 or MAS 200 and are currently on version 4.3 or 4.4, please contact our office to schedule the installation of the appropriate update. If you are on an older version of MAS 90 and use the Credit Card Processing module to process and transmit your credit card payments, we will need to either upgrade you to 4.3 or 4.4 or find an alternative processing method.

For more information on this, read our Frequently Asked Questions and the Credit Card Implementation Guide.

PSI Innovations - June 2010