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November 2012
Inside This Issue Features Update from Jennifer Warawa On the road with the Accounting Technology Tour Sage 50 Accounting 2013—Canadian Edition launch parties a huge success! Product Why Excel® is such a key component of Business Intelligence (BI) for SMEs Sage E-Marketing—Grow your business by regular communication with your contacts Excel on steroids tip of the month Training Opportunities Recertification for certified consultant in November Certified consultant webcast: Take your SAN membership to the next level with the certified consultant program Newsworthy Five reasons to ditch your dress code Sage Accountants Network at IPBC Take a Break Social media tip of the month—creating a Twitter profile The best careers for your zodiac sign Want to be a guest columnist in the Partner Pulse?
Update from Jennifer Warawa I sincerely hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving last month and were able to slow down and enjoy the holiday with friends and family! The last few months have been extremely busy (but great!) for us. We have been part of a number of events, including the Institute of Professional Bookkeepers (IPBC) inaugural conference in Vancouver and speaking in 13 cities across Canada on the Accounting Technology Tour with Alan Salmon. One of the most important things we do is spend time connecting with our partners face to face so thank you to all of you that we were able to connect with (and get feedback from) in our travels. I’d like to extend a special thank you to all of our Certified Consultants who hosted Sage 50 Accounting—Canadian Edition launch parties across Canada the first week of October. We ended up with 50 parties in total and almost 1,000 customers attended these launch party events. We’ll be facilitating these events on a more regular basis so if you’re interested in taking part, contact Mark Hubbard, and he can give you more information on how to get certified so you can host an event next time and meet some Sage 50 clients in your area.
On the road with the Accounting Technology Tour We are very pleased at the amazing turnout of the Sage Accountants Network (SAN) members at the 2012 Accounting Technology Tour. It’s always great to see everyone in person! This year members of the product management and account management team joined Alan Salmon on his cross-country tour to talk about Sage 50 Accounting—Canadian Edition, the Sage portfolio, and most importantly, to talk about accounting professional best practices like time management, goal setting, and value pricing. During this cross-Canada 13-stop tour we’ve had some great feedback about a number of topics including: • What’s new in Sage 50 Accounting. • How to specialize with Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate. • D ifferent business strategies like increasing productivity and ultimately profits. Thanks again to all of you who attended the Accounting Technology Tour in your city. Stay tuned for more on the second half of the tour in the December newsletter.
As we head in to the final stretch of 2012, our partners are 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 the 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 get it on time. • Finally, start looking after you. If you’ve been pushing 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 started once the work starts piling up. I hope you have a great November and enjoy some pretax season relaxation! Sincerely,
Mark Hubbard, Jeannie and Ian Warnock, Alistair Ellis
Grow your business by regular communication with your contacts Sage E-marketing gives you a simple way to grow your business by regularly communicating with your customers and to generate new customers. Extend your reach to Facebook®, Twitter®, and LinkedIn® using social sharing features. Then, take a look at easy-to-analyze graphs that help you understand the impact of your messages. How can you use e-marketing for your business?
Jennifer Warawa Vice President, Partner Programs & Channel Sales Sage North America Jennifer.Warawa@Sage.com Twitter: @jenniferwarawa
You can offer discounts to drive sales, wish customers happy birthday, invite prospects to an event or webcast, and make special announcements about a new location or staff member—communications like these can go a long way in growing your business. These examples are just the beginning. With e-marketing, you can be as creative as you like when communicating your business to your audience. Put email to work for you and see how easy it is to create and send professional, eye-catching emails that fit the style of your business. Stay tuned for more information about where to sign up and to join us for a webcast.
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SAN Partner Pulse November 2012
Sage 50 Accounting 2013 launch parties a huge success!
Sage 50 Accounting 2013 launch parties a huge success! (continued)
In August we challenged certified consultants to show their Sage 50 Accounting brand pride and to introduce the new name of Sage Simply Accounting to end-user customers across Canada. The results were unprecedented! During the first week of October, nearly 50 launch parties were hosted by certified consultants across Canada, with nearly 1,000 end-user customers in attendance. The party hosts provided updates and live demonstrations on “What’s New in Sage 50 Accounting 2013” and provided their own unique best practices and software tips and tricks. Overall, the week was a great networking opportunity for certified consultants and end-user clients alike, and we’ve received overwhelming feedback from SAN members and customers that the parties were a great learning opportunity—and more importantly a lot of fun.
Pam Jackson—Gnusystems, Marilyn Gray—MEG Consulting, Allan Mattison— Manitowaning Freshmart—Manitoulin, Ontario
Thank you to all of the Sage 50 certified consultants who hosted an event. A special congratulations to Karen Brault of Red Deer AB, who hosted the largest Sage 50 Accounting Launch Party with more than 60 registered attendees, and to the team at Soma Solutions, for their creative idea of taking their launch party to the West Vancouver chamber event. (See photos) Thank you to all of the hosts! Great job. Jennifer Bauldic
Jo Anne Kebernik
Shelly Bondy
Brenda Keiwan
Penny Brando
Bianca Lightheart
Karen Brault
Pat Lindal
Debrah Burleigh
Renee MacDonald
Jerry Cook
Tony Martin
RoseMarie Cook
Marion Majkot
Barbara Cosman
Maureen Mcconnell
Guy Drolet
Elayne Merritt
Andrée Dube
Pierre Normandeau
Craig Fisher
Pierre-Luc Paquin
Susan Friedman
Philippe Prevost
Maggie Geiser
Diana Read-Miedema
Adrienne Golden
Anna Abbruzzee Galit Sugar
Dave Greene
Robert Turgeon
Madeleine Guay
Marge Wegren-Debre
Ann Harper
Karen Weeks
Pat Hughes
Clayton Wicks
Pam Jackson
Doris Woodman-McMillan
Randy Jackson
Gayle Young
Karen Brault and her team—Red Deer, AB
The team at Soma Solutions—Vancouver, BC
Welcome from Ann Harper Inc.— Mission, BC
Debrah Burleigh of Debrah’s Accounting Service and Emilia Iacob, SAN Account Manager—Langley, BC
Why Excel® is such a key component of Business Intelligence (BI) for SMEs
Why Excel® is such a key component of Business Intelligence (BI) for SMEs (continued)
What is Excel, and what is it used for? Probably the most prolific business tool in the world, Excel is used to create and format workbooks that house data in a format that can be analyzed and used to make business decisions. Specifically, you can use Excel to track data, build models for analyzing data, write formulas to perform calculations on that data, pivot the data in numerous ways, and present data in a variety of professional-looking charts.
Profit and loss information is easy to analyze in Excel
Scatter plot graphs are one of the most common types of graph used in Excel, easily displaying Top Five Vs. Bottom Five items. So what is Business Intelligence (BI)? BI is the methodical use of information about your company and its business environment to analyze reports, predict, and manage business performance. Is this not what Excel has always done for business? Microsoft Excel arguably provides more power for general business management than any other system, but its unstructured use can cause spreadsheet chaos in an organization. The importing of data into Microsoft Excel and manual spreadsheet creation and maintenance is both time-consuming and open to human error, as is the insecure sharing of this information among colleagues. Excel as a stand-alone application, therefore, does not suffice as a BI solution, but it is a powerful decision support tool when integrated and used within a structured framework. What makes Excel so dominant? It’s globally used; it’s on practically all PCs; there are no extra costs; it’s easy to learn; it provides the data manipulation, analysis, and graphical representation tools required for most reporting. Excel is already the universal tool of business and accountants, so much so that many people would still use spreadsheets for much of their reporting and analysis tasks even if they had access to “high-end” BI software. But lack of control over spreadsheets—and the accuracy of data they contain—can risk the quality of decision making. Sage 50 Business Intelligence is an example of a BI tool that eliminates this “loose” Excel spreadsheet use by delivering a single version of the truth in the familiar environment of Microsoft Excel at the click of button, with no manual intervention.
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Why is Excel a key component of BI for SMBs? BI has traditionally been the preserve of big business. Small businesses face tighter budgets, less sophistication, and fewer people and have, in the past, tended to steer away from BI because of the cost and complexity involved. In the last few years, however, newer generation BI has been built specifically for SMBs, as opposed to complex tier-one products' being scaled down to create SMB offerings. BI systems must be agile, allowing users, not programmers, to change reports in a few minutes. Excel is a familiar user interface, and it allows users to create new reports easily and quickly. Excel has many spreadsheet functions, solving capabilities, and the ability to contain virtually any data. PivotTable® reports provide an interactive way to quickly summarize large amounts of data, allowing you to query, filter, sort, subtotal, drill down, and group large amounts of data in many user-friendly ways. Why Sage Intelligence? For many years BI vendors have been building front-end tools to try to replace spreadsheets for querying, reporting, and analyzing data results. However Excel spreadsheets are still the most universal and leading tool for business reporting. Sage Intelligence delivers data from a Sage ERP or accounting database through a structured and secure environment into Microsoft Excel report templates. The power of Excel can then be leveraged to analyze and share the data and make informed business decisions. Since it is a module of your Sage accounting package, no new relationships or extensive IT investments are required, which makes for rapid deployment without any hurdles. It can seamlessly draw trusted data directly from the database of your accounting system and deliver it automatically into the tool you are already compiling static reports in today, Microsoft Excel, making it very easy to adopt and use. You don’t have to be a programmer to get the data, and you don’t need to be an accountant to interpret the data. Join us for complimentary webcasts to see the module in action, get started with Sage Intelligence, or learn how to use it to create powerful reports.
Trend lines enable you to grasp the trend of your data. With this data visualization tool you can help your audience to understand the crux of the datasheet by visually conveying what data actually means and more importantly help them to comprehend the trend of your datasheet.
SAN Partner Pulse November 2012
Excel® on steroids tip of the month
Training opportunities (continued)
Are there parts of the worksheet that you want protected? For instance, you may want to protect cells that contain formulae. If that is what you intend to do, then Worksheet Protection is the answer.
All partners are required to achieve a passing score of 80%. The fee for recertification is just $50. You can begin preparation by reviewing and studying the list of resources provided on Sage University for the 2012 Bronze Certification assessment.
Worksheet protection prevents a user from accidentally or deliberately changing, moving, or deleting important data from a worksheet or workbook. You can protect certain worksheet or workbook elements, with or without a password. You can then remove the protection from a worksheet as needed. In the example below you can see how to protect the entire worksheet except the data range C5:C7. Applies to: MS Excel 2003, 2007, 2010 1. This tip is based on the screen shot below:
Certified Consultant webcast: Take your SAN membership to the next level with the Certified Consultant program. The Sage 50 Accounting Certified Consultant Program is designed for premier advisors who want to take their membership to the next level and capture additional benefits. A Sage 50 Accounting Certified Consultant has not only the title that commands attention from customers looking for support, it has program and training benefits to keep you current on software changes and information to maximize your service profitability with new and existing clients. Join us at the SAN Certified Consultant webcast, where you will learn the benefits of being a Certified Consultant for Sage 50 Accounting. Wednesday November 21, 2012 at 1 p.m.-2 p.m. PT Once registered, you will receive an email confirming your registration with information you need to join the webcast. System requirements:
2. Unlock cells: • Select the range C5:C7.
PC-based attendees: Windows® 7, Vista,® XP or 2003 Server
• On the Home tab, in the Cells group, select Format.
Macintosh®-based attendees: Mac OS® X 10.5 or newer
• Select Lock Cell. 3. Protect the worksheet: • On the Home tab, in the Cells group, select Format. • Select Protect Sheet. • Deselect the option Select Locked Cells.
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. • S tart on the training path that’s right for you at Sage University. Register for Realtime Training—classroom and seminar-style training.
• Add a password. • Select OK. 4. You will only be able to select the cells in the range C5:C7: • The formulas cannot be edited or deleted. (C5:D7). • To Unprotect the worksheet. • On the Home tab, in the Cells group, select Format. • Select Unprotect Sheet.
• B oost yourself to a new level by becoming part of a unique group with Sage 50 Accounting Gold Certified Consultants. • H elp your business grow with Sage 50 Accounting Platinum Certified Consultants. Sage 50 Accounting training videos
• Enter a password if required.
Get the most out of your Sage 50 Accounting software! The Sage 50 Accounting How-to videos offer easy access for clarification and simplicity of certain tasks and procedures. Watch Video
Training opportunities
Sage 50 Business Intelligence webcasts November is recertification for Certified Consultants
All Certified Consultants must take the Sage 50 product recertification exam every year to maintain their current certified status. This is in addition to the Gold Certified Consultant and Platinum Certified Consultant courses and associated exams.
These webcasts will provide information you can use now! With Business Intelligence you have customized reports, on demand, without having to manually update any spreadsheets. In these sessions the presenter will be showcasing the features and benefits of this powerful reporting tool. Register Here
Five reasons to ditch your dress code
Sage Accountants Network at IPBC
Talented people are as diverse as the clothes they wear. You may be stifling your employees with your dress policy.
The Sage Accountants Network (SAN) team was busy in September attending the IPBC first annual Canadian Bookkeeping Conference and Exposition. It was an action-packed couple of days where attendees could participate in a number of educational opportunities, network with renowned experts in the bookkeeping profession, and talk about the latest programs available.
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.
Mark Hubbard works the booth at IPBC
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.
Enter to win draws at IPBC
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
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
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Technical Support connects on the tradeshow floor with IPBC members
SAN Partner Pulse November 2012
Being social
Key contacts
Creating a Twitter profile
Prioritized Technical Support:
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.
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.
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.
Account Management:
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.
Call: 1-866-665-2559 Option 2, Option 1 (English), Option 4 (Account Management). Key Web Resources: www.Sage50Accounting.ca http://Partners.SageNorthAmerica.com www.SageU.com
Calendar of events 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 Mark.Hubbard@Sage.com for details.
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: Editor.PartnerPulse@Sage.com Submissions may be published at the discretion of Sage. Any ideas or feedback submitted may be used by Sage at its discretion.
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 Editor.PartnerPulse@Sage.com
©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