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Timberline Office Enhancements Over the Past 18 Months - Do You Know What You Have?
Sage Timberline Office has been going through a series of new releases in the past 18 months, making performance improving enhancements to maximize effectiveness and simplify work flow. With all the new releases coming in a short span of time, customers might find they are not currently taking advantage of some of the improvements available in the latest releases. Also, to complete year-end processing and to meet reporting requirements available in the 2010 year-end release, Sage Timberline Office Customers need to upgrade to versions 9.6 or 9.7. The upgrade will be available for download early December 2010.

In March of 2009, Sage released version 9.6, to meet the demands of a challenging economic environment by helping contractors maintain profitability through efficiencies, including 64-bit compatibility, easier general ledger transactions maintenance, Estimating with multicurrency functionality, and seamless integration between Estimating and Project Management. Version 9.6 also brings the improvements to payroll by allowing users the ability to delete checks and integrating address book with Sage CRM software. With better functionality, the appearance of reports was also improved with cleaner fonts and an option to view as landscape.

In spring of 2010, Sage released version 9.7a, delivering improvements to day to day operations. Improvements were made to Document Management and electronic routing, now with the ability to review and approve documents in the system and rules-based-routing to eliminate delays in documents sent to the wrong person for approvals. E-filing capabilities were also added. A higher degree of automation is included to provide freedom to have more time to focus on other tasks. Data analysis and reporting were simplified, providing new tools that are more user-friendly.

The addition of Sage Installation Manager (SIM) provides a means to upgrade accounting workstations quickly and with ease. Now you can upgrade and perform installations remotely from a centralized location instead of manually on the individual workstations. Sage 9.7 supports with Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 and an upgraded Pervasive 10 database.

The new releases of 9.6 and 9.7 have updates that improve Estimating significantly and save customers time and money. Sage added the capability to quickly upgrade individual estimates - you no longer need to spend hours completing the task. Enhancements to the "copy assembly" feature allows you to now see the variables that were used to calculate the assembly. 9.6 delivers improvements to the RFQ, vendor assignment and the Buyout Processes. You can also now view totals at a glance with the enhancements to auto sum. With the 9.7 spring enhancements, you can now easily import an estimate change into job cost. The improvements to Accounting and Project Management are also significant.

The list of improvements to the Sage Timberline Office product over last 18 months goes on and on and you can read more about the benefits to upgrading in this document. With all the latest and greatest enhancements and better user functionality, you could be missing out on dollars lost due to inefficient systems. The number of new releases and upgrades to Sage Timberline Office occurred in a short time frame and perhaps you missed out on the latest upgrade.

Do you know what you have? If you are missing out on some of the benefits to the latest versions, as discussed in this article, chances are, it's time to upgrade! Call The Rand Group today and we will be more than happy to help you improve your daily operations so you have more time to focus on your customers.

Find out what all the buzz is about!
Interest in Sage Timberline Enterprise, Sage's new solution for service and specialty contractors, is continuing to grow. Now available since October 1st, Sage has signed on 30 early-adopter customers who have purchased Sage Timberline Enterprise.

Learn more about how Sage Timberline Enterprise could help you in the July 2010 issue of Roofing Contractor's article entitled "How Efficient Is Your Business?".

The Rand Group and Sage will be presenting additional Sage Timberline Enterprise information in the next few months in Dallas and Houston. If you wish to learn more about how Sage Timberline Enterprise can help you obtain one-touch control over your service or specialty business, Contact The Rand Group.

Save the Dates! Year End Training
Whether you are new to Timberline or an experienced user, some of the Year End tasks might seem daunting, since they are only performed "once a year". Our professional services team members planned several opportunities for you to learn some of the tips and tricks to managing the year end processes. Topics such as "Government Forms", "Which Modules Do I Close?", "Should I Archive Data Now or Later?", and others will be covered during the class. Additionally, the instructors will cover new features and enhancements offered in Sage Timberline Office version 9.6 and beyond! We will send out registration links mid-November.

Class dates and locations:

Webinar Topics

Beyond Accounting - Increase Business, Reduce Costs, and Minimize Risk - a free one-hour webcast hosted by Sage and The Rand Group. Presented by Dennis Stejskal, VP of Product Management for Sage Construction and Real Estate Solutions.
October 28, 2010 at 12:00pm and 3:00pm CST.

Sage Timberline Office Recent and Upcoming Enhancements - Join Laurie Jimenez, Senior Associate in the CRE practice with The Rand Group, for a one-hour overview of the enhancements discussed in the article titled "Timberline Office Enhancements Over the Past 18 Months".
November 2nd at 10:00am CST
November 2nd at 1:30pm CST

Questions or comments? E-mail us or call 866.714.8422.