Sage Timberline Office version 9.7 includes a wide range of automation, workflow and process improvements to make it easier to get more done in less time.  Enhancements include:

• Simplified Installation
• Document Management Rules-based Routing
• Technology Updates
• More Comprehensive Tax Filing Capabilities and Improved Payroll Management
• BIM-Estimating Quantity Takeoff Integration
• Advanced Assembly Databases
• Excel-based Reporting – Office Connector Starter for Sage

To read more about these upcoming enhancements, click here to download the PDF.

IMPORTANT REMINDER!  You may recall our post from August 2009, alerting you to a media change from CD to DVD for Sage Timberline Office Accounting and Estimating products in 2010.  Well, the time has come!  Sage Timberline Office Version 9.7 will be distributed in DVD format only (except Residential Management, Document Management and some peripheral products still distributed on CD).  Please discuss any necessary changes with your IT professional so you can avoid suprises when you are ready to upgrade. 

We’ll announce details about the release date when more information is available.  At that time, contact our IT Group for any direction or assistance with your upgrade at 888-865-9425.

Sage Support will email all current Sage Timberline Office clients on support an email alert around the second week of December which will have a link to download the Year End software changes to the following versions of  STO:

• CD Version 9.41
• CD Version 9.50 Rev 1
• CD Version 9.60 Rev 1

What is the difference between the “Year End Software Update” and the “Payroll Tax File Update”

• The Year End Software Update (Year End Update) is a downloadable software package that you will run at the server and all of your workstations (see installing the Year End Update later in this FAQ).  This update will prepare your system primarily for printing government forums.
• The Payroll Tax File Update (Download Taxes in PR) is a downloadable tax table for the federal government and the 50 states for the PR year of 2010.  This is typically only done once from one workstation.

Do I need to install the Year End Software Update?

Read the release notes that accompany the alert for the specific changes in the Year End update to see if you are impacted by any of them.   If you use STO to generate government forms (i.e. W2′s & 1099′s) and any of the listed forms on the update are changed, you will want to apply the update.

When should you download the Payroll Tax File Update?

You should download the 2010 tax update after you are done processing 2009 Payroll and have closed the 2009 year in Payroll, but before you process your first payroll of 2010.  This task is done inside the Payroll application under Tools -> Download Taxes or under Sage Desktop under Payroll -> Tools -> Download Taxes.  This typically only needs to be done one time from a workstation.

When will Sage send the Year End Software update?

Sage support will send the Year End Software update to all clients who are currently on support.  This will be in the form of an email alert which will probably be sent anytime in the time frame of December 1st to December 15th.  The update inself will be a link in the email to download from the Internet.

When should I install the Year End Software Update?

Before you print tax forms that are due before January 31st.  Typically, these are the Payroll W2 forms and the Accounts Payable 1099 forms.  You can do your year end processing on your current software, but make sure you load the update before printing this forms in January.

How do I load the Year End Software Update?

Specific instructions will be included in the email alert from Sage. 

In general, the steps would be:

1. Backup all of your Sage software and data
2. Install the update at the server
3. Upgrade your data files at the server
4. Install the update on all your workstations

Do I need to install the Year End Software Update before I close the year?

No.  You should be able to close the year in the current version of the software you are using.

Do I need to install the the Year End update before I move transactions to history?

No.  You can move transactions to history at any time.

For Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 or Windows 7 systems, this icon will look like this:
For Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 the icon will look like this:

If you are not being prompted to install updates, check with your IT staff to have them check your computer, the automatic updates mechanism may be broken or disabled.  It is important that these updates be loaded within a reasonable amount of time (within a week or so of it being released.)  

 It is a good idea to load these updates WHEN YOU ARE PREPARED TO REBOOT YOUR COMPUTER.  Too many times we will see customers install updates and then NOT reboot the computer when prompted at the end.  We periodically get support calls with quirky things going on with a computer or server and when we log on, we notice the system has not been rebooted after installing updates.  We reboot the system (as it is prompting us to do that) and “Ta Da!”, the problem is fixed.  The problem was caused by NOT rebooting the system after updates were installed!

Once a month, you should be seeing the icons above and installing the updates.  Don’t forget to install updates on your servers too.  There is a good chance if your workstation is prompting you to install updates, the server is waiting to have updates installed to.  Do not even start installing updates unless you are prepared to reboot the computer.

We still have a few more weeks of summer left, so it seems odd to be thinking about year-end already!  Despite the fact that it’s almost 90 degrees outside and school is still out, Sage is planning ahead and has released an official communication with their plans for the 2009 year-end release.  This information comes along with the announcement of the newest release of Sage Timberline office (version 9.6 update 5), which will be available for download next week.  This newest release for 9.6 includes many new features, which you can read about here. 

For 2009, the year-end update will be compatible with the following versions:

• 9.4.1
• 9.5.0 and 9.5.0 Rev 1
• 9.6.0 and 9.6.0 Rev 1

If you are on a version earlier than 9.4.1 and use Timberline for year-end government reporting, it is recommended that you upgrade to version 9.6 before December.

One more thing to consider, beginning in 2010, Sage Timberline Office Accounting and Estimating products will be distributed in DVD format only (although, some updates may still be available by download).  Document Management and some peripheral products will still be distributed on CDs.  You should discuss this with your IT professional to determine if your system is capable of accommodating this media change.

As always, feel free to contact us with questions at 888-865-9425 or by email at support@cisinfo.com.

You'll love these new features!

Sage software announced some exciting new enhancements for Sage Timberline Office due to be released sometime this summer.  This update (9.6.x) will be distributed electronically and will include:

• The new Sage Installation Manager
• Project Management Payroll Integration
• Create RFIs from Field Report task
• Inquiry Improvements
• Service Management PO Description prefills from Workorder
• DM Native File Format
• 64-bit Compliance
• Ability to Submit Enhancement Requests from within Software

 **Click here** to read more about these new features.

The above enhancements are in addition to the slew of upgrades already included in Sage Timberline Office version 9.6.  If you have not yet installed 9.6, keep in mind that you can go directly from version 9.4 to 9.6.  If you are on a software version prior to 9.4, feel free to contact us at 888-865-9425 for the appropriate upgrade path.

This product is not positioned for the corporate / business market for protecting servers, email systems, and business applications. This stream-lined product will lack some of the features or capabilities that a full enterprise protection suite like those offered by Trend, McAfee, or Symantec offer. Businesses should continue to rely on business grade anti-malware protection to make sure their workstations are effectively protected.

Find out more about this from the Microsoft Press Release here.

If you’d like more information about malware protection for your business system, give us a call at 888-865-9425.