Why start over?
The thought of re-entering most of your Sage 50 Accounts data into Sage 200 Standard Online may seem quite daunting. Furthermore, even thinking of not taking every single piece of information that you've built up over the past few years as a bad idea is quite common.
However, there may be several benefits to your business by taking full advantage of the opportunity to start afresh and take only your basic information such as customer and supplier records and then entering transactional values as you go.
Below, we discuss some of the advantages of doing so.
The benefits of using a software package to run your business are greatly enhanced when the data within it is accurate and timely. Inaccurate and duplicate data puts these benefits at risk.
The data within your software is extremely valuable information and ensuring it is cleansed regularly means you gain the most from your day-to-day use of Sage 200 Standard Online. If you're moving from a different software package, there's no better time to review your existing data before you get started with your new program and represents a fantastic opportunity to improve business processes and reporting capabilities.
Think of your sales information within the program such as contact details. Are they correct? The quality of reporting output from Sage 200 Standard Online is improved massively with the confidence that the details on the reports are up to date and accurate.
Stock activity is where most of the benefits of accurate data entry are seen as there are so many opportunities to make key business decisions and improve business processes...
- Find stock quicker.
- Reduce errors and duplicates when selecting warehouse stock.
- Reduce transit time.
- Select stock quicker within the warehouse.
These can all be achieved simply by starting with an accurate account of your stockholding. Where possible, we recommend a stocktake is performed when moving to Sage 200 Standard Online. The details of the count can then be entered as soon as your stock records are created, be that by manual entry or if you've chosen a migration option performed for you by Sage.
Such key moments can be the difference between a growing business and that of a company that remains static. Using the opportunity to verify data allows you to siphon out inaccuracies which are reduced simply by using quality data.
Other common benefits include the following...
Customer Records
If you look at your current list of customer records, you'll likely find one or more of the following applies:
- It includes accounts that you no longer use.
- Also some records that have small balances that will never be received.
- Records that have been renamed to ensure they're not used again (e.g. 'XX Do Not Use....').
- Records that you want to remove but can't due to restrictions (such as transactional history).
Starting afresh gives you the opportunity to overcome these issues, tidy up your list and ensure more accurate reporting on your customer activity.
Supplier Records
Similar to your customers, you'll also probably find one or more of the following applies:
- It includes accounts that you no longer use.
- Also some records that have small balances that will never be paid or minor refunds that are due for a few pence also remain.
- Records that have been renamed to ensure they're not used again (e.g. 'XX Do Not Use....').
- Records that you want to remove but can't due to restrictions (such as transactional history).
Again, for similar reasons to your customer records, starting from scratch allows you to enter just the supplier records you need which reduces unnecessary data within the program and helps to ensure more efficient and accurate reporting.