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SAGE 100 CONTRACTOR CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW BY SHELDON NEEDLE
SAGE 100 CONTRACTOR CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW • CTSGUIDES.COM • PAGE 2
Overview
Sage 100 Contractor construction business
management software links the four critical areas of
a contractor's business—estimating, production,
accounting, and analysis—into one comprehensive,
easy-to-use business management solution.
Sage 100 offers three editions of estimating
software to suit the needs of most customers:
Estimating Basic, Sage Estimating Standard. and
Extended.
After creating a takeoff, Estimating Basic can be used to:
• Issue customer proposals
• Establish a project budget
• Issue requests for proposals if you are
shopping subcontract or material prices
• Issue purchase orders or subcontracts
• Cost load a schedule
• Feed the change order program
• Estimate service receivable work orders
Estimating Standard and Extended performs the following functions:
• Project Management
• Document Control
• Service Receivables
• Inventory
• Equipment Management
• Accounting
• Analysis
User Experience
Sage 100’s desktop can be customized by each user.
You can highlight and drag any data entry screen or
report menu item to the desktop and create a
shortcut for that item. The program allows you to
set defaults and skip fields so you can enter data
easily and quickly. All data entry screens allow you
to also create notes specific to a particular entry.
There are also user-defined fields in almost every
data entry screen.
On-screen Help (not field-sensitive but menu or
screen-specific) is easily accessible from anywhere
in the system. An on-screen index is also available
to search the Help fields. Help does provide a
detailed discussion of each field and how it is used.
Value
Sage 100 provides a low cost of ownership with
concurrent licensing. With concurrent licensing,
each employee in your business that uses Sage 100,
on a daily basis or only occasionally, can install it
on his/her computer. You only need to purchase
licenses for the number of people accessing the
system at any one time. This gives you the
flexibility to install Sage 100 in your home office,
or other office locations as well. With access from
multiple locations at any time, Sage 100 helps you
keep up with the demands of your business.
Sage 100 Contractor can also be purchased using
several flexible options. You can purchase the core
product, which includes accounting, payroll, and
project management. And if your business needs
require any of the additional modules—Estimating,
Service Receivables, Inventory, Equipment
Management, and Document Control—those can
be purchased separately. Additionally, you can
purchase Sage 100 Contractor using traditional per
user pricing or with subscription pricing, which
offers the product at a low monthly rate.
SAGE 100 CONTRACTOR CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW • CTSGUIDES.COM • PAGE 3
Strengths
• Executive Dashboard management tool
• Drill-downs from all reports to source
transactions
• Alerts – can be configured to alert you
when certain conditions are met
• Project Work Center
• Check box to link transaction to
Document Control “Project Hot List”
• Integrated estimating, service
management, inventory, equipment
management, project management, and
document control
• Now runs with SQL database
Limitations
• Help is not field sensitive
• The Sage-supplied report writer is very
basic—more sophisticated reports may
have to be written using SAP Crystal
Reports
• Equipment module is basic but does
include maintenance scheduling,
equipment costing to jobs, limited
depreciation options and equipment
utilization.
Ease of Deployment & Training
For installation of Sage 100 users are assisted by
certified resellers who have extensive training and
experience with the product are tested for
competence by Sage. Much of their revenue comes
from support and training so they have to know
what they are doing in order to be successful.
Further Reading
Executive Summary
Sage 100 Contractor construction business
management software links the four critical areas
of a contractor's business—estimating, production,
accounting, and analysis—into one
comprehensive, easy-to-use business management
solution. This review includes changes for both
version 18 and 19.2 of Sage 100 Contractor.
Released Spring of 2016, version 20.2 introduced
a long awaited SQL version.
Version 18 Highlights
Version 18, a major enhancement, was released in
the spring of 2012. In previous releases Sage moved
the development environment forward from Visual
Basic to Microsoft C# allowing for more use of
current technology within Sage 100. In version 18
we see the first benefits from that extensive
development project. Version 18 includes a
complete change of the user interface. The new
version includes user defined visual workflow, new
application screens and the use of standardized
icons and buttons. Though this new interface should
make learning the system easier for new clients,
Sage has saved several key interfaces for existing
clients based on extensive customer feedback.
SAGE 100 CONTRACTOR CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW • CTSGUIDES.COM • PAGE 4
The picture below shows the new role based user
interface.
When users move into a feature they will have a
new entry window. This screen is an example of the
new user paradigm.
Version 18 also saw the addition of an Alerting
system which allows the user to define multiple
business rules and have the software run scheduled
tasks and report any findings via an e-mail to staff
or on the updated Dashboard. The system comes
with multiple alerts and allows the user to define
their own. An example of an alert is for the software
to monitor a job’s cost code budget. When a cost
budget is less than the actual costs accumulated in
the system the alerting software will notify a project
manager via an e-mail.
Version 18 also added an interface to Aatrix as a
part of all annual support plans. Aatrix provides HR
forms, HR alerts, federal reporting forms, state
reporting forms, and e-filing. This service is
updated via the internet and provides a unique
benefit from a leading tax reporting service.
Sage has also updated their Service Receivables
Dispatch Board to support their efforts to better
address the needs of specialty subcontractors. The
new board offers a significant change in set-up
options and workflow.
The last few releases were focused on work flow,
usability, and the technology used within the
application. Some of the key features added are:
Documents can be dragged and dropped into Sage
100. In the case of e-mails, Microsoft Outlook e-
mails can be dropped into Sage 100 and they are
automatically added as attachments on the open
record. Sage 100 will accept this drag and drop
capability for most document types like Microsoft
Excel and Word documents. Other industry
standard types like .pdf are also accepted.
Sage 100 also added the ability to send Sage 100
reports, either PDFs or Excel files, through
Outlook.
Change orders, subcontracts, and purchase orders
are all fully integrated and automatically update
contract, subcontract, budget, and committed cost
amounts.
The Sage 100 report writer was given an upgrade in
its ability to export to Microsoft Excel. This new
version brings data neatly formatted into Excel but
also brings the formulas behind the numbers which
makes a downloaded report an active document.
SAGE 100 CONTRACTOR CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW • CTSGUIDES.COM • PAGE 5
RFPs and RFIs can now be assigned numbers by
job and phase.
Most entry grids support cut and paste functionality
so you can grab information captured in Excel and
paste it into entry grids as long as the column
structure matches.
Sage is the developer of the industry-leading
estimating solution Sage Estimating (formerly
known as Sage Timberline Office Estimating).
With the integration of this powerful solution, Sage
100 offers three editions of estimating software to
suit the needs of most customers.
Estimating Basic
Combining the best features of a database and
spreadsheet, Sage 100 Contractor Estimating Basic
helps you create faster, more accurate, and more
profitable estimates in minutes. Estimating Basic is
an easy-to-use assembly-based solution.
After creating a takeoff, Estimating Basic can be used to:
• Issue customer proposals
• Establish a project budget
• Issue requests for proposals if you are
shopping subcontract or material prices
• Issue purchase orders or subcontracts
• Cost load a schedule
• Feed the change order program
• Estimate service receivable work orders
Estimating Basic also offers a sophisticated and
integrated interface to Planswift for takeoff from
digital media.
Sage Estimating Standard and Extended
The Sage Estimating Standard and Extended
editions bring the strength of the industry-leading
estimating solution from Sage Estimating to Sage
100. The time-consuming task of setting up and
building an estimating database has been
streamlined with the Database Builder Wizard,
which walks you through the necessary steps of
establishing your database more quickly and
efficiently, allowing you to take full advantage of
the Estimating software sooner. Integrated with
your Sage 100 system, you’ll get the power you
need to create twice as many estimates compared to
generic spreadsheets—meeting deadlines with ease
while presenting comprehensive, precise estimates.
You can take advantage of RSMeans databases and
industry-specific estimating databases for even
more estimating muscle. Also available are industry
knowledge bases with built-in intelligence that
prompt you for only the data needed to calculate
quantities and costs for a given assembly, such as a
wall or a foundation, for an entire home or
commercial structure.
Better production/project management - With Sage
100, you can start on time, finish on time, and come
in under budget. This construction software offers
powerful, critical path management scheduling
capabilities. You can generate task lists with all
vendors and subcontractors already assigned
directly from your estimate. And, you save time
communicating schedule changes by printing,
faxing, or emailing these notices to subcontractors,
suppliers, and employees at set intervals you select.
SAGE 100 CONTRACTOR CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW • CTSGUIDES.COM • PAGE 6
Simplified accounting – Sage 100 is a single,
accrual-based, construction software that can
perform all of your advanced construction
accounting requirements. The accounting module is
fully integrated with Sage 100 estimating, project
management, and analysis functions to give you
complete financial management insight throughout
each phase of your business. With Sage 100
construction software, contractors can more
effectively manage their operations by simplifying
and automating invoice creation, bill paying, and
avoiding overpaying or double-paying bills.
Detailed business analysis - With fully-integrated
Sage 100 construction software, contractors can do
financial analysis for their company as a whole, as
well as project analysis to see where they stand on
each job.
The Executive Dashboard provides a quick and
easy way to check the overall financial health of
your company. From a single location, a user can
pick from dozens of key performance indicators
(KPIs) across key areas of the business and display
them every time they log into the system. These
business metrics can include such critical indicators
as cash balances, cash position, company
profitability, job profitability, change orders, and
much more. The Dashboard has drill-down
capability to detailed reports and even to the
individual record level.
Report Drill-Down
Just like with the Executive Dashboard, you can
drill down multiple levels to record and transaction
detail in the more than 1,000 pre-built reports, as
well as your own customized reports. The reports
become dynamic information portals, allowing you
to navigate to the numbers and background detail in
real time for up-to-the minute analysis.
Sage 100 is fully Windows-compatible, 32-bit
technology. The database structure is a flat-file
database that allows for simple information
retrieval. The company states that there are
currently over 10,000 companies using Sage 100.
Support You Can Count On
Sage 100 offers a nationwide network of local
Business Partners to assist you with installation,
training and business consulting. A broad array of
professionally-instructed, online courses and live
courses are also available to help you learn Sage
100.
The Sage customer support group was the first in
the construction and real estate industries to earn
the Support Center Practices (SCP) certification of
excellence. They also received the Star Award
given by the Software Support Professional
Association (SSPA).
Sage University offers recorded and instructor-led
classes delivered over the internet. Sage
recommends all new customers subscribe to the
New Customer Training package of 12 New
Customer Training courses and eight Accounting
and Bookkeeping recorded courses and five (5)
instructor-led classes. This will reduce consulting
costs to have all employees participate in these
classes. Sage recommends you also consider the
additional use of the over 70 live, instructor-led
classes.
Sage 100 provides a low cost of ownership with
concurrent licensing. With concurrent licensing,
each employee in your business that uses Sage 100,
on a daily basis or only occasionally, can install it
on his/her computer. You only need to purchase
licenses for the number of people accessing the
system at any one time. This gives you the
flexibility to install Sage 100 in your home office,
or other office locations as well. With access from
multiple locations at any time, Sage 100 helps you
keep up with the hard-hitting demands of your
business.
Sage 100 Contractor can also purchased using
several flexible options. You can purchase the core
SAGE 100 CONTRACTOR CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW • CTSGUIDES.COM • PAGE 7
product, which includes accounting, payroll, and
project management. And if your business needs
require any of the additional modules—Estimating,
Service Receivables, Inventory, Equipment
Management, and Document Control—those can
be purchased separately. Additionally, you can
purchase Sage 100 Contractor using traditional per
user pricing or with subscription pricing, which
offers the product at a low monthly rate.
System Features
Pros
• Executive Dashboard management tool
• Drill-downs from all reports to source
transactions
• Alerts – can be configured to alert you
when certain conditions are met
• Project Work Center
• Check box to link transaction to
Document Control “Project Hot List”
• Integrated estimating, service
management, inventory, equipment
management, project management, and
document control
• Customizable desktop by roles
• Form and report designer, including a
query functionality—a simplified version
of a report writer available.
• Over 1,000 pre-built reports with drill-
down
• Attach documents to client, vendor,
employee, job records, and transactions
• Add notes and user-defined fields to entry
screens
• Hide fields on entry screens
• Email, fax, and schedule reports
• A new feature allows all reports to be
exported to MS Excel, complete with
formulas and proper formatting.
Cons
• Help is not field sensitive
• The Sage-supplied report writer is very
basic—more sophisticated reports may
have to be written using SAP Crystal
Reports
• Equipment module is basic but does
include maintenance scheduling,
equipment costing to jobs, limited
depreciation options and equipment
utilization.
The program allows you to set defaults and skip
fields so you can enter data easily and quickly. All
data entry screens allow you to also create notes
specific to a particular entry. There are also user-
defined fields in almost every data entry screen.
On-screen Help (not field-sensitive but menu or
screen-specific) is easily accessible from anywhere
in the system. An on-screen index is also available
to search the Help fields. Help does provide a
detailed discussion of each field and how it is used.
An Installation and License Administration Guide
provides an overview of installation procedures as
well as an explanation of system features. The
Product Overview also includes 200-plus pages of
information for setup and operation of the core
program, payroll, project management, and
reporting. The software download includes a 900
page User’s Guide in .pdf format that can be used
as a source document for detailed company specific
procedures guides.
With the exception of Payroll, Sage 100 is a real-
time accounting system. This means that entries
update all files as transactions are accepted. Payroll
can be processed; job costs updated and checks
printed, then posted to the general ledger once you
execute the post function. Reports are available to
verify postings and automatic reverse and re-entry
options allow you to operate with the same level of
efficiency of a batch system.
Because of the modular design and variety of
applications accessible, the menus are grouped
SAGE 100 CONTRACTOR CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW • CTSGUIDES.COM • PAGE 8
hierarchically. From the main menu, you select
which module to work in and then the specific
application. Multiple modules can be used
simultaneously in individual windows. All menu
functions can be performed using short cut keys or
the mouse.
Sage 100’s desktop can also be customized by each
user. You can highlight and drag any data entry
screen or report menu item to the desktop and create
a shortcut for that item.
Central License Administration
Sage 100 includes the License Administration tool,
a central "command center" to manage your Sage
100 software and the number of people that can use
the software simultaneously. With password-
protected access for security, the License
Administration tool allows you to:
Efficiently manage users with "uses." Sage 100
allows concurrent “uses” (instead of "seats") to give
users access to the software. The number of product
uses you own determines the number of users that
can simultaneously access the software. Product
uses give you greater freedom in using Sage 100
throughout your business. Part-time and occasional
users can share a single product use, saving you the
cost of buying two licenses or uses. This way, you
only pay for the number of employees who
simultaneously use the system, rather than number
of computers on which the software is installed.
Easily view employee activity. See which users are
logged into the system, as well as the date, time and
duration of their session. This gives you more
control and insight into who is using the software.
You are able to monitor usage for increased security
or reassign product uses for more flexibility.
Sage 100 also helps you efficiently perform time
consuming tasks. Many construction firms set up
multiple companies for large projects to limit
liability exposure. The Copy Company feature
helps you do this by making the process of setting
up a new company faster and easier. Copy
Company allows you to “copy” the same basic
structure and base information, such as the vendor
list of an existing company to set up a new
company, significantly reducing the amount of time
spent and potential for data entry mistakes.
Menu Structure
In addition to program menus, each window
contains a menu bar. The menu bar contains
functions specific to the window like Exit, Save,
Print, and Help. Any function listed on the menu
bar is accessible using the short-cut key or the
mouse. While some functions listed on the menu
execute functions directly, many contain pull-down
menus listing more functions.
Sage 100 can be configured individually by
company. When you save the window defaults the
size, location, and field defaults are saved. For
example, to allow for quicker data entry you can
deactivate fields and columns that are not usually
used for data entry. While the field or column is not
hidden, it is grayed out and entry cannot be made
unless the field or column is specifically selected.
Many screens also allow you to hide columns by
clicking on a button or to change the direction of
your entries from horizontal to vertical by clicking
on another button.
User-defined fields are located in a variety of
windows and can be customized to meet your
needs. The user-defined fields contained in each
window are independent of each other so you can
customize the field to the particular needs of the
window. You can determine the type of data the
field accepts, the description, and the text of the
status bar prompt. The fields can be changed at any
time and may be set to accept word, decimal,
integer, or a date. These customized fields can be
used in reports. In fact, almost every data entry field
can be customized in this way.
SAGE 100 CONTRACTOR CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW • CTSGUIDES.COM • PAGE 9
Notes can be attached to transactions and fields
with strong editing capabilities. Other ease-of-use
features available include count (identifying the
number of records) and find with various query
options. You can use one of the dozens of supplied
queries, modify them, or create your own on-the-
fly. All queries have a drill down feature.
Access security is available at the module, screen,
and field level, with a feature to assign certain rights
to users. The rights include the abilities to save new
entries, delete entries, void entries, change the
posting period, and print checks. Field-level rights
include lock after save, require list match, require
unique, skip field, and require field.
The Project Work Center allows you to quickly
view and access important job elements, such as
project management and accounting tasks from a
single screen. It has a customizable menu, a hot list
with drill down to accounting and project
management items, and also job information and
job cost summary.
Job Cost
Pros
• Date fields to track contract information
data
• Integration of budget and change orders
with takeoff
• Flexible report selection
• Compare budget to actual
Cons
• Master cost code list shows for all jobs
• Multi-company requires multiple
databases
Job File
Jobs are set-up in the accounts receivable section.
Sage 100 takes this approach to enable a company
to start tracking information on a customer as soon
as it becomes a lead. A ten-digit field is used for the
job number; the “short name” alpha-numeric job
field has 15 digits. In addition to the standard fields
in the job master file (such as location, default
accounts, job status, etc.), two user-defined fields
and nine date fields are available to track contract
information (e.g. bid date, preliminary notice and
other lien related dates, start and finish dates).
Billing can be performed at the cost code or phase
level. A phase (also known as a sub-job) can also
be used to represent a grouping of cost codes (e.g.
general conditions) or a part of a job (e.g. first
floor). Phases are standalone and do not necessarily
tie to a specific cost code. When using subcontracts,
phases need to be more detailed, since a subcontract
can only correspond to a single phase. Therefore, if
you have a project with 2 phases (first floor &
second floor) you need to divide the subcontract
SAGE 100 CONTRACTOR CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW • CTSGUIDES.COM • PAGE 10
appropriately. For example, you would enter a
subcontract for plumbing phase 1 (with the
plumbing cost code(s)) and one for plumbing phase
2 (with the plumbing cost code(s)).
A cost code table can be established to identify
costs on a job. The cost code is a 10-character
numeric field, which can be broken into segments
with three decimal places and also grouped by
division. Cost codes can be set up with groups and
sub groups. For example, the Site Work division
can have a group of cost codes including
Excavation at 20,100.100 and Underground at
20,100.200. Workers' compensation codes can be
associated with a cost code. Within each cost code
there are five system-defined cost types: labor,
material, equipment, subcontract, and other, and
four user-definable types. The cost code table can
be imported as a text file.
After a job is set up you can import cost codes by
bringing in all codes from the table, selecting
specific cost codes or by using a template which can
contain a single or multiple phases.
Budgets can be entered directly, created from a
takeoff, or generated by using a template. Budgets
can also be imported from most outside systems
which provide the ability to cut and paste
information via the Windows clipboard. When
entering a budget, you can enter hours, quantity,
and budgeted costs for each cost type. Original and
working budgets can be created. The working
budget is the original budget plus change orders.
Change orders have the ability to affect the
contract, budget, subcontract, or any combination
of the three, depending on how they are entered and
the desired outcome.
To directly enter a budget, you select the cost code
from a pick list of standard cost codes. If the cost
code had not been previously entered, you can enter
it "on the fly." For each cost code you can enter
estimated hours, cost for each cost type, estimated
units and unit costs. The estimated hours, when
entered, are used to compute the hours to complete
the report. If you have change orders that affect
labor, the budgeted hours can be entered on change
orders. When using unit billing, you enter the type
of units to be billed and the cost per unit. Only one
budget template can be added per job. Importing a
budget template will overwrite any budget fields
previously entered.
Hours can be entered on a change order. A report is
available that compares the budget to the budget
plus change orders.
Gross hours are tracked in Sage 100: budgeted vs.
actual. Hours by rate can be entered in the
Estimating module and on the Payroll timecard, and
then compared through custom reports. Hours are
entered as gross amount in budget (i.e. not by
number of hours per different rates). Overtime and
premium time hours are separately posted into job
cost from payroll. (These are designated as different
“pay types” in the system.) If temporary labor is
used, those hours cannot be picked up because it is
posted as a subcontractor cost type to which hours
cannot be posted. This type of change would be
handled within the Change Order module.
Data Entry
Data is normally posted to job cost from general
ledger, accounts payable, inventory, equipment,
and payroll. For beginning balance purposes, costs
affecting jobs can be entered directly to job cost but
do not post to the general ledger. Direct entry of job
costs is not advisable, because General Ledger and
job cost can then be out of balance. However, you
can enter job cost transactions directly into General
Ledger to keep costs in balance. This feature is
primarily for setup purposes and should be secured
from daily use by the designated “security officer.”
One of the huge benefits of the Sage 100 Contractor
is the integrity of the balances between the sub-
ledgers the general ledger. Sage 100 has an audit
routine that will identify any entries that might
SAGE 100 CONTRACTOR CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW • CTSGUIDES.COM • PAGE 11
cause problems with the data and the audit can be
scheduled to run automatically.
Inquiries and Reports
Most input screens allow creating or using existing
queries to create an on-the-fly report that outputs to
a grid on the screen. You can then drill down to
more details.
There are 13 job report menus in the Project
Management module, each with a variety of reports
within. Most reports can be modified or new reports
designed in the Form Design and Report Writer.
However, doing custom reports requires some skill.
There is a wide range of selection criteria available
for most of the reports. Standard reports include:
the Job Status Report (providing a listing of prime
and subcontract and other cost activity), Job Cost
Journal (listing detail job cost transactions), Job
Labor Journal (labor hours and dollars either from
payroll or direct job cost entry), Job Summary
Report (reflecting budget versus actual costs, but
not hours), Current Cost Summary, Job Cost Totals,
Committed Costs, Work-in-Progress Report,
Bonding Report, Budgets, Budget Totals and
Proposals.
With the job review you can graph financial data
(such as gross profit and budget/costs) from both
current and historical job data with mean, standard
deviation, and best-fit statistical analysis built in.
Cost to complete, included in the core system
provides a report that compares your budget with
cost-to-date for each cost code, displaying the
percent complete. The report can be run according
to dollars, hours, and/or units. You can add an
“actual complete” adjustment to calculate more
accurate cost to complete and variance from budget
numbers.
The job proposal for a client is created in Proposals
and can be created from a budget, an estimate, bid
items, cost codes, or a template. Several simple
proposal report types are included and can be used
to print the proposal. If you use a format for a
certain type of job repeatedly, it can be saved as a
template. Using the Export Proposal File command,
you can create the template and recall it at a later
date using the Import Proposal File command. Once
a proposal is completed, you can recap the totals by
cost codes, phases, or bid items. The Cost Codes
recap ignores the distinction between phases, and
summarizes the cost types (material, labor,
equipment, subcontract, and other) in the cost
codes. A total for each cost code is displayed as well
as the total amount for the entire proposal.
Change Orders
With the Change Order function, you can print and
track both internal (budget), prime, and sub-change
orders. For each prime contract change order, you
can associate subcontract changes as well as other
cost code changes that relate to the owner's change.
Approved changes to prime and subcontracts
update billings. Change orders can be directly
entered or generated from the takeoff, and included
with printed reports. Each change order can only
affect one phase but can be distributed to multiple
cost codes.
You can create invoices from change orders by
selecting Invoice from the menu. The Accounts
Receivable Invoices/Credits window appears with
the change order information entered for you. The
information can also be modified prior to saving. If
SAGE 100 CONTRACTOR CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW • CTSGUIDES.COM • PAGE 12
you’re billing through Progress Billing, approved
prime change orders can also be pulled into the
current progress billing application, allowing you to
update your schedule of values and bill for the
changes along with the rest of the project.
Subcontracts
With the subcontract module, you can easily track
your subcontracts, including any changes to the
subcontract, what’s been billed, and what still
remains on the subcontract. You can also print and
audit subcontracts. At a glance, you can see what
the current contract amount is and what you have
been billed. You can enter subcontracts directly in
the menu option or export from the Estimating
module. A vendor can be issued more than one
subcontract on a single job. A subcontract can cover
only one phase but multiple cost codes. You can
have multiple cost codes for each subcontract. Once
the data is entered, subcontracts can be printed, with
a user-designed format. Change orders can be
issued to the subcontract through the change order
module.
Reports produced include the Subcontract List (one
line item per subcontract for each job) and the
Subcontract Audit (detail activity by subcontract).
Accounts Payable
Pros • Warnings during invoice entry and
payment
• Joint payee can be entered during invoice
entry
• Flexibility in selecting invoices to be paid
• Audit trail for voided records;
• Transactions tagged with user name and
date
• Multiple payee checks
• Expired certificates tracking
• Integrated with Project Management (will
automatically update POs and
Subcontracts)
• Credit card management and tracking
Cons
• Numeric only vendor setup, but can search
by vendor name or alpha-numeric short
name.
Corrections can be easily made to transactions by
retrieving the transaction that needs correction,
correcting the data and saving the corrected
transaction. The user is warned that a change to a
posted transaction is being made, and the system
automatically creates the reversing entries, leaving
a complete audit trail. Only users with the proper
security authorization can make these changes.
Sage 100 Contractor does not allow any accounting
transactions to be deleted.
Accounts payable posts information to job cost,
general ledger, inventory and equipment cost. It
also integrates with the subcontract and purchase
order modules. Invoices can be cross-checked
according to purchase order, subcontract, and
budget.
Vendor master file
The vendor master file accommodates up to ten-
digit vendors and contains a variety of set-up
information. Expiration dates can be established for
workers' compensation, general liability,
contractors’ license number, and many others.
These dates are verified during invoice entry and
payment, with warnings issued if the dates are
exceeded. Other fields include default general
ledger and job cost codes. Also, fields are available
to note type of vendor (supplier, subcontractor,
professional) and whether or not a 1099 is to be
issued for that vendor. Activity and account
balances are also tracked. If your company's fiscal
SAGE 100 CONTRACTOR CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW • CTSGUIDES.COM • PAGE 13
year is not the calendar year, YTD and 1099
balances are tracked separately.
There are two user-defined fields in the master file
available to track other vendor-related information.
Invoice Entry
The invoice header contains fields to enter
subcontract or purchase order data. In addition,
there are two user-defined fields to track other
invoice information. Several joint payees can be
entered at the invoice level and checks can be
printed along with lien waivers.
When entering a subcontract number in accounts
payable, the system will fill in the phase, vendor,
job, cost code and cost type on the invoice entry
screen. The amount entered is compared against the
contract amount and if the user requests, a warning
is given if the invoice exceeds the remaining
contract amount. Warnings are also available if the
invoice exceeds the budget or if the subcontractor’s
workers compensation or liability insurance has
expired.
When you enter a purchase order number in
accounts payable, the screen is pre-filled with the
remaining quantities and prices on the purchase
order. In accounts payable, you can alter the
quantities and prices to reflect the actual invoice
amount. Upon accepting the invoice information,
purchase orders are updated with to-date and
balance remaining information. You also have the
ability to access the window in the parts database to
pick line items included on vendor invoices. Sage
100 supports partial payments to multiple payees on
the same invoice.
Cash Disbursements
Sage 100 has an extremely flexible payment
selection process. You can select the type of
invoices (job-related invoices, non-job invoices,
select to pay, discount only, open, review, or
dispute) you want to view, how you want to sort
your selections, and select invoices to pay by job,
due date, discount date, vendor or pick list. You can
also sort for only vendors who use ACH. Several
payment options are available including overriding
the discount, payment of retention and skip paying
subcontractors with expired workers'
compensation, general liability or license. After
determining your selections, a grid is populated
with the appropriate invoices. An amount that
differs from the default from the Payable Invoice
screen can be entered in the To Pay column. After
making your selections you can print checks, lien
waivers, and vouchers. You can also pay vendors
by ACH and credit card.
Reporting
Open payable reports can be run for a defined
period of time and with a variety of other selection
criteria. A vendor list is available by a variety of
selection criteria. There are seven different report
types (including short form, long form, landscape
form, aging, aging wide, cost distribution and
general ledger distribution) each with eight
different sort options available for the payable
invoice list. Other reports include a payable journal,
payable ledger, vendor payment journal (paid
vendor history), and vendor documents (i.e. letters,
mailing labels and other user-defined documents).
You can modify many of these reports with the
internal Report Writer and “save as” a new version,
right within the module.
SAGE 100 CONTRACTOR CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW • CTSGUIDES.COM • PAGE 14
General Ledger
Pros • Drill-downs to source transactions
• Financial review report options
• Month-end audit verifying GL to sub
ledgers
• All 12 accounting periods for the year as
well as the 12th period of the prior year
are available for posting with individual
control by period
Cons
• Limited budgeting capabilities
Release 19 of Sage 100 Contractor allows the user
to continue posting to a future year without closing
the current year. (It is no longer necessary to
archive general ledger data and all general ledger
detail from the previous year is available for
reporting.) .If it becomes necessary to post to a
closed year, a user with proper security may do so,
and retained earnings and all beginning balances for
the affected year are properly recalculated and
brought forward to the new year.
Accounts receivable, accounts payable, payroll,
inventory, service receivables, and equipment
management all make entries to the general ledger.
Job cost posting normally comes automatically
from various modules to the General Ledger and
then to Job Cost. There is one screen where job cost
information can be updated manually. This is just
for a “repair” function, not normally used. General
ledger transactions can be posted to job cost.
General ledger also provides the ability to enter
recurring journal entries as well as a bank
reconciliation option.
Chart of Accounts
The system ships with several recommended charts
of accounts: Up to 10 digits numbering.
The ledger account numbering is created in the
ledger setup menu, which defines the number range
for accounts. System-wide default accounts are also
entered during system set-up.
In ledger accounts, you can rename, renumber, or
create altogether new accounts. If you are using a
recommended chart of accounts, the ledger
accounts can be further customized. Sub-accounts
can be entered for each main account. The short
name is used in accounting reports and window
displays while the long name is used in the balance
sheet, income statement, and financial reports.
The ledger account window displays the current
year and last year's balances. For permanent
accounts, the accumulated balances are displayed
for all fiscal periods. Budgets must be entered
monthly.
Data Entry
When entering journal entries, you can tie them to
a customer’s purchase order or to a vendor (if you
are entering checks through general ledger
transactions). Over the course of a year, the
balances for each fiscal period are accumulated. At
the end of each period, it is necessary to audit and
close the books. This menu selection verifies that
all balances are supported by valid transactions.
During the audit, the system verifies that the
SAGE 100 CONTRACTOR CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW • CTSGUIDES.COM • PAGE 15
subsidiary ledgers (accounts payable, accounts
receivable, service receivables and equipment) are
in balance with the general ledger.
There is an automatic “verify date in period”
function for normal invoice entry. Transactions can
also be posted to any accounting period within the
current year as well as the prior year. The system
stores the current period and uses it as the posting
period. When you need to, you can change a posting
period in any entry window that has the Period
Button or you can change the default posting period
in the General Ledger Setup. Changing the default
posting period allows you to make entries to the
indicated period.
General ledger detail transactions are available for
all previous years in the archive file for that year;
job costs are also available. If the Job Status is not
closed, the detail will be available in the current
data set. If the Job Status is closed, the detail is still
accessible in the archive data set.
Inquiries and Reports
General Ledger includes 11 standard accounting
reports. In addition to the standard balance sheet,
income statement, trial balance, journals and
ledgers, the system provides a statement of cash
flow. If the supplied financial forms do not meet all
of your needs, they can be edited in Form Design.
Using Form Design to edit reports does not allow
the user to define his own column headings or
calculations. Customized financial statements can
be created with 3rd party report writers. Combined
financial statements can be produced as long as the
combining companies have the same chart of
accounts structure.
Financial review provides graphs of financial trends
and ratios from both current and historical
accounting data with mean, standard deviation, and
best fit statistical analysis built-in.
Payroll
Pros
• Flexibility in defining pay and fringe
calculations
• Payroll audit
• Daily payroll entry grid with ability to
record equipment used
• Supports fully burdened labor
• Mobile time collection through Sage
Construction Anywhere.
Cons
• No user-definable pay types
• Only two User Defined Fields are
Available
• Several steps necessary in order to post
payroll
You may use a different pay rate for each line of
your timecards and enter up to 999 deductions,
calculate multi-state payrolls and figure local taxes.
The system supports magnetic media reporting of
W-2 as well as printing them on W-2 forms. You
can use the pay group function for variable rate
payroll with benefit packages built-in.
Through the integrated Aatrix payroll forms, e-file
is also available for W-2s as well as state and
federal tax forms (941s, Certified Payroll reports,
etc.)
Payroll set-up revolves around the calculations file.
Here you define the general calculations for
deductions and benefits used in payroll. For each
calculation method, you can determine the type of
tax and how the calculation is computed. There are
five different calculation types available: deducted
from gross, added to gross, accrued cost (employer
paid), add/deduct (taxable) and accrue hours. There
are 13 different calculation methods including %
SAGE 100 CONTRACTOR CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW • CTSGUIDES.COM • PAGE 16
gross pay, % taxable wages, % of regular pay only,
% of net pay, per hour, regular hours, and premium
hours are available. You can set-up calculations for
advances, garnishments, tool purchases, per diem
expenses, 401k contributions, cafeteria plans, etc.
Pay rate types are defined by the system and include
regular, overtime, premium, sick, vacation, holiday,
piece work, per diem and miscellaneous. Fully
burdened labor is posted to job cost.
Employee Master File
All information about an employee is entered on a
single entry screen. In addition to the standard
fields found in most systems, Sage 100 maintains
two user-defined fields in the master file. Accrued
sick and vacation pay can be computed with
separate rates and calculation methods. Employee
positions can be defined for posting and reporting.
Default workers comp and equipment codes can
also be established in the employee file.
Quarterly and year-to-date information is
maintained for all calculations (benefits and
deductions) assigned to the employee, providing a
nice summary of benefits and deductions by
employee.
Payroll Processing
Payroll can be entered in multiple ways. It can be
entered daily in the daily payroll window, which
also supports tracking equipment used on jobs.
Payroll can also be collected in the field on mobile
devices through Sage Construction Anywhere.
Once reviewed and approved in Sage Construction
Anywhere, time is transferred to Sage 100
Contractor and will appear in the daily payroll
window. Once daily payroll is in the system, the
timecards can be created. Lastly, payroll can be
entered directly into the payroll records window, if
entering by pay period instead of by day. In the
header of the entry screen you enter information
regarding the pay period as well as the state.
The detail lines require information related to job
cost posting and workers' comp code. All
information to be entered does not show on the
screen at the same time unless the user hides some
of the columns. When entering timecard
information, you have to scroll across the line to
enter data. In addition, overtime and premium hours
must be entered on a separate line. Multiple states
and/or local tax districts may be designated by line
in payroll entry. To speed data entry, part or all of a
payroll timecard grid can be copied and pasted into
other timecards.
After timecards are entered, payroll can be
processed. During processing, job cost is updated.
If you use daily payroll (included with the core
program), you can obtain daily payroll reports.
Updating the general ledger with payroll
transactions is performed after the payroll checks
are processed. Equipment costs are posted as soon
as daily payroll is sent into timecards, but job costs
are not posted until timecards are computed. The
program supports direct deposit.
The Daily Field Report option allows a job
supervisor to enter daily payroll activities for a job.
This data can be imported into the Daily Payroll
grid or directly to the individual time cards. Daily
Payroll function allows you to enter worksheets for
one day by either job or employee. Equipment use
on jobs can be allocated on an operated, idle, and
standby basis.
The daily entries are saved until the end of the pay
period when you create timecards. You can also
enter equipment costs and repairs in daily payroll
for equipment cost recovery. Using the daily
payroll function you can obtain a field report,
equipment report and labor report as well as enter
payroll remotely. Although this function does not
actually post daily time to job cost, you can obtain
job cost reports that include daily labor (gross
dollars) and an estimated labor burden amount.
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Once the daily payroll is sent to timecards and the
timecards are computed, the detailed job costs will
be posted.
A payroll audit program is available to compare
detail transactions with quarter-to-date totals. This
report can be run quarterly to make sure that the
detail transactions agree with the information being
used for the payroll tax reports.
In addition to computing workers compensation by
state and using the experience modification factor,
the system will also compute and accrue for general
liability insurance if it is based upon the same
payroll classifications as the workers comp code.
Worker’s compensation rates can be tagged to cost
codes. So the same employee working at different
tasks can accrue charges at different rates
depending on the rate for that specific task.
Inquiries and Reporting
Reports generated by the program include
employee lists, payroll check register, Federal tax
reports, state tax reports, workers' comp report,
union reports, YTD & QTD reports, employee
documents, and job hour’s reports. The program
also supports magnetic media reporting.
With the certified payroll function, you can
complete certified reporting. You can also run a
minority report to figure percentages of quotas met.
Through the integration with Aatrix, you can print
or e-file the DOL WH-347 certified payroll report
and many state certified reports. You can also
generate many HR forms such as COBRA
enrollment forms, FMLA request forms, and
mileage reimbursement requests, to name a few.
Choose from preassembled packages (like a new
hire packet), or any of the 70 or so available forms.
Accounts Receivable
Pros
• Client file tracks sales and marketing
information
• Contract balance window
• Customer is available for quotes, jobs, and
service work
Cons
• Cash receipts for non-receivable
transactions must be entered through the
general ledger.
• Numeric only customer setup, (but you
can search by alpha-numeric short name).
Accounts receivable includes invoice history for all
payments, and as of aging so you can get balances
as of any prior accounting period. Accounts
receivable allows you to set up user-defined
defaults for account, cost code, type, and invoice
status. Standard invoices and credits memos are
easily handled in this part of the core system. A
number of other billing methods—Progress Billing,
Loan Draws, Unitary Billing, and Time and
Materials—are also available in the core accounting
product.
Customer Master File
The client file is designed to serve as sales and
marketing database as well as a source of
information for jobs under construction. Sales-
related information such as lead source, mailing
lists and salesperson can be entered and tracked for
prospects. Two user-defined fields are also
available in the master file. The customer master
file in accounts receivable is also used by service
receivables, keeping all your billings in one place.
SAGE 100 CONTRACTOR CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW • CTSGUIDES.COM • PAGE 18
Invoice Entry
There are two types that can be entered in accounts
receivable. Contract invoices and credit memos
update billings in accounts receivable, while a
memo type invoice does not update the billed to
date amount on a job contract. Both invoice types
are posted to the general ledger. Discounts, sales
taxes, and retention can all be processed at this
point. Sales tax is computed at the line-item level
and a table of tax districts can be established to
identify tax rates. Retention and discounts are
computed for the entire invoice.
Cash Receipts
Cash Receipts is used to post receipts, discounts,
and credits to receivable invoices. Cash receipts for
non-receivable transactions must be entered
through the general ledger. Credit memos can also
be applied to specific invoices during invoice entry.
Inquiries and Reports
Accounts receivable includes a number of standard
reports. The receivable journal is available in four
different formats (short, long, aging, and landscape
aging) each with four different sort options
available. Other reports include the receivables list,
receivables journal, receivables ledger, receivables
call sheet, client list, client documents, job
documents, overdue reminders, pre-lien notices,
and sales tax report.
Progress Billing
You can bill a job, using bid items, cost codes or
divisions with respective bid amounts, based on
percentage completed. You can calculate the
current amount due from a percent complete
column or from actual job costs. When you update
Progress Billing from cost data, the percentage
completed automatically computes and compares
the costs to the budget. Progress Billings can be
submitted without posting and then posted when
accepted. Progress Billing posts directly to general
ledger and updates job billings. A contract balance
window displaying the original contract amount,
change orders and previous billings facilitates the
billing process.
Retention is computed on a line-by-line basis and
also can be partially or fully relieved line-by-line.
If using Change Orders, you can bring in approved
change orders at the time of billing and have the
change orders update schedule of value lines or
have each change order be its own line.
You use Progress Billing to create a schedule of
work completed in a percentage format. The
progress bill can be printed on the AIA G702/G703
Certificate or on a generic form design. Once a
progress bill is completed, it is posted to accounts
receivable.
Unitary Billing
The systems lets you bill based on number of units
completed (rather than % complete) on a line-by-
line basis. The unit billing can be based upon the
job takeoff or the proposal. Retention is calculated
on each line in unitary billing. In unitary billing, the
original units and unit price, previous billed units
and dollars and changes are reflected on the input
screen. You only have to enter the current number
of units put in place to complete the billing.
Time & Materials (T & M) Billing
With T & M Billing, you set up a chart for each job
according to the chosen mark-ups for labor,
material, sub, equipment, and other. Invoices then
show details and total the markup, along with
overhead and profit as desired. Use this function to
bill jobs on a cost-plus contract basis using the job
SAGE 100 CONTRACTOR CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW • CTSGUIDES.COM • PAGE 19
cost records. When billing by time and materials,
you can adjust the costs by a percentage rate. Time
and Materials Billing allows you to set the
overhead, profit, and tax rates as well as the hidden
and shown mark-ups for each of the job cost types:
material, labor, equipment, subcontract, and other,
plus four user-defined types. It allows you to bill
employees and equipment at a specified hourly rate.
Labor and equipment billing can be either flat rate
or cost-plus.
Loan Draw Request
You can create draw requests for the bank on a line-
item basis, similar to progress billing, but tailored
to loan draws for lenders supplying funds on a
construction project rather than contract billings.
Loan Draw Request is used to generate and print
standard loan draw request forms. Lenders often
require a loan draw request that indicates the
percentage completed for individual cost codes and
the current amount requested. The form is
generated for either speculative jobs or contract
jobs where the lenders require a loan draw request
before issuing funds to the contractor.
Service Receivables
Pros
• Shares parts database with other modules
• Profitability reporting
• New Dispatch board offers more options
for display
Cons
• No PDA capability without 3rd party;
however, two 3rd party programs—hh2
and IFS Core—provide this functionality
for Sage 100 Contractor.
Service management functionality is integrated
throughout Sage 100 accounting, inventory, and
estimating. It includes service contracts, service
routes, service dispatch, on-call work orders,
quotes, point-of-sale, and billing of service work
and materials.
To better meet the needs of your business, Service
Receivables add-on module is offered on a per
company basis. This means that all your Sage 100
users are able to use the module’s features and
functionality. Additionally, for your convenience,
the related functionality of Inventory and Service
Receivables modules are sold together. When you
purchase Service Receivables, the Inventory
module comes with it. Or, if you company does not
need the Service Receivables module, you can
purchase the Inventory module separately.
The Service Receivable add-on module lets you
manage on-call, point-of-sale, and maintenance
contract work. You can track the entire sales cycle
from prospect lead to after-sale wrap-up. Service
Receivables also give you extensive productivity
reporting and user-defined work order and client
types. You can build in separate locations for one
client, and keep track of client equipment and the
date of the last service. You can also create invoices
with detail from assemblies and a parts list. If using
this level of detail (parts and/or assemblies), the
quantities on hand will automatically get updated in
the Inventory module.
The Service module uses the same parts and
assemblies as the estimating module and it can also
use flat rate billing and produce a service price
book.
Service Receivables is not a standalone module;
you would still need the core system to use it. You
can “job cost” service work orders and run analysis
reports to check profitability by type of service.
Service also integrates with Accounts Receivable.
SAGE 100 CONTRACTOR CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW • CTSGUIDES.COM • PAGE 20
Service Dispatch Board
The updated Service Dispatch Board offers a user-
friendly interface to help manage multiple
technicians and status of calls in either a one-day or
5-day format. You have setup controls to modify
your list of technicians or subcontractors/vendors
and display them only by status and the ability to
zoom in or out on the board. In the new preference
setting, you can control what fields show up in the
work order and the size of a one hour block on the
board. The dispatch board uses color coding to
display the type of work order, priority, and
location of the service area. Travel time can be
easily added to work orders and shows on the
dispatch board to ensure technicians are on-time to
each appointment.
While scheduling, you are notified of potential
overbookings through pop-up messages. You can
also schedule technicians’ personal appointments,
such as lunch and doctor’s appointments, to
optimize your service scheduling. And, to make
sure all technicians stay on top of the details, you
can email technicians directly from the board.
Choose to email specific work orders, email all
technicians the first work order of the day, or all
work orders for the entire day. Lastly, once a work
order has been billed, the font on the dispatch board
changes to italic to help you stay on top of service
billings.
Work Orders/Invoices/Credits Screen
The tabbed pages detail specific invoice data such
as location, dispatch, billing, invoice details, and
insurance information as well as allowing you to
schedule employees and dispatch jobs. You can
assign one of five priority levels to a work order
when the Dispatch tab page is displayed. You can
drag and drop appointments onto the Dispatch
Board and drill down to the appointment detail with
just a click.
Reporting
Available reports are the Client List, the Service
Invoice List, the Service Journal, and the Service
ledger, the Service Call Sheet, Sales Tax Report and
Employee Report. Lead Source tracking is
available just by entering the source of the lead
selected from the Source list box and tracked with
the Advertising Report. The Service Tax Report can
automatically create Overdue Reminders.
Equipment Management
Pros
• Assistance in computing equipment cost
recovery rate
• Equipment loan payment and tracking
Cons
• Limited to straight-line depreciation
• Limited preventative maintenance
tracking
With the Equipment Management module you can
track the use, time, and cost of your equipment.
Built-in features include both location tracking and
charge-out or billing rates. Operated, idle, and
standby are the three billing rates used in
conjunction with time and materials billing. The
Sage 100 Equipment Management module is also
used to track equipment use on jobs, including cost
and financial information, such as depreciation and
loan payments. You can indicate the rate of
depreciation for equipment and the account it
posted to in the equipment window. Depreciation is
automatically posted (using the straight-line
method) until the equipment capital balance equals
the depreciation balance.
When setting up a piece of equipment, you have
options in setting up a lender and payment
SAGE 100 CONTRACTOR CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW • CTSGUIDES.COM • PAGE 21
schedule. Checks for equipment loans can be
generated by entering the loan details in the
equipment window. The payment date or amount
does not need to be entered, since the program
updates the field every time a check is printed in the
equipment payment part of this module. The
program computes the interest for the month from
the remaining loan balance, posts the interest to the
expense account for equipment interest, and posts
the principal to the equipment loan account. When
the loan balance reaches $0, the program stops
creating checks.
Using equipment location you can track the
location of your equipment using the last location
field. Equipment use is entered through the daily
payroll or the equipment cost allocation.
Equipment Entry
By entering information relating to resource
consumption, ownership costs, estimated usage and
operating costs, the system will compute your cost
recovery rate. This is the rate that can be used to bill
equipment cost to the job. When posting equipment
costs to job cost, the cost of construction account is
debited and an allocated equipment cost is credited.
These default accounts are established during
general ledger setup. Cost Rates are used to post the
cost of equipment to jobs and revenue in the
equipment cost file. By knowing the cost to own
and operate equipment, you are assured of an
accurate cost recovery.
Reporting
Available reports include Equipment List,
Equipment Costs, Equipment Shop Report,
Management Report, Maintenance Report,
Equipment Documents, Journal, and Ledger.
Inventory
Pros
• Uses same parts database as other modules
• Easy to follow allocation entry screen
• LIFO, FIFO, and Average costing
Cons
• Locations are numeric only, but you can
search by location name.
The Inventory parts database is used with
estimating to build takeoffs, with Service
Receivable billings, and purchase orders. To better
meet the needs of your business, Inventory add-on
module is offered on a per company basis. This
means that all your Sage 100 users are able to use a
module’s features and functionality. Additionally,
for your convenience, the related functionality of
Inventory and Service Receivables modules are
now sold together. Inventory can also be purchased
separately if your company does not perform
service work but tracks inventory.
Inventory allocation function is used to move
inventory between locations, transfer inventory to
jobs or equipment or service, revalue inventory, or
adjust inventory for shrinkage. Sage 100 Inventory
enables you to set up and track inventory at multiple
locations. Inventory includes a receiving function.
There are two ways to receive items into inventory.
For AP clerks performing the task, you would pull
up an AP invoice screen, enter the PO number,
which would prefill the PO information, then enter
the quantities received. This would create the AP
invoice, post to the ledger, create job costs (if job-
related materials), and put the items into inventory.
For warehouse employees performing the receiving
task, pull up a Purchase Order Receipts screen
(located in the Inventory module), enter the PO
number, then simply enter the quantities received.
This also creates an AP invoice, posts to the GL,
SAGE 100 CONTRACTOR CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW • CTSGUIDES.COM • PAGE 22
creates job cost (if job-related), and puts items into
inventory, but without going into the AP module.
Parts Master
Part numbers can be assigned both a numeric and
alphanumeric number. In this database you can set
up preferred vendors, billing amount (default
billing rate for service receivables), whether the
item is a stock item (regularly carried in inventory)
and minimum and maximum reorder quantities.
Inventory items can be set as serialized, requiring
serial numbers to be entered whenever these parts
are received, transferred, shipped, or consumed.
Additional information such as beginning quantity,
quantity on hand, and average quantity are also
maintained. In addition, the system keeps track of a
variety of transaction dates for each inventory item
(last stocked, last picked, last counted and last
purchased).
Inventory Allocation
When inventory is moved between locations,
consumed by the company, revalued, or adjusted
for shrinkage, the transaction is entered in
Inventory Allocation. All transactions except
transfer of inventory between locations update the
general ledger. When moving inventory to a job
you simply enter the job, phase, and cost code that
the material is transferred to. A separate input
screen is available for transferring inventory to
equipment.
During Inventory allocation items are assigned a
status to indicate condition. A status of open
indicates that the inventory is available. A review
status indicates that the inventory order is to be
reviewed before shipping. Hold stock lets you
reserve inventory for a job or work order (used in
service receivables). When inventory is assigned a
status of shipped the quantity on hand and the
quantities available are reduced. The final status is
void.
Inquiries and Reports
Sage 100 provides a number of inventory reports
including inventory allocation (with a wide range
of selection criteria available), allocation list
(which can be printed with transaction or individual
line item notes), quantity on hand, inventory ledger
and inventory journal.
Purchase Orders
Pros
• Integration with estimating, service,
inventory, and accounts payable
• User-modifiable purchase order form
• Shares item database with estimating,
service receivables, and inventory
• The user can setup Purchase Order types,
including ‘Variance Purchase Orders”.
Cons
• Unable to process multiple jobs on a
single purchase order
The purchase order module features line item cost
control, master/sub purchase orders and automatic
invoicing. Purchase orders integrates with accounts
payable and shares a common database with
estimating, service receivables, inventory and
accounts payable.
The parts database includes a 15-digit numeric field
for part number. Part classes can be used to
categorize parts within the database. In addition,
parts can be assigned a task, which integrates with
the CPM schedule. Cost codes and cost types can
be entered for use in integrating estimating with job
cost. A billing field as well as a grid for pricing by
volume is used by service receivable. Sage 100
allows the importation of external databases such as
Excel, comma delimited and dbf files from outside
SAGE 100 CONTRACTOR CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW • CTSGUIDES.COM • PAGE 23
sources such as vendors or parts’ pricing services.
Several vendor prices can be stored for each part.
Purchase Order Entry
Six PO statuses are available – open, review,
dispute, closed, void and Master. You can have up
to 99 user-defined purchase order types. Purchase
orders can be entered manually or exported from
the estimating module (including specification
notes). Purchase Orders can also be created from
system generated RFQs that are emailed from the
system and returned to the user. In addition,
purchase orders, subcontracts, and noncomputed
payroll (optional setting when printing) are the
basis for committed cost reports. When you create
a master PO, subsidiary purchase orders are then
used to control the ordering and arrival schedule of
the ordered material. Two user-defined fields are
available on the purchase order header. There is a
user-defined column and unlimited notes per line
item. Entry of PO receipts is not required.
Reporting
Available reports are the Purchase Order List, the
Committed Cost Report, the Purchase Order Audit,
and the Purchase Order Material list.
Scheduling
Pros
• Integrated with Estimating Basic and
purchase orders
• Cash requirements report
Cons
• No resource leveling
Scheduling features CPM (Critical Path
Management) scheduling. You can create and
manage complex schedules and make changes and
additions, or see where equipment and employees
are scheduled on a time-line. This can be for a
specific job or group of jobs. You can also print
Gantt Charts and time-line CPM Schedules.
Reports include task list, subcontract notices, job
wall calendar, resource report, subcontract call
sheet, Gantt chart, original/actual, scheduled cash
flow, and critical path. The scheduled cash flow
report reads the project costs from estimating, the
timing from the schedule, and computes project
costs per day, week, or month by cost type.
Estimating
Pros
• Templates for repeat jobs
• Bid items and phases
• Integrated with project management and
accounting
• Update part pricing feature
• Quick takeoff, item takeoff, and Smart
Assemblies
Database Builder Wizard
• Point and click, drag and drop technology
• Sort estimates by estimator, bid date, job
type with Explorer management tool
• Model estimating, an advanced conceptual
estimating tool
• Industry databases and Knowledgebases
• RS Means pricing database
• Advanced Assembly Databases
• Digitizer support with Standard and
Extended
• eTakeoff / ePlan Takeoff / Planswift
Estimating Basic
You can create assembly-based, detailed estimates
with global and local variables and formula
capability. Your assemblies automatically calculate
based on the particular job you are doing.
Additionally, the integration of Estimating Basic
SAGE 100 CONTRACTOR CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW • CTSGUIDES.COM • PAGE 24
with Planswift will allow you to create detailed
estimates (or takeoffs) from digital plans.
Prices are updated by interfacing with most existing
price services or from a generic vendor file. There
is also a database update function for the user to
update a class of parts by a factor: eg.. increase the
price of all framing lumber by 10%.
When you look at your take-off, a summary page
will appear, showing you a breakdown of take-off
costs according to bid item, phase, vendor, task, and
cost code. You can automatically create purchase
orders, subcontracts, budgets, proposals, change
orders, RFPs, and service work orders from takeoff.
With the project plans and the parts and assemblies
databases, a takeoff can be created. The takeoff not
only provides you the ability to determine project
costs, but create proposals and budgets. With user-
created formulas, part quantities are determined,
and purchase orders can be created. You can even
create templates to speed the process of creating
takeoffs for your most common types of jobs.
Estimating Standard and Extended
These estimating modules offer many optional
databases. Get industry standard data and regional
based pricing with RS Means. Also available are
industry-specific Knowledgebases, Advanced
Assembly databases.
With Estimating Standard and Extended
spreadsheet, everything you need to build an
estimate is available with the click of a mouse. It’s
easy to analyze and fine-tune your estimates. You
can rename and move columns around. Open and
compare several estimates at once. Even drag items
from one spreadsheet into another for quick
creation of new or alternate estimates.
Numerous productivity tools such as Database
Builder Wizard, Estimating Explorer, and
conceptual model estimating are available.
The add-on Estimating Standard and Extended
modules comes with a digitizer interface to ePlan
Takeoff. You can generate counts and quantity
takeoffs directly from electronic drawings for
instant use in your estimates. ePlan Takeoff helps
you quickly transfer takeoff quantities and
dimensions including lengths, areas, and volumes
directly to your estimating spreadsheet.
Exporting
All three modules allow you to export from
estimating to budgets, change orders, purchase
orders, subcontractors, and template and grid files
for use in building future estimates.
Document Control
Pros
• Integrated with accounting
• Email and/or fax
Cons
• No meeting scheduling function
• Limited logs capabilities
SAGE 100 CONTRACTOR CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW • CTSGUIDES.COM • PAGE 25
Document control is an add-on module purchased
separately. Managing project documents is critical
to running a construction business. You can now
scan in documents and attach them to almost any
record in Sage 100 Contractor. This can include
emails, photos, and most file types. However there
is no document lookup using a search capability.
You can only find them by going to the location or
record to which it was attached. You will be able to
create and track responses to project documents,
including requests for information (RFIs),
transmittals and submittals, plan records, daily field
reports, and punch lists. You can email or fax
documents directly from the program.
Financial Review
This application will automatically show you trends
and ratios with a few mouse clicks.
Among the many graphs available are Current
Ratio, Quick Ratio, Gross Profit/Sales, Net
Profit/Sales, and Overhead to Direct Expense. In
addition, trend graphs are available for Cash, A/R,
A/P, Sales, Gross Profit, Net Profit, Break Even and
Working Capital.
All of these can be viewed or printed as line, bar, or
3D bar charts for the current fiscal year, 12 months
or 12 rolling months.
About Sheldon Needle
A former CFO, consultant and software designer,
Sheldon Needle has authored or co-authored more
than 20 books on software selection and has
contributed articles to major publications, including
the Journal of Accountancy and Nation’s Business.
CTSGuides.com has the distinction of being the
very first company to do hands-on, independent
evaluations of software for the middle market.
Sheldon speaks with business owners and managers
every day about software selection and makes
personalized recommendations based on their
needs and budget. He is widely known and
respected throughout the business software
community for his independence, integrity and
expertise.
As part of registering for our free software selection
kit, you receive a 15-minute consult with Sheldon.
Sheldon understands financial and business issues
and speaks your language.
He knows the leading software companies—how
they compare, their strengths and weaknesses,
where they fit into the market and which ones
would be suitable for your business.