DATIS, Part of the ContinuumCloud vs. Sage Accounting

Our agency has a number of federal and private grants tied to personnel costs and allocations. DATIS e3 is extraordinary at allowing the end user to slice information as needed for complex reporting.

Incentivized

Because I do books for multiple organizations, it's great because one subscription will do multiple companies. I appreciate that it's cloud-based. Being able to save frequently used transactions makes it easy, and consistent, when making entries. When recording a payment or receipt, it shows all the open transactions with the vendor or customer so I can see what is outstanding. Also, you can open the outstanding items from the payment/receipts Journal for easy access if there are any adjustments or discounts applied to a bill/receipt.

Incentivized

• Position management
• Payroll solutions
• Open Enrollment/benefits management

Incentivized

• Sage Accounting makes it easy to pay my invoices with an automated QR code that opens a payment portal.
• Sage Accounting automatically shows my bank account balance and that's pretty neat.
• Sage Accounting has excellent security with 2 factor authentication and I trust my money is kept safe.

Incentivized

• Supervision documentation is difficult to use if the supervisor doesn’t adhere to the rigid schedule
• Applicant site doesn’t automatically integrate with outside recruitment tools, so tracking of recruitment data is complicated.
• DATIS has struggled with customer service support unless you have a dedicated contact

Incentivized

• Sorting reports - I want to sort my projects by what has and has not been paid, and this is unavailable.
• Print preview.
• FONT SIZE: This should be an option directly available to increase screen font sizes. Also, report font adjustments are incredibly difficult.
• Understanding all options and the performance the program can do, I would much prefer an in-person session or scheduled webinar because it is far too overwhelming to search forums/help centers. Just a useless vortex to get sucked into.
• Updates are easier than they used to be, but there’s still a big communication barrier. E.g., I install updates and restart programs, and then the next day or two it tells me to restart again because there have been updates. I know, I installed them already! It’s frustrating.
• Removing inactive vendors or clients - why is this so difficult? Can I not just delete and move to the next one? Every time I try it, it just defaults back to the top of the report… It’s fine for the first couple of letters in the alphabet, but that’s about all. Multi-select would be nice!

Incentivized

We're very happy with the functionality and overall experience of using Sage Accounting for our accounting needs. Currently, we are not even considering whether we would need to look around for a different option. The only things that would make us consider changing would be a significant increase in price or changes to the software which reduce it's ease of function.

Compared to AccountEdge and QuickBooks (which I’ve used in network environments), Sage has everything you red on the customizable Dashboard, where other apps don’t offer such features. Setting up Sage Desktop for multiple users is very easy, and the options for user security are very granular and detailed. This makes it easy to tweak a “Role” for an employee—or create a brand new one, if necessary.

Incentivized

Sage has been always available when I want it. If there is any maintenance work to be done by the Sage team, you are told well in advance. Maintenance is generally carried out late at night or before the day begins for most of us. It continues to be the most reliable software I use.

The day-to-day performance is very good. Items such as transactions or reports load and process quickly. You never feel like you're waiting in Sage. I have never seen Sage Accounting affect the speed or performance of any integrated system. However, I do think when you are bringing very old files up to date the updates are slow but that'll be a rare occurrence and not reflective of the day-to-day usage.

Incentivized

Sage Accounting are easy to contact and have knowledgeable and helpful staff. Whenever I've encountered a problem I've always been able to get assistance and guidance and it feels like the person at the end of the phone/screen knows the product well.

Staff are always friendly, and patient, always work at a speed that suits you. You are never rushed, and In only a short time they seem to be able to help you make great strides. It has been a pleasure not a chore, learning how SAGE Accounting works and benefits me and the company.

Plenty of free online training is supplied by Sage if required. Sage University (which is free to access) offers a wealth of information and training. It also enables you to become more proficient in lots of categories and gives you annual certification. Help with CPD and make sure everyone is up to speed.

I've done this a few times now, both manually and also by uploading by way of the implementation process. Sometimes it went smoothly (with a very basic set of books), but often the upload creates a mess with the accounts and it takes a lot of time to sort it out

Incentivized

DATIS e3 is a different kind of system that may not be the solution for someone who is looking for an “off the shelf” solution. It is flexible and customizable to meet the specific needs of your organization. It is robust and thorough. They could benefit from spending money on a mobile solution.

Incentivized

Sage is a more thorough, complete, and professional system than the other accounting systems I have use. They have more reliable and robust reporting. They also work better with multiple users and making sure that each user has appropriate user access. Finally, Sage works better with multiple entity company structures and combined reporting for those entities.

Incentivized

You can use Sage in your company for various aspects/positions such as bookkeepers, invoicing clerks, accountant, purchasing etc. Everyone can have their own user login and permissions can be set that specific people can do specific jobs without being able to access other peoples progress or accounts of the company.

Incentivized

• DATIS has allowed us to spend less time on payroll processing and accounting of payroll
• Better grant management allowing us to minimize the risk of unclaimed revenue

Incentivized

• Sage has allowed us to be self-supporting and to perform full-cycle accounting up to the point of handing off to the accountant at year-end.
• We are self-sustaining and do not need outside accounting assistance, such as an independent bookkeeper.
• Sage has allowed us to save money at year's end, as we can do all the prep internally up until the handoff to the accountant, minimizing the hours he has to spend on our file.

Incentivized