Sage 500 ERP vs. Sage X3

Sage 500 ERP is great for companies with core accounting needs, distributors, and discrete manufacturers. Some areas, such as process manufacturing, would require a companion product from an ISV for the software to be truly functional. Some areas, such as construction or retail apparel, may simply not be well-served.

Incentivized

I wouldn't suggest this ERP for small organizations, especially if there is no IT staff. While they do offer support packages, they can be costly as certain packages limit the number of times you can call in. Hiring an outside consulting firm to support is another route, however that could become costly as well. Medium to large businesses with savvy tech staff would be a good fit for this ERP.

Incentivized

• Sage is the one-stop-shop for all of our needs. We're able to control contracts, subcontracts, and field reports from the program.
• Another strength is the ability to database all the information and export it to excel. This makes data-based investigations a breeze.
• The ability for Timberscan to be imported to Sage is a huge help with invoice management. Prior to this it all had to be done manually and slowed the process to an essential halt as there are thousands of invoices per month.

Incentivized

• Easy to understand software for new users.
• Journal entry and review process is easy.
• Sage is efficient in tracking multi subsidiary transactions.

Incentivized

• The biggest concern/complaint of Sage 500 users is speed. Some of the screen take a while to load.
• The user interface needs some refreshing. Screens need to be updated to take advantage of shortcuts and to be more intuitive.

Incentivized

• Complications in configuration. Had to use a third party vendor to help us customize the system so we could better use it within the organization. This added additional expense
• Some error messages are in French. If you aren't French, or can't speak French, this makes it pretty hard to troubleshoot
• If you want to customize reports, you need to know Crystal Reporting (at least for the version I am using)

Incentivized

It's too pricey for our size of company.

Incentivized

The online training courses are not up to date. We experienced technical issues with two of the classes.

Incentivized

Keep your database and application in different servers.
Install Microsoft Office on your application server so you can use some of the data analysis tools in Sage.

Incentivized

500 seems much smoother at handling some of the basic accounting tasks, for example both issuing and later reconciling checks in Dynamics AX seems a little tedious.

Incentivized

Sage has quite less setup cost and was easy to setup. Sage is capable of managing multi subsidiary transactions. It was easy for our team members to learn and start using. Team leads has some issues while approving invoices initially but it was fine later. Sage is a good option for mid scale manufacturing firms

Incentivized

• Positive: The program allows for a lot of data entry and splitting of information. It has the capability of replacing multiple programs and therefore saving cost.
• Negative: The modules are cumbersome and not user friendly at all. As a result not many user are comfortable using it. This means that the program is not being used to its capacity.
• Negative: Although the program has the capacity to be great, the user interface destroys that potential. Sage needs to seriously work on their program to simplify it. It's as if it still uses Command-line entries from 1995. Needs to be updated ASAP.

Incentivized

• Created efficiencies within the organization.
• Centralized data input and retrieval.
• Can be an expensive undertaking for an SMB.

Incentivized