Connecting to Sage 50

1 Overview

"Can you connect to Sage 50?" is a very common question we are asked by clients when investigating the power of bxp.

The honest answer here is that Sage 50 is a challenge. Not impossible, but a challenge.

How do you make a piece of software installed on your network available to a high availability internet based platform like bxp? Below are a number of options we've explored and are feasible.

Please note:

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2 What is Sage 50

Sage 50 Accounting (US) is a business management software subscription-based product published by Sage Group and sold in the United States [citation needed]. It was previously called Peachtree Accounting (U.S.). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sage_50_Accounting

http://www.sage.com/ca/sage-50-accounting

3 The primary problem - live link

Now here is what needs to happen as proven by a Sage solution supplier

http://www.ex4e.co.uk/

So you want your users to access Sage 50. The challenge here is the big black line around your Sage. This represents your office, your firewall and networking into your server.

What needs to happen is that something is installed inside your office to facilitate being able to get to Sage, as follows.

Now this means something custom installed on your premises which has separate security and maintenance requirements. All n One do not support performing or supporting this connection.

So does Sage provide something like that connector? As of 2015 the answer we have found is currently no.

Sage do sell Sage CRM which you install inside your premises as well. Their online version is Sage 1 but that is not the same as Sage 50, as of 2015 when writing this article.

You can do what we did which is to migrate from Sage to Xero or similar, but that is a big decision.

There is a supplier who does purport to be able to facilitate a connection. exe4 is the name of the company

4 Structured files in and out

There is another far more manual approach which could be considered and that’s manual files in and out.

http://www.davidlowry.co.uk/531/sage-50-accounting-import-csvs/

In his example he provides 9 templates for importing into Sage.

bxp through MetaData and structure custom files can provide data in these formats.

That would allow for data to come from bxp and go into Sage.

All n One are not suppliers of these templates and cannot stand over their validity and / or version matching.

5 Background Research

StackOverflow is a discussion forum for technical teams. On StackOverflow there is a big discussion on the topic of integration with Sage.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/661491/integrating-with-sage-financial-software

And there are more historical changes imply that looking after Sage is quite a challenge

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Programming/Languages/Scripting/PHP/Q_26428308.html

6 Connecting in

6.1 Sage 1 has an API

http://uk.sageone.com/2014/11/05/sage-one-api/

http://uk.sageone.com/become-a-sageone-partner/

6.2 Integration developer

Sage has a program for becoming an integration developer.

http://www.sage.ie/become-a-sage-developer

http://www.sage.ie/become-a-sage-developer/sme-business-software-developer

You've to call to get a quote. The UK seems to be a different set again https://shop.sage.co.uk/developersprogramme.aspx

All n One can investigate this integration for your solution but it is a cost borne by All n One's client

6.3 Coding examples and discussions

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Programming/Languages/Scripting/PHP/Q_21653019.html

https://bytes.com/topic/php/answers/654065-sage-line-50-odbc-connection

http://forums.asp.net/t/1015179.aspx

7 Next Steps

We are happy to explore your needs and have experience from a number of solutions, on premises and software as a service. Give us a shout on +353 1 4294000 or email us at support@bxpsoftware.com to see how we can help you today.