Centage Corporation Achieves Sage Software Gold Development Partner Status

Centage Corporation, a leader in Budgeting, Forecasting and Reporting solutions for the Small to Mid-Sized Business market, today announced that it has achieved Sage Software Development Partner Gold Tier status. Gold Tier status is a new Sage Developer certification program that is aimed at giving Sage customers and business partners a level of consistency, predictability and confidence while implementing products that integrate with Sage's ERP systems.

To achieve this strategic tier, Centage customers and business partners had to complete a survey to ensure that Centage's products and support maintain a high level of customer satisfaction.

Centage's flagship product, Budget Maestro, integrates budgeting, forecasting and reporting functionality into a single solution. Budget Maestro features built-in financial and business logic that frees companies from budgeting with spreadsheets, allowing users to produce accurate budgets and what-if scenarios without risking complex formula errors and bad workbook links. Users can generate integrated income statements, balance sheets and cash flow reports, as well as numerous analytical and managerial reports, all in real-time.

Link Maestro (R) provides direct connectivity to Sage MAS of 90/200/500 of ERP and Sage Accpac ERP systems to automate the data transfer process and improve the accuracy of data analysis for actual vs. budget variance reporting.

“This achievement marks an important strategic initiative with Sage and affirms our commitment to providing exceptional financial management solutions to Sage customers and partners,” said Kamran Sassoon, president and CEO of Centage Corporation.

About Centage

Centage Corporation offers Business Performance Management (BPM) solutions that give small to mid-sized businesses the tools to make better financial decisions by improving their planning, budgeting, forecasting, consolidation and reporting capabilities. Since 1996, thousands of licenses of Centage's Budget Maestro software have been sold worldwide. The scalable solution is used by companies in all industries. Budget Maestro and Link Maestro are available directly from Centage and its authorized resellers. Sage resellers who wish to join the Centage Partner Program can contact Centage

HP, NetSuite Reach Channel Deal

Hewlett-Packard will resell NetSuite's on-demand ERP (enterprise resource planning) software through its 15,000-strong channel of value-added resellers, initially in the U.S., the companies announced jointly on Tuesday.

HP and NetSuite previously linked up in 2003, when NetSuite was called NetLedger.

“It was more of an alliance back then,” said Mini Peiris, vice president of product marketing at NetSuite. “This one's secured by a contract, and the initial time we tried this we were a little bit ahead of the curve. Cloud computing was still new… we're in a very different climate today.”

Peiris declined to reveal how much of a cut HP's channel partners will receive on software sales. They will also be able to make money by offering “value-added management and implementation services” for NetSuite, according to the announcement. In addition, NetSuite is providing HP partners with a training resource portal and a toll-free sales support hotline.

The channel agreement applies only to the U.S for now. “We want get some success stories under our belt and see where that takes us,” Peiris said.

It also remains to be seen where HP goes from here.

Janet Pretti, vice president of channel marketing at HP, said the deal with NetSuite is not exclusive.

But Pretti declined to discuss what other agreements might be down the road with companies like SAP. That long-time HP ally is slowly rolling out its on-demand Business ByDesign ERP offering, which competes with NetSuite.

Meanwhile, NetSuite picked the right partner in HP, said Ray Wang, an analyst with Forrester Research. “The HP channel base is a good one. It has true SMB users? it's more likely that they're going to use something like NetSuite.”

Customers may also be more inclined to buy a SaaS product if they can do so through a familiar face like their HP provider, he suggested: “I think for a lot of people, they want to deal with something have existing relationship with.”

ERP rates for some gantries lowered during December school holiday

The Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) rates at some gantries will be reduced by between 50 cents and S$1.00 during the December school holiday.

Rates at the Central Expressway (CTE), Pan-Island Expressway (PIE), Shenton Way, Bendemeer, Thomson and Lor 6 Toa Payoh gantries will be cut from Saturday, November 15 till December 31.

The ERP rates will revert to the pre-school holiday rates from 2 January 2009.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said the next ERP rate review will be in February, which is the first quarterly review for 2009.

Automotive press tools maker goes for CpiO configured Sage ERP

Automotive punches and dies manufacturer AW Precision says it expects to achieve an estimated saving of £10,000 a year in labour costs when it goes live with £25,000 worth of Sage ERP from specialist implementer CPiO.

The company, which employs 110 at its UK site in Rugby, was finding accurate stock control and word processed invoicing a growing challenge, as customer demand for both printed and online brochures and PDF pricing lists grew.

Sage 200 will provide a range of management reports, while also integrating seamlessly with Microsoft Excel, according to AW Precision's IT manager Andy Whitworth.

“We expect to see a return on our investment within a couple of years and will immediately benefit from staff having a greater amount of time to spend working on more productive areas of the business,” says Whitworth.

“Initially, there will be 35 users on the system, but we do expect this to increase. CPiO will tailor the system to our growth ambitions by incorporating the function to expand the solution,” he continues.

“CPiO understands what is best for our business. We are a small company, so it is key to us that we work with a supplier who can support us. This is a large investment but with a huge payback, which ultimately will enable us to deliver our customers a better service,” adds Whitworth.

Data acquisition specialist logs on to Infor Syteline ERP

Data acquisition and control products manufacturer Campbell Scientific says it has selected Infor ERP SyteLine to drive efficiencies and hone its competitive advantage.

The system, which replaces a decade old legacy suite, is intended initially for 25 users at its European HQ, and will integrate production, purchasing, sales, accounting, contract management, warehousing and service functions.

Says Mark Pimperton, IT manager and ERP project manager at Campbell Scientific: “Throughout the selection process, Infor consistently demonstrated a keenness and ability to understand our business processes and requirements for an ERP system. Infor's sales team is steeped in industry expertise, thorough and professional throughout.”

Some ERP rates to be cut

ELECTRONIC Road Pricing (ERP) rates will go down at some gantries from Saturday, with the start of the school holidays.

Charges will be lowered by 50 cents to $1 at 20 gantries until Dec 31, following a review by the Land Transport Authority in anticipation of lighter traffic volumes.

The following gantries, now charging 50 cents to $1 at the times shown below, will stop charging:

Central Expressway (CTE), the gantry north of Braddell Road from 10am to 11am.

North-bound CTE before Pan-Island Expressway (PIE) from 8pm to 10.30pm.

Bendemeer Road from 7.30am to 8am, and 9am to 9.30am.

Thomson Road from 9am to 9.30am.

Lorong 6 Toa Payoh from 8am to 8.30am.

CTE, the gantry north of Braddell Road, from 7.30am to 8am and from 8.30am to 9am.

CTE, the three gantries south of Braddell Road, from 7.30am to 8am.

PIE at Kallang Bahru, from 8.30am to 9am.

PIE, the slip road onto the CTE, from 7.30am to 9am.

The Shenton Way-Chinatown cordon on weekdays, from 6pm to 7pm.

The tolls will revert to pre-school holiday rates from Jan 2.

Rates at all other gantries remain unchanged. The next review of ERP rates will take place next February.

ERP software for manufacturers

LAWSON Software has announced its manufacturing-centric enterprise resource planning (ERP) software package to help address manufacturers' specific business needs.
The Lawson QuickStep Manufacturing software can be used to manage a diverse range of products, supports a variety of product delivery and supply methods, and includes visibility across global supply chains.
According to the developers, the application package will help reduce the time, cost and risks by pre-configuring the majority of manufacturing business processes within the system.
The software is suited for process, discrete and mixed-mode manufacturers who engage in custom orders or mass production. Installation time is 50% shorter than typical ERP systems.
The suite can be used to aggregate and enhance the visibility of organisation-wide production data, manage complex and expanding product lines, and provide material flow and inventory reduction capabilities.