Business As Usual
As has been the case since March 23rd, 2020, Qi remains open for business as usual with some of us working from home and some of us working from Buchan House.
As ever, we hope that everyone stays safe and well and can continue to remain as positive as possible during this latest period of restrictions.
Project Delivery and a return to remote delivery
Projects will continue to be delivered on time and on budget as usual. There will be some small changes to project delivery in some instances until the current circuit breaker lockdown ends, in as much as the onsite services we were beginning to deliver in particular circumstances will need to be replaced by remote services which was had become the ‘norm’ over the spring & summer months. Our hardware team continues to come on site respecting Covid-19 HSE directives to install physical hardware.
Remote meetings and online document collaboration
For those of you who have not yet upgraded from Skype to Teams or have never used either we are repeating our fixed price project cost for implementing Teams and a basic SharePoint library with full training for £640 plus VAT.
The ‘edited highlights’ of 2020 to date
Dynamics 365 Business Central
Customers continue to migrate from Sage 50 and Sage 50 Manufacturing to Dynamics 365 Business Central SaaS Cloud ERP to access the vastly improved functionality and truly remote access for staff as the hybrid working model continues. The average project duration is 4 – 6 weeks from project start to Go Live.
MRP for Sage 50 Accounts becomes Cim50
Sage 50 Manufacturing has officially been withdrawn by Sage UK and Cim50 is now the endorsed MRP for Sage 50 accounts users who are either automating operational processes for the first time and use Sage 50 accounts or who wish to remain with Sage 50 for accounts for the time being. A move to Cim50 requires Sage 50 to be accessed via the Sage 50C subscription model. Cim50 will not work with Sage 50C drive and needs to be installed on a server. Qi is an authorised business partner for Cim50
Cim50 for Sage 50c Accounts
Whilst like Sage 50 Manufacturing in many respects it has a host of additional features and is available with Shop Floor Data Collection as a standard optional module. Cim50 has an official roadmap for development and the next feature release will be in March 2021. Contact Qi for more information regarding project costs.
Sage 50 Manufacturing support
Whilst many Sage business partners are withdrawing technical and telephone support for Sage 50 Manufacturing, we are committed to providing our customers support for at least a further 12 months with the caveat that they do not upgrade beyond version 27 of Sage 50 Accounts. We also have some capacity to support businesses that are not currently under contract with a business partner or whose business partner has withdrawn support.
Sage 50 Accounts and Brexit (versions 24 and older)
The implications of Brexit and Sage versioning are still an unknown entity. A move to the subscription model of Sage 50c Accounts will provide peace of mind that if there are any significant new accounting requirements these will be provided in an update. However, our advice for those who are still using a perpetual licence (owned) is to hold off until the facts are to hand, unless there is another pressing reason as to why you need to upgrade your accounts version (like a move to Cim50).
Bar Code Data Collection requirements
Bar Code Data collection is now available as a standard Qi app for use with Dynamics 365 Business Central and is available for job and stock tracking on the shop floor. Its use does not require a full D365BC licence.
The industry wide move to Cloud services, continues
Microsoft have shared with the partner community, their intended roadmap to move all NAV and Dynamics 365 Business Central users to the Cloud in the next 5 years. Therefore, Qi will no longer recommend on premise licensing for new customers and will work with its existing customers on a suitable migration plan in the coming 12 – 18 months.
Qi and Access developments
Whilst we remain committed to supporting our customers who use access based bespoke software, we are reticent to encourage these applications are further developed where information must be written into Sage 50 Accounts. The current technical architecture of Sage 50 and roadmap for suitable versions of Access makes further investment, in our opinion, unwise. Please contact Qi to discuss options which will result in a move away from reliance on Access bespoke software.
QiCover Meetings
For customers who have a QiCover contract on software or hardware a QiCover annual meeting is included as part of the service. Whilst face to face meetings have been very difficult to hold, we continue to deliver these meetings remotely and would ask that any customer who wishes to arrange their meeting get in touch with us. These meetings are a great opportunity for the strategic sharing of ideas and allows Qi to offer you advice and guidance to optimise how you use your network infrastructure to support your business.
Thought for the Day
This year has proved more than ever that the close relationships we have with our customers are truly symbiotic and as a business we are proud and grateful that this is so.