Paperless Office – The Underdog of Modules
Mountains of printed journals, rows of coveted file cabinets, and endless time spent looking for a document you printed several months ago…sound familiar? These are woes that can easily be put behind you by implementing one simple tool in Sage 100 – the Paperless Office module. I know that there are several folks out there that have already gone paperless, but there are still so many that have NOT! For several years now, Sage has included Paperless Office as a standard module in the Sage 100 core product. Let’s take a look at the key features this valuable module has to offer.
Journals and Registers
Each time end-users update a journal or register in Sage 100, Paperless Office will generate a PDF copy of each document and store it for future viewing on the network. Additionally, each document can be previewed in PDF format prior to updating, so users are more comfortable knowing what is about to post. At that point, user can also print to paper, if needed, as well. Configuration of this setting is very user-friendly. You can choose which journals and registers to go paperless with per company, AND they can be password-protected.
Reports
This setting is great for all the reports you run on a regular basis. Paperless Office enables users to print both stock reports as well as period-end reports to PDF and for viewing later. Configuration and storage of these documents is similar to the Journal and Registers feature mentioned previously. Users have full control when choosing which reports to go paperless with. They can also be password-protected, as well!
Forms
Whether it be sales orders, purchase orders, or customer statements, Paperless Office gives us the ability to not only store PDF copies of printed forms, but to also electronically deliver them via email! Delivery settings can be set to be unique to each customer, vendor, and employee and preset messages can be created to accompany each delivery. Configuration of the forms feature is very much the same as Journals, Registers and Reports, but you additionally can turn on the email feature in the same menu. The email functionality utilizes the Email settings found in Company Maintenance, so check with your I.T. folks to ensure that area is set correctly. And of course, these documents can also be password-protected too.
Viewing Documents
So, we reviewed how paperless generates and stores various documents without paper, but what about being able to go back and review said items? No worries. Users can access Viewers in the Main folder of the Paperless Office module. There is one for each type of stored document (Journal and Registers, Period End Reports, Stock Reports, and form for Customers, Vendors and Employees). Each viewer enables users to search, sort, view, and print PDF’s, based on their security settings in Sage 100. If documents are password protected via the setups, user will be required to input a password in order to see each entry. Additionally, documents will remain in the directory until otherwise manually purged.
So, if you are NOT currently using Paperless Office, are you out of excuses yet? As technology continues to evolve and change, organizations will continue to look for more ways to be savvy, efficient, and maximize use of time. Paperless Office is a great tool to contribute to that goal – start today!
Written by Cindy Whitlock, ERP Consultant at DSD Business Systems
