For years, business application software and databases have used the term “open architecture” to describe their compatibility. Businesses no longer have to struggle with software tricks to get integrated reporting—these products must cooperate. To make this process easier, an industry norm called open database connectivity (ODBC) was created.
Sage 100’s Visual Integrator (VI) was built to enable smooth integration between Sage 100 data and other business applications. Visual Integrator can import from (or export to) any ODBC-compatible source without requiring an intermediary data file such as ASCII delimited or Microsoft Excel. If you often do imports from a custom or niche software package, you’ll discover that you can use VI to achieve almost flawless integration.
What Makes VI Unique?
The strength of VI, however, is in its powerful integration commands: with VI, you can schedule jobs to run at predetermined intervals of any duration as well as sync Sage 100 customer master files with a prospect.
With Sage 100’s VI, data can be synced between two file sources and with custom auto runs. Imports can be linked together so that a customer import is followed by an invoice import automatically. You can even tell the program to run a script file automatically after an import is completed successfully. Jobs can also be run by using an external Windows program or script file.
Sage 100 VI Features
- Automatically Perform Subroutines: Run extra commands, scripts, another job, or other functions based on three events: before job start, on job success, or on job failure. Subroutines can also be added before and after each record write and before and after assigning data fields.
- ODBC Connectivity: Link multiple ODBC tables together and point and click to select fields for importing. Visual Integrator then automatically creates the SQL statement for import or export, and Visual Integrator allows editing of the SQL statement for advanced users. A test button gives an instant visual verification of data to be imported.
- Job Exporting and Importing: Data from any Sage 100 ERP file may be exported to ODBC databases or ASCII delimited files, using all the same logic and selection criteria that are available for import jobs. Jobs can be easily imported or exported from one computer to another.
- Validation Logic: Validation logic is integrated into Visual Integrator to ensure the data being imported matches Sage 100 ERP rules. New validations may also be made for customized requirements.
- User-Defined Fields: If you have made user-defined fields in Sage 100 ERP, these fields show up automatically for selection when Visual Integrator works on the entity to which they are attached.
- Passwords: Secure any import or export job with a password to keep your sensitive data safe.
- Run-Time Assignment of Values: If a value needs to be uniquely given each time a job is run, such as today’s date for the invoice date, the job can be set up to prompt the user when the job is run.
- Import Field Conditionally: Conditional importing lets a field be automatically assigned depending on the value of another field. For instance, the sales tax code can be assigned depending on the state field in the customer address.
- Test and Preview Buttons: The Test button allows easy checking of sample data. You also can check a whole file and print or show import log statistics.
Integration is Essential, and We Can Help
If your business systems aren’t as connected as you’d like them to be, we’re here to help! Whether your existing software needs just a few tweaks or you’re in the market for an entirely new ERP like Sage 100, contact us or schedule your free consultation with the experts at ASI today.