Welcome to Aktion’s Sage Timberline Upgrade Web Cast

Sage Timberline Office Upgrade to 9.5 Best Practices

Technical Presentation

Sage Timberline Office Upgrade

Server Requirements and Recommendations

Server Hardware Requirements

• Processor = Pentium 4, 2GHz or higher. • Recommended = Intel Xeon, 3GHz or higher

• RAM = 2GB or higher.• Recommended = 4GB

• Server grade ECC memory is strongly recommended. The faster the speed of the memory and the server’s FSB (Front Side Bus) the better.

• More server roles will increase the minimum amount of memory.

Server Supported Operating Systems

• Windows Server 2008 32 bit• Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition with

Service Pack 2 32 bit• Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition with

Service Pack 2 32 bit• Windows Small Business Server 2003 with

Service Pack 2 32 bit• Windows 2000 Server with Service Pack 4 32

bit

SAGE Disk Capacity Requirements

• Accounting and Management Products on a server or stand-alone computer: 600 MB available disk space plus 25 MB per accounting and management application

• Accounting and Management Products on a workstation: 295 MB available disk space (This assumes a server hosts accounting and management data.)

• Estimating Products on a server, workstation, or stand-alone computer: 260 MB available disk space

• Residential Management on a server, workstation, or stand-alone computer: 580 MB

• Required third-party components, which Sage Timberline Office installs as necessary during the upgrade: 400 MB

Sage Timberline Office Upgrade

Workstation Requirements and Recommendations

Workstation Hardware Requirements

• Processor = Pentium 4, 2GHz or higher. • RAM = 2GB or higher.• CD-ROM drive• High-quality network interface card• Sound card• SVGA monitor • Printer

Workstation Supported Operating Systems

• Windows 2000 Professional Service Pack 4 32 bit• Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 32 bit• Windows Vista Business or Ultimate with Service

Pack 1 32 bit (SP1 must be installed prior to installing STO 9.5 on Vista.)

Note: 9.5 will be the last version to supportWindows 2000 Server or Workstation

Sage Timberline Office Upgrade

Upgrading your Software

UAC Changes in Timberline 9.5

Due to modifications by Microsoft for 2008 Server and Vista called UAC (User Access Control) relating to the filing system and permissions there are certain modifications that make 9.5 a major upgrade as opposed to a minor maintenance release.

Depending upon the Server and Workstation operating systems being used there may or may not need to be permission modifications made to either the filing system, shares, registry, or some combination of the above.

Please refer to the documentation accompanying your 9.5 CD to understand how this relates to your specific environment. Sage technical support or your Aktion consultant will gladly assist you with any concerns or questions you may have relating to these changes.

Pre-installation Considerations

• Estimating (if used) MUST be uninstalled prior to upgrading Estimating on the Server and Workstations

• Estimating must be removed and installed after accounting• No 64 bit Operating Systems are supported• Database Editor is not supported on Terminal Services• Cypress DocuVault is not supported on Windows Server 2008• Windows Server 2008 or Vista requires Windows Installer 4.5 prior

to installation• When installing on Vista you must elevate your privileges when

prompted• STO 9.5 will be the last release to support the Windows 2000

Operating System

STO Upgrade Migration Path to 9.5:

The following is the appropriate upgrade process dependant upon your current version:

• 9.4.X: Upgrade directly to 9.5.• 8.3.X: Upgrade to 9.4.X then upgrade to 9.5.• 7.5.0–8.2.3: Upgrade to 8.3.X then 9.1.X. Next, upgrade to

9.4.X. Then, upgrade to 9.5.• 7.0.0–7.4.0: Upgrade to 7.5.X then 7.6.X. Next, upgrade to

8.3.X then 9.1.X. Next, upgrade to 9.4.X. Then, upgrade to 9.5.

• 5.4.X or earlier: Contact Sage Support or your Aktion Consultant

Important Post Upgrade Steps for 9.5:

• After upgrading your STO to version 9.5 you must upgrade the data files from the server prior to any workstation attempting to access the data. If you do not, ODBC DSNs will not be created properly and users will receive data access errors. In order to upgrade your data files from the server use either:

• TS Main > Tools > Upgrade files - or –

• Sage Timberline Office > Desktop > Tasks > Common Tasks > Tools > Upgrade files

• Note: For PO, IV, and SM, you MUST open these modules at the server for the first time for proper ODBC DSN creation. Additionally if you use Estimating it is important to upgrade your Accounting data files prior to upgrading your Estimating data for Address Book compatibility.

Applying Updates

At this point in time the most current version of Sage Timberline Office 9.5 is Update 6. It is always important to make sure that you are reading notices regarding available updates for your Sage products as these being installed are vital to insuring the stability and functionality of the product.

Once you have either installed or updated your Sage Timberline to version 9.5, and the data has been converted you will want to download and apply Update 6 to the server and workstations. The update can be obtained from:

http://cdn.updates.timberline.com/SoftwareAlerts/950Update6.exe

STO Upgrade Quick Checklist

• Thoroughly review the Technical System Reference 9.5 and Getting Started 9.5 documents located on your upgrade CD prior to starting the upgrade

• Assure all hardware and operating systems are at or above requirements listed• Make a full back-up of your Timberline folder(s) prior to upgrading• Follow the upgrade path appropriate for your environment• Upgrade data files for all folders• Apply any 3rd party updates that may be necessary• Perform the workstation installations on ALL workstations accessing Timberline• Verify data integrity and upgrade process completed successfully in all applications and

modules• Verify ALL reports are performing properly• Verify 3rd party products are functioning properly• Make a full backup of your Timberline folder(s) after completion of upgrade• Review the new enhancements with your Timberline consultants

3rd Party Product Compatibility

• Timberscan You will need to request the update that is 9.5 compatible.

• Office Connector Office Connector 2.02 with Excel updates is 9.5 compatible .

• BuilderMT Version 4.6.3.14 and higher are now 9.5 compatible.

• My Assistant My Assistant version 3.2 is now 9.5 compatible.• Piracle All products are 9.5 compatible• DM Document Management is 9.5 compatible.

This list is a demonstration of the many third party vendor products that are 9.5 compatible already. Vendors of other third party products also have 9.5 compatible offerings in development and quality control testing prior to their release. If you have a third party product not listed above please let us know and we will work with the vendor to provide you with a status update as it becomes available.

Sage Timberline Office Upgrade

Software Enhancements

Security – Desktop only

Security Administration

Security Settings

User Setup

Role Setup

Security Permissions - Tasks

Security Permissions - Company

Security Permissions - Files

Security Permissions - Records

PJ – Field Reports

PJ Field Reports – (Cont’d)

PJ – Field Reports (Cont’d)

PM – Archive Leases

PM – Archive Leases (Cont’d)

PM – Archive Leases (Cont’d)

Additional Items

• Audit Setup Activity – Instead of a journal that prints you’ll now go to a Log Viewer.

• System Log – Moved from Help menu to Tools menu.• File Locations – May need to be modified (depending

on file structure).• PR Tax File Location – may need to be modified.• Data Folder Settings – now “Company Settings”.• Desktop – custom configurations need to be

reselected.

Additional Items – (Cont’d)

• ODBC Changes – due to new security.• PJ – If you use MS Office 2003 you need to have

Service Pack 3 (or later) installed to use Correspondence Log features. There is also an MS KB update that must be installed.

• DM – Enhanced Security & additional classification fields are available.

• Paper Sizes – You can now access larger paper sizes (36” x 48”).

Additional Items (Cont’d)

• Custom Reports – May need to be upgraded.• Crystal V11 – NOT required for Timberline V9.5.

Crystal V10 is compatible. However, dynamic ranges only available if print report directly in Crystal 11.

• Report Refresh Release – available for download (TB08-14). If you have any questions or problems with the download, contact us.

STO 9.6.0 Available Soon

• Sage has announced they will begin shipping STO 9.6.0 in March.

• The following enhancements can be found in this release:– 64-Bit Compatibility - Accounting, Estimating, and

Document Management are now compatible with 64-bit operating systems in addition to 32-bit operating systems. Note: Residential Management is not compatible with 64-bit operating systems.

9.6 Enhancements Cont’d

– New Fields for General Ledger Reports and Financial Statements - The Activity Balance and Debit Activity for both accrual and cash for the previous 11 years are now available fields for reports and financial statements.

– Move General Ledger Transactions from New to New - You can now move new transaction files to another new transaction file in addition to moving transaction files from current to current, current to history, and history to history.

9.6 Enhancements Cont’d

– New Estimating Features & Integration with PJ• Estimating now supports multiple currencies• Allows you to upgrade individual Estimating files on the

fly• Contains a new copy assembly feature and saves

dimensions when copying assemblies. • The estimate spreadsheet now includes a material

vendor column and automatically displays totals in the status bar. • In addition, you can import estimates into Project

Management Change Requests and you can create PJ RFI’s in Estimating.

9.6 Enhancements Cont’d

– Project Management Wizard to Move Jobs - You can now move Project Management jobs to an archive folder or move archived PJ jobs to a current folder. The Move Jobs feature is securable through the Security Administration tool.

– Custom Report Designs Can Include Ranges - You can now add range values to custom Crystal Report designs that you use in Sage Timberline Office applications. You can select the range values from a database list.

9.6 Enhancements Cont’d

– Address Book Integration with Sage CRM - You can now integrate Address Book with Sage CRM 6.2.

Contact Information

Patty Toth (Professional Services Manager)ptoth@aktion.com517-420-2513

Cameron Sexton Technology Consultantcsexton@aktion.com614-840-9880 ext. 403

Chris Bardy Technology Consultantcbardy@aktion.com248-880-8663

If you do NOT know who your consultant is, please call or email Patty Toth (see above). We STRONGLY recommend you engage us for both your upgrade and “post” upgrade to ensure a smooth transition.

Aktion Hotline800.234.7001