Consulting Services, Technology Services • Published 1/24/2020 Sage Intacct Tips & Tricks: What’s New with 2019 Release 4?

In late 2019, Sage Intacct released the 4^th set of new features in 2019. With this update, Sage Intacct continues to focus on improving the way you work within the system, so you and your organization can thrive. Below are a few of our favorite items from this release.

Accounts Payable – Pay Bills Replaces Select to Pay Option

Pay Bills is now the official bill payment task in Sage Intacct. With the 2019 R4 release, the Select to Pay menu option is no longer available within Sage Intacct’s Accounts Payable module. Aside from the new look, the Pay Bills window offers additional features such as an enhanced filtering option for bills, including creating and saving customized filters, a more intuitive credit application, and an outbox that acts as a holding area for bills you’ve selected, but aren’t quite ready to pay.

Applying filters and viewing fewer bills means less loading time. On the Pay Bills page, you can personalize the number of bills you see before moving to the next page under More actions > Table size. We recommend that you limit the rows to 20-50 for this particular window. Alternatively, you can set the number of rows for all tables across your company in your preferences.

Projects – Tasks Are Now a Dimension!

One of the main highlights in the R4 release is the new Task dimension, which simplifies the process of capturing project task data wherever you enter transactions. Prior to this release, the only task information you could capture (without additional configuration and dedication of the class dimension) was task hours from timesheets. For other transactions, such as expenses, purchases, and bills, you were limited to the selection of a project only.

Enabling the Task dimension adds a task dimension field to transaction screens throughout Sage Intacct in order for you to select both a project and a specific task within that project as part of your normal data-entry process. You'll reap the benefits later when it comes time to report on projects at a more granular, task level.

The Task dimension isn't turned on by default, but is an optional configuration available to you. It is important to note that the new Task dimension does not replace your existing functionality or configuration. If you are already successfully utilizing the Class dimension linked to project tasks and this configuration is working for your organization, you can continue to use the Class dimension exactly the same way without making any changes. However, if you are interested in changing the Task field to a dimension, you will gain additional reporting capabilities as well as the ability to create Task dimension groups. There are multiple configurations and workflow changes to consider when making such a large configuration change. Contact us for insight on how changing your current configuration related to the Tasks field could impact your environment.

Reporting and Insights – ICRW Enhancements

Enhancements were also added to the Interactive Custom Report Writer (ICRW), such as an expanded report library and an object glossary, to streamline the interactive custom reporting experience and provide clarity around reporting data objects.

The expanded report library contains many new out-of-the-box reports across all application areas, but keep in mind that the actual number of reports added in the library will vary based on your subscribed application areas. These reports can be used as-is or as a starting point for your own interactive reporting and data analysis. If you are currently subscribed to ICRW and want to determine how these additional reports can help you get the data you need, go to Reports > All > Interactive custom reports and click Report library!

Other ICRW enhancements encompassed in this release include:

• Descriptive labels have been added to each of the reporting areas in Sage Intacct to help you more easily identify which object holds the data you need.
• An object glossary has been added and contains the reporting area objects and their descriptions.
• Pivot table time hierarchies were added to additional reporting areas.
• Drill-down capabilities were added to the AP Transactions, AR Transactions, and Timesheets reporting areas.
• A new field titled “Statistical” added to the GL Detail reporting area allowing for a prompt to select either financial or statistical report data.

Cash Management – Upcoming Release Note!

It is also important to mention that a change coming in the 2020 R2 release will impact your bank reconciliation processes. Sage Intacct will be retiring the old Bank Reconciliation task. You should begin using the new Bank Reconciliation task for a friendlier, more flexible, and faster way to reconcile your bank accounts. Go to Cash Management  >  All  >  Reconciliation  >  Bank - New! to get familiar with it now.

Let us know if you have questions about these new features or any other features included in the 2019 Q4 release so you can incorporate them into your daily processes and continue to improve your efficiencies and workflows.