[email protected]  is a good resource for your Sage 100 MFG questions - he works almost exclusively with MFG in the Sage 100 world and is a "go to" resource for many with MFG questions. He has created an add-on or two that work with Job Ops which is a beefy integration meant to extend Sage 100 MFG. He is not 100% impartial due to this but is a great resource if staying Sage 100 ERP is in the cards.

What are you looking to do that you are being blocked from doing by Sage's providex database?

For Sage 500 Doug Hart/RKL are likely your best resource as they've doubled down on that product line in terms of acquisitions/support/etc.

[email protected]  is a good resource for your Sage 100 MFG questions - he works almost exclusively with MFG in the Sage 100 world and is a "go to" resource for many with MFG questions. He has created an add-on or two that work with Job Ops which is a beefy integration meant to extend Sage 100 MFG. He is not 100% impartial due to this but is a great resource if staying Sage 100 ERP is in the cards.

What are you looking to do that you are being blocked from doing by Sage's providex database?

For Sage 500 Doug Hart/RKL are likely your best resource as they've doubled down on that product line in terms of acquisitions/support/etc.

Paula

Sorry for my very 'succinct' replies yesterday; I was in the middle of a project but wanted to provide you with some quick information.

Linda and Wayne both make valid points. Migrating from one ERP system to another always comes with some functional trade-offs. The users will always find some features that they 'loved' in the old system which are not available in the new system. And there is always a significant time commitment on both the internal project manager and the users to ensure that the proper data is migrated, that the new system addresses the perceived weaknesses from the old, that users are well trained before 'go-live', etc. So migrating to a new system is something that requires you to go in with reasonable expectations.

To provide some perspective -- I cut my teeth on Sage 100 (back when it was called MAS90/MAS200) as an end user for a few years before starting my consulting career with it in 2000. Around 2005 I started transitioning to MAS 500 (now Sage 500) and have worked almost exclusively with 500 for nearly a decade.

Many clients frowned upon the proprietary PVX database offered with Sage 100, but most of the time I found those people were in IT roles and the thought of maintaining a foreign database was a little intimidating. I'm not saying you fit that mold, I'm simply sharing what my experience has been. Having said that, I think there have been somewhere north of 80,000 installs of MAS90-Sage 100 over the years, so there is a fairly significant user base out there today. The benefit of PVX is that it does not typically require a dedicated database administrator, which is more prevalent in shops running SQL-based applications.

I think the more crucial issues at hand, rather than the underlying DB platform, are which system provides the best match to your business needs and who can you rely on to guide you through the implementation and provide reliable support down the road. At the end of the day you want to find a competent VAR who will be a true business partner, not just another vendor, who takes the time to learn your business needs first, and can then recommend the best system for your  specific long-term needs, and commit an internal resource to be the project manager (during implementation) and then Subject Matter Expert (for in-house on-going support after implementation).

Wayne:

Thanks for the kind words re: RKL!

Paula,

We are also a Sage 100 ERP Partner and represent an add-on for this product JobOps as well. We could talk about both Sage 100 and Sage 500. http://www.jobops.com/

We are still actively selling and support Sage 500. It is still a viable solution. We just want to make sure we get all of our disclaimers on the table about where the product is currently positioned in the Sage portfolio. The blog post that Doug provided you and the great response from Linda above should give you that story.