Please correct me if I'm wrong, but this implies that current Abra Suite users will not be able to complete their year end process next year (2020).

No updated tax reports, no ability to file W2 or ACA forms and no help from Sage, even though they've paid their maintenance.  Will Sage prorate the support for those that will not be migrating to HRMS?  With the 20% price increase for both the software and support, many are looking to alternative solutions that are more cost efficient.

Anyone else have the same interpretation?  Does Sage have an answer for those customers that are asking?

I have no idea either.  We are looking at alternatives also - and we've been on the product for more than 20 years!  We have tried the SQL version (which is just FoxPro hooked into a SQL Server database) and it's bad - really bad!  Nothing but problems for out payroll department.  Support was unable to help also - so we reverted back to 9.2 (at least it was a known problem set we could work around).

Yikes, that sounds painful.  What version of the SQL version did you try?  Did you switch (and then switch back to 9.2 occur within the last three years?

Correction: Did your switch to HRMS (and then your switch back to 9.2) occur within the last three years?

To answer quickly...yes within the last 3 years.

We followed the classic FoxPro track 7.x, 8.x, 9.x of Sage Abra Suite and have the Payroll and HR module.  We've built all kinds of custom front end code to import timesheets, gather GL data from Sage to drive our Accounting profit and loss system, etc, etc, etc.  It's 20+ years of stuff.  Not a big deal to convert all that to work with SQL, so we plunged forward with a migration. 

It was a disaster - HRMS is 2 separate modules.  HR and Payroll are technically separate (not integrated like in Sage Abra Suite).  So if you update an employee in HR, you have to run a Sync command to update the Payroll module.  If you forget, you could pay people wrong.  The GL side of payroll was a mess too.

It was no fun for anyone!  Sage Support was bad too!

Interesting!  We are aware of the HR and Payroll databases being separate, but had not heard about the Sync command to update the Payroll module.  I would think there would be a SQL trigger or some process in HRMS to make that update happen without manual commands.  

May I ask what you are going to do in 2020 since Sage is sun-setting Suite?  We are currently in progress to migrate to HRMS from Suite 9.2.

Good question....the answer at this time....I don't know!  Weighing all the options.

Sage could make this process really easy.  There have been no new features to Abra Suite 9.x for years.  ACA was the last thing and it was so screwed up and they were so late to add the feature, we wrote the code in-house pulling all the data from Abra.  We were afraid we'd miss the filing deadline.

Quarterly Updates - which are just payroll tax updates - is really all we're getting from Sage.  Truthfully, that's all I want.  I'd happily continue paying for that.

There is no reason they can't do that - they have to do it for Sage HRMS Payroll, so just keep doing it for us too.  I'll understand.  I have all the legacy FoxPro tools to handle database corruption, truncation, etc, etc, etc.  I know the problem set.  I'd live with it.  It works for us.

I was thinking....just thinking....I would just update the tax tables myself by creating an HRMS to 9.x quarter tax code mapping and just do it all myself.  Not that hard.  If I had extra time, I'd write the code and give it away to the community.  There's got to be hundreds of little shops using the 9.x product - and all they want is the multi-state and federal tax updates each quarter.

If you're current on support (which we are) - Abra shouldn't care what product you're on!  You'd just have to know you won't get support.

Not holding my breath on Abra helping us out and back peddling.

We are committed to providing our customers with the highest quality products.  Retiring the Sage Abra Suite product and ending the access to the Sage Support Center will be effective as of December 28, 2020.  Our June notice provided customers with 18 months’ notice to allow planning for a shift to Sage HRMS or Sage People. 

This decision enables us to focus our time and resources differently to ensure we continue to deliver market leading solutions for our customers.  We value your business and your feedback; @Jameson55, @zburns, @GurnBlanston709 we will be reaching out soon to further understand your experience and offer any guidance we can to help you through the retirement of Sage Abra Suite.

The product delivered in September 2020 to customers current on support will have the tax updates and legislative requirements up to Q3 2020 with no additional product/tax update in December 2020 (Q4).

Please contact either your Sage business partner or Sage account manager for additional information tailored to your organization’s needs.  We encourage our Sage Abra Suite customers to plan early; we are available to go over your options and help facilitate your transition.  Each organization will have unique needs and may include an in depth review of the state of the Abra system (data accumulation, historical access, supported platforms for a migration to another Sage product such as Sage HRMS). In addition, timing will be a factor with a review of your Sage Business Care plan including prorate consideration on renewal notices.

Not sure a mapping would work since in HRMS whenever the release notes say "(Federal/State) withholding tables and instructions have been updated" it is not an update to the payroll database but actually an update to the .dll's in the UT program folder. For Abra, if all of this is in FoxPro you could research federal and or state publications for more details to figure out what updates you need to make to the taxes. You could address changes to the W2 and ACA forms by creating a custom crystal report. 

I am sorry to hear about your experience with Sage HRMS Payroll. Sage could have provided more guidance specifically with documentation about what is different between the two payroll systems, several material things like: HRMS Payroll using Aatrix for tax filing, job codes being in HR only, employee earnings distributions requiring the same earnings codes on the time sheet each payroll, gl segment overrides, accruals for hours worked being in the payroll database etc. 

We have had success overcoming these challenges with our clients mostly by integrating Sage Time and Attendance. It's secondary job code feature and earnings distribution is a lot closer to what is in Abra. It also helps to work with a business partners who deals with Sage 300. Sage HRMS Payroll is in substance Abra HR converted to sql with Sage 300's payroll, bank and gl modules accessible in the same interface. 

I don't disagree that the Open Payroll Process can be a mess and that there should be a way to automate it. Sage has made attempts to automate this using Windows Task Scheduler, but I have been told they have ran into issues when there is more than one Employee Configuration setup. Perhaps this may be a good place to put your in house development efforts, replacing the Open Payroll Process with sql mapping from SageHRMS_Live to the payroll database. Unfortunately, for everybody else this ends up being something that is really just for you guys since it is specific to your earnings codes, deduction codes etc. 

Anyone still monitoring this thread?

We still have an archival copy of the software and information within that we access from time to time. Since this is no longer available, anyone know how to change the password if forgotten, even after 4 years of retirement?

Thank you