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Sagelink

Last updated : 14/04/2015

How to synchronise customer orders, credit notes, new accounts and invoice information from Workbooks directly into Sage Line 50, Sage Line 100 and Sage Line 200 accounting packages using Sagelink.

If you want to synchronise customer orders, credit notes, new accounts and invoice information from Workbooks directly into Sage Line 50, Sage Line 100 and Sage Line 200 accounting packages you can do so using Sagelink.

This will minimises the risk of manual error or duplication of effort and ensures consistency of data across the business. What’s more, with financial transaction data available for all departments to see, your employees are better equipped to provide the best possible customer service.

For instance, your finance team will know not to chase for payments if the customer is having a support issue, and the sales team can make sure they don’t sell more to customers that are not good at paying.

To help you decide if Sagelink is right for you, take a look through our Frequently Asked Questions below.  (Click on the question to link to the associated answer.)

  1. What is Sagelink?
  2. Which versions of Sage are supported?
  3. Which records are synchronised between Workbooks and Sage?
  4. How much does Sagelink cost?
  5. How does Sagelink work?
  6. How does the mapping process work?
  7. Can I avoid having to manually map every account?
  8. What happens if I create an Invoice in Workbooks and there isn’t a corresponding account in Sage?
  9. How do I map Nominal Codes between Workbooks and Sage?
  10. How do I map VAT codes?
  11. Can I bring over detailed Line Item information?
  12. How does Sagelink know which Invoices to extract from Workbooks and push into Sage?
  13. Does Sagelink push back payment status for an Invoice from Sage into Workbooks?
  14. Should I do my credit control in Workbooks or Sage?
  15. If I’m creating Invoices in Workbooks and synchronising the data into Sage, can I reproduce the Invoices in Sage if my client wants a copy?
  16. How do Sagelink and Workbooks handle multiple currencies?
  17. How often would I run Sagelink?
  18. We apply a discount to our Invoices.  How does Sagelink manage this?
  19. What are the main differences between an integration into Sage Line 50 and Sage Line 200?

What is Sagelink?

Sagelink is a software product that has been developed by Eiger Group, a leading supplier of accounting, CRM and e-business solutions. Sagelink enables data to be synchronised between Workbooks CRM and Sage accounting software. Most commonly it pushes invoice records from Workbooks into Sage accounting systems.
 
It is a piece of Windows software which will sit on a PC and connects to both Workbooks and your installation of Sage.
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Which versions of Sage are supported?

Sage Line 50 and Sage Line 200.

Which records are synchronised between Workbooks and Sage?

The standard version of Sagelink can extract invoice records from Workbooks and Post those records into Sage. Once a payment has been processed by your accounts department, Sagelink is also able to update the invoice records in Workbooks with how much cash has been paid against that invoice.
 
Sagelink can also be tailored to work in other environments. We have Workbooks customers who are pushing historic invoice data from Sage into Workbooks, giving them visibility from within their Workbooks CRM system of all the invoices that have been raised and processed in Sage.

It is also possible to push Order records from Workbooks into Sage, enabling you to use Sage for stock management. If you have similar requirements, please contact either Workbooks or Eiger Group for additional information.

How much does Sagelink Cost?

The standard implement of SageLink costs £1,000 for the core license, plus £350 per annum for support.  In addition Sagelink would typically take 1 day of consultancy effort to setup.  The standard implementation will push invoices from Workbooks to Sage and maintain the amount paid fields.
 
If you want a tailored version of Sagelink you will need to contact either Workbooks or Eiger Group for a quotation. 
 
Sagelink licenses and support are purchased directly from Eiger Group.
 
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How does Sagelink work?

Sagelink is a piece of Windows software and must be installed on the same PC as your Sage accounting package.  On the command of the user, the Sagelink software connects to Workbooks CRM via the Workbooks API and downloads all the invoices that have been generated by Workbooks which have not previously been synchronised into Sage. 
 
These renew invoices are placed into a quarantine area, outside Sage, so that the contents of the invoices can be validated and checked prior to being posted into Sage.

The software maps the financial details of these transactions against the correct Sage nominal accounts (i.e. the sales ledger & nominal ledgers are updated) and Sagelink performs validation checks to ensure it has all the correct information required by Sage.

Once the batch is ready, the user confirms that the batch is okay to post and it is posted into Sage. This two step process allows the accounts team to validate that the correct data is being posted.

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How does the mapping process work?

In order for invoice information to be correctly posted into Sage, Sagelink needs to know how to map the data, such as:
  • Which customer account code to use.
  • Which nominal codes to use.
  • Which VAT rates apply.
Sagelink builds a mapping table between values in Workbooks and Sage.  Let’s work through an example to demonstrate how this works. The unique identifier in Workbooks for an Organisation is a number, typically in the format ORG-1000. In Sage, the Account number would typically be 4 letters followed by a number, such as ACME01.

Let’s assume that ORG-1000 (called Acme Supplies Limited) in Workbooks corresponds to ACME01 in Sage. The first time Sagelink is run, it will pull data related to an invoice for ORG-1000, however, it will not know which Sage Account to map the record to. It will therefore prompt the user to select the right account (ACME01) and it will build the map. Sagelink will then remember that mapping going forwards.
 

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Can I avoid having to manually map every account? 

Yes. If you create a custom field in Workbooks to store the Sage Account code, SageLink can use this information to automatically link the two records. You can export the Sage Account codes from Sage and import these into Workbooks when you first setup the system.
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What happens if I create an Invoice in Workbooks and there isn’t a corresponding account in Sage?

When you run SageLink it will identify that the customer isn’t mapped to a Sage Account Code. At this point you have the option to allow SageLink to automatically create a new Account in Sage.
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How do I map Nominal Codes between Workbooks and Sage?

Sagelink provides several ways to map nominal codes. 
  • Nominal Codes on Invoice Line Items in Workbooks
    If you split your revenues by product type, then the most common approach is to create a custom field (a pick-list) on the invoice line item to store the nominal code information.

    Sagelink can be configured to automatically map the nominal code data in Workbooks and post the Invoice information into the right place in Sage. 

    What’s more, if you use the Workbooks product book, it is possible to store the nominal code information against a product record in Workbooks. By doing so, the nominal code will be  automatically populated onto the Invoice line item, rather than being selected manually.  
     

  • Nominal Codes on Invoice Headers in Workbooks
    If you track revenues by regions or sales team, you could create a Nominal Code custom field (a pick-list) on the Invoice Header in Workbooks. Sagelink can then use this information to post the invoice to the correct accounts in Sage.

    It is also possible to auto-populate the Nominal Code data on the invoice header from other records in Workbooks, such as the Organisation record, to streamline this process.
     

  • Auto-Mapping in Sagelink 
    If you don’t wish to manage your nominal code data in Workbooks, you can use the Auto-mapping features of Sagelink. Every time you synchronise an invoice from Workbooks to Sage, it will prompt the user to select the right nominal code fields and will learn the mapping.
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How do I map VAT codes?

The same principles apply as for nominal codes. The most common approach is to use the auto-mapping feature as there is only a small number of VAT codes.
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Can I bring over detailed line item information or just high level data? 

The SageLink process can import both the net sales value and VAT associated with each line item on an invoice and post it to the appropriate Sage account(s) on a line by line basis.  The written detail assigned to each line item in the Sage nominal account is the customer invoice name.

This will be repeated for each line item on the invoice, regardless of the product description in Workbooks. It is the nominal ledger mapping that enables each Workbooks line item to be posted into the correct nominal category.

Invoice analysis in Workbooks is strong, however, so you can easily report on sales by different product, category, salesperson, territory or accounting period from within Workbooks. 

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How does Sagelink know which Invoices to extract from Workbooks and push into Sage?

Sagelink provides three controls:
 
  • Date Control
    You can configure Sagelink to only extract invoices after a certain date. This can be useful if you have imported historic invoice information into Workbooks.
  • Synchronised Flag
    Once an invoice has been exported to SageLink and posted to Sage, Sagelink marks the invoice in Workbooks by  ticking the Synchronised field on the invoice. Once this field has been ticked Sagelink ignores the invoice on the next run.
  • Document Status
    Lastly Sagelink only extracts POSTED invoices in Workbooks whilst all DRAFT documents are ignored.
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Does Sagelink push back payment status for an Invoice from Sage into Workbooks?

Yes. Sagelink will update a field in Workbooks called Amount Paid on the invoice record with the funds allocated to that invoice in Sage.  
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Should I do my credit control in Workbooks or Sage?

You could do credit control in either system depending on your requirements. Some of our customers prefer to use Sage’s credit control features, while others prefer the features in Workbooks.  
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If I am creating Invoices in Workbooks and synchronising the data into Sage, can I reproduce the invoices in Sage if my client wants a copy?

No. We would recommend you only create invoices in one application, not two. Therefore, if you create invoices in Workbooks, you must reproduce the Invoice in Workbooks.
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How do Sagelink and Workbooks handle multiple currencies?

Workbooks has full multi-currency support, enabling you to invoice the same client in different currencies. However, Sage does not support this approach.

n Sage you need a different Customer Account for each currency. Sagelink tracks the combination of Account and Currency and won’t let you post multiple currencies to the same account. Sagelink will prompt you to select a different Sage Customer Account or to create a Customer Account in Sage for the subsequent currency.

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How often would I run Sagelink?

You can run Sagelink as often as you like.  Typically customers would run it once a day or once a week, depending on their invoice volumes and processes.  
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We apply a discount to our invoices. How does Sagelink manage this?

Sagelink handles discounts on line items, in the same way as Workbooks.  Therefore invoice items with discounts will be carried over to Sage.
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What are the main differences between an integration into Sage Line 50 and Sage Line 200?

The backend of Sagelink is different because different methods are used to connect to different versions of Sage. However, from a user perspective Sagelink is the same for both versions.
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