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Partner FAQs
Sage Business Management System - "Atlas"

We are excited about the launch of our new business management system (also known as "Atlas") that will integrate our sales, marketing, and support systems with our accounting, reporting, and other back-office systems to provide a common platform across Sage North America. This will allow us to better serve our partners and customers and provide a consistent experience across products, business units, and geographies.

The next milestone of this project will come with the launch of our systems that support the following products. Our internal systems and the Partner and Customer Portals go live on February 28, 2011.

In addition to the new look, feel, and functionality of our Partner and Customer Portals, you will also see changes in forms, processes, and policies. The following FAQs are designed to help our partners with answers to commonly asked questions regarding this project:

Q. Why is the Partner Portal changing?

A. The Partner Portal is changing as a result of our new internal business management system (also known as "Atlas"). Upon completion of this project, partners will have access to their information for all North America product lines from one central location. As a result, this will unify your experience with Sage.

Q. Who does it affect and when is it happening?

A . Eventually, all Sage North America channel partners and customers will be included in the new Sage Portals. This process is occurring across the different product lines at different times. The rollout of our new system for Sage Peachtree, Sage ACT!, Sage DacEasy, and Sage Timeslips are scheduled for February 28, 2011. The new Customer and Partner Portals are also scheduled to go live on February 28.

Q. How will the change in the Partner Portal impact me?

A . Your organization will be assigned a new 10-digit Sage-wide partner ID number. There will also be changes to how you access the knowledgebase and product resources, search for information, and retrieve reports. Some functionality will be new for your organization. For those product lines where a reseller of record relationship is established between the partner organization and customers, partners will have the ability to view customer information  as well as customer activity in reports available on the Reporting Center.

Q. How will I learn to use the new Sage Partner Portal?

A. Training sessions on the new Sage Partner Portal will be available in March.  Recorded sessions will be available in early March following the completion of the live sessions. Additional training will be provided in the future for new users, refresher training for existing users, and to introduce new functionality as it becomes available.

Q. What is happening to the current partner sites?

A. The sites will remain in place with static content from February 28, 2011 through March 18, 2011. On March 18, 2011, old URLs will re-direct to the new portal and the old partner sites will no longer be maintained. Relevant existing content will be available on the new portals and new information will be posted as it becomes available.

Q. What amount of customer data is converting to the new system?

A. Sage will only transition customers who have been active in the last two years for Sage Peachtree, Sage DacEasy, and Sage Timeslips and the last 18 months for Sage ACT! Active is defined as having a transaction with Sage within that defined time period.

Q. What happens to customers who are not transitioned?

A. Sage employees will continue to have access to all customer records that are not transitioned into our new system.

Q. Why is browser support restricted to Internet Explorer for Partner Portal access?

A. Browser support is limited to Internet Explorer as some portal functionality will not be available through other browsers.

Q. How is security to the Sage Partner Portal being managed?

A. Within the Sage Partner Portal there are three levels of security:

• Manager - full access, administrative rights, access to the Reporting Center
• Employee with Buy/Sell - full access, no administrative rights, no access to the Reporting Center
• Employee - full access, no administrative rights, no access to the Reporting Center, must enter customer ID to access customer data (if applicable)

The highest level of security is assigned the role of Manager, and is given administrative rights over all other users and their access of the Sage Partner Portal. Upon go-live, the primary contact for each partner account will be given the role of Manager. Additional access can be granted to partner employees not provided a logon at rollout by the primary contact who is assigned administrative rights. Portal roles and security will be covered in detail during the training in February and March.

Q. What is the difference between a general request and a support request?

A. General requests and support requests will be covered in detail during our Partner Portal training classes in February and March.

• A general request is a non-technical type of inquiry directed to Sage. For example, you might inquire about billing or make a request to change account information. General requests are automatically routed to the appropriate department and function within Sage based on the product line and type of request.
• A support request is a technical inquiry on the product. A support ticket can only be completed if the partner or customer has a valid support plan.

Q. Can I submit a support or general request online?

A. Yes. You will now be able to submit support and general questions through the new Sage Partner Portal or, as always, contact us by phone.

Q. How do I access the Sage knowledgebase?

A. You can still access the Sage knowledgebase online for any of your self -service needs. You will find the link in the new Sage Partner Portal and can learn more about using the Sage knowledgebase during our Partner Portal training in February and March.

Q. Will I be able to manage and register leads?

A . Yes. The new Sage Partner Portal will allow you to enter sales opportunities you are working on. It will also be where Sage generated leads are assigned to partners, if applicable.

Q. Will I still be able to access product resources and price lists?

A . Yes. Product resources for the supported versions of products will be moved to the new Sage Partner Portal along with resources needed to support upgrades from products. Price lists will also be among the resources moving to the new Sage Partner Portal.

Q. Will channel partners be able to order products through the Sage Partner Portal?

A. No. There will be no change in the order submission process for channel partners. Orders from channel partners should continue to be placed on sbdcc.sagesoftware.com; however, beginning in March, your Sage representative will reach out to you to obtain a standard credit card to be used for all order submissions moving forward.  

Q. Will I be able to access tier information?

A. No. Tier information will not be available on the Sage Partner Portal. Please contact your Sage representative for this information. 

For additional information, please contact your Sage representative or send an email to: partner.portal@Sage.com