Are you confused about how you should be reporting in Sage 200 and what reporting tools you should be using?
There are a number of reporting tools that you can use to pull through and analyse the data you need in Sage 200. The trouble is figuring out which one is the best option for you.
The 6 most popular reporting tools used for Sage 200 are:
Let’s take a look at each of these reporting tools, and their pros and cons in a little more detail!
Sage 200 Report Designer
Our first reporting tool is Sage’s own Report Designer. This is how your standard reports are run in Sage at the moment. It’s a great tool for modifying the default reports to how you would like.
Advantages:
- Easy to use (once you know how)
- Able to customise and format to your requirements
- Able to add in criteria to bring through the results you need
- Not only can you amend reports but also layouts!
Disadvantages:
- If you want to analyse trends, this isn’t the tool you need as you are unable to get columnar results (results across columns)
- The format of the actual program isn’t the best – it’s not the most appealing user interface
If you would like to learn more about report designer, take a look at our training courses.
Sage 200 Financial Statements
This feature can be accessed through the Sage menu in the Nominal Ledger. There is no limit to the amount of Profit and Loss or Balance Sheet layouts you can create.
Advantages:
- Building is easy (again, once you know how)
- You are able to customise how they look as they link into Report Designer
- Able to create more than one layout
- Layouts you create can be pushed through to Sage Business Intelligence for further analysis
Disadvantages:
- Although you can customise it in report designer – it can be very difficult and confusing to get your head around
- Has a few limitations with regards to the final end result
We have a guide on how to create Financial Statement Layouts which you can find here.
Sage Business Intelligence
This is another one of Sage’s tools which is its own module in the Sage menu, The data is stored within 13 cubes and there are numerous reports already set up.
Advantages:
- Able to analyse data in a 3 dimensional way
- Able to save reports locally or in a shared drive
- Cubes can be manually or automatically refreshed
- Powerful analysis
Disadvantages:
- Data isn’t real-time – cubes are usually scheduled to refresh overnight however if you make an amendment in sage and want to report on that amendment it will only pull through when the cubes have been refreshed
- The cubes are fixed – it’s incredibly difficult to edit a cube if you want to be able to get further analysis from it. This would usually need to be done by a developer
- Cannot link cubes together
Sage 200 Excel Reporting
Another way of getting the information you need from Sage is using excel reporting. You can also make amendments to the reports you pull out and upload them back into Sage.
Advantages:
- Pre-pulled data
- Able to amend reports in the usual excel way
Disadvantages:
- Very limited reports available compared to Standard reports in Sage
ODBC
This allows you to create links to the Sage database directly. This is useful as you bypass Sage by using the database to manipulate your data.
Advantages:
- Create custom reports – build your own pivot tables and dashboard using excel functions
Disadvantages:
- Need good knowledge of excel
- It’s very complex reporting
- Integration with On-Premise versions of Sage 200 only
Power BI for Sage 200
This is a Microsoft tool that allows you to collect and organise the company data you need and put it into a visual dashboard.
Advantages:
- Can use pretty much any data source with it e.g. from excel sheets to SQL Server Databases
- Able to access it online, on the desktop or mobile app
- Lots of great visuals like slicers, maps, and graphs to create fancy and professional dashboards
Disadvantages:
- Difficult to get to grips with – have to have some knowledge of DAX in order to develop within the system
- There are still a number of limited integrations with software packages although there are more due to be released
Conclusion
So there you have it, these are just a few of the reporting tools that we have come across that we can use with Sage 200. Hopefully, you will now have an idea of which are the most relevant and appropriate to you.
To hear our Lead Solutions Consultant discuss these more, have a listen to our podcast on Sage 200 Reporting
We are a multi-award-winning, platinum Sage Partner, specialising in Sage 200 Professional, Sage 200 Standard, Sage Intacct and Sage 50 accounting solutions.
At itas, we believe in working in partnership with you to deliver the perfect solution that you want and need. We will design a tailor-made business management solution specifically for you and your business, giving you the freedom to focus on what you do best.
