If using Sage50 as a way of creating and tracking sales orders and in turn stores information needed for use with MaxOptra. You can use the guide below to generate a report that will allow you to export the data required to an Excel spreadsheet, which will then be suitable for importing into MaxOptra as a CSV file or subsequently, provides MaxOptra with the data required to create a macro file which will allow you to transform that data into a usable format.

For each Sage Module (Customers/Invoices/Sales Orders etc.) there are a set of pre-defined reports which can be used or edited. You can also create custom reports.

To do this, first select the module you wish to work with. Most likely this will be in relation to Sales Orders. A menu will appear along the top and you can select Report on the right-hand side:

This will open a new window with the list of available reports. Select the My Sales Order Report heading and then you can create a report from scratch by clicking the New button on the top left:

This will open the Report Wizard. The first thing to do is to select the type of report, in this instance Sales Order and click Next:

The next screen will show you a filtered down list of the available Sage fields that are selectable based on the document type above. This is where we can select what data to include:

As per the image, the fields available will be under headings related to other modules in the system. For the purposes of MaxOptra, fields required will most likely be under the Company, Sales Order and Stock headings and would need to include details like:

The above are examples, and if required you may contact your implementation manager for further details that may be specific to your business.

Once you have the fields that are required, you can click Next. This will run through 3 more screens for Grouping, Sorting and Totals but shouldn't be required and you can click Next through those also.

When you get to the Report Options screen, here you can choose a report name. Once chosen, click Finish:

After this you will be taken to Sage Report Designer and will show you what the report would look like in the output. However, we are going to be using it to export the data to Excel and as such, you can go straight to Saving the report. Click on "file" at top left and choose Save As:

You need to be sure of saving the report into the correct location. So below for example is going into C:\ProgramData\Sage\Accounts\2017\Company.000\Reports\SOP\My SOP Reports. This will likely be different depending on the Sage installation but there will be a reports folder and this will show the different modules. For Sales Order module, choose SOP and then the sub heading of My SOP Reports. Give it a file name and click Save:

Once you have saved the report, you will then see your new report available under the My Sales Order reports heading:

You can then select the report you have created and in turn, choose to Export or Send to Excel. This will export the file to the appropriate format ready for the next step in the process.

Depending on which fields you've selected, the order you've put them in and the type of export you chose, your data may look something like this:

At this point, you may decide how you are going to import your data into MaxOptra. There are a few ways this can be done.

If you're unsure how to use your data, you can either contact your Implementation Manager, or contact our support team on [email protected]. Here they may be able to advise of the best way to utilise your data. One method maybe the Import Mask. An Import Mask is something we can setup in the MaxOptra settings that allows you to import the data you have without making any changes. The mask that we setup will ensure the data from the columns in your spreadsheet are moved into the correct fields in MaxOptra and can in some instances make small changes to the data (e.g. Formatting, Merging Columns).

Alternatively, you may wish to manually amend the column names in your export file to those that MaxOptra will recognise and in turn will allow you to import the data. For more details on import file columns and column names, see Order Import File Guide.

Should your file be slightly more complicated, we can create a Macro for you to convert your data into a valid format. It may be that you are using our Line Items functionality which would require a macro to merge multiple rows in your spreadsheet into a single order, or maybe there are more complicated conversions and queries you would like to be run against your data to ensure it looks correct or is utilised in the right way when imported into MaxOptra. Should you require a Macro to be created, please get in touch with your MaxOptra representative or our support team and they will be able to assist.