Sage 200 Professional - Partner tools retirement

The below FAQ outlines the changes and considerations regarding the Business Partner Toolkit retirement.

1.      What does the partner tools contain currently?

Partner Tools currently contain:

Sage Add On packager (SDBX Package)

Ability to deploy customisations, custom features, deploy custom report packs and workspaces. The ability to deploy customisations is functionality for developers only. 

Query Editor

Ability to create and edit workspace database queries 

Workspace convertor

This tool is designed to convert custom workspaces from pre-Sage 200 2013 versions to later versions. 

Report Reset tool 

This removes system specific information from Sage Report Designer files e.g default printers etc. 

2.      Why have you made the decision to withdraw the Sage 200 Partner tools?

Nearly 80% of our partners are also a member of our developer program, there is cross over in the provision of the toolkits, as such we’ve taken a decision to retire the Partner Tools effective from the 2023 R2 release. 

Additionally, some of the tooling is no longer relevant or can be delivered in alternative ways.

3.      Are you retiring all of the tools in the Sage 200 Partner tools?

No, the report reset tool will be provided as a standalone utility that accompanies each release moving forward.

The Sage 200 2023 R2 or above report reset tool is accessible via this link.

4.      We use the workspace convertor to help with upgrades, but I no longer have access to the current version what do I do?

Workspace Converter is intended to convert old workspaces (pre-2013) to use the v7 schema (2013).

You can either:

• Convert the workspace into 2023 R1 using the Sage 200 Partner tools from that release, you can then upgrade it to 2023 R2 or whichever version you need in future.
• Contact contact Customer Services via Case management to request this. 

5.      We use workspace query editor to help with upgrades but I no longer have access to the current version of Package Manager ?

Query Editor is already included in the Sage 200 Professional application as part of Workspace Designer and can be accessed via your Sage 200 progam.

6.      How can I deploy my reports if I don’t have access to the Package Manager?

Add-on Packager (SDBX) allows Partners to package Workspace Fragment (Workspace, Content Part, Action,Report, Query, Layout) and Reporting Files (Report, Layout, Label, Letter, Template).

Without access to Add on Packager you will need to deploy these outside of Sage System Admin, by manually deploying to the relevant folders on a client site:

Reporting Files:

• Custom Reports are deployed to the Sage file share area in the folder Reporting\Custom, followed by sub-folders: Reports
• Layouts
• Labels and Letters

      These folders would typically be:

• • C:\Sage\reporting\custom\reports\<optional sub-folder>
  • C:\Sage\reporting\custom\label\
  • C:\Sage\reporting\custom\letter\
  • C:\Sage\reporting\custom\layouts\

 TIP: If you use Templates with Sage Report Designer, please refer to the steps outlined here.

 NOTE: For Company specific reporting make sure you are considering the folder paths above.

If a file is deployed to a sub-folder of the custom folder that already exists in Reporting\default, then Sage 200 will use the custom file in preference to the one in default.

The Report reset tool would need to be ran before deploying to customer site, this is now available as a separate download. Access will be available from 25th August 2023. 

  TIP: Further detailed information on how to Edit, Rename and Save a report in Sage 200 Professional can be reviewed here.

Workspace Fragment

Workspace Fragment files are deployed into a sub-folder of the IM Content\Extensions\folder on the Sage share, typically:

• Workspace: C:\Sage\IM Content\Extensions\workspacesv7
• Content Part: C:\Sage\IM Content\Extensions\contentpartsv7
• Action: C:\Sage\IM Content\Extensions\actionsv7
• Report: C:\Sage\IM Content\Extensions\reportsv7
• Query: C:\Sage\IM Content\Extensions\queries
• Layout: C:\Sage\IM Content\layouts

7.      How can I deploy custom permissions or menu changes if I don’t have access to the Package Manager? 

Permissions:

New features can be created for Workspaces when created via Workspace Designer.

Alternatively, you can create via SAA (as would need to be done for reports) and then those features can be applied to user groups.

Menu:

Rather than deploying an add-on with a menu.diff file, produced from manually editing and exporting Sage 200 Professional menu, the new feature would need to be manually added to a customer’s site by a user with sufficient access to edit the desktop menu.