Update on FRx Retirement Plans

As most of you have hopefully heard by now, Microsoft has announced retirement plans for FRx Financial Reporter.  Last year, when Sage formally announced Sage MAS Intelligence as the endorsed replacement for FRx, we immediately undertook certification and training in preparation for supporting our Clients as they moved off FRx.   However, based on early feedback from Clients and staff, there were some concerns that SMI might not be a good fit for all of our Clients.  Consequently, we decided to do our own independent research into other financial reporting alternatives, and we are pleased to announce we can now offer you choices when the time comes to move off FRx.

Here is a quick timeline to bring you up to date:

• Early 2009 – Microsoft announced that there would be no further development or enhancement on the FRx Financial Reporter and that official support would end in December 2012 (extended from originally announced date of June 2011).   Sage quickly follows up by announcing that they would continue to support FRx through December 2012 and that the last release of FRx will remain compatible at least through v4.5 of MAS 90 & MAS 200 (which is being released in September 2011).
• January 2010 – Sage announces Sage MAS Intelligence (SMI) from Alchemex as the Sage endorsed replacement for FRx.  Sage also announced that all companies that have a current Maintenance/Client Care Support agreement for MAS 90 & MAS 200 will receive one free license of SMI.
• June 2010 – SMI is introduced to Net at Work and the rest of the Sage Partner channel at the 2010 Sage Insights Partner Conference.  Also introduced are Sage’s plans for certification and training.
• July 2010 – Sage begins shipping SMI with all new purchases of MAS 90 & MAS 200 and provides access to existing users to download their free single license of SMI.
• August 2010 – Net at Work obtains certification on SMI and begins deploying new installations of MAS 90 & MAS 200
• October 2010 – Net at Work introduces SMI to clients at a series of User Group Seminars.
• Winter 2010/Spring 2011 – Based on feedback from Clients, Net at Work’s staff and other industry associates discuss the complexity and speed concerns with SMI. Net at Work evaluates other FRx alternatives and BizNet is identified as another strong solution.
• Summer 2011 – Net at Work obtains certification on BizNet Software and begins implementing an alternative for FRx.
• October 2011 (Planned) – Net at Work introduces BizNet to Clients at a series of User Group Seminars in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and North Carolina.

Most of you still have some time before FRx support disappears completely. However, with Sage MAS Intelligence and BizNet, you have two excellent choices when the inevitable rolls around.  While both solutions are Excel-based reporting systems, they are different in terms of feature sets, cost and learning curve.  To learn more or for help in determining which is option is right for you, contact your Net at Work Account Manager or Consultant and we will help you evaluate your choices and put together a transition plan.