Sage 50cloud Overview & Magento 2 Integration

Today, we are continuing our marathon of accounting software reviews. In the following article, you will discover the overview of Sage 50cloud – a reliable set of tools aimed at small and midsize businesses. Below, we will drive your attention to the core features and benefits of the platform as well as shed light on the Magento 2 Sage 50cloud integration.

Sage 50cloud Overview

Every business needs accounting software to optimize numerous processes, automate repetitive tasks, and reduce time expenditures. This necessity is especially urgent in the case of big companies which usually have specialized accounting departments, but even the smallest market players can leverage the latest achievements from the world of accounting solutions. While Sage 50cloud is not enough for e-commerce giants, small and medium businesses can streamline the platform to reach an entirely new level of business management and automation. What are the fundamental directions the platform enables improvements for?

Features

With the Magento 2 Sage 50cloud integration, you will efficiently manage your tax duties. The platform provides a decent set of tools designed to simplify many painful processes in this area.

Inventory management is another benefit provided by the Magento 2 Sage 50cloud integration. Our favorite e-commerce platform enhances this area with every new release, but third-party platforms are often much better, providing some missing features or implementing the same instruments more efficiently.

How about budgeting? Due to rich reporting and analytics, you can create perfectly planned budgets for multiple occasions. The Magento 2 Sage 50cloud integration provides various vital improvements that revamp the related routine entirely. You no longer have to rely on Excel sheets, planning your new budget. Use the latest software solution instead, saving tons of time and effort while creating a perfectly tailored budget.  

Of course, the Magento 2 Sage 50cloud integration enables strong cash flow management capabilities. Keep tabs on all financial streams that flow to and from your enterprise and make more informed decisions.

Advanced invoices are also a part of benefits related to the Magento 2 Sage 50cloud integration. Customize documents provided to your customers improving their shopping experience.

If these features are not enough, you can enhance the Magento 2 Sage 50cloud integration with the help of various add-ons. For instance, the platform offers additional tools for credit card processing and payrolls. Just take a look at the following list of features, provided by the accounting systems:

• Activity dashboards and tracking to monitor how well your employees are;
• Automated purchase orders to simplify your interaction with business partners;
• Automatic backups to make your business data safe and always available;
• Automated billing to reduce the necessity to do the corresponding tasks manually;
• Bank reconciliation to make your interaction with banks automatic;
• Batch processing to work with multiple financial items simultaneously saving time and effort;
• Advanced invoicing to impress your customers with nicer invoices and employees – with template-based invoice creation;
• Budgeting & forecasting to create perfect budgets, predict your financial growth and prevent failures;
• Cash flow management to control and automate numerous money streams;
• Collaboration tools to connect all your employees and increase their efficiency;
• Contact database and management to keep all your customers and partners in one database;
• Financial analysis to make more informed business decisions;
• Inventory management & optimization to control the level of stocks automatically;
• Mobile integration to let you and your team work anytime, anywhere;
• Multi-currency to let international business manage their finances;
• Order management & tracking to improve your shopping experience and various backend activities;
• Quote and receipt management to enhance the dull processes with a bunch of automation and improvements;
• Tax management to simplify your work related to tax payments and returns;

Looks impressive, isn’t it?

Benefits

Now, when you are familiar with the key features of the accounting platform, we’d like to draw your attention to the essential benefits of the Magento 2 Sage 50cloud integration.

First of all, you get the ability to manage your finances anytime, anywhere. The accounting system is available in the cloud so that you are not bound to your desktop device and office. A desktop application provides cloud components making your free regarding a place of work. At the same time, you can store and share databases on the cloud and do the same with credit card data. Due to various encryption mechanisms and security levels, the process is absolutely safe.

Tracking is another significant benefit of the Magento 2 Sage 50cloud integration. Keep an eye over purchases and vendors in a user-friendly interface. You can also track and manage expenses in such areas as mobile and bank payments since all financial flows are integrated into the system. Thus, Sage 50cloud lets you record receipts and sales, transfer amounts, track funds owed, reconcile bank accounts, etc. On top of that, financial reports are always under your fingertips right on a smartphone screen!

Advanced payment capabilities are also worth your attention. You can enhance the Magento 2 Sage 50cloud integration with Sage Payment Solutions to get additional features such as the ability to accept compliant payments securely. As a bonus, you will be able to record receipts and sales in real time, create payment schedules, and get multiple more features for invoicing and cash flow.

We’d also like to say a few words about the inventory tracking backed by the Magento 2 Sage 50cloud integration. Being available as an add-on, this feature lets you automatically update stock levels as well as use audits and stock valuations.

Also, note that you can leverage user roles to provide different employees with different access levels. Many other security features make your accounting and business administration duties as safe as possible.

Other Facts

It is also worth mentioning that the Magento 2 Sage 50cloud integration lets you work remotely using Windows, Android, and iOS apps or get access to your accounting tools from a web-based interface.

As for the supported languages, it is English. No localization is available at the moment but who needs it nowadays?

As for the deployment models of the Sage 50cloud, they include Cloud Hosted and On-Premise. Choose one that suits your business needs.

Pricing

To leverage the Magento 2 Sage 50cloud integration, you need to choose a pricing plan. The accounting platform offers the following three solutions:

• Sage 50cloud Essentials. The price of this plan starts at £20 per month + VAT. It supports up to 2 users and only one company. You can pay monthly or annually, but there is no free trial. The plan lets you leverage such features as
  • Cashflow, income, expenses, and payments management;
  • Professional invoices and quotes;
  • Bank account integration;
  • VAT management and online HMRC returns;
  • Reporting and dashboards;
  • Secure cloud access and backup;
  • Office 365 integration for additional charges.
• Sage 50cloud Standard. The price of this plan starts at £60 per month + VAT. It is available for 2 users and up to 10 companies. And you can leverage a free trial for 30 days. As for the available features, they also include the ability to track and manage stock as well as streamline multiple departments and budgets.
• Sage 50cloud Professional. The basic subscription for this plan costs £125 per month + VAT. It is available for up to 20 users and unlimited companies. Additional features include the ability to track Project income, expenses,  and profit, create purchase and sales orders, as well as trade in multiple currencies.

Magento 2 Sage 50cloud Integration

Unfortunately, you cannot use the default tools to connect Magento 2 to Sage 50cloud, but there is a solution that enables seamless integration. Meet the Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension – a universal tool that allows numerous Magento 2 integrations with external systems and other Magento 2 websites. The module is designed to help you connect your Magento 2 website to Sage 50cloud in a matter of minutes. And you can achieve this goal without a single line of code! It is only necessary to install the extension on your e-commerce website and let is automate data transfers between Magento 2 and Sage 50cloud. Improved Import & Export creates a bridge between the two platforms based on API connections.

Features

The Improved Import & Export extension lets you leverage the following enhancements to run the Magento 2 Sage 50cloud integration seamlessly:

• Automated invoices and revenue tracking;
• Data synchronization for:
  • Payment methods;
  • Tax methods;
  • Magento entities (all product types, orders, customers, and invoices);
  • Sage 50cloud entities;
• Synchronization history;
• Attributes mapping to improve the accuracy of Magento 2 data in Sage 50cloud;
• Automate data transfers via schedules or triggers.
• Support for multiple stores;
• Support for various currencies.

Let’s explore several use cases to illustrate the functionality of the plugin from the perspective of the Magento 2 Sage 50cloud integration. Note that if Sage 50cloud does not support some of the following entities, you can still leverage the described processes for integration with other systems.

Product Data

When you add a new product or update an existing one, the Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension transfers all the corresponding data to Sage 50cloud updating the accounting platform.

Order Data and Invoices

When a customer places an order on your Magento 2 website, and it is paid successfully, an invoice is created in Sage 50cloud. Associated products and payments can be created as well.

Customer Data

When a new customer registers on your Magento 2 storefront, Improved Import & Export sends the corresponding data to Sage 50cloud. When a registered customer applies changes to his/her existing account, the module transfers the data to the accounting platform.

Income Tracking

Income tracking is another opportunity related to the Magento 2 Sage 50cloud integration based on Improved Import & Export. Our extension can quickly transfer income data from your e-commerce website to Sage 50cloud and back.

Payment Methods Mapping

Another opportunity related to the Magento 2 Sage 50cloud integration is related to payment methods mapping. To enable free data transfers between the platforms, you can map them within a few clicks.

Tax Rates Mapping

The same is about tax rates: the Improved Import & Export module provides the ability to map tax rates used in Magento 2 to Sage 50cloud, ensuring that tax calculations are correct.

Other Use Cases

The Magento 2 Sage 50cloud integration based on the Improved Import & Export extension provides the ability to:

• choose what entities to move between the platforms: products, orders, customers, invoices, etc;
• use schedules or events to enable automated data transfers;
• synchronize the two systems by mapping Magento 2 attributes to ones used in Sage 50cloud.

Get Improved Import & Export Magento 2 Extension

Sage 50cloud API

You have to explore Canonical APIs for Sage Business Cloud to leverage the integration with Sage 50cloud on your own. If you are looking on how to connect with multiple Sage applications and want to reduce the development efforts, leverage the Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension. Alternatively, you may try out the canonical APIs supported by Cloud Elements – a partner of Sage that offers services via an iPaaS platform.

Unfortunately, Sage is not responsible for any defects in the solutions offered by Cloud Elements. You need to contact Cloud Elements to leverage their iPaaS platform. To find more information, follow this link: Sage 50cloud API.

However, there is no limit to what you can do with the Improved Import & Export extension and the Magento 2 Sage 50cloud integration. The module uses the REST API to connect your e-commerce website to external systems but also leverages SOAP and other standards if necessary. To enable the Magento 2 Sage 50cloud integration, it creates multiple API connections, exchanging all entities between the two systems. And we are fully responsible for its functionality!

Improved Import & Export Magento 2 Extension Features

We’ve already explored the accounting platform as well as some essential nuances of the Magento 2 Sage 50cloud integration. Therefore, let’s take a look at the Improved Import & Export features that simplify the data synchronization between the two systems. Since our extension completely revamps the default import and export functionality of the platform, you get an absolutely new way of data transfers, which helps you avoid many issues associated with the built-in tools.

The default instruments don’t let you do the following things:

• Establish API connections;
• Automate data transfers;
• Map attributes;
• Import/export all entities.

As a result, it is necessary to repeat numerous processes every time a data transfer between Magento 2 and Sage 50cloud is required. Usually, you have to recreate changes applied to your e-commerce store in an accounting system manually. Since the integration requires multiple updates per day, it turns into a waste of time. But we offer a more reliable solution.

The Improved Import & Export extension allows transferring all information from Magento 2 to Sage 50cloud and back. Note that all processes are automated: relax while the plugin transfers data, matches different external attributes and their values from one system to another, leverages multiple API connections in the integration working with all entities. The Magento 2 Sage 50cloud integration becomes a breeze with our module.

Automated Import & Export

The Sage 50cloud Magento 2 integration is a continuous process that requires advanced automation. And Improved Import & Export provides the ability to avoid daily duties related to data transfers via schedules and event-based triggers, which entirely automate them.

Schedules

Schedules represent the most intuitive and straightforward way of automation in different data transfers, including the Magento 2 Sage 50cloud integration. The flow of information between the two systems is based on cron. You specify a time interval and the extension imports/exports updates according to it letting you create fully independent import and export jobs with several different options:

• custom intervals,
• customizable, predefined update schemes,
• profiles with no schedules (which are suitable for maintaining such tasks as migration to Magento 2),
• and asynchronous data transfers (launch every scheduled profile manually whenever you want).

Events

Event-based triggers are another huge improvement provided by the Improved Import & Export extension. They introduce a more flexible approach to the Magento 2 Sage 50cloud integration exchanging data in real time. Use the following algorithm to automate data transfers between the two systems:

1. Create a trigger;
2. Connect it to an event;
3. Link an action to a trigger to launch it automatically.

Thus, transferring data to Sage 50cloud with the help of a trigger dramatically simplifies the integration. When something happens in Magento 2, the plugin transfers the corresponding data to the accounting platform.

For instance, a customer creates an account on your website; the extension rapidly provides the corresponding data to Sage 50cloud. The Magento 2 Sage 50cloud Integration Add-On for Improved Import & Export will help you forget about creating similar schemes manually! Follow the link below for more information regarding triggers: How to Run Magento 2 Import or Export After Specific System Event or Process.

Advanced Mapping Features

Map Sage 50cloud attributes to ones used in Magento 2 and vice versa to enable automated data transfers between the two systems. The Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension radically simplifies the Sage 50cloud Magento 2 integration in terms of attributes and their values with the help of the following features:

Mapping Presets

Use our module to solve the problem of different attribute standards without headaches and enable the Magento 2 Sage 50cloud integration in the most intuitive way with mapping presets – predefined mapping schemes that eliminate manual attributes matching.

You no longer need to look for unsupported attributes and fix them. Our extension performs all the necessary improvements automatically. It analyzes the input data file transferred from Sage 50cloud, discovers third-party attributes, and matches them to the ones used in Magento. As for export processes, Magento 2 Sage 50cloud Integration Add-One for Improved Import & Export knows what attributes are required by the accounting system and modifies ones utilized in Magento according to the rules of the external platform. You only need to select a matching scheme suitable for your migration:

Matching Interface

Importing/exporting data between Sage 50cloud and Magento 2 can also be based on manual attributes mapping right in the Magento admin! The Improved Import & Export module provides a unique matching interface which offers full control over the process: you specify external (internal) attributes and link them to the corresponding internal (external) ones in a particular grid enabling the data transfer. Here is how everything works:

Attribute Values Mapping

The Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension offers a separate interface for attribute values mapping that provides the ability to simplify the Magento 2 Sage 50cloud synchronization and automate it entirely. With our plugin, third-party designations will no longer interrupt transfers from Sage 50cloud to Magento 2 since you can choose an external value and specify its replacement. Repeat the procedure until all third-party designations are mapped to ones utilized in Magento 2. Note that the created schemes are saved and applied for further updates. For more details, read this article: Attribute Values Mapping.

Attribute Values Editing

If attribute values mapping is not enough, you can rely on attribute values editing. Transferring data from Sage 50cloud or other systems to Magento 2 can be automated with the ability to modify attribute values in bulk. Use the following rules:

• Add a prefix to multiple attribute values;
• Add a suffix to numerous attribute values;
• Split various attribute values;
• Merge many attribute values.

Note that you can combine them and create conditions increasing the efficiency of the applied changes. You can find more information in this article: How to Modify Attribute Values During Import and Export in Magento 2.

Category Mapping

You won’t use category mapping in the Magento 2 Sage 50cloud integration. However, it dramatically simplifies other connection. You can match external categories to ones used internally, reducing the number of difficulties that usually occur when products are transferred from other platforms to Magento 2. The Improved Import & Export module allows mapping external product categories to ones used in your catalog as follows:

To create new categories right in the import job, choose a parent category, and specify a new one that will be generated automatically. Thus, the extension will link products to it during the import process. If your Magento 2 website doesn’t include a category from an imported file, it’s no longer a problem. You can find more information about this feature here: Category Mapping.

Attributes On The Fly

And if a data file provided from an external system lacks attributes, the Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension lets you create them on the fly via the following general form:

Attribute|attribute_property_name:attribute_property_value|…

The feature is described here in more detail: Product attributes import.

Extended Connectivity Options

The fundamental aspect of the Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension that enables the Magento 2 Sage 50cloud integration, as well as multiple other connections, is support for additional connectivity options. Designed to improve all data transfers and make the seamless Magento 2 Sage 50cloud integration possible, they include numerous file formats and two alternative ways of transferring data between your e-commerce store and external systems. As for Sage 50cloud, the REST API standard is utilized as a first way of the integration.

Multiple File Standards

Although the Magento 2 Sage 50cloud integration cannot be based on data files, you can leverage them in other integrations. The Improved Import & Export extension supports CSV, XML, JSON, ODS, and Excel as well as unpacks file archives automatically while the default tools work with uncompressed CSV files only!

Multiple File Sources

The following file sources can be leveraged to import and export data files between Magento 2 and external systems:

• FTP/SFTP. Transfer data files using a local or remote server.
• Dropbox. Use a Dropbox account to establish a connection between the two systems. Alternatively, you can rely on Box, OneDrive, Google Drive, iCloud, and Amazon Drive.
• URL. A direct URL can be used to import a data file as well.

Alternative Ways of Import & Export

Note that the alternative ways of import and export are not represented in Magento 2 by default. However, direct API connections are the only way to enable the Magento 2 Sage 50cloud integration.

As we’ve mentioned above, the Improved Import & Export extension provides the ability to leverage REST for the Magento 2 Sage 50cloud synchronization as well as other APIs if necessary. For instance, our module also works with SOAP (which is deprecated in the case of Sage 50cloud) and GraphQL.

Note that all API connections support other extension’s features so that you can leverage mapping, schedules, and attributes on the fly while transferring data from Magento 2 to Sage 50cloud via REST API.

As for the intermediary services, you can rely on Google Sheets, Office 365 Excel, and Zoho Sheet transferring data to your e-commerce store. Although it is impossible to utilize them for the Magento 2 Sage 50cloud integration, other connections can be established with the help of various online sheets. The following image shows how to use Google Sheets to move data to Magento 2:

The video below displays other details of our extension:

Final Words

Sage 50cloud is fast, efficient, reliable, and fully-featured. You can use this software solution to automate numerous accounting processes related to your e-commerce business. The Magento 2 Sage 50cloud integration opens endless opportunities related to data transfers between the two systems. You only need the Improved Import & Export extension to be installed. Follow the link below and contact our support for further information.

Get Improved Import & Export Magento 2 Extension