Happy Holidays from Chips Enterprise Solutions
With the New Year just around the corner, we want to take this opportunity to thank our loyal customers, partners and colleagues for your continued support of Sage 50 Pastel Partner and our services in 2020.
2020 has been quite a year and I am sure we have learnt some important lessons and gathered some new insights from it about ourselves and our businesses. Whilst COVID is far from over we have all adapted and getting on with our lives and business. An important question we must all be asking is “what would we do different if we had lockdown 2?” Should you require our assistance in this area such as enabling remote workers etc , please don’t hesitate to call.
Our offices will remain open during normal business hours throughout the holiday period except for the official public holidays being the 22nd, 25th and 26th December 2020 and the 1st January 2021.
We wish you and your families good health, great joy and an even better business year in 2021!
Fiscalisation
During the recent Zimbabwe 2021 National Budget speech it was proposed to interface VAT registered operators’ systems with Zimra server. Zimra have since issued a public notice that states that the 2021 tax clearance certificate will only be issued to clients who are compliant in terms of full fiscalisation i.e. configuring the fiscal machines so that they record and produce correct invoice and receipt as per tendered currency as well as interfacing with the ZIMRA servers. Please note that deadline for fiscalisation is 31st December 2020.
We ask clients to engage their Fiscal service provider as early as possible if you have not done so already to prevent a last-minute rush. The requirements for interfacing Sage 50 Pastel Partner vary depending on the fiscal device supplier. Should you require our assistance interfacing your fiscal device to the Sage 50 Pastel Partner or with Multi-currency please log the request with or help desk – helpdesk@pastel.co.zw
Cloud options for Sage 50 Pastel Partner
Covid has not gone away. In the event we have lockdown 2, the following remote access options are available;
o Microsoft Azure – This means you may host your Sage 200 Evolution on Microsoft Azure which is available in Zimbabwe through Liquid Telecom. Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing service created by Microsoft for building, testing, deploying, and managing applications and services through Microsoft-managed data centres.
o Virtual Private Server Hosting – There are a couple of data centres offering Virtual Private Server hosting services. Users would connect to the server using a VPN and Remote Desktop. There are a number of clients who have adopted this model.
o Remote Access to on premise server – With this option the server would be managed by yourself and you would configure the system to allow for Remote Access by users who require it using Remote Desktop or Remote Apps. It is important that you ensure the users are connecting via VPN or alternate secure connection. It should be noted that without VPN or an alternate secure connection you are vulnerable Cyber Security risks.
When engaging service providers regarding these options please ensure you have clarity on who is responsible for the following:
Windows operating system and database licensing
Cyber security protection
Anti-Virus Protection
Data backup
Disaster recovery
Year End Procedures
For those customers whose year end is December we have uploaded guides to the Chips website – Customer Zone – Year End Procedures to guide you through the year end process.
Foreign Currency Revaluation
If you are using Multi Currency it is important to carry out Foreign Currency Revaluation before yearend as this process cannot be run after Year End has been run.
13th Period
Sage Pastel Partner allows you to create a 13th period so that you may rollover into the new year with out finalising the year end for the previous year. The 13th period will be like your period one for the new year, so if your year end is Dec 2020, you may create a 13th period for January 2021 so that you do not have to hold up processing for the new year whilst you finalise December 2020.
To make use of the 13th period you have setup 13 periods with the 13th period being the first period of the new year. You should select the option – use last period as first period of next year. This can be found under Setup>Periods.
When you run the year-end procedure, the last period transactions and balances become the transactions and balances in the first period of the next year.
Stock Take – Please also remember that the stock take creates a snapshot of the stock on hand at a set date and time. This allows you to carry on and process transactions for the new period whilst you investigate any variances.
Should you be unable to access any of these documents please email helpline@pastel.co.zw and we shall send them to you by email.
Thank you again for your support in 2020 and we wish you and you your families a happy Xmas and the very best for 2021. Please do not hesitate to request assistance from our support department on email helpline@pastel.co.zw or 0242 773809, 086 77003888
Backups – It is important to retain a master backup at Yearend and this should be retained in duplicate on separate media i.e. not on a hard drive connected to your main server, for at least the statutory period defined in the tax act.
Should you be unable to access any of these documents please email helpline@pastel.co.zw and we shall send them to you by email.
Thank you again for your support in 2020 and we wish you and you your families a happy Xmas and the very best for 2021. Please do not hesitate to request assistance from our support department on email helpline@pastel.co.zw or 0242 773809, 086 77003888
3 Lezard Avenue,
Milton Park,
Harare,Zimbabwe
Tel: 086 77003888, 086 77020366
(024) 2773809 / 26 / 45
Email: sales@chips.co.zw