Sage 300 performance is a topic that comes up more frequently the longer a business utilizes Sage.

The good news is that, for the vast majority of the time, the slow performance issues are easy to overcome. Here are the most common reasons Sage 300 is not running efficiently and effectively.

1. Poor Installation & Centralization of how Sage 300 operates
2. Database performance problems (MSSQL & Sage 300)
3. Network configuration problems
   

Read below for details on each of these causes, and Britec’s solutions. 

Software Installation

At times, the installation is not clean. Data, files, installation and reports’ configuration is not centralized. This means that sometimes there are multiple versions of the same reports in different places. Since the files are not centralized, it becomes difficult to manage the Sage instance, which affects the performance and user efficients, ultimately causing repairs to be difficult and time consuming.

The solution requires a little bit of preparation & planning, and involves maintaining a central repository for all things Sage.

MSSQL Database Performance

Sage 300 stores Data in MSSQL – it is critical to maintain the database server with regular updates and patches. Before making any changes or doing any database work whatsoever, always backup your systems and datasets. 

1. Work with your database analyst (DBA) or IT team to conduct scheduled maintenance for the SQL server, and Sage database to ensure the latest Patch Level on the SQL server version is installed. 
2. Ensure the logs are groomed by configuring SQL settings so that the log file doesn’t become excessively large. This ensures that the SQL server does not become overwhelmed by large file sizes. (While still being able to parse log data should you need it). 
3. Perform a rebuild of the SQL dataset indexes. This requires dropping or re-creating the index, which removes fragmentation and reclaims disk space by comparing the pages based on the specified or existing fill factor setting, and reorders the index rows in contiguous pages. If you are not a database expert, do not attempt this yourself. 
4. Perform a “clean history” – we’ve had a customer whose response time was taking nearly 2 minutes per transaction, which we were able to help them lower down to under 5 seconds.

Network Connectivity

Sage 300 runs a lot of data via your network. Maintaining the integrity of the network connectivity is critical to having the software running smoothly. 

1. Ensure a strong wireless network signal – or, even better, run a wired network.
2. Have the IT department prioritize Sage 300 traffic 
3. Make sure your networking hardware is utilizing the latest technology

Best practices for maintaining Sage 300’s speed and overall performance

1. Test the network connectivity between the workstation and the Sage server
2. Add exclusions to antivirus software scans
3. Ensure there is only one runtime path in the environment variables
4. Run the Database Verify function in Sage 300, which will identify any errors in the database
5. Run the Data Integrity check which will identify any errors in the data
6. Make sure you have the latest product version and updates. If you are using payroll, then also ensure the Payroll Updates are promptly installed. Sage will release patches for bugs and security vulnerabilities with these payroll updates.
7. On a monthly basis, trim the logs files and maintain the database to optimize the SQL performance
8. Make sure the SQL server is patched and up-to-date
9. Make sure the workstations and servers are fully patched and up-to-date
10. Make sure all hardware and machines accessing Sage meet the minimum requirements per the “compatibility guide document”

Maintaining optimal running efficiency is laborious

That’s why Britec is here to help – we’ve been partnered with Sage since before it was called Sage, and we’ve mastered the art of ensuring optimal performance. If your Sage 300 software (or – more importantly – the people using the software every day) would benefit from increased productivity and performance, reach out to Britec.