Sage Setup

Setting up Sage 50 in Lightyear

Sage 50 Setup

Please note - CSV Templates are attached to this article. Please use them when importing information to your Lightyear Account from Sage.

Lightyear allows you to export your bills in a pre-set CSV format, which can then be uploaded directly to Sage 50.  

To get started, head to the Accounting Software section of Lightyear

In the screen that appears, select Sage 50 from the drop down menu.


When selected, the screen will populate with setup options.


Once done, you'll need to start importing your settings from Sage. Let's look at these individually


Software Settings



Do you use Departments and Do you use Cost Centres : 
You can select to have one or the other, or both showing on your extracted data and export.

To select these options, first,
Click the Cog Icon to the left,

Then the Accountancy Icon,

Then into your Software settings.


Once you have clicked EDIT , you will see the following screen appear, select the options you want to have displayed and then click "Confirm":

Once you have clicked on the confirm button, you will see two options, Departments and Categories to the bottom of the window.
You can then upload your CSV file for Departments and Category 2 with the attached csv template.


Details Setting



Details Setting :   Within Lightyear, you have 3 options related to what is populated in the 'details' field. 
  1. 'Use Nominal Description' -  If you select this option, Lightyear will populate the details section of each individual line with the Description of the relevant nominal code that applies to that line.  This is the Default setting.
  2. 'Do not populate' - This option will leave the Details field empty when you export.  Use this option if you do not want any details information or if you prefer to manually add the details within the CSV export.   
  3. The third option is available in the in-tray.  You will notice a 'details' option in Panel 2.  If you enter text into this field in panel 2, that text will populate on all the lines for the CSV export.

Automatically Apply Categories



To automatically apply your categories on the line level, select YES.


Automatically Apply Chart of Accounts


To automatically apply your Chart of Accounts on the line level, select YES.

Extra Ref


If you would like the PO Number to be entered into the Extra Ref column on the export, select Yes.
If you need the Extra Ref column to be blank on the export, leave as No.

Group Line Items Data


Selecting Yes will automatically group invoice line items by the Accounts used, and export this information.

For more information about this feature, please click here.

How do I export a CSV from Sage 50?

To export data
In Sage Accounts,
  1. Browse to and select the required report then click Export.
  2. Browse to the folder where you want to save the exported data and enter a file name.
  3. In the Save as type drop-down click Comma Separated Value Files (*.csv) then click Save.
  4. Complete the Criteria window as required then click OK.
If you export data as a CSV file it is comma separated. This means if there are commas or speech marks in any of the fields you export this may cause the data to appear incorrectly when you open the file in Microsoft Excel. This is because Excel reads each comma as a new field. For example, if the description in a record is ' Envelope, white' this would appear in 2 separate columns in Excel.
Below each of these sections, you will find the required format that the CSV needs to be set to and the order of the columns for each.

Sage 50 Suppliers

CSV Format -
Please ensure the CSV is in the correct format and delete all duplicates.
CSV Columns must be as below:
Column 1 - Supplier name Column 2 - Card ID 
Your CSV file should look like this:


These are your Accounts within Sage, and are used so Lightyear knows which supplier to associate any given bill with. To set up a Supplier, you'll be asked for a Supplier Name and an Account Reference. The Supplier Name is just used as an identifier in Lightyear, but the Account Reference would need to be the 3 digit Account Reference code for that supplier within Sage. 

You can edit any of the Suppliers by clicking on the Green pencil

You can bulk upload your supplier Accounts via the 'Upload CSV File' Option located above the supplier table.  




Chart of Accounts

CSV Format - 
Please ensure the CSV is in the correct format and delete all duplicates.
CSV Columns must show as:
Column 1 - Code / Column 2 Description
Your CSV should look like this:

These are your Account Codes within Sage. Lightyear requires the 3 digit Account Code and a description or label to go along with these.

Tax Rates

CSV Format - 
Please ensure the CSV is in the correct format and delete all duplicates.
Please ensure the CSV columns are in the correct order
Column 1 - Code Column 2 - Name of Tax Code/Description Column 3 - Tax Rate as number (so 10% would be 10 and should not have symbols)
Your CSV should look like this


While you can add as many tax rates to Lightyear as you wish, please note that you will only have one default taxed and one default tax free rate. Enter your Tax Code from Sage (TXX), a description and the rate. Super Simple. The In Use box will be checked by default, so it's ready to use as soon as it's created.




Please note that all the above can be added quickly and easily using Bulk Upload.

And with that, the setup is done! You can now start exporting bills to Sage.

Migrating Software?

Once you select Sage 50 as your software, you won't be able to change it. If you are thinking about changing accountancy software, please reach out to our Support team for guidance on how to do so.



      

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