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Sage Intacct implementation

A step-by-step guide to Sage Intacct implementation with Datel – the UK’s leading Sage partner. Discover how our proven five-stage process sets you up for success.

Why Sage Intacct?

Sage Intacct is a flexible, scalable, and powerful cloud financial management solution that harnesses time-saving automation to empower and support finance teams.

Ideal for multi-entity organisations and rapidly growing businesses with complex financial infrastructures, Sage Intacct simplifies internal processes and delivers the strategic insights you need to accelerate growth.

So, whether you want to:

  • Harness the power of a cloud native solution
  • Streamline inefficient processes through automation
  • Improve business insights with enhanced reporting capabilities

Sage Intacct is the financial management solution for you.

Benefits

Rapidly growing businesses need more than entry-level accounting packages. With Sage Intacct, you get a solution that scales and adapts to your requirements.

Greater financial visibility

Sage Intacct consolidates your financial data in one system, creating a single source of truth for your business. Accessible on any device and browser, Sage Intacct’s dynamic and intuitive dashboards enable you to retrieve accurate, real-time insights that power your strategy.

Smoother financial process

Featuring built-in automation capabilities, Sage Intacct streamlines core financial processes, such as accounts payable and accounts receivable, invoicing, collections, and reporting. Work more efficiently and reduce errors to preserve data quality.

Scales as you grow

As a futureproof, cloud-based solution, you can easily adapt Sage Intacct to accommodate changes in business size, structure, or complexity. It integrates seamlessly with third-party business systems, including enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, to give you a holistic view of your business.

Sage Intacct helps businesses work smarter

66%

increase in monthly close times

40%

average improvement in finance team productivity

Ranked #1

for customer satisfaction (Source: Sage)

How Sage Intacct implementation works with Datel

We’ve helped hundreds of businesses unlock the benefits of Sage’s best-of-breed cloud finance software, and we know how important it is to begin your project on the right foot. Our Sage Intacct implementation guide walks you through our unique five-stage process so you know what to expect and how our expert consultants set you up for lasting success.

Project kick-off

We introduce you to your customer engagement consultant, who serves as your main point of contact for the duration of your project, and your Sage Intacct executive sponsor. Our executive sponsors provide full project oversight and are on-hand to deal with any issues that require escalation.

The goal of the kick-off meeting is to define:

  • Roles and responsibilities
  • Our project methodology
  • Milestones and timelines
  • Project scope
  • Dependencies and risks
  • Expectations and deadlines

It’s essential the right people attend the project kick-off. We recommend inviting your project sponsor alongside your project lead, key users, systems administrators, and representatives from senior leadership. Gathering a broad range of perspectives helps us understand your business drivers, identify potential risks, and ensure everyone’s aligned and knows what to expect as the project unfolds.

Katie writing on whiteboard

Common Sage Intacct implementation project risks

Resource availability

Do you have the people and tools to commit to the project?

Competing business objectives

Are you balancing multiple priorities or is Sage Intacct implementation your sole focus?

Data availability

Do you have easy access to the data required for a smooth implementation?

Holiday

Key personnel holidays may delay your project. Have you factored that into your timelines?

Training

Have you set aside time for stakeholders and end users to complete the necessary training?

Key events

Are there periods in the year you'd like to avoid such as year end or peak trading months?

At the end of the project kick-off, we’ll set up your first Sage Intacct portal and the relevant permissions. We follow this with an introduction workshop to ensure you can log into the system, help you set up your user profiles, and enrol you in Sage University.

Richard using laptop with notebook on table

What is Sage University?

Sage University provides a range of in-depth training courses designed to build your confidence with your solution and accelerate your success.

Planning for Success meeting

Following the project kick-off, we’ll arrange your 30-minute Planning for Success meeting, where you’ll meet your dedicated customer success manager. This session helps us understand what you want to get out of Sage Intacct and why.

Deploying a fully functional Sage Intacct solution typically takes three to six months, depending on the complexity of your desired solution. But as your Sage Intacct implementation partner, we’re with you every step of the way.

Our Sage Intacct implementation methodology follows five stages to make the process as smooth as possible.

Datel’s Sage Intacct implementation roadmap

Stage: Define

Estimated timescale: Weeks 1-4

Summary: We organise several in-depth requirements capture and project scoping sessions to define your challenges, solution requirements, and business objectives. Key users complete introductory training courses.


Key milestones:

  • Requirements capture
  • Project scoping
  • Solution definition
  • Sage University training
Stage: Build

Estimated timescale: Weeks 5-9

Summary: Solution configuration using static and sample transactional data. Once complete, your Datel Sage Intacct consultant runs through the initial build.

Key milestones:

  • Configuration
  • Prepare UAT scripts
  • Data extraction loading
  • Solution walkthrough
Stage: Model

Estimated timescale: Weeks 10-14

Summary: Testing and business-specific training. This allows key users to familiarise themselves with the software and confirm it meets expectations.

Key milestones:

  • Business-specific training
  • User acceptance testing
  • Ready for Go Live walkthrough
Stage: Deploy

Estimated timescale: Weeks 15-20

Summary: Data collection and reconciliation ready for go-live. We outline the next steps and show you how to access our award-winning customer support team.

Key milestones:

  • Go-live data capture and reconciliation
  • Solution rollout
  • End-user training
Stage: Support

Estimated timescale: Weeks 21+

Summary: Your dedicated customer success manager gets in touch to smooth out any initial wrinkles and discuss how they’ll work with you to ensure continued success.

Key milestones:

  • Initial, post go-live support
  • Regroup with your customer success manager

Define (weeks 1-4)

The define phase is where we lay the foundations of your project, and it begins with project scoping. In our experience, it’s impossible to understand what a business needs from a Sage Intacct partner in a single half-day session. That’s why we dedicate up to two full weeks to scoping your project.

Project scoping

We work closely with your project stakeholders to understand what makes your business tick, dig deeper into your requirements, review your chosen modules, and define your objectives. We’ll also discuss any specific configurations or integrations you need.

We avoid asking generic questions or reeling off information from feature lists. The best way to understand your needs and demonstrate Sage Intacct’s tangible, long-term benefits is to explore the software together.

Our consultants use their Sage Intacct partner expertise to provide strategic recommendations. We’re not in the business of providing lift-and-shift solutions if it’s not the right choice for you. We challenge our clients (respectfully, of course) to ensure the best outcomes.

Examining your ideal solution at the beginning helps minimise risk and set expectations. For example, we might discover you require advanced functionality that Sage Intacct doesn’t provide. This gives us more time to investigate potential workarounds or leverage our specialist in-house R&D team to create a custom solution.

It’s a full-on process. But the more you put into it, the more you get out.

Solution definition

Next, we collate all the information gathered during project scoping into a solution definition document (SDD). Think of this as your solution blueprint.

We present your SDD back to you at the end of the Define phase to:

  • Ensure the information collected during scoping is correct
  • Get your feedback on the proposed solution
  • Confirm we’re aligned and you’re happy to proceed with the project
Craig talking through laptop

Training

To prepare for your new solution, we encourage you to enrol in Sage University and complete a selection of introductory training courses. Your precise mix of courses depends on your user and stakeholder requirements, and you’re free to tackle them at your own pace. However, we typically recommend:

 

1. Getting started with Sage Intacct

2. Working with Multi-Entity Shared Environments

3. Sage Intacct Fundamentals (UK)

4. Working with the GL

5. Working with Accounts Payable

6. Working with Accounts Receivable

7. Working with Budgets

8. Creating Reports with Custom Report Writer

 

  • You can refer back to the courses at a later date or share with colleagues if you need a refresher

Build (weeks 5-9)

Having thoroughly scoped your project, our experienced Sage Intacct consultants and in-house R&D team will build your solution. We approach this in one of two ways:

  1. Build from scratch. This approach takes longer but allows us to configure the solution to your exact specifications.
  2. Templated build. Our templated “Gold Build” uses a prescribed chart of accounts, saving time and money. However, this approach is only viable if you require standard modules or functionality.

We also ask you to prepare your user acceptance testing (UAT) scripts at this stage, so you’re ready to put your Sage Intacct solution through its paces once we’ve built and modelled it.

Data extraction and loading

Whichever approach you decide to take, we require data to start building. Our consultants work with you to extract the relevant data from your existing financial management solution and load it onto Sage Intacct. This includes:

  • Sample transactional data
  • Chart of accounts
  • Companies
  • Customers and suppliers
  • Dimensions
Simon sat opposite colleague

We use pre-built scripts to accelerate and simplify data extraction and loading for customers migrating from other Sage solutions.

Configured solution walkthrough

At the end of the build phase, we’ll invite you to a step-by-step configured solution walkthrough where your dedicated Sage Intacct partner consultant will show you how to use it.

Unique to Datel, our configured solution walkthroughs demonstrate the capabilities of your new solution in a way that we believe is far more engaging and tangible than asking you to review a static checklist. During the walkthrough, your consultant takes you on an extensive tour of your solution, covering everything from processes to specific functionality.

The configured solution walkthrough gives you an excellent overview so you can confirm it meets your expectations. More than that, it’s an opportunity to identify potential issues or discrepancies between the solution and the SDD.

Model (weeks 10-14)

We thoroughly test your Sage Intacct solution and run business-specific training sessions to ensure you’re comfortable using it and sharing your knowledge with your end users.

User acceptance testing

You’ve seen the solution in action and understand how it works. Now you’re ready to try it yourself.

As part of the Model phase, we run at least three UAT sessions where you can put the solution through its paces in a safe, pre-live environment. UAT sessions are great for confirming the solution works as desired and uncovering any lingering issues.

Business-specific training

By this stage, you should have completed the standard Sage University training courses and feel comfortable navigating the solution – at least at a high level. But to help you get the most out of Sage Intacct and achieve your goals, we provide additional training sessions tailored to your business requirements.

Based on the I do, we do, you do model, these sessions build your confidence and ensure you’re comfortable using the solution. We tailor our training to you and are happy to run as few or as many sessions as you need.

Glen wearing headset on laptop

Ready for Go Live Walkthrough

This is where we turn the tables and ask you to present your new solution back to us.

Our Ready for Go Live Walkthrough might sound intimidating, and for some clients, it is. But it’s a crucial step in building your confidence with Sage Intacct.

In our experience, encouraging customers to walk through the solution shows them how far they’ve come and proves they’re ready to incorporate Sage Intacct into their day-to-day operations. Of course, if you reach the end of the walkthrough and feel you need more time to acclimate to the solution, we can pause the project and work together to find the best way forward.

Deploy (weeks 15-20)

After months of hard work, we’re ready to launch. In this phase, we gather any remaining data we need to deploy your solution and reconcile it with your current financial management system to ensure everything matches.

We recommend beginning your end-user training to get people up to speed before we launch the solution. Depending on the size of your business, you may include everyone or just your key users in these sessions.

All that’s left to do now is set your solution live and outline the next steps!

Datel office with four employees

“I have two favourite days of a project: the first one and the last one”.

– Lorna Timms, Sage Intacct Consultants Manager

Lorna talking to client

Support (weeks 21+)

Deployment isn’t the end of your Sage Intacct journey; far from it. After we flick the switch, we’ll show you how to access our customer support team and explain how your dedicated customer success manager can support your long-term goals.

Post go-live support

We provide first month-end and first VAT quarter-end cover as standard to ensure the first few weeks after go-live are as smooth as possible. You’ll also have access to our award-winning, UK-based customer support team to resolve any issues you may encounter as you get used to Sage Intacct. This includes support for:

  • General platform queries
  • User errors
  • Datel-managed third-party integrations (e.g. Fusion)

Long-term customer success

After successfully navigating the first couple of weeks, your customer success manager will check in to smooth out any wrinkles and arrange a solution review with the project team.

In this session, we get everyone back around the table to evaluate and discuss your early experiences with Sage Intacct. The goal is to recognise what’s gone well and to identify areas that still need work.

Jodie wearing headset
Over the long term, your customer success manager will work with you to ensure your Sage solution aligns with your tech strategy as it evolves. We recommend having regular catch-ups with your customer success manager, as active involvement is the key to sustained success, but we have no set cadence. Whether you need weekly, monthly, or quarterly catch-ups, we adapt to your schedule.

Why it pays to work with a Sage Intacct implementation partner

Implementing Sage Intacct doesn’t happen overnight. Like any major project, it takes time, resources, and careful planning to ensure everything goes smoothly. Some businesses choose to manage everything in-house, but this often leads to delays, disruption, and escalating costs.

The alternative is to work with a specialist Sage Intacct partner. At Datel, we pride ourselves on offering the most comprehensive and smoothest implementation support of any UK Sage partner.

Here are just some of the benefits of working with us.

What sets Datel apart?

98% customer satisfaction

40 years of experience

Expert, proactive customer and Sage Intacct support

APM-accredited customer engagement managers

Dedicated customer success managers

The UK’s largest Sage-accredited team

Sage specialists

All our consultants are Sage Intacct-accredited specialists. They bring a powerful combination of in-depth product knowledge and multi-disciplinary industry experience to manage your project from start to finish, ensuring your solution helps you achieve your business objectives.

APM-accredited

When you choose Datel as your Sage Intacct partner, you don’t just get access to Sage Intacct experts. Our APM-certified customer engagement managers know how to deliver successful technology projects. You can rely on us at every stage of your Sage Intacct implementation journey – from solution build and configuration to testing, training, and go-live.

Additionally, we provide weekly catch-ups and use project management tools, built on the monday.com platform, to keep your project on track.

Unrivalled expertise and experience

With any large-scale project, you want to know you’re in good hands. At Datel, we have over 40 years of experience implementing tailored Sage solutions for businesses across the industry spectrum. Our consultants have extensive finance backgrounds, giving them unique insight into Sage’s market-leading solutions and your business environment.

Reliable support

Our expert Sage consultants are always on hand to provide support and guidance outside your weekly catch-ups. Once we deploy your solution, you’ll have access to the UK’s largest customer support team and a dedicated customer success manager who’ll work with you post-implementation to maximise your Sage Intacct investment.

Trusted Sage partner

As the UK’s leading Sage Intacct partner and a member of the Sage Platinum Elite, we have a close working relationship with Sage. Have an idea for a new feature? Perhaps you’re having issues with specific functionality? We’ll escalate your feedback directly to the Sage development team, giving you a say in how Intacct develops and evolves.

“Often, the reality in a software project is under delivery in the transformation phase after what’s been promised at sale. Throughout the whole cycle of our experience with Datel - from initial engagement, onboarding, the consultancy during the delivery phase, and through to the end game of BAU - it’s without a doubt the best service I've ever seen end to end.”

– Tony Weston, Royal Life Saving Society

Junaid talking to colleague with tablet

Useful resources

Learn more about Sage Intacct, partnering with Datel, and how we’ve helped other businesses unlock their potential with Sage.

datel_Sage Intacct-REFINED_AW

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