Cetec ERP vs. Sage 500 ERP

For our business, Cetec ERP works very well because of all the capabilities it has with traceability, restrictions, and access, and having the data live for any user to see at the same time. The way the system is set up for order processing is more strict which is better for us since it helps with accuracy and traceability. For the production side, since our company is not a manufacturing site, it can be a little overwhelming since there are a lot of fields/data that we do not use, simply because it does not apply to us. Other than that module being a little too advanced for our company, all of the features included "out of the box" are well worth the affordable price that they have for this ERP system.

Sage 500 ERP is great for companies with core accounting needs, distributors, and discrete manufacturers. Some areas, such as process manufacturing, would require a companion product from an ISV for the software to be truly functional. Some areas, such as construction or retail apparel, may simply not be well-served.

Incentivized

• Training and Implementation.
• Support is great.

• Sage is the one-stop-shop for all of our needs. We're able to control contracts, subcontracts, and field reports from the program.
• Another strength is the ability to database all the information and export it to excel. This makes data-based investigations a breeze.
• The ability for Timberscan to be imported to Sage is a huge help with invoice management. Prior to this it all had to be done manually and slowed the process to an essential halt as there are thousands of invoices per month.

Incentivized

• Role Descriptions: There are default roles that Cetec ERP has already created for you. However, these roles are not detailed as to what access each role has and it makes it difficult to assign these default roles.
• Reporting: While Cetec ERP's default reports are detailed, there is only minimal customization of reports allowed out of the box. They do have an add-on available for purchase where you can freely customize reports, but our company isn't at that point to purchase this add-on as we only need a small bit of customization beyond what comes out of the box.

• The biggest concern/complaint of Sage 500 users is speed. Some of the screen take a while to load.
• The user interface needs some refreshing. Screens need to be updated to take advantage of shortcuts and to be more intuitive.

Incentivized

It's too pricey for our size of company.

Incentivized

Cetec ERP is useful and fairly intuitive, but if you have a difficult time adapting to a ever-changing user interface, it may cause slight discomfort with every major update.

Incentivized

Cetec ERP will answer support calls but depending on your level of service contract, it may cost you quick a bit per hour to solve the issues you have. E-mail support is always available and surprisingly responsive.

Incentivized

The online training courses are not up to date. We experienced technical issues with two of the classes.

Incentivized

Keep your database and application in different servers.
Install Microsoft Office on your application server so you can use some of the data analysis tools in Sage.

Incentivized

We had been a customer of Cetec on their Legacy system for 20+ years and were always satisfied with their product and support.

500 seems much smoother at handling some of the basic accounting tasks, for example both issuing and later reconciling checks in Dynamics AX seems a little tedious.

Incentivized

• Accuracy: Now that we can restrict access to approved users, our accuracy of inventory has improved.
• Financial Cleanup: Importing financials that were not yet balanced from previous system caused a ripple and we now have to clean up in this new system.

• Positive: The program allows for a lot of data entry and splitting of information. It has the capability of replacing multiple programs and therefore saving cost.
• Negative: The modules are cumbersome and not user friendly at all. As a result not many user are comfortable using it. This means that the program is not being used to its capacity.
• Negative: Although the program has the capacity to be great, the user interface destroys that potential. Sage needs to seriously work on their program to simplify it. It's as if it still uses Command-line entries from 1995. Needs to be updated ASAP.

Incentivized