Ridder iQ is a manufacturing ERP, from ECI Software Solutions. Ridder iQ includes customer relationship management functionality that is fully integrated, and includes an integration with Outlook for email.
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Microsoft Dynamics SL
Score 6.7 out of 10
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Microsoft Dynamics SL is one of the ERP products in the Dynamics family.
This product was acquired from Solomon 2000.
The product is typically used by SMBs, particularly in project-based businesses (e.g. construction). It has strong accounting and project management capabilities.
The best in the complete production process. It provides the correct info in a very usable way. It is pretty good in sales, but the lack of discounts for sales goods and sales production is not ideal. On the other hand, ECI provides an excellent service for looking for custom solutions where we need them. Dutch Translation: De beste in het complete productieproces. Het biedt de juiste informatie op een zeer bruikbare manier. Het is redelijk goed in de verkoop, maar het gebrek aan kortingen op verkoopartikelen en verkoopproductie is niet ideaal. Aan de andere kant biedt ECI een uitstekende service bij het zoeken naar maatwerkoplossingen waar we die nodig hebben. This review was originally written in English and has been translated into Dutch using a third-party translation tool. While we strive for accuracy, some nuances or meanings may not be perfectly captured.
For a small to mid-size business, MS Dynamics SL is effective. We are capable of managing our finances with a very low risk of error. We have worked with MS Dynamics for almost 15 years and have more than doubled the size of our business in that time with very few issues from the program. We have exponentially increased our revenue and reporting demands and have found SL to be very dependable and stable. The program does have the occasional glitch and those are sometimes outside of the realm of expertise of our IT department. SL support is excellent, but their timeliness is not as urgent as ours.
Provides flexibility for complex project based cost accounting
Strong and flexible allocation processer for cost allocations, markups, and pricing
A "Flexible Billing" module under the project controller series that allows for multiple billing formats ranging from fixed price schedule of values, T&M or Cost Plus, and scheduled billing.
Flexible reporting with options using Crystal Reports, SSRS, a Quick Query tool, and ability to tie into MS Office tools such as MS Access and MS Excel
Tight integration with Financials, but also the ability to integrate with modules such as Sales Order, Inventory, and Field Service
Customization abilities ranging from a VBA (visual basic for application) foundation to allow customizing existing forms to the ability to use the SDK (Software Development Kit) to build more complex customizations that integrate with Dynamics SL.
Reporting in the Project module is lacking functionality. I understand that most companies have specific needs when it comes to tracking project information but the standard reports are not good.
I would recommend a product like Management Reporter that is for Projects only. Project Reporter should allow users to pull in all Project related data into reports.
Fixing suspended batches. Obviously all of us users have experienced this mess. SL knows what needs to be corrected and there could be some step by step fixes in a separate repair module to do the steps we do in Query Analyzer.
Its nice software but it is very, very slow in webification and integration possibilities by using api's. Untill now the programm has client-server technology unfortunately. And there are far too less no code adjustments possible.
Unfortunately, Dynamics' lack of ability to smoothly integrate with our CRM system is causing us to look at other solutions. The efficiencies that we gain by using Dynamics for our day to day accounting are lost in the constant headaches of getting sales quotes to import properly into the system for invoicing. Another major issue for us has been budgeting and reporting. We currently do all of our budgeting and board reporting in Excel, which is too time consuming and inefficient, especially when a system as robust as Dynamics should easily be able to handle this relatively simple task.
The working environment can be perfectly designed for every user and department, which makes the user-friendliness very good. Adding columns, formatting tables can all be customized to the user. Dutch Translation: De werkomgeving is perfect in te richten voor elke gebruiker en afdeling, wat de gebruiksvriendelijkheid zeer hoog maakt. Het toevoegen van kolommen en het opmaken van tabellen is allemaal aanpasbaar aan de gebruiker.
I rate it a 10 because we have removed the fields we don't need so users can really crank the data into the system. The software was designed for the professional services firm in mind but does a tremendous job for construction firms and "blended" companies that are both distribution firms but project centric as well. Perhaps they drop ship inventory to a project where their employees or subs need to work on a project for example.
We have had only one unplanned outage for 2 hours in the last 30 months. We shut down for 30 min to 1 hour once a month, but that is for Microsoft OS updates to the servers. Being a 24/7 world wide operation, the reliability is really important. We do get an 8 hour window on the weekend that we can be down for a short period to install Microsoft Dynamics SL updates, but we do not have many of those. On our last version upgrade, we shut the users out at 9:30 am and were fully operational in less than 6 hours. The upgrade was New SQL server, New SL server and 2 new Citrix servers.
Support is only used when needed, so unfortunately ,they get all the odd issues. It's a difficult business, but Microsoft and our firm do a great job of meeting customer needs. We get routine feedback that our support services are very good.
Just to let it take its course. The implementation for me once I became a part of my former organization was pretty seamless. Just get to know the basics and call the support team to ask questions if you need help on an issue, should they arise. They are ready, willing, and able to help!
Ridder iQ is specialized for our business and has people who bring a lot of knowledge to the table, so Ridder iQ is far more suited than a ERP solution which is not specilized in the make-industry. Furthermore, the customizability of Ridder stands out compared to solutions like ISAH. Therefore, the choice was an easy one, because knowledge and customizability are important criteria. Dutch Translation: Ridder iQ is gespecialiseerd in onze branche en heeft mensen met veel kennis in huis. Ridder iQ is daarom veel geschikter dan een ERP-oplossing, die niet gespecialiseerd is in de maakindustrie. Bovendien onderscheidt Ridder iQ zich qua aanpasbaarheid ten opzichte van oplossingen zoals ISAH. De keuze was dan ook snel gemaakt, want kennis en aanpasbaarheid zijn belangrijke criteria.
Of the comparable mid-range ERP systems, Dynamics SL competes at the lower end based on price, but also above the high-end based on flexibility, data, and reporting. Being able to stay with the same core accounting from a $100 million dollar company to a $3 billion dollar company shows the range of capabilities.
