Epicor Eclipse is an end-to-end business system for wholesale distributors, as well as electrical, HVAC, plumbing and PVF businesses. Eclipse simplifies complex distribution processes found in today’s dynamic supply chains.
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Global Shop Solutions ERP
Score 8.1 out of 10
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Global Shop Solutions' ERP software helps manufacturers deliver quality parts on time, every time. Available in the cloud or on premise, its 35+ applications include Scheduling, Inventory, Accounting, and Quality Control. It features AI-enhanced AP Automation and Sales Order Entry.
Eclipse is well suited for quick order entry where the source is a formal purchase order document or a phone call with a known customer. In these scenarios the order entry process is quick, and order processing is smooth even if the customer has a lot of "special" requests like shipping part today and holding the rest or shipping some of the order to other addresses. Eclipse also works well if you have a good database of products, especially in searching for products where only partial information is known or finding existing orders where all you know for sure is the customer. It is not particularly well suited for Point of Sale where a walk-in customer who doesn't have an account wants products for which part numbers are not known, due to the requirements to release an order for a customer with no credit.
We've run Global Shop Solutions ERP in several different business models and all of them have worked well. Repair: this is primarily customer supplied material, always new situations that are assessed AFTER the product arrives. Job Shop: These jobs are less guesswork, but still different every time. Engineering BOM's: These are a lot of assembly, less machining, but a huge amount of work in setting up the BOM's. Repeat Jobs: There are slight variations, but the overall process remains the same for all parts. In all 4 business situations Global Shop Solutions ERP has been able to meet the need, albeit differently. This is the strongest indicator that Global Shop Solutions ERP will work in MOST situations. Their flexibility makes everything possible.
Sales Order tracking, even returns are strengths of Epicor Eclipse. It can be set up to match returns to previous orders so that the correct credits are applied. It is capable of setting up contract pricing as well as matrix level pricing according to sales velocity or individual customer buyer programs.
Purchasing can be set up to work by full line buys or short buys while still maintaining a balanced inventory level of vendor line product.
Vendor Invoices and purchase orders are easily matched up for payment and the diverse reporting features are able to provide multi-faceted views of Product Sales, Items with No Sales, or Sales or Purchasing trends, just to name a few.
It is also tracking warehouse operation in both RF and non-RF environments, or a combination of the two.
The fact that it is always live and updating constantly is very helpful to our processes.
The cross-module integration is seamless, allowing for what has been done in one department to populate into the fields of another screen quickly.
I cannot say enough about the support team both through the 800 number and through our CI Manager, and the weekly "Friday Features" learning opportunities. If you don't learn the system it is because you have not put forth any effort whatsoever.
I use it every day and can't see a reason why I would stop unless I started a new job. If I were to leave my present position, the new job would be much more attractive if they were Eclipse users.
This is very easy to use for someone that hasn't ever used the system before. Despite any preconceived notions about how a system should function they can learn this and become efficient with really not a lot of effort. I have used many systems and this is probably one of the easiest I have ever had to learn to navigate and use.
I would rate Global Shop Solutions ERP’s overall usability an 8 out of 10. The system is very capable and flexible once properly configured, but it does have a learning curve and some parts of the interface and navigation can feel a bit dated or complex for new users. Overall, after initial training and setup, it supports daily work efficiently and reliably, which is why it deserves a high score
I haven't experienced any outages in the two years I have been using the system. It is always available as long as the computer is up. The only time I have seen it not be available was on occasions where we lost internet, or power and then we lost access to everything, not just Epicor Eclipse.
Everything in this system moves fairly quickly, that may be in part because we are a small company with only 21 users on the system at a time, or it may just be a the way the Epicor Eclipse works for any size company with any number of users. I can only speak for what I know and say that it is fast for our purposes.
The tier 1 support is trying, and sometimes they are successful. Sometimes they aren't. This topic isn't as black and white as the questions might suggest. Currently their Tier 1 support team is over seas, all items automatically go to Tier 1 and then when they can't help they either escalate it or tell me they need to check with someone else and they will get back to me. If they escalate me to Tier 2, then the issue comes back to the States and the support is usually at a higher knowledge/experience level and it can get resolved fairly quickly. If they don't escalate, then it might take weeks and multiple follow ups on my part before I either get a satisfactory resolution or finally get escalated.
While I'm able to handle most service questions from my users, if I'm not available, calling GSS is typically a 10-15 minute call and the problem is solved for them. I am a super user of GSS because I'm the ERP manager and I have been using it for over 10 years. With that said, if I reach out to service, it's a BIG problem. I appreciate that even in those instances GSS is quick to grab data and get me off the phone to research it on their own. If it's a problem stopping work, they're all hands on deck to get us back running, but in most instances, I don't need that. I need them to investigate, find a fix, and get back to me while I'm able to keep working on other things. They are very good at not wasting my time and for that, I really appreciate them.
The training classes that I have attended have been top notch. The presenters are extremely knowledgeable on their subject matter, including real-world application of the system. They aren't just software techs training end users, they seem to be end users that have become experts in the over functionality and capabilities of the system.
The on-line training is very good, and it is taught by the same people that do the live in-person training sessions. The difficult part of it is, asking questions about your specific company's nuances or special circumstances. I don't remember if you can access the on-line training sessions after you have taken them for reminders purposes, but if so that is a great asset.
I don't really know about the implementation, it was back in 1998 and I didn't start here until 2016. By the time I started here they had been running it for a number of years and most of the people that were here when it was implemented are no longer here, and the ones that are don't really have much to say about how the implementation went either bad or good.
Most of my experience has been with Epicor's Prophet 21. For most distribution verticals, Prophet 21 is the only way to go. The comparison I've drawn is this: Prophet 21 is like a ferrari. Epicor Eclipse is like a reliable donkey. Both get you from point A to point B but Prophet 21 is going to get you there much quicker and with the kind of insight into your business that will help you thrive.
We moved to Global Shop Solutions ERP from Visual. Even though the table structure in Visual was easier to learn, we gained a lot more visibility into things with Global Shop Solutions ERP. Visual was difficult to customize, you were required to use the consultant they assigned you, and anything not done by that contractor was not warrantied. With Global Shop Solutions ERP you have a ton of consultants to choose from, the pricing for them is very reasonable, and they are available readily. In our experience, Oracle was...horrible. I think if you have the need to take control of your ERP and be able to make changes on your own, Global Shop Solutions ERP is the only choice.
I don't really know about the scalability. It's the same as it was when I started, I do know that you can buy more user licenses, but I think they come in packs of 5, which can be a problem if you only need 1 and will never use the other 4. But, again I'm not sure on that.
One of the main positive ROI impacts has been the constant upgrading and adding of new features to keep the software user friendly, relative, and robust.
Our credit manager has said it has made their job easier with daily reports to catch pricing discrepancies and straighten out before they go to invoice makes us look better.
With the addition of sale analytics it has given our sales force tools and new approaches to our customer base which has raised profitability.
See instantly all information for part number, sales history, customer info, makes phone calls easy instead of having to say, let me look into that and get back to you
Save money on purchasing goods, see history, now inventory levels, helps make sure we don't run out of items
