Epicor Eclipse vs. IFS Applications

The capabilities, when combined with some of the integration offerings, make for a really nice platform. Coming from another company where we had several systems for processing inbound, outbound, e-commerce, sales, etc., it is nice to have everything contained in one system. makes communication within the company easier and teaching easier.

Incentivized

Order to cash processes and scenario are implemented natively in IFS. An HR module exists for career management also (objectives, comportments, training, mobility) but may be improved in terms of workflow validation (e.g. training to validate by a manager) or reporting.

Incentivized

• The order entry process is very smooth, allowing users to see availability and immediately source unavailable items from vendors or other branches with single keystrokes or clicks. You can choose what columns of information display in order entry to help order writers make decisions.
• A set of built-in and unlimited user-defined "queues" allow users to be pro-active - always knowing what needs to be taken care of in real time. A "Trouble" queue, for example, shows a user their orders where the available date is further out than the requested date so they can take action.
• The RF warehouse system directs one or more pickers through the entire process of picking a customer's order and eliminates mistakes through scanning barcodes for both the shelf location and the product. The Carton Packing add-on can be used to verify quantities and products during packing, and product labels that indicate the order shipping information along with the package contents and quantities.

Incentivized

• It supports the web version in most later versions.
• It provides various mobile versions of the applications as mobile apps to cater various areas.
• IFS Applications allows easy configurations of the application without going for costly customization.
• It covers almost every areas of an industrial company so any other third party applications are minimum.
• It allows safer and easier built-in options for integrations capabilities.

Incentivized

• In my opinion, Epicor seems to want to sell add-on products constantly. They don't provide pricing at the beginning, but then rely on sticker shock and hidden costs (e.g. APIs)
• There are times when we cannot figure out where numbers are coming from, especially costs. It would be nice if there was a way to see, in plain English, where a cost is coming from.
• It seems unconscionable that we are unable to print financial statements to a pdf file.
• In our experience, Support, which had been going well for a while, has become much less reliable and not very timely.

Incentivized

• Handling massive volumes of data can be improved.

Incentivized

For several reasons. First, they have used this system for 20 years and to change would be costly, not only for a new system but also to try and train everyone on said new system. Second, the system is ideal for our industry and very easy to learn for any new employees that come into the organization. Third, I'm fairly certain the powers that be wouldn't want to try and learn something new and deal with the usual bugs that go with implementing a new system (the special nuances that each company has that can get overlooked when they are in the process of implementing software).

Incentivized

Epicor Eclipse has saved our organization from financial mismanagement, which could lead to operational inefficiencies. It has streamlined purchase orders and invoice processing, reducing instances of underpayment and overpayment. It has enhanced the segmentation of financial statements by store and by day, making it easier to track profitability.

Incentivized

The system is very difficult to use, overly complex, and difficult to learn. It also has limitations that are hard to overcome.

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.

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

We have been unable to get answers to our questions, solutions to our problems, and they don't seem interested in working in the construction industry.

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.

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

IFS Applications is based on Agile Technology which allows organizations to reconfigure user interface as per user requirements and make it user-friendly. Other applications are lagging on many fronts like User Interface, Online help document availability, Implementation methodology, and post-implementation expenses.

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.

Incentivized

• Reporting features allow tracking items trending downward which can glut inventory space and dollars if not adjusted
• GMROI reports help analyze turn ratios and adjusted dollar values and margins of product lines.
• Suggested Purchase Order features allowed controlled inventory purchases which avoid lost sales while managing overall dollars invested in an acquired product with the lowest freight costs possible.

Incentivized

• Reporting is now centralized and managed. Previously, reports were outside the information systems and there was a risk of incoherence.
• Accounting controls are now in place on the overall processes, including production, which helped the company to reduce closing periods or to produce more easily official mandatory accounting files yearly.
• Interfaces between the CRM forecast tool and IFS helped to keep the tools in sync, and to decrease the processing times prior to production launch.

Incentivized