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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Infor CloudSuite ERP
Score 7.3 out of 10
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Infor CloudSuite ERP is the company's cloud-based ERP suite for medium to large global manufacturers, distributors, and after-sales service providers—delivering flexibility to manage mixed-mode and complex value chains.
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Microsoft Dynamics SL
Score 5.3 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.
All products have their strengths and weaknesses. The deciding factors for us was the robustness of their offering (at that price point), the Infor ecosystems of related and connected products, the effort Infor put into presales to make sure this was a good fit to deliver …
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.
We have had great success with inventory management and production planning/execution. Also, data and system integrity have been key to our overall solution satisfaction. We struggle when it comes to reporting and analytics. The base product leaves room for improvement as much of the core reporting is not easily configurable and lacks the ability to scale forcing us to build a reporting model outside the solution
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.
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.
Very stable product. Some of its weaknesses are also its strengths. The lack of web services seems to actually increase stability.
No software vendor in this space is perfect. Lawson does perform as advertised.
Again, a weakness of this (limited functionality) is a hidden strength as well. In software there is a complexity/feature tradeoff. Where Lawson lacks in features, it does give you a more simple setup for your organization.
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.
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.
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.
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).
The main problem with it is the support provided and the support available on the market. Both are limited. Plus, it is a nightmare from a connectivity point of view, which is obvious, since the off-the-shelf tools usually include built-in connectors to Oracle and SAP, specifically S-4Hana. Retrieving data is also not easy, and specifically, to get behind the logic of special reports without direct StreamServe knowledge, which is the rarest of all, is almost impossible
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.
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.
Industry fit: Infor M3 is designed for specific industries, such as manufacturing, distribution, and food and beverage. If your organization operates in one of these industries, Infor M3 may be a good fit.Functionality: Consider the specific features and functionality that your organization requires from an ERP system, such as financial management, supply chain management, manufacturing, and sales and marketing. Review Infor M3's capabilities in these areas to determine if it meets your needs.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The overall support of Inform M3 is simply the best! There isn't a single flaw that I can detect or think of about this software! I can't possibly express the greatness of the availability and all of the possibilities achieved. The ease of use and a lot of functionalities such as flexibility [allows in] configuration to add new functionalities fast.
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.
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.
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!
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.
One of the products I have used is an Oracle accounting product. I feel that Infor stands up well when comparing to the Oracle product especially for the accounting functions. In comparing it to Microsoft Dynamics I feel that Infor is easier to use in some accounting tasks. The one thing the Dynamics has going for it is the ease of use with other Microsoft Products.
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.
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.
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.
