Epicor Kinetic is a customizable, scalable, product-centric cloud ERP designed specifically for manufacturers.
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Microsoft Dynamics AX (discontinued)
Score 4.7 out of 10
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Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations (or Dynamics AX) was an ERP product in the Dynamics family. It has been split into separate Dynamics 365 products and is no longer available.
Microsoft D365 FO stands out amongst the competitors with its strong backing on the Microsoft Azure cloud and the life cycle services is the best I’ve seen. There is a ways to go in making it low/no code and mobile is there but not great. Overall an ok product as ERP is a …
Epicor Kinetic is well-suited to a manufacturing environment where the client produces multi-layered products that require a high degree of granularity. It provides opportunities to automate information-gathering processes related to the production side of the business (provided the processes are already well-constructed, that is). Unfortunately, due to its complexity, it relies on the user's pre-existing knowledge to be fully utilized, and the various layers involved in the setup of every function make it ill-suited for smaller clients with limited IT personnel to devote to maintenance or new upgrades.
It integrates fully with the other Microsoft software we use daily, and this coordination speeds up our work and gives us the agility to run easily. For example, in a purchase inquiry, the customer, after submitting a request, identifies the teams that should work on the project, and if they need further review by other people, they are added to the process, and everything is managed seamlessly rather than the sales process. Get the result as fast as possible.
Epicor's user interface is easily customizable so that users can focus their main access screen to support just those functions that are relevant to their work day; helping to avoid menu clutter and confusion.
Epicor advanced scheduling provides true drag and drop customizable dashboard with real-time updates to allow users to easily track jobs on the shop floor in an easy to understand Gantt-style (MS Project style) graphical interface.
Epicor's customizable dashboards are also updateable, adding the ability for real-time collaboration and updates. From nearly every key field in Epicor, even on dashboards, the ability to drill down to source data is one "right click" away.
Epicor reporting uses standard Microsoft SQL SSRS instead of 3rd party add-ins such as Crystal Reports. This improves speed significantly during report generation, and ensures a common platform for upgrades without concerns about rewriting reports to incompatible versions.
Epicor has a "Google-like" search feature (Enterprise Search) that is top notch. It literally allows you to search on any key word in your data set and brings back relevant results in various groupings to make it simple to quickly get to the data you need. This is the favorite feature of new users.
Microsoft Dynamics AX's scalability to meet our regional office needs provide flexibility to the team's requirements.
Combined with Citrix Xenapp, the application offers seamless access for users on high latency unreliable network connection to the application.
Application maintenance and updates are easy which makes it possible for us to manage remotely considering the servers are located in a remote Asia site.
It is hard for me to think of something I don't like. However, the physical inventory process could be done better. It doesn't work for us as we use what are called phantom assemblies, and I have not found any ERP system that handles that out of the box correctly.
MRP can be slow to adapt to changes in actual production or supply chain transactions.
Setting up number sequences seems a trivial matter, but these numbers ID transactions once they are in the ledger and are key--easy to miss this point in the implementation process.
Bank rec being easily automated and able to quickly plug into a bank back end to get data is not the best.
Payment processing can be 'clunky' based on checks, ACH, Wires...as some of these items are not triggered out of the box in AX, bur are easily added --talking ACH and Wires specifically.
Microsoft Dynamics continues to evolve by bringing more functionality to the customer. Also there are several independent software providers that offer a wide range of solutions for vertical markets.
I think there was some loss of functionality with the switch to the kinetic screens that decreased the usability. I would provide a 9 prior to the switch to full kinetic screens. While I like the Kinetic layout I don't think it was ready to move to production as there still seems to be a lot of bugs and kinks to work out. It isn't that the new layout is hard to use inconvenient on its own. I actually like the grid views and after getting used to application studio I like our ability to customize with less code. But I've run into a lot of bugs in he new screens that have required us to install the local client and open up the classic screens for specific associates who need some basic functionality that simply isn't working in the Kinetic screens. And that's specifically on our of box features. I expect to hit snags on customized screens but not out of box
Overall the product does what we need it to do in order for us to function as a company. While there are some concerns over ongoing costs, the belief is, once we have it fully acclimated to our business the cost should settle into alignment with our original expectations. The new features that are consistently being added do add value to the product as they are usually customer request directed.
Some integration and high volume ramping challenges, particularly with BizTalk and SQL Server, but getting sorted out. Outages over time appeared to be more dependent on integration complexity than AX MES.
Some integration and high volume ramping challenges, particularly with BizTalk and SQL Server, but getting sorted out. Outages over time appeared to be more dependent on integration complexity than AX MES.
If the answer to your problem is not readily available in an answer book, your response or solution will take months, if you get one at all. Problems need to be sent to support and duplicated by them before they try to fix it. This is extremely frustrating because you have to prove to Epicor that you are having an issue. If by some miracle you get by this barrier, your problem is submitted to development for review. You can't speak to them or communicate in any way directly. This group appears to be completely unconcerned about user issues or customer service. Our experiences have been negative across the board.
We use a 3rd-party Microsoft Partner for the system. They are responsive and very knowledgeable. While costs have been mentioned several times in this review they are very aware of costs and have developers who are more economical they use to help offset the level of work required to meet our changes and fix our issues.
It took a lot of work, but Microsoft ultimately did a good job with in-person training, including being onsite in multiple global locations for extended periods.
Our solution deviated from a number of key out-of-the-box standards that were included in Online training. We just used that for introduction to the general functionality.
Some rough spots, but ultimately worked out. The contract didn't appear to be structured to support the level of overlapping facility deployments required to meet timeline commitments. Merging cultures on the program was also challenging. Overall, not an easy implementation by any stretch. Everyone did the best they could.
With my former employer, we used ISAH-7, including couplings to Autocad (with BOM-integration) and Account View for financial reporting. At this company, I was also doing on-site support and report updates and year-closing, which would normally cost me just 4-5 working days. With another trading company, I was involved in the merger from King to AccountView and with a third, I was supporting developments of web-based forms in Exact. All these companies were only somewhat smaller than the present employer, but the software seemed to be working much better to company needs than with present setup.
I was not part of the decision making process to select Microsoft Dynamics AX, however, I do know that an exhaustive search was done and many options were considered alongside Microsoft Dynamics AX and I feel that the right decision was made in choosing this solution.
At first, it is difficult to convince every one of its immense capabilities but once the scalability is tapped into some it becomes easier to show and convince how well suited the system is for many disciplines. With constant upgrades and updates, there really just isn't a limit to what can be accomplished.
