Global Shop Solutions ERP software provides applications used to deliver quality parts on time, from quote to cash and everything in between including shop management, scheduling, inventory, accounting, quality control, and CRM. Available in the cloud or on premise, the solution aims to give its manufacturing customers real-time inventory accuracy, improved on-time delivery, lower administrative costs, increased sales and improved customer service. Headquarters in The Woodlands, Texas includes…
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Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
Score 7.9 out of 10
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Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (formerly Dynamics NAV) is one of the ERP products in the Dynamics family.
The technology is based on the Navision product acquired by Microsoft in 2002. This product is the best-selling Microsoft ERP platform, and is often used by companies in the manufacturing and distribution verticals.
We need an all-in-one ERP system, and it suits basic needs. If you are looking to utilize reporting or utilize the CRM you will have to learn to format the information you are able to pull to make it manageable and easier to read. This ERP uses a Crystal Reports system that needs to be converted into Excel or another software program to sort and identify anything. There are a lot of advantages and I am sure the issues we are having are because of how our staff is using this system or has set up this system for our needs.
It addresses well some integration and connectivity issues with other software and adapted technologies: formulation and manufacturing batching software, scanners and bar codes, inventory, financials, emailing of invoices and statement, sales and purchasing... etc. I believe it to be better suited to a medium to large company. Not as simple and seamless as we expected for migrating from another Microsoft Dynamics software product (we moved from GP to NAV). Our staff is going through a tougher time than we thought to learn some procedures. Normal growing pains?!
Automate the creation of bills of materials for production. We can now generate a BoM from a sales order.
Organization of all data pertaining to thousands of parts, assemblies, and finished goods. Engineering and purchasing have a common portal.
We can create sales orders from quotations instead of re-entering them (this did require some bolt-on software). Less redundant work with fewer entry errors.
Accounting can provide reports based on specific criteria stored in NAV. We can pull better and more detailed intelligence.
The layout is dated and hard to navigate at times. You need to go into different sections to access functions of the system, which can be confusing - this is one of the largest frustrations we face because we need to search for sections that are not commonly used.
Updates seem to cause issues with the overall system and it takes several attempts with customer service to get issues resolved. We are behind in our updates because of this. Each update push causes us to shut down because sections then don't work correctly due to patches needing support to completely update them. We were unable to access customer transactions for a good part of the day because of the last update.
Errors happen more often than not. We have random errors pop up that cause us to have to close out the system in its entirety, losing any work we have done. We need to restart the system and hope other errors don't populate before we can move forward. Calling customer support is not helpful with this, we are told that these errors happen sometimes. There is not a fix.
Part/Router numbers randomly disappear. The Router/Part number will need to be rebuilt before we can move forward. It's frustrating. Again, customer support can not tell us the root cause of the issue.
Help section of Global Shop Solutions is not helpful - it has a lot of technical jargon and at times is not easily understood. There are many sections that look to be more IT-based than user-based. Also, there are out of date sections so you might not be able to find what you are looking for. Training modules available for an extra cost.
The version of software that we currently use isn't compatible with Windows 7, therefore we had to install it using the virtual computer under Windows XP. This created a few additional steps that the users had to go through in order to access the software which generated more calls to our IT Helpdesk.
We did research how much it would cost to upgrade the software so that we could get a version compatible with Windows 7, but the cost was way too expensive for our organization. Also, when we need to make updates or changes to the software, there are very few consultants who are familiar with the software so we are limited in who we can use for consulting services. Since we are limited in choosing consultants who can make updates and changes to the software the fees are usually really expensive for their services.
There is a .zup file that we constantly have to delete in order for the database to work properly and update. Users get a pop-up about once a week asking if they want to replace the .zup file and if the file is not deleted then the opening page for the software will not show up correctly and the database will not have the most up to date information.
We've already decided to continue using this software. It is too expensive for us to upgrade so we made a workaround by using the virtual computer with Windows XP installed on it. We did research replacing this software, but it was a better financial decision to keep what we had instead
It has simplified all processes and reduces turnaround time for month end processes. You can easily navigate through the dashboard which is very user friendly and easily guides you to different functionalities. Duplications of Invoices is avoided because NAV rejects posting of an invoice number already in the system so you increase accuracy.
It provides one to efficiently be able to manage bookkeeping and inventory without much challenges. One can easily navigate through workflow processes while managing usages and budgets. Being able to produce reports in Word, Excel or PDF means one is able to have a working document to produce trends and graphs or produce pivot tables.
I have personally supported all of the Dynamic family of ERP systems and made the decision to concentrate on NAV as the solution of choice. From a support and development standpoint there are few if any packages that can compare. It is not uncommon for most of the companies that I support to only call me once or twice a month after the first year. This is due to the ease of tracking down problems and errors and the ability for a developer to provide the end-user with routines that automatically correct the most basic kind of error
We have used the CRM for the last 9 months to support our sales team. Now we can see interactions, followup practices, opportunities and adjustments in one section. This has allowed us to better service our customers and make sure that followup is done.
