Infor VISUAL vs. ProShop ERP

I struggle to identify a scenario where VISUAL is an appropriate solution. We used VISUAL because it was a legacy system and the cost/complexity of changeover seemed daunting. The user interface is poor as is the interconnectedness of the various screens and menus. This might be an acceptable piece of software for a continuous manufacturing environment with little variation of basic design, but we have had to write multiple add-on macros in order to get VISUAL to work effectively for us.

Incentivized

I can't talk highly enough about ProShop ERP. Their team is never satisfied with how it performs and the features it has in place. ProShop has made our company more efficient in every aspect of how we run a business. We shopped around and we couldn't find a system that does everything that ProShop does. It is the most complete robust system on the market in my opinion.

Incentivized

• Infor Visual has a standard way of addressing business operations: sales orders, invoicing, reporting. It is easy to train operators used to using a manual or other ERP system.
• Material control is easy for production runs, R&D material lists and repairs. The process of receiving, issuing and returning material to inventory is facilitated by standard interfaces that are easily learned by material control operators.
• Engineering changes to bills of material are facilitated by the "engineering Master" flexible editing capability. The version control for the BOM's can be as detailed or vague as the process designed dictates. One item of a BOM or the entire BOM can be changed quickly and approved for production that day.

Incentivized

• ProShop knows how machine shops run and what is required information for all levels of the company.
• Quoting and costing is both quick and thorough. We have confidence in our numbers!
• The support is timely and friendly. They consider all new ideas and explain how to use best use features very well.
• Traceability is above and beyond. We know where everything is, where it came from and where it is going.

• VTA has been extremely unreliable. I would not recommend it. It is not customizable at all. There is no logical way to handle shift differentials which is a huge issue with a company that runs 24/7.
• If you do not have a schedule set up, they cannot clock in. This poses a problem for anyone that gets called in on a shift they don't normally work on.

Incentivized

• Can be slightly overwhelming at first.
• Unless you have a good understanding of how to write script and code the customization pages can be confusing.
• Some of the system notifications can be a little confusing, such as the new rev flag that pops up when the rev for the part changes. We've had some issues with this causing problems to the parts later down the line when trying to transfer duplicate parts to a remake job.

Good Technical and Customer Support during and after implementation tasks. Good Project Plan and Management support for implementation and post implementation. Financial functionality could be more comprehensive particularly with Budgeting and Cash Management. Inventory Management capability was adequate but could be more comprehensive as well. "Out of the Box" functionality was adequate but requested add-ons and enhancements seemed to be a bit pricey.

They continue to make the most affordable and complete ERP on the market for our company size and industry

Incentivized

Because of use cases and easy implementation and the vertical and horizontal scaling.

Incentivized

It was built by people who ran a job shop and it shows

As we have seen the live environment and the use cases where we implement.

Incentivized

Amazing support. Weather small bugs a large feature requests. ProShop's team is always there willing to help assist with any problems.

Incentivized

Could have used more hands-on approach. There are multiple webinars and information sessions but until you actually use the system, these are not very helpful.

Incentivized

We unfortunately did not evaluate any other ERP software. VISUAL was a legacy system and we determined that changing systems would be too difficult, and not cost effective. We reached out to our local VISUAL rep who knew how the software functioned, but not how to apply it more appropriately to our business model, so we continued on with what we had rather than looking elsewhere.

Incentivized

I have used E2 Shoptech for years and evaluated numerous products. For advanced manufacturing, nothing comes close to being as complete as ProShop ERP.

• I cannot comment on business impact.

Incentivized

• Increased Profitability on repeat products
• Ease of review at end of projects
• Ability to requote for customers with changing quantity needs

Incentivized