Infor VISUAL vs. Sage X3

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 wouldn't suggest this ERP for small organizations, especially if there is no IT staff. While they do offer support packages, they can be costly as certain packages limit the number of times you can call in. Hiring an outside consulting firm to support is another route, however that could become costly as well. Medium to large businesses with savvy tech staff would be a good fit for this ERP.

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

• Easy to understand software for new users.
• Journal entry and review process is easy.
• Sage is efficient in tracking multi subsidiary transactions.

Incentivized

• 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

• Complications in configuration. Had to use a third party vendor to help us customize the system so we could better use it within the organization. This added additional expense
• Some error messages are in French. If you aren't French, or can't speak French, this makes it pretty hard to troubleshoot
• If you want to customize reports, you need to know Crystal Reporting (at least for the version I am using)

Incentivized

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.

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

Incentivized

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

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

Sage has quite less setup cost and was easy to setup. Sage is capable of managing multi subsidiary transactions. It was easy for our team members to learn and start using. Team leads has some issues while approving invoices initially but it was fine later. Sage is a good option for mid scale manufacturing firms

Incentivized

• I cannot comment on business impact.

Incentivized

• Created efficiencies within the organization.
• Centralized data input and retrieval.
• Can be an expensive undertaking for an SMB.

Incentivized