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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Microsoft Dynamics SL

    Score5.1 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft 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.N/A

    Quadient Inspire

    Score9.5 out of 10
    Enterprise companies (1,001+ employees)
    Quadient Inspire offers a customer experience management portfolio that provides human-centric communication solutions that span the entire customer lifecycle, to help organizations to create meaningful connections with their customers, wherever, whenever they prefer.N/A
    Pricing
    Microsoft Dynamics SLQuadient Inspire
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Microsoft Dynamics SLQuadient Inspire
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details—The solution is highly modular. Pricing may differ a lot depending on usage and configuration.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Microsoft Dynamics SLQuadient Inspire
    Considered Both Products
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    Quadient
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Would buy again
    33 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    30 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    33 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    23 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    28 Answers
    Features
    Microsoft Dynamics SLQuadient Inspire
    Payroll Management
    Comparison of Payroll Management features of Microsoft Dynamics SL and Quadient Inspire
    Feature
    Microsoft Dynamics SL
    8.5
    2 Ratings
    12% above category average
    Quadient Inspire
    -
    Ratings
    Pay calculation9.62 Ratings00 Ratings
    Direct deposit files9.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Customization
    Comparison of Customization features of Microsoft Dynamics SL and Quadient Inspire
    Feature
    Microsoft Dynamics SL
    6.0
    6 Ratings
    23% below category average
    Quadient Inspire
    -
    Ratings
    API for custom integration6.06 Ratings00 Ratings
    Plug-ins6.04 Ratings00 Ratings
    Security
    Comparison of Security features of Microsoft Dynamics SL and Quadient Inspire
    Feature
    Microsoft Dynamics SL
    8.7
    10 Ratings
    3% above category average
    Quadient Inspire
    -
    Ratings
    Single sign-on capability7.49 Ratings00 Ratings
    Role-based user permissions10.09 Ratings00 Ratings
    Reporting & Analytics
    Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Microsoft Dynamics SL and Quadient Inspire
    Feature
    Microsoft Dynamics SL
    8.0
    10 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Quadient Inspire
    -
    Ratings
    Dashboards8.06 Ratings00 Ratings
    Standard reports8.010 Ratings00 Ratings
    Custom reports8.010 Ratings00 Ratings
    General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
    Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Microsoft Dynamics SL and Quadient Inspire
    Feature
    Microsoft Dynamics SL
    7.1
    11 Ratings
    8% below category average
    Quadient Inspire
    -
    Ratings
    Accounts payable6.011 Ratings00 Ratings
    Accounts receivable6.08 Ratings00 Ratings
    Global Financial Support6.02 Ratings00 Ratings
    Primary and Secondary Ledgers6.63 Ratings00 Ratings
    Journals and Reconciliations3.04 Ratings00 Ratings
    Configurable Accounting8.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Standardized Processes6.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Inventory Management
    Comparison of Inventory Management features of Microsoft Dynamics SL and Quadient Inspire
    Feature
    Microsoft Dynamics SL
    5.7
    6 Ratings
    33% below category average
    Quadient Inspire
    -
    Ratings
    Inventory tracking5.06 Ratings00 Ratings
    Location management6.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Order Management
    Comparison of Order Management features of Microsoft Dynamics SL and Quadient Inspire
    Feature
    Microsoft Dynamics SL
    6.2
    4 Ratings
    24% below category average
    Quadient Inspire
    -
    Ratings
    Pricing6.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Order entry3.04 Ratings00 Ratings
    Credit card processing7.02 Ratings00 Ratings
    Cost of goods sold7.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Subledger and Financial Process
    Comparison of Subledger and Financial Process features of Microsoft Dynamics SL and Quadient Inspire
    Feature
    Microsoft Dynamics SL
    5.7
    4 Ratings
    28% below category average
    Quadient Inspire
    -
    Ratings
    Billing Management6.02 Ratings00 Ratings
    Cash and Asset Management7.33 Ratings00 Ratings
    Travel & Expense Management5.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Budgetary Control & Encumbrance Accounting6.32 Ratings00 Ratings
    Period Close6.04 Ratings00 Ratings
    Project Financial Management
    Comparison of Project Financial Management features of Microsoft Dynamics SL and Quadient Inspire
    Feature
    Microsoft Dynamics SL
    4.7
    3 Ratings
    47% below category average
    Quadient Inspire
    -
    Ratings
    Budgeting and Forecasting7.33 Ratings00 Ratings
    Project Costing6.33 Ratings00 Ratings
    Cost Capture2.12 Ratings00 Ratings
    Capital Project Management8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Project Revenue Recognition2.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Grants Management
    Comparison of Grants Management features of Microsoft Dynamics SL and Quadient Inspire
    Feature
    Microsoft Dynamics SL
    6.3
    1 Ratings
    17% below category average
    Quadient Inspire
    -
    Ratings
    Award Lifecycle Management6.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Manufacturing
    Comparison of Manufacturing features of Microsoft Dynamics SL and Quadient Inspire
    Feature
    Microsoft Dynamics SL
    6.0
    1 Ratings
    22% below category average
    Quadient Inspire
    -
    Ratings
    Production Management6.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Supply Chain
    Comparison of Supply Chain features of Microsoft Dynamics SL and Quadient Inspire
    Feature
    Microsoft Dynamics SL
    6.0
    1 Ratings
    20% below category average
    Quadient Inspire
    -
    Ratings
    Inventory Planning6.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Microsoft Dynamics SLQuadient Inspire
    Small Businesses
    Zoho One
    Score9.2 out of 10
    GoTo Connect
    Score8 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Zoho One
    Score9.2 out of 10
    GoTo Connect
    Score8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Microsoft Dynamics AX (discontinued)
    Score4.8 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Microsoft Dynamics SLQuadient Inspire
    Likelihood to Recommend
    5.0
    (18 ratings)
    9.5
    (38 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    5.4
    (8 ratings)
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    Usability
    3.0
    (7 ratings)
    9.5
    (22 ratings)
    Availability
    9.9
    (2 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    1.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.5
    (4 ratings)
    7.9
    (21 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Online Training
    1.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.0
    (4 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.3
    (5 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    1.0
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    1.4
    (2 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Professional Services
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.9
    (5 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Microsoft Dynamics SLQuadient Inspire
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Microsoft
    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.
    Incentivized
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    Quadient
    Scenarios where Quadient Inspire is well suited - When we want to create some content which can be reused, as we create blocks in Quadient which has some data in it, and these blocks can be reused. When we want to create consistent content and want to deliver it through omni-channel medium in large volume, as Quadient Inspire makes delivery of large volume communications possible, and it does so in mere seconds. Scenarios where Quadient Inspire is less appropriate - sometimes it feels like editing in a Word document is easier than Quadient Inspire, e.g., when we need to add bullet points in the content.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Microsoft
    • 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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Quadient
    • Highly flexible data ingestion
    • Clear and powerful workflow design that makes support easy to understand as teams evolve
    • Great internal debugging tool that simplifies and accelerates the development cycle
    • Powerful scripting structure available at nearly every aspect of data management, composition, and finishing allowing for specialized requirements not available in the standard toolset to be met
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Microsoft
    • 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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Quadient
    • Within CJM: Not easy to share maps with a large group of people, still needs to be done on an individual basis which is time-consuming.
    • Not able to unload all file types into maps. It would be great to have video.
    • There are a lot of third-party suppliers that make up the full services in Inspire. This limits the development that Quadient can do to.
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Microsoft
    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.
    Incentivized
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    Quadient
    We are using Quadient Inspire products since last 5 years. And we are able to achieve everything with respect to the customer's needs and desired output. Quadient is adding new very important features every day that make document structure very easy for developers and end users. We would like to stick with Quadient for a long time.
    Read full review
    Usability
    Microsoft
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Quadient
    There are parts of the product that are extremely easy to use, but it can be hard to build it up to get to that point. I'm a power user and I know I've only barely scratched the surface, but the transactional users barely have to lift a finger to get their letters out. There's a lot more that can be done if I had the time and resources to devote to improving our letters more and there are times when the interface is in my way as to meeting those goals, but by and large, it's a swift and easy to use program.
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Microsoft
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Quadient
    I am giving this rating because Quadient products are highly available. Most of the time all Quadient products are available. In some cases Quadient always follows the planned schedule and maintenance. They always inform all the partners and clients a day or two in advance so that the clients can work accordingly.
    Read full review
    Performance
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Quadient
    I want you to rate the performance of the Quadient Inspire 9 out of 10. Because every time we work with Quadient products I never feel any sluggishness and any performance issue. Along with this, one thing that we all should understand is that the performance of any application also depends on the computer hardware. So along with the software application, your hardware should also meet the minimum requirements.
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Microsoft
    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.
    Incentivized
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    Quadient
    Overall Quadient team is very responsive and willing to come to the table and provide valuable information and resolution for problems. What tier of support you have would defiantly impact the experience you have. Had some challenges with a few members of the support team , but when brought up with the vendor it was quickly resolved
    Incentivized
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    In-Person Training
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Quadient
    I had a couple of weeks of training back in 2005 on the Quadient premises in Hradec Kralowe. The instructor was just great! Besides showing as normal functionalities, he went so far to solve our concrete challenges. He actually encouraged me to become a "real" programmer. I have written my first lines of code in Inspire (GMC PrintNetT) and never looked back.
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Quadient
    Quadient offers online training for all of its products (paid service). You can choose your pace and go through the material and then solve real challenges. At the end, you can choose to take a final assignment and get certification which is a really good thing to do. If you get stuck, the training team will answer any of your questions and give you guidance.
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Microsoft
    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!
    Incentivized
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    Quadient
    As you consider your digital transformation, think of the people who may object. They have valid criticisms, valuable insights and information critical to your success. Quadient’s advice is to build a strong internal team and confront these questions early. When everyone understands the project from their perspective, the project has a better chance of success.
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    Alternatives Considered
    Microsoft
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Quadient
    The above drop down would not allow me to pick the similar products that I have used previously. Planet Pres : Good in its time. Now very slow compared with Quadient. Compart: As quick... If not slightly quicker than Quadient. This does not counteract how difficult this software is to use. It has no GUI interface and even advanced programmers struggle to use it. Both of these products are inferior to Quadient when it comes to implementing within a normal organisation.
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    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Quadient
    Not really. It's not cheap, but it's a great value for what you get. This is enterprise-level software and the cost reflects that. The pay-per-page aspect makes sense too. We get a lot of sheets included in our contract and we use them all. It's a good contract with pricing that makes sense.
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    Scalability
    Microsoft
    Since the backbone of the database is MS SQLServer, the database can be easily scaled.
    Incentivized
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    Quadient
    I am giving this rating because Quadient products are very reliable. Quadient products can be deployed across multiple departments and sites as needed. We can integrate Quadient products with other applications and tools in a very effective, efficient and flexible way. We can deploy Quadient products in Cloud as well.
    Read full review
    Professional Services
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Quadient
    The PSO team is very involved and knowledgeable. Some times there are availability issues due to the number of companies they are supporting but they do their best to deliver on time. PSO cost aren't cheap, but they deliver a big bang for the buck especially on critical projects or involving them in strategic approaches/decisions.
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Microsoft
    • More time is spent on manipulating reports which can and should be automated.
    • Lack of electronic invoicing process and other green technology features creates more cost on printing and storage costs.
    • The lack of a user friendly interface requires more training and a bigger learning curve for staff.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Quadient
    • Since purchasing Inspire we have won many business opportunities as it enables us to create documents we couldn't do before, for example: Council Tax Bills.
    • It is a lot faster at processing than our previous software. We had one job we had to extract addresses from, it was 56,000 records from a 5.5million line text file. Our previous software took 26 hours to pull out the addresses, Quadient Inspire took 43 seconds!
    • We are able to automate processes through Inspire via CLI batch files, where a job would normally take 30 minutes to set up and process, a bit of time spent on the workflow and automation script means we can just double click a batch file for repeat jobs and the print file is created in seconds.
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots

    Quadient Inspire Screenshots

    Screenshot of Inspire's customer journey mapping , used to identify gaps and pain points in the customer journey.Screenshot of the Quadient Digital Advantage Suite, which enables users to develop personalized mobile and web experiences that are integrated with core systems and aligned with non-digital communication channels.Screenshot of Inspire’s omnichannel preview, which lets users see how the communication will look on a variety of devices and screens.Screenshot of the Inspire Interactive interface used to create personalized ad-hoc communications with pre-approved blocks of content.Screenshot of where users can accept or reject content changes via a ‘change tracking feature that maintains a real-time audit trail.Screenshot of Quadient-hosted public Container Registry, which allows users to download and configure pre-built container images of Inspire Flex, saving dev time.