Likelihood to Recommend 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.
Read full review Unanet is a great system and has really helped our managers gain more insight to their projects. We have faster timesheet completion rates which leads to faster billing. We have been very happy with the system but there are some trial and error scenarios where it takes us some time to actually get the data needed or use the system the way we need it to be utilized. Thankfully they do have a great support staff that assists with issues as they arise.
Read full review Pros 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. Read full review The time keeping component works well. It gives a level of confidentiality we did not have in our previous home grown system. We are able to set up projects based on a number of criteria, allowing us to differentiate for reporting purposes. We can easily import billing information into our Financial system from Unanet, when previously we would manually enter this information. Read full review Cons 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. Read full review Would like to be able to search for users by first name as well as last name. Would like to be able to modify save and share some of the canned reports. Read full review Likelihood to Renew 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.
Read full review Usability 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.
Read full review Reliability and Availability 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.
Read full review Support Rating 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.
Read full review The support of Unanet is incredible, A simple email to their support team always gets a response in less than 24 hours and is really solutions focused. Unanet support is the best out there- guaranteed
Read full review Implementation Rating 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!
Read full review Alternatives Considered 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.
Read full review We were used to Deltek's Costpoint from the prior company and Unanet is far easier to use for users, accounting personnel, project managers, and corporate managers. Continuous enhancements lead us to believe that Unanet will be even better in meeting our needs.
Read full review Scalability Since the backbone of the database is MS SQLServer, the database can be easily scaled.
Read full review Return on Investment 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. Read full review Increased employee efficiency - less back end work for incorrect submissions. Better results with profit analysis of profits on an ongoing basis. Read full review ScreenShots Unanet ERP GovCon Screenshots