ProShop ERP vs. Viewpoint Spectrum

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

The Installation team is amazing. They provide clear guidance at the beginning of the process regarding what is expected and what needs to be done. The implementation manager follows up monthly with you to make sure you are on track and if you need additional help. They are very helpful and responsive in resolving issues.

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.

• Job Costing - Viewpoint Spectrum handles job costing per project, per work order, per site, and gives us an up to date analysis of the project.
• HR - helps to keep all of the training certifications and HR incidents in a consistent and manageable order for all Managers to use.

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.

• Support isn't readily available. You can submit a ticket and wait days before it's picked up. Even critical issues (system outages) can wait an hour or two before someone responds.
• Large companies will feel limited. This product wasn't designed to handle large amounts of data, and performance seems to slow when there are more than 80 concurrent users.
• The new developments are limited. HR Management is less robust than a third-party product specializing in HR Management. Viewpoint Analytics is nowhere near as robust as Power BI or Tableau.

Incentivized

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

Incentivized

The product is working for us and the cost to implement a new system does not warrant the expense.

Incentivized

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

There's a little bit of a learning curve, but once you've been working in the system for a while, it becomes second nature. I would say that out of all of the other software that I've personally used, Spectrum has been the easiest one to pick up and learn quickly

Incentivized

I've never seen Spectrum down

For the most part the product is very reliable. Since we are hosted we sometimes have connectivity issues but I would say that is more our ISP than Spectrum.

Incentivized

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

Incentivized

The support has recently changed. Last year, you could call in and get an immediate response. Now that doesn't seem possible unless you have an urgent situation with access to the software, payroll or payables. I have found that using chat or e-mail works nicely for the most part, but sometimes I feel it would be easier if someone from support would jump on our site and take a first-hand look rather than going back and forth

Incentivized

Our trainer was excellent and navigated the time zone differences expertly. She gave us test assignments to complete and was available for questions at any time.

Incentivized

My only insight would be to take time in your implementation and training process; ours was six weeks from start to finish.

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 have previously used Sage Masterbuilder, another construction industry software. This has been a number of years ago. The company I am working for already had Spectrum and have been using it for as long as it has been around when it was known as Forefront. Based on conversations I've had with the personnel that were here at the time of purchase, Spectrum clicked off all the boxes they were looking for.

Incentivized

You can grant user specific access which is nice. Project managers do not need all the same modules as Accounting. But Accounting does need access to PM modules as well

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

Incentivized

• [In my opinion,] it takes at LEAST twice as long to do our jobs now.
• [I feel like] we are paranoid about something not being printed correctly because of [what I believe are] buggy text fields.
• [In my experience,] we still have to refer to a physical file cabinet with paper, even though a main point of switching was to go paperless.
• [In our experience,] screens can now be "locked", so we can't see something if our coworker is also looking at it.
• [I believe that] the financial hit our company took from this switch was astronomical. [In my opinion:] Beware!