Sage 500 ERP vs. Viewpoint Vista

Sage 500 ERP is great for companies with core accounting needs, distributors, and discrete manufacturers. Some areas, such as process manufacturing, would require a companion product from an ISV for the software to be truly functional. Some areas, such as construction or retail apparel, may simply not be well-served.

Incentivized

The company has made a commitment to the use of the Vista products and continue to move forward trying to implement more with the Vista HR Management. From timekeeping to onboarding in the near future we strive to look for better ways to utilize the products for our accounting and payroll purposes.

Incentivized

• Sage is the one-stop-shop for all of our needs. We're able to control contracts, subcontracts, and field reports from the program.
• Another strength is the ability to database all the information and export it to excel. This makes data-based investigations a breeze.
• The ability for Timberscan to be imported to Sage is a huge help with invoice management. Prior to this it all had to be done manually and slowed the process to an essential halt as there are thousands of invoices per month.

Incentivized

• New employee on-boarding and personnel management
• Full spectrum accounting management (AP/AR/Payroll)
• Project management from contract award through project close-out
• Data security management, reporting and anlysis
• Equipment full lifespan management for costs, revenue and location tracking
• User Database allows for built-in customization capabilities to fit the most unique business requirements

• The biggest concern/complaint of Sage 500 users is speed. Some of the screen take a while to load.
• The user interface needs some refreshing. Screens need to be updated to take advantage of shortcuts and to be more intuitive.

Incentivized

• Its history is that most entries are transaction-based, requiring batch processing. Some of these could be moved to background batch processing so the batching would be more transparent to the user.
• More data needs to be available on mobile devices. They are making a move in this direction, which is good.
• Some screens allow flexibility of viewing data in grid views, but the export of this data to Excel could be improved. This is mostly seen in Workcenters.

It's too pricey for our size of company.

Incentivized

It's very customizable and accessible outside of Vista itself (SQL, Excel, home grown programs, etc.), but Viewpoint is very slow at fixing bugs and adding suggestions from their suggestion box. If this last area was better, I would have given this a 9 or 10.

I think that Vista's is an easy program to use very user friendly with lots of help features to allow the user to fix an issue without having to put a support call into Vista. The reporting and exporting capability's are strong.

Incentivized

Only issue is when there is an upgrade - it takes several times to get back logged in. Otherwise no issues with getting on to the program. We are set up on lap top or on the remote desk top. Works 90% of the time

No issue downloading the reports - I do find sometimes it is easier to export and save than it is to print to a pdf. Options on the different reports not consistent. You can print a couple projects on the JC Contract Status Report - but you have to do each project for the JC Cost by contract item - when neither one is a drill down - not a big deal

Support has deteriorated greatly than what it was years ago when we joined. We always used to get a call back same day and within an hour or so for critical issues. Sometimes now it's no response or very delayed. Knowledge of the support team is also lacking. Many issues we figure out workarounds ourselves instead of calling

I was not part of the in person training. I am assuming the training went well - but I did all my training through viewpoint academy.

The online training courses are not up to date. We experienced technical issues with two of the classes.

Incentivized

Excellent training! They keep you on track to insure your implementation is going as planned. There are ample ways to receive additional training and training can be provided by position type. If you put on the effort, the training is there.

Keep your database and application in different servers.
Install Microsoft Office on your application server so you can use some of the data analysis tools in Sage.

Incentivized

The trainer Viewpoint sent did not understand the processes, he only knew where the modules were located. He had no understanding of the actual process itself.

Incentivized

500 seems much smoother at handling some of the basic accounting tasks, for example both issuing and later reconciling checks in Dynamics AX seems a little tedious.

Incentivized

I personally have not used another ERP system other than Viewpoint Vista. I am sure there are others out there, but from listening to my managers experiences before Great Basin Industrial implemented Viewpoint, the other options were less superior to what Viewpoint offers. I think if you are looking for an ERP system in the construction industry, then Viewpoint is the way to go

Incentivized

I wasn't part of the integration.

Incentivized

For a small business - this program is well used in the accounting and operations. The two different work plans are set up for success. Alot of the programs we do not use - but like the reports that are generated - one disadvantage if you do not know crystal reports you cannot edit your form to meet your needs so there is a lot of printing different several forms to get all the information you need.

I wasn't part of the integration.

Incentivized

• Positive: The program allows for a lot of data entry and splitting of information. It has the capability of replacing multiple programs and therefore saving cost.
• Negative: The modules are cumbersome and not user friendly at all. As a result not many user are comfortable using it. This means that the program is not being used to its capacity.
• Negative: Although the program has the capacity to be great, the user interface destroys that potential. Sage needs to seriously work on their program to simplify it. It's as if it still uses Command-line entries from 1995. Needs to be updated ASAP.

Incentivized

• we are still working through connectivity issues which pretty much puts us dead in the water when we lose internet
• The standard reports that are a part of Vista need to be finagled for us to us them. They don't have all of the parameters and/or prompts that we need to report on

Incentivized