Item: M1
Rating: 8
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use M1 as our full enterprise planning resource business system. It is critical in every aspect of our business from Sales, Purchasing, Bill of Materials, Inventory, HR and payroll, Quality Control, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, General Ledger and Fixed Asset Management. It is most helpful in maintaining and ordering appropriate stock levels based on Sales Order demand.

Pros and Cons

Inventory Management
Bill of Materials
Financial Accounting

Easier to create custom reports
More flexible when performing physical inventory counts
More user friendly scheduling function

Return on Investment

Increased time savings with better data management tools
Decreased inventory costs with better planning data
Increased product profitability margins with better cost data

Usability

M1 is highly customizable in my experience. The grids are very easy to customize as long as the user has a basic understanding of relational databases. The reports are also very customizable but are a little more difficult without being a heavy Crystal Report user. Also, the field names, input forms, etc. can be customized as well, but this requires advanced programming knowledge. I would recommend using M1's professional support staff to make any of these types of customizations.

Analytics for Efficiency

The dashboards offer a real time visualization of whatever data you would like to see. As the Controller, I have setup bar graphs of Sales order totals by month, scheduled shipments by month, Purchase Orders by Month, PO receipts due by month, payroll totals by month and billings by month. This allows me to get a visual snapshot of current business conditions and to prepare for any cash inflows or outflows that may be on the horizon.

Key Insights

Do you think M1 delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with M1's feature set?

Yes

Did M1 live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of M1 go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy M1 again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access, Google Sheets

Likelihood to Recommend

In our case, as a small custom manufacturing company, M1 has been a very good solution to managing our day to day business. It is robust enough to serve as a complete ERP solution without being cost prohibitive. I'm not sure how appropriate it would be for larger size businesses. Also, it's very customizable out of the box. But it takes some time to figure out what works best for your particular business.

M1 Software Review

Overall Satisfaction with M1