Winshuttle is great for what you know you need it for, but it is 'Fantastic' for what you DID NOT know you needed it for.
March 24, 2016
Winshuttle is great for what you know you need it for, but it is 'Fantastic' for what you DID NOT know you needed it for.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Winshuttle
At BBraun Medical, Inc, Winshuttle is used by our finance users; accounts payable, accounts receivables, purchasing, production planning, and other departments. This tool eliminated the tedious, redundant day-to-day inputting tasks of manual data entry and other repetitive tasks in SAP with data that may already be in other digital formats.
Winshuttle solutions offer easy-to-use automation tools for end users and functional analysts. These tools allow the user to connect to Microsoft Office applications, Excel or Access, with SAP data, unlike the tools provided by SAP, such as BDC, ABAP, etc., which are too technical for the users.
Winshuttle solutions offer easy-to-use automation tools for end users and functional analysts. These tools allow the user to connect to Microsoft Office applications, Excel or Access, with SAP data, unlike the tools provided by SAP, such as BDC, ABAP, etc., which are too technical for the users.
- One of the issues solved with Winshuttle Transaction; we receive a very large expense file with over 100,000 lines that used to take 2 to 3 days to input manually into SAP. This process now takes minutes. And the issue with SAP's restriction of 999 lines per posting is dealt with by having a second script linked scripts to continue to on with the data to post within the 999 limitations of SAP. This saves our accounts payable person time and wear and tear on their hands.
- Another excellent use of Winshuttle products is using Winshuttle Query, in the area of audit/monitoring of data. When making a sale via a credit card, we can only accept USD. There have been some issues where the person taking the order and doing the charge will accept it in Canadian currency, and this has caused some accounting issues. So to watch that this does not happen, I set up a query to 'watch' a particular field in that process and if that equal field CAD then sends a message. The "CAD CHECK" Query is a little process, but it helps to save time at the end of the line, during close. A small problem solved.
- Now for the large application using Query; the need for SAP data into Excel format was a very large 'pain' issue. The way to get the proper data from SAP into a place where it could be pulled into a formatted template was what was requested by the business owners. I built an SQL Database Tables and Views based on tables and particular fields from SAP. I then created the Winshuttle Queries that would pull the data nightly into files that would then be pulled into the SQL database. This data would then be pulled forward into the front end reporting tool. Winshuttle is helpful for the business user because they did not have to cut and paste all their data from their SAP Report Writer reports into their Excel files
- We use Winshuttle products in various departments - Finance, Controlling, Accounts Payable, Customer Service, Product Costing to mention a few. One of the other ways that I use the product is to support the business with a very large ad-hoc process. The QM department needs to unblock orders for use. Updating Purchase Price 1. There are many ways to use Winshuttle products. My motto for Winshuttle products is: "Winshuttle is great for what you know you need it for, but it is 'Fantastic' for what you DID NOT know you needed it for. Winshuttle is like the insurance policy of data control. You have to get this product! Because you don't know everything you need this product for but when you own it you will find out!"
- I have found that the Winshuttle product and the people at Winshuttle really 'own' their product. There is always room for adjustment and business demands are always changing. I have found that Winshuttle as a company listens to their customers idea's and tries to work those idea's into the product. The product and the company as a whole has stretched, grown changed and adapted to these ideas that the customer base has offered.
- As in all products, there is a learning curve. The previous versions of Winshuttle Transaction and Query were two separate executable programs. When using both products simultaneously - bouncing between the two - Transaction and Query - would slow things down. Winshuttle has just released their new Studio 11 which now offers a more contiguous GUI 'feel'. The access to both products is now in one place. There is a small adjustment period to get acquainted with the new Studio 11 version but it is easy for both the seasoned Winshuttle user and the new user to feel comfortable with the tool.
- When buying a software product some of the considerations for ROI are deployment, product support (external and internal) and when referring to end users: productivity, learning curve and up-time. Not every factor of an ROI equates to money; the Winshuttle product allows for some technical creativity. The "How else can I use the product today?" question can be entertained when owning the Winshuttle products. A company can plan, plan and calculate away but sometimes there are hidden positives about a product that are not known at the time of consideration to purchase. The Winshuttle software offers a chance for the technically creative side of ideas to come into play. The product is only limited by how much you want to stretch it over your ideas.
- There was not a comparative product out on the market that matched Winshutttle when I purchased the product in 2006.
I do not think - from what I have found - there is a comparative to another product. Winshuttle is in a league of its own. There are some other vendors out there, but I have not found a product that can do what Winshuttle does when it comes to SAP data.
Yes, there are other ideas and SAP based answers to data problems, LSMW or ABAP programming and SAP Business Objects or BW. These are all more labor intensive and require IT support to do the builds. The bottom line is, a customer wants a product that allows the business user to be able to meet their data demands with autonomy. And the Cost center owner does not want to break the bank or have a grandstanding deployment of something. Winshuttle products blend right into the stride of the business flow. And it is easy to support internally. I have found these point to be true in my case.