Product Reviews
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ACCPAC

The ACCPAC offers a total solution for Warehouse Management using a Web and handheld device-based solution for SMB's. The software is fully integrated with ACCPAC Advantage Series and ACCPAC Pro Series accounting systems and other ACCPAC end-to-end business management applications. ACCPAC WMS improves inventory control, reduces paperwork, increases stock handling efficiency and accuracy, and provides customer-facing employees with an up-to-date window on warehouse operations that significantly improves customer relations.  Some of the modules that are included in the system are:

• Kitting features - the process of picking, packing and shipping a product is tracked in a single stock-keeping unit (SKU). 

• Serialized Inventory Control - provides attribute control and serial number support for serial stock-move operations and validation.

• LTL Bills of Lading Manifest Tracking - this feature is useful for companies who frequently ship partial loads.  It allows for Less than Truck Load (LTL) quantities in the bills of lading manifests.

• Inventory Management Tools - replenishment features to manage reallocation and replenishment of inventory with visibility of unallocated inventory in real-time.

• Picking Processes ("Supermarket Picking") - fill multiple orders simultaneously.

• Security Features - advanced permission configurations.

• Competitive Pricing - starting at an SRP of $30,000 (USD).

The ACCPAC WMS production entry provides a bill of materials, as well as sales kits and configurations.

 

Axapta                                                                                                           top

Great Plains                                                                                                    top
 

Macola                                                                                         top

The Exact Macola Progression product line consists of  manufacturing, distribution, and accounting software. Macola Progression has a rich, deep history of providing accounting software solutions for the distribution and manufacturing markets in particular. The product has particularly strong inventory features and is therefore well-suited for both distribution and manufacturing situations. Today Macola offers 13 modules related to manufacturing, that have recently been re-deployed with clean Windows programming and running atop the Microsoft SQL Server database. 

Long Standing Low Cost Solution - Originally developed in Cobol, Macola was a stand out product in the 80's offering the only comprehensive manufacturing solution its' price range. They word on the street was "if Macola Progression didn't meet your needs, you'd better get out your checkbook - because the next best products costs four to ten times more than Macola. Today, Exact Macola continues to offer high functionality for relatively low prices. 

Mixed Environments - Progression allows you to operate Progression as either a full 32-bit application, a 16-bit environment, or a mixture of 16-bit and 32-bit client workstations. Progression 16-bit and Progression 32-bit can use the same database.  For example, if you modify a screenset, the modification will be available in both 16-bit and 32-bit Progression. Macola’s Progression SQL product line is a full 32-bit application which does not run in a 16-bit environment.

Great Customization - Macola has done a very good job deploying it's customization capabilities which includes blank user definable fields. The product has 28 modules and is integrated with popular add-on applications such as FRx, Crystal Reports, F9, BEST! Fixed Assets, EDI from Electronic Commerce Corporation, and Enterprise POs fro FYI Systems. It is interesting to note that a lot of the other accounting vendors have used Macola Progression as their module product when it comes to designing their own manufacturing strategy. The product employs Visual Basic for Applications for end user modifications and either the Btrieve or the Microsoft SQL Server engine to power the data. Being located in Marion, Ohio is both a blessing a curse. On the one hand, the cost of living is very reasonable for both the company and its employees, the community is great, and the people who live there truly enjoy the area. However, in this competitive day and age, finding-high powered programmers who are willing to relocate to smaller communities is often tough. You may have read stories recently in the Wall Street Journal in which programmers are being offered $60,000 BMW convertible automobiles as incentives for employment. Other companies such as Solomon (Findlay, Ohio) and Great Plains (Fargo, North Dakota) fight this battle as well. All of these companies have faced a very competitive marketplace when it comes to bring in the talent needed to construct a state of the art application these days.

Interesting Web Site References - The Exact Software website asks customers to enter a series of selection criteria (industry, employee numbers, country, etc). The web site then returns  a country map with customer reference locations identified, as well as contact information for the reference.  This is a great way for prospective customers to check references.

Click here to visit this site.
 

Intuit Eclipse                                                                                                   top

Intuit Eclipse includes a search engine that can be used to locate records by almost any given identifier.  Search tool uses sophisticated indexing, merging, and phonetic matching to filter data.  The database can be manipulated through the flexible data management environment.  Data fields for a large group of records can be updated.  The records can be exported from Eclipse to a SQL database for offline reporting and analysis.

Eclipse’s warehouse module includes Advanced Ship Notices to facilitate the receiving process, miss shipment tracking, coordinate multiple stocking locations, set order fulfillments, assign location statuses, sequence delivery orders and transfers by shipper, download shipping manifest to PDA for electronic shipping signature for shipping confirmation, review tickets that have been processed but physical inventory has not been utilized, check status of sales order, purchase order, or transfers, transaction checks to alert personnel of inventory level discrepancies, and automatically route priority orders to the most efficient path.

The purchasing and inventory modules enable the user to expand and subtract the order cycle to maximize the purchasing dollar, calculate carrying costs when the vendor targets are not met, calculate product demand based on sales hits for branch and network analysis,  create flexible procurement schemes for both distributive and centralized purchasing and warehousing.  The inventory module contains processes to that handle unlimited descriptions, order entry reminders, substitute products, UPC codes, MSDS tracking, and user classifications.  The modules can be used for multiple locations and use real-time technology.
 

Epicor                                                                                                                top

Epicor eDistribution has features for sales order management, inventory control, purchasing, assembly, quality control, and integrates with other modules to provide information that spans the entire organization.  The inventory control system can manage inventory across multiple locations includes a bar coding system and uses determinants to maintain appropriate inventory levels.  Forecasting techniques include top down / bottom up, promotions and seasonability.  Inventory activity is monitored so that management can identify items that need attention.  Slow moving items, for example, can be labeled as such.   

Purchasing activities can be automated and streamlined with the creation of blanket purchase orders.  Costs can be monitored using performance charts that can identify vendor problems.   This module provides methods to more efficiently enter purchase orders, receipts, returns, matches and adjustments.

Facts                                                                                                                top

The Facts software includes modules that manage the bill of materials and formulation, production planning, automatic general ledger posting, usage / cost change analysis, BOM and formulation history, bill of materials inquiries, and many related reports.  Inventory is tracked for appropriate restocking, transfers, total counts, and costing / pricing.   Items are categorized as on-hand, on-order, backordered, and committed quantities.   Production tickets are generated and used by warehouse staff to locate inventory items.  The system will provide a requirements report that analysis cost changes for up to five time periods based on production planning.
 

The inventory control module has features that help to minimize over stocking and increase service levels.  It was designed to utilize the most up to date technologies and methodologies while maintaining a user-friendly environment.  It was designed to continuously capture new data and use it to dynamically recalculate replenishment controls.  The inventory module also contains a feature that updates the system's prices electronically with defined external data sources for importing the prices and product information.

The manufacturing controls support both the BOM (Bill of Materials) as well as formulation.  The system also has options to automatically distribute and post to the correct General Ledger accounts for a complete audit trail.  The system provides a complete components list along with the packing requirements,  production overhead, labor and cost analysis.

MAS 500                                                                                                             top

MAS 500 contains many features that provide optimal functionality for a variety of industries including job costing.  Some of the most notable Advanced Features are listed below:

• 100 character user-defined account structure

• Sophisticated and configurable search engine

• Multicompany/Intercompany processing

• Multicurrency processing

• Sophisticated inventory replenishment, including Gordon Graham methodologies

• Multi-warehouse/multi-bin support

• Warehouse, ship-to, requested date, by line in sales order and purchase order

• Comprehensive pricing and costing

• Physical inventory using cycle counts

• Three-step warehouse transfers

• Automated e-mail distribution of sales orders, purchase orders and invoices

• Direct output of query results to printer or Excel spreadsheet

• Supports scheduling and material planning for multiple manufacturing facilities

• Ability to handle co-products and multiple parts produced per Work Order

• Integrated multimedia with ability to view images, video, and audio files directly

• Product Configurator generates new items on the fly as well as configured routings/BOMs based on user-defined options/values and configuration rules

• eExecutive provides a browser snapshot for busy executives

• Explorer provides in-depth query tools in a single place
  
  Reporting

• Crystal Reports 8.0 ships with System Manager and all standard and business reports are developed with Crystal. Runtime parameters are provided for all reports allowing users to define sort and select criteria without modifying source code. Stored procedures are used to extract report data providing enhanced report performance. Report source code is delivered allowing easy customization.

• FRx Desktop V 6.0 ships with the General Ledger providing a powerful financial reporting environment. Drill down from a financial report to the accounting application is supported.

• Best Office, delivered with the base application, provides a seamless way for users to easily extract accounting data to desktop productivity tools such as Word and Excel.

• Output query results to a printer or Excel spreadsheet.
  
  Customization

• Customizer allows end users to customize existing forms. Customization options include: modifying existing controls, adding new controls and adding procedural code using VBScript with access reuses controlled by site, company, security group or user.

• Application Framework includes Visual basic controls, tools, and utilities that together form the infrastructure on which MAS 500 is built. 

• Source Code is available by module and provides the ability to extensively customize the MAS 500 product. 

• Application programming interfaces allow simpler integration to most MAS 500 transactions.
  
  Third Party Integrated Products

• Warehouse Management

• Shipping Management

• EDI

• Quality Assurance

• Deferred Revenue

• Fund Accounting

• E-Commerce

• OLAP

• Fax Integration

• Credit Card Authorization

• Sales Tax Integration

NxTrend                                                                                                             top

NXTrend's software market focus has been primarily for the electrical, air conditioning, and plumbing industries. Their product line, Strategic Exchange (SX), facilitates the flow and access of information among suppliers, distributors, and customers.  They also offer a wide range of services including business consulting, product support, and education.  They have been operational for 17 years and they have nearly 800 employees and eight different company locations.

NxTrend software facilitates the distribution process through the receiving, order picking, material handling, and order packing / shipping feedback modules.  Shipping and receiving functions include receiving products against a purchase order, multiple PO’s, or an Advanced Shipping Notice received via Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).  The system handles backorders and purchase order updates as well as vendor cross-referencing from hand held data collection devices.  NxTrend can also generate bar code labels and integrates with wireless terminals.   The wireless cycle and physical count are obtained using Radio Frequency (RF) technology.

The NxTrend utilizes optimized picking algorithms and cross dock routing for the picking process.   The system also contains kitting and light manufacturing capabilities and can account for on-line shipping manifest and package tracking systems.  The Total Warehouse Logistics product handles WMS workflow issues including receiving, product movement, shipping, picking, and counting.  

Profit 21                                                                                                               top

Profit 21's CommerceCenter's offers a high-performance, standards-based application architecture.  It can accommodate evolving customer needs and technologies as it is highly customizable. It utilizes the Microsoft Windows 2000 platform and SQL Server RDBMS and was designed for small organizations large enterprises.

• Customer-Centric Operations provide the order processing and management tools, coupled with customer relationship management functionality, necessary to anticipate customer's needs.

• Supply Chain Management offers a powerful range of features that manage procurement, inventory, and warehouse activities for order-of-magnitude operational improvement.

• Financial Management provides a flexible, fully integrated financial suite that adapts to your specific business rules for optimal financial management.

• Workflow automates business tasks, identifies exceptions, and generates alerts, while eliminating paperwork, cutting costs, and increasing efficiency.

• Business Reporting and Analysis features powerful tools that improve decision making by summarizing key data, identifying trends, and enabling forecasts.

• System and Data Messaging Utilities optimize system performance and enable interoperability and connectivity with trading partners.

• Electronic Commerce seamlessly integrates with Trading Partner Connect, Prophet 21's Internet trading network that streamlines the procurement process between distributors and their suppliers, facilitates interaction and inventory visibility among distributors, provides a comprehensive "sell-side" solution, and enables connectivity to the world's leading end-user focused vertical marketplaces and exchanges.
  

 

SouthWare                                                                                                         top

SouthWare is generally targeted towards companies with revenues between $2 million to $50 million; however it has the horse power to meet the needs of many companies with revenue up to $100 million and beyond. To the best of my knowledge, SouthWare is typically used by companies with 5 to 25 users, but I know for certain that there are large SouthWare implementations out there with more than 250 simultaneous users each day. (For example, a  SouthWare dealer who supports large installations of SouthWare is Mark Henry of JFM Management and his contact information in Chicago is as follows: mhenry@jfminc.com, (312) 644-0870. He claims that one of his customers has 300-user licenses.) SouthWare runs on your choice of more than 600 combinations of platforms, operating systems, and databases. 

All together, SouthWare Excellence Series offers 36 separate modules. These modules and selected key benefits for each module are summarized below.

1. A/R INVOICING ADAPTER - Maintain detailed invoice histories, supports service codes, returns, price adjustments, retainage, credit limit checking, unlimited lines of text on the invoice, miscellaneous charges, added fields, invoice notes, and end of day sales register.

2. ACCOUNTS PAYABLE - Maintains 5 years of history for each vendor, supports multiple discounts, one-time vendors, payments on hold, customer refunds, check voiding, 1099 forms, and recurring transactions.

3. ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE - Maintain 5 years of history for each customer, supports customer notes, invoice notes, added fields, multiple bill-to and ship-to addresses, open item or balance forward invoicing, commissions based on profit, automatic late fees, reprinting of invoices and vendor refunds.

4. AcuODBC VISION DRIVER & AcuXFD TECHNOLOGY - ODBC Connectivity provides the ability to export data to ODBC compliant applications such as Microsoft Excel.

5. ASSEMBLY WORK ORDERS - Component features include tracking number, multi-location, conversion U/M, Fixed or Variable quantity, Confirmation option, W/O Effective Date; Up to 9999 components per assembly ; creates a stock item from multiple stock items - components can be sub-assembled for multi-level assembly.

6. CASH FLOW - Reconciliation report; unlimited number of bank accounts; check number audit report.

7. COLLECTIONS ADAPTER - Manage collections by scheduling collection calls and entering collection call information. Supports automatic selection of customers who need a call, review previous calls, record who you talked to and what they promised, call date and promised date tracking, and zoom into the details of any invoice.

8. CONTACT MANAGEMENT - Contract assigned to service location, territory, and route sequence; handles contracts based on meter usage; create proposals / turn into contracts; generate scheduled service orders.

9. DATABASE DIRECTOR™ - Store or replicate your data in MS-SQL, Oracle, Informix, ISAM, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle and Sybase (for history files), Btrieve, C-ISAM, generic ODBC.

10. DocTransfer™ - Directly exchange documents with customers and vendors who also use the SouthWare Excellence Series™. Exchange EDI documents with customers and vendors.

11. EQUIPMENT SERVICING - Track by serial #, tag #, or system; specific warranty dates based on model; loan, rent, out-of-service indicator; up to 10 schedules per equipment model; based on time elapsed or metered usage.

12. EXCELREPORT™ - The ExcelReport allows you to produce a report card summarizing six success factors; trend analysis, GPA analysis using an A-B-C-D-E-F grading scale.

13. EXECUMATE II™ - ExecuMate provides a window into the financial health and activity of your business and includes a summary of the following data: company totals or profit center detail; cash and aging totals; trigger “Alert” warnings; financial statement totals current balance; cash worksheet; last 10 weeks actual cash flows; next 10 weeks projected cash flows; actual trends; A/R and A/P aging; today’s sales; activity statistics per day, week, month, etc.; trigger “Alerts” for G/L accounts or financial ratios.  

14. EXTENDED DATA™ - Add hundreds of new data fields to standard files. Create your own prompts and defaults, add new search keys. 

15. FIXED ASSETS - Tracking, valuing, and depreciating your assets. Supports 15 character asset ID numbers, property tax report locations, cost basis, salvage values, replace costs, insurance coverage amounts, usage, owned, leased, or borrowed indicators, straight-line, declining balance, usage-based, sum-of-the-years digits, statutory, ACE, and non-depreciable, and partial period conventions.

16. GENERAL LEDGER - 16 column reporting, source and use of funds report, cash flow in compliance with FASB 95, multi-company consolidation, 4 segment account numbers, 5 year comparisons, and on-screen zoom to detailed transactions.

17. IMPORTMATE II™ - ImportMate II is an add-on module you can use to automatically input data into selected Excellence Series files. ImportMate II prompts you for all the information it needs and checks to make sure that the data you are bringing in is valid.

18. INTERNATIONAL TRANSACTIONS™ - Record, track, and report multi-currency transactions involving international trading partners. Features include unrecognized gain/loss report, history of gain/loss report toggle display between natural currency and base currency (dollars)

19. INVENTORY CONTROL - Comprehensive line of modules for your inventory-related operations. Sophisticated Inventory Control includes tracking numbers (serial/lot/etc.), various costing methods, multi-location flexibility and many related capabilities to help you manage inventory levels and information. Purchasing features help you buy what you need, when you need it, and at the right price. You can track the assembly of items from inventory, returns to vendors and returns from customers. Sales options include Point of Sale, Order Entry (and related shipping processes) and Rentals. Plus, powerful management tools ensure that you always know where you stand in reaching your goals for profitability and service.

20. JOB COST- Completed contract or percentage complete; copy function to quickly duplicate a job; AIA Invoicing option; subcontractor retainage;  change order; overhead allocation; and up to four breakdowns such as phase and cost category.

21. ORDER ENTRY - Customize the keystrokes and security features per operator ; text and notes for the order ; special purchase, drop ship, and handle as surplus; backorder, substitute and cancel options; sell from multiple locations on an invoice.

22. PAYROLL - Distribute salary to multiple G/L accounts ; employee notes; added fields; pre-check authorization report; direct deposit; retirement, review, leave reports; 401-K, cafeteria plans, and garnishments.

23. POINT OF SALE - Numerous pricing options; serial, lot, or other tracking numbers; option to display suggested related items; allows miscellaneous add-on charges; calculates proper sales tax; any combination of cash, check, credit card, or on account payment; calculates change due; optional interface to electronic cash drawer.

24. PURCHASING - Suggested order quantity based on EOQ, movement class, quantity discounts, prior usage, min/max; safety stock - fixed or based on usage; option to “freeze” order controls for items; Info about out of stock situations; seasonal indicator and movement class generates POs for stock based on current item status and order controls replenishment, expedite, exceptions, review cycle, scheduled receipts, vendor performance, and other reports.

25. RENTAL DEPARTMENT - Ideal solution for the business that both rents and sells items; multi-location option, base rate for rental table, serial number tracking option, Cost/Value/Price info; other info such as bin location, turnaround requirements; rentals, sales, and service in single transaction; option to sell or exchange rental items; grace period, cutoff times and weekend pricing; security deposits. 

26. REPORTMATE™ - Access the data in any major file in SouthWare and produce a report. Relationships between files are already set up; test a field to be less than, greater than, equal to, not equal to, greater than or equal to, less than or equal to, or match on masking characters ; report formats include printer, screen, or file, HTML file, browser table, DIF, delimited, merge file, XML data, fixed-position or fixed-length text, a file to use with ImportMate, as ExecuMate II statistics; “WYSIWYG” entry lets you see and edit what the report will look like, up to 264 columns per line

27. RETURN AUTHORIZATIONS - Lets you manage your inventory in conjunction with items being returned from customers and items being returned to vendors; Tracks item/serial#/equipment info; estimated cost; return status info.

28. SALESMARK®  - Integrated contact management system 36 user-defined record types; multi-screens per record; up to 10 search fields per record; client data linked to A/R customer; territory masking; conversation records; hot keys; history of letters, literature; mailing lists and labels ; automatic phone dialing; data import to create prospect records from purchased databases; create selective call campaigns.

29. SALES PROCESSING -  Provides sales quotes, user friendly POS, order entry, order acknowledgements, credit card verification, special pricing, sales tax, commission calculation, partial or full invoicing that includes backorder capabilities,  and delivery scheduling.

30. SERVICE INVOICING - System for service businesses that handles credits, special orders, pricing adjustments, and payments on account credit limit checking; generate invoices from contracts, service orders, equipment service pricing.

31. SERVICE ORDERS  - Option for multiple service locations problem description, problem codes, estimates, comments, and actions taken, track dates and times for each step; option to service multiple equipment on one service order, multiple technicians per service order; display service orders to be dispatched along with a list of possible technicians; check technician skills, territory, priority.

32. SHIPPING INTERFACE - Send order-related information to and from a third-party shipping software package; interface to/from StarShip™ (by V-Technologies); interface to/from Clippership™ (distributed by Evcor); open interface can be utilized by other shipping software that supports ASCII file transfer/polling.

33. SOUTHWARE NETLINK™ - Provide partners controlled browser-based access via the Internet to review and update your business data. Valid requestor logins; security masking per requestor and request.

34. SOUTHWARE THIN CLIENT- Provides graphic interface via UNIX or LINUX servers. Faster and easier to set up and administer. Performs faster, even on slower computer workstations. Results in tighter security. Reduces network traffic.  Reduces total cost of the system.

35. SOUTHWARE WORKFLOW™ - Create customized program changes for your needs while remaining compatible with the standard version.

36. SWIFTMATE™ - SwiftMate is SouthWare's system manager module which allows users to configure menus, security, styles, hardware, etc. SwiftMate keeps track of who's logged into the system and what they are doing. It can send e-mails between users. SwiftMate enables you to program new features with Objects, Field-Level Objects, and Field Filters. You can also create "Zoom Views" to provide unique summaries of your data.

37. TASKWISE® - Combines the functions of task management, relationship management, exception management, and information sharing into a single company-wide system. Tracks contacts, opportunities, prospects, alerts, financial graphs, trends, tasks, etc.

TakeStock                                                                                                           top

TakeStock offers robust functionality as a new system or as an integrated system with other software.  It was designed using a modular based design that can be modified as business needs and technology changes.  It contains eight core modules and fifteen add-on modules so it can be tailored to fit the needs of the business.  The core modules include:

• Sales Orders – tools to manage the entire sales order process.

• Inventory Management – optimizes the inventory process as well as customer service.

• Purchase Orders – automates the purchasing process including suggested PO’s, inventory replenishment, inventory transfers, and backorder fulfillment.

• Sales Analysis – monitors sales performance.

• Accounts Receivable – manages receivables processes including payment items, credit card limits, payment history, customer inquiry, and sales order detail.

• Accounts Payable – manages payment terms and discounts, generates checks and maintains vendor history.

• General Ledger – provides all standard features that should be included in the General Ledger processes.

• System Management – allows menus to be customized, provides centralized notes, flexible security settings, and management alerts.

Management Alert messages send messages that need immediate attention to management.

TakeStock has add-on modules that can provide a more specialized approach to the distribution system include:

• E-WMS

• Manufacturing Control

• Service Management Plus

• Manufacturer’s Representative

• Importing and Multi-Currency

• Viper Forms

• Financial Data Import

• Vendor Rebates

• Container Tracking

• Internet Interlink

• EDI Interlink

• Sales Force Interlink

• Shipping Interlink

• Developer’s Interlink

• Credit Card Interlink

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