Upgrade to Epicor 9 from v4.4

Yahoo Archive
1
SQL verus Progress for the most part comes down to what you are comfortable with and what your IT guys prefer. There is no latency if you are running SQL but there are some tuning parameters such as putting your progress db in read only mode
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As someone who has worked on Vantage for about 5 years and now Epicor9 for about 2 months (plus previous training at Perspectives) I can say that new release issues aside, which are being addressed quickly, its a fair leap from 8.0 in terms of specific functionality including things which may or may not be needed for your company such as:
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Multi-Book/Multi chart of Accounts with dynamic segments
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Serialization down to the component level plus serial maintenance screens to add or make changes to serial numbers plus the ability to transfer serial numbers from one customer to another along with serial masks
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Improved lot tracking capability
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Customer and Supplier managed inventory
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Ship to on the fly and drop shipments
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National Accounts that allow you to roll up to a parent account including credit checking
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Multi-units of measure flexibility
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Improvements to BAQs and Phrase Builder
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Integration with MS Outlook and Office including Sharepoint
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Lots of things to consider based on your needs. Like I said, its an early release with major changes so testing is critical (like any other implementation) but there is a lot to like in the new release

--- On Wed, 3/25/09, doily2oo5 <doily2oo5@...> wrote:

From: doily2oo5 <doily2oo5@...>
Subject: [Vantage] Upgrade to Epicor 9 from v4.4
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wednesday, March 25, 2009, 1:37 PM






Thank you all for you input to how and what to use in upgrade. We are seriously considering taking the plunge to E9 and are in the process of installing what we think is the latest version v503a to see how it performs. We have had v8 installed for sometime operating off the resident Progress database. If E9 does not perform then Visual is our other choice pared down from 12 other systems. Some questions:

We intend to go with the resident Progress database. I see that many of you have opted for SQL in addition. What advantages are there to operating in that fashion? Seems like a potential for error in translation to compound an already functionally complex system.

We are considering Epicor consulting and consulting outside of Epicor for implementation and training. Is there a compelling reason to stick with Epicor?

Thanks.

Mike



















[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
2
Thank you all for you input to how and what to use in upgrade. We are seriously considering taking the plunge to E9 and are in the process of installing what we think is the latest version v503a to see how it performs. We have had v8 installed for sometime operating off the resident Progress database. If E9 does not perform then Visual is our other choice pared down from 12 other systems. Some questions:

We intend to go with the resident Progress database. I see that many of you have opted for SQL in addition. What advantages are there to operating in that fashion? Seems like a potential for error in translation to compound an already functionally complex system.

We are considering Epicor consulting and consulting outside of Epicor for implementation and training. Is there a compelling reason to stick with Epicor?

Thanks.

Mike
3
Only if you're a philanthropist and want to line their pockets. I
shouldn't say that...just make sure you check out references on the
consultant they give you for implementation, and that you don't get some
newly onboard not so experienced one like we did. You might be
surprised to find out they charge the same for consultants with little
to no experience as they do for their better ones (wherever they are).



Rob Bucek

Manufacturing Engineer

PH: 715-284-5376 ext 311

FAX: 715-284-4084

<http://www.dsmfg.com/>

(Click the logo to view our site)



________________________________

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of doily2oo5
Sent: Wednesday, March 25, 2009 12:38 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Upgrade to Epicor 9 from v4.4



Thank you all for you input to how and what to use in upgrade. We are
seriously considering taking the plunge to E9 and are in the process of
installing what we think is the latest version v503a to see how it
performs. We have had v8 installed for sometime operating off the
resident Progress database. If E9 does not perform then Visual is our
other choice pared down from 12 other systems. Some questions:

We intend to go with the resident Progress database. I see that many of
you have opted for SQL in addition. What advantages are there to
operating in that fashion? Seems like a potential for error in
translation to compound an already functionally complex system.

We are considering Epicor consulting and consulting outside of Epicor
for implementation and training. Is there a compelling reason to stick
with Epicor?

Thanks.

Mike





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
4
I like MSSQL since I'm familiar with it and it gives you lots of
additional flexibility. I'm not sure what 'error in translation' means.
It does add another layer to your system. If you're a small/unskilled
IT shop I'd stick with Progress. If you want more flexibility and have
a little more expertise in house MSSQL is a good choice. There's some
performance tuning you will want to do (Epicor has guides) with MSSQL.



The reason we liked Epicor was because they were a single-source
provider and the value proposition was "one throat to choke". I'm not
sure if in practice this really buys you much, but it is a good
argument. I know there are some Epicor VARs out there but that's not
their main business model.



Based on what I've heard here, E9 is getting pretty stable. If I were
doing a new implementation I'd seriously consider it. There will be
bugs - you've certainly heard enough complaints about issues and
workarounds here. Just read the archives. But you'll find that with
any of these ERP systems.



We looked at Visual as well, and they scored very close to Epicor for
us. I think they're both good and viable choices. But whereas Infor
has many products, Epicor is basically consolidating onto one - Epicor
9.



-bws



--

Brian W. Spolarich ~ Manager, Information Services ~ Advanced Photonix /
Picometrix

bspolarich@... ~ 734-864-5618 ~
www.advancedphotonix.com



From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of doily2oo5
Sent: Wednesday, March 25, 2009 1:38 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Upgrade to Epicor 9 from v4.4



Thank you all for you input to how and what to use in upgrade. We are
seriously considering taking the plunge to E9 and are in the process of
installing what we think is the latest version v503a to see how it
performs. We have had v8 installed for sometime operating off the
resident Progress database. If E9 does not perform then Visual is our
other choice pared down from 12 other systems. Some questions:

We intend to go with the resident Progress database. I see that many of
you have opted for SQL in addition. What advantages are there to
operating in that fashion? Seems like a potential for error in
translation to compound an already functionally complex system.

We are considering Epicor consulting and consulting outside of Epicor
for implementation and training. Is there a compelling reason to stick
with Epicor?

Thanks.

Mike





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]