Birddog Software -POS 3

[userunfriendly]

I am looking for some reference sites that are using Bird dog POS with Macola ES. Specific requirements, multiple ship to addresses within one order, multiple payment types, freight based on order total per ship to. Would appreciate any feed back on this Macola recommended vendor.

 

[Fishhead714]

Good Morning,
We just had a demo of this software yesterday and asked the very same questions. It took them about 3 hours to come back and say "yes there is one place using Birddog and ES", as far as all the questions the answer was "we 're looking into adding that to the system". Bootom line is that it wasen't an answer that we could use without quite a bit of mods.

Bill

 

[dcparizo]

fishHead,

I have to say that I've found this to be the case with most of Macola ES. It's my take that this software isn't at all mature. We were warned that 360 was unstable some time ago. 340 had some flaws. and the integration to e-Synergy is questionable at best.

Further With exact absolutely everything is an addon. Their business model isbase on added services not producing a quality product ... so ...

If you look for ES third party vendors, extremely small list. It's also been a perception of mine that most of the consultants are "spin-offs" from exact. (Bird Dog being one exception.)

If you look at the Exact Case studies (firearms shop and others) the solution was provided via the customizations not the sofware. (eg. web shop etc.) while the functionality is sold as available out of the box.

 

[dgillz]

A few clarifications:

* ES batch 360 was just put into general release on June 1st, so it is not reasonable to expect it to have been stable before that date.

* If there are any consultants who are "spin-offs" from Exact, I sure haven't met many (only 2 out of a couple hundred that I know). In fact the opposite is true, Exact has been buying their reseller network up since day 1.

* If you are running in an ES/eSynergy environment, there is no "integration". It's all in one single SQL database. This does not mean that everything will be working well or as expected however.

To address your need for a POS system with ES:

* Even under Progression, which probably has 20x the number of sites that ES has, POS was never a strong point in the software and 3rd party was the way to go.

* ES and Progression are nearly identical in the distrbition and manufacturing modules, so if you find a POS system with good Progression references, I would feel pretty comfortable moving forward with it.

* Check out Fusion POS from Mik & Associates

http://www.mik-sw.com.

They have POS solutions for Macola and other packages.

Good luck and please post back with the direction you decide on.

Software Sales, Training, Implementation and Support for Macola, eSynergy, and Crystal Reports

http://www.gainfocus.biz

"making predictions is tough, especially about the future" - Yogi Berra

 

[dgillz]

Other thoughts:

"Requirements: multiple ship to addresses within one order, multiple payment types, freight based on order total per ship to"

IMO, these are very unusual requirements, and I do not see how is this a POS transaction. POS is typically when someone walks up to the counter and orders, usually but not always pays for the items, and takes the products purchased with them.

If they are ordering product with multiple ship tos, multiple payment terms, etc., you can have multiple OE orders within Macola (same customer PO #) and accomplish this. Again however this is not a typical POS environment and begs the question: How do you get your orders if it is not in this classic POS method?

Did you mean to say you are looking at Birddog eCommerce instead of POS? This would be where the customer enters their orders over your website.

Please let us know.


Software Sales, Training, Implementation and Support for Macola, eSynergy, and Crystal Reports

http://www.gainfocus.biz

"making predictions is tough, especially about the future" - Yogi Berra

 

[Fishhead714]

Don,
Batch 360 was put into general release way back in December, and then pulled because of all the problems it was causing.

Bill

 

[dgillz]

Bill,

I stand corrected on that one.

Software Sales, Training, Implementation and Support for Macola, eSynergy, and Crystal Reports

http://www.gainfocus.biz

"making predictions is tough, especially about the future" - Yogi Berra

 

[canimp]

Fascinating discussion - where to begin? ;>

Like dGillz, I question the "multiple ship to address" and the "multiple payment types" requirements.

I must wonder if this is a CRM Master File hierarchy issue? Lacking specifics, it sounds as if the client has a parent account (i.e. Walmart) and is splitting an order across multiple distribution centers or specific stores (walmart1, walmart2, etc.) - or a similar scenario wherein each ship-to site has a separate address, payment condition and credit limit?

Is this an EDI requirement, or normal OE processing? Either way, it appears as if the account parent/child &/or Invoice To hierarchy could use a second opinion.

It sounds as if this is a combination of set-up, training and processing discrepancies, vs. a functional issue, but that is a broad assumption made without further detail.

Educate us with a detailed scenario.

OTHER NOTES

ES360 - let's put this into a different context:
* core ES functionality was/is not the PRIMARY issue that determined the "pull back" from commerical release
* Crystal Report issues were the key determining factor for the pull-back
* functionally, ES360 released with far better QA stats than did the initial ES340 release which many here lived through and survived
* I sound like a sales drone for Exact - shoot me now!!! ;>

ES/e-Synergy Integration
* I am intrigued by the comment:
"The integration to e-Synergy is questionable at best."
* on record = I disagree with this statement and hope to improve your perception
* That is a very broad statement, probably validly supported in your personal experience by the all-too pervasive Exact Consultant/Reseller old-school mentality: "I am a Progression consultant," "I am a Macola ES consultant," " I am an e-Synergy Consultant," - all of which amount to absolute chaos for customers.
* Consulting employees of Exact AND resellers should be "EXACT APPLICATION" Consultants, not product-specific consultants (although specialization does provide added-value, it should not be the baseline ), and all should battle tooth & nail to be cross-trained on all products in order to better support and service Exact resellers and customers.
* case in point - your Exact/Reseller consultant/support contacts may not be fully conversant in both ES and e-Synergy, hence you may not have a genuine perspective into the available integration between ES and e-Synergy
* Staff who are not fully cross-trained or provided with the opportunity to job-shadow consultants skilled in back-office AND front office app integrations ARE NOT useful as reference points for knowledge on integrations
* it is highly likely that there is more integration available to you than you have been trained on - not your fault; this is a direct result of consultant/reseller training agendas - and a point all customers and resellers should be addressing vocally when they have the opportunity
* Will you provide specific examples of ES/e-Synergy integration gaps that you have issues with? (I would love to see this spun off into another thread separate from Birddog and see what can be shared for all of the audience here. It is obvious that primitive integration issues lie within Logistics, so offer other specifics if possible?)

Spin-off Solutions/Consultants
* Again, I have to agree with dGillz on this one
* Based on personal experience, it appears to be more common for a reseller/partner to develop a custom solutions with their own non-Exact staff in-house that Exact later acquires vs. the perceived concept of ex-Exact employees who develop add-ins.
* there are some ex-Exact RD or Dev employees that do surface as reseller employees, but these are rare and unique
* there are many ex-Exact employees who become consultants for resellers, but there are VERY, VERY few ex-Exact developers who are pushing add-ons that I am aware of (i.e. One)
* there are some extra-ordinary add-ons out there developed by Exact resellers, (i.e. Interconnect) that Exact coulda, shoulda, woulda acquire
* Seems to be a common perception that Exact seems to spend time, energy and $$$ in acquiring these applications vs. creating them.

 

[kscheeler]

Canimp,

Well said!


Kevin Scheeler

 

[dgillz]

That was well said, but I don't want this thread to roam too far off topic. I'd like to understand how the functionality that was describribed by the original poster is considered to be POS functionality. It does not fit there, IMHO.

Software Sales, Training, Implementation and Support for Macola, eSynergy, and Crystal Reports

http://www.gainfocus.biz

"making predictions is tough, especially about the future" - Yogi Berra

 

[userunfriendly]

As the original requester, let me clarify the scenario. The client has retail outlets as well as EDI and catalog sales via a call center. Their POS is I-Type Orders that are paid for and taken from the store, and could be paid for by multiple payment methods, i.e., Cash, Multiple Credit Cards, Gift Cards, etc. The Catalog sales is where they deal with multiple ship-to's on one order. This is a luxury business where a customer can spend less than a minute on the phone and place a $50,000 order. The customer may make one order for gifts for 50 friends that live all over the country. That could be the same item on 50 separate lines, with 50 separate ship to locations. Next, because the selling company maintains a presence in over half the US, it is subject to both State and Local Sales taxes, based on each ship to. Next, when freight is charged, it is based on the order sales volume per location, in other words, if lines 5, 10, 15, and 20 are all being shipped to locations in Texas with the same applicable taxes, the freight charge is based on the total sales amounts of those lines combined.
This may all sound extremely unique, however all the above requirements are standard in their industry. Any further info would be helpful.

 

[NEmacGuy]

Sound pretty unique. I know there might be a package that would deal with a specific functional business type such as catalog, but I would be careful in pursuing such a package. We have been finding most of our new customers / clients have been abanded in a niche market ERP product. Our belief is long term the smaller niche market products will no longer be able to survive. In the end the surviors will be generic packages with an ability to customize. This has alway been a key feature of the Macola product line. Perhaps a few niche players. The only product that we deal with that allows multiple ship to on an order is GP Dynamics does this naturaly, but it would take longer than a minute to enter the order that you took on the phone.

 

[dgillz]

That is a unique environment. Even if standard in their industry, there is nothing standard about being able to spend $50,000 in a minute with multiple payment methods, multiple ship tos, and a complicated freight calculation system on a single order.

You need to make the people you are working with realize this.

Seriously this is nothing Macola can do without serious modification, and I doubt there is any package with more than a couple dozen installs that addresses these specific needs, if any at all.

However please let us know where you end up.


Software Sales, Training, Implementation and Support for Macola, eSynergy, and Crystal Reports

http://www.gainfocus.biz

"making predictions is tough, especially about the future" - Yogi Berra