Epicor evaluation

[777axa]

Hi,
does anybody know if Epicor provides evaluation version of it's ERP software?
Our company has requested evaluation package 2 weeks ago.
So far nothing. No calls or CD. They've sent an email though (but no useful information).

Is their support this slow too?

in the meantime can anybody give me an idea on how Epicor's soft differs from let's say custom Access solution.
From this forum I understood that their report tools stink.
Is it flexible and what programming language it requires for modifications?

Thank you.

 

[bbrendan]

Hi 777,

We have been an Epicor site for well over 3 years now, upgrading from 4.2a to 7.2

We only run the bare essentials like

AR, AP, GL, SO but they have everything that you can think of in their suite. I mean everything!

They even have a portal solotion which you can bolt on to run a website. It then can be intergerated with the backoffice system to grab orders and run them through the system

You can also get whats called front office which is like a CRM tool which intergrates which Backoffice (ERP)

The reports are based around Crystal Reports which is a Excellent Report Developing tool. Though most of the reports supplied are 'very' basic, you will need to do quite a bit of work in probably making your own reports to suit your requirements

I have done all the current customization using Sybase Powerbuilder and another tool called Customization Workbench. Which is their own product.

I wouldnt even consider a customer Access solution, it would take years to get it right, let alone the costs!!

You should consider getting one of their sales/tech people on the case to get a demo, cause their is no way you will see all the features by playing around.

where are you based anyway??

hth
brendan

 

[martiros]

brendan,
just found you posting.
I also was looking on epicor's site and couldn't get anything from their corporate bla-bla.
Before contacting one of their sales people I'd like to know if they have any normal technical description of their products (not just a bunch of buzz words)?

Any links or info would be appreciated.

Thanks,
mart

P.S.
Comparing with People's Soft or even SAP how good epicor's suite is? - just want to get an idea

 

[bbrendan]

Hi,

I dont have no exp with SAP and Peoplesoft so its hard to gauge/compare one against the other.

Their site is quite poor when it comes to technical information, they like to talk about their "Case Studies". I mean really. What I would like to know is what peices make up the puzzel, and how will this software fit my business requirements.

From what I understand SAP is one of the BIG Guns in ERP. Be prepared to spend quite a considerable amount of money rolling that boy out.

We only have a small site 10-15 users, which I run over Win2000 Terminal Server. It performs a lot better than running as a stand alone client.
Also easier to manage updates. If any new customization is done, as its only done in one place rather than having to update each client. Although if you SMS you could push it down to the clients if you run the software on clients.

Having Crystal reports is great, probably the best report dev package around. Easy to get started, but you need to know your stuff if you want to write complex reports.

Also..
I think you really have to look at what infratstructure is going to effect your decsion.

Like what type of platform you currently run. Epicor is MS shop.
Are you run over a wan/lan environment.
How many servers are you running
What is your base Desktop. Will your desktops support the preferred Software.

Because, you may find that hardware upgrades will be needed also along with the new ERP system. This will add $$$ to the bottom line..

The thing that impressed me about Epicor is their bredth of products.

They also do whats called Front office. Its a CRM package that links(hooks) into their Backoffice CRM.

Honestly your best bet would be getting the people out to give you the speil on their product.

I dont envy your position, trying to decide which system is best for you has soooooo many +/- issues, it could take months.

But if you need any technical advice on Epicor I'll do my best to help out


cheers

 

[martiros]

Thank you so much for your detailed answer.
No, we don't dream about SAP and there is no need for it in our case - just wanted to know where Epicor is located on a large scale.
Now I'm working on solution for 1 fast growing marketing company of 30-35 people (all use PCs/Win2000/XP)

The dilema:
get generic solution with possibility of customization
or
create everything from "0" using either VS.NET or, perhaps, one new ERP II/ XRP studio which is easier, bug-free and much faster then VS.NET.

To your experiance what would you choose for the long run considering that business is growing and changing very rapidly, thus there will be a lot of major additions and modifications?

Thank you again for your assistance.

Mart

 

[bbrendan]

Hi Mart,

I would not be thinking of building from the ground up or '0'. Unless youve got the time and patients to do it!!

I would personally go out and look for a solution that can be customized to fit your requirements. Something generic like Epicor or People Soft. At least this way you can get most of the thinkg you need up and running then make customizations as required.

Im constantly making changes to our system, but its quite easy once you get the hang of it.

Actually talking about .NET I believe their is quite a bit of working going into Epicor next release(future releases) being .NET based.

Are you based in the US or UK or somewhere else?.
I think Epicor like to work with VARS as that way you can work closely with a local providor. Though epicor do deal direct in some cases. Weve found it better to work through a VAR as you get to know these people rather than some BIG corp.

 

[martiros]

Just found out that we are located ~ 25 min from Epicor's corporate office in OC, CA

Thanks, brendan

 

[ajaysadey]

Epicor Vista can do a lot of things for Production and Manufacturing companies in the small business world. Most of the solutions are well developed. But reporting from their databases is very complicated. Customizing a report to suit your company is billable. You have to pay an annual customer support fee, where they give you answers to only known problems. Anything they did not encounter is either blamed on Microsoft or Crystal or someone else.

Most reports are bare minimal and customizing any reports to suit your needs is "billable territory" when talking to customer service. Sometimes it is hard to get their customer service to talk about their database because only a few of them know it well enough to answer questions. If you ask them where to find a database field that has your customer' contact info or phone number to put it on a report you want to write yourself, sometimes you may have to wait for an email response that is in the mail waiting to be delivered for a few days.

Overall the product works great if you dont ask too much from it and satisfy with the way it is designed. If you want it to do anything more than they packaged for free. It costs a lot and probably they want to bill you everytime you need a solution, or ask a question that customer service cannot answer. But it is worth a try.

 

[ajaysadey]

http://www.2020software.com/products/Vista_by_Epicor_System_Control.asp