Test Company & WMS

[kstickler]

I want to set up a new WMS polling station so I can "test" the latest WMS releases without disrupting our live system.

Does anyone have any info on how to set up a WMS polling PC so that it points to the test company, but uses the latest WMS release? Can WMS be installed locally?

 

[tpllc]

Kimmay,
I do not believe you can do this on the same server. The WMS gets installed on the server and will override the existing code. Which version are you upgrading from and to? What portions of WMS are you using. What version of Exact are you using Progression or ES? If you are not using the wireless capability, you should be able to install the Progression and WMS fairly easily. ES is a bit more complicated. If you are using the handheld devices it is a much bigger task.


Steve Henley
Trianglepartners.com
Exact Software consulting, sales and implementations.

If the only tool you can use is a hammer then all your problems look like nails.

 

[pronet74]

Just in my point of view the WMS system was much better in progression than in ES. We now have two major problems where before we didn't. Contacting exact software they told me these were 'bugs' in the previous release that benefitted us.

First Problem:

Recently you asked us the following question (EMAIL-ES-WMS-We have an issue when entering a AP voucher. If we use WMS it will only acculumate the quanties on an item if those items are scanned consecutively.):
We have an issue when entering a AP voucher. If we use WMS it will only acculumate the quanties on an item if those items are scanned consecutively.
For example if we have two different items on a truck (Item A and Item B).

Scanned 5 Item A's
Scanned 2 Item B's
Scanned 4 Item A's

We then have 3 line items we have to enter on our transaction voucher. Where as with the old WMS (Progression Macola) we would only have to enter two line items (it would combine the Qty. of Item A's together).

This becomes a problem when we have orders that exceed line items of such length of 100 (it takes our AP clerk a very long time to enter a voucher this way) or more and it would take too much time for our warehouse to sort these items first before scanning. They just normally scan what they come across when unloading a truck. Can you take a look into this so we can have this problem fixed? I brought this issue up about 6 months ago and nothing was really don e about it.

Thanks


Below, please find our reply:

We will re submit this for review by our development staff. However the way you have reported the problem is the way the product is designed to work.


The second problem is that we buy by the carton and sell by the piece. So that means when we sell one item of a 15 piece carton our warehouse workers have to manually make this division then put it in as decimal point form. They don't have the time nor some have the intelligence to do this. We sell thousands of items so this is a problem. Exact software's solution to this was to either buy and sell in pieces (which we won't do) or create a seperate part numbers for the carton and piece, which again we can't do since we have special reports that would get messed up in all of this.

In progression we didn't have this problem.

 

[kstickler]

We are currently on Progression 7.6.300c and WMS 8.2.1L

I need to test out WMS version 8.3.2m. I can test it just fine using the emulator. I do not need to use a scanner for testing.

I am specifically interested in testing shop floor activity entries to verify whether or not the shop floor items get allocated. We are using SF Forced Demand Pull and when you produce an order in Progression, the qty gets allocated to the OE order and you can't move the (binned/lotted)product. What we have found is that in WMS this allocation does not get set. (Perfect for us!)

I can't risk upgrading if that is now resolved.

 

[tpllc]

Kimmay,
You should be able to use the emulator just fine. You should also be able to ask your reseller this question and they should be able to get an answer. I would also test this myself to verify the result. The WMS system is basically a good program but it was really developed as an add on and is not designed to emulate everything that can be done in the core product. Some things that you and I and the rest of the marketplace, think make sense have not been addressed. Exact is starting to revamp the code and it is supposed to be a all inclusive re-write so work with your reseller to get feed back into the new design. Exact has sent out a survey to customers and resellers alike to see what changes are needed and wanted. Obviously not everything can or will be included as a bug to some is a feature to others.

Your example of the SF not getting allocated to the order is a good example of that. Just so I'm sure I undersatnd your issue, when you report a SF item that is "pulled" and the item is lotted and binned the system will not allow you to transfer the product from one bin to another? I have no customers doing this so I haven't come across this. I do have other customers that move inventory that is allocated in a "hard allocation" environment, I would have thought that would be more restrictive.

The reason that resellers are called VAR's Value Added Resellers is that they should be able to assist you with these types of issues.

I'm very interested in your results please post.
Thanks

Steve Henley
Trianglepartners.com
Exact Software consulting, sales and implementations.

If the only tool you can use is a hammer then all your problems look like nails.

 

[kstickler]

The thing is, VARs charge you for time spent on "research". I'm using the forum to get some free advice!

 

[tpllc]

Frre advise is sometimes worth what you pay.

Steve Henley
Trianglepartners.com
Exact Software consulting, sales and implementations.

If the only tool you can use is a hammer then all your problems look like nails.

 

[pronet74]

My suggestion would be to take a completely seperate server (a spare) put a copy of your progression system on it then apply the update and see what you get.

I did this when we went to ES, I had it running on a backup system, while our production server was still progressive. I did this for a month and it allowed our users to mess around on the system and get familiar with it before going live with Macola ES.