Looking at upgrading our ERP system. Just sat through a Sage 300 sales demo. I'm not impressed. No payroll, no HRM, no tie-in to fedex/UPS for shipping, etc, etc. everything is an add-on or through a 3rd part vendor. Which jacks the price up for each license and those add-ones are not available through the SAAS. It seems like we are doing more QB Pro at a much more reasonable cost. Any thoughts on Sage or another system that is more one solution, similar to QB?
SAP? They just purchased Success Factors which gives you built in HRIS/Payroll. You have scalability, Crystal Reporting, etc..
Oh I'm not saying it's user friendly but when your looking at an all-in-one, there aren't many choices. The bigger you get, the more users and licenses you need. And it really, really, sucks trying to get to gigantic programs to talk to eachother.
I've worked with several ERP systems and even did implementation consulting for a few years. But, I've been out of that circus for awhile. Anyway, SAP can do it all but it can be rather expensive and isn't as user friendly as other systems I've used. It is also best for large, multi site organizations. Once I got used to it and memorized the t-codes I liked it. For a mid size or small place you should check out QAD. I implemented it one time. Very easy to use and more intuitive. I had all BOM's loaded, Purchasing contracts set up and PO's issued to suppliers in just 2 weeks. Somebody else did the Finance stuff in less time than that. We did do some customization because we were a sequenced supplier to BMW and they had trucks rolling into our plant every 45 minutes for pick up and we had to load the trucks in their exact production sequence tied to a specific vehicle VIN. That was a serious bitch to do. Give Synesis International a call and pick their brains some. 864-228-1550. I understand SAP has come out with a smaller, easier to implement package but that was after I got out of that game. Microsoft Sharepoint may be worth a look too. If you call Synesis and talk to either Rick Studart or Kathleen Payne, tell them Joe Pomeroy said hello.
I can't argue that. From maintenance planning/processing, to HR, to Payroll, to Accounting, to Inventory, to Logistics etc...it can do it all. But damn it is a pain in the dick.
The options are small. If they just wanted a basic payroll system and HRIS, ADP has a product called Payexpert that is 90% Payroll and 10% HRIS. It houses the majority of information you would ever need to extract for required reporting. It doesn't have a recruiting module which is really nice for dumping paper applications and getting your EEOC/ADA documents turned (if you are required to do these). Otherwise PayExpert has a good suport side. Like SAP, it has it's hiccups but overall it's a good program.
We use SAP, our company was using it for a while and the multi industry owning mothership liked it so now it's rolling out across the $14b corporation. I know nothing about it except for the fact it always pays me.
Thanks for the inputs. I've looked at the coup,e mentioned here. I do have some interest in the SAP's One system. However, the comparison between that and QB Enterprize has me leaning towards QB. Cheaper, does more, very little effort to upgrade, and it's cheaper. So far, it seems the only real "out-of-the-box" solution. I'll just have to bite the bullet and get a QB consultant to figure out how to integrate on-line sales and dealer network integration into the system. I think we'll need to grow a bit more before justifying the expense of paths next tier system.
