SYSPRO's endeavor at some vertical specialization, as seen in its MYS module, is also commendable, although we would like to see many more similar nitty-gritty initiatives specific to multiple other discrete manufacturing industries. The module is specifically designed for suppliers that sell custom-cut materials and that rely on the cutting of shapes and pieces from standard size materials, e.g., sheets, tubes and rods, as part of the manufacturing process. In particular, it is targeted at the Plastics, Metal, Rubber, Paper and Lumber industries that need to maximize yields, minimize waste and, where possible, return remnants to inventory. Rather than purchasing standard size items, customers would preferably order materials that are cut to specific measurements. However, custom cutting typically leads to the creation of remnants (off-cuts) during the cutting process, which many suppliers consider as waste, since they cannot justify the time and cumbersome effort necessary to physically measure, value and assign inventory numbers for their return to stock. The MYS module elegantly takes care of the above producers' conundrums.
Although not evident from its historically low-profile international marketing, SYSPRO has developed extended functionality for a number of specific industries in addition to the Plastics and Metal, including Equipment /Machinery, Food, Automotive, Electronics and Hi-tech, Medical devices, Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Packaged Goods and Wholesale Distribution.
Additionally, on a more general note, the SYSPRO product excels at plant-level APS functionality going beyond all-too-common Gantt charts/schedules into the ability to split jobs in two, or to split them between multiple work centers, all with the aim of optimally fulfilling the customer's order. Further, contrary to most peer vendors, which have largely started their ERP applications' expertise in the manufacturing space, SYSPRO has also concurrently established a strong presence and functionality in the distribution field. With its extensive financial and accounting functionality, fully integrated with its own manufacturing and distribution systems, Syspro provides a product that also fits the needs of wholesale distributors, industrial distributors, over-the-counter operations, and retailers.
While traditional accounting and/or ERP vendors have always afforded some degree of distribution functionality via their Order Entry, Inventory Control, and/or Purchase Order modules, not many can yet natively provide more advanced WMS capabilities such as radio frequency (RF) support for remote communication and bar coding, and the ability to track product as it wends its way from shop/warehouse floor to customer sites. Its timely focus on distribution/supply chain execution (SCE) has seemingly been fortuitous particularly these days, since it remains a fertile enterprise applications area where companies still have ample opportunity to improve the dreadful practices of warehouse employees scurrying around with clipboards and pick lists, while its deployments are at the same time less time-consuming and more oriented towards return on investment (ROI), particularly if its deployment does not require multiple rounds of training.
To illustrate some of its distribution capabilities, SYSPRO enables order-lines to be split into partial shipments to meet delivery schedules for just-in-time (JIT) customers, while the Return Material Authorization (RMA) module automatically creates repair work orders if necessary, calculates associated return charges (such as a restocking fee), and facilitates a replacement cross-shipment, even allowing for inter-warehouse transfers.
Further, the Return to Vendor (RTV) module enables a company to control the return and exchange of items purchased from suppliers with visibility and tracking through the conclusion of the transaction. The module also interfaces with the above RMA module to facilitate the return of parts from customers back to the original supplier, and it integrates with many other modules, including Accounts Payable, General Ledger, Inventory Control, and Purchase Order Management. The RTV module removes any items to be returned to a vendor from available stock and holds them in a review area pending negotiations for the return, and, in addition, the module allows for credit notes and replacement items. It also tracks the costs of items not replaced, handles stocked and non-stocked items and retains an unlimited history of all RTV transactions. Finally, the RTV module issues return documents and creates purchase orders for expected replacement items.
Moreover, the Goods in Transit module provides an audited, documented approach to tracking product in mid-shipment (i.e., still on the truck), while the USA Shipping System automates the entire shipping process, from the packing of items, to carrier selection, to transit times. The system menu is divided into key components that guide users in setting up a shipment. The Setup component provides options for carriers, shipping zones, rates and defaults, while the Processing component details various packing choices, carrier selections, including "best way," and freight calculations, and the Reports component lets the user define the format of the Bill of Lading document, including number of shipments and customers covered. Up to date shipping rates and electronic scale interface ensure the accuracy of shipping charges, enabling intelligent estimates to be provided customers during order entry.
Since the system automatically updates the sales order module with shipping charges and tracking numbers, data entry is reduced, and the chance for human error is lessened. In addition to providing the most current shipping rates from carriers such as FedEx, UPS or Airborne, the system also caters to manually-entered rates. Consequently, SYSPRO's native integration should allow a distributor to make sure the product is in stock before committing it to a 20-line-item sales order for, e.g., a kitting set. As a result, its offering would be in the same league with Lilly Software, IBS, Adonix, ACCPAC and Frontstep, with varying competitive edge in platform/middleware standards support, multi-national capabilities and/or geographic coverage, but often therefore making it often competitive even with the likes of Intentia, J.D. Edwards, SSA GT, Oracle, and SAP. The fact that SAP and Oracle have released some of the above functionalities only very recently should point out SYSPRO's head start in the area compared to its like brethren.
Intuitive User Interface
End users of smaller enterprises have also been impressed with its intuitive user interface, which combines on-screen graphics with a functional flow for better visual orientation, and also provides consistently deployed keyboard shortcuts for heavy data entry. It also offers a wealth of administrative features like workflow & event management, querying tools and a built-in report writer, while events and triggers facilitate the tailoring of solutions without source code modifications. SYSPRO has also been technologically adequate for its target market, as it exhibits n-tier client/server architecture, is fully Windows 2000/NT/XP, Linux, Novell and UNIX operating systems compatible. Additionally, since the release of IMPACT Encore 5.0, Microsoft SQL Server (2000 or 7.0) has been an optional database.
SYSPRO has long been committed to the Microsoft technology and it has made significant progress turning its .NET vision of a year ago into a proof of concept reality. Still, the dichotomy of offering many OS platforms, but only on the SQL Server database and .NET platform (although many UNIX users in large enterprises might prefer possibly more scalable Oracle or IBM DB/2 databases and J2EE platform compliance) is somewhat confusing. To that end, SYSPRO might not be exactly a cross-platform provider, at least not to the degree Adonix or ACCPAC can claim. Further, if it attempts to target the upper mid-market enterprises, the company will also have to walk on the blurred balance borderline between functional depth across operating systems and ease of use, since an Oracle database is not available for the UNIX users.
Still, with its pervasive support of Component Object Model (COM) environments and XML integration capability, SYSPRO offers e-commerce applications tightly integrated to its back-office, as well as the interconnectivity to third-party products. The above-mentioned SYSPRO e.net solutions architecture should provide a way of directly remotely accessing the functionality within the ERP system, and in such a way that does not compromise its business rules and security. The framework, which delivers the system's functionality as discrete objects of code, supports capabilities such as integrated e-commerce Web storefronts, access to ERP data via wireless devices, and integration with best-of-breed applications. SYSPRO also provides an extensive set of tools to assist third-party developers who wish to develop integrated add-ons that access, analyze and update the program's databases through protected business logic.
SYSPRO product functionality and its e.net technology umbrella should help manufacturers pursue a concept of immaculate order fulfillment, which SYSPRO formerly denoted under its Strategic (e)Fulfillment initiative, and which was envisioned to enable management to make better decisions since it provides visibility and control of all aspects of the supply chain (i.e., from cradle to grave of the product). Moreover, given its cross-departmental pervasiveness, it becomes the means by which these decisions can be executed in the most efficient manner.
Although not evident from its historically low-profile international marketing, SYSPRO has developed extended functionality for a number of specific industries in addition to the Plastics and Metal, including Equipment /Machinery, Food, Automotive, Electronics and Hi-tech, Medical devices, Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Packaged Goods and Wholesale Distribution.
Additionally, on a more general note, the SYSPRO product excels at plant-level APS functionality going beyond all-too-common Gantt charts/schedules into the ability to split jobs in two, or to split them between multiple work centers, all with the aim of optimally fulfilling the customer's order. Further, contrary to most peer vendors, which have largely started their ERP applications' expertise in the manufacturing space, SYSPRO has also concurrently established a strong presence and functionality in the distribution field. With its extensive financial and accounting functionality, fully integrated with its own manufacturing and distribution systems, Syspro provides a product that also fits the needs of wholesale distributors, industrial distributors, over-the-counter operations, and retailers.
While traditional accounting and/or ERP vendors have always afforded some degree of distribution functionality via their Order Entry, Inventory Control, and/or Purchase Order modules, not many can yet natively provide more advanced WMS capabilities such as radio frequency (RF) support for remote communication and bar coding, and the ability to track product as it wends its way from shop/warehouse floor to customer sites. Its timely focus on distribution/supply chain execution (SCE) has seemingly been fortuitous particularly these days, since it remains a fertile enterprise applications area where companies still have ample opportunity to improve the dreadful practices of warehouse employees scurrying around with clipboards and pick lists, while its deployments are at the same time less time-consuming and more oriented towards return on investment (ROI), particularly if its deployment does not require multiple rounds of training.
To illustrate some of its distribution capabilities, SYSPRO enables order-lines to be split into partial shipments to meet delivery schedules for just-in-time (JIT) customers, while the Return Material Authorization (RMA) module automatically creates repair work orders if necessary, calculates associated return charges (such as a restocking fee), and facilitates a replacement cross-shipment, even allowing for inter-warehouse transfers.
Further, the Return to Vendor (RTV) module enables a company to control the return and exchange of items purchased from suppliers with visibility and tracking through the conclusion of the transaction. The module also interfaces with the above RMA module to facilitate the return of parts from customers back to the original supplier, and it integrates with many other modules, including Accounts Payable, General Ledger, Inventory Control, and Purchase Order Management. The RTV module removes any items to be returned to a vendor from available stock and holds them in a review area pending negotiations for the return, and, in addition, the module allows for credit notes and replacement items. It also tracks the costs of items not replaced, handles stocked and non-stocked items and retains an unlimited history of all RTV transactions. Finally, the RTV module issues return documents and creates purchase orders for expected replacement items.
Moreover, the Goods in Transit module provides an audited, documented approach to tracking product in mid-shipment (i.e., still on the truck), while the USA Shipping System automates the entire shipping process, from the packing of items, to carrier selection, to transit times. The system menu is divided into key components that guide users in setting up a shipment. The Setup component provides options for carriers, shipping zones, rates and defaults, while the Processing component details various packing choices, carrier selections, including "best way," and freight calculations, and the Reports component lets the user define the format of the Bill of Lading document, including number of shipments and customers covered. Up to date shipping rates and electronic scale interface ensure the accuracy of shipping charges, enabling intelligent estimates to be provided customers during order entry.
Since the system automatically updates the sales order module with shipping charges and tracking numbers, data entry is reduced, and the chance for human error is lessened. In addition to providing the most current shipping rates from carriers such as FedEx, UPS or Airborne, the system also caters to manually-entered rates. Consequently, SYSPRO's native integration should allow a distributor to make sure the product is in stock before committing it to a 20-line-item sales order for, e.g., a kitting set. As a result, its offering would be in the same league with Lilly Software, IBS, Adonix, ACCPAC and Frontstep, with varying competitive edge in platform/middleware standards support, multi-national capabilities and/or geographic coverage, but often therefore making it often competitive even with the likes of Intentia, J.D. Edwards, SSA GT, Oracle, and SAP. The fact that SAP and Oracle have released some of the above functionalities only very recently should point out SYSPRO's head start in the area compared to its like brethren.
Intuitive User Interface
End users of smaller enterprises have also been impressed with its intuitive user interface, which combines on-screen graphics with a functional flow for better visual orientation, and also provides consistently deployed keyboard shortcuts for heavy data entry. It also offers a wealth of administrative features like workflow & event management, querying tools and a built-in report writer, while events and triggers facilitate the tailoring of solutions without source code modifications. SYSPRO has also been technologically adequate for its target market, as it exhibits n-tier client/server architecture, is fully Windows 2000/NT/XP, Linux, Novell and UNIX operating systems compatible. Additionally, since the release of IMPACT Encore 5.0, Microsoft SQL Server (2000 or 7.0) has been an optional database.
SYSPRO has long been committed to the Microsoft technology and it has made significant progress turning its .NET vision of a year ago into a proof of concept reality. Still, the dichotomy of offering many OS platforms, but only on the SQL Server database and .NET platform (although many UNIX users in large enterprises might prefer possibly more scalable Oracle or IBM DB/2 databases and J2EE platform compliance) is somewhat confusing. To that end, SYSPRO might not be exactly a cross-platform provider, at least not to the degree Adonix or ACCPAC can claim. Further, if it attempts to target the upper mid-market enterprises, the company will also have to walk on the blurred balance borderline between functional depth across operating systems and ease of use, since an Oracle database is not available for the UNIX users.
Still, with its pervasive support of Component Object Model (COM) environments and XML integration capability, SYSPRO offers e-commerce applications tightly integrated to its back-office, as well as the interconnectivity to third-party products. The above-mentioned SYSPRO e.net solutions architecture should provide a way of directly remotely accessing the functionality within the ERP system, and in such a way that does not compromise its business rules and security. The framework, which delivers the system's functionality as discrete objects of code, supports capabilities such as integrated e-commerce Web storefronts, access to ERP data via wireless devices, and integration with best-of-breed applications. SYSPRO also provides an extensive set of tools to assist third-party developers who wish to develop integrated add-ons that access, analyze and update the program's databases through protected business logic.
SYSPRO product functionality and its e.net technology umbrella should help manufacturers pursue a concept of immaculate order fulfillment, which SYSPRO formerly denoted under its Strategic (e)Fulfillment initiative, and which was envisioned to enable management to make better decisions since it provides visibility and control of all aspects of the supply chain (i.e., from cradle to grave of the product). Moreover, given its cross-departmental pervasiveness, it becomes the means by which these decisions can be executed in the most efficient manner.
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