How has Vantage helped? Long road to fix 6.10 implementation gon

Yahoo Archive
1
I highly doubt you can use SQL to do this since you are on progress, but
then I avoid SQL as much as possible....there are more people on this
list that can tell you better than I could.

From what I understand about updating/migrating data into Vantage
(unless you buy service connect or I think there is another one out
there called Persuasive) is it can void your maintenance
agreement...especially if something goes wrong!

Hey guys, can anyone answer her question better than me? Sorry!


M. Manasa Reddy
manasa@...
P: 630-806-2000
F: 630-806-2001


________________________________

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of eltaria.foong
Sent: Sunday, June 08, 2008 9:36 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Re: How has Vantage helped? Long road to fix 6.10
implementation gone wrong



Hi Manasa,

Thanks for the feedback, I've used progress Data Administration to
create a new DB, based on an empty Vantage database.

Is it possible to use SQL to migrate the information from the tables
you mentioned? I was thinking about scripting it in PHP, and feed it
back to the new DB via ODBC.

The parts are not actively managed as well, for two years none of the
obsolete parts were marked as inactive! That'll be fun to separate
what's active and what's not :(

--- In vantage@yahoogroups.com <mailto:vantage%40yahoogroups.com> ,
"Manasa Reddy" <manasa@...> wrote:
>
> Well, in my opinion, if it is that "horrible", create a new db and
start
> from scratch! Perfectly legal!
>
> Do a proper implementation and get business processes down correctly
> NOW, using Vantage as a "template" for those processes. If the master
> tables are good, see if the company is willing to spend the money to
> have Epicor export and import your data to the new db, and then create
a
> testing environment with that data to train and get everyone
comfortable
> with the environment. The main ones are your Customers, Vendors,
Parts,
> Product Groups, and Part Classes to start off.
>
> Also, you can show accounting how the system really works and see if
> what they need for financials can be done in Crystal. There is FRx
that
> could also be used (but of course more money) if Crystal is no good.
>
> Hopefully you are technical enough to get a new environment going, if
> not, there are plenty of us who have had to create new dbs for testing
> purposes, etc., that could always point you in the right direction.
>
> Hope this helps a little....
>
> M. Manasa Reddy
> manasa@...
> P: 630-806-2000
> F: 630-806-2001
>
>
>






[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
2
Hi, I've just recently came to a company whose Vantage 6.1
implementation is horrible, and is severely under used.

I would appreciate it if members of the group could help me out and
point me in the right direction as to how we can put the ERP into good
use.

There've been a large amount of turnovers too, so most of the staffs
involved with the implementation stage/trainings has already left, as
such, I'm planning to start off with a team of 5 and get them up to speed.

I've seen some members who've been on Vantage since 2002, so it'll be
of tremendous value to get your opinion.

I'm also considering to re-implement and start from scratch again, as
I've noticed there's a lot of mistakes.

For example,
1) In the 2 years it's supposed to be 'live' not a single Inventory/GL
reconciliation were performed.
2) AP invoices were not used at all. Finance were reluctant to use
vantage, due to the sales consultant promising financial reports in a
format that can't be printed out. And from my chat with Epicor
support, is not possible in the first place. Or requires customization
efforts.

Thanks everyone~!
3
Well, in my opinion, if it is that "horrible", create a new db and start
from scratch! Perfectly legal!

Do a proper implementation and get business processes down correctly
NOW, using Vantage as a "template" for those processes. If the master
tables are good, see if the company is willing to spend the money to
have Epicor export and import your data to the new db, and then create a
testing environment with that data to train and get everyone comfortable
with the environment. The main ones are your Customers, Vendors, Parts,
Product Groups, and Part Classes to start off.

Also, you can show accounting how the system really works and see if
what they need for financials can be done in Crystal. There is FRx that
could also be used (but of course more money) if Crystal is no good.

Hopefully you are technical enough to get a new environment going, if
not, there are plenty of us who have had to create new dbs for testing
purposes, etc., that could always point you in the right direction.

Hope this helps a little....

M. Manasa Reddy
manasa@...
P: 630-806-2000
F: 630-806-2001


________________________________

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of eltaria.foong
Sent: Friday, June 06, 2008 4:22 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] How has Vantage helped? Long road to fix 6.10
implementation gone wrong



Hi, I've just recently came to a company whose Vantage 6.1
implementation is horrible, and is severely under used.

I would appreciate it if members of the group could help me out and
point me in the right direction as to how we can put the ERP into good
use.

There've been a large amount of turnovers too, so most of the staffs
involved with the implementation stage/trainings has already left, as
such, I'm planning to start off with a team of 5 and get them up to
speed.

I've seen some members who've been on Vantage since 2002, so it'll be
of tremendous value to get your opinion.

I'm also considering to re-implement and start from scratch again, as
I've noticed there's a lot of mistakes.

For example,
1) In the 2 years it's supposed to be 'live' not a single Inventory/GL
reconciliation were performed.
2) AP invoices were not used at all. Finance were reluctant to use
vantage, due to the sales consultant promising financial reports in a
format that can't be printed out. And from my chat with Epicor
support, is not possible in the first place. Or requires customization
efforts.

Thanks everyone~!






[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
4
Oops forgot to mention Chart of Accounts...now this is the perfect time
to get accounting to set up correctly as well!

M. Manasa Reddy
manasa@...
P: 630-806-2000
F: 630-806-2001


________________________________

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of eltaria.foong
Sent: Friday, June 06, 2008 4:22 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] How has Vantage helped? Long road to fix 6.10
implementation gone wrong



Hi, I've just recently came to a company whose Vantage 6.1
implementation is horrible, and is severely under used.

I would appreciate it if members of the group could help me out and
point me in the right direction as to how we can put the ERP into good
use.

There've been a large amount of turnovers too, so most of the staffs
involved with the implementation stage/trainings has already left, as
such, I'm planning to start off with a team of 5 and get them up to
speed.

I've seen some members who've been on Vantage since 2002, so it'll be
of tremendous value to get your opinion.

I'm also considering to re-implement and start from scratch again, as
I've noticed there's a lot of mistakes.

For example,
1) In the 2 years it's supposed to be 'live' not a single Inventory/GL
reconciliation were performed.
2) AP invoices were not used at all. Finance were reluctant to use
vantage, due to the sales consultant promising financial reports in a
format that can't be printed out. And from my chat with Epicor
support, is not possible in the first place. Or requires customization
efforts.

Thanks everyone~!






[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
5
Hi Manasa,

We're going through the same pains and are fixing to upgrade to
8.03.404. We are on 6.1 and knew we had problems with the way we
were using Vantage and. We hired Epicor to do a Business Process
Review (BPR) for us. They found our major problems and their
recommendation was to start over with a new database, with lots of
training so we can use the system as it was designed to be used.

They can do "partial" imports if you do have some good data in your
system. For example, our chart of accounts was setup almost
perfectly so we'll import that. But other parts of our system are
not so perfect.

--- In vantage@yahoogroups.com, "Manasa Reddy" <manasa@...> wrote:
>
> Oops forgot to mention Chart of Accounts...now this is the perfect
time
> to get accounting to set up correctly as well!
>
> M. Manasa Reddy
> manasa@...
> P: 630-806-2000
> F: 630-806-2001
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On
Behalf
> Of eltaria.foong
> Sent: Friday, June 06, 2008 4:22 AM
> To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [Vantage] How has Vantage helped? Long road to fix 6.10
> implementation gone wrong
>
>
>
> Hi, I've just recently came to a company whose Vantage 6.1
> implementation is horrible, and is severely under used.
>
> I would appreciate it if members of the group could help me out and
> point me in the right direction as to how we can put the ERP into
good
> use.
>
> There've been a large amount of turnovers too, so most of the staffs
> involved with the implementation stage/trainings has already left,
as
> such, I'm planning to start off with a team of 5 and get them up to
> speed.
>
> I've seen some members who've been on Vantage since 2002, so it'll
be
> of tremendous value to get your opinion.
>
> I'm also considering to re-implement and start from scratch again,
as
> I've noticed there's a lot of mistakes.
>
> For example,
> 1) In the 2 years it's supposed to be 'live' not a single
Inventory/GL
> reconciliation were performed.
> 2) AP invoices were not used at all. Finance were reluctant to use
> vantage, due to the sales consultant promising financial reports in
a
> format that can't be printed out. And from my chat with Epicor
> support, is not possible in the first place. Or requires
customization
> efforts.
>
> Thanks everyone~!
>
>
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
6
You are correct in saying that! That is what is great with the export
and import...when you export it is a hell of lot easier to clean up the
bad information and then have the good info imported!

I also agree that if you can afford to up grade your network and go to
8.03, it would be better to take advantage of the new features....if you
have been paying for maintenance all this time, then "upgrade" cost of
software is free! You have already bought the 8.03 version.



M. Manasa Reddy
manasa@...
P: 630-806-2000
F: 630-806-2001


________________________________

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of brucewbrannan
Sent: Friday, June 06, 2008 9:12 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Re: How has Vantage helped? Long road to fix 6.10
implementation gone wrong



Hi Manasa,

We're going through the same pains and are fixing to upgrade to
8.03.404. We are on 6.1 and knew we had problems with the way we
were using Vantage and. We hired Epicor to do a Business Process
Review (BPR) for us. They found our major problems and their
recommendation was to start over with a new database, with lots of
training so we can use the system as it was designed to be used.

They can do "partial" imports if you do have some good data in your
system. For example, our chart of accounts was setup almost
perfectly so we'll import that. But other parts of our system are
not so perfect.

--- In vantage@yahoogroups.com <mailto:vantage%40yahoogroups.com> ,
"Manasa Reddy" <manasa@...> wrote:
>
> Oops forgot to mention Chart of Accounts...now this is the perfect
time
> to get accounting to set up correctly as well!
>
> M. Manasa Reddy
> manasa@...
> P: 630-806-2000
> F: 630-806-2001
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: vantage@yahoogroups.com <mailto:vantage%40yahoogroups.com>
[mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com <mailto:vantage%40yahoogroups.com> ] On
Behalf
> Of eltaria.foong
> Sent: Friday, June 06, 2008 4:22 AM
> To: vantage@yahoogroups.com <mailto:vantage%40yahoogroups.com>
> Subject: [Vantage] How has Vantage helped? Long road to fix 6.10
> implementation gone wrong
>
>
>
> Hi, I've just recently came to a company whose Vantage 6.1
> implementation is horrible, and is severely under used.
>
> I would appreciate it if members of the group could help me out and
> point me in the right direction as to how we can put the ERP into
good
> use.
>
> There've been a large amount of turnovers too, so most of the staffs
> involved with the implementation stage/trainings has already left,
as
> such, I'm planning to start off with a team of 5 and get them up to
> speed.
>
> I've seen some members who've been on Vantage since 2002, so it'll
be
> of tremendous value to get your opinion.
>
> I'm also considering to re-implement and start from scratch again,
as
> I've noticed there's a lot of mistakes.
>
> For example,
> 1) In the 2 years it's supposed to be 'live' not a single
Inventory/GL
> reconciliation were performed.
> 2) AP invoices were not used at all. Finance were reluctant to use
> vantage, due to the sales consultant promising financial reports in
a
> format that can't be printed out. And from my chat with Epicor
> support, is not possible in the first place. Or requires
customization
> efforts.
>
> Thanks everyone~!
>
>
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>






[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
7
We've been on since version 4.0 in 2000 and converted from the Epicor predecessor product DCD-Classic. In a nut shell Vantage has been phenominally beneficial for us up through 6.1. I have documented on-going annual savings that have paid for the entire system on average once every two years. It has been so successful it has made it hard to convince people here that it will be worth the pain and disruption to upgrade to 8.03.4xx (or 9). I get no pressure at all from management to upgrade despite the many newer features and capabilities so we are not going to rush into it. The previous post to get your business processes in order and understood is exactly our approach to re-implementing 8.x. And a big ditto for the Chart of Accounts suggestion...the primary reason we are re-implementing. Once you set a chart scheme you are forever locked in to it needs great thought. In the end this will also help the financial reporting.
All that said...we are a very plain vanilla job shop. We don't use scheduling and we don't use MRP. We also don't use CRM or anything portal related. KISS is our watchword. We are also blessed with extremely low personnel turnover and all our implementation team is still here.

If you are going to re-implement I would suggest doing so straight to 8.03.400 which will probably require looking at new hardware compared to 6.1. The whole project will take considerable support from top management or else it will fail. One of the biggest benefits for us that has paid the greatest returns has been the access to information and the reporting ease of Report Builder. This goes away with 8.x so plan to become an expert with Crystal Reports. We've used FRx for a couple years now and it has been very useful but there was a learning curve and our CFO was already fairly skilled with report tools and Excel concepts that translated over. If financial reporting is a key issue I recommend looking at FRx and if you like it think in terms of how it might dictate CofA scheme.

-Todd C.

PS...I take that back on the paying for the system every two years. Last year I wrote a series of reports to capture R&D related costs that now generates potential R&D Tax Credits every year at least 2X what the whole system cost.





________________________________
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of eltaria.foong
Sent: Friday, June 06, 2008 4:22 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] How has Vantage helped? Long road to fix 6.10 implementation gone wrong


Hi, I've just recently came to a company whose Vantage 6.1
implementation is horrible, and is severely under used.

I would appreciate it if members of the group could help me out and
point me in the right direction as to how we can put the ERP into good
use.

There've been a large amount of turnovers too, so most of the staffs
involved with the implementation stage/trainings has already left, as
such, I'm planning to start off with a team of 5 and get them up to speed.

I've seen some members who've been on Vantage since 2002, so it'll be
of tremendous value to get your opinion.

I'm also considering to re-implement and start from scratch again, as
I've noticed there's a lot of mistakes.

For example,
1) In the 2 years it's supposed to be 'live' not a single Inventory/GL
reconciliation were performed.
2) AP invoices were not used at all. Finance were reluctant to use
vantage, due to the sales consultant promising financial reports in a
format that can't be printed out. And from my chat with Epicor
support, is not possible in the first place. Or requires customization
efforts.

Thanks everyone~!





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
8
Hi Manasa,

Thanks for the feedback, I've used progress Data Administration to
create a new DB, based on an empty Vantage database.

Is it possible to use SQL to migrate the information from the tables
you mentioned? I was thinking about scripting it in PHP, and feed it
back to the new DB via ODBC.

The parts are not actively managed as well, for two years none of the
obsolete parts were marked as inactive! That'll be fun to separate
what's active and what's not :(

--- In vantage@yahoogroups.com, "Manasa Reddy" <manasa@...> wrote:
>
> Well, in my opinion, if it is that "horrible", create a new db and start
> from scratch! Perfectly legal!
>
> Do a proper implementation and get business processes down correctly
> NOW, using Vantage as a "template" for those processes. If the master
> tables are good, see if the company is willing to spend the money to
> have Epicor export and import your data to the new db, and then create a
> testing environment with that data to train and get everyone comfortable
> with the environment. The main ones are your Customers, Vendors, Parts,
> Product Groups, and Part Classes to start off.
>
> Also, you can show accounting how the system really works and see if
> what they need for financials can be done in Crystal. There is FRx that
> could also be used (but of course more money) if Crystal is no good.
>
> Hopefully you are technical enough to get a new environment going, if
> not, there are plenty of us who have had to create new dbs for testing
> purposes, etc., that could always point you in the right direction.
>
> Hope this helps a little....
>
> M. Manasa Reddy
> manasa@...
> P: 630-806-2000
> F: 630-806-2001
>
>
>