OT: Vantage upgrade or switch?

system · October 17, 2012, 4:34pm

Thanks Mark, that's good, sound advice and very helpful.
There is so much to consider, and what you've said makes alot of sense.
I appreciate the list of some of the major differences to watch for and be aware of.

Thank you!
Julie

----- Original Message -----
From: Mark Wagner
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2012 3:10 PM
Subject: Re: [Vantage] OT: Vantage upgrade or switch?

Julie, I will throw in my two cents as someone was has implemented Vantage 6, Vantage 8, and Epicor 9 and have converted both Vantage 6 and Vantage 8 to Epicor 9

So much has changed since Vantage 6 to Epicor 9 including what everyone else has shared as far as BPMs, BAQs, Customizations, not to mention the entire visual presentation, right click menu's, etc. When Epicor released Epicor 9, its intent was to compete as a Tier 1 ERP supplier, against SAP, Oracle, etc. Some might say they are on the edge between being a Tier 2 and Tier 1. They also boosted their European presence considerably, especially in the financials area. For your consideration though, there is a long list of items which are considerably different from Vantage 6 including:

Financials (GL Control Codes, Dynamic Segments, Multi-books, Allocations, Schedules, Receipt Reversals, AFR, etc)
Service Contracts, Service Jobs, Service Billing
Project Enhancements in costing, jobs, time and expense entry, et al
Workflows and task set routings
Quoting/CRM/Salesperson Workbench
Engineering Workbench
Supplier Workbench
Serialization

Yet much if not all of this (except for having to understand the new financials, especially Control Codes) may not apply to your business now or, it may be something you want to add in the future

Either way, you are faced with a choice which I compare to deciding to remodel a house or purchase new. The remodel may expose basic upgrades in infrastructure just to use the system more effectively and may mean redoing things that you have wanted to change for years but havent, such as cleaning up data, processes, setup files, etc. There will be a lot of work just to get converted to E9, before even considering using some of the newer modules
On the other hand, purchasing new will likely cost more and take more time as you have the new software costs, retraining from scratch, implementation costs, etc.

If your users are comfortable with Vantage and you simply want to get up to speed on the latest platform, make sure your future growth plans (next 7 years or so) are accomodated by Epicor 9 and its functionality. Treat is as you would any other software selection process, as you dont want to spend the next 6 months upgrading and find there are still holes in what your needs are versus what Epicor 9 has to offer.

As stated earlier, no matter which software you choose to go with, be prepared to invest in hardware, both server and clients, The amount of functionality and the ease of use comes with a lot of memory and CPU requirements so either way be prepared

________________________________
From: Julie Lehmann <jlehmann@...>
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2012 12:34 PM
Subject: [Vantage] OT: Vantage upgrade or switch?

Just wanted to do a shout-out for opinions from you folks. We are on 6.1 and along with our home office (Non-Epicor product), starting to investigate software options for
both of us. We have actually been pretty content with 6.1, but it is time to move forward. I still pay attention to the group and I see so much about BAQ's and BPM's, UltraComboBoxes and customizing screens and menus, so I guess I am wondering how much of that is required? I remember a remark from someone quite some time ago, saying that the great thing about Vantage is that it is so customizable, but the bad thing is that it is so customizable. When we implemented 6.1, I had to write alot of reports, but nothing like what I read that you guys are going through. With E9, I wonder how much customization is necessary. We would start clean, rather than trying to upgrade data, so our options are pretty open.
With all that being said, I guess my questions are:

1. Knowing what you know now - would you still choose Vantage/Epicor?
2. Out of the box - how much customization is required just for normal, everyday functions? I know some of it is relative, but generally speaking.
3. What features do you love? What is frustrating? What functionality is missing? (ie: it doesn't sound like cycle counting has improved, Master Scheduling maybe?, has job-costing improved?)
4. Has speed improved now? I know this was really a source of frustration. Do you feel the bugs are down to a minimal level?

I already realize that UOM is a key change and resource groups are new, MES is different from Shop Floor, etc, so I'm looking for other key issues good and bad, that affect your business.
We will talk to our CAM, and see demos, but I wanted to get feedback and opinions from the group, because you are the ones living it every day and I value and
respect what you have to say. (This group alone would make me want to stay with Epicor!)

I have looked back at other threads related to upgrades, but it doesn't seem like there has been much discussion lately.
All thoughts and opinions are welcomed!

To reply off-list: mailto:jlehmann%40mercurycorp.com

Thank you very much,

Julie Lehmann
Mercury Minnesota Inc.
Faribault, MN

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

system · October 17, 2012, 12:34pm

Just wanted to do a shout-out for opinions from you folks. We are on 6.1 and along with our home office (Non-Epicor product), starting to investigate software options for
both of us. We have actually been pretty content with 6.1, but it is time to move forward. I still pay attention to the group and I see so much about BAQ's and BPM's, UltraComboBoxes and customizing screens and menus, so I guess I am wondering how much of that is required? I remember a remark from someone quite some time ago, saying that the great thing about Vantage is that it is so customizable, but the bad thing is that it is so customizable. When we implemented 6.1, I had to write alot of reports, but nothing like what I read that you guys are going through. With E9, I wonder how much customization is necessary. We would start clean, rather than trying to upgrade data, so our options are pretty open.
With all that being said, I guess my questions are:

1. Knowing what you know now - would you still choose Vantage/Epicor?
2. Out of the box - how much customization is required just for normal, everyday functions? I know some of it is relative, but generally speaking.
3. What features do you love? What is frustrating? What functionality is missing? (ie: it doesn't sound like cycle counting has improved, Master Scheduling maybe?, has job-costing improved?)
4. Has speed improved now? I know this was really a source of frustration. Do you feel the bugs are down to a minimal level?

I already realize that UOM is a key change and resource groups are new, MES is different from Shop Floor, etc, so I'm looking for other key issues good and bad, that affect your business.
We will talk to our CAM, and see demos, but I wanted to get feedback and opinions from the group, because you are the ones living it every day and I value and
respect what you have to say. (This group alone would make me want to stay with Epicor!)

I have looked back at other threads related to upgrades, but it doesn't seem like there has been much discussion lately.
All thoughts and opinions are welcomed!

To reply off-list: jlehmann@...

Thank you very much,

Julie Lehmann
Mercury Minnesota Inc.
Faribault, MN

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

system · October 17, 2012, 1:27pm

1. Knowing what you know now - would you still choose Vantage/Epicor?
Yes Epicor is the most flexible platform I know, which provides all
the functionality and it is still cheaper than most of the competition

2. Out of the box - how much customization is required just for normal,
everyday functions? I know some of it is relative, but generally speaking.
That depends completely on your business, if all you do is take an order,
create a job, work that job, ship it and bill it. Then there is no need to
customize. The customizations come into place with the idiosyncrasies of
the field / company you work for. If it requires all orders to have a pink
textbox, or jobs to sort in a specific order, etc..

3. What features do you love? What is frustrating? What functionality is
missing? (ie: it doesn't sound like cycle counting has improved, Master
Scheduling maybe?, has job-costing improved?)
I love the customization , the fact that you can change almost everyhing in
the system. The lack of documentation is pretty frustrating but hey that's
what this forum is for :).
Not sure about particular modules in comparison to 6

4. Has speed improved now? I know this was really a source of frustration.
Do you feel the bugs are down to a minimal level?
No, V6 is still faster than E9. BUt you get added benefits. There are still
a TON of bugs, some which you can work around some which you can't. I think
there are very few bugs left in 6 since its so old. But because E9 is a
living product that is always going to be a problem.

*Jose C Gomez*
*Software Engineer*
*
*
*
*T: 904.469.1524 mobile
E: jose@...
http://www.josecgomez.com
<http://www.linkedin.com/in/josecgomez> <http://www.facebook.com/josegomez>
<http://www.google.com/profiles/jose.gomez> <http://www.twitter.com/joc85>
<http://www.josecgomez.com/professional-resume/>
<http://www.josecgomez.com/feed/>
<http://www.usdoingstuff.com>

*Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?*

On Wed, Oct 17, 2012 at 12:34 PM, Julie Lehmann <jlehmann@...>wrote:

> **
>
>
> Just wanted to do a shout-out for opinions from you folks. We are on 6.1
> and along with our home office (Non-Epicor product), starting to
> investigate software options for
> both of us. We have actually been pretty content with 6.1, but it is time
> to move forward. I still pay attention to the group and I see so much about
> BAQ's and BPM's, UltraComboBoxes and customizing screens and menus, so I
> guess I am wondering how much of that is required? I remember a remark from
> someone quite some time ago, saying that the great thing about Vantage is
> that it is so customizable, but the bad thing is that it is so
> customizable. When we implemented 6.1, I had to write alot of reports, but
> nothing like what I read that you guys are going through. With E9, I wonder
> how much customization is necessary. We would start clean, rather than
> trying to upgrade data, so our options are pretty open.
> With all that being said, I guess my questions are:
>
> 1. Knowing what you know now - would you still choose Vantage/Epicor?
> 2. Out of the box - how much customization is required just for normal,
> everyday functions? I know some of it is relative, but generally speaking.
> 3. What features do you love? What is frustrating? What functionality is
> missing? (ie: it doesn't sound like cycle counting has improved, Master
> Scheduling maybe?, has job-costing improved?)
> 4. Has speed improved now? I know this was really a source of frustration.
> Do you feel the bugs are down to a minimal level?
>
> I already realize that UOM is a key change and resource groups are new,
> MES is different from Shop Floor, etc, so I'm looking for other key issues
> good and bad, that affect your business.
> We will talk to our CAM, and see demos, but I wanted to get feedback and
> opinions from the group, because you are the ones living it every day and I
> value and
> respect what you have to say. (This group alone would make me want to stay
> with Epicor!)
>
> I have looked back at other threads related to upgrades, but it doesn't
> seem like there has been much discussion lately.
> All thoughts and opinions are welcomed!
>
> To reply off-list: jlehmann@...
>
> Thank you very much,
>
> Julie Lehmann
> Mercury Minnesota Inc.
> Faribault, MN
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

system · October 17, 2012, 1:42pm

The only thing I would add to Jose's comments are that with Out of the Box,
our users were "creating" their own ways of accomplishing a task without
understanding what it was doing to the costs, etc. So, I would add that
BPMs are needed to make everyone go down the same path, so to speak, and
that is because Epicor is so flexible.

Beth Rye
IT Director
CIGNYS
Email:Â brye@...

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-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
Jose Gomez
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2012 1:27 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Vantage] OT: Vantage upgrade or switch?

1. Knowing what you know now - would you still choose Vantage/Epicor?
Yes Epicor is the most flexible platform I know, which provides all the
functionality and it is still cheaper than most of the competition

2. Out of the box - how much customization is required just for normal,
everyday functions? I know some of it is relative, but generally speaking.
That depends completely on your business, if all you do is take an order,
create a job, work that job, ship it and bill it. Then there is no need to
customize. The customizations come into place with the idiosyncrasies of the
field / company you work for. If it requires all orders to have a pink
textbox, or jobs to sort in a specific order, etc..

3. What features do you love? What is frustrating? What functionality is
missing? (ie: it doesn't sound like cycle counting has improved, Master
Scheduling maybe?, has job-costing improved?) I love the customization , the
fact that you can change almost everyhing in the system. The lack of
documentation is pretty frustrating but hey that's what this forum is for
:).
Not sure about particular modules in comparison to 6

4. Has speed improved now? I know this was really a source of frustration.
Do you feel the bugs are down to a minimal level?
No, V6 is still faster than E9. BUt you get added benefits. There are still
a TON of bugs, some which you can work around some which you can't. I think
there are very few bugs left in 6 since its so old. But because E9 is a
living product that is always going to be a problem.

*Jose C Gomez*
*Software Engineer*
*
*
*
*T: 904.469.1524 mobile
E: jose@...
http://www.josecgomez.com
<http://www.linkedin.com/in/josecgomez> <http://www.facebook.com/josegomez>
<http://www.google.com/profiles/jose.gomez> <http://www.twitter.com/joc85>
<http://www.josecgomez.com/professional-resume/>
<http://www.josecgomez.com/feed/>
<http://www.usdoingstuff.com>

*Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?*

On Wed, Oct 17, 2012 at 12:34 PM, Julie Lehmann
<jlehmann@...>wrote:

> **
>
>
> Just wanted to do a shout-out for opinions from you folks. We are on
> 6.1 and along with our home office (Non-Epicor product), starting to
> investigate software options for both of us. We have actually been
> pretty content with 6.1, but it is time to move forward. I still pay
> attention to the group and I see so much about BAQ's and BPM's,
> UltraComboBoxes and customizing screens and menus, so I guess I am
> wondering how much of that is required? I remember a remark from
> someone quite some time ago, saying that the great thing about Vantage
> is that it is so customizable, but the bad thing is that it is so
> customizable. When we implemented 6.1, I had to write alot of reports,
> but nothing like what I read that you guys are going through. With E9,
> I wonder how much customization is necessary. We would start clean,
> rather than trying to upgrade data, so our options are pretty open.
> With all that being said, I guess my questions are:
>
> 1. Knowing what you know now - would you still choose Vantage/Epicor?
> 2. Out of the box - how much customization is required just for
> normal, everyday functions? I know some of it is relative, but generally

speaking.

> 3. What features do you love? What is frustrating? What functionality
> is missing? (ie: it doesn't sound like cycle counting has improved,
> Master Scheduling maybe?, has job-costing improved?) 4. Has speed
> improved now? I know this was really a source of frustration.
> Do you feel the bugs are down to a minimal level?
>
> I already realize that UOM is a key change and resource groups are
> new, MES is different from Shop Floor, etc, so I'm looking for other
> key issues good and bad, that affect your business.
> We will talk to our CAM, and see demos, but I wanted to get feedback
> and opinions from the group, because you are the ones living it every
> day and I value and respect what you have to say. (This group alone
> would make me want to stay with Epicor!)
>
> I have looked back at other threads related to upgrades, but it
> doesn't seem like there has been much discussion lately.
> All thoughts and opinions are welcomed!
>
> To reply off-list: jlehmann@...
>
> Thank you very much,
>
> Julie Lehmann
> Mercury Minnesota Inc.
> Faribault, MN
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

------------------------------------

Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must have
already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder and
Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
(2) To search through old msg's goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/linksYahoo! Groups Links

system · October 17, 2012, 2:14pm

1. Absolutely. I still believe Epicor is the best of the worst. Price,
amenities, reporting, BPMS, features and customization capabilities are
above average compared to other similar ERP packages. But you do owe it to
yourself and company to perform due diligence on other options to keep
yourself in check. It's worth looking at Dynamics and Syteline, do a
comparison and I'm fairly certain you'll choose Epicor. But to CYA, you
should take a look around. If you do choose Epicor, I'd highly recommend
getting MSSQL server as your backend and saying adios to Progress.

2. Out of the Box no ERP solution is ready for any company. Out of the box
gets you 80-95% of the way there. It's up to you to further hone the
product to your business.

3. Features that I love? BPMs, reporting/BI, customizations. The product
grows with you and your company.

4. 6.1 was a speedy version because it was very spartan and basic. You'll
trade a bit of snappiness for more capabilities and features. You should
definitely be running the clients on newer PCs with as much horsepower as
possible .. and for that matter, your server, too. Over compensate; you'll
be happy you did.

You're on the right line of thinking though: Don't upgrade from 6.1. Just
implement 9.

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
Julie Lehmann
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2012 12:35 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] OT: Vantage upgrade or switch?

Just wanted to do a shout-out for opinions from you folks. We are on 6.1 and
along with our home office (Non-Epicor product), starting to investigate
software options for
both of us. We have actually been pretty content with 6.1, but it is time to
move forward. I still pay attention to the group and I see so much about
BAQ's and BPM's, UltraComboBoxes and customizing screens and menus, so I
guess I am wondering how much of that is required? I remember a remark from
someone quite some time ago, saying that the great thing about Vantage is
that it is so customizable, but the bad thing is that it is so customizable.
When we implemented 6.1, I had to write alot of reports, but nothing like
what I read that you guys are going through. With E9, I wonder how much
customization is necessary. We would start clean, rather than trying to
upgrade data, so our options are pretty open.
With all that being said, I guess my questions are:

1. Knowing what you know now - would you still choose Vantage/Epicor?
2. Out of the box - how much customization is required just for normal,
everyday functions? I know some of it is relative, but generally speaking.
3. What features do you love? What is frustrating? What functionality is
missing? (ie: it doesn't sound like cycle counting has improved, Master
Scheduling maybe?, has job-costing improved?)
4. Has speed improved now? I know this was really a source of frustration.
Do you feel the bugs are down to a minimal level?

I already realize that UOM is a key change and resource groups are new, MES
is different from Shop Floor, etc, so I'm looking for other key issues good
and bad, that affect your business.
We will talk to our CAM, and see demos, but I wanted to get feedback and
opinions from the group, because you are the ones living it every day and I
value and
respect what you have to say. (This group alone would make me want to stay
with Epicor!)

I have looked back at other threads related to upgrades, but it doesn't seem
like there has been much discussion lately.
All thoughts and opinions are welcomed!

To reply off-list: jlehmann@...
<mailto:jlehmann%40mercurycorp.com>

Thank you very much,

Julie Lehmann
Mercury Minnesota Inc.
Faribault, MN

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
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Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

system · October 17, 2012, 2:25pm

We upgraded from 6.1 to 9.05 in early 2011. Answers to your questions:

1. Yes.

2. At 9.05 go live day, two customized screens and a ton of reports.
We've done a lot since then, but we ran the business on almost stock
9.05 to start. And a bunch of the 6.1 reports that got converted are
now obsolete, as we've gotten used to Epicor (better trackers,
dashboards, etc).

4. Raw typing and report speed is slower in 9.05. Throw $$$ at some
good hardware. However, process improvements and customizations have
completely *eliminated* some tasks that were 100% manual in 6.1. It
enabled some major business improvements for us that were not possible
before.

Add this to your list: training people in 9.05 processes & screens was
much simpler than another ERP system would have been. Same concepts,
same processes, same wording in most places... in some cases the
training just a side-by-side comparison of the old & new screens,
everybody nods their head, done.

Brian.

-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of Jose Gomez
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2012 1:27 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Vantage] OT: Vantage upgrade or switch?

1. Knowing what you know now - would you still choose Vantage/Epicor?
Yes Epicor is the most flexible platform I know, which provides all the
functionality and it is still cheaper than most of the competition

2. Out of the box - how much customization is required just for normal,
everyday functions? I know some of it is relative, but generally
speaking.
That depends completely on your business, if all you do is take an
order, create a job, work that job, ship it and bill it. Then there is
no need to customize. The customizations come into place with the
idiosyncrasies of the field / company you work for. If it requires all
orders to have a pink textbox, or jobs to sort in a specific order,
etc..

3. What features do you love? What is frustrating? What functionality is
missing? (ie: it doesn't sound like cycle counting has improved, Master
Scheduling maybe?, has job-costing improved?) I love the customization ,
the fact that you can change almost everyhing in the system. The lack of
documentation is pretty frustrating but hey that's what this forum is
for :).
Not sure about particular modules in comparison to 6

4. Has speed improved now? I know this was really a source of
frustration.
Do you feel the bugs are down to a minimal level?
No, V6 is still faster than E9. BUt you get added benefits. There are
still a TON of bugs, some which you can work around some which you
can't. I think there are very few bugs left in 6 since its so old. But
because E9 is a living product that is always going to be a problem.

*Jose C Gomez*
*Software Engineer*
*
*
*
*T: 904.469.1524 mobile
E: jose@...
http://www.josecgomez.com
<http://www.linkedin.com/in/josecgomez>
<http://www.facebook.com/josegomez>
<http://www.google.com/profiles/jose.gomez>
<http://www.twitter.com/joc85>
<http://www.josecgomez.com/professional-resume/>
<http://www.josecgomez.com/feed/>
<http://www.usdoingstuff.com>

*Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?*

On Wed, Oct 17, 2012 at 12:34 PM, Julie Lehmann
<jlehmann@...>wrote:

> **
>
>
> Just wanted to do a shout-out for opinions from you folks. We are on
> 6.1 and along with our home office (Non-Epicor product), starting to
> investigate software options for both of us. We have actually been
> pretty content with 6.1, but it is time to move forward. I still pay
> attention to the group and I see so much about BAQ's and BPM's,
> UltraComboBoxes and customizing screens and menus, so I guess I am
> wondering how much of that is required? I remember a remark from
> someone quite some time ago, saying that the great thing about Vantage

> is that it is so customizable, but the bad thing is that it is so
> customizable. When we implemented 6.1, I had to write alot of reports,

> but nothing like what I read that you guys are going through. With E9,

> I wonder how much customization is necessary. We would start clean,
> rather than trying to upgrade data, so our options are pretty open.
> With all that being said, I guess my questions are:
>
> 1. Knowing what you know now - would you still choose Vantage/Epicor?
> 2. Out of the box - how much customization is required just for
> normal, everyday functions? I know some of it is relative, but

generally speaking.

> 3. What features do you love? What is frustrating? What functionality
> is missing? (ie: it doesn't sound like cycle counting has improved,
> Master Scheduling maybe?, has job-costing improved?) 4. Has speed
> improved now? I know this was really a source of frustration.
> Do you feel the bugs are down to a minimal level?
>
> I already realize that UOM is a key change and resource groups are
> new, MES is different from Shop Floor, etc, so I'm looking for other
> key issues good and bad, that affect your business.
> We will talk to our CAM, and see demos, but I wanted to get feedback
> and opinions from the group, because you are the ones living it every
> day and I value and respect what you have to say. (This group alone
> would make me want to stay with Epicor!)
>
> I have looked back at other threads related to upgrades, but it
> doesn't seem like there has been much discussion lately.
> All thoughts and opinions are welcomed!
>
> To reply off-list: jlehmann@...
>
> Thank you very much,
>
> Julie Lehmann
> Mercury Minnesota Inc.
> Faribault, MN
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

------------------------------------

Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must
have already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder
and Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
(2) To search through old msg's goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/linksYahoo! Groups Links

system · October 17, 2012, 3:42pm

Vic, Jose, Brian & Bethany - thank you for your insights....it's very much appreciated.
Alot of my concerns were due to reading so many threads about BPM's & BAQ's, etc, it seems overwhelming, but Brian, hearing that you
started out with just a couple customized screens and have progressed as you go, and everyone saying that the customizations are
what you love about it, puts me much more at ease about that part of it.

I also assumed that E9 was so different from 6.1 that it wouldn't have an advantage over any other package - training-wise,
so it's good to hear that it has some resemblance of 6.1.

Vic, you are right - those are 2 of the other packages we plan to check out, and our parent company may lean towards one of those others,
which is another reason for throwing the questions out to all of you - I wanted those acknowledgements that Epicor would still be the choice.

Thanks again to all of you for taking the time to answer and for your thoughts and advice.

Julie

----- Original Message -----
From: Brian Roberts
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2012 1:25 PM
Subject: RE: [Vantage] OT: Vantage upgrade or switch?

We upgraded from 6.1 to 9.05 in early 2011. Answers to your questions:

1. Yes.

2. At 9.05 go live day, two customized screens and a ton of reports.
We've done a lot since then, but we ran the business on almost stock
9.05 to start. And a bunch of the 6.1 reports that got converted are
now obsolete, as we've gotten used to Epicor (better trackers,
dashboards, etc).

4. Raw typing and report speed is slower in 9.05. Throw $$$ at some
good hardware. However, process improvements and customizations have
completely *eliminated* some tasks that were 100% manual in 6.1. It
enabled some major business improvements for us that were not possible
before.

Add this to your list: training people in 9.05 processes & screens was
much simpler than another ERP system would have been. Same concepts,
same processes, same wording in most places... in some cases the
training just a side-by-side comparison of the old & new screens,
everybody nods their head, done.

Brian.

-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of Jose Gomez
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2012 1:27 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Vantage] OT: Vantage upgrade or switch?

1. Knowing what you know now - would you still choose Vantage/Epicor?
Yes Epicor is the most flexible platform I know, which provides all the
functionality and it is still cheaper than most of the competition

2. Out of the box - how much customization is required just for normal,
everyday functions? I know some of it is relative, but generally
speaking.
That depends completely on your business, if all you do is take an
order, create a job, work that job, ship it and bill it. Then there is
no need to customize. The customizations come into place with the
idiosyncrasies of the field / company you work for. If it requires all
orders to have a pink textbox, or jobs to sort in a specific order,
etc..

3. What features do you love? What is frustrating? What functionality is
missing? (ie: it doesn't sound like cycle counting has improved, Master
Scheduling maybe?, has job-costing improved?) I love the customization ,
the fact that you can change almost everyhing in the system. The lack of
documentation is pretty frustrating but hey that's what this forum is
for :).
Not sure about particular modules in comparison to 6

4. Has speed improved now? I know this was really a source of
frustration.
Do you feel the bugs are down to a minimal level?
No, V6 is still faster than E9. BUt you get added benefits. There are
still a TON of bugs, some which you can work around some which you
can't. I think there are very few bugs left in 6 since its so old. But
because E9 is a living product that is always going to be a problem.

*Jose C Gomez*
*Software Engineer*
*
*
*
*T: 904.469.1524 mobile
E: jose@...
http://www.josecgomez.com
<http://www.linkedin.com/in/josecgomez>
<http://www.facebook.com/josegomez>
<http://www.google.com/profiles/jose.gomez>
<http://www.twitter.com/joc85>
<http://www.josecgomez.com/professional-resume/>
<http://www.josecgomez.com/feed/>
<http://www.usdoingstuff.com>

*Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?*

On Wed, Oct 17, 2012 at 12:34 PM, Julie Lehmann
<jlehmann@...>wrote:

> **
>
>
> Just wanted to do a shout-out for opinions from you folks. We are on
> 6.1 and along with our home office (Non-Epicor product), starting to
> investigate software options for both of us. We have actually been
> pretty content with 6.1, but it is time to move forward. I still pay
> attention to the group and I see so much about BAQ's and BPM's,
> UltraComboBoxes and customizing screens and menus, so I guess I am
> wondering how much of that is required? I remember a remark from
> someone quite some time ago, saying that the great thing about Vantage

> is that it is so customizable, but the bad thing is that it is so
> customizable. When we implemented 6.1, I had to write alot of reports,

> but nothing like what I read that you guys are going through. With E9,

> I wonder how much customization is necessary. We would start clean,
> rather than trying to upgrade data, so our options are pretty open.
> With all that being said, I guess my questions are:
>
> 1. Knowing what you know now - would you still choose Vantage/Epicor?
> 2. Out of the box - how much customization is required just for
> normal, everyday functions? I know some of it is relative, but
generally speaking.
> 3. What features do you love? What is frustrating? What functionality
> is missing? (ie: it doesn't sound like cycle counting has improved,
> Master Scheduling maybe?, has job-costing improved?) 4. Has speed
> improved now? I know this was really a source of frustration.
> Do you feel the bugs are down to a minimal level?
>
> I already realize that UOM is a key change and resource groups are
> new, MES is different from Shop Floor, etc, so I'm looking for other
> key issues good and bad, that affect your business.
> We will talk to our CAM, and see demos, but I wanted to get feedback
> and opinions from the group, because you are the ones living it every
> day and I value and respect what you have to say. (This group alone
> would make me want to stay with Epicor!)
>
> I have looked back at other threads related to upgrades, but it
> doesn't seem like there has been much discussion lately.
> All thoughts and opinions are welcomed!
>
> To reply off-list: jlehmann@...
>
> Thank you very much,
>
> Julie Lehmann
> Mercury Minnesota Inc.
> Faribault, MN
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

------------------------------------

Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must
have already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder
and Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
(2) To search through old msg's goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/linksYahoo! Groups Links

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

system · October 17, 2012, 4:10pm

Julie, I will throw in my two cents as someone was has implemented Vantage 6, Vantage 8, and Epicor 9 and have converted both Vantage 6 and Vantage 8 to Epicor 9
Â
So much has changed since Vantage 6 to Epicor 9 including what everyone else has shared as far as BPMs, BAQs, Customizations, not to mention the entire visual presentation, right click menu's, etc. When Epicor released Epicor 9, its intent was to compete as a Tier 1 ERP supplier, against SAP, Oracle, etc. Some might say they are on the edge between being a Tier 2 and Tier 1. They also boosted their European presence considerably, especially in the financials area.Â For your consideration though, there is a long list of items which are considerably different from Vantage 6 including:
Â
Financials (GL Control Codes, Dynamic Segments, Multi-books, Allocations, Schedules, Receipt Reversals, AFR, etc)
Service Contracts, Service Jobs, ServiceÂ Billing
Project Enhancements in costing, jobs, time and expense entry, et al
Workflows and task set routings
Quoting/CRM/Salesperson Workbench
Engineering Workbench
Supplier Workbench
Serialization
Â
Yet much if not all of this (except for having to understand the new financials, especially Control Codes) may not apply to your business now or, it may be something you want to add in the future
Â
Either way, you are faced with a choice which I compare to deciding to remodel a house or purchase new. The remodel may expose basic upgrades in infrastructure just to use the system more effectively and may mean redoing things that you have wanted to change for years but havent, such as cleaning up data, processes, setup files, etc. There will be a lot of work just to get converted to E9, before even considering using some of the newer modules
On the other hand, purchasing new will likely cost more and take more timeÂ as you have the new software costs, retraining from scratch, implementation costs, etc.
Â
If your users are comfortable with Vantage and you simply want to get up to speed onÂ the latestÂ platform, make sure your future growth plans (next 7 years or so) are accomodated by Epicor 9 and its functionality. Treat is as you would any other software selection process, as you dont want to spend the next 6 months upgrading and find there are still holes in what your needs are versus what Epicor 9 has to offer.
Â
As stated earlier, no matter which software you choose to go with, be prepared to invest in hardware, both server and clients, The amount of functionality and the ease of use comes with a lot of memory and CPU requirements so either way be prepared

________________________________
From: Julie Lehmann <jlehmann@...>
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2012 12:34 PM
Subject: [Vantage] OT: Vantage upgrade or switch?

Â
Just wanted to do a shout-out for opinions from you folks. We are on 6.1 and along with our home office (Non-Epicor product), starting to investigate software options for
both of us. We have actually been pretty content with 6.1, but it is time to move forward. I still pay attention to the group and I see so much about BAQ's and BPM's, UltraComboBoxes and customizing screens and menus, so I guess I am wondering how much of that is required? I remember a remark from someone quite some time ago, saying that the great thing about Vantage is that it is so customizable, but the bad thing is that it is so customizable. When we implemented 6.1, I had to write alot of reports, but nothing like what I read that you guys are going through. With E9, I wonder how much customization is necessary. We would start clean, rather than trying to upgrade data, so our options are pretty open.
With all that being said, I guess my questions are:

1. Knowing what you know now - would you still choose Vantage/Epicor?
2. Out of the box - how much customization is required just for normal, everyday functions? I know some of it is relative, but generally speaking.
3. What features do you love? What is frustrating? What functionality is missing? (ie: it doesn't sound like cycle counting has improved, Master Scheduling maybe?, has job-costing improved?)
4. Has speed improved now? I know this was really a source of frustration. Do you feel the bugs are down to a minimal level?

I already realize that UOM is a key change and resource groups are new, MES is different from Shop Floor, etc, so I'm looking for other key issues good and bad, that affect your business.
We will talk to our CAM, and see demos, but I wanted to get feedback and opinions from the group, because you are the ones living it every day and I value and
respect what you have to say. (This group alone would make me want to stay with Epicor!)

I have looked back at other threads related to upgrades, but it doesn't seem like there has been much discussion lately.
All thoughts and opinions are welcomed!

To reply off-list: mailto:jlehmann%40mercurycorp.com

Thank you very much,

Julie Lehmann
Mercury Minnesota Inc.
Faribault, MN

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]