Rant of the week

So clearly people are hell bent on creating as much technical debt and preventing users from doing any self discovery. I find now that descriptions on systems menus have been changed Transfer Order Entry to Transfer Requisition Order Entry… So much for looking that up in help folks. :exploding_head:

Anyone got any other good ones?

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I literally just told a friend considering Epicor that it’s not a mature application, for this very reason

Well I would argue that an immature ERP team has a big impact on it’s success or failure.

Particularly one that has no regard for process, technical debt, or business process.

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That’s one thing that fuels my nightmares.

We’re going Live in January. This project has been one hell of a ride. The business had a custom application for 15 years I think and chose Epicor as their new ERP.

Their business processes are so far off best practice, it’s mind-boggling. Implementing vanilla processes was simply out of the question. We’re talking about changing the entire business culture here.

So, a decision was implicitly made. We will implement Epicor with A LOT of customization and automations, and we will change and realign the processes gradually.

This, of course, creates a lot of technical debt and minimize user knowledge of the fundamental way Epicor operates. But, it enables us to lay the foundation to future improvements and approach changes one step at a time, so that the organisation can at least starts its journey.

In hindsight, I’d do some things differently and stand my ground on certain processes. But no regrets here, the organisation is slowly improving, which was unthinkable a while back.

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This sounds like every implementation I’ve been a part of or system I’ve been around unfortunately. Sometimes the customizations are so entrenched I have a difficult time remembering the functionality of base Epicor and how it’s supposed to behave OOB (Out of the Box) base.

Side note is OOB still a thing? When was the last time anyone got software out of a box? Maybe I should be using vanilla? Why is vanilla considered ‘bad’? I actually really like vanilla. Maybe ‘base’ is the best.

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Yeah, and a running joke here is that, in 5 years, a new employee/consultant will be hired, will take a look at this stuff, and say to the boss “Whoever implemented this thing is an incompetent asshole. You are very fortunate that I’m here to fix this thing.”

Yet, if this person was sitting here with us, the sames decision would be made.

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Aligning Menu Descriptions with Program Descriptions was an Epicor Idea that is now closed. There is still an Idea open to make sure that the Open With Context descriptions also match the program description. I think this was an attempt to remove tech debt. No?

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Immature ERP + immature ERP team =

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Do you have my phone bugged or something?

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It was more the fact that the description of Transfer Order Entry was changed to Transfer Requisition Order Entry…

So much looking up Transfer Requisition Order Entry in the help. :exploding_head:

I did it!

Actually there are more I wish would get fixed. I keep meaning to make a new “idea” for that.

But yes I hear that. That’s a flat-out change.

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Not a system change, but someone changed it!

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A field was added to the menu table for Alias names to help fix this issue. This was added to based on a suggestion I made. But only finds the first word listed in the field.
It would be nice if an Idea’s final step was a to be closed by the person who created the idea and not Epicor.

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I hear you and agree that’s disruptive. Was there functionality change or just the description? We aren’t multi-site here but when I had it (and Inter-Company), there definitely things that would improve the user experience. So, if there was some functionality added/changed, then that might merit a new description. :person_shrugging:

When did they change the title? We don’t have the module here as we’re single company. But that’d be a big change to me as I’m so used to the old name.

:cheese:

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No it was changed by a person who has menu maintenance access with no explanation or consultation before they did it.

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At this very moment I am the “new consultant” on one project, and the “incompetent asshole” on two others.

Never forget the Testicular Imperative:… some days you have the world by them, and some days it has you.

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And you can do a whole lot to avoid it, if everyone follows the playbook… But that’s whole new another rant.

Agreed, that would get its own topic. Frustration levels exceed human tolerance when people simply decide not to follow directions.