Sonic & Multi-Company Features

Yahoo Archive
1
I do not believe we are using Sonic for any kind of data translation. As far as I know, and it shows you how little I know, each company is its own identity with unique database.

I don't believe we are using the Multi-Company feature either since each company, as I said, is under its own version of Vantage.

Troy

Jessi Utecht <jessi.utecht@...> wrote:
Troy,

Just a quick question for you...are you using sonic to pass data between the different companies? Are you using the multi company feature?

________________________________
From: Troy Christensen <phantasticgames@...>
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, December 5, 2008 10:51:16 AM
Subject: [Vantage] Looking for help

Greetings,

I joined the group in the hopes of learning more about Vantage.. I was recently placed in charge of managing our Vantage programs in our various plants. We have one facility running Vantage 8.03.404A; another company with version 6.10.539. And yet another company running Vantage 5.10.131.. The past administrator had a complete handle on each version and all of the various customizations. He has left our company, and now I need to figure out a way to manage the daunting task of administation.

One of the primary problems is that I do not have much experience with Vantage. I am lacking the skills to provide both end user support but also long term administration of Vantage.

What I would like to know is there any kind of help outside of Epicor's training that I can tap into? What I am looking for is books, classes, seminars, and local talent that I can use to get up to speed with day to day operation and troubleshooting.

I am located near Grand Rapids, Michigan.

I am wondering if there are classes or seminars on Vantage?

I looked around at various book outlets but cannot seem to find any manuals on the use of Vantage and I wonder if something like this exists?

Lastly, I am wondering if there are other organizations using Vantage in my local area that would be willing to help me get up to speed on some sticking issues that have been plaguing me.

Troy Christensen

[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]
2
Just looked through the archives to see how many users appear to have
purchased the AQM from IQS...and how many are running it with 6.1.

Does anyone have any pros or cons they might share? There is a
possibility we will either upgrade to Vantage 8.03 or switch to a
different provider sometime in 2009, but it looks like the AQM would
give us virtually immediate results to an area severely lacking.

I'd love to hear from you as soon as possible regarding AQM, either
posted publically or privately, and hope you can take a moment from
your busy schedule to respond.

Sincerely,
Judy Havlik
Plitek, L.L.C.
judy.havlik@...
3
If anyone was kind enough to respond to my message can you do me a hug
favor and resend your message to judyh001@.... For some
reason, my company e-mail address is not allowing Onelist messages
through.

Thanks so much.

Sincerely,
Judy Havlik
Plitek, L.L.C.
judyh001@...
4
I have a lot of experience (trials and tribulatiosn) with AQM and
Vantage 8.3 I've done the AQM to Vantage 8.3 integration myself
(something which supposedly is impossible for a customer to do, the
reason turns out that the instructions are incomplete and had to be
figured out (I worked my way back to figure out the missing setups from
the instructions).

I have a lot of thoughts on the subject and was thinking of writing it
up and posting it on this message board. I'm still debating this
because supposedly AQM is in the process of being improved. Plus I
don't have a lot of time which this topic deserves at the moment.

Depending on what your goals/expectations are AQM and Vantage will not
work well together or may work well. It isn't quite what it is
advertised to be.

The major hurdle they have to get past is the differences in how AQM
and Vantage handle multiple companies. Currently for a multi company
setup in Vantage, AQM/Vantage integration has incredible shortfalls,
things that are just mind boggling. AQM and Vantage integration is
obviously not ready for prime time for environments with multiple
companies.


If you plan on using AQM and Vantage integration in a single company
environment, then it looks to me like it would work well for the most
part, except for a huge glaring flaw depending on your outlook.



--- In vantage@yahoogroups.com, "Judy Havlik" <judy.havlik@...> wrote:
>
> Just looked through the archives to see how many users appear to have
> purchased the AQM from IQS...and how many are running it with 6.1.
>
> Does anyone have any pros or cons they might share? There is a
> possibility we will either upgrade to Vantage 8.03 or switch to a
> different provider sometime in 2009, but it looks like the AQM would
> give us virtually immediate results to an area severely lacking.
>
> I'd love to hear from you as soon as possible regarding AQM, either
> posted publically or privately, and hope you can take a moment from
> your busy schedule to respond.
>
> Sincerely,
> Judy Havlik
> Plitek, L.L.C.
> judy.havlik@...
>
5
Hi Paul,

We are also looking at implementing AQM in the very near future - we
are very close to making a decision. Some of your statements have
prompted our concern, though, and I'm wondering if you could be a
little more specific:
1. Multiple companies. We are currently running Vantage 8.03.406
for two separate companies (one instance of the app, two databases).
2. "Huge glaring flaw". Are you referring to the multiple company
issue, or is there something else??
If you have a few minutes to share your thoughts and experience, it
would be much appreciated!

Thanks in advance -
Laraine Song-Treadgold
SkoFlo Industries


--- In vantage@yahoogroups.com, "Paul" <chaosavy@...> wrote:
>
> I have a lot of experience (trials and tribulatiosn) with AQM and
> Vantage 8.3 I've done the AQM to Vantage 8.3 integration myself
> (something which supposedly is impossible for a customer to do, the
> reason turns out that the instructions are incomplete and had to be
> figured out (I worked my way back to figure out the missing setups
from
> the instructions).
>
> I have a lot of thoughts on the subject and was thinking of writing
it
> up and posting it on this message board. I'm still debating this
> because supposedly AQM is in the process of being improved. Plus I
> don't have a lot of time which this topic deserves at the moment.
>
> Depending on what your goals/expectations are AQM and Vantage will
not
> work well together or may work well. It isn't quite what it is
> advertised to be.
>
> The major hurdle they have to get past is the differences in how
AQM
> and Vantage handle multiple companies. Currently for a multi
company
> setup in Vantage, AQM/Vantage integration has incredible
shortfalls,
> things that are just mind boggling. AQM and Vantage integration is
> obviously not ready for prime time for environments with multiple
> companies.
>
>
> If you plan on using AQM and Vantage integration in a single
company
> environment, then it looks to me like it would work well for the
most
> part, except for a huge glaring flaw depending on your outlook.
>
>
>
> --- In vantage@yahoogroups.com, "Judy Havlik" <judy.havlik@> wrote:
> >
> > Just looked through the archives to see how many users appear to
have
> > purchased the AQM from IQS...and how many are running it with 6.1.
> >
> > Does anyone have any pros or cons they might share? There is a
> > possibility we will either upgrade to Vantage 8.03 or switch to a
> > different provider sometime in 2009, but it looks like the AQM
would
> > give us virtually immediate results to an area severely lacking.
> >
> > I'd love to hear from you as soon as possible regarding AQM,
either
> > posted publically or privately, and hope you can take a moment
from
> > your busy schedule to respond.
> >
> > Sincerely,
> > Judy Havlik
> > Plitek, L.L.C.
> > judy.havlik@
> >
>
6
> 1. Multiple companies. We are currently running Vantage 8.03.406
> for two separate companies (one instance of the app, two databases).
> 2. "Huge glaring flaw". Are you referring to the multiple company
> issue, or is there something else??
> If you have a few minutes to share your thoughts and experience, it
> would be much appreciated!
>

Preface: here is our environment we are currently on 406a, and the
latest release of AQM. We have a single Vantage (progress) and AQM
(sql) database setup with 4 companies (3 for the purpouses of AQM). I
would have to know more about your specific setup to comment on your
particular case whether these things would apply to your environment.

More preface:

How Vantage handles multiple companies:

Each record in Vantage has a company column. The ratio of part to
company is 1 to 1

Therefore you can have the same part number: 1234 in company 1 and in
company 2 with different descriptions (suppliers, details etc) in
company 1 and company 2

How AQM handles multiple companies (called entities in AQM):
The part (called product in AQM) table doesn't have field for the
company. There is a part_entity table that has records of the
entities. The ratio of part to company is 1 to many.

Therefore: you can't have part number 1234 in company 1 and in
company 2 with different descriptions. To AQM its the same part even
though it belongs to two different companies.

Depending on your environment this may not be a huge issue, or it may
be necessary that you convert your part numbers between your
companies to different numbering schemes based on companies.

Another aspect of the differece is that Vantage locks you into the
company you are in, eg: you can't query company 2 records (except by
crystal report) in when you are in company 1.

In AQM this isn't an issue, you aren't locked into any single company
(unless by security).

This highlights how Vantage and AQM are different in handling the
whole company/entity issue.

Now onto the problems of Vantage and AQM talking to eachother.

First flaw:
In AQM there is a "default" company. For some reason (not going to
speculate) in some cases the communication of Vantage to AQM is
always marked with this default company. So in one particular case
skip lots from company 2 flowing into AQM are marked as belonging to
company 1 in AQM because Vantage doesn't pass which company owns the
particular record in ints communication to AQM and company 1 is the
default company set in AQM setup. The oddd thing is that other
records are labeled with the correct companies so why not this one?
This is where the speculation part comes in which I'll not voice
publicaly.

So here is the thing... in our environment with multiple companies in
the same database skip lots for company 2 could appear as skip lots
for company 1, how does the end user know which company this belongs
too? What if the end user doesn't have access to company 1 and thus
never sees them? All huge glaring flaws to me.

Depending on your setup this may be over come because, say you only
have one company, well then that's your default in AQM and thus the
communication from Vantage is marked correctly. Also if you have two
physically seperate databases in Vantage and are planning on having
two physically seperate databases in AQM then essentially the flaw
would go away (haven't tested this, but it would work in my mind).

The other huge glaring flaw:

When AQM talks back to Vantage (eg: disposition and inventory
transatction of an ncm) AQM always assumes that Vantage receives the
message without any flaw. Now in a perfect magical world this is
perfectly ok, but in a world human beings who may chose the wrong
warehouse, or some other wrong input in AQM. When AQM sends the data
to Vantage, Vantage will error check this data, if Vantage finds some
discrepancy (say for example: warehouse 123 doesn't have bin abc)
Vantage will correctly reject the message from AQM. However AQM
assuming that the data is always correct (because Vantage doesn't
communicate the error back to AQM) will always mark that record as
closed or whatever the appropriate status. How does the end user know
if the data entry in AQM made it into Vantage? The user has to always
check because AQM assumes it always works.

The first flaw can be over come with to me fairly simple fixes, it
could even be fixed in house (potentitally with service connect,
vb.net, or editing some sql procedures in the AQM sql database) also
Epicor should be able to fix this fairly easily by always marking the
correct company instead of the default and having AQM always mark
records with that company isntead of the default.

The 2nd flaw is much tougher in my opinion. Basically its like two
people attempting to communicate with one way radios.

There are other issues, but perhaps they aren't as important,
security is one of them, it is very different in AQM then it is in
Vantage. The other issue which can be fixed in house and should be
looked at by Epicor is the data from from Vantage to AQM for the
basics such as suppliers, parts, etc, in Vantage there are
corresponding fields in AQM which don't flow through, but would be
useful to have. This can be fixed by customizing the service connect
work flows or as I'm planning to do a vb.net application which will
look at both databases and fill in some of the gaps.
7
Greetings,

I joined the group in the hopes of learning more about Vantage. I was recently placed in charge of managing our Vantage programs in our various plants. We have one facility running Vantage 8.03.404A; another company with version 6.10.539. And yet another company running Vantage 5.10.131. The past administrator had a complete handle on each version and all of the various customizations. He has left our company, and now I need to figure out a way to manage the daunting task of administation.

One of the primary problems is that I do not have much experience with Vantage. I am lacking the skills to provide both end user support but also long term administration of Vantage.

What I would like to know is there any kind of help outside of Epicor's training that I can tap into? What I am looking for is books, classes, seminars, and local talent that I can use to get up to speed with day to day operation and troubleshooting.

I am located near Grand Rapids, Michigan.

I am wondering if there are classes or seminars on Vantage?

I looked around at various book outlets but cannot seem to find any manuals on the use of Vantage and I wonder if something like this exists?

Lastly, I am wondering if there are other organizations using Vantage in my local area that would be willing to help me get up to speed on some sticking issues that have been plaguing me.

Troy Christensen



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
8
Troy,
You've already taken the best first step by joining this group. There is precious little documentation for 6.10 and prior. Much better exists for 8.03+. Plan on attending the Perspectives conference next fall....the best education value for Vantage. There may be some documents at ftp://ftpmpls.epicor.com/ that could help...especially on the older versions. Login is your site ID and EpicWeb password. EUG also has a message board but I think you have to be a member and it also has MUCH lower participation than this group.

Feel free to post specific questions because there are few of us here who did not start exactly where you are now and I would bet all have benefited greatly from the help of others (especially ME). Someday soon you too will be helping the next Vantage/Epicor 9 newbie.

-Todd C.

________________________________
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Troy Christensen
Sent: Friday, December 05, 2008 10:51 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Looking for help


Greetings,

I joined the group in the hopes of learning more about Vantage. I was recently placed in charge of managing our Vantage programs in our various plants. We have one facility running Vantage 8.03.404A; another company with version 6.10.539. And yet another company running Vantage 5.10.131. The past administrator had a complete handle on each version and all of the various customizations. He has left our company, and now I need to figure out a way to manage the daunting task of administation.

One of the primary problems is that I do not have much experience with Vantage. I am lacking the skills to provide both end user support but also long term administration of Vantage.

What I would like to know is there any kind of help outside of Epicor's training that I can tap into? What I am looking for is books, classes, seminars, and local talent that I can use to get up to speed with day to day operation and troubleshooting.

I am located near Grand Rapids, Michigan.

I am wondering if there are classes or seminars on Vantage?

I looked around at various book outlets but cannot seem to find any manuals on the use of Vantage and I wonder if something like this exists?

Lastly, I am wondering if there are other organizations using Vantage in my local area that would be willing to help me get up to speed on some sticking issues that have been plaguing me.

Troy Christensen

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





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
9
Dear Troy:

Here is a list of all the resources that I was able to find when I
was new to Vantage about 8 months ago:

1. Epicor Tools Users Guide -- demonstrates how to do very simple
customizations, BAQ, BAQ Reports, Dashboards, & BAMs. It is an
invaluable tool to a Newbie, but not much good as a reference for
people with Vantage experience. You can contact your Epicor CAM to
purchase this book. It is about $75 and worth every penny to a
Vantage Newbie.

2. AnswerBooks -- These are "how-tos" which are posted on the Epicor
Website. They are very thorough instructions which are invaluable
for learning how to take advantage of many good Vantage features.
Logon to Epicor -- MyEpicWeb using your company's username &
password. Go to My Epic Web and then choose "Search Answerbooks".

3. Epicor Webcasts -- These are on-demand free webcasts mainly
created for marketing purposes; however, you can gather some helpful
information by viewing these webcasts. They are about 50 percent
Marketing and 50 percent actual Training. Go to EpicWeb Home --
Resources -- Webcasts.

4. Epicor eLearning On-demand courses -- If your company has a
subscription, you can view the on-demand eLearning courses as often
as you like. There are several useful ones that are "free" with the
lowest-cost subscription. Go to EpicWeb Home -- Education -- Find A
Course. If your company has a current subscription, some of the
courses will have no price listed on them at all.

I don't know of any resources other than those provided by Epicor
with the exception of this Yahoo Vantage User Group.

Hope this helps.

Lynn


--- In vantage@yahoogroups.com, Todd Caughey <caugheyt@...> wrote:
>
> Troy,
> You've already taken the best first step by joining this group.
There is precious little documentation for 6.10 and prior. Much
better exists for 8.03+. Plan on attending the Perspectives
conference next fall....the best education value for Vantage. There
may be some documents at ftp://ftpmpls.epicor.com/ that could
help...especially on the older versions. Login is your site ID and
EpicWeb password. EUG also has a message board but I think you have
to be a member and it also has MUCH lower participation than this
group.
>
> Feel free to post specific questions because there are few of us
here who did not start exactly where you are now and I would bet all
have benefited greatly from the help of others (especially ME).
Someday soon you too will be helping the next Vantage/Epicor 9 newbie.
>
> -Todd C.
>
> ________________________________
> From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On
Behalf Of Troy Christensen
> Sent: Friday, December 05, 2008 10:51 AM
> To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [Vantage] Looking for help
>
>
> Greetings,
>
> I joined the group in the hopes of learning more about Vantage. I
was recently placed in charge of managing our Vantage programs in our
various plants. We have one facility running Vantage 8.03.404A;
another company with version 6.10.539. And yet another company
running Vantage 5.10.131. The past administrator had a complete
handle on each version and all of the various customizations. He has
left our company, and now I need to figure out a way to manage the
daunting task of administation.
>
> One of the primary problems is that I do not have much experience
with Vantage. I am lacking the skills to provide both end user
support but also long term administration of Vantage.
>
> What I would like to know is there any kind of help outside of
Epicor's training that I can tap into? What I am looking for is
books, classes, seminars, and local talent that I can use to get up
to speed with day to day operation and troubleshooting.
>
> I am located near Grand Rapids, Michigan.
>
> I am wondering if there are classes or seminars on Vantage?
>
> I looked around at various book outlets but cannot seem to find any
manuals on the use of Vantage and I wonder if something like this
exists?
>
> Lastly, I am wondering if there are other organizations using
Vantage in my local area that would be willing to help me get up to
speed on some sticking issues that have been plaguing me.
>
> Troy Christensen
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
10
Troy,

Just a quick question for you...are you using sonic to pass data between the different companies? Are you using the multi company feature?




________________________________
From: Troy Christensen <phantasticgames@...>
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, December 5, 2008 10:51:16 AM
Subject: [Vantage] Looking for help


Greetings,

I joined the group in the hopes of learning more about Vantage.. I was recently placed in charge of managing our Vantage programs in our various plants. We have one facility running Vantage 8.03.404A; another company with version 6.10.539. And yet another company running Vantage 5.10.131.. The past administrator had a complete handle on each version and all of the various customizations. He has left our company, and now I need to figure out a way to manage the daunting task of administation.

One of the primary problems is that I do not have much experience with Vantage. I am lacking the skills to provide both end user support but also long term administration of Vantage.

What I would like to know is there any kind of help outside of Epicor's training that I can tap into? What I am looking for is books, classes, seminars, and local talent that I can use to get up to speed with day to day operation and troubleshooting.

I am located near Grand Rapids, Michigan.

I am wondering if there are classes or seminars on Vantage?

I looked around at various book outlets but cannot seem to find any manuals on the use of Vantage and I wonder if something like this exists?

Lastly, I am wondering if there are other organizations using Vantage in my local area that would be willing to help me get up to speed on some sticking issues that have been plaguing me.

Troy Christensen

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






[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
11
Hi Troy,

Northern Indiana (South Bend) has a *very* active user group as well. They
bring in Epicor consultants and share the costs. Southeast Michigan meets
quarterly as well.

Mark (in Royal Oak, MI) W.
12
Hi Paul,

I think that my first reply failed to post. Anyway - thank you for
taking the time to respond. You did a great job of articulating the
issues (some of them not very pretty!). It's definitely given us
some addtional food for thought and discussion points with our CAR.

If anything else comes to mind, do let me know!
Laraine




--- In vantage@yahoogroups.com, "Paul" <chaosavy@...> wrote:
>
> > 1. Multiple companies. We are currently running Vantage
8.03.406
> > for two separate companies (one instance of the app, two
databases).
> > 2. "Huge glaring flaw". Are you referring to the multiple
company
> > issue, or is there something else??
> > If you have a few minutes to share your thoughts and experience,
it
> > would be much appreciated!
> >
>
> Preface: here is our environment we are currently on 406a, and the
> latest release of AQM. We have a single Vantage (progress) and AQM
> (sql) database setup with 4 companies (3 for the purpouses of AQM).
I
> would have to know more about your specific setup to comment on
your
> particular case whether these things would apply to your
environment.
>
> More preface:
>
> How Vantage handles multiple companies:
>
> Each record in Vantage has a company column. The ratio of part to
> company is 1 to 1
>
> Therefore you can have the same part number: 1234 in company 1 and
in
> company 2 with different descriptions (suppliers, details etc) in
> company 1 and company 2
>
> How AQM handles multiple companies (called entities in AQM):
> The part (called product in AQM) table doesn't have field for the
> company. There is a part_entity table that has records of the
> entities. The ratio of part to company is 1 to many.
>
> Therefore: you can't have part number 1234 in company 1 and in
> company 2 with different descriptions. To AQM its the same part
even
> though it belongs to two different companies.
>
> Depending on your environment this may not be a huge issue, or it
may
> be necessary that you convert your part numbers between your
> companies to different numbering schemes based on companies.
>
> Another aspect of the differece is that Vantage locks you into the
> company you are in, eg: you can't query company 2 records (except
by
> crystal report) in when you are in company 1.
>
> In AQM this isn't an issue, you aren't locked into any single
company
> (unless by security).
>
> This highlights how Vantage and AQM are different in handling the
> whole company/entity issue.
>
> Now onto the problems of Vantage and AQM talking to eachother.
>
> First flaw:
> In AQM there is a "default" company. For some reason (not going to
> speculate) in some cases the communication of Vantage to AQM is
> always marked with this default company. So in one particular case
> skip lots from company 2 flowing into AQM are marked as belonging
to
> company 1 in AQM because Vantage doesn't pass which company owns
the
> particular record in ints communication to AQM and company 1 is the
> default company set in AQM setup. The oddd thing is that other
> records are labeled with the correct companies so why not this one?
> This is where the speculation part comes in which I'll not voice
> publicaly.
>
> So here is the thing... in our environment with multiple companies
in
> the same database skip lots for company 2 could appear as skip lots
> for company 1, how does the end user know which company this
belongs
> too? What if the end user doesn't have access to company 1 and thus
> never sees them? All huge glaring flaws to me.
>
> Depending on your setup this may be over come because, say you only
> have one company, well then that's your default in AQM and thus the
> communication from Vantage is marked correctly. Also if you have
two
> physically seperate databases in Vantage and are planning on having
> two physically seperate databases in AQM then essentially the flaw
> would go away (haven't tested this, but it would work in my mind).
>
> The other huge glaring flaw:
>
> When AQM talks back to Vantage (eg: disposition and inventory
> transatction of an ncm) AQM always assumes that Vantage receives
the
> message without any flaw. Now in a perfect magical world this is
> perfectly ok, but in a world human beings who may chose the wrong
> warehouse, or some other wrong input in AQM. When AQM sends the
data
> to Vantage, Vantage will error check this data, if Vantage finds
some
> discrepancy (say for example: warehouse 123 doesn't have bin abc)
> Vantage will correctly reject the message from AQM. However AQM
> assuming that the data is always correct (because Vantage doesn't
> communicate the error back to AQM) will always mark that record as
> closed or whatever the appropriate status. How does the end user
know
> if the data entry in AQM made it into Vantage? The user has to
always
> check because AQM assumes it always works.
>
> The first flaw can be over come with to me fairly simple fixes, it
> could even be fixed in house (potentitally with service connect,
> vb.net, or editing some sql procedures in the AQM sql database)
also
> Epicor should be able to fix this fairly easily by always marking
the
> correct company instead of the default and having AQM always mark
> records with that company isntead of the default.
>
> The 2nd flaw is much tougher in my opinion. Basically its like two
> people attempting to communicate with one way radios.
>
> There are other issues, but perhaps they aren't as important,
> security is one of them, it is very different in AQM then it is in
> Vantage. The other issue which can be fixed in house and should be
> looked at by Epicor is the data from from Vantage to AQM for the
> basics such as suppliers, parts, etc, in Vantage there are
> corresponding fields in AQM which don't flow through, but would be
> useful to have. This can be fixed by customizing the service
connect
> work flows or as I'm planning to do a vb.net application which will
> look at both databases and fill in some of the gaps.
>
13
Troy,

My sympathies (;o (only kidding!).

Quite a challenge! Sounds like a tremendous opportunity to be a real hero.

Many user groups out there. I'm in NJ so don't know closest to you. (Perhaps Mid-Western?)

This group seem to have a healthy share of consultants well versed in Vantage. Perhaps some will contact you (directly) - off group?

I would contact your CAM at Epicor. They have (for a fee) decent education available. He/she can also load you up with the user guides you will need (again - for a fee) depending upon your licensed modules.

The overall quality of their direct employ consultants (who do on-site work) is about average... A handful are tremendous, most are average and some are destined for a short tenure.

It would seem to me continuing to support 3 wildly different version of Vantage must be killer: Limited inherent interoperability between the 3 versions drives triple entry versus common db, multi plant single entry, likely excessive support costs versus all on one (v8) version support costs... And just keeping it all straight in your head.

I'm no fan of v8 but it would seem to me to make sense to aim towards getting everyone on that same platform.

Good luck!

Rob

--- On Fri, 12/5/08, Troy Christensen <phantasticgames@...> wrote:
From: Troy Christensen <phantasticgames@...>
Subject: [Vantage] Looking for help
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Date: Friday, December 5, 2008, 11:51 AM











Greetings,



I joined the group in the hopes of learning more about Vantage. I was recently placed in charge of managing our Vantage programs in our various plants. We have one facility running Vantage 8.03.404A; another company with version 6.10.539. And yet another company running Vantage 5.10.131. The past administrator had a complete handle on each version and all of the various customizations. He has left our company, and now I need to figure out a way to manage the daunting task of administation.



One of the primary problems is that I do not have much experience with Vantage. I am lacking the skills to provide both end user support but also long term administration of Vantage.



What I would like to know is there any kind of help outside of Epicor's training that I can tap into? What I am looking for is books, classes, seminars, and local talent that I can use to get up to speed with day to day operation and troubleshooting.



I am located near Grand Rapids, Michigan.



I am wondering if there are classes or seminars on Vantage?



I looked around at various book outlets but cannot seem to find any manuals on the use of Vantage and I wonder if something like this exists?



Lastly, I am wondering if there are other organizations using Vantage in my local area that would be willing to help me get up to speed on some sticking issues that have been plaguing me.



Troy Christensen



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
14
Troy,

You hit pay dirt being geographically close to Mark.

He is one of the true 'Renaissance Men' (& women!) on this group when it comes to breadth/depth of knowledge on Vantage.

His knowledge of the product is inspiring (and has bailed me out more than a few times since we purchased it almost 2 years ago and went live earlier this year).

He'll also steer you clear of Epicor sales/marketing spiked 'kool-aid' if you both happen to attend the next Perspectives. :)

Rob

--- On Fri, 12/5/08, Mark Wonsil <mark_wonsil@...> wrote:
From: Mark Wonsil <mark_wonsil@...>
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Looking for help
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Date: Friday, December 5, 2008, 4:11 PM











Hi Troy,



Northern Indiana (South Bend) has a *very* active user group as well. They

bring in Epicor consultants and share the costs. Southeast Michigan meets

quarterly as well.



Mark (in Royal Oak, MI) W.
15
What happened to the Northeast Indiana Users Group? I think it fall apart
because two of the organizer no longer works in Northeast Indiana. Correct
me if I am wrong. Thanks!



Randy Duly, BSBIS, MCP, A+

IT Manager

National Tube Form, LLC

A Whipp Capital Partners Company

3405 Engle Road

Fort Wayne IN 46809

P: 260-478-2363

F: 260-478-1043

H: 260-623-3390

C: 260-402-3216

Randy.duly@...

http://www.nationaltubeform.com <blocked::http://www.nationaltubeform.com/>




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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
16
>
> You hit pay dirt being geographically close to Mark.
>

<blush>

Rob is being far too kind. I've learned so much from very smart people on
this list (including Rob) as I'm sure that you will too. Groups like this
are the most economical way to get started. Education can be good but ask
other's experiences to make sure that you're getting what you need.

Best,

Mark W.
17
There's an Epicor 9 folder there as well but it's locked down :(

--- In vantage@yahoogroups.com, Todd Caughey <caugheyt@...> wrote:
>
> Troy,
>
> There may be some documents at ftp://ftpmpls.epicor.com/ that could
help
>
> -Todd C.
>
18
>
> There's an Epicor 9 folder there as well but it's locked down :(
>

Right now it holds some of the older Beta clients (which connected to an
online server over a VPN line prior to doing local installs) and some of the
bug fixes/service packs. That might change in the future but that's all
there is for now...

Mark W.