Suggestion Tracking for Vantage within Epicor Mpls

Marc,

While you are already in Eranet viewing suggestions the easiest thing to do
would be to submit a call via eranet asking the support rep to attach the
call to the suggestion. Instead of putting a support issue in the body of
the call, put something like "Please attach this call to enhancement request
6654MPS".

Tim

-----Original Message-----
From: Marc Durre [mailto:mdurre@...]
Sent: Friday, December 28, 2001 7:33 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Suggestion Tracking for Vantage within Epicor
Mpls


Mark

This is very good and I'm glad to know the proper way to submit a suggested
enchancement. One comment I have is that this should be sent out to all your
customers, not just the ones on the user list. Paragragh 12 does not appear
to be complete, could you finish it.

Thanks
Marc L. Durre
Durre Bros. Welding & Machine Shop, Inc.
309-432-2512
mdurre@...

Paragragh 12 is below:

How can I view current suggestions within the Clientele Database?
Log into ERAnet and select "Answerbook" then check Vantage and free-text
query. Enter the text "suggestion" with any other free text criteria you
wish to search. The system will retrieve a list of Answerbook pages that
match your criteria. If you would like to add your company to the list of
customer attached to the document create a


Mark Pladson
Product Manager
eManufacturing Powered by Vantage
Epicor Software Corporation
www.epicor.com
Phone # 952-417-5187
Fax # 952-582-5478
email address MPladson@...





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/links

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
The purpose of this memo is to clarify how suggestions are tracked for
Vantage. There is only one system within Epicor that tracks calls and
resulting bug reports and suggestions. That system is integrated,
real-time, inclusive and promotes continuous improvement.

Integrated - Clientele is tightly integrated into Epicor's professional
services answer book and development workflow management systems. This
system is available to everyone internally connected with Vantage and to ALL
of our customers via EraNet. E-mail can optionally be sent to customers
attached to the documents when the status changes. Our goal is to have one
list that is available for all to peruse and comment on.

Real-time - Enhancements can easily be queried at any given time to
determine what suggestions have been receiving a lot of hits. It is
available 24/7, not only at times of surveys or summit meetings.

Inclusive - This database does not penalize users who are not members of
user groups, did not attend a summit or did not have a chance to attend the
Forum at Perspectives. The one customer /one vote concept applies.

Promotes Continuous Improvement - Comments received can be added to the
original request. Product management can contact those people attached to
ensure that the functionality being considered meets the requirements of the
users who have made the request.

There is one recent example of a suggestion coming in through Clientele I
would like to highlight. The ability to give the user the option to include
or exclude suggestions on the Time Phased Report was added to the software
as a result of many customers being attached to the enhancement request.
Support and Development worked directly with the customers attached to the
suggestions to make sure the solution met the needs of the people attached
to the suggestion. Because of the interaction with the customers, the
Vantage Core team enabled the suggestion to be done on a patch rather than
waiting until the next release.

There have been several attempts to keep lists of enhancements in separate
databases. No matter how well intentioned these efforts are they are not
integrated with Clientele. At the end of the day they are just an isolated
database on a PC. The enhancement request cannot impact the software unless
it is integrated with Epicor's internal system.

Q & A
What is the best way to create a suggestion?
Create a call through ERAnet with the suggestion clearly stated along with
the business reason for the enhancement. Make sure you get the Clientele
number.

How can I escalate my suggestion to action?
The easiest way an enhancement can be escalated to action is by customers
attaching themselves to the enhancement request.


I gave my list of suggestions to a Vantage (Consultant, Sales Person,
Teacher, Account Manager etc.) what happened to them?
Hopefully they searched the database for a similar suggestion and attached
you to that suggestion or created a new suggestion for you. Honestly I know
that many suggestions get lost in the pile of stuff to do when there is some
extra time. I would never just give a suggestion to an Epicor employee
without taking the initiative to create a call and have the suggestion
number attached to the request.

I submitted a bug report that now is listed as an enhancement request, I
feel that this issue is going to drop into some sort of black hole can
escalate an urgent matter?
If you feel this is an urgent matter please request that the support manager
bring the issue to the Vantage Forum which is held every Friday in Mpls.

How can I view current suggestions within the Clientele Database?
Log into ERAnet and select "Answerbook" then check Vantage and free-text
query. Enter the text "suggestion" with any other free text criteria you
wish to search. The system will retrieve a list of Answerbook pages that
match your criteria. If you would like to add your company to the list of
customer attached to the document create a

I have a "niche" enhancement I keep submitting every year but nothing ever
happens because there are not enough customers in my "niche" am I just out
of luck?
Custom programming is available to fill "niche" requirements. By special
arrangement some customizations can be incorporated into standard code at a
future release. A request for a custom application for standard code has to
be defined at design phase and be signed off by the Vantage Core Team,
Custom Programming and the Customer. This mostly will result in a higher
initial charge for the modification but result in no upgrade costs.

Does anything really happen to my suggestion without me e-mail or calling
everyone I think might care with Epicor?
Yes, suggestions can sit quietly waiting in our database for quite some
time. When a new project is defined the Product Manager or Designer
typically queries the database for suggestions relating to the activity they
are enhancing. The product manager \ designer then reviews the results to
see if the proposed design meets the requirements and if there are other
open issues that should be considered in the design. Suggestions are
factored into the scope of the project and a heavy hit count helps weight
the suggestion. Some suggestions clearly can be included easily and others
would push the scope of the project beyond it's intended scope. The
important thing to remember is that by logging the issue as enhancement and
clearly stating the business reason for the change your enhancement can make
an impact on the software without you personally being present during the
design phase. By attaching yourself to an enhancement the Product Manager /
Designer can easily contact you to clarify any points that are unclear.


Mark Pladson
Product Manager
eManufacturing Powered by Vantage
Epicor Software Corporation
www.epicor.com
Phone # 952-417-5187
Fax # 952-582-5478
email address MPladson@...
Mark

This is very good and I'm glad to know the proper way to submit a suggested
enchancement. One comment I have is that this should be sent out to all your
customers, not just the ones on the user list. Paragragh 12 does not appear
to be complete, could you finish it.

Thanks
Marc L. Durre
Durre Bros. Welding & Machine Shop, Inc.
309-432-2512
mdurre@...

Paragragh 12 is below:

How can I view current suggestions within the Clientele Database?
Log into ERAnet and select "Answerbook" then check Vantage and free-text
query. Enter the text "suggestion" with any other free text criteria you
wish to search. The system will retrieve a list of Answerbook pages that
match your criteria. If you would like to add your company to the list of
customer attached to the document create a


Mark Pladson
Product Manager
eManufacturing Powered by Vantage
Epicor Software Corporation
www.epicor.com
Phone # 952-417-5187
Fax # 952-582-5478
email address MPladson@...