Vantage Quoting

I have taken this exact route and was extremely successful with a saw
operator (now Raw Materials manager) by putting internet access
available to him. With the particular individuals in this scenario, I
did the same.



The internet access worked, and was successful for him enjoying his
favorite pastime (soccer). I thought I had succeeded until... It came
time to purchase a PC for another user on the network, and he requested
I take his. "He didn't need it." That was four years ago. I came
close.



Bruce Butler

IT Manager

Knappe & Koester, Inc.

_____

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of pjw@...
Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2006 9:41 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting



Mark, I couldn't agree more.

Patrick
-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of
Mark Dupuis
Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2006 8:24 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting

Bruce, I've been there, but all hope is not gone.



Six years ago when I headed the change over from DCD Classic I setup
clients
for all the sales group. I had one old timer who flat out refused to
even
turn on his computer. When asked he responded "I've done this job for
30
years without a g@? d@^^ computer " I don't need one now. I was more
then
a little annoyed and took this as a personal challenge. I pondered for
a
few days and came to realize that this was not personal. Given all the
news
and horror stories about data corruption and data loss it must seem
scary to
someone who is a computer newbee. I figured he was simply afraid of
causing
damage. I gave him a pc with short cuts to a few games and challenged
him
to "break" the computer. He progressed from games to note pad to excel
in
about three weeks. I waited for him to ask me "What else can this
machine
do?" I soon found he was my best client. He was a clean slate willing
to
learn the right way of doing things. Last year he opened an Email virus
with no released def yet. (OK he didn't learn all the lessons) I took
him
off line for a couple of hours for a manual cleanup and he was lost.
"How
can I do my job without my computer" ;o)



I have found the ones who resist the hardest are the easiest to win over
if
you can understand their fears. It's the ones who think they already
know
it all that cause the system the most damage and me the most grief.





Mark



_____

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of
Tim Mendoza
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 3:33 PM
To: 'vantage@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting



I feel for your Bruce.

I somehow don't feel as bad now (sorry that is at your expense) :-)

I'll keep my fingers crossed for some early retirements?

Tim M


-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Butler [SMTP:bbutler@...]
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 12:13 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting

Archaic could describe our system. We have some real old school
personnel
in key positions that operate without the needs of keyboards, monitors,
or
mice. They get info spoon fed through reports, and do quoting via
pencil,
paper, & file folders. I have waited a long time for the needs of
better
quoting practice to come from the elite. Almost everything else here is
automated, but the front end.



Engineers at this point, go to the folder, pick out penciled
instructions,
add their flavor, and create the BOM / MOM for planning to use. It is a
system with the end of days equal to the countdown to retirement for
some of
these elite (fairly soon). The only info that is trapped is the quoted
price, and quote / line.



Bruce Butler

IT Manager

Knappe & Koester, Inc.

_____

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of
Tim Mendoza
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 3:03 PM
To: 'vantage@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting



Any accurate quote should have a BOM and MOM. So if you are not entering
it
on the front end in Vantage, where are you keeping track of the BOM/MOM
info
in case you do win it?

In ANY estimating system, you have to have a BOM/MOM, so whether you put
it
in an external estimating program or in Vantage seems to be the same.
The
only thing I can definitely attest to, is that entering this information
in
Vantage's Quote Module IS cumbersome at best. Standard templates will
help
minimize this time. We have quoted thousands of part numbers in very
short
periods of time. We even purchased an external estimating program
(Costimator) with the intent of developing a download program. That has
not
happened and we now estimate in one program and use that information to
create the BOM/MOM in Vantage.

Tim M.


-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Butler [SMTP:bbutler@...]
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 11:30 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting

Todd,



We were discussing this exact topic this morning. We have not come to a
conclusion yet on whether or not the front loaded BOMs through the quote
module would be beneficial. We estimate about 5% of our quotes are
actually
turned into orders.



>From an IT perspective, the amount of manual effort put into a quote
would not be wasted for a few minutes of entry. I have already started
to
receive similar negative feedback you have. Too much time to enter,
etc..,
etc.., etc..



Right now, we are focusing on lost opportunities, and increasing our
success
rate of quotes.



Bruce Butler

IT Manager

Knappe & Koester, Inc.

_____

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of
Todd Caughey
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 1:35 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Problems with rebellion



I have one case and it is not really a problem with Vantage it is
politics.

We have a quoting system written in Access that is extremely tightly
tailored to our "method" of generating quotes. All the details are
entered
on one screen in a grid. They click a cacluate buton and out pops the
pricing for various quantities. Entry is as fast as they can figure out
the
operations required to make a part (metal stampings).

When they ahve tried Vantage they whine about the need to enter
operations
on seperate screen and for extra "clicks". When I actually measures
this I
found the time developing the operations for a quote was 98% of the
process
and the actual entry was the other 2%. Of this 2% the Vantage version
added
about 15 seconds in extra clicking. But try to get them to switch so
everything can be in one system...NO WAY. Oh boy to they whine and
complain.

Problem is the departmental goals and measures are for shear volume of
quotes produced and as soon as we "force" the use of Vantage any failure
to
meet this will be pinned squarely on Vantage. A red herring the size of
a
grey whale. Never mind that we later spend extra hours re-keying the
BOM
into Vantage for the orders that are received. Or that we can't link
sales
$ to quote activity. Or that we can analyze customer purchase vs. quote
trends and ratios. It isn;t that Vantage is worse....it's that it would
be
an excuse.

Fortunately if we ever go to 8.0 I think I can custimze the screens
enough
to remove that last 15 seconds of "extra effort" when entering a quote.

So sometime rebellion is not in the system but in the external
influences.

-Todd C.

-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf
Of
Kevin Berry
Sent: Friday, May 12, 2006 4:02 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Problems with rebellion


Has anyone had problems with employees rebelling because of the Vantage
software. We have some people that like and some that love it.
Unfortuantely, the ones that dont like it are winning. Anyone else have
that type of problem?










_____



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



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



We were discussing this exact topic this morning. We have not come to a
conclusion yet on whether or not the front loaded BOMs through the quote
module would be beneficial. We estimate about 5% of our quotes are
actually turned into orders.



From an IT perspective, the amount of manual effort put into a quote
would not be wasted for a few minutes of entry. I have already started
to receive similar negative feedback you have. Too much time to enter,
etc.., etc.., etc..



Right now, we are focusing on lost opportunities, and increasing our
success rate of quotes.



Bruce Butler

IT Manager

Knappe & Koester, Inc.

_____

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of Todd Caughey
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 1:35 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Problems with rebellion



I have one case and it is not really a problem with Vantage it is
politics.

We have a quoting system written in Access that is extremely tightly
tailored to our "method" of generating quotes. All the details are
entered on one screen in a grid. They click a cacluate buton and out
pops the pricing for various quantities. Entry is as fast as they can
figure out the operations required to make a part (metal stampings).

When they ahve tried Vantage they whine about the need to enter
operations on seperate screen and for extra "clicks". When I actually
measures this I found the time developing the operations for a quote was
98% of the process and the actual entry was the other 2%. Of this 2%
the Vantage version added about 15 seconds in extra clicking. But try
to get them to switch so everything can be in one system...NO WAY. Oh
boy to they whine and complain.

Problem is the departmental goals and measures are for shear volume of
quotes produced and as soon as we "force" the use of Vantage any failure
to meet this will be pinned squarely on Vantage. A red herring the size
of a grey whale. Never mind that we later spend extra hours re-keying
the BOM into Vantage for the orders that are received. Or that we can't
link sales $ to quote activity. Or that we can analyze customer
purchase vs. quote trends and ratios. It isn;t that Vantage is
worse....it's that it would be an excuse.

Fortunately if we ever go to 8.0 I think I can custimze the screens
enough to remove that last 15 seconds of "extra effort" when entering a
quote.

So sometime rebellion is not in the system but in the external
influences.

-Todd C.

-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf
Of Kevin Berry
Sent: Friday, May 12, 2006 4:02 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Problems with rebellion


Has anyone had problems with employees rebelling because of the Vantage
software. We have some people that like and some that love it.
Unfortuantely, the ones that dont like it are winning. Anyone else have
that type of problem?






[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Any accurate quote should have a BOM and MOM. So if you are not entering it
on the front end in Vantage, where are you keeping track of the BOM/MOM
info in case you do win it?

In ANY estimating system, you have to have a BOM/MOM, so whether you put it
in an external estimating program or in Vantage seems to be the same. The
only thing I can definitely attest to, is that entering this information in
Vantage's Quote Module IS cumbersome at best. Standard templates will help
minimize this time. We have quoted thousands of part numbers in very short
periods of time. We even purchased an external estimating program
(Costimator) with the intent of developing a download program. That has not
happened and we now estimate in one program and use that information to
create the BOM/MOM in Vantage.

Tim M.


-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Butler [SMTP:bbutler@...]
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 11:30 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting

Todd,



We were discussing this exact topic this morning. We have not come to a
conclusion yet on whether or not the front loaded BOMs through the quote
module would be beneficial. We estimate about 5% of our quotes are
actually turned into orders.



>From an IT perspective, the amount of manual effort put into a quote
would not be wasted for a few minutes of entry. I have already started
to receive similar negative feedback you have. Too much time to enter,
etc.., etc.., etc..



Right now, we are focusing on lost opportunities, and increasing our
success rate of quotes.



Bruce Butler

IT Manager

Knappe & Koester, Inc.

_____

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of Todd Caughey
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 1:35 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Problems with rebellion



I have one case and it is not really a problem with Vantage it is
politics.

We have a quoting system written in Access that is extremely tightly
tailored to our "method" of generating quotes. All the details are
entered on one screen in a grid. They click a cacluate buton and out
pops the pricing for various quantities. Entry is as fast as they can
figure out the operations required to make a part (metal stampings).

When they ahve tried Vantage they whine about the need to enter
operations on seperate screen and for extra "clicks". When I actually
measures this I found the time developing the operations for a quote was
98% of the process and the actual entry was the other 2%. Of this 2%
the Vantage version added about 15 seconds in extra clicking. But try
to get them to switch so everything can be in one system...NO WAY. Oh
boy to they whine and complain.

Problem is the departmental goals and measures are for shear volume of
quotes produced and as soon as we "force" the use of Vantage any failure
to meet this will be pinned squarely on Vantage. A red herring the size
of a grey whale. Never mind that we later spend extra hours re-keying
the BOM into Vantage for the orders that are received. Or that we can't
link sales $ to quote activity. Or that we can analyze customer
purchase vs. quote trends and ratios. It isn;t that Vantage is
worse....it's that it would be an excuse.

Fortunately if we ever go to 8.0 I think I can custimze the screens
enough to remove that last 15 seconds of "extra effort" when entering a
quote.

So sometime rebellion is not in the system but in the external
influences.

-Todd C.

-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf
Of Kevin Berry
Sent: Friday, May 12, 2006 4:02 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Problems with rebellion


Has anyone had problems with employees rebelling because of the Vantage
software. We have some people that like and some that love it.
Unfortuantely, the ones that dont like it are winning. Anyone else have
that type of problem?






[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/links
Yahoo! Groups Links
Archaic could describe our system. We have some real old school
personnel in key positions that operate without the needs of keyboards,
monitors, or mice. They get info spoon fed through reports, and do
quoting via pencil, paper, & file folders. I have waited a long time
for the needs of better quoting practice to come from the elite. Almost
everything else here is automated, but the front end.



Engineers at this point, go to the folder, pick out penciled
instructions, add their flavor, and create the BOM / MOM for planning to
use. It is a system with the end of days equal to the countdown to
retirement for some of these elite (fairly soon). The only info that is
trapped is the quoted price, and quote / line.



Bruce Butler

IT Manager

Knappe & Koester, Inc.

_____

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of Tim Mendoza
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 3:03 PM
To: 'vantage@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting



Any accurate quote should have a BOM and MOM. So if you are not entering
it
on the front end in Vantage, where are you keeping track of the BOM/MOM
info in case you do win it?

In ANY estimating system, you have to have a BOM/MOM, so whether you put
it
in an external estimating program or in Vantage seems to be the same.
The
only thing I can definitely attest to, is that entering this information
in
Vantage's Quote Module IS cumbersome at best. Standard templates will
help
minimize this time. We have quoted thousands of part numbers in very
short
periods of time. We even purchased an external estimating program
(Costimator) with the intent of developing a download program. That has
not
happened and we now estimate in one program and use that information to
create the BOM/MOM in Vantage.

Tim M.


-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Butler [SMTP:bbutler@...]
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 11:30 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting

Todd,



We were discussing this exact topic this morning. We have not come to a
conclusion yet on whether or not the front loaded BOMs through the quote
module would be beneficial. We estimate about 5% of our quotes are
actually turned into orders.



>From an IT perspective, the amount of manual effort put into a quote
would not be wasted for a few minutes of entry. I have already started
to receive similar negative feedback you have. Too much time to enter,
etc.., etc.., etc..



Right now, we are focusing on lost opportunities, and increasing our
success rate of quotes.



Bruce Butler

IT Manager

Knappe & Koester, Inc.

_____

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of Todd Caughey
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 1:35 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Problems with rebellion



I have one case and it is not really a problem with Vantage it is
politics.

We have a quoting system written in Access that is extremely tightly
tailored to our "method" of generating quotes. All the details are
entered on one screen in a grid. They click a cacluate buton and out
pops the pricing for various quantities. Entry is as fast as they can
figure out the operations required to make a part (metal stampings).

When they ahve tried Vantage they whine about the need to enter
operations on seperate screen and for extra "clicks". When I actually
measures this I found the time developing the operations for a quote was
98% of the process and the actual entry was the other 2%. Of this 2%
the Vantage version added about 15 seconds in extra clicking. But try
to get them to switch so everything can be in one system...NO WAY. Oh
boy to they whine and complain.

Problem is the departmental goals and measures are for shear volume of
quotes produced and as soon as we "force" the use of Vantage any failure
to meet this will be pinned squarely on Vantage. A red herring the size
of a grey whale. Never mind that we later spend extra hours re-keying
the BOM into Vantage for the orders that are received. Or that we can't
link sales $ to quote activity. Or that we can analyze customer
purchase vs. quote trends and ratios. It isn;t that Vantage is
worse....it's that it would be an excuse.

Fortunately if we ever go to 8.0 I think I can custimze the screens
enough to remove that last 15 seconds of "extra effort" when entering a
quote.

So sometime rebellion is not in the system but in the external
influences.

-Todd C.

-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf
Of Kevin Berry
Sent: Friday, May 12, 2006 4:02 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Problems with rebellion


Has anyone had problems with employees rebelling because of the Vantage
software. We have some people that like and some that love it.
Unfortuantely, the ones that dont like it are winning. Anyone else have
that type of problem?








[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
I feel for your Bruce.

I somehow don't feel as bad now (sorry that is at your expense) :-)

I'll keep my fingers crossed for some early retirements?

Tim M


-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Butler [SMTP:bbutler@...]
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 12:13 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting

Archaic could describe our system. We have some real old school
personnel in key positions that operate without the needs of keyboards,
monitors, or mice. They get info spoon fed through reports, and do
quoting via pencil, paper, & file folders. I have waited a long time
for the needs of better quoting practice to come from the elite. Almost
everything else here is automated, but the front end.



Engineers at this point, go to the folder, pick out penciled
instructions, add their flavor, and create the BOM / MOM for planning to
use. It is a system with the end of days equal to the countdown to
retirement for some of these elite (fairly soon). The only info that is
trapped is the quoted price, and quote / line.



Bruce Butler

IT Manager

Knappe & Koester, Inc.

_____

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of Tim Mendoza
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 3:03 PM
To: 'vantage@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting



Any accurate quote should have a BOM and MOM. So if you are not entering
it
on the front end in Vantage, where are you keeping track of the BOM/MOM
info in case you do win it?

In ANY estimating system, you have to have a BOM/MOM, so whether you put
it
in an external estimating program or in Vantage seems to be the same.
The
only thing I can definitely attest to, is that entering this information
in
Vantage's Quote Module IS cumbersome at best. Standard templates will
help
minimize this time. We have quoted thousands of part numbers in very
short
periods of time. We even purchased an external estimating program
(Costimator) with the intent of developing a download program. That has
not
happened and we now estimate in one program and use that information to
create the BOM/MOM in Vantage.

Tim M.


-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Butler [SMTP:bbutler@...]
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 11:30 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting

Todd,



We were discussing this exact topic this morning. We have not come to a
conclusion yet on whether or not the front loaded BOMs through the quote
module would be beneficial. We estimate about 5% of our quotes are
actually turned into orders.



>From an IT perspective, the amount of manual effort put into a quote
would not be wasted for a few minutes of entry. I have already started
to receive similar negative feedback you have. Too much time to enter,
etc.., etc.., etc..



Right now, we are focusing on lost opportunities, and increasing our
success rate of quotes.



Bruce Butler

IT Manager

Knappe & Koester, Inc.

_____

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of Todd Caughey
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 1:35 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Problems with rebellion



I have one case and it is not really a problem with Vantage it is
politics.

We have a quoting system written in Access that is extremely tightly
tailored to our "method" of generating quotes. All the details are
entered on one screen in a grid. They click a cacluate buton and out
pops the pricing for various quantities. Entry is as fast as they can
figure out the operations required to make a part (metal stampings).

When they ahve tried Vantage they whine about the need to enter
operations on seperate screen and for extra "clicks". When I actually
measures this I found the time developing the operations for a quote was
98% of the process and the actual entry was the other 2%. Of this 2%
the Vantage version added about 15 seconds in extra clicking. But try
to get them to switch so everything can be in one system...NO WAY. Oh
boy to they whine and complain.

Problem is the departmental goals and measures are for shear volume of
quotes produced and as soon as we "force" the use of Vantage any failure
to meet this will be pinned squarely on Vantage. A red herring the size
of a grey whale. Never mind that we later spend extra hours re-keying
the BOM into Vantage for the orders that are received. Or that we can't
link sales $ to quote activity. Or that we can analyze customer
purchase vs. quote trends and ratios. It isn;t that Vantage is
worse....it's that it would be an excuse.

Fortunately if we ever go to 8.0 I think I can custimze the screens
enough to remove that last 15 seconds of "extra effort" when entering a
quote.

So sometime rebellion is not in the system but in the external
influences.

-Todd C.

-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf
Of Kevin Berry
Sent: Friday, May 12, 2006 4:02 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Problems with rebellion


Has anyone had problems with employees rebelling because of the Vantage
software. We have some people that like and some that love it.
Unfortuantely, the ones that dont like it are winning. Anyone else have
that type of problem?








[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/links
Yahoo! Groups Links
Wow, does this sound familiar. Are you working here??????? We have a
ditto type situation.

_____

From: Bruce Butler [mailto:bbutler@...]
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 2:13 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting


Archaic could describe our system. We have some real old school
personnel in key positions that operate without the needs of keyboards,
monitors, or mice. They get info spoon fed through reports, and do
quoting via pencil, paper, & file folders. I have waited a long time
for the needs of better quoting practice to come from the elite. Almost
everything else here is automated, but the front end.



Engineers at this point, go to the folder, pick out penciled
instructions, add their flavor, and create the BOM / MOM for planning to
use. It is a system with the end of days equal to the countdown to
retirement for some of these elite (fairly soon). The only info that is
trapped is the quoted price, and quote / line.



Bruce Butler

IT Manager

Knappe & Koester, Inc.

_____

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of Tim Mendoza
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 3:03 PM
To: 'vantage@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting



Any accurate quote should have a BOM and MOM. So if you are not entering
it
on the front end in Vantage, where are you keeping track of the BOM/MOM
info in case you do win it?

In ANY estimating system, you have to have a BOM/MOM, so whether you put
it
in an external estimating program or in Vantage seems to be the same.
The
only thing I can definitely attest to, is that entering this information
in
Vantage's Quote Module IS cumbersome at best. Standard templates will
help
minimize this time. We have quoted thousands of part numbers in very
short
periods of time. We even purchased an external estimating program
(Costimator) with the intent of developing a download program. That has
not
happened and we now estimate in one program and use that information to
create the BOM/MOM in Vantage.

Tim M.


-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Butler [SMTP:bbutler@...]
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 11:30 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting

Todd,



We were discussing this exact topic this morning. We have not come to a
conclusion yet on whether or not the front loaded BOMs through the quote
module would be beneficial. We estimate about 5% of our quotes are
actually turned into orders.



>From an IT perspective, the amount of manual effort put into a quote
would not be wasted for a few minutes of entry. I have already started
to receive similar negative feedback you have. Too much time to enter,
etc.., etc.., etc..



Right now, we are focusing on lost opportunities, and increasing our
success rate of quotes.



Bruce Butler

IT Manager

Knappe & Koester, Inc.

_____

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of Todd Caughey
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 1:35 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Problems with rebellion



I have one case and it is not really a problem with Vantage it is
politics.

We have a quoting system written in Access that is extremely tightly
tailored to our "method" of generating quotes. All the details are
entered on one screen in a grid. They click a cacluate buton and out
pops the pricing for various quantities. Entry is as fast as they can
figure out the operations required to make a part (metal stampings).

When they ahve tried Vantage they whine about the need to enter
operations on seperate screen and for extra "clicks". When I actually
measures this I found the time developing the operations for a quote was
98% of the process and the actual entry was the other 2%. Of this 2%
the Vantage version added about 15 seconds in extra clicking. But try
to get them to switch so everything can be in one system...NO WAY. Oh
boy to they whine and complain.

Problem is the departmental goals and measures are for shear volume of
quotes produced and as soon as we "force" the use of Vantage any failure
to meet this will be pinned squarely on Vantage. A red herring the size
of a grey whale. Never mind that we later spend extra hours re-keying
the BOM into Vantage for the orders that are received. Or that we can't
link sales $ to quote activity. Or that we can analyze customer
purchase vs. quote trends and ratios. It isn;t that Vantage is
worse....it's that it would be an excuse.

Fortunately if we ever go to 8.0 I think I can custimze the screens
enough to remove that last 15 seconds of "extra effort" when entering a
quote.

So sometime rebellion is not in the system but in the external
influences.

-Todd C.

-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf
Of Kevin Berry
Sent: Friday, May 12, 2006 4:02 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Problems with rebellion


Has anyone had problems with employees rebelling because of the Vantage
software. We have some people that like and some that love it.
Unfortuantely, the ones that dont like it are winning. Anyone else have
that type of problem?








[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/links




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_____




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Bruce, I've been there, but all hope is not gone.



Six years ago when I headed the change over from DCD Classic I setup clients
for all the sales group. I had one old timer who flat out refused to even
turn on his computer. When asked he responded "I've done this job for 30
years without a g@? d@^^ computer " I don't need one now. I was more then
a little annoyed and took this as a personal challenge. I pondered for a
few days and came to realize that this was not personal. Given all the news
and horror stories about data corruption and data loss it must seem scary to
someone who is a computer newbee. I figured he was simply afraid of causing
damage. I gave him a pc with short cuts to a few games and challenged him
to "break" the computer. He progressed from games to note pad to excel in
about three weeks. I waited for him to ask me "What else can this machine
do?" I soon found he was my best client. He was a clean slate willing to
learn the right way of doing things. Last year he opened an Email virus
with no released def yet. (OK he didn't learn all the lessons) I took him
off line for a couple of hours for a manual cleanup and he was lost. "How
can I do my job without my computer" ;o)



I have found the ones who resist the hardest are the easiest to win over if
you can understand their fears. It's the ones who think they already know
it all that cause the system the most damage and me the most grief.





Mark



_____

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
Tim Mendoza
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 3:33 PM
To: 'vantage@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting



I feel for your Bruce.

I somehow don't feel as bad now (sorry that is at your expense) :-)

I'll keep my fingers crossed for some early retirements?

Tim M


-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Butler [SMTP:bbutler@...]
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 12:13 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting

Archaic could describe our system. We have some real old school
personnel in key positions that operate without the needs of keyboards,
monitors, or mice. They get info spoon fed through reports, and do
quoting via pencil, paper, & file folders. I have waited a long time
for the needs of better quoting practice to come from the elite. Almost
everything else here is automated, but the front end.



Engineers at this point, go to the folder, pick out penciled
instructions, add their flavor, and create the BOM / MOM for planning to
use. It is a system with the end of days equal to the countdown to
retirement for some of these elite (fairly soon). The only info that is
trapped is the quoted price, and quote / line.



Bruce Butler

IT Manager

Knappe & Koester, Inc.

_____

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of Tim Mendoza
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 3:03 PM
To: 'vantage@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting



Any accurate quote should have a BOM and MOM. So if you are not entering
it
on the front end in Vantage, where are you keeping track of the BOM/MOM
info in case you do win it?

In ANY estimating system, you have to have a BOM/MOM, so whether you put
it
in an external estimating program or in Vantage seems to be the same.
The
only thing I can definitely attest to, is that entering this information
in
Vantage's Quote Module IS cumbersome at best. Standard templates will
help
minimize this time. We have quoted thousands of part numbers in very
short
periods of time. We even purchased an external estimating program
(Costimator) with the intent of developing a download program. That has
not
happened and we now estimate in one program and use that information to
create the BOM/MOM in Vantage.

Tim M.


-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Butler [SMTP:bbutler@...]
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 11:30 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting

Todd,



We were discussing this exact topic this morning. We have not come to a
conclusion yet on whether or not the front loaded BOMs through the quote
module would be beneficial. We estimate about 5% of our quotes are
actually turned into orders.



>From an IT perspective, the amount of manual effort put into a quote
would not be wasted for a few minutes of entry. I have already started
to receive similar negative feedback you have. Too much time to enter,
etc.., etc.., etc..



Right now, we are focusing on lost opportunities, and increasing our
success rate of quotes.



Bruce Butler

IT Manager

Knappe & Koester, Inc.

_____

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of Todd Caughey
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 1:35 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Problems with rebellion



I have one case and it is not really a problem with Vantage it is
politics.

We have a quoting system written in Access that is extremely tightly
tailored to our "method" of generating quotes. All the details are
entered on one screen in a grid. They click a cacluate buton and out
pops the pricing for various quantities. Entry is as fast as they can
figure out the operations required to make a part (metal stampings).

When they ahve tried Vantage they whine about the need to enter
operations on seperate screen and for extra "clicks". When I actually
measures this I found the time developing the operations for a quote was
98% of the process and the actual entry was the other 2%. Of this 2%
the Vantage version added about 15 seconds in extra clicking. But try
to get them to switch so everything can be in one system...NO WAY. Oh
boy to they whine and complain.

Problem is the departmental goals and measures are for shear volume of
quotes produced and as soon as we "force" the use of Vantage any failure
to meet this will be pinned squarely on Vantage. A red herring the size
of a grey whale. Never mind that we later spend extra hours re-keying
the BOM into Vantage for the orders that are received. Or that we can't
link sales $ to quote activity. Or that we can analyze customer
purchase vs. quote trends and ratios. It isn;t that Vantage is
worse....it's that it would be an excuse.

Fortunately if we ever go to 8.0 I think I can custimze the screens
enough to remove that last 15 seconds of "extra effort" when entering a
quote.

So sometime rebellion is not in the system but in the external
influences.

-Todd C.

-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf
Of Kevin Berry
Sent: Friday, May 12, 2006 4:02 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Problems with rebellion


Has anyone had problems with employees rebelling because of the Vantage
software. We have some people that like and some that love it.
Unfortuantely, the ones that dont like it are winning. Anyone else have
that type of problem?










_____



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Mark, I couldn't agree more.

Patrick
-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
Mark Dupuis
Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2006 8:24 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting

Bruce, I've been there, but all hope is not gone.



Six years ago when I headed the change over from DCD Classic I setup clients
for all the sales group. I had one old timer who flat out refused to even
turn on his computer. When asked he responded "I've done this job for 30
years without a g@? d@^^ computer " I don't need one now. I was more then
a little annoyed and took this as a personal challenge. I pondered for a
few days and came to realize that this was not personal. Given all the news
and horror stories about data corruption and data loss it must seem scary to
someone who is a computer newbee. I figured he was simply afraid of causing
damage. I gave him a pc with short cuts to a few games and challenged him
to "break" the computer. He progressed from games to note pad to excel in
about three weeks. I waited for him to ask me "What else can this machine
do?" I soon found he was my best client. He was a clean slate willing to
learn the right way of doing things. Last year he opened an Email virus
with no released def yet. (OK he didn't learn all the lessons) I took him
off line for a couple of hours for a manual cleanup and he was lost. "How
can I do my job without my computer" ;o)



I have found the ones who resist the hardest are the easiest to win over if
you can understand their fears. It's the ones who think they already know
it all that cause the system the most damage and me the most grief.





Mark



_____

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
Tim Mendoza
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 3:33 PM
To: 'vantage@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting



I feel for your Bruce.

I somehow don't feel as bad now (sorry that is at your expense) :-)

I'll keep my fingers crossed for some early retirements?

Tim M


-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Butler [SMTP:bbutler@...]
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 12:13 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting

Archaic could describe our system. We have some real old school personnel
in key positions that operate without the needs of keyboards, monitors, or
mice. They get info spoon fed through reports, and do quoting via pencil,
paper, & file folders. I have waited a long time for the needs of better
quoting practice to come from the elite. Almost everything else here is
automated, but the front end.



Engineers at this point, go to the folder, pick out penciled instructions,
add their flavor, and create the BOM / MOM for planning to use. It is a
system with the end of days equal to the countdown to retirement for some of
these elite (fairly soon). The only info that is trapped is the quoted
price, and quote / line.



Bruce Butler

IT Manager

Knappe & Koester, Inc.

_____

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
Tim Mendoza
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 3:03 PM
To: 'vantage@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting



Any accurate quote should have a BOM and MOM. So if you are not entering it
on the front end in Vantage, where are you keeping track of the BOM/MOM info
in case you do win it?

In ANY estimating system, you have to have a BOM/MOM, so whether you put it
in an external estimating program or in Vantage seems to be the same.
The
only thing I can definitely attest to, is that entering this information in
Vantage's Quote Module IS cumbersome at best. Standard templates will help
minimize this time. We have quoted thousands of part numbers in very short
periods of time. We even purchased an external estimating program
(Costimator) with the intent of developing a download program. That has not
happened and we now estimate in one program and use that information to
create the BOM/MOM in Vantage.

Tim M.


-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Butler [SMTP:bbutler@...]
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 11:30 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting

Todd,



We were discussing this exact topic this morning. We have not come to a
conclusion yet on whether or not the front loaded BOMs through the quote
module would be beneficial. We estimate about 5% of our quotes are actually
turned into orders.



>From an IT perspective, the amount of manual effort put into a quote
would not be wasted for a few minutes of entry. I have already started to
receive similar negative feedback you have. Too much time to enter, etc..,
etc.., etc..



Right now, we are focusing on lost opportunities, and increasing our success
rate of quotes.



Bruce Butler

IT Manager

Knappe & Koester, Inc.

_____

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
Todd Caughey
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 1:35 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Problems with rebellion



I have one case and it is not really a problem with Vantage it is politics.

We have a quoting system written in Access that is extremely tightly
tailored to our "method" of generating quotes. All the details are entered
on one screen in a grid. They click a cacluate buton and out pops the
pricing for various quantities. Entry is as fast as they can figure out the
operations required to make a part (metal stampings).

When they ahve tried Vantage they whine about the need to enter operations
on seperate screen and for extra "clicks". When I actually measures this I
found the time developing the operations for a quote was 98% of the process
and the actual entry was the other 2%. Of this 2% the Vantage version added
about 15 seconds in extra clicking. But try to get them to switch so
everything can be in one system...NO WAY. Oh boy to they whine and
complain.

Problem is the departmental goals and measures are for shear volume of
quotes produced and as soon as we "force" the use of Vantage any failure to
meet this will be pinned squarely on Vantage. A red herring the size of a
grey whale. Never mind that we later spend extra hours re-keying the BOM
into Vantage for the orders that are received. Or that we can't link sales
$ to quote activity. Or that we can analyze customer purchase vs. quote
trends and ratios. It isn;t that Vantage is worse....it's that it would be
an excuse.

Fortunately if we ever go to 8.0 I think I can custimze the screens enough
to remove that last 15 seconds of "extra effort" when entering a quote.

So sometime rebellion is not in the system but in the external influences.

-Todd C.

-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf Of
Kevin Berry
Sent: Friday, May 12, 2006 4:02 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Problems with rebellion


Has anyone had problems with employees rebelling because of the Vantage
software. We have some people that like and some that love it.
Unfortuantely, the ones that dont like it are winning. Anyone else have
that type of problem?










_____



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



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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
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That is a great story. Thanks for the laugh.

Innovative Office Products, Inc.
Frank Zeigafuse
General Manager
610-559-6369
fzeigafuse@...


-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of pjw@...
Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2006 9:41 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting


Mark, I couldn't agree more.

Patrick
-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Mark Dupuis
Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2006 8:24 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting

Bruce, I've been there, but all hope is not gone.



Six years ago when I headed the change over from DCD Classic I setup clients for all the sales group. I had one old timer who flat out refused to even turn on his computer. When asked he responded "I've done this job for 30 years without a g@? d@^^ computer " I don't need one now. I was more then a little annoyed and took this as a personal challenge. I pondered for a few days and came to realize that this was not personal. Given all the news and horror stories about data corruption and data loss it must seem scary to someone who is a computer newbee. I figured he was simply afraid of causing damage. I gave him a pc with short cuts to a few games and challenged him to "break" the computer. He progressed from games to note pad to excel in about three weeks. I waited for him to ask me "What else can this machine do?" I soon found he was my best client. He was a clean slate willing to learn the right way of doing things. Last year he opened an Email virus with no released def yet. (OK he didn't learn all the lessons) I took him off line for a couple of hours for a manual cleanup and he was lost. "How can I do my job without my computer" ;o)



I have found the ones who resist the hardest are the easiest to win over if you can understand their fears. It's the ones who think they already know it all that cause the system the most damage and me the most grief.





Mark



_____

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Tim Mendoza
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 3:33 PM
To: 'vantage@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting



I feel for your Bruce.

I somehow don't feel as bad now (sorry that is at your expense) :-)

I'll keep my fingers crossed for some early retirements?

Tim M


-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Butler [SMTP:bbutler@...]
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 12:13 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting

Archaic could describe our system. We have some real old school personnel in key positions that operate without the needs of keyboards, monitors, or mice. They get info spoon fed through reports, and do quoting via pencil, paper, & file folders. I have waited a long time for the needs of better quoting practice to come from the elite. Almost everything else here is automated, but the front end.



Engineers at this point, go to the folder, pick out penciled instructions, add their flavor, and create the BOM / MOM for planning to use. It is a system with the end of days equal to the countdown to retirement for some of these elite (fairly soon). The only info that is trapped is the quoted price, and quote / line.



Bruce Butler

IT Manager

Knappe & Koester, Inc.

_____

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Tim Mendoza
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 3:03 PM
To: 'vantage@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting



Any accurate quote should have a BOM and MOM. So if you are not entering it on the front end in Vantage, where are you keeping track of the BOM/MOM info in case you do win it?

In ANY estimating system, you have to have a BOM/MOM, so whether you put it in an external estimating program or in Vantage seems to be the same. The only thing I can definitely attest to, is that entering this information in Vantage's Quote Module IS cumbersome at best. Standard templates will help minimize this time. We have quoted thousands of part numbers in very short periods of time. We even purchased an external estimating program
(Costimator) with the intent of developing a download program. That has not happened and we now estimate in one program and use that information to create the BOM/MOM in Vantage.

Tim M.


-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Butler [SMTP:bbutler@...]
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 11:30 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting

Todd,



We were discussing this exact topic this morning. We have not come to a conclusion yet on whether or not the front loaded BOMs through the quote module would be beneficial. We estimate about 5% of our quotes are actually turned into orders.



>From an IT perspective, the amount of manual effort put into a quote
would not be wasted for a few minutes of entry. I have already started to receive similar negative feedback you have. Too much time to enter, etc.., etc.., etc..



Right now, we are focusing on lost opportunities, and increasing our success rate of quotes.



Bruce Butler

IT Manager

Knappe & Koester, Inc.

_____

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Todd Caughey
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 1:35 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Problems with rebellion



I have one case and it is not really a problem with Vantage it is politics.

We have a quoting system written in Access that is extremely tightly tailored to our "method" of generating quotes. All the details are entered on one screen in a grid. They click a cacluate buton and out pops the pricing for various quantities. Entry is as fast as they can figure out the operations required to make a part (metal stampings).

When they ahve tried Vantage they whine about the need to enter operations on seperate screen and for extra "clicks". When I actually measures this I found the time developing the operations for a quote was 98% of the process and the actual entry was the other 2%. Of this 2% the Vantage version added about 15 seconds in extra clicking. But try to get them to switch so everything can be in one system...NO WAY. Oh boy to they whine and complain.

Problem is the departmental goals and measures are for shear volume of quotes produced and as soon as we "force" the use of Vantage any failure to meet this will be pinned squarely on Vantage. A red herring the size of a grey whale. Never mind that we later spend extra hours re-keying the BOM into Vantage for the orders that are received. Or that we can't link sales $ to quote activity. Or that we can analyze customer purchase vs. quote trends and ratios. It isn;t that Vantage is worse....it's that it would be an excuse.

Fortunately if we ever go to 8.0 I think I can custimze the screens enough to remove that last 15 seconds of "extra effort" when entering a quote.

So sometime rebellion is not in the system but in the external influences.

-Todd C.

-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf Of Kevin Berry
Sent: Friday, May 12, 2006 4:02 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Problems with rebellion


Has anyone had problems with employees rebelling because of the Vantage software. We have some people that like and some that love it. Unfortuantely, the ones that dont like it are winning. Anyone else have that type of problem?










_____



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



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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. )
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(2) To search through old msg's goto: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
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This e-mail and any attachments may contain confidential and privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail, delete this e-mail and destroy any copies. Any dissemination or use of this information by a person other than the intended recipient is unauthorized and may be illegal.



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
Yahoo! Groups Links
Ok, I will share a pretty good user rebellion story. I do some database
work on the side. A business owner contacted me a few years back through
word of mouth. After a very lengthy discussion I came to the conclusion
that this guy knew nothing about computers nor wanted anything to do
with them, but was convinced by a friend on the golf course that he
couldn't continue in business without streamlining at least some of his
business with them. So he wanted to do some inventory and sales tracking
with a database.

In meetings to determine what he needed from the database his answer was
simple. "I want to know these four things; A, B, C and D, everyday when
I arrive in the morning." There was always an emphasis on "and I don't
want to have to $%^$ <mailto:$%^@$> # mess with a computer." I created
the database, with a rather simplistic user interface and deployed it to
their 20 or so users and everyone was happy. I created a couple simple
reports to satisfy the owners morning requirements as outlined above.
Everything was very cool, all users were extremely happy with the new
system. I thought all was well until one day I met with the owner to
close out the project. I asked him his opinion of our efforts and he
said he was satisfied for the most part but a bit disappointed in that I
failed to meet his expectation of not having to mess with a PC.

I lamented over this for the evening until viola! It all came to me. Did
a little work that night and the next morning made a couple stops on my
way to his facility. Within minutes I implemented the solution.....THE
CLAPPER. Now, all the owner had to do is walk into his office each
morning, clap his hands and his PC would fire up, and open a web page
that displayed the four pieces of information he wanted each day and he
never had to touch it. Clap off when he goes home!

Literally the happiest user I have ever dealt with. Yes he still uses it
that way!

Todd H.

________________________________

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of Frank Zeigafuse
Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2006 10:07 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting


That is a great story. Thanks for the laugh.


Bruce, I've been there, but all hope is not gone.



Six years ago when I headed the change over from DCD Classic I setup
clients for all the sales group. I had one old timer who flat out
refused to even turn on his computer. When asked he responded "I've
done this job for 30 years without a g@? d@^^ computer " I don't need
one now. I was more then a little annoyed and took this as a personal
challenge. I pondered for a few days and came to realize that this was
not personal. Given all the news and horror stories about data
corruption and data loss it must seem scary to someone who is a computer
newbee. I figured he was simply afraid of causing damage. I gave him a
pc with short cuts to a few games and challenged him to "break" the
computer. He progressed from games to note pad to excel in about three
weeks. I waited for him to ask me "What else can this machine do?" I
soon found he was my best client. He was a clean slate willing to learn
the right way of doing things. Last year he opened an Email virus with
no released def yet. (OK he didn't learn all the lessons) I took him off
line for a couple of hours for a manual cleanup and he was lost. "How
can I do my job without my computer" ;o)



I have found the ones who resist the hardest are the easiest to win over
if you can understand their fears. It's the ones who think they already
know it all that cause the system the most damage and me the most grief.





Mark





This e-mail and any attachments may contain confidential and privileged
information. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the
sender immediately by return e-mail, delete this e-mail and destroy any
copies. Any dissemination or use of this information by a person other
than the intended recipient is unauthorized and may be illegal.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
I agree Quote input is a lot of work. Does anyone know if there are any
tools available from Epicor to improve the Quote input process ?

-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Butler [mailto:bbutler@...]
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 12:30 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting

Todd,



We were discussing this exact topic this morning. We have not come to a
conclusion yet on whether or not the front loaded BOMs through the quote
module would be beneficial. We estimate about 5% of our quotes are
actually turned into orders.



From an IT perspective, the amount of manual effort put into a quote
would not be wasted for a few minutes of entry. I have already started
to receive similar negative feedback you have. Too much time to enter,
etc.., etc.., etc..



Right now, we are focusing on lost opportunities, and increasing our
success rate of quotes.



Bruce Butler

IT Manager

Knappe & Koester, Inc.

_____

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of Todd Caughey
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 1:35 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Problems with rebellion



I have one case and it is not really a problem with Vantage it is
politics.

We have a quoting system written in Access that is extremely tightly
tailored to our "method" of generating quotes. All the details are
entered on one screen in a grid. They click a cacluate buton and out
pops the pricing for various quantities. Entry is as fast as they can
figure out the operations required to make a part (metal stampings).

When they ahve tried Vantage they whine about the need to enter
operations on seperate screen and for extra "clicks". When I actually
measures this I found the time developing the operations for a quote was
98% of the process and the actual entry was the other 2%. Of this 2%
the Vantage version added about 15 seconds in extra clicking. But try
to get them to switch so everything can be in one system...NO WAY. Oh
boy to they whine and complain.

Problem is the departmental goals and measures are for shear volume of
quotes produced and as soon as we "force" the use of Vantage any failure
to meet this will be pinned squarely on Vantage. A red herring the size
of a grey whale. Never mind that we later spend extra hours re-keying
the BOM into Vantage for the orders that are received. Or that we can't
link sales $ to quote activity. Or that we can analyze customer
purchase vs. quote trends and ratios. It isn;t that Vantage is
worse....it's that it would be an excuse.

Fortunately if we ever go to 8.0 I think I can custimze the screens
enough to remove that last 15 seconds of "extra effort" when entering a
quote.

So sometime rebellion is not in the system but in the external
influences.

-Todd C.

-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf
Of Kevin Berry
Sent: Friday, May 12, 2006 4:02 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Problems with rebellion


Has anyone had problems with employees rebelling because of the Vantage
software. We have some people that like and some that love it.
Unfortuantely, the ones that dont like it are winning. Anyone else have
that type of problem?






[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/links
Yahoo! Groups Links
Make sure you are sitting down, as most of you know I think Epicor has
done a pretty stinky job overall with Vantage, that being said I think
the estimating module maybe one of their strongest points in the system.
I use it probably 2 hours a day. Make sure you understand ALL of its
capabilities.

Remember you are only quoting not making it so many times I combine
routing steps ignore colors, etc..

Innovative Office Products, Inc.
Frank Zeigafuse
General Manager
610-559-6369
fzeigafuse@...


-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of Clint Muhlestein
Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2006 11:39 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting


I agree Quote input is a lot of work. Does anyone know if there are any
tools available from Epicor to improve the Quote input process ?

-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Butler [mailto:bbutler@...]
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 12:30 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting

Todd,



We were discussing this exact topic this morning. We have not come to a
conclusion yet on whether or not the front loaded BOMs through the quote
module would be beneficial. We estimate about 5% of our quotes are
actually turned into orders.



From an IT perspective, the amount of manual effort put into a quote
would not be wasted for a few minutes of entry. I have already started
to receive similar negative feedback you have. Too much time to enter,
etc.., etc.., etc..



Right now, we are focusing on lost opportunities, and increasing our
success rate of quotes.



Bruce Butler

IT Manager

Knappe & Koester, Inc.

_____

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of Todd Caughey
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 1:35 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Problems with rebellion



I have one case and it is not really a problem with Vantage it is
politics.

We have a quoting system written in Access that is extremely tightly
tailored to our "method" of generating quotes. All the details are
entered on one screen in a grid. They click a cacluate buton and out
pops the pricing for various quantities. Entry is as fast as they can
figure out the operations required to make a part (metal stampings).

When they ahve tried Vantage they whine about the need to enter
operations on seperate screen and for extra "clicks". When I actually
measures this I found the time developing the operations for a quote was
98% of the process and the actual entry was the other 2%. Of this 2%
the Vantage version added about 15 seconds in extra clicking. But try
to get them to switch so everything can be in one system...NO WAY. Oh
boy to they whine and complain.

Problem is the departmental goals and measures are for shear volume of
quotes produced and as soon as we "force" the use of Vantage any failure
to meet this will be pinned squarely on Vantage. A red herring the size
of a grey whale. Never mind that we later spend extra hours re-keying
the BOM into Vantage for the orders that are received. Or that we can't
link sales $ to quote activity. Or that we can analyze customer
purchase vs. quote trends and ratios. It isn;t that Vantage is
worse....it's that it would be an excuse.

Fortunately if we ever go to 8.0 I think I can custimze the screens
enough to remove that last 15 seconds of "extra effort" when entering a
quote.

So sometime rebellion is not in the system but in the external
influences.

-Todd C.

-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf
Of Kevin Berry
Sent: Friday, May 12, 2006 4:02 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Problems with rebellion


Has anyone had problems with employees rebelling because of the Vantage
software. We have some people that like and some that love it.
Unfortuantely, the ones that dont like it are winning. Anyone else have
that type of problem?






[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/links
Yahoo! Groups Links











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
Yahoo! Groups Links
We use the Estimating module for every quote we do (avg 1,400/mo). We do
use an external "model" at times to generate methods, standards,
material requirements and comments, other times we will copy old quotes.
We cut and paste into the estimate as best we can. Seems like there
would be a good opportunity for someone to write an application that
could bring in estimate information into a Vantage quote on a line by
line basis from some neutral format, be it txt, csv etc. We had looked
at configurator early on (years ago) but it relied to heavily on the use
of master part numbers.



Keith





________________________________

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of Frank Zeigafuse
Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2006 11:42 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting



Make sure you are sitting down, as most of you know I think Epicor has
done a pretty stinky job overall with Vantage, that being said I think
the estimating module maybe one of their strongest points in the system.
I use it probably 2 hours a day. Make sure you understand ALL of its
capabilities.

Remember you are only quoting not making it so many times I combine
routing steps ignore colors, etc..

Innovative Office Products, Inc.
Frank Zeigafuse
General Manager
610-559-6369
fzeigafuse@...


-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of Clint Muhlestein
Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2006 11:39 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting


I agree Quote input is a lot of work. Does anyone know if there are any
tools available from Epicor to improve the Quote input process ?

-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Butler [mailto:bbutler@...]
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 12:30 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting

Todd,



We were discussing this exact topic this morning. We have not come to a
conclusion yet on whether or not the front loaded BOMs through the quote
module would be beneficial. We estimate about 5% of our quotes are
actually turned into orders.



From an IT perspective, the amount of manual effort put into a quote
would not be wasted for a few minutes of entry. I have already started
to receive similar negative feedback you have. Too much time to enter,
etc.., etc.., etc..



Right now, we are focusing on lost opportunities, and increasing our
success rate of quotes.



Bruce Butler

IT Manager

Knappe & Koester, Inc.

_____

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of Todd Caughey
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 1:35 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Problems with rebellion



I have one case and it is not really a problem with Vantage it is
politics.

We have a quoting system written in Access that is extremely tightly
tailored to our "method" of generating quotes. All the details are
entered on one screen in a grid. They click a cacluate buton and out
pops the pricing for various quantities. Entry is as fast as they can
figure out the operations required to make a part (metal stampings).

When they ahve tried Vantage they whine about the need to enter
operations on seperate screen and for extra "clicks". When I actually
measures this I found the time developing the operations for a quote was
98% of the process and the actual entry was the other 2%. Of this 2%
the Vantage version added about 15 seconds in extra clicking. But try
to get them to switch so everything can be in one system...NO WAY. Oh
boy to they whine and complain.

Problem is the departmental goals and measures are for shear volume of
quotes produced and as soon as we "force" the use of Vantage any failure
to meet this will be pinned squarely on Vantage. A red herring the size
of a grey whale. Never mind that we later spend extra hours re-keying
the BOM into Vantage for the orders that are received. Or that we can't
link sales $ to quote activity. Or that we can analyze customer
purchase vs. quote trends and ratios. It isn;t that Vantage is
worse....it's that it would be an excuse.

Fortunately if we ever go to 8.0 I think I can custimze the screens
enough to remove that last 15 seconds of "extra effort" when entering a
quote.

So sometime rebellion is not in the system but in the external
influences.

-Todd C.

-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf
Of Kevin Berry
Sent: Friday, May 12, 2006 4:02 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Problems with rebellion


Has anyone had problems with employees rebelling because of the Vantage
software. We have some people that like and some that love it.
Unfortuantely, the ones that dont like it are winning. Anyone else have
that type of problem?






[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/.
<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
Yahoo! Groups Links











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/.
<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
Yahoo! Groups Links









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/.
<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




________________________________

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________________________________



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Trust me I am not giving it a 10 but I think a 8 is about right. On a
scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest.

Innovative Office Products, Inc.
Frank Zeigafuse
General Manager
610-559-6369
fzeigafuse@...


-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of Keith Mailloux
Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2006 11:53 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting


We use the Estimating module for every quote we do (avg 1,400/mo). We do
use an external "model" at times to generate methods, standards,
material requirements and comments, other times we will copy old quotes.
We cut and paste into the estimate as best we can. Seems like there
would be a good opportunity for someone to write an application that
could bring in estimate information into a Vantage quote on a line by
line basis from some neutral format, be it txt, csv etc. We had looked
at configurator early on (years ago) but it relied to heavily on the use
of master part numbers.



Keith





________________________________

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of Frank Zeigafuse
Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2006 11:42 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting



Make sure you are sitting down, as most of you know I think Epicor has
done a pretty stinky job overall with Vantage, that being said I think
the estimating module maybe one of their strongest points in the system.
I use it probably 2 hours a day. Make sure you understand ALL of its
capabilities.

Remember you are only quoting not making it so many times I combine
routing steps ignore colors, etc..

Innovative Office Products, Inc.
Frank Zeigafuse
General Manager
610-559-6369
fzeigafuse@...


-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of Clint Muhlestein
Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2006 11:39 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting


I agree Quote input is a lot of work. Does anyone know if there are any
tools available from Epicor to improve the Quote input process ?

-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Butler [mailto:bbutler@...]
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 12:30 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Vantage Quoting

Todd,



We were discussing this exact topic this morning. We have not come to a
conclusion yet on whether or not the front loaded BOMs through the quote
module would be beneficial. We estimate about 5% of our quotes are
actually turned into orders.



From an IT perspective, the amount of manual effort put into a quote
would not be wasted for a few minutes of entry. I have already started
to receive similar negative feedback you have. Too much time to enter,
etc.., etc.., etc..



Right now, we are focusing on lost opportunities, and increasing our
success rate of quotes.



Bruce Butler

IT Manager

Knappe & Koester, Inc.

_____

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of Todd Caughey
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 1:35 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Problems with rebellion



I have one case and it is not really a problem with Vantage it is
politics.

We have a quoting system written in Access that is extremely tightly
tailored to our "method" of generating quotes. All the details are
entered on one screen in a grid. They click a cacluate buton and out
pops the pricing for various quantities. Entry is as fast as they can
figure out the operations required to make a part (metal stampings).

When they ahve tried Vantage they whine about the need to enter
operations on seperate screen and for extra "clicks". When I actually
measures this I found the time developing the operations for a quote was
98% of the process and the actual entry was the other 2%. Of this 2%
the Vantage version added about 15 seconds in extra clicking. But try
to get them to switch so everything can be in one system...NO WAY. Oh
boy to they whine and complain.

Problem is the departmental goals and measures are for shear volume of
quotes produced and as soon as we "force" the use of Vantage any failure
to meet this will be pinned squarely on Vantage. A red herring the size
of a grey whale. Never mind that we later spend extra hours re-keying
the BOM into Vantage for the orders that are received. Or that we can't
link sales $ to quote activity. Or that we can analyze customer
purchase vs. quote trends and ratios. It isn;t that Vantage is
worse....it's that it would be an excuse.

Fortunately if we ever go to 8.0 I think I can custimze the screens
enough to remove that last 15 seconds of "extra effort" when entering a
quote.

So sometime rebellion is not in the system but in the external
influences.

-Todd C.

-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf
Of Kevin Berry
Sent: Friday, May 12, 2006 4:02 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Problems with rebellion


Has anyone had problems with employees rebelling because of the Vantage
software. We have some people that like and some that love it.
Unfortuantely, the ones that dont like it are winning. Anyone else have
that type of problem?






[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/.
<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
Yahoo! Groups Links











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/.
<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
Yahoo! Groups Links









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/.
<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




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[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/links
Yahoo! Groups Links