posted
Actually, we've been evaluating it. The functionality it has (especially when coupled with Business Portal) is great.
But, there are a few things that made us, at least for now, take it out of the running.
1) 3rd Party components- MS does not actually implement its own Point of Sale system, which, for us, is the heart. Instead, they license Compass, which is also a great product. The only thing is, to run the POS, one must then not only have a Great Plains license but also a compass license, for an allotted number of users. This is further in evidence with the Bar Coding solution. We have need of a bar coding module in our business solution to track inventory from our receipt to its delivery and installations on oil/gas wells. Again, MS does not have its own software. They license another company's module. Again, this brings added licensing issues. Aside from the cost (both up front as well as yearly service and licensing fees) there is the aspect that if any part is not working there is the potential difficulty of figuring out where the problem lies and getting support.
2) Great Plains comes in two modes- Standard and Professional. Standard has nearly everything we want and is affordable, but only allows for 10 concurrent access licenses. Anything above 10 and you HAVE to go with professional. As near as I can tell, with the same module selections, and licensing for 20 CALs, Professional is more than $100k more than standard. We are in the unfortunate position of being a company too large for standard, though it is affordable (~110k), but too small to be able to drop (all said and done) $250k on a Business Software Solution.
We won't be making a decision for probably another 6 months and are also looking at Everest and Prelude. All have their drawbacks. I kind of hope that MS comes up with a better pricing solution. Even with the 3rd party headaches, if it was more affordable, it'd be worth it.
Posts: 1346 | Registered: Jun 1999
| IP: Logged |
posted
Thanks Ian! I appreciate the feedback. I'm comparing it to Best's MAS500, which I know fairly well. Great Plains has functionality that my comparison product doesn't have, and it looks like if we go with them, we need at least two of the features that only come with the Professional level version. I'm looking now to see how much actual users like it. I'm pretty sure it's going to serve our needs, and it's much cheaper than our current product....but I just spent the past three months of my life listening to how much our current users hate MAS500 (most of which I think can be chalked up to resistance to change), so I'd like to know if I'm in for more of the same if we switch.
What kind of business are you? Sounds like retail with such heavy reliance on POS.
Posts: 5948 | Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
We have a couple of retail stores that sell oil and gas equipment (like pumps, etc- hence the name "Oil & Gas Equipment Corp") as well as other items a field worker might need. So POS is very important.
We also install/service remote terminal units (Kimray remote computers) onto well sites. Those RTU's are connected to either a radio or modem and have an internet IP. We have a hosting server that monitors all those RTU's (and thus, all those well sites), getting information like status, gas/water production, temperature, pressure, etc. That information is then made available through either special Human Machine Interface screens that we design, or through the web (the most common way).
So we have 3 types of business- POS, recurring hosting services, and install/servicing of RTUs. POS is the biggest part of our business (indeed, the automation side- RTUs and hosting- was created primarily to sell more product that the stores focus on. It has, however, taken a life of its own and has a great deal more potential for growth as we take larger and larger clients and contracts, like Williams Energy or Chevron).
We have a single domain of around 35 computers (including the field tech's laptops). Only 20 of them would need to be using the Business software at any given time. But as I said, Great Plains Standard, the affordable one, will only allow up to ten CALs.
I recently attended the Windows/Exchange Connections conference in Orlando and tried to find out what other businesses were using for there business management software. But most were so large that there was no comparison (since cost was less of a factor) or were so different (like schools or hospitals) that they used nothing that might help us. I ended up with no usable suggestions about other avenues to look at. Still searching, though. Like you, I'd like to talk to someone who's actually using the products and find out what they think.
So currently, the top contender is Everest, from ICode. Windows IT Pro magazine showed that ICode was the top reader's choice for business control management software. There are a couple of things that I don't like, however, with them. They do not have any provision for offline POS. Thus, if a connection between the remote store machines and the business server is lost, they can't function. This makes no sense. Even the current system, as lame and crappy as it is (Activant Eagle- really, really lame), has that capability (though they can't print). And certainly Great Plains does. When connection is restored, the client machines should synch with the business server. But Everest doesn't do that. I mentioned that I can't be the only one who doesn't like this and asked what others do to keep functioning when a connection is lost. They said that most places have a backup DSL connection or even dial-up so that connectivity and business can continue. Dumb. If our lame software can do it, they should be able to. The other thing is the bar coding doesn't currently support receiving. So, receiving would still have to manually enter items into the system. That keeps a place for human error. We'd like a total product lifecyle bar coding solution, including serial numbers, for warranty purposes.
posted
Zan: I'm home for the first full week in over 6 months. I get to be home next week too! Yay! Commuting each week between Washington State and New York is not something I particularly recommend.
Ian, your business sounds interesting. I agree with you about having provision to re-synch client to server in the event of a disconnect. That's just weird. I work for a software company that builds enterprise software for wholesale distributors. We aren't fabulous accountants though, so we integrate our software with a third party accounting package. We initially bet on MAS500, which it turns out is much too expensive for our smaller market base. Hence the looksee at Great Plains. I'll spend a little more time in it today (we have a copy to evaluate) and see if I can make heads or tails of it. Thanks again for the feedback. Posts: 5948 | Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Kiss]](graemlins/kiss.gif)
I'm home for the first full week in over 6 months. I get to be home next week too! Yay! Commuting each week between Washington State and New York is not something I particularly recommend. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
