<Susan steps in, ugly baby on her hip> Wow -- that wasn't a very strong endorsement of Epicor as a product. And I am surprised. I go to their user meetings all over the US and Europe and I have to say that there are a lot of really, really happy Avanti, Manfact and Dataflo customers around the world. I'm sure it has flaws and "bugs" -- I haven't met a perfect software application yet. But many people tell me that it has flexibility and functionality for many types of manufacturing and general ERP business applications that is far beyond what else is out there in the price range.
But the part of this that brought me into this foray is the bit about how difficult patch releases are. This is something that I've been very involved with at Epicor. (PRC is the tool used internally and at customer site to manage the software configuration and the patches and releases.) Now granted, they don't do exactly the way I'd like them to. But they are a big company and for some silly reason they won't let me run it! Even so, I guess if they issue bug-fix documents and patch releases too frequently I can understand feeling overwhelmed. But let's face it, its a lot of software and the fact that they are working hard to keep it current is a good thing -- isn't it? One of the hallmarks of the success of the Avanti product has been Epicor's commitment to accommodating customization. To that end they have created a system for tracking, delivering and reintegrating what can be constant change. I heard recently that the ability to stay on current releases of Avanti and customize to your hearts content is well above industry standards. Most of the time you have to choose. Now -- there are some things that Avanti customers can do on their side that will help manage the constant influx of change. Things that many companies don't bother to do until the integration effort becomes cumbersome and then they may not realize how a few simple changes in procedure in-house could have a huge impact. I would be happy to elaborate on these simple changes but won't use list bandwidth on it. But get to me privately if I can help. I couldn't help but hop in, partly in defense of Epicor. Some good folks over there working hard to provide good solutions. But its more personal, too -- you may not have realized that you called my baby ugly. :) Susan Joslyn SJ+ Systems Associates, Inc. PRC (r) Real software configuration management for U2 development. Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 11:48:35 -0500 From: "Debster" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: RE: [U2]: Epicor The Avante package I am working on uses UV. They seem to have "Technical Bulletins" on almost a bi-weekly basis of bugs within the system. The patches are a bear to install if there is even the normal end-user amount of customization on the existing system and a nightmare if it's extensive. Most of these bugs you find fixing well before the patch arrives if it's in an area that you utilize. There appears to be little to no respect for how Epicor handles support. Trying to gestimate learning curve for an individual is hard. What shortens the timeframe is the same for any package/tool. Just how familiar are you with the outside factors such as a extensive understanding of manufacturing business process flow and if you have ever utilized SB+ before. If you are unfamiliar with either than it of course extends the learning curve. I have seen both sides of the coin with other consultants at my current contract, one had extensive expertise in SB+ and very little Basic or manufacturing. The end result in his contribution was use of SB+ tools that were not utilized anywhere else within the Avante system, spaghetti in regards to the manufacturing functions, and misuse of SB+ tools where Basic was more appropriate. [Not even the illustrious SB+ guru Kevin King did that as he passed through their doors] On the other side, yet another consultant was unable to conform to the use of SB+ when appropriate. In other words, when enhancing, by conforming to the rest of the system it creates a better flow and less problems, it also strengthens your understanding of the system. I found Avante's extensive use of SB+ tools the biggest hurdle since other systems I had used it on primarily utilized it for forms and report design leaving the majority of processes to be written more in Basic. That is not the case with Avante, there is extensive use of paragraphs. I find this more cumbersome, more system use intensive with poor use causing gross inefficiencies. If you use debugger a lot to troubleshoot as I had in the past, it becomes a nightmare. You wind up using trace and display functions instead at various points to view what is actually occurring. Making sure you don't step on yourself as you pass through multiple paragraphs, screens to basic and back to the original screen depends on file use and preserving the work files utilized. Best bet when customizing Avante is to not screw too much with the core files, but instead utilize fields so far out, or adding additional user files that the potential for Avante stepping on them is eliminated. Would I choose it as a package? No, I think there are far better choices out there that are far more manageable in terms of both support and ease of customization. But that is just my .02 Debster ------- u2-users mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe please visit http://listserver.u2ug.org/
