Last month, Panorama hosted a series of webinars featuring live demonstrations from four top ERP vendors. Our ERP Vendor Showdown gave attendees a high level overview of each of these ERP systems. Following are the overall demonstration scores as determined by attendees:
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Each vendor was limited to one and a half hours and a given general script that outlined the system’s user interface, dashboards and role centers, workflow toolsets and a brief overview of the manufacturing and distribution functionality.
The first vendor to present a demo was Infor, which demonstrated its Infor SyteLine product. The demo revealed SyteLine’s ‘clean and crisp’ user interface that is intuitive for users to navigate. Screens contain a wealth of information but it is displayed in a manner that is easy to understand. The system is structured so screen layout is consistent throughout each module, and the dashboards and homepages are configured per role making them easily personalized for each user. The drill-down capability is very useful as well, allowing users to quickly get the information they need with multiple levels of detail available.
SyteLine’s workflow toolset provides great capability to leverage the ERP system for automating business processes. The toolset is easy to understand and not very difficult to configure. While some workflow toolsets can take anywhere from 40 to 80 hours to configure one automated process, SyteLine provides a more user-friendly interface that does not require an advanced technical resource to configure.
As we just scratched the surface for the manufacturing capabilities, attendees could see some of the capabilities relating to bill of materials configuration, routing, planning, scheduling and shop floor control. Infor’s graphical planning toolset is strong; the planning board is configured in a way that is easy to understand. The capability for ‘what if’ scenarios allow users to quickly adjust schedules to see repercussions of a machine breakdown or ‘hot shot’ order for a highly important customer.
On the distribution side, capabilities are fairly deep – Infor handles receiving, put away, pick/pack and ship. The out-of-the-box functionality is strong compared to some ERP systems that rely heavily on third-party products for warehouse management requirements. Infor also provides advanced modules with deeper functionality. Typically most companies implement standard functionality first and then address additional or advanced functionality if truly needed.
Infor SyteLine is a very strong and deeply functional ERP system. When selecting ERP software, one of the key factors to consider is how well the presenters know the system and most importantly, how they demonstrate functionality that is relevant to the end-user.
To learn more, watch our free, on-demand webinars of our ERP Vendor Showdown. If you would like to attend a live Infor demo, Panorama will also be hosting an in-person Vendor Showdown as part of our 2014 ERP Boot Camp
Written by Chris Devault, Manager of Vendor Relations at Panorama Consulting Solutions.
