Charles Argento began the presentation with a discussion of ACCPAC's Advantage Series.  This solution is designed for use with IIS server or can be deployed through the web.  This can be a benefit when it comes to upgrades and maintenance since it is a single server implementation.   Advantage is also platform independent, so the user's current OS system can be Windows and/or Linux.  It supports database platforms:  DB2, Pervasive.SQL, MS SQL Server and Oracle. 

Another useful feature in the Advantage Series is it's drill down capabilities.  A user can drill down in all modules, and in the GL, users can drill all the way down to the source document.   The GL can handle up to ten segments.

Charles also talked about ACCPAC Advantage's ability to handle national accounts, Macro recording and scheduling.

Pro Series

Michelle Erickson began the discussion about ACCPAC's Pro Series.  She explained that the Pro Series is fully modifiable and source code accessible.  It was also explained that Pro used real time updates for inventory and accounts. 

Some other major points that Michelle pointed out were that Pro Series feature set included inventory/distribution, a consolidated GL, security, multilevel drill down, report writer capabilities, Message Master to fax/email documents, and Pro Alert (for triggers and events).   She also mentioned that this solution was written in MS Visual FoxPro and includes a Business Status Report, which allows real time information access for management forecasting.

Pro Series, like Advantage, offers deployment with Windows and Linux.

Biggest Product Differences

Some Advantage Partners were at this presentation, as well.  Jan Goodman, Forepoint Representative, explained that if she were to compare the two products in a single sentence, she would say that the most prevalent facts that distinguish the two products from each other, are that Advantage Series is Web-based and Pro Series is open source.

The comparison below lists the strengths of each solution (note that some are not exclusive to that product, just more well developed in one of the products):
 

Pro

• Strong Inventory.
  
• Posting.
• Consolidated GL.
• Favorites Toolbar.
• Powerful Security.
  
• 15 Character Variables.
  
• User defined Segmentation.
  
• Segments can be validated.
  
• Unlimited costing and pricing.
  
• Can set costing up at item levels, not just globally.
  
• Data Driller.
  
• Generally faster than Advantage depending on number of users.
   

• Every Report is Crystal
• 24 Character Variables
  
• Query available
  
• Macro Recording
  
• GL up to ten segments
  
• Platform independent
  
• National accounts - Statistics for every account group
  
• Drill Down.
  
• VBA out of the box.
  
• Strong Financials.
  
• Item Level Inventory Costing.
  

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