What Makes SYSPRO Different?

Activity Based Costing - Few companies provide true Activity Based Costing functionality.  In SYSPRO this functionality integrates with the Bill of Materials, Work in Progress, Sales Orders & Invoicing, Purchase Orders, and Inventory Control modules. To learn more about Activity based Costing, you may want to read my introduction article on this topic which is located here: http://www.accountingsoftwareadvisor.com/main/abc.htm 

Both Strong Manufacturing & Financials - SYSPRO is very strong from both a manufacturing point of view, and also from a financials point of view. Many accounting software products are strong in one area or the other, but not many excel in both areas, as does SYSPRO. For example, both Fourth Shift and Baan are two products that are strong in manufacturing, but weaker in financial capabilities. The SYSPRO product rates well in respected publications such as Sheldon Needle’s CTS Survey and Charles Chewning’s Accounting Library. (I can personally attest to their claims of high rankings. I can remember back in 1995 where the SYSPRO Impact product consistently came up as the top product dozens of demonstrations of the Accounting Library product. I would generally randomly choose a hundred or so features, and run the report. Over time I came to expect SYSPRO Impact to be rated on top, or near the top of the list. Today, SYSPRO still ranks very high, along with other heavy products such as Navision, Axapta, and e by Epicor)

Impressive Customer Base - SYSPRO client base includes many large recognizable clients from around the world. For example, Nestle reportedly uses SYSPRO at 100 to 200 sites around the world. (This is a rather interesting client reference considering that last year Nestlé’s primary competitor – Hershey – blamed a $460 million shortfall in profits on a failed implementation of SAP software. Should Hershey have been using SYSPRO products instead?) According to the folks at SYSPRO, the largest furniture distribution organization in the Southern hemisphere uses SYSPRO.

Strong VAT & GST - One of SYSPRO Impact Awards best differentiating features is the products powerful ability to handle Value Added Taxes (VAT), Goods and services taxes (GST), PST, and other foreign tax calculations. Not many products sold in the united States support this feature in the mid to high end market, therefore this makes SYSPRO unique.

Focused on One Product/One Mission - Because SYSPRO offers only one product, they are able to focus all of their attention and resources on that product. Other companies such as Microsoft Great Plains must focus on many different products including Real World Classic, Solomon, Dynamics, eEnterprise, FRx, not to mention the multitude of add Microsoft technologies. Further, because Great Plains tries to be all things to all people, they must focus on many industries such as retail, wholesale, distribution, doctors, point of sale, etc. SYSPRO is geared primarily for the manufacturing, warehouse, and distribution markets - and oh-by-the-way, happens to include very strong financials as well. Because they are not distracted, this target is clearly the driving force within the organization.

Strategic Mission - SYSPRO’s mission consists of 5 pillars as follows (I noticed that five posters mounted permanently in their conference room are displayed paying homage to these pillars) 

(1)   ERP;
(2)   Warehouse Management;
(3)   E-Commerce;
(4)   Advanced Planning & Scheduling (APS); and
(5)   Customer Relationship Management (CRM).

ISO 9000 Certification – According to the folks at SYSPRO, the SYSPRO product was the first product to undergo ISO 9000 certification.

Advanced Features – SYSPRO’s Manufacturing Execution System, which is part of the Advanced Planning & Scheduling (APS) system, provides advanced features such as messaging to stations, user defined attributes, parameters by customer, and real time factory floor control. As an example of an advanced feature, SYSPRO’s CRM solution allows customers to view the progress of their orders on the floor via the web.

Manufacturing System Implementation Guide – SYSPRO is very proud of their 33-pound set of implementation materials which are available to SYSPRO resellers for use in implementing SYSPRO and manufacturing systems in general. Evidently, this is a stellar piece of work that is highly regarded in the industry. Anyone attempting to implement a manufacturing system would be well advised to get their hands on one of these sets of materials – because much of the thought process, timing, and strategies have been laid out before you. Not only does this set of materials walk you through the process of establishing a complete system, it collects the relevant information and organizes it methodically as a repository of strategic information in the event that personnel leave your firm, or that your consultants turn over. In a way, it protects your company from having to re-create the wheel in the future.

SYSPRO VARs – There are between 125 to 150 value added resellers of the SYSPRO product line in the United States – 66% of which are considered to be very good resellers achieving a high level of sales and good levels of satisfaction with their customers.

A Little History – SYSPRO started 23 years ago (in 1977) and was originally written by a company called Intermark in Dallas, Texas. The two brothers (Full and Chris Duff) who wrote the original product then joined Singer Business and the product was sold by Singer as a distribution product. Later ICL bought Singer. Brian actually worked with Jerry Jenkins in the early 80’s and owned a business in South Africa. It was ported to Assembly, then Kix (?), Cobol, UNIX, CPM, DOS, and Novell. The SYSPRO product was first introduced in 1991 followed by the SYSPRO product in 1995. The SQL product was released in 2000. It was pointed out that SYSPRO has never portrayed their company as a “technology company” like others such as Great Plains has done. Instead, SYSPRO has been more interested in emphasizing product features – and not making a big deal about various technologies. (Hey, I think that it is obvious that making a big deal over technologies has worked well for Great Plains and the Great Plains strategy is hard to argue with).

Advanced Features That Make SYSPRO Unique

The following is a selected list of features found in SYSPRO that are both powerful and rather rare. These features help describe SYSPRO and how it differs from other products in the marketplace.

“Drop and Drag” Menus - Users can drag menus and arrange then to meet their particular needs, including the placement of the menus in a favorites folder.

Look & Feel - SYSPRO provides an “Microsoft Windows Explorer-type” view. Other popular products such as MAS 90 and Macola Progression employ this same menu structure.

Favorites Windows - SYSPRO provides a “Favorites Windows” in which users can drag and drop their most frequently used menu items for quick and easy access. Users can also insert shortcuts to other commonly used applications (such as Microsoft Outlook) into the favorites window.

HTML Menus  - The SYSPRO menus can be published as HTML menus. This allows users to easily run SYSPRO from the SYSPRO browser or with a little publishing effort - via an Intranet or the Internet with password protection. The SYSPRO Web Wizard allows you to do this. To create a web menu, simply right-click anywhere in the SYSPRO Menu tree view pane. Next, select Publish Menu as HTML. This loads the SYSPRO Web Menu Wizard, which prompts you to specify which of the standard SYSPRO folders you want to publish and what visual theme you want to use. Based on your selections, SYSPRO configures a menu in HTML format that is run from the SYSPRO Browser. The screens below demonstrate this functionality.

Hyperlink Support - In Microsoft Word, Excel or Outlook you can also insert a hyperlink that will launch any menu in SYSPRO and fill in specified customer or vendor information. As an example, presented below is the hyperlink command that will launch the SYSPRO accounts receivable module and automatically bring up customer 1100. (This did not work correctly when I tested it, I assume that there is a problem with my syntax).

http://#IMPACT<arsp51.int>1100

Customized Screens - It is possible to customize the look of SYSPRO  by, for example, changing the background colors of the user screens. To do this, simply choose the “Customize” option from the main menu. The set up screen appears as follows:        

Help Screens - SYSPRO boasts very powerful and intelligent content sensitive user help screens. For example, users can search for virtually any accounting activity and SYSPRO provides the user with a step-by-step approach to using that functionality within the product.

Access to Multiple Companies - SYSPRO allows users to log into a different company without exiting the current company. Many products only allow the user to access just one company at a time.

Multiple Periods - SYSPRO gives the user control over the period end dates, and allows multiple periods to remain open – even across multiple years if so desired. Many products now support multiple open periods within a given year, but allowing for multiple open periods across many years is rather unique. Who would use this feature you might ask. There are situations (such as highway construction) where companies work on large projects that span multiple years, and the allocation of certain expenses and overhead depend on future outcomes according to contractual obligations. In this instance, SYSPRO allows the company to go back one, two, three, or more years to make these allocations once the project is concluded.

Company Calendar - SYSPRO provides a company calendar that is user definable and is particularly useful regarding production scheduling.

Database Issues – SYSPRO runs on both the Microsoft SQL Server database, or the C-ISAM database. The user can specify which databases are being used, and allows the user to map the locations of the various table files. C-ISAM users may easily migrate to the SQL Server platform using the built-in conversion tool.

Bug Fixes – Unlike other accounting software vendors, SYSPRO does not sit on bug fixes for months at a time. All bug fixes are deployed with 24 hours to the reseller channel for implementation at customer sites.

Event Triggered Reporting – (at least that’s what I call it, SYSPRO calls it Event Management. To the folks at SYSPRO, the word trigger refers to triggering another application to launch). This feature allows the user to define events that trigger reports to the appropriate personnel. For example, the CFO may wish to be notified when cash falls below $200,000, when the gross margin on sales drops below 30%, or when the days in receivables exceed 45 days. In order to use Event Management, the Office Automation and Messaging module must be installed. Further, in order to use the e-mail facility of this program, you must first have either Microsoft Exchange or Microsoft Outlook installed on your computer.

User-Definable Fields  - SYSPRO provides user-definable fields, which allows the end user to customize the user screens to capture their own relevant data. Experience shows that products which offer user-definable fields are better at meeting the needs of the customer. 

HTML Format – An interesting feature within SYSPRO is the CTRL+F7 key which quickly generates an HTML view of selected reports such as the Customer Query invoice report shown below. Such a feature makes it easy to migrate data to an HTML format for quick and easy publishing to an intranet or web site, or for copying and pasting into other applications such as Microsoft Word.

Excel Format – Likewise the CTRL-F8 key automatically throws data into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. As an added feature, the CTRL+SHIFT+F8 key combination allows you to specify parameters before the data is published to Excel.

Proof of Delivery – This function maintains proof of delivery details for the invoice. Additionally, you can link multimedia objects to the POD information using the Edit multimedia icon. You could, for example, scan in the original signed delivery note as a bitmap image and then link that image to the POD information. The “Play Multimedia” icon enables you to view this image. You can also use the “Reprint Invoice” function to reprint the invoice, provided that the invoice was originally created from within the Sales Order system.

XML Format – The CTRL+SHIFT+X key combination publishes selected reports such as customer queries to an XML format. This feature is demonstrated in the two screens below, the first screen shows the browser view and the second screen displays the source code underlying the browser view.

Picture and Movie Support – The Inventory item query function supports both picture and movie formats. This allows the system to store both images of a particular product, or movie files for a particular product.

The SYSPRO Report Writer - Reports in the report writer are drillable and the search tool makes it easier to navigate through a lengthy report. (I took some time to evaluate the Report Writer. I did find a nice report writing wizard and an e-mail option that allows users to e-mail reports to any recipient or groups of recipients. Further a nice tri-plane view gives good access to the data and users can modify reports with a simple drag and drop metaphor). (However in my opinion, the report writer falls short in some areas. Specifically it does not include a long list of default report formats (such as an income statement and balance sheet), the report writing wizard was not as intuitive as I would have hoped, and the system lacks many of the advanced report writing features found in the industry standard FRx package such as view-level and drill-level password protection for each report; scheduled printing of all reports; sophisticated rounding options, printing to an intranet catalog, etc.)

Structures and Routings - The Structures and Routings program is used to define the elements required in a sequence of manufacturing operations, as well as the structural relationships between parent and component parts. When you access this program you must first indicate the Parent stock code against which you want to maintain operations and components. A warning is displayed if the entered parent stock code is defined as a bought out item. The Routing field is displayed only if you indicated that alternate routings are required. This field enables you to select a specific routing for which you want to maintain operations and structures, and is used for what-if purposes and within the Work in Progress module when creating a job. Within the Operation and Component panes you can perform extensive editing functions using the right mouse button. The Orientation pull-down enables you to tailor your screen display settings into various tri-pane representations.

Warehouse Transfers – SYSPRO’s warehouse transfer capabilities allows users to transfer goods to other warehouses, almost as if the second warehouse is a customer – except the transaction does not hit revenue and expense. The “Transfer costs from BOM to Warehouse” program transfers the bill of material costs to the unit cost field of a stock item as calculated by the “Cost Implosion” program. Any change made to the inventory unit cost is recorded in the inventory journal and stock movement files if stock movements are being retained. (Please note that this program will not run if you are using either the FIFO or LIFO costing programs in Inventory.) If Inventory is linked to General Ledger in detail or summary, then a record of each cost change transaction is made.

Product Configurator – The configurator is an essential component of any manufacturing accounting system, especially in the make-to-order environment. This tool allows the order clerk to sell you a product – while configuring it on the fly. For example, you might order a computer, requesting the 80 gig hard drive, 2,000 ghz processor chip, built-in wireless network cards, 24-inch monitor, etc. Assuming there are ten different options each for hard drive, processor speed, network cards, and monitors, this translates to ten thousand possible configurations. Obviously it would be a futile effort to set up 10,000 separate inventory items representing each possible configuration. Instead, advanced systems such as SYSPRO allow you to define product options, and sales representatives can configure make-to-order items based on the customer’s specifications. SYSPRO goes further than typical configurators in that it also allows for “If-Then-Else” configurations. For example, if the customer chooses to add a CD Writer to the computer system, then he must also choose a cable option (USB versus serial). The configuration wizard walks the user through the process of setting up an inventory item and defining the optional components that may be added to the item.

Conclusion - In the final analysis, SYSPRO’s SYSPRO is a robust product that deserves to be ranked among the finest ten accounting software products in the United States. Sure, there are weaknesses - all products have them. However the strengths that SYSPRO brings to the table are impressive indeed. SYSPRO is certainly a fine product worthy of being considered by virtually any manufacturing or distribution company. Adding SYSPRO to your short list of top products will serve as a strong measuring rod against which you can measure other potential solutions.

Wide Breadth of Modules - The latest count shows a total of 46  modules. You can view a complete listing of the SYSPRO modules by clicking here.

We have feature reports that list the features for SYSPRO.  The reports can be accessed here.

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