THE latest version of Cincom's web-based Priority enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, Priority 10, offers expanded communications and online features to enable small-to-medium sized manufacturers to better service their customers and improve productivity.
Cincom's Priority solution covers all aspects of a manufacturer's business including sales, planning and scheduling, engineering, purchasing, inventory control, production, project management, human resources, costing and financial management.
It is easy to use and maintain, affordable, flexible and maximises electronic trading and purchasing opportunities with its web-based interface.
Priority 10 has 110 additional features and enhancements all designed to enable manufacturers to provide an improved service to their customers and achieve improved productivity of their own operations through new on-line and communications capabilities.
The new enhancements include:
* An online two-way interface with hand-held devices being used by a manufacturer's field service staff. This would enable support calls logged in the office to be displayed on the technician's PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), laptop computer or other device with the details of the problem. Technicians could report repairs while at a customer site, including hours and parts, and the data would be automatically recorded in Priority and the main system updated, eliminating the need for re-keying of the information back at the office.
* Support for SMS (short message service) messages. A text message can be sent from a computer to a mobile phone to be viewed as an SMS. So, for example, an SMS message could automatically be sent to the production manager's mobile phone to advise that an urgently awaited spare part had arrived. Or the sales manager could automatically receive an SMS advising an urgent order needed authorising.
* An enhanced MRP (Manufacturing Resources Planning) Gantt chart. The chart displays planning results in graphic format making them easier to understand. It now also allows users to drag and drop and change the actual data from the chart without having to go back to the original data source.
* Ability to search on parts by their attributes. Employees can find the part they need even when they don't know the part number. Additionally, for multi-company operations, they can now see inventory balances for a particular part across all companies in the system, rather than just per warehouse.
* Greater monitoring and control of workflow management with additional statuses of critical processes. This means better visibility of the key stages of processes such as sales orders, works orders, purchase orders and shipments.
* Executive Analysis Reports in OLAP (On-line Analytical Processing). This advanced data analysis tool enables users to interactively analyse data in various cross sections for example by time periods and percentage of variance. This capability provides a better insight into multiple functions from sales orders, billed sales, purchase orders, journal entry through to project reporting and profit/cost centre analysis.
Priority continues to provide manufacturers with the ability to sell, distribute and support products online. It includes an integrated Java-based user interface that enables remote users to open Priority in their web browser and work via the Internet.
System users, vendors and even customers can use a manufacturer's web site to record data into Priority, prepare reports or learn where their ordered item is in the production cycle.
With a unique "retrofitting" system, Priority 10 tracks modifications made to previous Priority versions and rolls those modifications into its implementation. Cincom can implement new installations of Priority 10 within 90 days.