President's Update

Terry Kin, UFO President

Returning Members

 3 Steps to Reporting Success - Zerion Group Inc

3 Steps to Reporting Success

Are you frustrated with Eclipse reporting? 1/3 of Zerion's Eclipse customers cite this as their top concern. And, we can understand why. Eclipse is awesome at collecting data, but it's not known for its ability to get the data out. If we told you that we had identified the gaps in Eclipse's reporting, how to make the most of what's available (including the opportunity to cut your time spent on reporting by as much as 96%!), and had three practical steps for putting our solution into practice, would you want to know more? If so, read on!

The Gaps in Eclipse Reporting
The standard reports that exist in Eclipse, as well as interactive reports (or queues), are Eclipse's bread and butter when it comes to reporting. They are meant to cover the fundamentals. However, there are holes in the output you can generate ... lots of holes.

This is somewhat expected with any kind of canned reporting; and, it's not so bad because you can fill the gaps with custom reports (via Report Writer) that perfectly suit your company's needs, taking reporting to the next level. Sweet! But, wait ... there's a catch: most users do not consider Report Writer to be a user-friendly tool. It's not something you can give to a basic user if you're expecting decent results.

Users who have the privilege of running on Solar are privy to something called "Eclipse Reports." This is Report Writer in fancier clothes. It has a much friendlier interface so that an end user can actually extract what he or she is looking for. But, wait ... there's another catch: it's easier; but, it's only easier because it's focused on creating basic reports. You shouldn't expect complex results from Eclipse Reports.

The Solution
So, if standard reports aren't enough, and custom reports are too convoluted, where's a troubled Eclipse user to turn? At first it may be a tough pill to swallow; but, you'll need to combine the use of standard reports, Report Writer AND a third-party business intelligence (BI) tool if you want to operate at your finest. Standing alone, none of these three tools provides an end-to-end reporting solution. But, strategically executing them together will help you optimize the data that's anxiously awaiting your extraction.

3 Steps to Put it Into Practice
Here's a generic strategy to get you going:

1. Cover the must-do's. You need to start with the fundamentals. You should be utilizing at least these eight standard reports on a daily basis:

• Customer calling queue. This is every salesperson's dream. It allows management of tickets before they go out for delivery, and provides motivation for customer follow-up.
• Trouble queue. This lists tickets that are intended to ship before you have the material.
• Review PO backorders queue. Verifies POs that were backordered at the receiving dock to find out when they will actually arrive.
• Freight audit report. Assigns freight to sales orders from procurement POs with freight on them.
• A/R Collection queue. Designed to help A/R people systematically collect monies due.
• Unavailable queue. Tickets that were attempted to print but couldn't because some items weren't available.
• GMROI report. Helps to analyze what your turns are for your company.
• Transfer register for disputed. Helps you resolve discrepancies between what was shipped and what was received from branch to branch.

 2. Get help creating custom reports. Face the reality that you need custom reports, but don't waste your time getting them. Reporting is an investment; but, it will quickly produce an ROI with time saved (and possibly knowledge gained). In fact, custom reporting is one of the most common reasons that clients utilize our services. Whether you hire us, Eclipse, or someone else, recognize that it may take you 40 hours to develop the same report that a seasoned consultant can create in three. Someone who knows his or her way around Report Writer can get at data that most users can't, often producing a better, more functional report in less time. Even if it can't be done in Report Writer, custom programming can usually deliver what you need.

For example, Zerion recently cut the time Bakersfield Pipe & Supply was spending on a report by 96%. The Purchasing manager said, "I had to let you know the time that you saved me with this. Because merging three reports was so tedious, it usually took me a day and half, maybe 12 hours from start to finish. From the time I ran the [new] report, tweaked it, and sent it completed was 30 minutes! I am doing my happy dance! Thank you and thank you again!"

Also, another customer was spending 3 - 4 hours creating a rebate report for a vendor once a month. We developed a custom report by adding columns and formatting to the exact specifications of the vendor. This reduced their time to just 30 minutes each month. 

3. Sharpen your intellect with 3rd party software. Even with the best use of Eclipse's canned reports, and well-done custom reports, there are no intuitive capabilities to speak of. In other words, you don't know what you don't know. These are reactionary tools that don't necessarily solve problems. Even with Report Writer, you must first know what questions to ask it.

This gap can only be filled with third-party BI software. Expanding your reporting capabilities will enable you to identify opportunities, such as with sales, inventory and financials. You'll more clearly understand your performance so that you can gain efficiencies and make smarter decisions.

There are several options in the Eclipse space for you to consider, but we happen to be partnered with phocas. We choose to work closely with them because we believe their solution best fills the void for Eclipse users. Just a few of the things we like about them are: a fixed implementation fee; a user interface designed for the end user, not an IT person (which eliminates the IT bottleneck); and, a subscription model with a quarterly opt-out, meaning phocas stays engaged. Also, for the second year in a row, phocas has been named BI Vendor of the Year at the Software Satisfaction Awards. To date, there are over 50 Eclipse customers on phocas; and, we've personally been involved with 40 installations.

The Good News
The conclusion we assume you're coming to is that, unfortunately, there's no easy answer for reporting with Eclipse. There's no cut and dried solution and no out-of-the-box perfection. But, there is good news: there's amazing data of all kinds multiplying every minute on your server; and, it can be retrieved, compiled and analyzed to greatly enhance your company's performance ... it just takes a little bit of cobbling.

About Zerion

Zerion (www.zeriongroup.com) is an alternative, independent Eclipse services provider. We've provided customer-centric consulting, implementations, customization and training to over 200 distributors nationwide. Every Zerion team member has worked for a distributor and is focused on supplying knowledge and delivering efficiency. Our mission is to help you maximize your Eclipse investment with more accessible, less expensive solutions.

Special Offer for UFO Members

Try us today and get a custom Eclipse report for 25% less. Contact Tony King during the month of December at 1.877.872.1726 or tony.king@zeriongroup.com and mention this newsletter to get your discount.

Eclipse User Harry Cooper Supply Drives Efficiency Through Billing

Harry Cooper Supply is a leading regional plumbing, heating, cooling, waterworks, refrigeration, municipal and electrical supply company with three locations in Missouri. The company is an Eclipse operating system user and has outsourced their billing to Billtrust since 2007.

Larry McMullin, Harry Cooper Supply's Corporate Controller, says that when the company was originally investigating billing providers, they looked for a partner who had experience with Eclipse, expertise in both paper and electronic delivery and the ability to accommodate Harry Cooper Supply's unique requirements. Also important was the partner's reputation and customer service process. Ultimately, Harry Cooper Supply chose to outsource the delivery of their bills to Billtrust, a company based in New Jersey with print and mail locations in seven regions across North America.

Harry Cooper Supply now uses a variety of Billtrust tools to streamline their billing process and secure significant savings. A key part of their outsourcing success has been working closely with Billtrust to migrate their customers to electronic delivery and payment channels. Another important area of savings came from a technology Billtrust calls "bullpenning," which allows Harry Cooper Supply to reduce postage and processing costs by delaying the sending of low-dollar invoices so they can be combined and sent in a single envelope. Mr. McMullin estimates that Harry Cooper Supply saves an average of $20,000 per year with the bullpenning tool and other electronic billing services Billtrust provides.

Another key advantage for Harry Cooper Supply is that Billtrust has enabled the company to streamline the billing cycle: "We have absolutely no manual handling of any invoice," Mr. McMullin reports. "Our personnel are engaged in other more productive practices with our customers."

In addition to eliminating manual invoice handling at Harry Cooper Supply, the Billtrust service gives the supply company's customers instant access to an online portal where they can view and pay their invoices on a Harry Cooper Supply branded site. Approximately half of the company's customers receive invoices electronically via email, fax or online channels, and the use of Billtrust tools generates about 30% savings.

Harry Cooper Supply also receives robust marketing support from Billtrust: "The marketing assistance offered by Billtrust has been excellent. They provide several different tools, such as bill inserts, and the ability to place personalized messages on bills to help market our company," said Mr. McMullin.

Over 400 wholesale distributors use Billtrust's services, including 121 Eclipse companies.  

"We've grown quickly because we focus on continuously improving customer performance with strategic billing services," said Flint Lane, Chief Executive Officer and President of Billtrust. "We're proud to partner with an industry leader like Harry Cooper Supply to enhance their business operations."

Eclipse users can learn more about the support and savings opportunities Billtrust offers at www.billtrust.com.

 

 By Bill Fitzgerald, Vendor Relations Committee Chair

Season's Greetings! Can you believe that it has been a year since we created Vendor Partnerships with the Eclipse Users Group/UFO? Since last year we have approved 15 Vendor Partners, held 14 Free Vendor Webinars and published many vendor articles in our newsletters. We hope you have found this information helpful.

The By-laws were just updated, and voted on by the member delegates, to include the Vendor Partner Memberships. Vendor Partners do not have a vote in Group affairs. They do not have access to our Bulletin Boards or any of our member information. If you or your company participate in a vendor presentation you must contact them individually with your questions or for further information. We do not provide any member contact information to Vendor Partners.  The information they provide to the Eclipse Users Group/UFO on the Vendor page, within Newsletter articles or  presentation webinar is meant to give you access to businesses which may or may not be of benefit to your company. The UFO is strictly providing you access to their information. If the product or service in a  vendor presentation has generated interest for a member, it is the responsibility of that member to contact the vendor, perform their own due diligence regarding the product or service and consult with Epicor on a potential integration. Purchases or any contractual agreements between a member and the vendor are outside the scope of their Eclipse Users Group membership.

Goals for 2012 include:

• Adding the vendor recommendation form to the Users Group website, making it easier for our members to nominate vendors.
• Identify non-technical vendors whose services/products would be valuable to our membership.
• Have vendors provide case studies describing how their products have been successful.

We want to hear from you about great vendors whose services/products you feel could benefit all members. Currently, the Users Group has 15 vendor partners but we are always on the lookout for more. Check out these vendor partners on the Users Group website by clicking the link below.

 Vendor Recommendation Form - Click this link and recommend a vendor.

Eclipse Users Group Vendor Partner Page

Thanks in advance for your assistance! We wish everyone a joyous holiday season!

Bill 

Fishman Flooring Solutions Implements Sales Management Plus - Company Sees Great ROI Quickly

Harry Cooper Supply Company

Harry Cooper Supply enjoys a long and prosperous history. Started over a hundred years ago in what many call The Queen City of the Ozarks, Springfield Missouri, by Harry Cooper and he has been succeeded by J.H.G. Cooper, James H. Cooper, John O. Cooper and John T. Cooper.

After having practiced the plumbing trade for 20 years, Harry Cooper established the company in 1908 to provide the supplies needed by Springfield's plumbing contractors. In the 1930's, when the Rural Electric Administration came into being, the company added a full line of electrical products. Today, Harry Cooper Supply Company offers a complete line of plumbing, HVAC, refrigeration, PVF and electrical products. They maintain locations in Springfield, Joplin and Branson, Missouri selling to contractors, industrials, municipalities, cooperatives and institutions.

Maintaining the proper inventory and maintaining quality service across many traditional lines of trade requires a strong foundation of both people and technology. Eleven years ago, the Harry Cooper Supply folks realized a need to enhance the tools used to run their business. According to Larry McMullin - Corporate CFO - the group set out on a journey to replace their "homegrown" business system with the best the market had to offer. After exhaustive research, they selected four potential candidates. "After our deep dive exploration of the four candidates, we came to the conclusion Eclipse was the 'Cadillac" of the industry. Eclipse met our needs for expansion, data management, business tools and ran on the right kind of platform."

Early on Harry Cooper Supply harvested data from the system to make better business decisions and to closely monitor the activities at their warehouses and three showrooms. They utilized the internal Eclipse pricing and velocity matrix as well as other key areas of Eclipse to enhance their return on investment. As with many organizations, Harry Cooper Supply wanted to apply more "science" rather than "art" to their pricing regimen. This is when they were introduced to the Eclipse Strategic Pricing Associates (SPA) companion product.