Sage 100

Old topic, new post. PRODUCTION PLANNING SOFTWARE - What are people using? Client manufactures canned goods (beans and hominy). They are currently using WO & BOM witch interfaces with their Radio Beacon warehouse management software. They have been on MAS for 10 + years and have developed work arounds for the planning aspect of production. They recently acquired another manufacturer in the same industry who users a production software called MAXX which integates with Great Pains. I certainly hope the planning aspect of this software is good as the interface to GP certainly leaves a lot to be desired. Well I digress. I suppose I could recommend MRP to improve their process but I was wondering if there is something better. Jobs Ops is NOT an option unless their planning module works with WO. Any insight from the production gurus? What about Planettogether? Thanks in advance.

Have you looked at Planetytogether. http://planettogether.com/mas-20090/ I haven't implementated it but from what I have read it should fit your clients need. the only question would be cost....

At this point, cost isn't a ""concern"". I looked at Planettogether a couple years back for a client that eventually went with Job Ops. What I remember about that solution was how much better it would work if WO was in the new framework. Plan on looking at it again. Does anyone in the group have a working knowledge of it?????

We JobOps consultants can't answer your question, because you stated JobOps is NOT an option. No, their planning function does not work with WO, unless you get the JobOps Base and ignore WO. At least I would offer JobOps as an option, since WO/BOM has been successfully replaced many times.

Unless there is a way to interface with Radio Beacon, than JO is a non starter. But I am intrigued, how would Job Ops base work by ignoring WO?

Sorry - too subtle. Base actually would replace the functionality, so you would probably uninstall it. It may or may not coexist if still there. But JobOps will integrate with BOM, so those don't need to be re-entered anywhere.

Maybe we could have a ""JobOps Replaces WO/MRP"" webinar @JohnHoyt?

@ThereseLogeais Great idea! I sometimes think that because JobOps does all that sponsoring at Summit that people actually know about the details, but that's a bad assumption on my part.

Yes it is, John! We should talk...

@JohnHoyt - Thanks for the feedback. But it appears that the lack of integration with Radio Beacon is a hard limit ruling the option out. But I will keep it in mind for other opportunities.

I actually have not analyzed the incompatibilities with Radio Beacon, but I would be interested to know what those are. Synergistic generally will not do much, if anything, to assist in the integration with those programs and with multi-bin enhancements, such the one from ACS Group. And Sage has no interest in making these integrations easier. The panacea, of course, was supposed to be the business framework upgrade where all master developer programs would coexist. That didn't happen.

I've given up on that dream @JohnHoyt ...

That dream may be revived if Synergistic would commit to doing the JobOps SQL product for Premium. They want to know if there is any demand. I told them I have 6 clients that would convert immediately, and I would sell it for anything over 10 users. You would think after working with them for over 16 years, they'd trust me!

The other thing that KILLS JobOps is the lack of a Multi-bin option. Most manufactures/Distributor need this capability. Add this to the dream too !!! Update: Oops... John looks like you already said this :)

We are able to use the ICS multi-bin with JobOps in certain instances, because of how it is designed outside the system. I'm meeting with them soon to do a detailed analysis of the integration points that are not yet covered.

Jeff, I would stay far away from PlanetTogether. It's a total disaster. I can get into the details privately, if you want.

John, I've never looked at PlanetTogether, but I'm interested in the issues with it, so I know why to stay away from it.

John, are the issues with the MAS interface or with the software itself. When last I looked, it seemed that the interface could be a problem along with the cludgy WO entry issues. Hard to imagine that the software has issues as long as it has been out.

@JeffSchwenk Both. PT may have a 500 integration that works but the one for 100 is immature, at best. @JohnHoyt The problems started during PT's sales process. The customer and I asked for a proof of concept. The PT salesperson, Pete Nelson, provided one that seemed to do exactly what the customer wanted. However, it turns out that what he showed us was nothing more than smoke and mirrors. Once the customer purchased the PT software and the project was moved from sales to consultants, the shit hit the fan. The customer and I are convinced this is the first and only 100 integration project that PT has ever worked on. The biggest red flag, the PT technical folks didn't know that 100 doesn't track WIP in detail. Another red flag, the PT folks had no clue where to find data in 100...and were also clueless about how to use SOTAMAS90. When someone tells me they have an integration with a piece of software, I kinda expect them to have some knowledge of the database structure of that software. Is that asking too much? At the time of the PT project, the customer was running version 4.3 of 100. When the customer asked about moving to 4.4, I asked PT if they had upgraded their software to accommodate the BF changes in 4.4. They had no idea there was a new version and had no idea that IM and PO had moved to BF. Again, it seems to me that PT is a company who isn't particularly interested in the 100 world. The original timeline to have PT up and running was 60 days from the date of purchase of the software. Actual go live date....almost 14 months after the purchase of the software. The agreed upon payment terms were to pay 80% upfront to PT (which the customer paid) and the balance at go live. When go live finally happened, the customer asked PT if, since the timeline was so far off, could they write off the 20% balance (I thought that was a very fair request). PT's response was to threaten legal action and to insist that the customer immediately pay for 12 months of M&S or support would be dropped. I thought about writing a blog article titled ""Thinking of PlanetTogether? You Might Want To Plan It Alone"".

That's just too damned funny! I was using Amy's laptop since we're in Atlanta for a few days during my daughter's fall break. @AmyShaver is pretty fired up about PT!

Any, how recent was this? Aside from the horrible start, is it functioning now?

Are they not allowing chat for all?

@JeffSchwenk A little over two years ago. @AlnoorCassim and I are in the process of replacing it. The annual PT M&S was too high for the customer to justify. It's cheaper for them to pay us to replace PT.

What are you replacing it with?

SQL views, UDFs, and Crystal.

That's what I should have done to begin with. However, I was led to believe that PT already had a product that works. ""Aside from the horrible start""....well, I guess if you're willing to work with a vendor who will lie to you at every step in the process.

@JohnShaver we work with Sage...

I just found the email in the old Yahoo Groups where @JeffSchwenk and @JohnShaver originally talked about Planettogether 2 years ago.

Was @JohnShaver whistling a happier tune back then?

He was. He did have a few complaints though and obviously it was early on in the adventure.