November 2016 Newsletter

Letter from the President 
Chris Bohn

I am writing this message fresh from the User's Group Board of Director's face to face meeting and wanted to give you an update on some of the big news items and actions.  Let me say that we had a very productive meeting and we will be seeing some significant changes to the User's Group in 2017.  Let me share the top three User's Group specific take- a-ways from that meeting.   First, we will be welcoming an unprecedented number of new board members next year.  You will be receiving information on the nominees shortly and remember to VOTE for your incoming class and officers!  Second, we will be implementing a new website that will replace the aged current site that is written in an older language that is getting very difficult to support.  Target date is to have it released by the end of the year, which is a very aggressive goal!  Third, and with mixed emotions, we made it official that the board will be seeking a successor to Mary Barlow, our esteemed Executive Director, next year as she plans on retiring at the end of 2017.  We cannot overstate the impact she has had over the years on the success and continuity of your User's Group.  These will be very large shoes to fill, but suffice to say that the Executive Committee of the Board has put together a competent transition plan.  No need to get too weepy yet, as she is planning to stick around through 2019 in a part time capacity to assist her successor!
 
At the board meeting, we also met with Steve Schmitt and Mark Artim from Epicor to provide an update on Eclipse.  Most of you know Mark as the person responsible for the future Eclipse development roadmap.  He is deciding what gets into each new release.  Think of Mark as future proofing Eclipse.  Many of you may not recognize Steve.  Steve has been with Eclipse for 19 years on the programming side of the house.  With the move of Sean Smith to another EPR system within Epicor,  Steve is now in charge of the developers that turn Mark's vision into reality.  He is also responsible for the custom code customers ask for and also the bug fixes in existing code.  

Steve and Mark gave the board a welcomed message.  With the release of version 9.0.2, new development is going into release 9.03.  However, the decision has been made to suspend work on release 9.03 for the short term and instead put an all hands on deck call to cleaning up the backlog of development.  This includes bug fixes, custom code, and tweaking existing functionality.  This is something the Board of Directors has been pushing for some time.  The way I see it is that you need to take one step back for every three steps forward.  While many of you will see this as a positive, as the board does, I do want to stress the importance of enhancing Eclipse to keep it relevant in a very competitive market.  Enhancements sells new systems, which keeps Eclipse from fading into the sunset, while bug fixes and tweaks to existing code keeps existing customers happy.  The simple answer is both forward looking and backward looking development is important and you have to do both.  The hard part is knowing the correct mix.  Steve and Mark have that burden of wrestling with that ratio.
 
I want to briefly mention Eclipse Support as well.  We did not spend much time discussing this subject at the face to face meeting as we have beaten that topic to a pulp over the past many months.  A few quick things to mention here:  First, I will have a more formal update for you in the next newsletter.  There is major Support meeting in India this month where the action plans I outlined in this newsletter after Insights 2016 will be evaluated again and adjusted.  The board already has a meeting set upon the return of the US based Support team to discuss the outcomes of that meeting.  I'll keep you posted!  Second, the biggest topic the Board is pushing on your behalf is to determinine the reasons why many of your requests are hanging open for so long with apparently no actions on behalf of Support.  We have asked for the reasons this could happen and also for action plans to remove that communication gap.  Third and finally, there has been a request to the community at large to review your old support posts and clean them up.  The Support team is working through a large backlog and is finding lots of open requests that are not valid anymore.  You can assist them in speeding up the process by reviewing your requests and closing tickets that are resolved.  

As you can see, as we wind down 2016, we still have lots to accomplish!  Please look for the nominating committee's ballot for the class of 2017 as a separate email.  Our Nominating Committee is putting together a really good review of the candidates. On November 15th all member contacts will receive an email announcing the Nominating Committee's slate and the procedure for an Open Nomination. The actual Vote Form will be emailed to Delegate only of member companies on December 1st. Please spend a few minutes reviewing and vote for your next leadership team!
 
Thanks as always!
 
Chris
Have you ever wondered about attending Encounter?
Do you think that it's just for newbies on Eclipse or just one type of distributor? Maybe you don't think you would fit in.

Here is an analysis of the attendee profiles (for those that gave the information).  the Pittsburgh Encounter 2016. There were 336 users from 116 member companies in attendance this year. 

We had 26 of the best Vendor Sponsors ever manning their booths, and over a dozen Epicor representatives teaching sessions along with our wonderful user volunteer instructors. In fact we had so many of them that you couldn't help but run into one several times in the hallways between sessions.
Everyone who attended the Monte Carlo Cruise told us that they had a wonderful time! There were well over 300 people on the cruise.

Take a look at the breakdown of Industries, the years on Eclipse, and if they are using Eterm/Solar or Both! The numbers might surprise you.

Everyone was so excited at the comments from attendees to Encounter 2016 and how well it was received, that they couldn't wait to begin planning Encounter 2017 in Albuquerque, NM. The dates are September 10-12, 2017. Mark your calendars now and put a reminder in for June to watch for registration to open.
Just look at these happy people... your UFO Training Committee! They just ended a two-day meeting at the Hyatt Regency Hotel Albuquerque, NM during which they drew up the schedule and proposed the classes for Encounter 2017.

Left to right: Kris Hopkins, Mary Barlow, Cyndi Skweres, Rich Chadwick, Lisa Grantland (attending for Johnny Hazelton), Jamie Kolkman, Sis Richardt, Suzanne Saltmarsh, Margie Harris, Alison Levy, Chris Bohn, Kevin Stevenson, Daron Brown, Rob Fisher.

While working the registration booth,  I heard this phrase dozens of times "this isn't a conference, it's a family reunion". 
Get ready, more networking, great classes and good times with our family of users is coming next year.
Mary Barlow
Executive Director, Eclipse Users Group (UFO)
edufo@eclipseuser.com (813) 643-1001
In This Issue
November Training Calendar
 
Click on the link above and it will take you to the November Calendar on our website. You can click on each class to see the detail. Make sure to click the back button in your browser to get back to this newsletter.
New and Returning Members in October 2016
New Members
NCI Marketing Inc Aurora, ON Canada
Florida Sales & Marketing Ft. Myers, FL
Lone Star Electric Houston, TX
Five Star Plumbing and Fire Supplies
Glendale, CA
Returning Members

Quarles Bolivar, MO

Enhancement Committee - Ideas Site News
by Kevin Stevenson, Enhancement Committee Chair

The Ideas Site, available through the Eclipse Users Group website, remains a great resource to help turn your ideas into new enhancements.  Based on your feedback, we have made some recent important changes to the Ideas Site:
 
-        New Community - International Challenges:  This community is designed for ideas that are specific to international business.  If your company is based outside of the United States or you regularly conduct business outside of the United States, you may have a need for certain Eclipse enhancements.  This community provides a place to post those enhancement ideas that are unique to your situation.
 
-        Updated Community - System-Wide Ideas:  Originally the Solar community, this community has been expanded to include any ideas that impact the overall system.  Do you have an idea that may fit in several communities because it impacts all areas of the system?  If so, then consider posting it in the System-Wide Ideas community.
 
-        Updated Community - Advanced Technologies, Companions, and PDW:  Many of you have struggled with deciding where to post ideas regarding the PDW and other companion products.  These products can now be included in this newly-renamed community.  We are in the process of moving all existing PDW and companion product ideas into this community, and we are excited that PDW finally has a proper home on the Ideas Site!
 
In addition to the Ideas Site, the Bulletin Boards have been updated to reflect these changes.  We hope you will find these changes helpful, and we encourage to utilize the Ideas Site and the Bulletin Boards frequently. 


Ezyrecon Announces version  E 2016.17
Los Angeles- 10/16/2016  Ezyrecon announced  the immediate availability of version E 2016.17,  a bank reconciliation software designed for Eclipse users in mind.

"This new version will make the bank reconciliation for Eclipse users a mere walk in the park," said Conrad Natac, Marketing Director at Ezyrecon.

 We recently got a slew of  customers using Eclipse accounting software. Initially, they were skeptical about what we said that as long as they can download the book and bank files into an Excel or csv file format, the bank reconciliation is done. After using the trial version, to use on their  live data, they ended up buying it. The Eclipse General Ledger Export  module that produces the book file is perfect for Ezyrecon. This file is 50% of the work; the other half is to download the bank statement or details of   transaction from your local bank. On both files, there is no formatting requirement to do. The Ezyrecon is designed to read from raw or unformatted data. Once you have these two files the bank reconciliation is literally done. The cost of the software is about $1,400 for the 1st year and $225 for the succeeding years to cover the maintenance and upgrade.

 " Ezyrecon is absolutely the best product that I have encountered" said Michelle Allard, Accounting Manager/Human Resources, C & L Supply,Vinita, OK "the HOURS and HOURS that have been spent over the past few years have just turned into MINUTES per month."

Version E 2016.17  is available for immediate download at www.ezyrecon.com.
Founded in 2006, Ezyrecon is the premiere software developer for a bank reconciliation. The company does not offer any software except bank reconciliation- it is their forte Their mission statement is to make Ezyrecon synonymous with bank reconciliation.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of  their respective owners.

For more information: Conrad Natac,  Marketing Director 
Phone: 323-596-5601 
Email: Conrad@ezyrecon.com
 
Users Helping Users
Postings from the UFO Bulletin Boards 

 
With Encounter 2016 now completed I'm sure there were a lot of people sharing tips, tricks, and reporting ideas.
Did you know we have a User Created Reports bulletin board on the website? 
This is the perfect way to upload that information and share it with multiple people at one time.  You can even email the link to the report right from the bulletin board posting. 
 
Below is the information on how that is accomplished:

Bulletin Board:

Navigate to the User Created Reports Bulletin Board shown above and post a new thread. 

Fill out the Title & the Description and then go to Manage Attachments to upload your screen shots or documentation of how to create the specific report.


After your Thread is created you can click on Thread Tools and Email this page.

Complete the Recipients Name, Email Address, and add or modify any of the wording in the subject or description.  The link to your thread is there automatically.  Then just send the email.

Now you have shared the report with the people that asked for it as well as others through the Users Group bulletin Board, you can always just pull up your thread and share the link when asked in the future as well.  




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Now, you may have heard similar claims in the past from other companies, but we can promise you, we're different. After over a decade of working with hundreds of Eclipse customers, we realized, "We can do this better." So we've taken the lessons we've learned -- what works, what doesn't -- and we've started a new company to make good on those promises to Eclipse customers.
 
We can offer your real-time protection, so that if your Eclipse server goes down, you can be back up in short order with mere seconds of data loss. We can help you move to the cloud without confusion, because we actually understand the unique requirements of Eclipse servers. We can help you design a 100% uptime network, so that your users won't ever be stuck twiddling their thumbs. We can offer you data backup solutions that you can actually trust. You don't have to take our word for it -- we'll prove it.
 
When it comes to support, you've spoken, and we've listened: You don't want to jump through hoops to get hold of someone who can help, so we promise you won't have to: you can email us, call us or use our simple support website -- whatever works best for you. You hate being billed for an emergency call when your business day starts before the help desk drinks their first cup of coffee, so we offer 24x7 emergency support -- included at no extra charge. In fact, our lofty goal is to know about any issues before you reach for your phone. That's why we've invested in enterprise-class monitoring solutions to proactively notify us to critical issues, and someone is always watching -- day and night.
 
NordOps may be a new name to you, but you already know the people behind the name, and you've come to trust them. And so does Epicor, which is why NordOps is proud to be the first officially certified services partner for Eclipse.


Have questions? Reach out to one of our co-founders, and we'll be happy to discuss how NordOps can help you keep Eclipse up and running:

Oliver Aaltonen
oliver@nordops.net
508-356-4103

Bryan Schlegel
bryan@nordops.net
508-356-4091