Here's your April Adventures-in-P21 eNews Update.
Your review of projects, tips, industry scoop, and more.
Now reaching over 3,800 (world-class) Prophet 21 ERP system users!
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- We hope this message finds you doing well (and hanging in there) during these sad and totally unexpected times. We are all in this together, if our team can help you in any way, please reach out...we are here for & with you!
- Stay tuned for info on P21WWUG Connect 2020, coming next month.
- We are super pleased to share that Jason Brand & David Bressler joined us in March, adding another 30+ years of talent and experience to our Dev Team.
- How Midway Dental Supply bridged the gap to ecommerce - DigitalCommerce360 - Looking to get out from under a non-user-friendly ecommerce platform, Midway Dental found the answer to its problem in MindHARBOR's middleware software that integrated a new ecommerce site with its ERP system. Now customers get better online service, Midway says.
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Recent Custom Projects for P21® System Users
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Our Team has been busy since our last update in January. Here are project examples that highlight our core focus areas completed since our last newsletter. If you'd like help with challenges in any of these types of projects, please let us know.
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New & Recent Projects Round-up
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Production Order Portal
This tool is for management teams to review (and get the details/reporting) for Production orders.
The user interface shows:
- The percentage completed.
- Who it's for.
- Who is working on it, and when.
- Users can also drill deep down to visualize each production order and all of the related details.
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Engineering Time Tracking Tool
This is a little utility application that allows engineers to track:
- Time spent on Production orders
- What tasks are being worked on and when.
- All tracked data is pulled into P21 and automatically entered into the Production order and also used for reporting.
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Order Approval Portal
This application allows sales reps and management to review and approve orders in P21 from a simple web portal. This will flag each order by the order amount and place them into approval buckets.
Approved by dollar amount 5k,10k,15k,20k,etc. This solution tracks who approves it and when.
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PORG Import Tool
(PIT) ...it's really not importing anything, but our customers are calling it that :-).
Basically we use the copy and paste PORG data from an excel sheet. Our PIT tool then validates the pasted data (if the change the data on the screen it will also validate the changed data). After it validates then users can send the data back to P21.
The one catch to this:
If a user wants to change the PO Location ID the need to be on P21 version
19.2.3840 or higher
. There is a bug in the older versions that do not allow that field to be changed via BR. (We had to do a ticket with P21 to get that fixed).
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P21 Automated Email Notices
P21 Alerts only go so far.
Along with integrating with CRMs and/or Email marketing systems, we can help with custom communications via email (we can probably do txt messaging if needed).
There are many situations where you can save valuable time by setting up processes to automatically email data out of P21. These emails can go to someone within your organization or to your customers/suppliers.
The emails can contain the data with the body of the email or as an attached report in whatever format you need.
Here's a list of some of ways we have applied this type of a setup...
External Communications: Customer & Supplier
- AR Past Due Invoice Notice
- Order Ready for Pickup Notice
- Quoted Item Reminder
- Resend Down-payment invoices
- Advance ship notice upon order shipment
- Auto Email Rebate/POS reports to suppliers
Internal Communications: Sales Staff & Management
- List of open orders/quotes
- Expiring pricing notice
- Backorder Item received
- Staff Scorecard sent to management
Project example: we developed a process to email (pdf documents) of open service quotes to the customer contact (listed on each service quote) every week (as long as the quote is older than 5 days and is not closed or converted to an order). This process will also update New UD fields in the service quote header notes with the date and time the email was sent.
Customer testimonial: It was taking a long time to get our customers to approve tool repair quotes. Once our technicians estimated the tool, our repair admin priced out the quote and emailed it to the customer. With a steady stream of new tools being worked every day, it was difficult for us to follow up with customers on the quotes we initially emailed. If the customer didn't respond to our initial quote, we were lucky to send the quote out again within 3 weeks.
Now that we've automated the process, our customers are receiving their quotes twice per week and responding faster. We are moving tools through our repair department at a faster rate, and our admins are able to focus on other areas of the tool repair process.
Heather V., from ITA
Here's a sample email template from an automated delivery notification
project for Jergens Industrial Supply:
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Connecting P21 data with third party software: we've been opening the P21 system up to best-in-class third party software solutions, and helping users get more out of P21 since 2007...If you'd like to connect to a third party software system, we can probably help.
Past projects include: Amex, Amazon, AutoCrib, eBay, Profit2, Blue Ridge Global, Waterloo Information Systems Limited (WISL), SnapVend, epaCUBE, ShipLink Global, Restaraunt365, Rubber Tree Systems, Bezlio,
Salesforce (SFDC), Salesforce Service Lightening, Service Titan,
and Banyan Technology...coming soon: SAP Concour and BuyRexRoth Bosch.
eCommerce Integrations
(please visit our new ecommerce integrations page here)
:
our focus is on using our custom API middleware (and/or Epicor APIs) needed to bridge & connect the data streams between systems. We usually work with front-end teams or internal resources that manage the design and marketing. Big Commerce & Magento are (currently) the two most popular ecommerce products that we're getting requests for...we can connect most Ecom platforms (including custom solutions).
Evaluating B2B eCommerce platforms?
Download a free pdf document from Magento
:
Magento has put out a nice list to help you separate the must-haves from the nice-to-haves. Get the bells and whistles needed to grow your business and avoid paying extra for what you don’t need.
- Mapping organizational priorities to your eCommerce efforts
- 5 most common obstacles to adopting a new eCommerce platform
- Which stakeholders to include and what questions to ask them when drafting key requirements
- The most common criteria cited by over 300 B2B companies around the world
- Put your platform requirements together with confidence.
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Recent S
QL Projects
- Are you involved with Mergers & Acquisitions? We can help with system migrations in either bringing data from new companies onto P21, and/or in moving P21 Data over to other ERPs and legacy systems.
- ACH Payment Automation.
- AutoCrib FTP integration.
Recent Forms Changes
- Order Acknowledgement Form Changes.
- Add Invoice Due Date to customer statement.
- Adobe to Crystal Form Conversion.
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Recent rules examples:
- Business rule for adding surcharges for credit card payment. This creates a button on Order Entry that says “Add credit card processing fee”. This will add a new line item to the order called “Credit Card Processing Fee” It will calculate (Order Total * 0.03 (surcharge)) and then the sum of this value will be the line item price and extended price.
- Business rule to restrict payment options for customer service – in Order Entry, choosing certain payment options for an order will result in popup message indicating that this option is not valid and will be forced to change it before continuing. This cuts down on manual reprocessing orders that were entered with incorrect information.
- Validate address business rule - in OE, Ship to maintenance, and any address maintenance. This will show users if the address in P21 is accurate according to UPS/FedEx/Carrier and the address type. This tool is intended to save surcharge/cost of being penalized by UPS/FedEx/Carrier for incorrect addresses.
- Business rule to create a button in P21 to validate the shipping address. When pressed this will call out to UPS/FedEx/Carrier via API and check the address. A pop-up in a normal dialog window would be displayed, if not valid it will give suggestions for correction. NOTE: The dialog box can be read-only, OR it can update the P21 customer and or ship-to address(es) with the valid address. Users will be able to choose to update the address on just the order, or update in the P21 Database permanently.
- Business Rule to calculate freight rate (outbound) Create a button in P21 to calculate the FedEx/UPS/Carrier rate for the consolidated weight of all the items on the order. When pressed it will sum the total of the items and request a rate quote from FedEx/UPS/Carrier via API and display it onscreen. The user would then select the shipping rate they would like on the order. Then this would update the carrier and outbound freight on the order.
- Business rule for inbound rates: This rule will group the items on the order by carrier_id (ShipFrom) and then sum the total weight. This will then query the inbound carrier freight service and pull back a list of options. User will select the option they want and then the business rule will update each line item for that carrier based on the rate provided. (note this divides the rate across the relevant line items)
- Rule to set contract carrier to ship to carrier.
- Rule to add tax jurisdiction to ship to.
- Vendor approval business rule.
- Tariff business rules.
- Business rule to prevent all users from making a Journal Entry to a control account.
- Inbound freight for shipments from suppliers with multiple addresses.
- Rule to enforce approval process for RMAs and Sales Orders.
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Because so many customers have asked, we've added our (most popular)
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Custom Reports
Recent Reporting Projects
- Created another custom sales dashboard.
- Customer ranking reports.
- Vendor score card reports.
- Custom pick ticket as external report.
- Yearly budget report.
- Created a custom P21 dashboard & reporting system.
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DynaChange Portals: User Prompting A common problem with prompting Prophet/21
by David Bostick / DBostick@MindHARBOR.com
Prophet/21 DynaChange Portals is a robust inquiry/reporting tool and offers many integrated features that work well with the P21 software. But when it comes to prompting the user for input, any methods of validating the user’s entry is lacking...
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Recent Automation of Business Process Projects:
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- Time Clock / Job Management System.
- Sales Order Entry Program & Shopping List Web App (with crm features).
- Contact Management Portal and 3rd Party Email Marketing System Synch System (like Constant Contact or MailChimp, etc).
- We often help P21 users with MS Office Suite automation & integration services, including: Excel, Access & Outlook.
- We've developed an FTP service program for automatically pushing pricing and other data from P21 out to 3rd party client and/or vendor software systems.
- We've been doing some neat enhancements for users in Zebra printing operations with P21.
- Hardware & warehouse automation integrations. I.E. weight/scale integrations, data feeds for automation equipment (like auto baggers); Order/ship lane information for a given order number, and other business challenges.
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P21 Vendor and MindHARBOR Partner Spotlight
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Challenged by increasingly unstable economic conditions and erratic demand, many businesses are turning to technology breakthroughs in supply chain planning
. These solutions create unprecedented forecast accuracy and open up tremendous cash through inventory reductions of up to 20%.
Are you thinking about replacing your outdated supply chain planning solution? Before you make another move, consult this 4-part guide, designed to simplify the “Why, Who, What & When” of your software selection process:
Supply Chain Planning Selection Guide - by Blue Ridge Global
Don’t want to wait 2 weeks for the next part?
Skip right to the full paper by contacting Charity now...
Tell her MindHARBOR sent you.
Charity Newsome
877.547.0346
charity.newsome@blueridgeglobal.com
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< An Easy Work-Around for Supply Chain Disruptions >
These are not normal times. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is inevitable that once-stable supply chains will have hiccups. Whether it is due to reduced manufacturing operations, temporary factory closures, or lack of raw materials further upstream in the supply chain, you cannot expect product availability to remain stable for the next few weeks, if not months.
The good news is that
you already have an easy supply chain work-around
when your suppliers cannot provide to you what your end-customers need...to keep their businesses running.
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ORO Commerce for Prophet 21 ERP Users
Oro Inc., founded in 2012 by industry leaders in open-source business application development, is the company behind OroCRM, OroCommerce, and OroPlatform. Due to their smart and flexible architecture and robust feature set Oro products have rapidly become popular within B2B and multichannel commerce spheres gaining the title of the No.1 B2B eCommerce product of 2017 by Frost and Sullivan
...learn more about Oro & P21!
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Epicor®, Prophet 21®, KKR, and Your Industry News Round-up
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Paul Stoddart is the new Chief Marketing Officer of Epicor, a global leader providing flexible, industry-specific software designed around the needs of manufacturing, distribution, retail, and service industry customers.
Vizaca.com - This was because it occurred at a time lenders were very suspicious of funding concerned deals like the Prophet 21. Therefore, there was no reliance ...
Epicor Unveils ECC Express
- Press Release / MDM - The e-commerce product is designed for businesses which need an immediate way to improve productivity, offer quality online experiences and stay connected to their valued customers and suppliers.
Epicor Software Company is bringing on Paul Stoddart as chief marketing officer to oversee the company's global marketing strategy spread across ...
Coronavirus Accelerates Timeline for Changes at Stellar Industrial
- By: Elizabeth Galentine - MDM - The industrial distributor is encouraging a company-wide focus on opportunities to improve operational efficiencies, including making some COVID-19-induced changes permanent. President and CEO John Wiborg is also elevating ROI expectations from existing technology investments. Read More.
Whether your company is deploying a new B2B ecommerce channel or enhancing an existing one, consider these steps toward a better customer experience during a major market disruption, writes George Alexander of Corevist. Read Now
By: Elizabeth Galentine / MDM - The coronavirus hit distribution hard in the second half of March, according to a first look at the latest MDM-Baird quarterly survey. And distributors are acting quickly to protect the balance sheet and cash flow. Here’s a recap of Friday’s MDM LIVE program, where panelists shared the latest numbers on how quickly distributor revenue is declining, as well as what distributors are doing now to stem losses and conserve cash.
How sales reps bring value to ecommerce - Digital Commerce 360 - Today's B2B buyers expect their suppliers to provide a useful ecommerce purchasing channel, but they also want a sales representative to lend a helping hand beyond basic order-taking, a new survey of 150 buyers finds.
How Midway Dental Supply bridged the gap to ecommerce
- DigitalCommerce360 - Looking to get out from under a non-user-friendly ecommerce platform, Midway Dental found the answer to its problem in
MindHARBOR's
middleware software that integrated a new ecommerce site with its ERP system. Now customers get better online service, Midway says.
Resources On Linkedin:
Join the New P21 Group on Facebook (over 127 members):
If you aren't a member yet,
you ARE missing out!
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We get a lot of emails from our friends in the P21 user community each month that are looking for new roles, opportunities, and/or seeking relocation. We also get contacts from companies that are looking for fulltime talent.
We'll always do our best to connect talent...if you are looking for a new role, or if you have an opening, please send Mike the details…when we see a fit, we’ll gladly (and confidentially) make the connections (without any fees or strings for either party). We've helped make MANY of these win/win connections over the past 14 years, and we've already connected 2 new hires in 2020 (with a few more pending)!
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Got Content, Feedback, Questions?
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If you have articles, press releases, adventures, questions, and/or tips to share with other Prophet 21® system users in the next edition of Adventures in P21, please send them our way! e.
blaze@mindharbor.com
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MindHARBOR.com Quicklinks & More Information:
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Thank you for reading, and for the opportunity to be your Partner-in-P21!
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Please forward & share this newsletter with a fellow P21 user today!
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MindHARBOR is not part of /or associated with any of the brands and logos listed on this email or our website including: Epicor Software Corp., Epicor Prophet 21®, Epicor 8 Vantage®, Epicor 10®, NetSuite®, Activant®, Dynachange®, ICE®, Microsoft®, AutoCrib®, Cribmaster®, SnapVend®, Power Bi®, Intel®, Microsoft®, and/or any other registered brands and service marks. MindHARBOR "is" an independent systems provider specializing in high end, high quality custom C# .NET programming, custom business application development, SQL server reporting services (SSRS), and eBusiness Consulting services on time, on spec and on budget...
since we opened our business on January 1, 2000.
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