M1, from ECI Software Solutions headquartered in Ft. Worth, is an all-in-one manufacturing ERP software solution, built for small and medium-sized discrete manufacturers.
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SYSPRO
Score 6.8 out of 10
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SYSPRO
is a highly scalable, industry-built Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
software solution that can be deployed in the cloud, on-premise, or accessed
via any mobile device. SYSPRO is designed to simplify business complexity for
manufacturers and distributors by providing actionable insight that supports
effective decision-making, strong cost control, streamlined processes and
improved productivity.
Implementation is by far the weakest link in the ECI/M1 process. Although the tool is powerful, the client is expected to drive the process of learning the tool, planning the meetings with consultants, identifying risks and making mitigation plans, etc. without any samples, guidance or assistance on the part of ECI. The tool is best suited to high volume, standard product manufacturers who build to inventory or to order without much variation. The shop floor routing and time tracking are straightforward if you can master the convoluted Unit Of Measure calculations. The tool is either hosted locally or accessed through Remote Desktop. Shop floor is web enabled but the main desktop for M1 is still a relay which makes connectivity a potential issue. Moving this platform to a truly web hosted environment would substantially improve connectivity and eliminate compatibility issues with Apple products
Almost, since day one Syspro has been saving us time and making us more productive as a whole. We have been able to grow our revenue exponentially with keeping our personnel needs at nearly the same level. Syspro is a great system for an organization that has multiple needs like Distribution and Manufacturing and/or multiple locations.
Manage inventory counts. Good precision on quantities in and out, through shipping, MI, MR, and receipts.
Job costing shows great details on labor, operations, and materials to be used. I wished that would do better in outside operations that would return, but we still think it is great.
Ability to track changes (changelog), showing all changes that had in a particular place. Such as where, when, and by whom a line item unit price was changed in a PO.
Link, traceability, keeping history. If done correctly, it is amazing to keep the history of a part/lot.
The amount of user rights/customization is unbelievable. It can be hard to set up in the beginning, but it is great that you can give some very specific access to a user, and it is not (in general) as a package.
If you are a small or medium business, SYSPRO is a great fit due to its flexible design. If you perform warehousing and inventory management Syspro performs these functions very well.
SYSPRO has been around since 1978 and it shows in its development and support. I have been through several re-sellers for our support function, however we have now moved to SYSPRO corporate for our technical support and development/customizations. SYSPRO corporate supports their customers VERY well.
The SYSPRO interface is highly customizable and nicely laid out. Even with the basic implementation, you can still get off the ground and run without performing too many modifications.
SYSPRO forms and reporting templates are easy to customize/modify.
Some of the functions are pretty detailed - and so they take a while to generate screens and pages in reports.
We actually use it for 2 companies we own - and it would be nice if the inter company communication was a little smoother. It's hard to share some data, and not everything is possible to be shared.
Customized reports need to backed up before any updates to M1 or they're lost. It seems M1 overwrites the report folders everytime you run an update - so you have to keep track of what you've changed in Crystal Reports and restore it.
We have been using 6.0 and the security is not so good.
The program is a bit difficult to learn for rollout
The Learning Channel could be improved - downloadable mp4's would be nice to include in the program vs moving back and forth to the learning channel. Since the program is difficult to learn, it would be nice to be able to utilize the learning channel within the program. Also, the learning channel is pretty complicated to use.
M1 is highly customizable in my experience. The grids are very easy to customize as long as the user has a basic understanding of relational databases. The reports are also very customizable but are a little more difficult without being a heavy Crystal Report user. Also, the field names, input forms, etc. can be customized as well, but this requires advanced programming knowledge. I would recommend using M1's professional support staff to make any of these types of customizations.
I've heard many reports from our users stating how difficult Syspro is to use and navigate. From an average standpoint, the Syspro Administrator has to invest a lot of time in setting up the user for success. Once the groundwork is applied, SYSPRO's overall usability becomes fair easier to the average user.
M1 does a good job of being able to handle our requirements. Some of our assemblies and sub-assemblies require a significant amount of detail and different levels in order to complete - and M1 handles that. Some of the other products I've used, or implemented else where fall short in being able to go as deep or as detailed as M1 is able to do.
We evaluated 8 of the top vendors 16 years ago before we selected Syspro and frankly, none of them came close to meeting all of our needs at a reasonable price point. We still look back at that process and think it was one of the best decisions we have ever made.
Significant returns regarding our ability to quickly process orders - both direct entry, EDI and web orders.
Significant returns through giving us the ability to serve configurable products to our customers - We used the product configurator to accomplish this.
Simplifies the shipping process and makes it easy for us to process shipments.
Significant returns in terms of automation and cutting down on expense.
