Planning Contracts are the processes by which an enterprise documents its products, services, and result requirements, as well as identifying potential sellers. The primary purpose of Planning Contracts is to generate procurement documents and establish the criteria by which these products, services, and results can be evaluated.
A procurement plan is a product of the planning process. It indicates how procuring entities might plan their procurement activities over a given period, and advises as to what needs assessment and market studies may be carried out during the life of a particular contract. Put differently, all processes germane to deciding what to contract for, when, and how fall under the Planning Contract heading.
Epicor ERP 10.1 features the ability to create purchasing demand in situations where previous versions of the software required users to prepossess demand as triggered by database values in fields such as Sales Order, Job, or Inventory Minimum. The importance of this new functionality cannot be underestimated to an enterprise focused on growth. It provides the necessary flexibility by which a company can proactively engineer its processes rather than stumbling into the hard wall thrown up by “just in time” forecast models.
Mature enterprises routinely face situations where expansion and gain hinge on thinking ahead. On this point, the best piece of advice we can offer is the one taught to young, prospective car drivers in driver education schools across the country. When you’re driving a busy highway, don’t just watch the car in front of you. Watch the next several cars!
It doesn’t take much to pull this off — just a glance at the road and the willingness to keep an open mind about what could potentially happen. But this tiny effort can offer tremendous payoff. As any experienced driver knows, when pile-ups happen (as pile-ups do), the people best prepared to swerve and keep going are the ones who’ve been scanning the road ahead.
And that’s why Epicor 10.1’s new ERP Planning Contract function is so important. It gives your company the ability to manage long lead-time items before a concrete trigger appears to demand that those items have been procured. Best of all, the database allows you to earmark these items for specific needs even if a Job code or Sales Order hasn’t been generated yet.
Your enterprise can chart its own course.
As with many new Epicor ERP 10.1 features, ERP Planning Contract functionality puts your enterprise right where it should be: in charge of its own destiny and able to respond quickly to any challenge your business can offer.
Read our other informative blogs about Epicor 10.1 new upgrades and features:
Epicor ERPs are designed to provide companies of all scales and in every sector with feature-rich, customizable ERP solutions that can either be based in the cloud or deployed on-premises. The inherent flexibility of the system’s design, combined with the adaptability offered by choice of deployment model, make Epicor an especially power enterprise tool, and the kind that readily adapts should your business or technology change.
There are many reasons for this, but they all point to one key factor: success.
At this point, thousands of companies worldwide have rebuilt their workflows to leverage the cloud revolution. In doing so, they reimagined their enterprises as a series of processes that can be accessed in real time from anywhere in the world and from any device.
This, in sum, is the value offered by cloud-based ERP solutions: they obviate the need to maintain a wide basket of separate, “one off” applications that (hopefully) merge with the central processes of your business.
Put differently, the proper ERP solution should become your business process. And who better to design it than Epicor, a company that has spent 25 years leading its field.
Epicor’s products are built on decades’ worth of research and development coupled with deep industry experience and thousands of successful implementations. Businesses around the globe use Epicor to great effect. For these reasons and many more, we at Estes Group always consider Epicor products when consulting with you on the ERP solution that perfectly fits your business.
Our analysts at Estes Group have reviewed the latest Epicor release. Epicor 10.1 enjoyed a substantive, months-long testing cycle with select beta customers. While long beta cycles often indicate problems with a software release, we happily note this wasn’t the case. In fact, by our estimations, Epicor 10.1 offers vast and substantial improvements over its predecessor version, Epicor 10.
After this introduction to Epicor ERP 10.1, the following series of blog articles will drill into some of the new, key features Epicor 10.1 offers. Where applicable, we will compare new functionalities to those in Epicor 10.
And, as always, should you have any questions, please feel free to contact an Estes Group consultant. We are always happy to discuss these features at length, as well as to provide insight into how Epicor 10.1 may suit the needs of your current Business Process Reengineering.
Read more about this ERP system in our informative blogs on the NEW features and upgrades in Epicor 10.1
How to reduce SPAM on your website and in your mailbox
SPAM can be time-consuming and frustrating, and can lead to additional problems on your website and in your email. It becomes increasingly frustrating when it seems to grow like uncontrollable mold. To prevent SPAM, it is important to know how it is defined, how it comes about and finally, how to reduce SPAM or stop it altogether.
What is SPAM?
Spam can be defined as:
Posts and links that go to a spammer website
Inappropriate messages sent to a large number of people
Electronic “junk mail”
Mass commercial advertising
How does SPAM happen?
“Spammers harvest recipient addresses from publicly accessible sources, use programs to collect addresses on the web, and simply use dictionaries to make automated guesses at common usernames at a given domain.” SOURCE: Reducing Spam
Limit the damage spam can cause
Because SPAM is one way to carry a virus, using a good anti-virus is important for all internet and e-mail users. Because SPAM can come from a known domain, and because they are becoming more sophisticated in obtaining e-mail address, it is important to know the sender and even verify the information before opening suspicious links. Most mail systems already filter email, but those that are aware of your ‘safe senders’ are more accurate and effective in reducing spam email.
Use strong passwords to protect your accounts from being forged. A strong password typically includes a mix of 8 or more characters including upper and lower case letters, number and special characters. Change your passwords regularly to prevent hacking. Once your email address is compromised, it can be used to send out SPAM to your entire contact list, and those messages will be coming from a legitimate source – you!
If you get an attachment from an unexpected sender, or you weren’t expecting an attachment from a known sender, chances are good it’s malware. Don’t open it!
Hover over links and analyse the “from” address before clicking any links to see where they will be directing you. Also, be aware of changes to your accounts and always call if there is a question. For example, if Chase Bank sends an email telling you of an issue with your account, they will have you login to your Chase account or ask you to contact a representative. They will not ask you to respond to the email with sensitive information such as your name, birthdate or social security number. If I’m interested in the product, I’ll type the URL rather than risk clicking the link with the trackers embedded.
Keep a web filter running to prevent the unaware user from clicking the phishing link and being taken to the wrong site.
Use throw-away email addresses. If you need to use your email address to post or publish online, use an email address specifically for that purpose, but keeping your ‘real’ email address safe and secure. To reduce spam email, be careful when using your email address to sign up for items online, making sure to uncheck any boxes giving authorization to third parties to contact you and that there is a “won’t sell your email” policy.
Don’t publish your email address online, including on your website. If you do, disguise it in a way that human readers will understand but programs trolling for email addresses won’t, such at “example at hotmail.com”. Some use a graphic to show an email address, and not HTML text that’s easily harvested, effectively reducing spam email.
Disabling user generated content is another way to prevent SPAM on websites. These are automatically created comments that are usually submitted to blog pages. The negative side of this is when an actual customer or potential client is interested in offering feedback, they can’t immediately post. Having them complete a contact form is a better way of getting information from them than having them leave a comment. If you need them to post live content, post-process the data to ensure it’s not spam or worse!
One user reported having great results with reducing spam on their website by creating a form with a field invisible to human readers, but that automated systems couldn’t resist. When this invisible field was populated with an answer, it was automatically discarded as spam.
See SANS for a sample email policy here https://www.sans.org/security-resources/policies/general#email-policy
We can help you limit spam and keep your inbox clean. Deploy EstesCloud ClientCare and let us help you get IT together!
CompleteCare:Maintaining your own IT infrastructure is expensive and frustrating. EstesCloud CompleteCare combines the benefits of our ServerCare and ClientCare programs into one comprehensive program that protects your entire IT infrastructure at a predictable fixed cost. Let the EstesCloud team become your Trusted IT Advisor, so you can get back to growing your business. Let’s start the conversation!
ServerCare: A proactive approach to IT that includes regular scheduled maintenance and monitoring is essential to maintaining a healthy network and a productive staff. EstesCloud ServerCare will give you peace of mind knowing that our team is continually watching and caring for your servers. Discover the Benefits of ServerCare.
ClientCare:Proactive support for your desktops, laptops, and mobile devices. We provide all of the monitoring, patching, and security tools for your systems, plus full access to our help desk services 24/7/365. EstesCloud ClientCare will ensure your valuable data is secure whenever and wherever it is needed. Take control of your systems today.
