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Part Master Best Practices? Ask Brad

Part Master Best Practices? Ask Brad

Part Master Questions

Epicor Part Master Q&A

Q: What are some of the first things that someone should consider when setting up parts in Epicor?

 

A: We could have a long, harrowing conversation about part naming conventions, but arguments over part naming philosophies have ruined more friendships than heated discussions over the latest Star Wars movies—so I’m going to leave that one alone. In terms of Epicor part master setup, probably the first and most important consideration is the Non-Stock checkbox. The Non-Stock Flag is one of those “big-little” checkboxes that drive a ton of downstream behavior. This one flag will affect how a part will be handled on a sales order, a purchase order, and a job, whether as the top-level assembly or as a component material, and basically determines whether the related transaction will be processed through the system’s inventory module or processed directly in a “to-order” manner. This flag is fundamental for companies looking to operate in mixed-mode manufacturing. Most companies, even companies working in highly-engineered environments, rarely intend to manufacture all components “to-order.” Often there are economies of scale to consider, and components can be used on a broad array of higher-level assemblies. As such, some parts will be handled in a “to-order” manner, while others will follow a traditional inventory-based approach. For that reason, we have to place special consideration on the setting of the Non-Stock flag.

 

 

Q: Phantom BOMs are a topic of disagreement—do you have any recommendations on the use of Phantoms?

 

A: In general, a phantom is a part that carries a method of manufacture, but is not itself manufactured discretely. Rather, the part “explodes” when it belongs in a work order—the top level part disappears and is replaced by its components. Phantoms really are system-specific, for the rules for handling phantoms differ by ERP system. Within Epicor, a few general rules could be suggested when deciding if a part will be flagged Phantom BOM. Firstly, if a part is stocked, it should not and cannot be flagged Phantom BOM, as it is assumed that a phantom part not be stocked. Also, if a part is made independently from its parent, in a different place and at a different time, it should not be flagged Phantom BOM—it should be either a material or a subassembly, so its manufacture can be managed independently from its parent. When component parts are made at the same time and place as their parents, I’ve seen customers use phantoms to manage the components, to simplify production, while retaining the basic product structure defined by engineering.

 

 

Q: More specific to Epicor, the Pull-as-Assembly flag is a source of confusion and disagreement—do you have any recommendations on the use of the Pull-as-Assembly flag?

 

A: A Method-of-Manufacturing defined for a Part Revision can differ significantly when you pull the revision into a Job and get details. These differences are largely due to the Pull-as-Assembly flag. This flag essentially defines whether a component part will be manufactured independently from its parent part, or as part of the same Job as its parent, as a subassembly. One can suggest a few principles when choosing to flag a part as Pull-as-Assembly. If the part is stocked, do not flag the part Pull-as-Assembly, as you will be supplying the material from your on-hand inventory. If the component part in question is Non-Stock, and the intent is to supply the materials through a separate Job, uncheck the Pull-As-Assembly flag. But if you wish to supply the Non-Stock part with a subassembly, allow the Pull-as-Assembly flag to remain checked.

 

 

Q: Can you explain how the settings on the part master flow through to a bill of materials and ultimately to a work order?

 

A: It’s easier to explain this with a visual…

 

Part Master Flow

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Epicor Engineer-to-Order at Your Service

Epicor Engineer-to-Order at Your Service

The Role of Order Entry in ETO and CTO Environments

Epicor Engineer-to-Order environments are their own special breed. Based on an almost infinite notion of product variability, their business models are hard to shoehorn into an ERP system. I once had a job shop employee describe his product variability with ultimate pliancy: “If they want us to wrap it in toilet paper, we’ll wrap it in toilet paper.” That would be a costly proposition these days. In light of this, I often get requests from my customers for “best practices” in handling various Epicor ETO environments.

Epicor Engineer-To-Order

The If-Then-This-That of E10

When it comes to questions regarding Epicor Engineer-to-Order, I always preface my answers with a de facto “it depends” before diving deeper into all the variables at play. Best practice for one company might not be the same for another. Ironically enough, it is almost as if I need to configure an answer for my customer, and discussions tend to take on the following format: “If this and that and/or this or that, then do this…”

 

One such question came to me recently from an Epicor customer, with regard to the role of Order Entry/Customer Service employees in an Engineer-to-Order organization. The company was debating the benefits and liabilities of having their inside sales staff perform rudimentary engineering activities as part of the entry of a sales order. In such companies, product details tend to arrive comparatively late in the quote-to-cash cycle, and the folks responsible for pounding in the orders often find themselves as the purveyors of this information, as received from the customer. These changes often require tweaks to manufacturing methods for a given product, and companies struggle in determining who should own these changes.

 

The In-the-Know of ETO

Who do you know on your team who could best own these changes? As I’ve noted above, “It depends.” But what does it depend on? I can think of a few of the variables that you would consider when deciding whether Order Entry should handle Engineering tasks:

  • Technical efficacy and product knowledge of the Order Entry team: The higher the efficacy, the more liberties you can give someone to alter MOMs when quoting. In some environments, where the estimators are highly technical, Engineering is strictly focused on new product development, and Sales owns what is sometimes called “project engineering.” In other environments, this role is staffed by folks in the engineering department.
  • Complexity of the product: The higher the complexity, the less you’d want Order Entry muddling with the engineering of the product. In low-complexity job shops, I’ve seen order entry or customer service staff handle the engineering implications of order changes.
  • The implementation of Epicor: There are a number of ways in Epicor to get from a Quote to a Job, and few companies in the CTO/ETO world do it exactly the same. Depending on the overall architecture, the MOMs in question might be modified through the quote module, the part master, or in the jobs themselves. This architecture will affect the processes needed to make changes: do you need to modify MOMs through the quote, or will you perform modifications to the Part Revision through the engineering workbench? Quote MOMs are much more apt to be modified by sales staff than are part master records.

In general, I have found that in most environments, Order Entry is focused on specifying product characteristics, features and options and that Engineering is responsible for defining the engineered product to satisfy these requirements. I often recommend that Engineering be the party responsible for what we normally understand to be the engineering function.

This model works well as companies sufficiently standardize their product offerings to support Epicor Configure-to-Order business models, as the delineation between features and options vs. product design are more pronounced in these environments. But there are certainly cases in which the composition of the entire sales staff, the nature of the product, and the system architecture determines that Sales is the optimal department to make these changes.

 

Are you a company in an Epicor Engineer-to-Order or Configure-to-Order environment? For help with your Epicor implementation or upgrade, please reach out to our team.

EstesGroup and Alliance Machine Interview (Video)

EstesGroup and Alliance Machine Interview (Video)

Bryan Provo, President

Alliance Machine, Inc.

Bruce Grant, President & CEO

EstesGroup

 

Bryan Provo explains why working with EstesGroup is critical to his success

 

Alliance Machine’s Bryan Provo is President of his family’s 2nd generation manufacturing business based in Elk River, MN, north of the Twin Cities. For 30 years, his company has delivered high-value solutions to the aerospace, defense, medical and technology industries. 

 

When EstesGroup originally engaged with him over 5 years ago, Bryan’s mind was fixed on having hardware on-site (exactly where cybercriminals could access it). In conversation with Bruce Grant, Bryan explained his transition from wanting full access to his own hardware to wanting complete IT and security management from EstesGroup experts.

 

Bryan explained the challenging times that brought on his IT change: “I felt it was too difficult to manage the hardware portion.”

After a nasty ransomware experience two years ago, Bryan set out to find a managed IT service provider and, after many phone calls and after reaching out to multiple vendors, he partnered with EstesGroup. He realized, in his own words, “They had exactly what I was looking for.” 

 

Bryan summarized the success of bringing EstesGroup fully aboard for his IT needs: “It’s been an absolute heaven-sent.”

As you will hear in the interview, Bryan has experienced, and thoroughly knows, how difficult server crashes were before EstesGroup began managing his IT. Please listen to Bryan Provo explain various strengths of his partnership with EstesGroup in the following short videos, taken from the full interview with Bruce Grant:

Why EstesGroup Managed IT?

Why EstesGroup Cybersecurity?

Need help with your ERP or IT systems? Contact us today.

Epicor User Security – Allow Multiple Sessions (Video)

Epicor User Security – Allow Multiple Sessions (Video)

Your Epicor Application is In Session

 

Over the years, we’ve worked with a number of fledgling ERP administrators on resolving Epicor user security and user account maintenance issues.  One common quirk with Epicor user account maintenance relates to the flag that allows multiple concurrent sessions (in the database: UserFile.AllowMultipleSessions).  This is a powerful checkbox, significantly affecting a user’s experience of the application.  The best way to deal with Epicor user security troubles is to understand the functionality of the application, and our hope is that in this example, we can show you one way to avoid ERP administration headaches.

The multiple concurrent sessions flag itself is set via the Epicor User Account Maintenance screen:

 

The “Allow Multiple Sessions” checkbox defines whether a user can launch multiple sessions of the Epicor application.  This lets the user log in multiple times and interact with the environment and with the system from either session.  This can be helpful in performance-constrained environments, where a form might “hang” for a number of minutes and necessitate the use of a second session for subsequent parallel activities.  But none of this is possible if the checkbox is not set.  In practice, the setting of the “Allow Multiple Sessions” flag has two primary effects for a general user.

 

For customers working in multi-company or multi-site environments, when this flag is not set, a change to a user’s current company and/or site will force all open forms to be closed.  This does not occur when the flag is set:

 

 

 

If this checkbox is not selected, a user can only have one instance of the Epicor ERP application open at a time.  If they log into a new session while already logged into the system, the older session is deleted.

 

 

Once logged into the second session, the user will receive an error from the prior session, with a warning that the session has been cancelled:

 

 

Gaming the System

 

It’s surprising how significant the influence of enterprise systems is on manufacturing and distribution companies.  The configurations of these systems frequently determine the rules of the game that companies and their users have to follow.  Because of this, you have to choose your systems carefully and work to understand the rules by which they play.  

 

In an Epicor application context, dialing in the system to support the needs of your end user community is a key step in both the implementation and the ongoing maintenance of your Epicor installation.  In addition, it is important to understand how a company’s security involves more than just firewalls and endpoints.  Within a company’s domain, and within its core applications, it is important to understand what users should and shouldn’t be able to do.  In Epicor, many of these IT security permissions are defined through the User Account Maintenance screen.

 

Whatever your enterprise system of choice, make sure to leverage its security permissions to empower optimal user productivity, while also minimizing risk.  Beyond the bounds of Epicor user security, make sure to draw in all of your resources to create protective guidelines for your user community. 

 

Are you having issues with, or have questions about, your Epicor 10 ERP Application area? Contact us today.

Epicor Multi-Site Migration:  A Moving Guide

Epicor Multi-Site Migration: A Moving Guide

Out of Epicor Multi-Site, Out of Mind

 

An Epicor multi-site implementation, whether moving from a single site to multiple sites, or vice versa, is a common phenomenon in the manufacturing and distribution world.  Companies and sites in Epicor are rarely in a “set it and forget it” proposition.  As companies evolve, the need to further break out or combine business units can become necessary.  As your business grows, you might wonder if your satellite facility should be considered part of your main site or if it should be a site of its own.  Or, in a similar Epicor multi-site configuration puzzle, you might wonder how to map out the consolidation of a two-company environment into a single-company installation.

 

Assume, for example, that a company has four sites (A, B, C, D) split across two companies (1 and 2) in the following manner:

  • Company 1:  Sites A, B, C
  • Company 2:  Site D

And the company desires to combine operations under a single operating unit, such that the lone site under company 2 would be absorbed under the operations of company 1:

  • Company 1:  Site A, B, C, D

Such a change may seem like simply a matter of converting existing data—of pointing all records from the old company and site to the new company and sites.  Alas, systems are often less than accommodating in allowing for historical transactions to be modified in this manner.

 

Epicor Multi-Site Implementation Recommended

 

Epicor offers no toolsets to “move” a site across companies.  No toolset currently exists that provides the ability to change the company context of all records in a single instance, as to point them to another company context.  Historical transactions don’t like having their keys modified, and such revisionist history is fraught with potential challenges, and thus not recommended.

 

The recommended best practice in such an Epicor multi-site implementation scenario is to reimplement site 2-D in Company 1.  This would involve the setup and configuration of the site and the transfer of setup, master file, and open transaction data into the new site, and the continuance of business operations from within this new site.  This would not include the loading of historical transactions—it would essentially be an act of starting fresh in the new company, as if the site were converted from a legacy system and not from Epicor.

 

To achieve Epicor site consolidation, as described above, a four-stage process can create the desired infrastructure:

  • Plan:  The planning stage finalizes scope and organization through assessment, planning, resource organization, scheduling, etc.  The resolution of conflicts in data, customization, or configuration will occur as part of the testing phase.  Scripts will be developed for the movement of data and customizations.
  • Architect:  The architect stage involves the setup and testing of an environment that would represent the future state deployment, and the elicitation and resolution of any gaps, issues, or conflicts that would come from the planned deployment.  Key activities are the development of the test environment, testing of new site deployment, and gap/issue resolution.
  • Validate:  The validate stage is used to verify that we can successfully execute a cutover and run the business as intended, as if we were in a live environment.
  • Stabilize:  This is the final, successful deployment of a new site at cutover.

 

To address the scenario described above, the following environment map would be recommended:

  • Test Environment:  The initial environment used to model the construction of the new site.
  • Pilot Environment:  The environment in which conference room pilot (CRP) validation occurs.
  • Live Environment:  The existing Live environment, which will be updated at the cutover of the new site.

 

In a traditional Epicor implementation, we go through a five-stage process:  Plan, Educate, Architect, Validate, Stabilize.  This conventional waterfall approach to implementing an ERP application does not adequately address a scenario where training is not required, and prototyping is centered less on the use of the system than it is on properly implementing and integrating an existing Epicor process into a different Epicor company.  As such, the methodology is somewhat simplified, considering the team is already well-versed in the application.

 

The environmental build, relative to the four-stage model described above, would be as follows:

 

Architect:

Initial Live Environment Setup:

  • Extract Setup information from 2-D.
  • Create New Site D in company 1.
  • Update Site configuration in 1-D.
  • Update Company configuration in company 1, as needed.

Test Environment Setup:

  • Build Test environment from copy of production.
  • Extract master file records from Company 2 (Live) and load into Company 1 (Test) and reconcile Conflicts as needed.
  • Extract open transaction records from Company 2 (Live) and load into Company 1 (Test) and reconcile conflicts as needed.
  • Extract open balances and open AR & AP from Company 2 (Live) and load into Company 1 (Pilot).
  • Perform user testing to verify functionality in Site 1-D and the effect of adding 1-D on sites 1-A, 1-B, and 1-C.

Verify:

Pilot Environment:

  • Build Pilot environment from copy of production.
  • Extract master file records from Company 2 (Live) and load into Company 1 (Pilot).
  • Extract open transaction records from Company 2 (Live) and load into Company 1 (Pilot).
  • Extract open balances and open AR & AP from Company 2 (Live) and load into Company 1 (Pilot).
  • Perform conference room pilot (CRP) event to verify functionality in Site 1-D and the effect of adding 1-D on sites 1-A, 1-B, and 1-C.

Stabilize:

Live Environment-Cutover:

  • Extract master file records from Company 2 (Live) and load into Company 1 (Live).
  • Extract open transaction records from Company 2 (Live) and load into Company 1 (Live).
  • Extract open balances and open AR & AP from Company 2 (Live) and load into Company 1 (Live).
  • Perform any ancillary cutover activities as required.
  • Resume operation in new environment.

 

Considerations

 

As with any project, there are a number of considerations that should be clarified at the onset of an Epicor multi-site migration.  The following assumptions have been made:

  • There are always minor data transformations needed when loading data into a new Company and Site, such as the new Company and Site IDs.  You should give consideration to any transformations above and beyond these basic adjustments:
    • Are there data transformations that will need to occur beyond the necessary changes to allow the data to function correctly and without conflict in the new company?
    • Are there changes to setup tables that will need to be mapped when loading master files and open transactions?
  • There is a necessity to identify who will be building test case scripts and who will be performing the necessary testing and validation—and this validation is twofold:
    • Validate the functionality of the new site within the existing company.
    • Confirm that the addition of the new site does not introduce any processing issues with any of the existing sites.
  • It is critical to identify a process for resolving conflicts—the addition of a new site may introduce conflicts with the existing Epicor implementation, and a resolution strategy should be devised at the project’s onset.

 

Conflicts and Conflict Resolution

 

Potential conflicts may exist between Company 1 and Company 2, and these may surface as a function of the “move” of Site 2-D into Company 1.  These may include the following:

  • Company configurations in Company 1 may not be in agreement with those of Company 2.
  • Security and menu settings in Company 1 may not be in agreement with those of Company 2.
  • Conflicts between customizations and/or reports may exist between Companies 1 and 2.
  • System Agent configuration conflicts may exist between Companies 1 and 2.
  • Setup Table conflicts may exist between Companies 1 and 2.
  • GL structure conflicts may exist between Companies 1 and 2.
  • Master File conflicts may exist between Companies 1 and 2.

 

Historical Data Access and Epicor Multi-Site Design

 

With any such migration, questions exist as to how historical data will be accessed.  As noted above, our recommended approach does not include the loading of historical transactional data.  In the current situation, the historical data from site D in Company 2 will continue to reside in the database, but the ability to modify the data will be removed at cutover.  Read-only access and report access could still be permitted, to provide access to historical data.  Additionally, the utilization of cross-company BAQs could be applied for reporting from Company 1 and consolidating datasets between the legacy site 2-D and the new site 1-D.

 

As companies expand, it’s common for new physical facilities to be spun up and incorporated into the existing Epicor application in some form or fashion.  In other cases, companies manage parallel business within the same space, and may decide they need to better break these out, as to keep their operating interests independent of one another.  In all possible scenarios, Epicor multi-site implementation can be tricky, demanding a thorough migration plan.

 

 

Looking to tweak your company/site configuration as part of an Epicor upgrade?  Learn more about multi-company and multi-site upgrades here.

Epicor ERP Upgrade Considerations for Data Dailies

Epicor ERP Upgrade Considerations for Data Dailies

The further away you get from the “new release” of a software, the more challenging an upgrade becomes, and this is especially true for Epicor ERP upgrade customers.  If you’re coming from a Progress 4GL business logic-based version, which would include anything earlier than version 10, such as Epicor’s 905 and 803 platforms, you might feel a little lost in all your options.  The need to move beyond Epicor’s legacy platform is obvious—the analog film of the old version is deteriorating on the reels.  But the move to Epicor’s E10 platform is more of an epic picture than it is an opening trailer.  Thus, it is important to storyboard the flow of the narrative from the old to the new, before the cameras roll, knowing that your plot armor will only take you through the first act of your Epicor ERP upgrade.

 

Two Epicor ERP Upgrade Paths

 

The hero’s journey in any good film starts with a call to action, with a road diverged in a wood where the protagonist must choose one of two paths.  In general, you can consider any move from a legacy version of a software to an updated version to be an upgrade.  But there are two distinct paths for moving from your legacy version to E10, and these greatly affect the nature of the final implementation.

 

Path 1.  A straight, utility-driven upgrade from the legacy to the current version:  In a straight upgrade, a utility converts the data from the legacy version, generating an E10 database that adheres to the structure of version 10 schema.

 

Path 2.  A reimplementation:  This is an alternative method for moving to E10 from the legacy version, but this method does not actually upgrade the legacy data to make the E10 database.  Rather, the upgrading company reimplements the application in E10, normally using the legacy data—filtered, scrubbed and reworked—as the starting point.

 

Data as the Villain… or the Hero?

 

Regardless of your opening scene, one of the most important considerations in any Epicor ERP upgrade is what to do with your data.  Companies can have one of many data challenges as they anticipate an Epicor upgrade.  It is not uncommon for a company’s current Epicor implementation, along with all its legacy data, to be handed down from a previous administration.  A lot of staff changes over ten years, for example, can leave a company with a system that has a setup and configuration at odds with their current orientation.  In such cases, a given company may wish to have another shot at configuring the application—to undo some of the decisions of the past.

 

Some companies unfortunately inherit a legacy system with data that has been carelessly maintained and is thus dirty beyond recognition.  In these cases, customers may look to either clean up the data or cut it entirely.  In other cases, significant changes to the business may have led to an inordinate number of part, customer, or supplier records that are obsolete.  While these might have historical value, they may also unduly clutter the database and place the company in a no-win situation.  In extreme cases, the company may even have a company and site structure that has evolved to be radically different from what is depicted in the Epicor application.

 

The data of an ERP system can be broken up into a number of classes:

  • Setup data:  This refers to the foundational data that underlies the setup of subsequent master file records.  Examples of setup data might include part classes, product groups, buyers, sales persons, etc.
  • Master file data:  This normally refers to the three core master files in any ERP system—the part master, the supplier master, and the customer master.  Subsequent master files may also need to be set up that relate to the extension or relation of these master file records, such as supplier or customer part price lists.
  • Live transactional data:  This refers to the open transactions in your system, such as purchase orders, sales orders, jobs, and invoices.  The decision as to whether to reimplement or upgrade greatly affects how these are to be handled, given that in an Epicor ERP upgrade they come along as part of the ride, whereas in a reimplementation they would need to be loaded in the style of a new install.
  • Historical data:  Historical data refers to all of the transactions that have been processed in the past and are no longer active, and would include purchase orders, sales orders, jobs, and invoices that have long since been closed.

From Classic to New Release

 

In a straight Epicor upgrade, the data from the legacy version is updated and fine-tuned to fit into the version 10 schema.  In such a situation, limited changes can be made to setup and master file data—you get what you had in the legacy version, only now it’s in version 10.  Tweaks can be made—new setup files can be defined and new parts, customers, and suppliers can be defined that replace or supplement their legacy analogues.  But any data that has been transacted against remains in the database.  It can be inactivated, but it’s still there, and some customers have a problem with this much clutter.  Depending on the degree of the issues noted above, this may or may not be a big deal.  Also, one of the upsides of a straight ERP upgrade is the ability to retain historical data with minimal effort.

 

Given the potential issues with data that a company may face, reimplementation offers the ability to cleanly address these challenges.  It is common for businesses to transform significantly after their original implementations.  They may have a number of legacy companies, sites and warehouses that are no longer needed and may even burden the database and create confusion internally.  Customers may also wish to make radical changes to their company or site structures as a function of the upgrade.  In these cases, consideration should be made to performing a reimplementation in lieu of an E10 upgrade.

 

Typecasting your Data Forecasting

 

When you perform a straight Epicor upgrade, you are accepting that you will take all of your past performances with you, and this may create challenges that impede your future state aspirations.  Conversely, dumping your legacy database also involves leaving behind the historical data that amounts to the history of your business.  Epicor’s E10 ERP software is a big step up from its 905 and 803 antecedents, and with each point release, the gap between the new and legacy versions widens further.  Legacy Epicor customers looking to move their businesses forward will need to transition to a modern ERP platform, and Epicor’s E10 application provides a compelling case.  And when making this critical Epicor ERP upgrade rewrite, customers will do well to consider their data dailies.

 

 

 

Looking for a good storyline for your Epicor upgrade?  Learn more about E10 from our Epicor ERP team.