Mastering Prophet 21 in 2023
This past February, EstesGroup’s own Brent Merritt presented to the Carolinas’ Prophet 21 World Wide User Group chapter on the subject of P21 architecture best practices. Then we went out to a very fine Cajun restaurant with a live band and spicy food. The band was so fun and the food so good that we ended up ordering far too many desserts, in an attempt to extend the evening. I wasn’t hungry for days. Moreover, Brent’s presentation was so well received that we thought it would be a nice idea to give that presentation to a broader audience.
P21 Summit Agenda
All Prophet 21 Sessions are Noted in Central Time
- 11 AM: P21 Architecture Best Practices – Brent Merritt, EstesGroup
- Noon: Integrated Distribution Commerce for P21 Users – DCKAP
- 1 PM: From Inbox to Order: Streamlining the P21 Sales Process – Web Connect
- 2 PM: Introduction to P21 APIs – Conveyance
- 3 PM: SQL Server Query Optimization – Brad Vandenbogaerde, EstesGroup
- 4 PM: Web UI Migration Best Practices – EstesGroup IT Team
DCKAP
EstesGroup has long been partners and friends with the DCKAP team. P21 ecommerce is an important topic for many Prophet 21 distributors, so we’ve had a lot to talk about. In 2022, I attended DCKAP’s Round-Up event in Austin, TX, to discuss hybrid cloud strategies.
At last year’s Estes’ Integrate 2022 event, DCKAP’s Aaron Pallares presented a Distributor’s Guide To Breaking Operational Silos. Estes is excited to have DCKAP on board once again to discuss the intersection of Prophet 21 distribution and ecommerce.
Web Connect for Prophet 21
One fortuitous outcome of this year’s P21WWUG CONNECT 2023 event was the opportunity Estes had to start a new friendship with the team at Web Connect. The Web Connect team delivers a suite of P21-integrated utilities that extend and expand on Prophet 21’s native functionality. Whether it’s automating the P21 quoting and ordering processes, providing customers with access to P21 information, or helping P21 sales users access and communicate their P21 sales data in new and exciting ways, Web Connect continues to help P21 users optimize their sales processes. EstesGroup is looking forward to the Web Connect team’s insights on how technology can bolster a company’s Prophet 21 sales processes.
Conveyance Solutions
EstesGroup has been working hand-in-hand with our consulting partners from Conveyance Solutions, often working together both on P21 implementations and P21 optimizations. The Conveyance team brings a wealth of knowledge to the table when it comes to implementing Prophet 21. One such subject is the matter of the P21 API. Prophet 21’s API is a nebulous subject for many of us, as it differs significantly from the earlier P21 integration solutions that predated the P21 Middleware Server.
But just what is the P21 API? What are APIs in general? How is it related to Epicor’s Prophet 21 web version? And how can the Prophet 21 API be put to use to automate processes and integrate the P21 application with third-party solutions? The Conveyance team will be tackling this topic at our Fall ’23 Prophet 21 Summit.
Prophet 21 World Wide User Group – Lake Erie Insights
Earlier this summer, Estes own Brad Vandenbogaerde headed down to Cleveland to hang out with the P21WWUG Lake Erie chapter and to give a workshop on some Prophet 21 SQL query optimization techniques. Unfortunately, some technical challenges prevented him from accessing the necessary server domains, resulting in a more broadly-spanning conversation on P21 SQL Server tips and techniques. On September 21st, Brad will revisit his original presentation on Prophet 21 SQL queries.
P21WWUG CONNECT 2023 Insights
One of the most surprising discoveries from this year’s P21WWUG CONNECT 2023 event was the realization that a huge volume of the user community is still utilizing the legacy P21 desktop application. The migration to the P21 web client has been much slower than anticipated. While many customers are experimenting with the P21 Middleware Server layer, much of what is being conducted against the last P21 2021 version that supports both the P21 Middleware Server and the P21 Desktop client. This creates a problem because that version is a suboptimal way to transition into the Web UI version due to performance issues. Worse still, this version is losing support in the near future. The Estes’ team will spend the final session at the Fall ’23 Prophet 21 Summit addressing this subject, based on the work we’ve performed in helping customers make this important move. What is the best way to approach a P21 web migration from a planning perspective? And what are the most common hangups when migrating to the web version, and how are they most easily resolved? We’ll cover answers to both questions during this session.
The Fall ’23 Prophet 21 Summit Brings Your P21 Problems to an End
The EstesGroup team will be concluding the final session early to allow us to hold a roundtable discussion and to allow our attendees to bring up any and all of their P21 questions. Our P21 consulting staff will provide real-time answers. Epicor Prophet 21 events are a great opportunity for our team to better understand the needs of our user community and to provide some P21 help to our customers and friends. We look forward to seeing you there!
