Microsoft makes it economically attractive to move from Great Plains to Dynamics AX when the time comes. GP is a fantastic product though, providing rich functionality around Finance, with many modules that enable manufacturing process support. Why then would anyone move from GP to AX?
I want to talk today about MTO/ETO manufacturing environments where the engineering components should be handled as a project. Other contributions have discussed scalability, multi-site / country / currency, and complexity as business realities that GP users may find themselves in, and which GP may, or may not, have challenges in supporting.
Quite often manufacturers have multiple disparate solutions in place to manage the engineering projects. This often causes duplicate data entry, and maintenance of multiple systems. The Engineering Project Management solution in Dynamics AX addresses this in a single solution, which eliminates duplicate data entry, external spreadsheets, and interfaces between systems. Another key issue facing many companies is the ability to evaluate the profitability of their projects throughout the project life-cycle. With Dynamics AX, one can effectively understand the profitability of projects from the sales phase, and maintain that profitability through planning, design, and manufacturing.
Benefits of the solution are:
- Improved manpower utilization and collaboration
- Greater supply chain control
- Improved project visibility and scheduling using the integrated work breakdown structure
- Effective control of budgets to reduce overruns
- Visibility of cash flow throughout the life of the project
- Management of Subcontracting and Request for Quote
When combined with the eBECS Engineering Change Management module for BOM Revision Control, the Engineering Project Management Solution is very powerful! In fact, you can view a of this solution here.
eBECS, to whom Microsoft just awarded the “ERP Implementation Partner of the Year” accolade, is a Microsoft Dynamics AX practice. The is in Lancaster, Pennsylvania with a significant Consulting Operations office in Atlanta, GA.
By John Conwell, eBECS North America
