In today’s business environment, organizations need the flexibility to adjust their metrics to adapt to current market conditions — not spending time looking in different places to get basic reports on the status of business operations. Introducing: EDA Financial Statements, which allows for timely, accurate and accessible financial reporting.
EDA Financial Statements Webinar
Join our webinar to see how modern finance leaders configure statements for their entities as well as branches, departments, product lines and more. And with permissions in place, empower users to proactively manage their performance and effectively answer their own questions.
In this webinar, we’ll uncover:
why it’s urgent to advance from static spreadsheet reporting
automated consolidation and presentation of month end reports
ways to empower managers with information they need to perform
a centralized source of timely and accurate financial data
why secure cloud access is critical for business continuity
how to do so much more than analyze AR/AP and ledger data in EDA
When:
August 25, 2020
2PM ET
During this webinar, you’ll see EDA Financial Statements firsthand and learn how you can become a trailblazer in financial self-service, reporting, dashboards and analysis. We look forward to seeing you there.
About Epicor Data Analytics
Epicor Data Analytics (EDA), powered by Phocas, is an easy-to-use cloud service with powerful tools to help you reduce costs, identify new opportunities, and speed decision-making.
Stay up-to-date with the daily changes of your business
Eliminate time-consuming and error-prone manual reporting processes
Visualize data across all of your business systems from production to sales
Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of Industry.
Epicor Data Analytics (EDA), powered by Phocas, is an easy-to-use cloud service with powerful tools to help you reduce costs, identify new opportunities, and speed decision-making.
Stay up-to-date with the daily changes in your business
Eliminate time-consuming and error-prone manual reporting processes
Visualize data across all of your business systems from production to sales
Each of the currently available Epicor ERP content packages for EDA provides starter dashboards and deep integration into a specific set of Epicor ERP data. You have the freedom to build onto these content packs with any additional fields from Epicor ERP and augment from any other data sources, such as Salesforce and ADP.
Epicor Data Analytics for Sales (sales, orders, quotes)
Quickly discover business trends by visualizing the sales data in your Epicor system. Get deeper insight into sales results by account, location, geography, order, and more.
Answers questions like:
What are my average sales and gross margin by invoice?
Who was buying, but is not buying now?
Where are we succeeding geographically?
Gain full visibility into:
Net sales
Quantity shipped
Quantity ordered
Material cost
Fixed burden
Variable burden
Labor cost
Other cost
Gross margin
Epicor Data Analytics for Materials (inventory, purchasing, and shipping)
Improve the productivity of what is likely your largest fixed asset—your inventory—by making sure you invest in the right inventory mix. EDA can help you see your inventory data more clearly.
Answers questions like:
What is our current inventory value today?
What are our potential inventory shortfalls?
What is on order in my open POs?
Where are my shipments?
Gain full visibility into:
Quantity on hand
Inventory value
Cost
Allocated
Backordered
On PO
In transit
Quantity ordered
Epicor Data Analytics for Financials (AR/AP and general ledger)
Improve overall visibility into your business by drilling down into categorized accounts and transactions within your income statement and balance sheet.
Answers questions like:
What are this year’s actuals versus last year’s actuals by account?
How long is money held up in accounts receivable?
What payments are receivable and what invoices are due?
Did we take advantage of discount terms and how much did we save?
Gain full visibility into:
Amount paid
Terms taken
Allowed
Bad debt amount
Amount receivable
Owing
Items invoiced
Invoices paid
Memos
Terms taken
Transactions for income statement and balance sheet
Epicor Data Analytics for Production (production, reporting, and quality)
With the production content pack for Epicor ERP and iScala, make certain that quality products are produced for the right customer at the right time—for the right price and profit margin.
Answers questions like:
What is my resource earned hours?
Do I have differences in production rates between shifts?
How do I improve the overall effectiveness of my resources?
What is the most frequent cause for product rejections?
Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.
Collaborative robots (cobots) are gaining traction in modern manufacturing facilities. Prices have steadily fallen into the realm of affordable for most small and medium-sized manufacturers. By offloading the repetitive portions of a human counterpart’s workload, the cobot increases overall output, accuracy, and safety.
With COVID-19 forcing businesses to reevaluate collaboration in the workplace, cobots are entering conversations at an increasing rate. Where two humans may not be able to share a common space, a human and a cobot can do so safely without sacrificing productivity.
Cobots Are Built For – Wait For It – Collaboration
When we examine robotics and automation in the age of Industry 4.0, we can identify many familiar, though more archaic, forms of robotics in the manufacturing facility. Unfortunately, many of these examples pose quite a hazard to their human coworkers. Robot cell design has traditionally put human safety at the forefront and locked these machines in cages or behind walls.
Cobots break free of those bonds and work right alongside people. By design, they are considerate of our fragility. Internal and external sensors ensure they speed up and slow down operations based on proximity to humans.
This is just one example of how collaborative robots are making their adoption more palatable in the factory.
With a starting price tag on most models circling $25,000, cobots are more affordable than they have ever been.
As adoption increases and innovation in human-cobot collaboration proliferates, we can expect to see even more exciting technologies and use cases emerge as Industry 5.0 approaches.
Collaborative Robots Make Smart Manufacturing Accessible
Not only can we program cobots to perform any series of dull, dangerous, and dirty tasks ad nausea, but we can also ensure they adopt new methods of performing work easily.
This is in stark contrast to hard or fixed automation examples in industries like aerospace and automotive manufacturing.
Those robots, generally referred to as articulated robots, are built with one purpose in mind and are rigid in their programming. Changing tooling and behavior takes significant effort. Too often resulting in lost production time. These robots even risk becoming obsolete as production changes over time.
On the other hand, collaborative robots can be reprogrammed and equipped with novel end-of-arm tooling to complete an array of complex tasks. Whether the job requires drilling, stamping, welding, gripping, or just about any other method of manipulation, chances are there is a cobot solution out there already or currently being developed.
The experience of programming cobots is becoming more intuitive every day. Examples like drag&bot and block come to mind, with simple drag-and-drop coding snippets that can program a robot to perform manufacturing tasks. as the coding environment becomes more accessible to workers who traditionally had a hands-on interaction with jobs, the result is new ways of achieving efficiency. This is in stark contrast to a computer science-oriented way of thinking about manufacturing scenarios.
Not only this, but career machinists can put their valuable knowledge to work in new ways that spark creativity, growth, and fulfillment in their careers.
Where Cobots Fit Into The Manufacturing Facility
Collaborative robots in manufacturing can take the mundane and stressful in stride. Excelling at dull, dirty, and dangerous tasks is what they do best.
Consider cobots scaled-down versions of other familiar robots already utilized in manufacturing facilities around the world.
Bench-top models resemble miniature articulated robots, at 3 to 4 feet in length. They are agile, lightweight, and customizable to an array of tasks. These same robots can also be mounted to mobile platforms. This can expand the cobot’s range of operation, assuming many different assembly tasks with the quick changeover from station to station.
Mobile cobot examples are also gaining momentum ferrying materials and components to staging areas so that staff doesn’t waste time walking from their bench to picking locations in your facility. Manufacturing and distribution centers gain incredible productivity when these useful robots can carry weights no human possibly could between storage and staging areas. The result is more employee engagement regarding the tasks at hand, fewer opportunities for accidents, and less time wasted walking the floor.
Mobile robots also make managing inventory much easier on your operations. They can complete non-stop audits of inventory, suggest amended sorting based on the flow of goods, and other efficiency opportunities based on the data flowing from their sensors into your ERP system. Businesses can then bring planning and scheduling to greater levels of efficiency, driving supply chain management like never before.
Beyond the physical examples, there are digital examples of cobots to consider, too.
Chatbots answer visitor inquiries on your website and report back to your CRM with visitor profile data.
Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
Robotic process automation (RPA) routines fall into this category, too. They handle repetitive data entry and admin tasks at an exponentially faster rate than humans. Not only does this example enable immense cost savings for large operations, but smaller businesses can remain competitive by handling more tasks with fewer costs sunk into non-revenue generating activities.
Both examples automate repetitive tasks that free your staff to take on more creative and value-added work.
All these collaborative robots fit into your facility in some way or another and feed the information they gather into enterprise systems.
These data transactions inform every level of your business, enabling you to make more intelligent decisions on the fly.
The Elephant In The Room – Fear Of Replacement
Ever since robots made their debut on production floors, humans have feared being replaced. Robots don’t complain, they don’t get tired, and they don’t get paid.
Despite these perks for companies, perhaps the biggest drawback when it comes to robots is that they don’t think for themselves.
They do not innovate; they do not come up with more efficient ways of doing things and they certainly are not creative. In this sense, they are about as dumb as the sum of their parts without a human giving the orders in the form of a program.
Before Covid-19, talent was hard to come by, especially for skilled trades in manufacturing. Cobots were one way to ease the burden these companies faced in a “sellers” market for talent. According to one 2018 Deloitte study, as many as 2.4 million U.S. Manufacturing jobs were expected to remain unfilled through 2028. This translated into an economic impact of $2.5 trillion.
The argument can be made that many skilled workers complete repetitive tasks daily. These tasks are the target of cobot solutions. These tasks wear on the hungry mind or eat at the fragile structures of the human body, the result is nagging injury and unfulfilled potential.
When cobots shoulder the burden of these tasks, their human counterparts can develop personally and professionally.
Take the Paradigm Electronics cobot example into consideration. The introduction of collaborative robots into the workplace didn’t lead to job loss. Quite the opposite. Those staff who were machinists up-skilled to robot programmers. Those traditionally static jobs fell by the wayside to be scooped up by cobots. The resulting dynamic was not a job loss for humans, by a redefinition of their professional roles and responsibilities.
Collaborative Robot Proliferation
The rise of cobots has shown to bring more benefits than drawbacks.
Industries continue to adopt the technology and human workers see the benefits in their adoption.
Even start-ups can reap the benefits of a workforce that doesn’t slow down and can always remain nimble to the changing landscape of business.
Whether it be on the manufacturing floor, the vineyard, or the back of the house at a restaurant, cobots are fast becoming a part of our daily lives.
Every day the price of cobots is driven down by fierce competition among robot manufacturers.
Innovations in sensing technologies and machine vision further increase efficiencies.
Currently, the cobot market is expected to exceed $11 billion by 2030. According to ABI research, the greater cobot ecosystem, which includes software, tooling, and customization, is expected to grow to $24 billion by the same time.
The above picture reveals a bright future for manufacturers and workers as this exciting technology develops.
Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.
Business leaders and employees are all keenly aware of the effect COVID-19 has had on businesses around the globe. The pandemic has imposed significant strain on budgetary and operational resources for businesses large and small. Those disruptions are being felt far and wide.
Fortunately, this is also an opportunity. Business leaders willing to rise to the challenge can better address their organizational needs through leaner operations.
Fostering a culture focused on strategic action and resiliency will lead to success in the current climate.
Here are 5 steps that can be taken now to focus on the essential and ensure the future of your business:
Realign with your company’s strategic vision
Problem solving: be accountable, be part of the process
Own the message and communicate actively
Continually engage with your workforce
Connect creatively with your customers and capture their insight
1. Realign with your company’s strategic vision
Whether you share an optimistic viewpoint that the economy will reignite in the coming months or feel otherwise, hoping for the best and preparing for the worst is both practical and beneficial.
Take this time to realign your focus with the core values and strategic vision of your business. This will ensure you remain on track, no matter what the future holds.
The only constant is change and the current market demands it. Times like these put businesses to the test. We can already see examples of those that are rising to the challenge.
Manufacturers, retailers, and service industries are all adapting to meet market demand in new and innovative ways.
For example, manufacturers are altering production lines to support hospitals and medical care providers with needed equipment. Textile facilities are making masks, distilleries and breweries are making sanitizers, and additive manufacturers are making faceshields. Even some of the largest auto manufacturers in the country have shifted gears to deliver other mission-critical medical equipment.
For many, using innovative software solutions to take their services online is part of the equation. Retailers and restaurants are are making the effort to offer online or curbside ordering and pickup in line with CDC recommendations and customer demand.
Fewer resources at your disposal naturally leads to doing more with less. Rethink any activity that isn’t lockstep in tandem with your strategic vision.
Reevaluate every process and take the time to get input from your employees, those who are carrying out those processes daily, weekly, or monthly.
Meeting with your first line managers is a good place to start. Use their insights between both your company and customers to inform your actions moving forward. you will also be able to identify key areas and resources ripe for redistribution.
2. Problem solving: be accountable, be part of the process
Time is perhaps the most finite resource for many business leaders. When disruption hits, it can be even more critical to solve problems quickly and efficiently. Unfortunately, most will agree that time is wasted in abundance when it comes to streamlining business processes. This waste can be the result of unpreparedness, distraction, or inability to focus. Simply put, it’s not harder work that will save you time, but smarter work.
When your teams are tackling their respective components of a problem, they are looking for leadership to keep an eye on the prize. That is the bigger picture.
Be that foundational resource they are looking for and lead by example with smarter budgeting of time in tackling problems.
For example, make a shift in meeting culture. Keep meetings down to a condensed time frame and commit to ensuring all discussion topics and resources are shared and reviewed prior to the meeting. This leaves little room for wasted time in explaining and rehashing ideas.
When it comes to email communications, do away with novellas and stick to bullet points. Clean, clear, crisp communications get ideas across faster. No one should have to spend more than 60 seconds reading an update.
Committing to incremental and cultural changes pays off big in saved time. By showing, rather than telling, how to solve problems and work more intelligently.
This is how business leaders improve organizations and inspire team members to focus and prioritize.
3. Own the message and communicate actively
While there are times when delegating communications, tough times are not those. When times are tough and uncertainty is in no small supply, your workforce wants reassurance from the top of the organization.
Direct and open communications between upper management and teams fosters a cooperative atmosphere and lightens the burden of anxiety. If changes need to be made, be explicit about them and hold true to those directives.
For example, if cash flow issues make salary reductions a necessity, do the math upfront. Lay out how you reached your calculated requirements for salary reductions across the board. Give a time frame. Stick to it. Don’t promise what you can’t deliver and follow through once you’ve set your parameters.
Trust and reputation take time to built and a moment to ruin. Be the leader your teams look up to by instilling confidence, trust, and respect by giving clear instruction, finding compromise, and living up to your word.
4. Continually engage with your workforce
Maintaining employee engagement is a constant challenge for most businesses. COVID-19 and the nature of remote work has compounded that difficulty through distance. So, the question is, with all these factors, how do you keep your people connected?
Now is the time to recognize your employees at an individual level. Everyone has different ways of processing change and reactions to the current environment. There is no one size fits all solution in the New Now.
It’s up to you as a leader to recognize and be mindful of your staff’s unique reactions and feelings, if they may differ from your own. When you see negativity in the ranks, don’t dwell on it. Find ways to be supportive and create the environment for positive outcomes using your positive perspective of the big picture.
The isolation some may feel in a remote position can put people in a fog. Structure can easily go overlooked when it surrounds us every day. Now that that environment has fallen from view for so many, new and creative ways to remain connected are necessary.
Social media and networking tools are some of the available options for keeping your workforce engaged. Virtual happy hours, hobby threads, internal contests, games, and general intranet activity can help keep employees connected even though they are apart.
5.Connect creatively with customers to capture insight
With traditional face-to-face meetings out of the question for the foreseeable future, it’s time to get more creative in how you interact with customers.
With a new landscape laid out before us, the same way of operating just doesn’t make sense.
Fortunately, modern virtual meeting platforms and social media tools make it easy to at least see each other face-to-face. Leveraging these resources gives us the virtual eye contact we need in healthy human interaction. It also reassures your customers that you are proactive and engaged with them in conversation. Conveying the tone, body language, and other social cues that email and phone calls fall short with make these tools invaluable.
Rise To The Challenge As Business Leaders
In summary, now is the time to actively adapt and strategically realign with your strategic vision. Respond to disruption using the modern resources available to you. Stay the course in regard to your company’s long-term vision and continue to strive in meeting your customers’ needs. Get rid of the wants and focus on the needs of your organization in the New Now. This is the time to run lean.
Lastly, your employees are the lifeblood of your business. Be clear and transparent in your communications with them. Lead by example and hold true to your word. This will ensure confidence, focus, and engagement as your continue to strive for success.
Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of Industry.
Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of Industry.
The Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud ERP is an annually published report that outlines the research organization’s perspective on the best software available. This year, Epicor Software again received designation as a visionary in the category of Cloud ERP for Product-Centric Enterprises.
The published report is free to download for anyone interested in learning more about Epicor Software and other Cloud ERP vendors.
You can download the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud ERP for Product-Centric Enterprises report HERE.
Epicor ERP Cloud
Epicor ERP Cloud is a secure, economical, efficient, and reliable enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.
The solution provides businesses with flexibility and comprehensive support. It helps manufacturers simplify processes, optimize operations and ease IT responsibilities.
For example, Epicor Cloud ERP delivers a 99.5% or greater uptime.
Aerospace and defense manufacturer Wipaire leverages the benefits of Epicor Cloud ERP to free up resources and reduce costs.
The company enjoys real-time access to information, which delivers higher cost efficiency and better time management.
Wipaire Controller Mike Elrod commented about their choice to use Epicor ERP, “We chose to deploy in the cloud because it offered flexibility and cost savings and we no longer need to maintain in-house servers or equipment.”
Epicor ERP is built to scale alongside manufacturers as they grow and depend on better tools to deliver the results and experience their stakeholders and customers expect.
With Epicor Cloud ERP, businesses are better equipped to compete, thrive, and grow by harnessing data and implementing automation to improve productivity and profitability.
“We believe Epicor’s spot in the Visionaries quadrant proves that we are a cloud vendor of choice in the markets we serve and that our cloud ERP software is providing customers with the tools they need to succeed in today’s mid and enterprise markets,” said President Himanshu Palsule. “Our customer base is large, incredibly loyal, and actively engaged, and we will continue to foster those relationships to address and prioritize their feedback in future product updates so that our customers can push ahead of their competitors and can focus on business resiliency rather than IT administration.”
Placement in the Visionary quadrant validates Epicor’s ability to provide businesses with the best ERP solution. Read the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud ERP for Product-Centric Enterprises report HERE to learn more.
Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of Industry.
As part of the Epicor Cloud ERP 10.2.700 Update, Epicor Cloud ERP pilot instances will upgrade to the newest release in September 2020. Read on to learn what new business value awaits and how to prepare.
What’s New In The Epicor Cloud ERP 10.2.700 Update
More details will be released as we near September 2020, but a few highlights include:
Cloud Read-only Data Access—Safely and securely view your data in a read-only environment. Epicor ERP Cloud Data Access is a new offering that allows for read-only access to your Epicor ERP instance. This new offering gives freedom of access while also safeguarding data security and system integrity. Access to the database will be on a read-only basis, but also near real-time (within seconds) to provide high value, whether leveraged by you directly or by ISV partners via APIs.
Epicor Advanced Unit of Measure—Seamlessly conduct business in a different unit of measure. A new capability, primarily aimed at the metals industry and adjacent industries, provides the ability to buy and value material in one unit of measure and transact in a different unit of measure.
Epicor Data Analytics (EDA) Financial Reporting—Budgeting, forecasting, and planning simplified. EDA Budgeting and Planning will provide an easy-to-use solution for budgeting, forecasting, and planning. With EDA Budgeting and Planning, you will be able to create financial budgets from scratch or prior year actuals and generate a budgeting workflow process, eliminating the need for Excel spreadsheets.
Epicor Kinetic—Continuing the journey to provide a modern and intuitive user experience with Epicor Kinetic. With this release, Epicor Kinetic is focused on the transformation of maintenance screens and quotes to cash process forms targeting high-impact maintenance and entry screens. New enhancements will be made to Epicor Application Studio, which allows you to tailor Kinetic forms with low/no code that won’t break during an upgrade.
How To Prepare For The The Epicor Cloud ERP 10.2.700 Update
Epicor will upgrade pilot systems one month before production systems. This will provide Epicor Cloud ERP customers with a chance to explore the updates in 10.2.700 without affecting production systems.
As a best practice, please use this time to review and make any necessary changes to your Unique Business Components (UBCs). This includes any custom reports, BAQs, BPMs, User Interface customizations, etc. Effective testing will ensure everything continues to operate as expected.
If you submit an EpicCare ticket for help with moving your UBCs from Pilot to Production, Epicor will do so for you during the upgrade weekend.
Important Dates
Friday, September 11, 2020 Deadline for Flex customers to submit an EpicCare ticket indicating their preference to defer their upgrade to one of the alternate upgrade dates
What’s New in Epicor ERP Cloud 10.2.700 upgrade webinars are scheduled for mid-September. Register for one of the sessions to learn the latest about Epicor Kinetic, AppStudio, and Identity. If you cannot attend, they will be available on demand.
Friday, September 18, 2020 – Saturday, September 19, 2020 Pilot system upgrades to 10.2.700. During this time, your pilot system will be unavailable while Epicor performs your upgrade, but don’t worry—your production system will not be affected by the new release. Once it is complete, log in to your pilot system and start exploring what’s new.
Tuesday, October 13, 2020 A pilot system update to 10.2.700.2 and UBC Opt-In Deadline. The final version that will be loaded into your Production system will be 10.2.700.2, so we’ll update your Pilot environment on this date. Also, if you want Epicor to move your UBCs from your Pilot environment to your Production environment, you must submit an EpicCare ticket to opt into the process. If you do not submit an EpicCare ticket to opt into the process, the UBCs from your Pilot environment will not be moved by Epicor to the Production environment.
Saturday, October 17, 2020 – Sunday, October 18, 2020 Production system upgrades to 10.2.700.2. Your upgrade weekend arrives! While Epicor upgrades your production system to Epicor Cloud ERP 10.2.700.2, your system will be unavailable for several hours during this time.
Note that dates are subject to change.
Flexing Your Upgrade
Subscribers to the Epicor Public Cloud Flex Option can follow the same schedule.
Alternatively, you have the option to defer your upgrade to Epicor Cloud ERP 10.2.700.
Below are the two date options for your flex upgrade.
Pilot Production
Option 1: Week of Dec 14, 2020 Jan 23-24, 2021
Option 2: Week of Jan 18, 2021 Feb 20-21, 2021
If you choose to defer, you must submit an EpicCare ticket with your selected upgrade date (Option 1 or Option 2) and we will send you a personalized confirmation with your instructions. We must receive your deferral no later than Friday, September 11, 2020. If you do not choose to defer, we’ll keep you on cadence and automatically upgrade your system in September 2020.
Note: If you choose to defer your upgrade, you will not receive any 600.x updates after the 10.2.600.11 update. We only host the upgrade webinars on September 16 and September 17, but replays are accessible at any time afterwards as documentation on EpicWeb. If you defer, you are strongly encouraged to either attend or watch the replay so you are aware of the upgrade process.
About The The Epicor Cloud ERP 10.2.700 Update
The Epicor Cloud ERP 10.2.700 update is the second of two major upgrades in 2020, as part of the regular cadence and commitment to helping your business grow through innovation.
Unlike the more frequent monthly updates that are minor yet enhance your daily experience, major releases like this bring you greater usability, performance, and strategic value in a single upgrade. That’s why we give you advance notice and the opportunity to test and explore the updates in the pilot before upgrading your production system.
Next Steps
Watch for additional information about the upcoming upgrade. You will be invited to join educational webinars on September 16 and September 17 to learn more about the Epicor Cloud ERP 10.2.700 update, how to prepare, and ways to leverage the new functionality for driving business growth. Documentation will also be made available on the Epicor customer portal EpicWeb. And as a reminder, reach out to EpicCare anytime you have a question or need application support.
Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of Industry.
As of June 2020, Epicor is no longer delivering enhancements for Epicor Advanced Financial Reporting (AFR), but bug fixes are still available for existing customers on maintenance, and the product is still in the Active Support stage. However, AFR is expected to move to Sustaining Support by 2021.
If your organization is looking for an alternative product by Epicor that gives more value and benefit to your business, Epicor can offer you three great financial reporting products that are fully integrated with Epicor ERP and provide the same capabilities as Epicor Advanced Financial Reporting and much more.
Epicor Financial Planner (EFP) – New edition: Financial Reports by EFP – New demo
Epicor Data Analytics (EDA) – New module: Financial Statements – New promo video
To support the migration to these products, a new, very beneficial, non-time limited migration offer is available to every Epicor ERP customer on active AFR maintenance when migrating to Epicor XL Connect or EFP.
EDA Financial Statements is also a great option at your discretion, however, for this product, the new non-time limited migration offer does not apply.
Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.
2020 has reached the mid-year mark and Avalara is delivering a live presentation on this year’s sales tax changes. The report takes stock of what’s taken place in the world of sales tax since the year began. This includes emerging trends, unforeseen changes, and the curveball this year threw the world with the COVID-19 pandemic. Join us for a live webinar presented on July 15 at 1 pm by the sales tax experts at Avalara on their 2020 Sales Tax Changes Midyear Update.
COVID-19
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic hamstrung brick-and-mortar commerce with a tremendous shift to digital operations and eCommerce.
All the while, businesses scrambled to deliver on fulfillment obligations to customers, remain solvent, and even retool to meet the demand for specific products.
Governments addressed the issue in several ways, with delayed VAT filings or temporarily cutting the VAT rate for industries bearing the largest impacts. For example, the United States pushed back state and federal income tax deadlines. This provides more time for individuals and businesses to file and pay.
2 Years Beyond South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc.
If you recall the 2018 United States Supreme Court decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., the ruling enabled states to tax businesses that have economic activity but no physical presence in the state. Otherwise known as economic nexus. It was a big deal. It still is. At the time, only a handful of states moved on to the new ruling and began charging states without physical presence sales tax.
Fast-forward to the June 2020 sales tax situation and the vast majority of states have signed on to adopt these economic nexus laws. COVID-19 has only heightened awareness among states that remain on the fence and it won’t be long before these convoluted rules apply to all 50 states.
States Need More Money
As the last six months have proven, the states are on their own in several social and economic areas. As the pandemic continues to send shockwaves through economies of every scale, states are sure they’ll need to supplement their coffers one way or another to remain effective in serving their residents. 2020 sales tax rules for individual states are likely to change to address the need for making up lost revenue.
Digital And Streaming Services Can Expect To Pay More
If you haven’t heard of Zoom or GoTo Meeting, chances are you’ve been living under a rock for the past six months. States are anticipated to raise taxes on these heavily utilized platforms. As a result, digital meeting and entertainment services are likely to see sales tax legislation expanded at their expense.
More Collection Requirements For Marketplace Facilitators
Marketplace facilitators like Etsy, Amazon, eBay, and others, are expected to collect and remit sales tax at an increasing rate. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. Most states already have such laws governing marketplace facilitator sales tax collections on the books. Just four states remain in this situation in the entirety of the US. One is already closely eyeing the implementation of such legislation.
The Dynamic Nature of 2020 Sales Tax
Nothing is guaranteed but death and taxes. Unfortunately, sales tax rules seldom retain the same state for very long. The last six months have seen reductions or eliminations of sales tax rules for feminine hygiene products. There’s even been discussion within some regions on the elimination of sales tax for firearms. Now, groceries are a focal point for communities hardest hit by job loss and economic downturn.
Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.
An Encompass customer in the Industrial Heating industry recently fell victim to an opportunistic ransomware attack that had encrypted all internal system files, as well as their Epicor application files. As a result, work was unable to continue, bringing operations to a standstill. Encompass’ Managed Services (MS) were enlisted to help get things back up and running. The company requested this case study on their ransomware recovery project be posted anonymously.
Ransomware Recovery Project Background
The company’s network fell victim to a severe ransomware attack. Unfortunately, it affected all internal systems, including backups. The attack took down the company’s systems completely in a matter of hours, forcing the company to rebuild from scratch. Fortunately, the company was able to save its Epicor Database.
The Plan
Initially, there was no internal plan in place at this company to address the initial attack or the fallout from such an event. The results from the attack were a focused effort to get systems up and running as fast as possible as well as restore a state of operational functionality.
Objectives for the engagement with Encompass Solutions’ Managed Services team were to recover system use, rebuild what was lost, and establish backups.
A plan to instate standard operating procedures that would minimize the potential for reoccurrence and maximize the efficiency of response and ransomware recovery followed.
The Execution
The company’s staff were able to provide Encompass with the necessary documentation, in the form of a blueprint of the existing Epicor environment, to rebuild the system in a more structurally sound way than the original.
Encompass’s Managed Services team worked with corporate IT staff to ensure backups and other security precautions were in place moving forward.
Overall, Encompass has just been a great asset to our organization. We have been through both a major Epicor upgrade and recovery process with them, and I am extremely impressed with everything they have done. They definitely make my job easier.
– C.R., IT Manager
The Results
Encompass’ ‘s managed services team was able to work with the parent company to reestablish a stable network and functional Epicor system in less than one week.
Next Steps
Documented SOPs were put in place to routinely establish backups and test recoverability regularly.
This company was pleased with Encompass’ level of service and expedient reaction to the situation. The two organizations will continue to work together on future Epicor projects and system maintenance.
Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.
The free sales tax risk assessment is a self-serve online resource that helps companies determine where they have triggered economic nexus. Companies answer three questions and receive a PDF report that provides a map and details regarding where they have triggered sales tax obligations and which states they need to watch.
Know Where You’re On The Hook With Our Free Sales Tax Risk Assessment Tool
Get a breakdown of states where you may be obligated to collect sales tax. The free Avalara Sales Tax Risk Assessment can help you determine where your sales have created a need to register to collect and remit sales tax — and guide you on a cost-effective automation solution.
Still, Need Convincing To Use This Free Sales Tax Risk Assessment Tool?
Has your company triggered economic nexus, or do you want to find out if it has? Try our tax expert partner’s free online sales tax risk assessment today – Avalara will give you your report.
Selling into states where you’re not physically located? You might be on the hook for sales tax if you’ve sold a certain dollar amount or volume.
Give our tax expert partner Avalara some of your time, and they’ll give you a customized PDF featuring each state where your sales have likely triggered a sales tax obligation and suggestions on an automation solution with strong ROI.
Get a breakdown of states where you may be obligated to collect sales tax. The free Avalara Sales Tax Risk Assessment can help you determine where your sales have created a need to register to collect and remit sales tax — and why.
43 states tax remote sales so it’s hard for businesses with national (or international) sales to know where they’re required to register to collect tax. Avalara’s new tool provides that clarity. Check it out and let’s talk about automating that knowledge.
Offering end-to-end tax compliance solutions to enterprises big and small, Avalara makes automated certificate validation, storage, and management easy. Avalara’s cloud-based sales tax automation software provides accuracy for all of the 12,000+ tax jurisdictions in the United States. Avalara ensures that automating sales, tax calculation, and maintaining compliance is all possible within your existing ERP, POS, or e-commerce system.
Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.
