Tis’ the season for the 12 steps of Fiscal year planning for the 12 periods of the fiscal year. Get these steps out of the way so you can enjoy your holiday with peace of mind.
For those in need of a rundown of what a fiscal year (FY) is, it is a period that any company or government uses for accounting purposes. Financial statements are prepared according to the dates that make up that organizations FY. This may or may not align with a standard calendar year. The IRS recognizes that not all companies align their FY with a calendar and allows organizations to file as calendar-year taxpayers or fiscal-year taxpayers. You may hear this term used when referring to budgets, financial performance, and other accounting discussions.
Fiscal Year Period Accuracy
Here’s a brief guide to help you set up your FY period accuracy within your ERP system.
IF
At (Financial Management/General Ledger/ Setup/Fiscal Calendar/ Selected Calendar) Latest FY = Current FY+1
THEN
Go to the Twelfth Step
ELSE
Add a New Fiscal year
Enter End Date
Save
Check Number of periods and closing periods for accuracy (check for period 13 requirements)
Go to Actions. If a Calendar period THEN Generate Periods
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.
Patrick Miskill’s technical series on ERP tools, particularly the Epicor DMT, wraps up today with a look at all the variables you’ll run into when building your ERP system and how learning about your errors is even more important than learning about your successes.
My actual experience with a manufacturer of fabric belts for large conveyor systems (Fenner Dunlop Americas) saw two uses of DMT: One for a major upgrade, a second for updating their Method of Manufacture/MOMs. In the first case, we used DMT scripts to upload data from an older version of Epicor to a newer one. Similar to a new installation, we pulled data out of the source system and formatted it in several dozen spreadsheets for uploading to the new target system. Knowing how the data was structured in the old Epicor system was a big help. For new Epicor customers, extracting and massaging the data from a non‐Epicor legacy system is quite a project; in such cases DMT is an invaluable tool.
Where The Epicor DMT Comes Into Play
In the standard product, an engineer would have to run a “where‐used” report to determine which part revisions used the raw material; it could be just a few dozen or it could be over 100. Each part revision would require changing in the Engineering Workbench, one by one. It is a time consuming and manually intensive process. So we developed a process starting with a Business Activity Query (BAQ) which went out and extracted only the MOMs affected by the change. The BAQ was developed specifically for subsequent use in DMT, i.e. column headings matched those required by DMT, we extracted all columns required by DMT (because we already knew the “rules” for MOMs) and only those optional columns we needed to update. We then entered Excel column formulas specific to the change(s). E.g. if the old raw material was a polyester yarn and the new material was a nylon yarn, unit weights and other factors specific to the textile industry (ever hear of a “twist contraction” variable?) could be entered into a formula that resulted in the new variables for the MOM.
Once the extract and validation of the Excel data was completed, it was simple to format the final output for use by DMT. Testing a few rows in a copy of the LIVE database, we could easily validate the final updated MOMs. In fact, we could use the original BAQ extract programs to look at the updated data in the TEST system and quickly evaluate the results. Once we got the process down, we turned what would have been a 100+ hours of manual updates in Epicor to an electronic process that ran in just a few hours. Once documented, the process could be reviewed, validated (the client was ISO compliant) and repeated as needed.
Of course like any software tool, DMT has its quirks. We learned the hard way that despite how illogical a data template may appear, it was critical to supply the required information in exactly the format requested. And interpreting the error logs is sometimes an exercise in the art of editing. I highly recommend acquiring and using the free “Notepad++” data editing tool; it can help you read a jumbled up error log file and it is essential to always check the final DMT file you create from Excel, prior to uploading it to DMT. A common mistake is to save an Excel spreadsheet as a comma‐separated variable file and the resultant ASCII file has extraneous commas and/or columns or just plain garbage. And if your data (e.g. Descriptions) contain commas, you must enclose them in double‐quotes (or just use a wacky character as the delimiter‐even safer).
Words Of Caution For Epicor DMT
Just remember that “with great power comes great responsibility…”. So before you change data in a system, make darn sure you’ve chosen the correct target database, since DMT will not issue any warning whatsoever if you update LIVE instead of TEST (not that I’ve EVER made that mistake!) and will merrily chug along, processing the data with the full expectation that the operator knows what the target database should be.
This is why it is CRITICAL to always test your DMT script before you run it in a production environment. Note that if you don’t have a recent copy of LIVE for test purposes, you should seek out technical services that can assist you (usually by taking a copy of your most recent backup of LIVE and bringing it up on a similar environment) this is something that Encompass Solutions as an Epicor certified partner does on a regular basis and offers as a managed service.
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.
Patrick Miskill’s series on ERP management continues with a closer look at how the most powerful tool you can get for managing your system, the DMT, works alongside the most important feature, the Method of Manufacture, or MOM. That’s right, love your MOM is stll the best advice ever.
The Epicor ERP system, like similar systems from SAP or Oracle, contains hundreds of tables in a single relational database. The database is almost irrelevant; however, the logical “rules” regarding how the data exists in the database is critical. Generally speaking, ERP systems consist of simple code (e.g. Unit of Measure) tables, then more complex entity tables (e.g. Suppliers) and finally transaction‐based tables. All these data must follow rules for “referential integrity” and the underlying database engine must keep track of the data and enforce the rules whether we are talking a few dozen rows of data in a single table or millions of rows of data in hundreds of tables.
The Ease Of Epicor DMT
The beauty of these “back door” tools is that they are quick and easy to load and run. And they also provide instant feedback to the user as to the program’s progress. Either a row insert succeeds or fails. You can test a single row in just a few seconds; it if fails, the Data Migration Tool provides an error log telling you why it failed. Error messages can be somewhat cryptic, but usually, it is straight‐forward. E.g. you are missing a required column (e.g. the “Company” column). And when all else fails, you can always go enter a row via the standard product then look at the resulting data in the underlying table(s) to deduce what the business object requires. Each DMT template lists the required and optional columns with a basic description of the data. As long as you follow the “rules” the data loads from the spreadsheet, just as if you keyed it manually into the system.
Some data relations, however, are quite complex and even the data template from DMT will cause you “instructional anxiety” (that feeling you get when you read an IKEA instruction guide and say, “What the heck?”). Rule‐of‐thumb: Just follow the rules, get one data set to load OK, then attempt a larger data set until you get it right. Big mistake: Run a spreadsheet with tons of rows without testing and end up with garbage in the system, or better yet, a crashed system!
Case‐in‐point: Method of Manufacture
Epicor stores the Method of Manufacture (MOM) for a part as a series of operations and materials linked to the finished goods Part and Revision. It is the “how‐to” cookbook to make something as simple as a screwdriver or as complex as a 747. It may consist of a single Operation with one or two raw material parts or it can be multiple sub‐assemblies, each with their own operations and materials. It provides not only the “how‐to” instructions to build something but it also contains estimates for the labor and burden rates to perform the operations. These estimates are critical to any manufacturer since they provide the baseline for each manufacturing job in determining how well the actual product conforms to the method and whether the actual costs are in line with the estimated costs.
In the Epicor Production Management module, before a single MOM is created, all dependent data must be loaded into the system. Example, all raw material parts must be entered, each with a given unit cost. All machine resources used in the manufacturing process must be loaded and activated. All labor resources (Employees) must be entered along with their labor and burden rates. All operations must be defined and assigned one or more resources. It is an enormous engineering task to get these data entered and all the relationships established properly so that the Epicor ERP system’s production jobs can begin tracking and documenting each step of the MOM, including capturing all related costs for management review. When done correctly, a company can then take advantage of the “Holy Grail” feature of ERP: MRP (Manufacturing Resource Planning, where the system can analyze demand and forecast part, labor and machine requirements for meeting that demand).
Of course just as in life, “things change” like the cost of raw materials, labor rates and then you always have “Acts of God.” For example when the earthquake off the coast of Japan struck in 2011, the resulting tsunami wiped out many manufacturers along the western coast of the country, leaving companies like Toyota in a serious bind as their “just‐in‐time” processes ran out of parts and sub-assemblies needed to manufacture cars and trucks. Imagine the sleepless nights that production managers must have had, re-engineering their MOMs and seeing their MRP rules flushed down the proverbial toilet!
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 ERP Consultant: Delivering Support And Expertise
When it comes to being an ERP consultant, nothing substitutes for experience and reliable references. At Encompass, our ERP consultants have been delivering solutions in business process improvement, ERP system maintenance and upgrades, and complete ERP implementation projects for a combined 200 years. Our consultants have first-hand experience with an array of systems, including Epicor, Microsoft Dynamics, Infor, Accumatica, and Oracle+NetSuite. Many of our ERP consultants come directly from these vendors to work at Encompass as ERP consultants, project managers, developers, and managed services professionals. Our experts ERP consultants are certified in their disciplines and maintain the most current training on the products and services they provide.
The Difference An ERP Consultant Makes
Each ERP project is as unique as the business it will transform and our years of experience are what make the difference in each case. It is an ERP consultant’s job to form a practical plan of action that will achieve a client’s goals within the capabilities of their ERP system and business processes. In some cases, this requires a fair amount of customization when it comes time to implement ERP software. Helping businesses to get a grip on organizational change management in the face of often rigid business requirements is another aspect of digital transformation that isn’t brought up enough. Our ERP consulting teams excel in mitigating the potential pitfalls these changes can bring. At Encompass, we offer practical and proven guidance designed to ensure the highest rate of success when it comes to ERP implementation projects of every size and scope.
Here’s What A Day In The Life Of An ERP Consultant Looks Like
It’s 6:47 AM. The hotel shower doesn’t always wake you up all the way so I started the coffee maker going before I was even fully dressed. The warm plastic smell rising from the maker as the hot coffee winds around inside of it reminds me of that one injection molding company I was at last year. That was an impressive operation. They had good coffee, too. You’ll have a lot of insight into good and bad coffee as an ERP consultant.
I pour myself a cup and open up the computer. Technically, the day began about thirty minutes ago, but everything starts now with the morning deluge of emails. I’m totally awake now. There’s plenty for me to respond to, but I flag those requests for follow-up later: I’m on site today, and that is what I’ve got to focus on.
I’m at the client for a training class long before my future students arrive, and I talk with the Project Manager while I set everything up, ticking off the mental checklist as I do so: Projector hooked up and on. PC has access to the Training Database. List of who is attending and their roles is in my hand. So far so good. Time to find the restroom and get rid of the coffee.
This is the peaceful time of the morning when rote and routine gets you up and going and into the rhythm of the day. I finish setting objectives with the Project Manager and soon, the training class begins. I was up late reviewing the details last night; this should go off without a hitch. I’m a bit less confident about the Process Workshop coming up afterwards. I slept on one of their problems last night and a solution didn’t present itself in the morning, so now it’s time to drill down. This is where my fellow team members will lend a hand: technology keeps us ever connected so I am never on my own at a client’s. I feel like I carry our entire company’s knowledge base around in my pocket. It’s good to know we can always work as a team.
In the training class, we review standard, best practices in using the EPICOR software. Since this is our main objective, we listen just as often as we instruct. This is when I identify disconnects—real or imagined—and make connections. Since it’s often that I’m meeting these people for the first time, I need to learn their names and start to really understand them.
After training is lunch. There are a few minutes of respite from the busyness of the day but when I can, I’m responding to my morning emails and filing away even more for later response. Hardly any time seems to pass before the Process Workshop starts up, but this is the part I enjoy the most. We’re working on how to make EPICOR work for them. My questions come first: What are your issues, what information are you capturing, what metrics do you control your business by? If I get a clear answer they’re surrounded by their questions: Can we do this? How do we do that? We need to do this…?
Information spreads out across the meeting, and another consultant offers a solution to that tricky issue I had to sleep on last night, and it’s accepted by the company. Yet work has only just begun: there are a few new gaps in the process that need to be filled, and the working day is already over. I review the activities of the day with the Project manager, and then, as I’m off to the dinner and hotel, there’s just one final checklist: What’s on the agenda for tomorrow, what do I need to do tonight to get ready, and in the coming months, after I’m long gone, who can I expect to be speaking to?
After all, it never ends after the training and process workshops and implementation: I’m now a point of contact for that client and their support. While our implementation and planning and procedures are cutting edge, tailored completely to the customer’s needs, there is always room for more efficiency. Who better to advise them than the person who helped them set up and build their system?
It’s not just a day in the life of an ERP Consultant. It’s the first day of a lifetime of support and teamwork.
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.
