Small Business ERP System - Recommendations wanted

[Shawn Armstrong]

Does anyone recommend any ERP systems that are reliable for small business (and can grow in time)?

 

[Michael_M]

We use E2 Shop systems. I believe it is designed with 'small/medium' size shops in mind. The software is fairly good as it keeps track of almost everything that happens. If you are/want to be ISO9001, for the most part, the software can be integrated into the system requirements.

The down side of the software is if you have bad data entry (I assume this would apply to any software) but I do feel I have to mention it.

 

[Max Dugan]

Not off hand, but what "modules" are you wanting? The first thing to know is what you want to track and integrate. For example:

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) - Sales Force Automation, Quoting & Estimating, Order Entry
Manufacturing - Forecasting, Material & Production Planning (MPP), Shop Floor Control, Routings, Capacity Planning & Scheduling, Purchasing, Lot/Serial Control, Inventory, Workflow
Supply Chain - Demand Planning, Purchasing, Supplier Management, Purchasing to Jobs/Projects
Financials - Costing, Accounts Receivable (AR), Accounts Payable (AP), General Ledger (GL)
Human Resources - Labor Collection, Payroll, Benefits
Business Performance Management (BPM) - Business Intelligence (BI), Multi-Entity Consolidation, Corporate Governance, Reporting
Engineering & Product Lifecycle Management (EPLM) - Parts & Bill of Materials (BOM's), CAD Interface, Routings, Parts & Product Attributes, Change Management

 

[Shawn Armstrong]

This is great information. I am looking for a Supply Chain (Ordering) / Manufacturing (Travelers / Tickets) system that talks to Quickbooks.

 

[Big Jim]

The two I see the most are Job Boss and E2. From what my clients tell me, Job Boss is easier to implement and is enough for many companies while E2 is more flexible but takes more to implement it.

Also worth considering is Fish Bowl. It is an open source set of programs that some find more than adequate and can be a good answer if the budget is tight.

 

[DRAMMAN]

There are many. They are all also going to pretty good if they have bee in business for a long time. Some are oriented towards specific business such as machine shops, medical, food. If you are new to ERP don't ignore newer cloud based options which can be a good way for very small companies to get started at a reasonable cost.

Stay away from the big ones like Oracle, SAP, Epicor, JDE. They will market that they are good options for small orgs, but they are not at all.

Try to find a ERP or manufacturing trade show to attend. There will usually be many vendors to talk to and you can get a good look at their systems.