Macola UK News http://www.macola.co.uk Macola UK - Software house, resellers of Exact Macola software including ES and Progression. Copyright 2007 Mon, 8 Sep 2008 14:56:34 GMT Mon, 8 Sep 2008 14:56:34 GMT Macola UK Mark Hooper Longview Solutions to be acquired by Exact Software http://www.macola.co.uk/news.php?id=13 The acquisition of Longview Solutions, a corporate performance management software company, will enrich Exact’s solution portfolio. Exact Software, a provider of business software solutions, and Longview Solutions, a provider of corporate performance management software solutions, recently jointly announced the signing of an agreement for Exact to acquire Longview. This strategic acquisition will strengthen Exact’s business empowerment software portfolio by adding Longview’s powerful corporate performance management platform, and will accelerate Exact’s expansion into the higher end of the mid-market. In turn, Longview will benefit from Exact’s financial strength and geographic footprint as it continues to deliver software and services to the enterprise market and further expands into the mid-market. "The strategic fit of this acquisition is excellent. Longview will broaden our solution portfolio beyond traditional ERP and the complementary market focus facilitates our expansion in the higher end of the mid-market," said Raj Patel, CEO of Exact. "We are very excited about and absolutely committed to Longview’s proven technology, the quality and knowledge of its employees, and its diverse and distinguished customer base. It also enables our mid-market customer base to benefit from Longview’s experience and expertise in performance management. This is a milestone for Exact in executing our strategy towards becoming the leading business empowerment software company." "We are very excited to be joining the Exact family. The two organizations and our respective product suites complement each other very well," said Mark E. Burton, President and CEO of Longview. "Longview has long been recognized as a visionary and technology leader in corporate performance management. This acquisition will allow us to continue to deliver on Longview’s technology road map and accelerate the execution of our sales and marketing strategy." Macola UK {categories} Mon, 15 Oct 2007 09:49:10 GMT What's new in Macola ES release 372 http://www.macola.co.uk/news.php?id=12 We are proud to inform you of the general release of Macola ES 372, version 4.0.0.324. General functional changes and enhancements Below are short summaries of the functional changes and enhancements to this release of Macola ES. These functional changes and enhancements are described in more detail in the Macola ES help. General Ledger
  • Trial Balance Crystal Report: Generates a detailed general ledger trial balance report by general ledger main account, cost unit, and cost centre.
Purchase Order and Receiving
  • Print Purchase Orders Crystal Report: Users can print original Purchase Orders and update the database with a Crystal report instead of the legacy report.
  • Purchase Order History Status: There is a new purchase order status called 'History' that is a non-reversible selection. This works with the 'I/M Reset on Order Quantities' process. The Reset on Order Quantities process reduces the quantity on order for items on the purchase order (with a history status) that have not been fully received.
    • Inventory Management
    • Cycle Count Processing: Cycle count processing has the option to count items based on user-defined frequencies.
    • Feature option items with actual costing: Users having feature option items can specify that rolled up costs associated with manufacturing (SFC) and O/E posting can use the same cost rollup (based on actual costs) to minimize WIP variance in manufacturing and provide accurate sales margin analysis.
    System Manager
    • Menu Builder: Allows users to add external applications and launch customized Crystal reports from the Macola ES menu.
    • Project Number: Job number has been changed to Project number throughout the accounting and distribution packages. (Job will still be used in the manufacturing packages when referring to MCA jobs.)
    • Print Spooled Reports: Spooled reports can be saved to any directory on your hard drive.
    Cash Flow
    • Bank Costs: Bank costs can be disbursed to more than three general ledger accounts.
    • Match to Invoices screen: The Match to Invoices screen has extra fields and allows more flexibility to select and sort columns.
    • Match to Invoices screen: An Export feature has been added to the Match to Invoice screen. Users can now export Match to Invoice data to Microsoft Excel.
    • Match to Invoices screen: An 'Add' button has been added to the Match to Invoices screen. Users can dynamically add invoices that are not currently displayed on the Match to Invoice screen.
    • Two New Changes in Macola ES Cash Flow Module – comments from the ES Support Group: With the upcoming release of Exact Macola ES Batch 372, the Exact Software support group wanted to point out two new changes in the cash flow module.
      • First, the 'Type' field in the cash flow screen has been restricted to only accept 'Bank Statement' as the type. The reason for this enhancement in Batch 372 is to prevent confusion and problems with the data that were occurring with the use of other cash flow types. For example, if you select 'Cash', the transactions would not appear on the check status reports. Also, for this and some of the other types, there were no reports that would include the information. Since the bank statement type was the only one recommended for use by Exact, we chose to restrict this field until the other values are supported in Macola ES.
      • The second change is related to the 'TO' account on this same screen. Starting in Batch 372, the system is validating the bank account number that is defaulting into this screen.
      • The system stores the last bank account you used in a registry field that is unique to your machine and log in. In prior versions of Macola ES, if you switched from one ES company to another, the system would display the last bank account used, even if it was not valid for this company.
      • With Batch 372, the system is validating the bank account that was last used. If it is valid for the company you are in, the bank account will appear. If it is not valid for the company you are in, the system will make the field blank. The goal of this was to prevent confusion about the bank account that the system is using.
    Accounts Payable
    • Pre-Check Writing Report: The Pre-Check Writing Report was modified to display the invoice amount, discount taken amount, and net cash required in three separate columns.
    Order Entry
    • O/E Invoices: Users can print original Invoices and update the database with a Crystal report instead of the legacy report.
    • Order Booking Report: The Order Booking Report can be sorted by salesperson with details listed for each customer order.
    • O/E Pick Tickets: Users can print original Pick Tickets and update the database with a Crystal report instead of the legacy report.
    • O/E Packing List: Users can print original Packing Lists and update the database with a Crystal report instead of the legacy report.
    • O/E Customer Search: Users who have AR Customer Maintenance rights can create new customers at the time of order entry.
    • O/E to P/O Integration: When a Ship via code for a customer on an O/E order does not exist as an A/P Ship Via Code, you will receive a message 'No AP Match for AR Ship Via Code. Using Default Ship Via for PO #'. When this happens, the system will use the ship via code from the vendor on the purchase order. If you always want to use the ship via code from the customer order when creating the drop ship purchase order using OE to PO functionality, you must have matching Ship Via codes in A/P and A/R (System/AP/Ship Via codes and System/AR/Ship Via codes).
    • O/E to P/O Integration: Drop ship purchase orders created from O/E will inherit the ship-to and ship-via data.
      • O/E to P/O Integration: Quantities received against drop shipment purchase orders will automatically update quantities to-ship on related customer orders.
      • Bill of Lading Report: The Bill of Lading Report has been expanded. Users can now create a Bill of Lading Report for items that are in transit.
    Labour Performance
    • L/P Setup: There is a new option to exclude break time from the direct cost calculation. This affects what is accumulated in the Direct Hours field: break time can be accumulated or not in the direct hours.
    e-Synergy
    • POP and SFC: POP and SFC information is visible in e-Synergy.
    Warehouse Management System
    • Pack Verify Mode: Press 'F9' from the RFGun toward the end of packCartons for an order in PackVerify mode, the program creates a shipment, assigns default values from the system, and attaches the cartons and closes the shipment.
    Exact Business Analytics (EBA) NEW – please read – Mike Leahy comment
    As part of Exact's continued commitment to adding value, this release provides a compact version of our newest corporate product, Exact Business Analytics (EBA). EBA version 4.6 now includes 'Express Users' equal to the quantity of existing Macola ES licensed users at no additional cost. As a result, your employees now have a unique opportunity to explore the benefits of EBA. Macola ES release 372 embedded EBA functionality also includes access to four existing Analytic Integrations including Sales, Inventory and Purchasing, Manufacturing and Financials, as well as site licenses to match your existing company count and synchronized user access between Macola ES and EBA. You must download and install Macola ES release 372 to take advantage of Express User Interface. If you have previously licensed EBA, you will gain Express Users to complement purchased licenses for Power Users and/or Standard Users (previously Consumer Users).
    Exact EDI
    • If you are using Exact EDI and wish to update to the latest version, please follow your normal update procedure for Exact EDI.
    Exact Event Manager
    • The version of Exact Event Manager compatible with this release of Macola ES is Exact Event Manager 5.7.
    Customized Crystal reports
    • If you have modified Crystal reports, you should test them on one workstation before copying them to all workstations. Some Crystal reports for Macola ES have changed for release 372. If you have a modified version of any of these you should test it:
      • (P/O) Print Purchase Order -- this is no longer a re-print.
      • (O/E) Print Invoice -- this is no longer a re-print.
      • (O/E) Picking Ticket.
      • (O/E) Packing List.
      • (O/E) Booking Report.
    Macola ES with integrated e-Synergy
    • If you are using e-Synergy with Macola ES, please update in the following order:
      • Update Macola ES, but do not open Macola ES when prompted.
      • Update e-Synergy, but do not open e-Synergy when prompted.
      • Open Macola ES, allowing the database optimizer to run, if needed. You can open e-Synergy after the Macola ES database optimizer has finished.
    Database optimizer
    • Macola ES Database Optimizer -- When you update Macola ES, if the database needs to be synchronized, the Macola ES Database Optimizer will run.
    Macola UK {categories} Thu, 16 Aug 2007 11:14:10 GMT Exact Software Customer Boon Inc. Named in the Managing Automation 2007 Progressive Manufacturing 50 http://www.macola.co.uk/news.php?id=11 Exact Software(™), a leading provider of solutions that connect the people, processes and knowledge essential to an organisation, today announced that customer Boon, Inc. was selected as a winner of the third annual Progressive Manufacturing 50 Awards Program, selected by Managing Automation, a Thomas Publishing Company, LLC publication. The Progressive Manufacturing 50 awards program recognizes manufacturers that are being progressive in their businesses, in the management of their operations and in their use of advanced technologies. The Awards Program recognises 50 companies that have achieved distinction in at least one of the eight core disciplines defined by Managing Automation as critical to business success in the years ahead. These disciplines include: Business Model Mastery, Customer Mastery, Supply Network Mastery, Data & Integration Mastery, Innovation Mastery, Training & Education Mastery, Leadership and Operational Excellence. Boon, Inc., a designer and manufacturer of innovative children's products that address the needs of modern parents, was specifically honoured in the Operational Excellence category. The company garnered this recognition for a successful Exact Software deployment that includes Exact Macola ERP, a mid-market ERP suite that encompasses MRP, accounting and inventory management; Exact e-Synergy, a Web-based business management solution; and Exact Event Manager, a business activity monitoring (BAM) solution. "As a start up manufacturer, Boon is laser-focused on leveraging its technology investments to streamline processes and keep our headcount to the bare minimum," said Ryan Fernandez, Boon's co-founder, president and CEO. "With Exact, we've been able to seamlessly tie our front and back-office together, facilitating the smooth movement of data and workflow throughout the company. As a result, we've shrunk the number of processes in place while eliminating human error from those processes, which has helped to increase our efficiency and effectiveness." Project nominations were reviewed by an independent judging panel chaired by David Brousell, Editor-in-Chief of Managing Automation. Judges evaluated and scored nominated projects based on the following criteria: project scope, business impact, customer impact, technology use and scale. Progressive Manufacturing 50 winners were the companies receiving the highest total scores. "These companies exemplify the best in manufacturing," explained David R. Brousell. "They are developing new ways of building products, bringing those products to market, and managing the relationships they need to succeed. They are masters of new ways of thinking about their companies, applying advanced technologies and achieving breakthroughs in the business of manufacturing." Managing Automation, published by Thomas Publishing Company, LLC, provides a complete set of decision-support informational tools for progressive manufacturers -- companies who are using information and automation technologies to transform their businesses and create a sustainable competitive advantage. Its monthly magazine, website, information technology comparison and match database, and executive conferences reach the entire integrated technology buying team - executives, line-of-business managers and IT management - at every stage of the technology buying process. Additional information can be found at www.managingautomation.com. Macola UK {categories} Wed, 13 Jun 2007 15:13:34 GMT Exact Software announces dividend payout of €1.42 http://www.macola.co.uk/news.php?id=10 Delft, 26 April 2007 - Referring to the announcement of the full year results 2006 on 8 February 2007, Exact announces that it will pay a dividend of €1.42 per share over the financial year 2006. The dividend translates into a payout ratio of 100% of the 2006 net income of €34.1 million and will be payable as of 14 June 2007. The Board of Managing Directors has decided on a change in the dividend policy, which was a payout of 50% of net income. The new dividend policy is to distribute 100% of net income for any year the company did not execute any material acquisition. The proposal for the dividend of in total €1.42 per share over the financial year 2006 was adopted by the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders on 25 April 2007. The dividend translates into a payout ratio of 100% of the 2006 net income of €34.1 million. On 31 December 2006 Exact’s equity amounted to €182.7 million, representing approximately 65% of the balance sheet total. The rationale behind this proposal is that Exact has continuously demonstrated strong and sustainable cash flow generation. The free cash flow generated in 2006 came in at €37 million, leading to a cash position of €127.8 million as per 31 December 2006. After the payout of the approved dividend, Exact will hold a cash position in excess of €100 million. With this cash position and its un-geared balance sheet, Exact has a sound investment capacity for acquisitions. The ex-dividend date will be 27 April 2007 and the dividend will be payable as of 14 June 2007. Holders of Exact shares are entitled to this cash distribution if their Exact shares are held at their bank or broker after the closing of the Stock Exchange of Euronext Amsterdam N.V. on 2 May 2007, the record date. Macola UK {categories} Tue, 12 Jun 2007 09:48:41 GMT Eyes Everywhere: Event Manager offers a constant watch on business processes http://www.macola.co.uk/news.php?id=9 Every afternoon at 4:30, a screen pops up on the PC of Neil Montgomery, CEO of Davis Controls Ltd. in Oakville, Ontario. It tells him of the important events of the day, such as how many orders the company booked, how much was billed, the names of customers who have gone past 90 days without paying and the orders that have missed delivery promises. Event Manager tells him about things that didn't happen. For example, Event Manager sends Neil 15 daily e-mail alerts, one of which identifies any remote salespeople who haven't logged in that day to download the latest information from a corporate database about the customers in their territories. "Sometimes those remote sales guys will just sit out there in never-never land, and as long as they think no one is watching, they'll march to their own drummer," he says. But Montgomery watches through the eyes of Macola Enterprise Suite, an ERP package from Exact Software, a subsidiary of Exact Holding NV in Delft, Netherlands. Macola ES includes the Exact Event Manager, a BAM product that triggers alerts and reports on activity and non-activity both inside and outside of the ERP system. BAM, a term coined by Gartner Inc., refers to the automated monitoring of business-related activity affecting an enterprise. Although BAM applications are seldom truly real-time, they generally look at and report on activity in the current operational cycle—the current hour, day or week, for example—and are designed to spot problems early enough to head them off. There is no precise definition of BAM products. They incorporate concepts from—and sometimes are built on—ERP, business intelligence (BI), business process management and enterprise application integration (EAI) software. Most vendors of those types of products claim to have BAM offerings. And BAM isn't a new concept; credit card companies have had real-time fraud monitors for years, and manufacturing facilities have real-time error-detection software built into their assembly lines. Most companies monitor their business activity, but it's often after the fact—too late to head off a problem such as a missed bid deadline or the loss of a major customer. "The conventional wisdom has been to just take transactional data and move it to the data warehouse and then to the BI system," says Mike Smith, a senior vice president at Ventana Research in Belmont, Calif. "But those systems aren't responsive." Indeed, BAM applications generally don't take data from a data warehouse; they pluck it in real time from the applications where it originates—order entry, accounts receivable, customer relationship management and so on. Output takes a variety of forms, including dashboards, e-mails, pager alerts and conventional reports. "What's new with BAM," Smith says, "is we've taken the subcomponents of technologies that have matured in the last three to four years and put them together to provide more relevant information in a much more responsive fashion." These components include EAI, event management, rules, workflow monitoring and alerting technology, he says. "BAM tools seem to work," says Gartner analyst Bill Gassman. On the other hand, he says, most BAM applications today aren't very sophisticated. They tend to be narrowly focused—one could be designed to watch for a malfunction on an assembly line, for example. "But what if there are external factors, like a FedEx shipment of parts is late? How do you integrate that?" Gassman asks. Recognizing such concerns, vendors are starting to build BAM into their supply chain products, he says. Montgomery says BAM enables him to manage his company more proactively. "Before, I'd have to wait until a customer called with a complaint or I'd have to wait until the month-end financial statements to really get a feel for how the business was doing." Montgomery generally gives his employees free rein to use Exact Event Manager and to define alerts, which can be triggered by events in the company's front-end systems, such as CRM, and back-office systems, such as purchasing, inventory, order entry and accounting. "Anyone who needs to know something now has no excuse not to know that thing," he says. Macola UK {categories} Tue, 29 May 2007 14:40:08 GMT How a new breed of entrepreneur is tapping technology to succeed in non-tech sectors http://www.macola.co.uk/news.php?id=8 "It's not the old guard in manufacturing anymore. Now there is a new guard" that understands technology and can digest the information and knowledge that advanced business applications offer to young, growing companies. So says Tod Replogle, COO of Business Computer Technologies (BCT), a channel partner to a new generation of manufacturing entrepreneurs such as Boon and World Pet, both of which started up in the past five years. Ryan Fernandez, cofounder, president, and CEO of Boon, represents this new breed. Fernandez's company makes children's bath toys, which it sells directly to retailers in the United States and through distribution to the rest of the world. But does Fernandez have any experience in toy manufacturing? No. Retailing? No. Well then, what does he know, you ask? Technology. Fernandez spent the 10 years prior to starting Boon at Intel. Before that he was in college. Fernandez is 32 years old. His business partner Rebecca Finell is 30. Finell designed the company's first product, Frog Pod, a bathtub scoop, rinse, and toy storage unit. In less than three years, Boon has expanded to offer nearly 10 products in 35 countries at 500 retailers, including Target, Toys "R" Us, Burlington Coat Factory, Costco, and BJ's Warehouse. When you are a startup manufacturer, it's all about streamlining, Fernandez says. It's about taking human error out of processes, shrinking the number of processes in place, and making them invisible. And keeping head count to the bare minimum. With technology in his blood, Fernandez intuitively understood that the company could not manage a global supply chain using phones and faxes. "Old school is OK if you have one or two products. But if you want to grow, it is impossible for a few people to manage everything" Fernandez says. Fernandez decided on a solution from Exact Software, which makes a suite of front- and back-end apps, including Macola Enterprise Suite and Exact Event Manager. A distributor in Germany, for example, can access print ads, images, PDFs, and any documentation the distributor might need. A retailer can place an order through the portal; the order is then sent to accounts receivable, where a pick ticket is generated. For e-commerce, Boon has a button on the Web site that links the local retailer with the buyer so that the storefront gets the benefit of the online purchase. Sitting on top of it all is a Business Event Monitoring component called Event Manager that acts as the eyes and ears for a young company, the principals of which may be so buried in the day-to-day grind of running a new business that they don't have time to evaluate how the company is actually doing. Fernandez offers some advice to other would-be startups. "IT is my background" Fernandez says, but he warns "if you lack that expertise, don't hire an IT company that may just want to sell you equipment." Rather, a new company should find an IT consultant who has "skin in the game," as Fernandez puts it, and who understands how technology fits in. In working with many new startups, BCT's Replogle says there are a lot more companies out there that are successful because they recognize technology enhances the delivery of their products and improves overall company performance. Boon is a great example. Macola UK {categories} Fri, 20 Apr 2007 11:25:08 GMT Macola UK offers Unlimited Training to all of its customers http://www.macola.co.uk/news.php?id=7 Unlimited Training means that you can send any user, to any internet-based course, any number of times, for one full year. Each class is interactive, led by experienced instructor who will assist you during lab exercises, and answer all of your questions. Unlimited Training is available for Progress, Macola ES, Event Manager, Business Analytics and Crystal Reports. Customers are now realising the exceptional value Unlimited Training provides, and now you can too:
    • Increased user Knowledge and proficiency across your entire enterprise
    • Access to more than 100 regularly scheduled training courses
    • Convenient and cost-effective training for all users
    • Simplified budgeting and planning process to meet training needs
    • Convenience of internet-based training in 2 to 3 hour sessions
    • Zero travel expense, minimal down-time and disruption
    • Unlimited access to training resources, materials and training labs
    • Attend scheduled training courses in any number of times during your subscription
    Unlimited Training is available to all our customers using a simple fixed percentage of your total software value, typically 5 percent. Learn how Unlimited Training can maximize your Exact Macola investment by contacting John Grima on 01329 235846 or email jg@lynq.co.uk     Macola UK {categories} Fri, 20 Apr 2007 11:21:49 GMT