posted on 8/18/2011 12:43:06 PM
Acumatica delivers a new version of its ERP software that better ties orders to inventory and allows users to update replenishment plans more quickly, with company-wide visibility.
ERP provider Acumatica this week released version 2.2 of its enterprise resource planning software, with several functional enhancements aimed at manufacturing and distribution companies.
Acumatica 2.2 features a series of upgrades that better integrate customer orders with the supply chain, according to a statement. A user inputting a sales order, for instance, can allocate inventory specifically to that order, leaving those goods unavailable for other shipments and requests. Acumatica’s developers also worked to improve the ERP system’s replenishment algorithms. Now a user can review replenishment plans and adjust purchase quantities based on that outlook. The user can also trigger store–to-store transfers to meet replenishment needs.
To ensure company-wide visibility into inventory, ERP users can update available inventory balances after they execute a shipping order, confirm a shipment, allocate inventory, or generate an invoice. And those inventory tools are now better integrated with the system’s manufacturing resource planning module, Doug Johnson, the company’s marketing VP, told Managing Automation.
Acumatica sells its ERP software through a network of resellers that add industry-specific functionality to the core system, Johnson said. Reseller JAAS Systems in July rolled out a manufacturing-specific offering, and a few early adopters are implementing the software now. Acumatica has approximately 100 customers in total, according to Johnson.
Acumatica bills its ERP software as a cloud-based offering. While the software is built in the multitenancy model, meaning the software base is the same for each customer, Johnson said Acumatica has not fully embraced that model in its messaging to customers.
“We elected to market the software as single tenant because the cost savings did not outweigh the ability to customize and the ability for customer to pick an upgrade date,” he said. “In the future, I expect that one of our partners will work on a ‘pre-configured’ solution that they can offer in multitenant mode to a specific vertical market.”
Johnson also revealed that Acumatica’s developers are now working on a rules-based product configurator, a quoting and estimating system, and integration of EDI transactions for demand planning and shipments.