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Microsoft Axapta has developed a reputation for being extremely powerful with a deep set of features. For example, when I select all of the inventory and manufacturing features in the Accounting Library tool which profiles the top 150 accounting software products in the United States, Axapta is rated higher than many other respected manufacturing /distribution products, edging out Epicor (by a margin of 79% to 70%), ACCPAC (by a margin of 79% to 78% & 75%); Made2Manage (by a margin of 79% to 66%), and JD Edwards World (by a margin of 79% to 72%). Partial results of this test are shown in the screen below.
By today’s standards, Axapta has a wealth of features and customization capabilities. To give you an idea of how sophisticated the system is, you need only look at the extensive capabilities of each module. For example, the warehouse module allows you to set up multiple warehouses, the number of aisles in each warehouse; areas for primary storage, buffer storage, and picking locations; the number of shelves on each isle; the height, depth, and width of each self, outbound and inbound docks, etc. Axapta also asks the user to define all forklifts including the forklift's function such as whether it is equipped to move pallets, pipes or other materials. Users can even schedule blocking causes where it is known in advance that a particular aisle will be blocked temporarily for various reasons such as restocking. All of these factors are then used by Axapta to recommend where products should be stored, what order items should be picked, when items should be picked, etc. It is very impressive, not to mention complex. Presented below is a brief summary of those features which make Axapta one of the top products in the world today. 1. Very Fast - Axapta is an extremely fast product. On October 8, 2001, a test conducted by Compaq and Oracle showed that Axapta set new records for transaction processing. In this test, more than 315,000 sales orders were processed in just one hour by 3,600 simultaneous users. Wow. 2. Low Cost - Even though Axapta has the power and functionality of a Tier 1 ERP product, it is priced very reasonably. A typical 10-user implementation of Axapta will generally price out at $80,000 to $120,000 for the software, and approximately $150,000 for a 50-user implementation. The typical consulting fees for Axapta are usually 1.5 to 1 - or one and half times the cost of the software. This is a great price considering Axapta is equivalent to or more powerful than other Tier 1 ERP systems which typically cost millions of dollars. 3. Customization - Axapta is highly customizable – perhaps more so than any other product. Axapta provides a unique feature in which newly created customized fields are assigned to a category. With this assignment, the newly created fields then show up throughout the Axapta product on the appropriate user screens. For example, in both Navision and Axapta the user can add new data fields. However in Navision, the user must then visit each data input screen (user form) to insert and position the new field. However Axapta has no such requirement for editing data input screens. Simply add the field to the tables and it shows up everywhere. As an example, assume that a newly created field keeps track of the name of the customer's boat (useful for boat marinas). In Axapta, that new field automatically appears everywhere with no additional customization effort. That's really cool. 4. Multiple Databases - Axapta can be deployed on either the Microsoft SQL Sever or Oracle databases. This translates to high-end scalability. 5. World-Wide Features - Each implementation of Axapta includes all features from around the world. If for some reason you wanted to enable the Spanish version of the order entry module or Euro multi-currency capabilities in Axapta, you need only type in the correct registration key. The Spanish version is already loaded on all Axapta installations and ready to go. 6. All-in-One Product - 100% of the Axapta product has been developed in house and written with the Axapta tools. Many other products have been pieced together when the vendors purchase third party add on products. For example, the MAS 500 product line acquired and integrated the Heitech manufacturing add-on module as it's manufacturing solution. Epicor contains similar integrations. This does not mean that Axapta's method is necessarily better, but I think that it is easy to see how this approach could result in a more consistent look and feel and tighter integration. 7. High Reseller Standards – Historically, and under Navision’s control, Axapta resellers were held to high standards, which included extensive training and testing requirements. For example, in order to become an Axapta reseller, you first had to have five people attend extensive training and they each must have passed a fairly tough test. Three of these people were trained in the Axapta product, while the other two were trained in customizing Axapta. By contrast, most other accounting vendors make little or no requirements of their reseller channel. To some accounting software companies, their reseller test amounts to seeing whether or not the reseller’s check will clear. I believe that Navision's requirements resulted in much higher caliber resellers, which translates to higher customer satisfaction even today. 8. Foreign Language and Foreign Currency – Axapta is a widely deployed product around the world. Because Axapta is deployed in so many countries, the product has developed excellent multi-currency and foreign language capabilities. By contrast, many accounting software products developed in the United States either do not include foreign currency and foreign language capabilities, or they add them later as an after-thought. 9. Built-in Remote Access - With most high-end accounting software systems, remote solutions such as Citrix or Terminal Services are required to provide remote access. This is not the case with Axapta because it has it's own built-in remote capabilities which is included in the price of the product. 10. Questionnaires - Axapta's CRM solution includes a wizard that makes it relatively easy to create questionnaires that may be scheduled days, weeks, months or years in advance. At the appointed time, Axapta sends the questionnaires out to the designated recipients, and upon return, Axapta automatically computes the results and compiles a detailed report showing the number of questionnaires sent, number of responses, and analysis of responses including standard deviation. This type of tool is great for gathering business intelligence on your existing customers, missed customers, employees, or other targeted groups.
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