ERP/Accounting Selection: Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle, SAP - Expansion to Europe

This article is targeted at US-based mid-size and large companies, planning the expansion and opening branches in Europe. It is for IT director, who is nowadays responsible for ERP/MRP platform selection and following implementation. The format of the article doesnรขโ�ฌโ�ขt allow us to come up with detail specs comparison, we will be rather giving you highlights for further research and checklist of things that you should not miss at the consideration. We will begin with the specific of the market and then point out to the solutions available.

รขโ�ฌยข Multiple Languages. Continental Europe doesnรขโ�ฌโ�ขt speak on English language natively รขโ�ฌโ�� documentation is in German, French, Italian or whichever country you consider. It is not just a question of finding English speaking and writing accounting personnel รขโ�ฌโ�� as you will see, reading further

รขโ�ฌยข Taxation. Now it is becoming more standardized, however you should now that in Europe you have to deal with VAT (Value Added Tax), in comparison to Sales Tax in the US. VAT should be paid not only by end consumer, but also by resellers, distributors, etc. Also it is common practice when Services are taxable in European countries.

รขโ�ฌยข Government Reporting. In the USA you report on the federal and state levels and usually IRS and the states donรขโ�ฌโ�ขt care about the accounting system you use. In Europe, again depending on the country and probably this tendency is more applicable when you move Eastward, the government might have more involvement in the ERP brands selection, recommending several systems as approved, certified, localized, etc.

รขโ�ฌยข Accounting Procedures. In some countries (France, Russia) you may encounter with the situation, when government wants you to use recommended chart of accounts, usually generalized and geared toward manufacturing accounting, which might be a nightmare in the case if you are service-oriented business. Considering innovative nature of US businesses in expansion mode รขโ�ฌโ�� this issue should be addressed

Now we will give you solutions highlights

รขโ�ฌยข Local ERP. The specific legislation and conditions of the country you chose for your European penetration probably produced several locally originated ERPs. As a tendency รขโ�ฌโ�� these systems typically deal with government reporting and available in local language only. If you decide to implement such a solution, please understand the trade-ins รขโ�ฌโ�� you can not find US/international managers who could efficiently take the control over when needed.

รขโ�ฌยข Microsoft Dynamics. Microsoft Business Solutions these systems for continental Europe: Navision, Axapta รขโ�ฌโ�� Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Microsoft Dynamics AX (Microsoft Great Plains/Microsoft Dynamics GP will be pulled out from France, Germany and Holland, where it currently has some market presence). Navision & Axapta are both localized and "approved"

รขโ�ฌยข SAP Business One. Assuming that you represent mid-size business รขโ�ฌโ�� this system has all-in-one and the named user license includes all the modules (you can have CRM-only client for your sales people at ร�ยฝ of the price). SAP Business One was designed with the ideas of the Multilanguage, flexible reporting and object-oriented tax engine. Plus SAP Business One has transaction integration to mySAP.

รขโ�ฌยข Oracle Financials/E-Business Suite. This solution, coming from Oracle, also referred as Oracle Applications should be considered as very efficient and reliable. It is also localized and has very long market presence history in Europe. Oracle comes with J2EE/EJB/Java customization & development

รขโ�ฌยข IBM Lotus Notes/Domino. It is not an ERP รขโ�ฌโ�� it is rather the platform, Lotus is very popular in Europe and you should consider and respect it if you purchase existing company, using Lotus for document workflow

รขโ�ฌยข Integration, Customization & Reporting. You should consider European branch ERP integration ability to your corporate ERP in the USA and management reporting compliance.

Please do not hesitate to call or email us: USA 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918 help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer at Alba Spectrum Technologies (http://www.albaspectrum.com) - Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, Navision, Axapta MS CRM, Oracle Financials and IBM Lotus Domino Partner, serving corporate customers in the following industries: Aerospace & Defense, Medical & Healthcare, Distribution & Logistics, Hospitality, Banking & Finance, Wholesale & Retail, Chemicals, Oil & Gas, Placement & Recruiting, Advertising & Publishing, Textile, Pharmaceutical, Non-Profit, Beverages, Conglomerates, Apparels, Durables, Manufacturing and having locations in multiple states and internationally. We are serving USA Nationwide: CA, IL, NY, FL, AZ, CO, TX, WI, WA, MI, MA, MO, LA, NM, MN, Europe: Germany, France, Belgium, Poland, Russia, Middle East (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, OAE, Bahrain), Asia: China, Australia, New Zealand, Oceania, South & Central America: Mexico, Peru, Brazil, Venezuela, Columbia, Ecuador, Chili, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico

Microsoft Great Plains Jewelry - Implementation & Customization Overview

Each Industry and market niche has business specific and unique requirements to ERP/Accounting System. Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is ERP platform, ready for third party modules additions and customizations, plus being SQL Server-based system it opens you wide spectrum of integration options and tools. In this small article weรขโ�ฌโ�ขll give you Microsoft Great Plains implementation and setup highlights, typical for Jewelry retail network.

รขโ�ฌยข Fixed Assets. Jewelry retailer owns the network of jewelry retail outlets and each one has relatively expensive set of fixed assets: counters, holders, computers, etc. Company has to track each individual Fixed Asset item and depreciate it accordingly: for IRS, State and probably several internal company management accounting depreciation scenarios and methods: straight line, DDB, etc. Due to the fact of reselling precision metals: gold, silver, gem stones and diamonds รขโ�ฌโ�� you should expect regular audit from IRS and State authorities. Depreciation plays substantial portion of companyรขโ�ฌโ�ขs non-cash expenses and so should be 100% accurate. Additional challenges รขโ�ฌโ�� bonus depreciation, introduced several years ago. Plus you must have comprehensive reporting on FA locations by store and region.

รขโ�ฌยข EDI purchasing. In Great Plains you should be able to order your inventory via Electronic Document Interchange (EDI) mechanism. You have multiple options to realize EDI รขโ�ฌโ�� the simplest would be Purchase Order creation in Great Plains Purchase Order Processing/Receiving module and then exporting them into text EDI-fixed-length compliant format. This text file should be forwarded to your supplier and in Great Plains POP you set flags for POs being sent to your vendor

รขโ�ฌยข Retail Management System integration. In the case when you use Microsoft RMS Store Operations and Headquarters รขโ�ฌโ�� you should consider seamless integration of your daily transactions into Microsoft Great Plains Sales Order Processing (SOP) or Receivables Management (RM) modules. The integration is realized as a set of MS SQL Server stored procedures. The other way would be implement both Purchasing and Inventory count on RMS Store Operations/Headquarters level and integrate General Ledger transactions only. If you have only one Great Plains Company รขโ�ฌโ�� you can deploy RMS->GP integration utility, coming to you with RMS purchase and support CDs.

รขโ�ฌยข Reporting. In both cases รขโ�ฌโ�� Great Plains and RMS compliance reporting should be realized in Crystal Reports and the best way and design style is creating SQL views and stored procedures and basing report on these views and procs.

We encourage you to analyze your alternatives. You can always appeal to our help, give us a call: 1-866-528-0577 or 1-630-961-5918, help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer at Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ), serving Microsoft Great Plains, CRM, Navision to mid-size and large clients in California, Illinois, New York, Georgia, Florida, Texas, Arizona, Washington, Minnesota, Ohio, Michigan