Financial Management Software: Benefits of Sage ERP X3 vs Sage PFW ERP
The silver lining of Sage announcing the retirement of Sage PFW ERP (to be completed on March 2014), was that companies using the solution had an opportunity (financial and otherwise) to upgrade to a new Financial Management software solution. After nearly a year of helping companies migrate from PFW to new solutions, The Answer Company has seen many of these businesses achieve massive benefits by moving to Sage ERP X3. This is especially true due to the benefits delivered by Sage ERP X3’s Financial Management Software.
As we mentioned in last week’s blog on Distribution Benefits of X3 over PFW, moving from an antiquated, yet legendary, ERP system like Sage PFW to a modern solution like Sage ERP X3 is a huge improvement for any company. It is like upgrading from disconnected personal computers to a network of web-enabled systems. Like going from having to do all your work manually and then input all the data into the correct accounts to having the data being collected automatically, from multiple companies, in various languages, with different fiscal years, into the correct accounts.
Financial Management Software: Now a Web-Based Solution Tracking Transactions in Real-Time
Sage ERP X3 is a web-based solution designed with the user in mind that tracks transactions in real-time to multiple locations and business units. On the other hand, Sage PFW is a system that accounts for financial after the real event has happened, requiring employees to input the data into the system correctly. It’s not hard to see that the information within Sage PFW is much more likely to contain errors and present accounts that are not properly balanced.
The ‘real-time’ nature of Sage ERP X3 is not limited to a single organization, or division within a company, as the system supports managing multiple companies. This means that for businesses that consist of multiple organizations, consolidation of accounting and financial data can be done within the same system – which was not possible in PFW. Sage ERP X3 supports multi-ledger, using a shared chart of accounts across an unlimited number of companies and allows for an unlimited number of fiscal calendars. This means that the system can automatically take accounting data from different business units and consolidate multiple fiscal years – also not possible in PFW.
Financial Management Software with Greater Control over Accounting and Financial Data
Sage ERP X3 also offers great control over accounting and financial data, by allowing users to define General Ledger analytical dimensions and offering filtering drilldown capabilities of financial activity. Users are able to look up transactions and activities to great detail, organizing them and creating reports that highlight the desired information. Having the ability to drill down into the information is very handy and time saving to assess future performance through historical items.
In one particular case, we experienced the vision provided by Sage ERP X3 directly influence a company’s profitability. By accurately pinpointing production costs, Garden Protein International was able to calculate the profit margin for each product and discovered that it was underestimating the material costs and quantities associated with many of its products. “We were able to compare batches to standards, and realized that we were off in some areas,” said Peter Demers, Vice President of Operations. “As a result of that information, we were able to make adjustments to ensure profitability.”
Companies that chose Sage ERP X3 as their upgrade destination from Sage PFW are also enjoying new built-in functionalities like asset management and business intelligence. Unlike Sage PFW, X3 has fixed asset management functionality included as part of its core financials bundle. This enables planning and budgeting of assets through the entire lifecycle, helping companies make the right decisions when it comes to maintenance, deployment, or disposal of the asset. X3 also has embedded business intelligence and reporting, which allows users to define portals within their system and get access to graphical representation of business indicators daily.
There are many improvements for companies migrating away from Sage PFW to Sage ERP X3, to the point that the end of PFW can be seen as a blessing in disguise. Sage is still offering considerable discounts and assistance for companies moving to another of Sage’s solutions, and what we have seen this past year is that it’s a positive process full of benefits to the business.