Exchequer Or Navision

Exchequer Or Navision

Didn't find your answer?

We have endured the process of looking at about a dozen alternatives, visited Softworld and now are looking to decide between Exchequer Enterprise or Navision to replace our existing Dos Pegasus Opera system.

Exchequer & Navision both stand out from the rest and both have pros & cons.

Has anyone else been through a similar process and come to any useful conclusions?
Matthew Smith

Replies (12)

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By User deleted
12th Mar 2002 00:19

What products have you ruled out

Please can you explain why have you ruled out the following packages - some are best of breed
financials others full ERP.

Sage line 200 / 500 ( Ex Tetra Products)
Dream
Coda
Scala
Damgaard (Now part of Navision)
Sun
Agresso

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By AnonymousUser
07th Mar 2002 08:57

Our price list is on our web site
Dear Jay,

we understand the frustration people have when browsing web sites and there only seems to be general product litrature, requesting you to provide your own details to obtain further information.

However, I would point out that both Aptiview (www.aptiview.co.uk) and accountview(accountview.co.uk) do publish our price lists on our web sites for all to see, and you do not have to provide any information to download it.

Secondly, business software is complex and there are many occassions where a demonstration and then purchase is not suitable. Most good suppliers will work closly with the customer, understanding their needs and even prototyping a system prior to purchase of the software. No one should purchase business software until they have taken all reasonable steps to ensure a good product fit and that the software will grow with the business aims. Its worth the effort!

Thirdly, its a combination of the right technology, right functionality, right price and right supplier that meets your criteria. Ther are still a lot of very good products on the market today that are not the best technology. How many of those companies can afford to re-write their software. As the market gets more commpetitive I think you will see consolidation of both the manufacturers and the dealer channel.

Danny Green

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By Accounting WEB
01st Mar 2002 16:54

AccountView is probably the best solution for you
Dear Matthew,

Why not consider AccountView Business Software one of the leading PAN European suppliers of business software with more than 10.000 users in more than 26 countries.

AccountView is the most flexible and scalable solution for SME+ customers in the UK.
The state of the art 32 bit C/S software offers solutions for: Financials, Trade, Job Costing, Projects, Time & Billing, CRM, Production and is fully designed for the web.

The software offers a 100% integration with all Microsoft office applications. To link your software seamless to third party solutions or the web you can use our award winning COM/XML interface.

AccountView offers much more functionality for a much better price than any of our competitors in the UK.
Beside this we can offer Pegasus Opera customers a conversion routine and an extremely good offer when they upgrade from Opera to AccountView (I think an offer you can't refuse)

For more information please visit our website www.accountview.co.uk or react by e-mail.

AccountView is supported by a network of certified UK resellers (e.g.www.aptiview.co.uk)
Resellers can offer you a turnkey solution from intake to end user training.

Ask for a free presentation and a new world will open for you. You can always visit our stand at the softworld the 6th and 7th of March (stand 426)

Kind regards,

Philippe Stroobach

Channel Manager UK

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By dclark
26th Feb 2002 17:43

You already have the answer
Matthew,

At the end of the day, you are after a system that meets your process needs for the budget you have.

Your comments already indicate that you've gone through some process and made selection choices to arrive at either Exchequer or Navision from the 'dozen or so' you started with.

I do not want to appear harsh, but it is odd that you cannot go the extra step. If you've already had a proper process asking vendors to show you the functionality you want, processing transactions you give them, asking about support, costs, etc, etc, to get down to 2, then the winner (as far as you and you alone are concerned) has already made their pitch. Certainly it is fair to ask which package readers think deals with certain functions better, but again you will find users of the same package who will disagree.

You have stated the you already know (as far as you are concerned) what the pros and cons are (as far as you are concerned) of each package. List them in order of importance to you, rank them or whatever, but you already know the answer. After all, writers here do not have to live with the choice !!!

Regards

Daniel Clark
Ryba Macaulay Ltd
[email protected]

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By AnonymousUser
26th Feb 2002 22:01

Have you all noticed one peculiar thing about IT systems?

I have noticed that everyone is expert in recommending a system and what it can do and can't do. However, nobody is willing to put a price tag on their system.

Is there any particular reason? Does price differ between a small business and a large business? If the vendors are quite confident about their system then why not put a price or an approximate guideline.

I think accountants like a balance between functionality and price. At the end of the day one is looking at value for money!

Somebody out there why not put a price for:

Exchequer say £5,000+
Navision
Great Plains
Sage Line 50
Sage Line 100
Eureka
etc etc

Be brave and spill the bean!

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By Accounting WEB
25th Feb 2002 19:44

Great Plain propaganda about Navision
I’m also biased, working for a Navision reseller but I’m posting here because I’m feed up with Great Plain’s putting about the old line that Navision’s functionality is limited and expensive.

Sure it may not look as pretty as Great Plains (Scandinavians don’t do colour) but Navision more than matches Great Plain toe to toe for functionality. What’s more it does not really on third party add-ons, which cause havoc at upgrade time, for basic accounting functions like credit control.

So come on Nick lets have a list of functional area’s that Navision does not do as core product but Great Plains handles with or without authorised add-ons? Sure Navision’s development environment is strong but you only use it for that last elusive 5%, something very few other packages ever get near!

Quote from Great Plain’s selling against Navision tip sheet from the USA gives the motives here I think. “Try not to get into a demonstration of features as Navision demonstrates extremely well and you will lose. Instead concentrate on generating fear about ‘bespoke’ software being difficult to support and expensive”

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By Accounting WEB
26th Feb 2002 09:26

Navision on AccountingWEB
Any AW members wanting to know more about Navision don't even have to leave AccountingWEB if they visit Navision's Corporate Member area. You can find more about Navision's products and latest news there.

Thanks

Richard.

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By AnonymousUser
25th Feb 2002 10:21

Exchequer Or Navision
Firstly let me admit my bias here, I sell Great Plains.

However, if you are still reading, I have been involved in this area of the market for over four years and would consider myself reasonably knowledgeable on the issues with the main players in the mid-market.

There is a big difference between Navision and most of the other players (Exchequer and Great Plains included), in that Navision is more of a rapid development database with an accounting/distribution system at its heart.

Navision takes the "bespoke" approach in that you get significantly less functionlaity "out-of-the-box" but the reseller can easily and quickly develop extra software specific to your needs.

The things to be careful of are: not all resellers deliver quality software mods; costs can spiral; delivery times can be longer; you may end up with a bespoke system.

I am currently proposing Great Plains to a client who is also considering Exchequer. The interesting thing to note is that they bought Navision a year or so back but never implemented it (US Parent had major problems with it so UK held back). They are in the process of seecting a Pegasus Senior system, have re-visited Navision, and still decided not to proceed with it.

I would advise that if you have some key requirements that cannot be delivered as a part of standard functionality then Navision may be a good option for you.

However if this is not the case I would suggest re-visiting some of the more functional out-of-the-box solutions (such as Great Plains plug plug!!) as you may find that they have a lot more to offer with no bespoke work required.

Good luck (and contact me on [email protected]) if you want to discuss further.

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By Accounting WEB
22nd Feb 2002 10:19

Going from Opera to Navision
Navision and Exchequer are two very different animals. From my recent evaluation Exchequer is an up to date version of the Pegasus Opera software that you currently have, it will do the same job with just a few extra functions and a slicker interface. If that's what you want it a good choice.

Navision out of the box is a good system but that is just the start. Its real benefit is its flexibility. Our reseller Technology Management, have the ability to change any part of the software to match how we want to work. This might sound time-consuming and expensive but due to the speed with which Navision allows them to do it, it's not.

We moved from Opera to Navision in October and already were getting serious productivity and customer service gains. In just three months we are already doing business that we could not have coped with and have reduced staff through natural wastage. Even my MD is appreciating the rapid return on investment!

Best thing is that we now realise that Navision gives us the capability to continuously improve until we achieve perfection (as if that would ever happen).

We looked at Opera II, Access, Exchequer, Great Plains and Navision and the decision was hard to make. Already though we are really happy with our choice of Navision.

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By Accounting WEB
18th Feb 2002 16:41

Interesting choice...
In a previous life I was a user of Pegasus, and also Navision.

I understand that you have narrowed down to the two products but have you considered the timescale of implementation? I have been informed that one of the mentioned products can require a great deal of customization following installation...

What other products did you rule out???

Drop me a line.

[email protected]

Best regards,

James

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By asdesign
17th Feb 2002 18:23

Choice bus or coach
Good Evening

In the absence of Daniel may I ask

How many users?

One site?

Exteral access?

BOM - Manufacturing etc or Service?

What particular usage are you looking for from the system. All packages are better at some things than others.
Exchequer was stronger on its GL than in the BOM side of things but is adding to that quickly.
Navision also is better at some parts than others.


The choice between the two may be for completely different reasons for one company than another.

Yours

Viv Burrows
Solutions not Products

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By AnonymousUser
17th Feb 2002 22:15

Exchequer Or Navision
Hi Matthew

If you have not already done so, some of the following may be useful to you to consider:

Highlight the top x (10) of your requirements and prioritse them and give the supplier some of your data to put though the system to show how it handles these requirements. Also get them to show you iterations to the process e.g. if you post a cheque to an account and it is okay that is great, but what happens when a cheque bounces, or you find that the cashier has posted it to the wrong account. What happens in the middle of posting a journal if the machine crashes. You can give some warning of these but also try and throw some others in during the demo.

How do they meet the IT Strategy of your business, can you support the technology, what happens to the software when you upgrade if you have created reports, configured fields, interfaces to bank software or Excel etc.. Is it standard software that they are selling you or does it include additional modules or pieces not developed by the ulimate software author.

How will they handle the conversion of data from Opera. How many installations have they done. Have you met any of the support or implementation staff or 'just' the salesguys, what are they like can you work with them.

Some generic items to consider

1.  Support ability from reseller
2.  Developers/resellers track record
3.  Software's ability to fit the business
4.  Growth potential of software
5.  Price of software
6.  Quality of documentation
7.  Functionality of software
8.  Ease of use
9.  Ease of implementation
10. Compatibility with existing hardware

Both products are good applications and should meet the majority of most standard requirements, the challenge is how they meet the specific requirements that your business has.

Good luck, you'd better choose quick or you'll be tempted to go to Softworld next month.

Beware of smoke and mirrors

Regards

Bryan

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