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David Carter Software Laboratory Tests

If you are shortlisting accounting and ERP software for your own business or that of a client, AccountingWEB's consultant editor David Carter has done a lot of the preparation work for you. He has conducted a series of detailed software Lab Tests on mid-market accounting applications to help you identify systems that will fit your requirements.

David's Lab Test assesses each package in over a dozen key areas. Each test includes background on the vendor, a graphical scorecard and analysis of key features including the ledger structure, invoice processing, ease of use and reporting capabilities.

NEW! 'Mini' Lab Tests
In 2006, David broadened his horizons from the finance department to look at systems used in other parts of the organisation such as stock control, sales order processing and customer relationship management (CRM).

"Most organisations have automated their accounting functions," he says. "The new systems they want are not replacement accounting packages, but programs that can link other functions into a wider business management package." In the coming months, David will report regularly on software modules covering four key areas: sales order processing; stock management; CRM and quotations; and sales reporting.

The first front office mini Lab Test looks at sales order processing in Mamut Enterprise. The other Lab Test reports listed below cover leading mid-market financial software applications, and are in the process of being updated. Click the links below to download PDF versions of each Lab Test. AccountingWEB is not liable for any action arising out of the information and does not warrant that the tests are up to date at the time of download.

Contact the editor for more information about AccountingWEB's software Lab Tests.

Mini Lab Tests

Anagram Encore Sales Order Processing
Anagram Encore is a specialist distribution program written in Horsham, Sussex. "When you first see Encore, it appears old-fashioned," Carter says of the Anagram product. But with first-hand experience of installing the system, he notes that Encore is a good quality, good value system that gets the job done.

HansaWorld - Sales Order Processing
HansaWorld supports a functional and efficient sales order process. While it may lack advanced facilities such as user-defined fields, the overall design philosophy will appeal to any organisation that needs to run a single system on different types of hardware. The application's ability to integrate departments via activity transactions, Chat and To Do lists is excellent.

TAS Books v6.0 - Management reporting
For a budget accounting application, TAS Books does not aim to provide users bells and whistles, but offers rock-solid standard reports. Exports to Excel can handle more sophisticated requirements, thanks to "analysis-ready" files that save users from having to search for source data among transaction processing tables, notes David Carter.

Mamut Enterprise E.5 Sales Order Processing
Mamut has integrated CRM, stock and accounting together in one package to give users a comprehensive view of customer activity. David Carter concludes that the philosophy has paid off in quick, intuitive sales order processes that flow from original order entry through to final invoicing.

New Tests

Greentree Business Software (Financials) v3.1
Hailing from Australia and New Zealand, Greentree offers a full range of modules in addition to the purchase invoice and general ledger features covered in this Lab Test. A system that will appeal to more experienced and discriminating customers, Greentree includes several impressive features such as coding hierarchies (“trees”) for reporting and a GL Enquiry screen that lets you see into the entire transactional database.

PS Financials 5.1.2
Designed for accounts teams in mid- to large-size companies and not-for-profit organisations, PS Financials wins praise from David Carter for ease of use, configurability and the use of business rules to pre-calculate many data entries.

SAP Business One Financial
David takes a detailed look at the financial aspect of the product, which includes his rating on; Open period accounting; Purchase invoice entry; GL update/Error correction; Nominal Journals; Credit Ledger enquiry; Receipt & cash allocation; Batch payments; Band reconciliation; Multicurrency; Nominal Coding structure; Reporting; XLReporter.

Sage MMS 3.5
Sage MMS is a major leap forward for Sage. Having migrated to Microsoft's .NET architecture and SQL Server database, MMS features new data views that give users better access to the transactional data. But there are a few more enhancements David Carter would like to see to deliver really sophisticated management reporting.

Microsoft Great Plains 8.0 - August 2005
Analytical Accounting in version 8 transformed Great Plains by supporting any number of separate dimensions, each of which can attached to a coding hierarchy. Bolstered by integration with SQL Server data cubes, Great Plains is now well equipped to handle the reporting requirements of major organisations.

dataflow v6
Though not as widely known as many programs sold through resellers, dataflow is equal to the national brands. Highly customisable, it gives the user access to all the underlying data for management reporting purposes.

Updates

Pegasus Opera II, Financials V 4.0 - October 2005
Recent enhancements demonstrate the care that Pegasus has to study what users do to make Opera II as usable as possible. XRL, the Excel Reporting Layer, and floating nominal dimensions codes provide reporting facilities to satisfy even the most sophisticated management accountant.

Access Dimensions v2.41 - March 2005
Based on a traditional, multi-segment account code structure, Dimensions is a very approachable system with clearly designed screens. David Carter was particularly impressed with its Microsoft Office integration, which allows everyone in the organisation with Excel or Outlook to have access to company data.

AccountView 7.1 - July 2005
AccountView provides an innovative Daybook for transaction entry, simple, flexible tools for customising screen layouts and a powerful reporting facilities. As a European product, however, it is slightly out of step with UK design preferences in areas such as credit notes and VAT.

Archive

Microsoft Business Solutions Navision 3.7
Microsoft's European ERP system, Navision, is a superb piece of software written to a very high standard. The Financials module is very customisable, both by programmers and competent end-users, but David Carter's Lab Test highlights some design issues in the general ledger.

OpenAccounts Financials 5.0
OpenAccounts Financials is a pioneering application that is so simple, even non-accountants can use it. David Carter's Lab Test finds that it works well on this score, with an excellent Executive Desktop module for distributing reports on the Web.

CedAr eFinancials 3.1
Originally designed for financial institutions in the City of London, CedAr eFinancials has evolved into a comprehensive general accounting system with sophisticated e-procurement and management reporting capabilities.

SunSystems 5 Financials
SunSystems pioneered a nominal ledger coding structure that underpins strong management reporting functions. While data-entry and navigation could be more agile, SunSystems 5 is a powerful package suited to the corporate accounts department.

ACCPAC Advantage Series Financials
David Carter liked the underlying transaction processing engine and easy-to-use design features in Sage's international Windows-based ERP suite. But the ledger design suggests the software is more suited to manufacturing than service organisations.

IRIS Enterprise (formerly Exchequer)
Does the Financial Software Provider of the Year 2006 really live up to its title? Accounting Web’s John Stokdyk has recently put Exchequer from IRIS Enterprise Software through its paces to find out.

Anagram Encore, Financials
Boasting solid bank reconciliation and good search and sorting facilities alongside good basic ledger functionality, Encore provides a perfectly serviceable financials option for users who want to take advantage of encore's order processing and stock control modules.

Sage Line 100, Financials
Sage Line 100 is a "perfectly serviceable" accounting option for users who are ready to move up from the company's Line 50 accounting. Having made the transition from DOS to Windows, the product could do with some modernisation in its management accounting and bank reconciliation features.

Kypera Financials
Formed in January 2003 Kypera (formerly Thompson Systems) specialises in the supply of financial and procurement software, principally to service companies or commercial companies that wish to attach a good quality set of financials to a bespoke front-end package. The product is based on the ICE 32 application, which Kypera acquired in 2004.