Epicor BisTrack is business management software for lumber and building materials (LBM) dealers and distributors based on technology acquired with SolarSoft Business Systems in 2012. It covers inventory optimization, delivery dispatch, financial management, customer relationship management, and more recently warehouse management, as well as supplying business analytics.
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M1
Score 7.1 out of 10
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M1, from ECI Software Solutions headquartered in Ft. Worth, is an all-in-one manufacturing ERP software solution, built for small and medium-sized discrete manufacturers.
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Pricing
Epicor BisTrack
M1
Editions & Modules
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No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Epicor BisTrack
M1
Free Trial
No
No
Free/Freemium Version
No
No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
No
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
Additional Details
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More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Epicor BisTrack
M1
Considered Both Products
Epicor BisTrack
Verified User
Anonymous
Chose Epicor BisTrack
Epicor BisTrack helps keep track of things better and it in fact much easier to use.
We replaced Open Systems with M1 7 years ago. Our Open Systems software seemed to be more user-friendly and was not overburdened by reports and processes that were not needed for daily functions.
M1 is light years ahead in overall cost and proficiency. It allows so much more control and flexibility as compared to its competitors. When choosing M1 we went through many demos and M1 was the only ERP that met our needs and still does. We also control our own data which is a …
M1 is better with the manufacturing side of software whereas Sage 100 is better at the financial side. Which is frustrating that M1 implementation people are not accountants, so they got us up and running but did not do a good job of making sure the GL accounts were setup …
Our customization requirements were not that high and based on a price/cost benefit M1 was the winner. SAP was considered but the upfront costs and challenging learning curve together with the lack of flexibility in the SAP HANA public cloud version made the M1 choice more …
M1 does a good job of being able to handle our requirements. Some of our assemblies and sub-assemblies require a significant amount of detail and different levels in order to complete - and M1 handles that. Some of the other products I've used, or implemented else where fall …
Specifically Eipcor comes in handy daily by easily tracking manpower, deliveries, inspections, and other daily tracked items. It is well suited for day to day operations where others can fill in or pick up if somewhere were out of the office. Epicor is less appropriate in providing weekly updates to teams and customers. It is easier to extract the necessary information off of the software to generate your own reports then try to procure one using the software itself.
Implementation is by far the weakest link in the ECI/M1 process. Although the tool is powerful, the client is expected to drive the process of learning the tool, planning the meetings with consultants, identifying risks and making mitigation plans, etc. without any samples, guidance or assistance on the part of ECI. The tool is best suited to high volume, standard product manufacturers who build to inventory or to order without much variation. The shop floor routing and time tracking are straightforward if you can master the convoluted Unit Of Measure calculations. The tool is either hosted locally or accessed through Remote Desktop. Shop floor is web enabled but the main desktop for M1 is still a relay which makes connectivity a potential issue. Moving this platform to a truly web hosted environment would substantially improve connectivity and eliminate compatibility issues with Apple products
Manage inventory counts. Good precision on quantities in and out, through shipping, MI, MR, and receipts.
Job costing shows great details on labor, operations, and materials to be used. I wished that would do better in outside operations that would return, but we still think it is great.
Ability to track changes (changelog), showing all changes that had in a particular place. Such as where, when, and by whom a line item unit price was changed in a PO.
Link, traceability, keeping history. If done correctly, it is amazing to keep the history of a part/lot.
The amount of user rights/customization is unbelievable. It can be hard to set up in the beginning, but it is great that you can give some very specific access to a user, and it is not (in general) as a package.
Some of the functions are pretty detailed - and so they take a while to generate screens and pages in reports.
We actually use it for 2 companies we own - and it would be nice if the inter company communication was a little smoother. It's hard to share some data, and not everything is possible to be shared.
Customized reports need to backed up before any updates to M1 or they're lost. It seems M1 overwrites the report folders everytime you run an update - so you have to keep track of what you've changed in Crystal Reports and restore it.
Epicor BisTrack is essential for those in the lumber and building materials industry, especially if they are in the wholesale/distribution side of things. I provided the rating because I feel that BisTrack has contributed a lot for my company and provided with essential information for decision-making on a day-to-day basis. The score also reflects that while BisTrack is an essential software for my business, there is also room for improvement so that the end users will be able to obtain what they need from the software.
Because it would be helpful if ECI would provide better documentation, communication and workflows to understand how each field interacts within the system and how each of those touch other areas within M1. It would also be useful if ECI would provide prescheduled training for how to customize things with M1 through Design Studio
Apologies, our company's IT department contacts support on our behalf. I have never contacted Epicor BisTrack's support myself; only through my company's IT team.
Our customization requirements were not that high and based on a price/cost benefit M1 was the winner. SAP was considered but the upfront costs and challenging learning curve together with the lack of flexibility in the SAP HANA public cloud version made the M1 choice more natural. SAP Services is usually more expensive compared to M1.