Infor VISUAL vs. Jenzabar Internet Campus Solution (JICS), discontinued

The original version of Visual Manufacturing (Lilly Software) was intended for mechanical manufacturing. It was adapted at our facility (we were not the first) to accomodate electronic manufacturing. For electronic manufacturing process control it is not ideal when referencing in-line or custom processes used to build product. For material control it is excellent unless a modification to a standard product is required (and we did this on 60% of product going out the door). The co-product feature that removes material from an assembly requires the creator of the work order to calculate the percentage of cost the removed items are from the completed product. On the business operations side regional tax reports were difficult to extract and an external module to go into the data base and extract that had to be created. The system itself was stable for the most part. Occasional "data collisions" corrupted transactions at times. The accounting procedures in place found them by the end of the month .where they were corrected. For a small business with less formal processes Infor Visual can be used with little training for the operators. If the processes need a higher level of accountability and control the processes can be formalized with workflow scripts to ensure that higher level of control.

Incentivized

Any school that has Jenzabar database as their CRM will benefit from having Jenzabar Internet Campus Solution (JICS) also included in the environment. Jenzabar Internet Campus Solution (JICS) gives a reasonable interface to present the information stored in the database to the student and also gives the student the ability to register and change their courses online.Also, with bills being online, you don't have to print and mail the bills out to students.

Incentivized

• Part/BOM libraries
• Traceability from customer order to work order
• Job status representation

Incentivized

• Jenzabar Internet Campus Solution (JICS) is good at interacting with the Jenzabar database.
• Jenzabar Internet Campus Solution (JICS) can integrate with Active Directory to allow for one set of credentials and also has its own credential management system for local accounts to be created.
• Jenzabar Internet Campus Solution (JICS) will display grades as soon as they are entered into the Jenzabar database.

Incentivized

• At times a "shadow part" is necessary in the manufacturing process. This shadow part does not require an inventory transaction but is made a as a separate process - sometimes out of sequence to the general process flow. Infor Visual ver 6.3.5 does not have that capability.
• When generating forms for business and manufacturing operations Infor Visual ver 6.3.5 has a limited number of options. To change or add forms requires an unsupported editor. When the stock and custom options are depleted an outside programming module is required as well as programmers to develop the forms.
• While free software upgrades to the main operations modules have been part of the maintenance agreement. One upgrade required database and hardware support not justifiable for the current business model. The system was frozen at the current version at that time.
• There is no easy way to differentiate between engineering documentation and production documentation.

Incentivized

• Jenzabar is unwilling to work with other companies to integrate information across multiple platforms.
• The quality of JICS is contingent upon appropriate use and entry by those on campus. While not a limitation to JICS itself, there seems to be more problems with JICS in this regard than I have noticed on other campuses with other platforms.
• JICS is typically behind on the times. Features it adds today were commonplace for others much earlier.

Incentivized

Good Technical and Customer Support during and after implementation tasks. Good Project Plan and Management support for implementation and post implementation. Financial functionality could be more comprehensive particularly with Budgeting and Cash Management. Inventory Management capability was adequate but could be more comprehensive as well. "Out of the Box" functionality was adequate but requested add-ons and enhancements seemed to be a bit pricey.

Because of use cases and easy implementation and the vertical and horizontal scaling.

Incentivized

Jenzabar Internet Campus Solution (JICS) is very usable and easy to maintain. With us having students log in with their AD credentials, they don't have to remember an extra username and password. Also, I have been able to update and customize some of the coding, which has allowed us to make sure the site works just the way we want it to.

Incentivized

As we have seen the live environment and the use cases where we implement.

Incentivized

Support is generally very helpful. There are some support staff that really try to go the extra mile and help with solving the problem you have, not just answering your initial question. If you don't understand a feature that is offered in the Jenzabar Internet Campus Solution (JICS) environment, they also have a portal with on-demand webinars/courses that you can watch to get a better idea of offerings at your own base.

Incentivized

Could have used more hands-on approach. There are multiple webinars and information sessions but until you actually use the system, these are not very helpful.

Incentivized

We unfortunately did not evaluate any other ERP software. VISUAL was a legacy system and we determined that changing systems would be too difficult, and not cost effective. We reached out to our local VISUAL rep who knew how the software functioned, but not how to apply it more appropriately to our business model, so we continued on with what we had rather than looking elsewhere.

Incentivized

We selected JICS many years ago as it was a cost-effective option that was streamlined and straight-forward. Today, no one is ever thrilled with their SIS, and I can anticipate major difficulties if we attempted to move from JICS. However, from a features and revolutionary standpoint, I do feel we will always be a step behind if we continue with Jenzabar.

Incentivized

• Good Billing provided
• Easy to implement and use
• scales vertical and horizontal

Incentivized

• Jenzabar has allowed us to house all data in one system, which was badly needed.
• Jenzabar allows us to speak one language across campus, although many offices still work outside of Jenzabar due to limitations within JICS.
• Jenzabar has not been effective in being a leader in new features or developments. I always feel like we are a step behind.

Incentivized