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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Viewpoint Spectrum
Score 8.4 out of 10
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Viewpoint Spectrum is a cloud-based construction ERP suite with project management, accounting, resource management, and reporting and analytics. Key features include workflow automation and collaboration tools, document imaging and sharing, cost estimating tools, and RFI management tools.
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Pricing
M1
Viewpoint Spectrum
Editions & Modules
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No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
M1
Viewpoint Spectrum
Free Trial
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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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Prospective buyers may contact vendor directly for a price quote.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
M1
Viewpoint Spectrum
Considered Both Products
M1
Verified User
Anonymous
Chose M1
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 …
Viewpoint Spectrum allows us to have one platform to do payroll, invoice for projects, and manage the cost of a project. Whereas Procore didn't have those features and we were using multiple other platforms to do all of those things.
Spectrum, when compared to Simply accounting, is better. It has more options, and it is easy to navigate. Spectrum meets our needs better. Spectrum, when compared to Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate, is better. Spectrum has better connectivity between its project …
Not sure how comparable these software are. Both are great and were used for different reasons for different companies and circumstances. I use Viewpoint Spectrum for the Roadway Contruction industry and SAP for the chemical manufacturing world. There are similarities but a lot …
Spectrum is much more comprehensive than its competitors, and provides a much deeper level of insight into project costing. From bidding to project closeout, Spectrum's software allows for cohesiveness and fluidity where other programs are very segmented and difficult to track.
Viewpoint is much more user friendly than Sage 300, but is more limited (less customizable). It is not easy to get custom reports out of Viewpoint, whereas Sage is perfect for customization. With that comes more attention to detail in Sage, from all users, to avoid erroneous …
I originally came off of the American Contractor when it reached its end of life, and my company converted to using Spectrum. American Contractor didn't give us half the visibility that Spectrum does - we still had to rely heavily on outside systems and processes to gain a full …
Prior to acquisition by Viewpoint and then Trimble, the customer support was a major selling point of the software. Unfortunately at this time, that is no longer the case.
Foundation has some nice features that Spectrum doesn't and vice versa. Procore is much more complicated to use but it has better company wide reporting. I think Viewpoint will be a better choice in the long term. They are rolling out updates all the time. The cost is …
Spectrum seems to be a better option for now since current leadership is comfortable with the financial aspect that Spectrum bring but some in the leadership team are not happy with the other offers that Trimble has.
On my old accounting software one feature I miss is the feature where I could run a GL detail report and actually click on a line to see the actual entry.
We selected Viewpoint Spectrum because it allowed us to run our construction and projects department along with our service department all in one application. We are into year five with Viewpoint Spectrum and are still very pleased with our decision.
I have only evaluated the products. I chose Spectrum because it was (at the time) relatively inexpensive or on par with the others and seemed like the best option that fits our business model. It has not proven to be very costly for what we are getting in my opinion and nothing …
I wasn't part of the evaluation, but I did give input on what I thought of Viewpoint Spectrum before we bought it. I had used Timberline and Sage, before we got to Spectrum.
Spectrum is an ERP system that was built with construction in mind. It has more applicability vs. Dynamics, which is used across many types of companies.
I investigated Sage, Timberline, ConMast, and Quickbooks some 25 years ago. Viewpoint Spectrum was the best overall in most coverage and flexibility, ease of use, and mastery. I do not have any knowledge on other software currently.
We stayed with Spectrum for what we thought would be an easy upgrade and transition. However, we are evaluating how we are going to use ViewpointOne Teams because we've suffered many roadblocks to daily use like daily logs and uploading of photos using the app. Also, choosing …
We originally had Jonas Premier prior to Viewpoint based on cost and flexibility (report writing). However, we discovered that Jonas reports are not available as described in the demo. And reports were not easy to read because they had to be created. It was challenging to …
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
Viewpoint Spectrum would be fine for small to medium-sized companies. It would be great for transitioning from an in-house paper-based process, especially since it's designed with small construction companies in mind. They're making it even easier for smaller companies by offering additional features that you'd normally have to find in other products. However, companies can easily outgrow this system. We have about 15 years of data in the system, over 300 active jobs, and nearly 1,500 employees. In the past 3 years we've noticed slower performance and frequent locks in the system that require intervention from a system administrator. We moved to the cloud about 2 years ago and this has made troubleshooting even more difficult as we don't have the same access that we did before to resolve performance issues.
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.
Subcontract Kiosk can be glitchy - allows subs to overbill on subcontract billing items
Document Imaging can be glitchy - often says users do not have adequate security to view/add documents, but they do - if they sign out and back in, it works fine
At times, support can be lacking - sometimes case responses are delayed or you get an incorrect answer
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
Some things in Spectrum are NOT that intuitive, but I think knowledge of the software just comes with time. There are still some things I need assistance with in Spectrum but I'm very comfortable with my day to day items now that I've been using it for years. However, if there is something I don't do often or haven't done before, I don't find the software to be that intuitive, I actually find the logic on some things to be a little weird but it's fine once I know how to do it.
For the most part the product is very reliable. Since we are hosted we sometimes have connectivity issues but I would say that is more our ISP than Spectrum.
The support has recently changed. Last year, you could call in and get an immediate response. Now that doesn't seem possible unless you have an urgent situation with access to the software, payroll or payables. I have found that using chat or e-mail works nicely for the most part, but sometimes I feel it would be easier if someone from support would jump on our site and take a first-hand look rather than going back and forth
Our trainer was excellent and navigated the time zone differences expertly. She gave us test assignments to complete and was available for questions at any time.
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.
Spectrum, when compared to Simply accounting, is better. It has more options, and it is easy to navigate. Spectrum meets our needs better. Spectrum, when compared to Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate, is better. Spectrum has better connectivity between its project management system compared to Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate. Spectrum, when compared to CMIC, I believe they are equal. CMiC has a better project management system, but Spectrum has an easier accounting system to navigate.
You can grant user specific access which is nice. Project managers do not need all the same modules as Accounting. But Accounting does need access to PM modules as well
Viewpoint Spectrum has allowed us the opportunity to be proactive in analyzing the costs for a project in time to make a difference in the outcome of the project. It has allowed us defense in supporting our communications with the project owners.
Viewpoint Spectrum has allowed us to become more productive with its accounting software and the cohesion between the modules. It has definitely streamlined the processing necessary to account for the business.
