Microsoft Dynamics SL vs. Quantrix

In the service series, there is a weakness in applying revenue recognition concepts which are a strong point of the project series. It is difficult to get a period sensitive WIP that could be recreated at any time for a point in time (fiscal period).

Incentivized

Quantrix Modeler is one of the most appropriate software tools for developing dynamic financial planning models in small teams composed by skilled power users. There is an also Enterprise version supporting larger user bases and stronger integration with company backend systems. It's not advisable to put Quantrix desktop application in the hands of non-skilled staff since the learning curve is much steeper than what's the typical experience with spreadsheets. Adding a table with ad hoc simple calculations can be done by anyone in a spreadsheet, but requires knowledgeable design in a Quantrix model. On the positive side, experience with students in our classes shows that with focused training an user can be become productive in a relatively short time. There is a web version of Quantrix Modeler, Qloud, that is aimed to end users that only modify input data and consume model results, without the possibility of changing the model logic (structure and formulas)

Incentivized

• Ability to add companies, and sub-accounts on the fly allows for the growth of the system without conversions, and flexible reporting allows for the quick utilization of the data.
• Multi-Company allows for easy and automated data entry and reporting across multiple legal entities and business segments.
• Multi-Company also allows for easy centralization of business processes (AP check writing and Fixed Assets for example), while spreading data entry across the enterprise.
• Ability to Copy/Paste into Dynamics SL has always been a strength- especially from Excel. The additional power of being able to use Excel for a myriad of calculations, including complex allocations, and formatting the result into a JE to paste directly into the Journal Entry Screen has saved countless hours in data-entry, and made re-use of complex items very easy.

Incentivized

• Quantrix gathers info from numerous sources in a single click. Thereby making structure to process sustainable and scale-able. Once the logic is written the data refreshes and you are good to go with furture analysis and planning. There is no need for rework, copying down formulas, etc. In our latest product wheel build process we reduced our time from 3 weeks of time to 2 days to build out product wheels. There was a sharp contrast between Excel ( previous method) and Quantrix.
• Quantrix links perfectly to SQL Server which allows us to get actual data quickly, push out forecasts or other data for other systems to consume.
• Quantrix range based formula writing and common term formulas are a HUGE time saver. Debugging formulas is a breeze in Quantrix using what is called the dependency inspector. There is no need to copy down formulas; make sure cell ranges are locked etc. It is one formula controlling a multitude of cells that scales as the data set shrinks or grows. Also if there is an error in the formula you have 1 formula to fix not hundreds or even thousands. Common terms in your formulas helps immensely and reduces the amount of headache of debugging your formulas.
• Quantrix Scales with ease. Adding additional data or shrinking the data does not require (manual) structure updates to Quantrix. It accordions according to the data imported. Pivoting data and looking at it as well as filtering it and then building off of those filters and pivots is a joy to do in Quantrix!
• Complexity - Excel does not have it! Where the vlookup ends in Excel the Quantrix Select statement is just warming up. Functions like: Select, Selects, SelectList, SelectGreaterThan, SelectBetween, SelectLessThan, and one of my new favorites SelectLike in addition to CASE and Switch Logic make Quantrix a dominating force when it comes to writing complex logic in your business model. Quantrix does is beautifully.

• When we have a lot of invoices rather than just a few large invoices, we can be frustrated by how long it takes Flexible Billings to generate a lot of invoices
• It would be nice if Dynamics SL had an easy integration to some of the nicer salestax tools such as Avalara and CCH.
• It would be nice if the fixed assets module and electronic banking were not third party.

Incentivized

• Quantrix was able to free the definition of calculation rules from cells. It would be interesting to be able to separate the default template structure from changes when importing data.
• Just to be clear to prevent the import (example from a CSV or DB) the creation of new items in addition to those already existing.
• An import navigation by level would be interesting. Or to obtain a split of the number on a tree structure (I bring as an example that of Corporate Planning (https://www.corporate-planning.com/de/).
• As a further enhancement of the above, it would be interesting to be able to define reports like an explosion of a tree structure.

Unfortunately, Dynamics' lack of ability to smoothly integrate with our CRM system is causing us to look at other solutions. The efficiencies that we gain by using Dynamics for our day to day accounting are lost in the constant headaches of getting sales quotes to import properly into the system for invoicing. Another major issue for us has been budgeting and reporting. We currently do all of our budgeting and board reporting in Excel, which is too time consuming and inefficient, especially when a system as robust as Dynamics should easily be able to handle this relatively simple task.

Incentivized

SL itself is relatively easy to use and most of the Help Files documentation is well kept and outstanding in the amount of information that is given. Most end users pick up the functions quickly and are off and running after some limited training. There will always be questions and research to be done, but overall SL is relatively easy to follow for a seasoned user

Incentivized

For a newbie it can be difficult until you get the hang of the system. Quantrix is a very logical system, once you understand its underlying ideas.

We have had only one unplanned outage for 2 hours in the last 30 months. We shut down for 30 min to 1 hour once a month, but that is for Microsoft OS updates to the servers. Being a 24/7 world wide operation, the reliability is really important. We do get an 8 hour window on the weekend that we can be down for a short period to install Microsoft Dynamics SL updates, but we do not have many of those. On our last version upgrade, we shut the users out at 9:30 am and were fully operational in less than 6 hours. The upgrade was New SQL server, New SL server and 2 new Citrix servers.

Incentivized

Many times support will tell you that your issue is an identified bug and will be scheduled in the future to be fixed in a future release. The knowledgebase has gotten worse in recent years and much more difficult to use. many times you can't find the error during the search

Incentivized

Just to let it take its course. The implementation for me once I became a part of my former organization was pretty seamless. Just get to know the basics and call the support team to ask questions if you need help on an issue, should they arise. They are ready, willing, and able to help!

Incentivized

We started with QuickBooks Enterprise when our company was young. We quickly outgrew this program as it was not able to accommodate the financial reporting we needed to satisfy our investors. QuickBooks was also very limited in managing our revenue as we grew. We did try Great Plains and Peachtree (now Sage 50) and we discovered that they were rather complicated for our users. They were not as easy to maneuver and manipulate as SL and we felt that SL was much more "user friendly" and simplified, but still able to produce the same results.

Incentivized

Microsoft Excel, Infor, Tagetik, Palantir Quantrix is not ready to use budgeting and planning tool, it is basically data modeling tool. That makes Quantrix different. You yourself or with help of consultant create model according to your specific business needs. You will get cost-effective, tailored solution. It is a modeling tool that allows the easy and quick creation of multiple scenarios, conducting “what-if” analysis to accommodate uncertainty associated with forecasts.

Since the backbone of the database is MS SQLServer, the database can be easily scaled.

Incentivized

• Dramatic improvement in our ability to judge the profitability of jobs.
• Lots of improvements in delivering invoices and statements to customers.
• Automated AP approvals and imaging made our last tax audit a breeze.
• Ease of reporting data is a big plus. Financial statements with drill down capability are very useful.
• One integrated system means less data moving around and more real time information.
• EFT payments, email statements and live linked Excel charts have improved our efficency
• Too many more to name.

Incentivized

• Quantrix has boosted profitability and has proven its worth time and again. The platform has put us on the radar doing things even our biggest competitors could only dream of. We are still early in the development and deployment of our Quantrix Qloud based system to clients, but we already have early adopters coming over from competitor systems that cost exponentially more and do significantly less than what we provide. We feel it is only a matter of time for our Qloud driven analytics to become more mainstream in our space.