Accelerate your Power BI over Epicor implementation with FastClose

In Power BI. 70% of the effort revolves around identifying and finding the right data, joining tables and tackling issues of double counting.

For Epicor, Coda and SAP Business One, FastClose have already worked out the structure of your database and worked out the schema mapping, so you don't have to. With this baked in, the dashboard designer can specify and pull data without the need for deep technical skill, releasing reliance on and the burden on your IT department. With the dataset specified, the dashboard designer can focus on the visualisation in Power BI, leaving the heavy lifting to FastClose. And with FastClose new report processing scheduler we not only make it easy for you to pull the data to build your Power BI dashboard, we can automate the data flow from the database to Power BI, on whatever schedule is most appropriate too.

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Bill of Materials

FastClose has been working with our customers to build a Bill of Materials module for Epicor. We would be interested in feedback as there seem to be several things that customers require. For example, being able to get an online complete cost roll up (materials, labour and burden) before you sell a product and seeing if you have the materials in stock for all the components that make up the BOM. We also extract values for  LIFO, FIFO, average, and standard costing. Please fill in the contact us form or email Nick.Gomersall @ FastClose.uk if you have any suggestions or would like further information.

Iracroft swaps Epicor’s Excel Extraction Tool for FastClose

Iracroft, one of the UK’s leading metal fabricators – a manufacturer and distributor of a comprehensive range of metal pipe and tube fabricated products – has swapped out its Epicor Excel extraction tool for FastClose, an accounting intelligence system that speeds up month end close, and generates management accounts.

Alan Webb, CFO of Iracroft, explained, “We were introduced to FastClose at an Epicor Finance User Group meeting. A customer was doing a presentation on reporting and how they used FastClose for sales analysis, reporting, and audit. Like us, they had also bought the Excel extraction tool when Epicor was first purchased, as it was on Epicor’s price list, but – like us – found it hard to use. In fact, we employed a number of alternative ways to do our management reporting.

“We have a specific reporting requirement that used to take us ages to do. It relates to our call off orders, where prices change over time, and margins all have to be recalculated.

“We took up FastClose’s offer of a free trial and started to use the product as soon as it was installed for management reporting and audit. But what was really impressive was how FastClose was willing to find a solution to our call off orders. They built us a new module to enable us to streamline the recalculation of pricing; something which was hugely time-consuming previously.”

Nick Gomersall, the CEO of FastClose, expanded on this point, “We want to work with our customers on new modules and templates especially, when these can benefit other customers as well. Templates are starting positions in each module which short tracks the building of reports as they can be modified and saved into password protected end users folders. When we started off, we only had GL, but now we have most of the modules in Epicor covered, and we are going to work with Iracroft on manufacturing.

“The key to FastClose is to hide the complexity of tables and joins so that the tool enables non-technical people to build the reports they need. The reports that help close month ends and reconcile control accounts.

“We see a lot of frustration with Epicor customers as they are not given more choice when they first buy Epicor. If it’s not on Epicor’s price list, then they are not told about products like FastClose.

“Many of our customers tell us they wish they had known about FastClose at the start of their implementation as it enhances Epicor’s great data model and speeds up the reporting cycle.

“We see this changing as more and more of the business partners who are at the coalface are choosing to promote FastClose over Epicor’s standard offerings. They know it solves so many issues and shows off Epicor to its full potential.

“We love Epicor. It has a great database with multi-company, currency, books, and a chart of accounts design that is right up with Workday, SAP, and Oracle.”

Alan offered his final thoughts on FastClose, “FastClose is going to save us so much time in so many areas, and we are looking forward to working with them in the manufacturing area. An added bonus is that FastClose has an Excel plug-in which means you can run live FastClose reports in Excel if needed. So you have the audit controls of FastClose’s GUI and drills to source transactions with the flexibility of real-time data in Excel and a common reporting and distribution platform.”

GHA and FastClose Forge Partnership Deal for Epicor ERP

GHA Solutions – an Epicor partner and one of the UK’s leading Epicor consultancies – has signed a partnership agreement with FastClose, a software company producing Accounting Intelligence solutions for the Epicor community. The deal will enable GHA to sell and support FastClose’s Accounting Intelligence solution to their Epicor prospects and customers.

Commenting on the deal, Harry Atkinson, Managing Director of GHA, said, “We have been following FastClose for some time now in the Epicor market, and have noted the great reviews from the many firms that use it. As such, we wanted to offer this solution to our client base.

“For those who have not seen FastClose, it is a non-technical product that enables accountants to build the month end reporting pack rapidly, and also reconcile key control accounts.

“FastClose’s development has been remarkable. I can remember them from just a couple of years ago when they only had a basic product for the GL; now, they cover most Epicor modules which enables users to drill from the GL to an invoice and then to purchase or sales orders.

“Importantly, FastClose comes with predefined templates that are starting positions; they can be easily modified and saved to your own directory in FastClose. In turn, users can share reports with other members of the accounts team or business unit managers.

“You don’t need to know anything about tables, or inner or outer joins. This is all done under the covers, with something they call a catalog – which has all the technical requirements covered.

“We really like this approach as we don’t want to spend time building reports for our customers. We want to focus on the key business processes that bring value.”

Nick Gomersall, CEO of FastClose, explained about the tie-up between the two companies. “We met GHA at a recent Epicor user conference and got on really well. Our two companies complemented each other as GHA has great technical expertise that will help us build additional modules, and we have a product that will solve month end reporting issues.

“The modules - template concept is the key, and when we work with our customers, we get a number of requests for new ones. Demand management is the latest, and we are pushing into manufacturing and projects. The key for us is to work with our business partners on the key tables and joins that are needed to build these templates. Once built, they are available to all our customers. We do the heavy lifting; customers don’t need to have any technical expertise and can concentrate on being accountants rather than SQL and database experts!”

Harry Atkinson continued, “Epicor has a number of reporting tools that are all good, but which all do different things. FastClose is aimed at the month end close when accountants want to dig deep into the raw data and can either use FastClose’s GUI, or their Excel plug-in for those that want the data in Excel. The need to look at charts and graphs comes later when the numbers reconcile. It’s no good having pretty graphics if the underlying data is wrong.

Nick Gomersall expanded on this point further. “We have resisted going into graphics, but so many customers are looking to buy one product that does it all. And that ‘one product’ simply does not exist. FastClose solves real business needs which is why we offer a free trial run – so people can see the value. It’s a shame that we might miss out on a sale, short-term, because of the lack of graphics, (although you can use our Excel plug-in for this) but we have found that customers come back later when they still have the same month end close issues.”

Harry Atkinson concluded, “FastClose is an excellent product that complements Epicor ERP even though it’s not on the Epicor price list. What we try to do is find solutions that give our customers options that fit their requirements. Epicor is a great ERP system and a mainstream player in the ERP market, but sometimes our financial customers want another option to view, control and manipulate data quickly and easily. Rather than use Epicor standard tools, they want a solution that can give them Excel and much, much more, and this is where FastClose hits the sweet spot quickly and effectively.

“Take the GL. You can have up to 20 segments that can be split between controlled (e.g., double entry controls) and dynamic (which is an analysis of the controlled segments like customer, product, project, employee and so on). We see very few customers taking advantage of these extra dimensions as you cannot get at them easily with standard tools. FastClose, being a multi-dimensional reporting solution, can.”

Nick Gomersall concluded, “GHA is now our third Epicor Business partner, and many more are now talking to us as they are close to the coalface and see the issues that customers have first-hand. We are looking forward to working with GHA and getting their suggestions for future modules and enhancements to FastClose. Hopefully, one day, Epicor will see the value of our solution, and we can partner with them to enable Epicor to reach many more new customers, as I don’t think they know just how good their software is, especially in the finance and projects area.”