Cost Calculator Continues its Commitment to Better Cost Analysis for Made2Manage Users
Progressive Edge is excited to announce the release of version 2.2 of the Cost Calculator. Continuing on its commitment to provide effective and easy to use cost analysis for Made2Manage users, version 2.2 further extends this capability. This is the 3rd significant release to the Cost Calculator si
Indianapolis, IN (June 04, 2009) –
The Cost Calculator has introduced a new concept in reporting for Made2Manage* SQL User’s. Intelligent, Interactive Reports delivered to a company, complete and ready to run. Think about having a repository of pre-configured, intelligently designed screen-based reports, where users can “pick and choose” the reports needed. Reports that users can interact with and fine tune to their exact requirements.
The Cost Calculator enables Made2Manage users the ability to get better Cost Analysis through a series of Views into the Made2Manage database. These views include the Sales Order View, the Job Views, the Purchasing Views and now two new views; the Workcenter View and Employee View. All of the views include the ability to intelligently drill down into related information, create visual indicators to highlight particular tolerances, and full control on the data being presented.
Workcenter View
The Work Center View was designed to give a Made2Manage user visibility into the Labor Costs and Performance by Work Centers, by Part, by Product Class, by Customer, and more. Utilizing this view user’s can finally track Labor efficiencies in an Intelligent and Interactive tool. Using the Performance Indicator builder, a user can easily highlight transactions and trends falling outside defined tolerances. For example, highlight any Jobs where the Actual Pieces/Hour falls outside a specific tolerance in comparison to the Standard or the Estimate. Filters include Work Centers, Parts, Sales Orders, Employees, Product Classes, Departments, Percentage Complete and Labor Dates. Full drill-down into the individual Labor Transactions is available at the click of a mouse.
Typical examples of how user’s might use this view include: View all of the Parts/Jobs which were Routed through a Work Center over a timeframe. Filter by Setup, Production, Add’l Operations, or Rework time. So if a user would like to see the average Setup Time for various Parts through this Workcenter, it is easily accomplished. Analyze the performance and throughput of these Parts through this Work Center. See the Average Production time and the Average Pieces per Hour summarized by Part and then Work Center (or Product Class). Analyze Scrap Quantities by Workcenter and/or Part number. See all of the Parts scheduled for this Work Center with a % Complete greater than or less than a certain level. So, for example, a user could see all of the Parts at this Work Center which are less than 60% complete.
Employee View
The Employee View is generally used as a drill-down tool when looking at the Workcenter View or the Job Labor View. So if a Job on a particular operation has 6 hours applied to it, the Employee View can now be used to drill down into the detail of those 6 hours. Likewise, if a user is analyzing the efficiencies of a part through a Workcenter, the Employee view will allow the user to quickly see all of the actual labor transactions for a particular Part, through this Workcenter, for this timeframe.
In addition to it being available for drill-downs, it can be called as a stand-alone view, allowing a user to analyze an employee over time. Easily view the Workcenters or the Parts this Employee has worked on, tracking his/her efficiencies at each of these levels.
Data Analysis versus Data Reporting
One of the major differences between the Cost Calculator and other Made2Manage BI tools is in Data Reporting versus Data Analysis. Data Reporting is simply taking data out of the database and printing it on a report or dumping it to Excel. The problem with this philosophy is that a user can only get data out in the way Made2Manage presents it. A lot of the time this is not always the best way to “see” the data for flexible Analysis. Unfortunately, all of the BI tools provided by Made2Manage today, rely on this philosophy for one simple reason, it makes these tools appear easy to use. To do anything other than “Data Reporting” requires a user to get into some sort of “programming” environment. And then it’s no longer “easy”.
Progressive-Edge has designed the Cost Calculator to use Data Analysis to provide the available data to view. Much of the data presented in the Cost Calculator is created via advanced calculations and .Net programming already done. This allows a user to relate data to other data that just does not exist in the M2M Database via Data Reporting. Also, Progressive Edge’s 10 + years in working with Made2Manage Data and Customers, has allowed us to deliver the information which fills in the Made2Manage reporting gaps. This give users of the Cost Calculator much more than a Report, it gives them an Analysis tool which runs, right out of the box.
Additional Features
Additional columns and capabilities have been made which are not listed here. Cost Calculator Customer’s with a valid support contract will continue to receive all enhancements to the purchased Views. Please visit our website http://www.progressive-edge.com/cost_calculator/cost_calculator_overview.html for more information.
About Progressive-Edge
Progressive Edge, LLC. has been providing services and alternative solutions to Made2Manage users since 1999. These services include consulting services, custom programming services and applications like the Cost Calculator. Progressive Edge has had the privilege to provide services to over 60 companies using the Made2Manage ERP Software. Cost Calculator is installed in over 35 companies, and growing fast. This truly is becoming a tool which every Customer using Made2Manage can use, and use today.
*Made2Manage and M2M are trademarks of Consona Corporation. Progressive Edge is not affiliated with Consona Corporation or Made2Manage ERP.
Source: Consona