Epicor Prophet 21
Introduction
ERP systems are a prominent need for today’s organizations and must be able to offer solutions to Accounts, HR, SCM, etc. It provides real-time information which in turn drives up the efficacy of organizations and builds up the decision-making in any organization. Industries dealing with distribution and wholesale require something quite powerful, a unique ERP solution like Epicor Prophet 21 (P21).
P21 will fit these sectors by providing adequate features that fit areas such as order management, inventory management, purchasing, warehousing, and finance to name but a few. In this way, P21 contributes to decreasing expenses, increasing consumer satisfaction, and achieving organizational effectiveness. This makes it very suitable for distribution companies looking to enhance business processes.
What is Epicor Prophet 21?
Epicor Prophet 21 is a functional distribution and wholesale industry-based ERP system for distribution industries. It enhances the rapid and effective running of business activities to improve the flow of organizations. P21 is a system solution for order management, inventory, purchase, warehousing, and accommodation of financial records.
Key features and capabilities of Epicor Prophet 21 include:
- Order Management: Streamlined order entry, quote management, and order processing with real-time tracking and remote capabilities.
- Inventory Management: Advanced techniques for optimizing inventory levels, multi-location management, and bin tracking, integrated with purchasing and sales processes.
- Purchasing: Centralized purchasing processes, vendor management, landed cost computation, and vendor rebate tracking.
- Warehouse Management: Various paperless applications with real-time or real-time on-demand receiving, picking, and cycle counting fully backing up barcodes and label printers.
- Financial Management: OGS, AR, AP, real-time reporting services, and multicurrency capabilities.
- CRM Integration: Organizing customers’ contacts and sales activities, synchronizing them with an email and customer support app.
- Business Intelligence and Reporting: Sophisticated tools to produce ad hoc online reports and data to support various organizational decisions.
- E-commerce Integration: Integration with customer interfaces and e-business systems for enriched over-the-internet visibility.
Core Modules and Functionality
Order Management
Order entry, Quote Management, and Order processing are efficiently handled through Epicor Prophet 21’s Order Management module. It has made the capture of orders, generation of quotes, and subsequent processing easier, and faster thus minimizing mistakes and time wastage. Connection with portable doubles order entry tool from sales personnel to endlessly increase flexibility.
Control over the orders is another significant aspect that implies real-time information about the status of the orders and the possibility to fulfill the order immediately. Such ability enhances customer relations and organizational performance due to flexibility in responding to alterations, incidences, and documentation of processes and tasks. The Order Management module of Prophet 21 adapts the user to an efficient and responsive order management system.
Inventory Management
The Inventory Management of Epicor Prophet 21 works most efficiently for its clients by using the best methods for inventory management solutions to provide the necessary stock and at the same time reduce the extra stock. It has multi-location management, through which the business can manage the inventory of a warehouse and another without interference. Some bin tracking systems’ amenities enable a certain level of sophistication in controlling the storage location and transportation of inventory in a facility, contributing to a high level of organizational proficiency.
It fits properly with the purchasing and sales activities in such a way that will contribute fully to the updating of the stocks, purchasing department, and the selling section. This integration also contributes to managing stocks to ensure that they are always on high, in timely replacements, and inventory accuracy; making overall operations effective and satisfactory to clients.
Purchasing
The purchasing module of Epicor Prophet 21 covers all purchasing operations and activities to improve procurement capability. It offers extensive vendor management and supports good relationships with suppliers and negotiating with them. The RFQ application guarantees easy and effective organization of the later stage which implies getting and comparing the prices offered by vendors.
In addition, the module also supports landed cost calculations, which ascertain the complete cost of procured goods, including transportation, customs, and other charges. Vendor rebate tracking skills assist in checking and enhancing the rebates resulting in cost control among businesses. The Purchasing module achieves purchase rationalization, better cost management, and better vendor communications.
Warehouse Management
Some of the record-keeping solutions provided by Epicor Prophet 21 Warehouse Management are paperless. This makes operations more efficient and accurate. It sustains operational activities like receiving, picking, and cycle counting for real-time processes to make them effective and precise. The barcodes and printing scanning of labels are important in the module because they accurately track the inventory movement and minimize wrong figure entries due to fatigue or rush. Both barcode scanning and label printing foster faster data entry and increase accuracy than manual data input. Collectively, these features improve or streamline or render several warehouse functions making the overall management of the warehouse faster, better, and even more accurate.
Financial Management
The Financial Management module of Epicor Prophet 21 includes a strong GL, AR, and AP system. These features streamline financial transactions and ensure accurate record-keeping.
The module provides real-time financial reporting and transaction tracking, enabling businesses to access up-to-date financial data for informed decision-making. It also supports multicurrency transactions, allowing companies to operate globally with ease. Financial reconciliation features help ensure accuracy and consistency across all financial records. These capabilities enhance financial control, improve reporting accuracy, and support efficient financial operations.
Specialized Features
CRM Integration
Prophet 21 also brings into the core Customer Relationship Management to allow customer relation management and the sales processes. This integration means that information about a particular client starting from the time the client communicates with the company up to the time that the said client requests a specific product or service, or after they have made a purchase, all their details will be documented and can be retrieved through the ERP system. It allows registration leads, opportunities, and communications and gives insight into customer activities to the sales teams.
The CRM module also operates in the link with the email systems. It enables the sales and customer service personnel to work with the e-mail tools from the frames of Prophet 21. This integration is very effective in improving customer care since the staff is to reply to the clients on time while having a record of all communications with the customers thereby helping in increasing customer satisfaction and hence customer loyalty.
Business Intelligence and Reporting
Prophet 21 has remarkable BI and reporting solutions that allow businesses to create reports and conduct analyses. These tools offer real-time information analysis, which is essential in decision-making. The program’s features include the ability for users to generate reports, whereby performance in terms of KPIs, sales movements, and profitability can be closely observed.
The availability of the current data enables managers to make efficient and effective decisions and find areas of deficient and superior performance. Advanced reporting features allow business people to get the right information and help them grow and compete effectively.
E-commerce and Digital Integration
Prophet 21 with the Epicor Commerce [EC] module is a robust e-commerce solution. It allows companies to expand their presence by using web sales platforms and improve the online environment for customers by automating customer orders, following the order status, and the product catalog use. This self-service capability increases customers’ satisfaction levels. It also offloads largely from the sales and customer service departments.
The middleware between EC and Prophet 21 helps to maintain the synchronized position of stocks and other variables between the ERP and the selling platforms. This coordination avoids any incongruities and guarantees client has all the correct and current essential information. Also, the integration can enhance every client’s experience by offering options like customer-specific product prices or product recommendations based on customer preferences.
The advantages of reconsidering online customer portals and ‘e-shopping cart’ integration include the development of more sales channels, customer involvement growth, and quicker order management. Flexible online shopping is the key to introduce and maintain customers with all those related products of businesses. There is also the integration of mobility, which makes it possible for the customers to use their gadgets to access the business since the interfaces are mobile-friendly.
What's the Best eCommerce Platform for Your Business?
Benefits of Using Epicor Prophet 21
Improved Operational Efficiency through Automation
Prophet 21 increases organizational workflow efficiency as it eliminates several critical manual operations. Firms that integrate their business ERP systems realize a 22% boost in processing orders. With functions like order entry, tracking inventory, and preparing and presenting reports, Prophet 21 helps minimize handwritten input and saves time for workers. This results in fast and precise executions hence increasing efficiencies throughout the system.
Enhanced Customer Service and Satisfaction
Customer relation management integrated solutions with real-time information deliveries improve customer satisfaction in Prophet 21. A survey of customers showed that 80% of them hold views that the experience of a firm is even more important than products or services. With its clear client profiles and real-time order tracking features for sales teams, Prophet 21 guarantees that businesses can address their clients’ concerns. It also enhances the likelihood of regular and stable usage of services provided by a particular organization by the consumers.
Cost Savings
Specific features of Prophet 21 undertaking inventory control entail considerable cost reductions. The Warehouse Education and Research Council or WERC stresses that inventory costs can be reduced by approximately 35% by implementing effective inventory management techniques. It features automatic ordering, inventory control, and management of units in different areas and bins. These guarantee businesses have adequate stock and avoid overstock and stockouts. Further, efficient supply and procurement methods and better control of vendors’ negations decrease procurement expenses. The centralization of these functions within the context of Prophet 21 reduces cost overruns due to too much duplication of services.
Deployment Options and Scalability
Comparison of Cloud-Based vs. On-Premises Deployment
This solution is packaged as SaaS and there is an option for businesses to host it in-house. The system can be hosted on the cloud. It provides flexible, low-risk IT and constant updates while the end users access the system over the Internet. Despite these benefits, Gartner has predicted that 85% of enterprises will adopt cloud-based systems seamlessly by 2025. On-premises, on the other hand, provides better control in terms of data and flexibility, which can be essential for an organization with legal or security concerns.
Scalability Options for Growing Businesses
Prophet 21 has been developed for growing businesses and has the flexibility to support companies expanding their operations. Regardless of its location, it is adaptable to expand the number of users, places, and functions as the organization requires. Integrated and expansive ERP systems can help businesses optimize their performance since they are created to grow with the firms. It has been designed with a modular framework. It means that enterprises don’t have to implement all the sophisticated capabilities at once but can start with what will be necessary at the business’s current development phase and add more improvements as the firm grows.
Integration between Epicor Prophet 21 and DCKAP Commerce
Introduction to Integration
It is now essential to integrate the current solutions such as Enterprise Resource Planning, ERP for short, for success in the digital business environment like Epicor Prophet 21. Such integration provides a fluid business environment internally and externally between various channels. Operations like order processing, inventory control, and customer support become better managed when ERP-eCommerce is integrated hence increasing the overall quality.
DCKAP Commerce prepares a solid platform for synchronization with eCommerce systems for Epicor Prophet 21. It is intended to enable easy integration with the ERP and provide an efficient operation of the eCommerce stores. Through this integration, business information is synchronized on all the platforms, which ensures better business operations and customer satisfaction.
Integration Capabilities
API Integration
DCKAP Commerce supports both REST and GraphQL API endpoints to help in the integration with Epicor Prophet 21. These APIs enable the two systems to exchange data in real-time, which means that information like product descriptions, inventory status, and consumer details are always current. Rest APIs are available for client-servers to engage with the ERP system in a proposed standardized way, while GraphQL APIs are more precise in data requests by clients. This makes it possible to achieve a strong and versatile integration system to meet the growing demand for complex data.
Real-Time Pricing Updates
The synchronization of the prices can be done in real time with DCKAP Commerce integration into the Epicor Prophet 21. Whenever a change on the pricelist is in the Prophet 21 system, it reflects on the DCKAP Commerce platform instantly. This function also enables the real-time adjustment of products’ prices and contributes to sustaining the company’s competitive advantage in the existing market environment. There is effective and timely provision of prices to consumers which in turn helps the quality improvement of the shopping experience and credibility to the brand.
Order Synchronization
DCKAP Commerce makes it possible for the orders produced on the eCommerce site to be automatically updated on Epicor Prophet 21. This synchronization process writes new orders into the ERP system. It creates inventory changes and evokes related work processes. Likewise, order status changes of the products in Prophet 21, including shipping changes, are available on the eCommerce store to update the customers on the status of their orders. Orders have fewer errors due to this bidirectional synchronization since it decreases the need for manual inputs in the various operations.
Live Inventory Management
Real-time inventory integration is one of the main things that work hand in hand with DCKAP Commerce and Epicor Prophet 21. The integration of Ordlero with TradeGecko also ensures that inventory information is real-time so the customers do not have to be sold a product that is out of stock. This feature ensures that businesses have better control over their stock, which lowers costs by cutting the number of items that are not likely to be sold since they were over-ordered.
Key Integration Features
Product Sync
DCKAP Commerce ensures that information about products sold on the website is synchronized from Epicor Prophet 21. This ranges from the details of the product including its description, image, price, and the quantity in stock. Thus, accurate and up-to-date information can help businesses share product information with customers, enhance customers’ shopping satisfaction, and minimize the occurrence of returns due to outdated or incorrect product descriptions.
Customer Sync
This process entails customer data transformation between DCKAP Commerce and Epicor Prophet 21 mainly through customer IDs for matching purposes. This makes it easy to keep all the data relating to the customers, including their contact information, order history, and preferences, well synchronized across both domains. Profile information helps in creating appropriately targeted promotional campaigns and improves the quality of service since the escalated agents could have full information on the clients.
Customer-Specific Pricing
DCKAP Commerce can enable real-time specific client price support for Epicor Prophet 21. This feature allows organizations and companies to set tiered prices depending on the categories or groups of customers, membership, or commissions/ discounts. Hence, through this approach, businesses are in a position to increase the amount of sales and improve customer relations and experience.
Real-Time Shipping Calculation
Integration with Epicor Prophet 21 to DCKAP Commerce for automated calculation and fetching of the shipping rates facilitates the presentation of accurate and efficient shipping costs to consumers. They offer their customers real-time shipping rates based on parameters like the delivery address, shipping options, and carrier rates. Specific data regarding vessel costs mitigate the issue of cart abandonment and improve customers’ overall contentment.
Live Tax Calculation
Tax calculations and recovery from Epicor Prophet 21 to DCKAP Commerce keep taxation records precise and effective. This feature calculates prices based on tax laws specific to the customer’s location and product type, minimizing situations where a company or its customers overpay or underpay taxes. Proper taxation reduces the complexities of statements and increases customer satisfaction because of the indicated prices.
Unit of Measure (UOM) Sync
One of the common issues that may occur after synchronizing data from Epicor Prophet 21 to DCKAP Commerce is the mismatch of unit of measure (UOM) values. Such synchronization enables products to be listed with all the right measurements to avoid confusion and order mistakes. Correct UOM data is useful when it comes to inventory and overall goods stock, and also customer decision-making.
Tracking and Invoice Info
Real-time status updates of the shipped consignments and real-time confirmation of the stock status during the check-out process, which manages to increase customer satisfaction. The status and progress of an order placed are communicated to the customer as they occur, thus providing more credibility. Third, the basic invoice data helps to achieve financial data synchronization between the two systems.
For more on integration capabilities, read Live Sync Capabilities.
Benefits of Integration
Operational Efficiency
DCKAP Commerce maximizes efficiency by integrating with Epicor Prophet 21 and allows operations to be automated instead of done manually. Synchronization of data between the ERP and eCommerce systems in particular makes a difference to permit the flow of accurate data at all times. The automation ensures that personnel are relieved of tasks that may be time-consuming thus enhancing productivity.
Enhanced Customer Experience
Some advantages include enhanced order ways, real-time prices, and stock availability that elevate the customer experience. Customers get correct information about products, know the status of their orders, and enjoy customized prices, which makes them inclined toward the firm and increases their satisfaction. Integration is useful for service delivery by providing customer information to several representatives and answering customer inquiries and problems.
Cost Savings
Enhanced efficiency and lower overall expenditure are features that many clients will reap if they adopt DCKAP Commerce in their Epicor Prophet 21 system. Robust automated tools lessen the demand for manual input and decrease the chance of mistakes hence, the cost of labor and rectifying errors are eliminated. Also, improved inventory control increases holding costs while, at the same time, decreasing the likelihood of either stock out or excess stock. Pricing, tax computations, and even shipping costs are displayed in detail to help define, even more, the company’s cost-saving performance.
Conclusion
Epicor Prophet 21 is a distribution-specific Enterprise resource planning software that offers distribution companies several capabilities such as order management, control of inventories and purchase orders, warehousing and order processing division, financial options, customer relationship management, and analytics with e-commerce. Integration with such tools as DCKAP Commerce allows them to indicate the possibility of increasing the speed of work, the satisfaction level of buyers, and reducing costs due to the same-time reception and processing of data with minimal additional operations. Such capabilities place Epicor Prophet 21 as the most suitable solution for companies. It improves their working processes and the speed of making decisions and remains competitive in the changing nature of the distribution industry.