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July 9, 2013 Page 1 of 14 © BellHawk Systems Corporation Cost Effective Alternatives for Replacing a Sage PFW ERP System Eric and Peter Green Introduction This white paper examines alternatives for replacing Sage PFW Process Manufacturing Version (was Sage PFW BatchMaster). This product has an end of life declared by Sage as of March 2014 as Sage seeks to consolidate its product line. Until September 30 th , 2013 Sage has free upgrade offers and lesser discounts until March 2014 for users of Sage PFW to Sage 100 (was MAS90/ 200) and to Sage 300 (was AccPac). They also offer various credits to upgrade to Sage ERP X3, which is Sage’s top-of-the line ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system. Sage X3 is the only product in the Sage product line that has all the Process Inventory features of Sage PFW without Laboratory, Regulatory, Labeling or Nutritional Calculations. By adding Formulator Software, which fills this gap, Sage X3 can be a direct replacement for PFW. Unfortunately X3 is a complex package and the estimated cost for replacing Sage PFW with Sage X3 can be over $100,000, even including upgrade credits. This is way too expensive for the smaller organizations which are still using PFW, as many of them purchased PFW for less than $30,000. It has been suggested that combining the BellHawk Production and Inventory Tracking Software with a financial package, such as QuickBooks Enterprise or Sage 300 Financials, plus Formulator to manage laboratory formulation and MSDS data sheets, Hazardous Container Labeling and Nutrient Calculations, would provide a replacement for PFW for significantly lower cost than migration to Sage X3. It would also provide capabilities, such as mobile data collection and barcode scanning technology, which most PFW accounts do not have now. This paper evaluates the above suggestion plus some other competitive alternatives to see which might be the best solution. These alternatives include continuing to use existing PFW systems even though they are no longer supported by Sage. This investigation was based on publically available information and in some cases the information available was incomplete. But, in general, we were able to conclude that the best replacement for PFW depends on the size of your organization, the purposes for which you are currently using PFW, and the type of business you are in. Methodology Sage PFW was sold in two major levels 1. Platinum Accounting with discrete inventory. 2. Platinum Accounting plus process inventory and process batch manufacturing execution capabilities with multiple units of measure.
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Cost Effective Alternatives for Replacing a Sage PFW ERP System

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Page 1: Cost Effective Alternatives for Replacing a Sage PFW ERP System

July 9, 2013 Page 1 of 14 © BellHawk Systems Corporation

Cost Effective Alternatives for Replacing a Sage PFW ERP System

Eric and Peter Green

Introduction

This white paper examines alternatives for replacing Sage PFW Process Manufacturing Version

(was Sage PFW BatchMaster). This product has an end of life declared by Sage as of March

2014 as Sage seeks to consolidate its product line.

Until September 30th

, 2013 Sage has free upgrade offers and lesser discounts until March 2014

for users of Sage PFW to Sage 100 (was MAS90/ 200) and to Sage 300 (was AccPac). They also

offer various credits to upgrade to Sage ERP X3, which is Sage’s top-of-the line ERP (Enterprise

Resource Planning) system.

Sage X3 is the only product in the Sage product line that has all the Process Inventory features of

Sage PFW without Laboratory, Regulatory, Labeling or Nutritional Calculations. By adding

Formulator Software, which fills this gap, Sage X3 can be a direct replacement for PFW.

Unfortunately X3 is a complex package and the estimated cost for replacing Sage PFW with

Sage X3 can be over $100,000, even including upgrade credits. This is way too expensive for the

smaller organizations which are still using PFW, as many of them purchased PFW for less than

$30,000.

It has been suggested that combining the BellHawk Production and Inventory Tracking Software

with a financial package, such as QuickBooks Enterprise or Sage 300 Financials, plus

Formulator to manage laboratory formulation and MSDS data sheets, Hazardous Container

Labeling and Nutrient Calculations, would provide a replacement for PFW for significantly

lower cost than migration to Sage X3. It would also provide capabilities, such as mobile data

collection and barcode scanning technology, which most PFW accounts do not have now.

This paper evaluates the above suggestion plus some other competitive alternatives to see which

might be the best solution. These alternatives include continuing to use existing PFW systems

even though they are no longer supported by Sage.

This investigation was based on publically available information and in some cases the

information available was incomplete. But, in general, we were able to conclude that the best

replacement for PFW depends on the size of your organization, the purposes for which you are

currently using PFW, and the type of business you are in.

Methodology

Sage PFW was sold in two major levels

1. Platinum Accounting with discrete inventory.

2. Platinum Accounting plus process inventory and process batch manufacturing execution

capabilities with multiple units of measure.

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July 9, 2013 Page 2 of 14 © BellHawk Systems Corporation

Many PFW users simply use the Platinum accounting package but process manufacturers use the

version with process inventory and process-batch manufacturing capabilities. We tried to limit

our comparison to these two levels but found it advantageous to include a comparison of

inventory tracking capabilities.

Sage sells some of its ERP systems with a distribution level. This is aimed at those organizations

that need to track financials and inventory but not manufacturing. But these products do not

include capabilities such as the use of a wireless warehouse management capability which must

be provided by add-on products.

We have chosen to perform this comparison primarily with the Sage ERP product line, as Sage is

currently offering some great deals to retain Sage PFW customer in the Sage fold. This is not to

imply that other ERP products, such the Dynamics line from Microsoft, would not be appropriate

to consider as a replacement for PFW. But they would be more expensive given the current

upgrade offers from Sage.

QuickBooks Enterprise only provides financial management capabilities. While it does have

some rudimentary inventory and kit assembly tracking capabilities, we do not count this as true

inventory or manufacturing tracking product.

Other products such as BellHawk, MISys, IntelliTrack and Fishbowl are add-on products that do

not have their own financial component. Instead they integrate with a range of financial software

to add inventory and manufacturing tracking capabilities.

One product, BatchMaster ERP, is a complete replacement for Sage PFW but is also offered with

their ERP capability replaced by QuickBooks, Sage 100, and Sage 300 financials. For the

financial portion of our comparison, we compared the products against the ERP portion of

BatchMaster. But for inventory, manufacturing, and information technology comparisons we

treated BatchMaster ERP as an add-on product

Manufacturing software tends to focus on two major areas:

1. Discrete-batch manufacturing – used by companies in the automotive and aerospace parts

manufacturing business where assembly, machining and tools management play a critical

role.

2. Process-batch manufacturing – which is used by companies for food, pharmaceutical,

chemicals, cosmetics, biologics, and precision materials converting applications. Here the

focus is on formulas and materials traceability.

While most manufacturing software packages claim to do both, PFW was designed for process-

batch manufacturing. ERP Products like Sage 100 and 300 as well as add-on products like MISys

and Fishbowl focus on discrete manufacturing. Whereas ERP products such as Sage X3 and

BatchMaster ERP as well as add-on products like BellHawk focus on process-batch applications.

In the reported results, we decided to treat Formulator, which does Laboratory formulation

development, testing, MSDS data sheet development, Labeling and Nutritional calculation as an

add-on to products like PFW, X3, BellHawk, MISys, BatchMaster, and other ERP and

accounting products.

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July 9, 2013 Page 3 of 14 © BellHawk Systems Corporation

In studying add-on wireless warehouse management systems we found that, while all the

products did a good job of the fundamentals, there was a divergence of focus. Accellos,

IntelliTrack and Fishbowl tend to focus on retail warehousing applications, where capabilities

such as wave picking are important. BellHawk, on the other hand tends to focus on warehouses

used for applications such as food distribution where capabilities such as materials traceability

and tracking expiration dates can be critical.

Another critical factor is the ability to handle the automatic translation between different units of

measure. This is essential in the process-batch distribution and manufacturing but not in retail

distribution or discrete manufacturing. This feature is essential for those users of PFW who use

its formula management and process-batch production capabilities. ERP products such as X3 and

BatchMaster ERP handle multiple units of measure but QuickBooks, Sage 100 and 300 do not.

Add-on products such as BellHawk and MISys do handle multiple units of measure but products

such as Fishbowl and IntelliTrack do not.

In terms of financials, two critical differentiators emerged:

1. Ability to concurrently handle multiple currencies. PFW does, along with Sage 300 and X3,

but QuickBooks, BatchMaster ERP, and Sage 100 do not.

2. Ability to easily roll-up and drill-down into multiple profit and loss centers. PFW does this

with an add-on advanced general ledger module but most PFW accounts do not have this and

this is not important for most single plant users. But, for growing companies who have

separately managed divisions, this may be important. QuickBooks, BatchMaster ERP, and

Sage 100 do not do this but Sage 300 and X3 do.

Of course, the most critical differentiator of all is cost. We chose a small/mid size company

baseline model with 5 seats each for accounting, inventory, and manufacturing.

It was not possible to get accurate pricing in all cases, so we decided to bracket costs as follows:

1. $ < $10,000

2. $$ $10,000-$20,000

3. $$$ $20,000 - $50,000

4. $$$$ $50,000 - $100,000

5. $$$$$ Over $100,000

Our costs include installation and setup but not on-site user training. They are presented

incrementally with a cost for Financials and then as a total cost for Financials plus Inventory plus

Manufacturing to mimic the way Sage PFW was sold. We did, however break out the cost to add

wireless warehouse management (WMS) capability to the financial products for those interested

only in tracking distribution of products.

In the cost section, we marked those products with a free upgrade offer from Sage with an * and

those products with an upgrade credit from PFW with a +.

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July 9, 2013 Page 4 of 14 © BellHawk Systems Corporation

We decided to include an information technology section as it is apparent that some products

have transitioned to use modern web-browser and web-services (used for computer to computer

communications) technology and some are still using older client-server technologies.

Microsoft’s wholesale abandonment of technologies it purchased or developed over a decade ago

may make good business sense for Microsoft as it transitions to the Cloud and tries to become a

consumer rather than business oriented company. Software products that rely on older Microsoft

technology, such as Sage Pro, are being forced into end-of-life. We believe that many more such

products will cease to work as Microsoft issues “kill-bits” in its operating system’s updates to

prohibit programs from using older dynamic link libraries which have compatibility or security

issues.

We have found that many of our small and mid-sized clients do not yet want to transition to

Cloud based subscription services because they doubt the reliability of their Internet connections

and they need to retain their IT staff for other purposes. But they do like the fact that using a

web-browser interface to software installed on their own servers eliminates the need and cost of

maintaining thick-client software on Microsoft based PCs (especially given Microsoft’s

Windows 8 user interface debacle).

QuickBooks Enterprise and Sage 300 and X3 are the only financial packages in our study to have

transitioned to have web-browser interfaces. Add-on products such as BellHawk, MISys,

Fishbowl and IntelliTrack all offer web-browser interfaces but only BellHawk offers a web-

services interface for data exchange with other systems over the Internet.

Several other factors that were identified in this study that may be important factors in choosing

a replacement system are:

1. Availability of customization services – while all the products work out-of-the-box, in many

cases there is need for customization to meet the specific business needs of each business.

2. Availability of source code. This can be important for those organizations that wish to

customize the software themselves.

3. Can be FDA/USDA/HACCP/SQF validated. This is important for those organizations that

need these certifications. PFW could be validated and BellHawk can be FDA validated.

4. Can exchange data with Process Control Systems to avoid duplicate data entry.

We have indicated whether these features are available for each of the products.

We have also indicated the standard interfaces that are available to each of the financial products

for the add-on products.

The results of this study are shown in Appendix A as a set of spreadsheets. While we have tried

to be as accurate as possible, please realize that these results are based on publically available

information over the Internet. So, before making a decision as to a replacement for your Sage

PFW system, you should check the facts as they apply to your specific case and make your own

judgment.

We have included a brief description of each software product mentioned in this document in

Appendix B.

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July 9, 2013 Page 5 of 14 © BellHawk Systems Corporation

Recommendations

General

The simplest course of action is to do nothing. Sage PFW will continue to operate as long as the

version of the Microsoft Windows operating system on which it is based continues to work. This

end of life is determined by the computers on which Windows runs. Disks or some other

component will ultimately fail and the operating system version will not be compatible with any

available replacements and so your Sage PFW will suddenly come to the end of its life. But, if

you are running PFW on a reasonably up to date Windows 2008 server computer this could be a

decade or more away.

The biggest danger with this approach is that, as long as you continue to upgrade the Windows

operating system on which Sage operate, Microsoft could, at any time, issue a kill-bit for some

vital code library on which PFW depends. So the smart course of action is not to update the

Windows operating system on the Windows Server on which PFW runs beyond next March.

This would, potentially expose PFW to security attacks but these can largely be mitigated by

careful firewall strategies.

If you are running your version of PFW on a Windows 2000 or 2003 Server, and you intend to

keep PFW, we recommend that you immediately upgrade to Windows 2008, with some new

hardware, as these older Windows products really are going away in the near future. This is

much cheaper than upgrading PFW, which can continue to operate for years to come.

So why upgrade? The answer is that Sage PFW is an old client-server product and may become

obsolete for the following reasons:

1. Changes in general accounting and tax rules that are not supported by PFW. Also

accountants may be unwilling to accept financial statements prepared on an unsupported

system.

2. If you are using PFW for Payroll, Sage will no longer issue Payroll Tax and 1099 updates

beyond 2013.

3. Requirements to add real-time mobile data collection, with point-of-action mistake

prevention, for inventory and production data.

4. Ability to collect inventory and production data at multiple geographically distributed

locations.

5. Ability to exchange data with other systems over the Internet.

6. Changes in formulation and hazardous materials regulatory requirements.

Reasons 3 through 5 can be mitigated by adding products like BellHawk and Formulator to an

existing PFW installation. But supported financial reporting can only be achieved by switching

to financial software that has on-going support from its vendor.

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We do not recommend transitioning to Sage 100 or BatchMaster ERP. These both use older

client-server technology, which is now an obsolete concept. This concept was great in the world

of desktop computers but is rapidly being supplanted by technology in which:

1. Data can be captured and viewed from anywhere there is an Internet connection on any

mobile device that runs a modern web browser.

2. Data is automatically exchanged between systems over the Internet using standard web-

services protocols.

This is the web-enabled world of Amazon, Google, FaceBook, LinkedIn, and increasingly

Microsoft. Products that cannot play in this word will become rapidly obsolete, as evidenced by

Microsoft’s wholesale abandonment of products that no longer fit into this model.

Products like Sage X3 and BellHawk are fully compatible with this new vision. Other products

such as MISys and Sage 300 have not yet fully embraced this vision. They have added web-

browser interface to their older Client-Server products but do not yet support web-services data

exchange as an integral part of their product (in the way that SalesForce.com, Netsuite, Plex, X3

and BellHawk do).

In a web-enabled world, a combination of X3, BellHawk, and Formulator meets this vision. This

combination is ideal for a large organization that needs the capabilities of X3 but the cost of

implementing an X3 installation can be expensive because of its complexity.

For smaller organizations, in process batch manufacturing, who want to transition to a web-

enabled world, we recommend migrating to QuickBooks Enterprise or Sage 300 (AccPac)

financials plus BellHawk for web-enabled process inventory and production tracking plus

Formulator for regulatory management of formulas and hazardous materials data sheets.

More specific recommendations follow:

Financials

For organizations currently only using Sage PFW as a financial package:

1. If you are a large company with lots of money and need multi-P&L and multi-currency

financial tracking then upgrade to Sage X3.

2. If you are a smaller company that needs multi-currency and/or multi-P&L tracking then

upgrade to Sage 300. The upgrade is free but the annual maintenance fee will be several

thousand dollars.

3. If you only need single P&L and single currency then get QuickBooks Enterprise. The 5 seat

version will cost you $2,500 but the annual maintenance fee is only about $700 per year.

4. Do not upgrade to Sage 100 as it uses obsolete technology and is unlikely to be upgraded. It

was a great product 20 years ago and has a large user base but Sage has shown no inclination

to invest in upgrading it.

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Inventory

For organizations currently using Sage PFW to track financials plus inventory:

1. If you are a large company with lots of money then upgrade to Sage X3.

But please recognize that Sage X3 does not have an integral wireless warehouse management

system (WMS) and a third party product must be used. Some recommended options for use

with X3 are:

a. If you need materials traceability and regulatory compliance then you probably want

to consider BellHawk. It is much lower cost than Accellos and has many more

capabilities for materials traceability.

b. If you are in the retail distribution business then consider IntelliTrack as a lower cost

alternative to Accellos.

2. If you are happy with using manual data entry instead of using barcodes to track your

inventory and do not need materials traceability then simply upgrade to Sage 300

Distribution package.

3. If you are a smaller company and want to use barcode tracking then upgrade to :

a. QuickBooks Enterprise or Sage 300 plus BellHawk, or

b. QuickBooks Enterprise plus Fishbowl, or

c. QuickBooks Enterprise plus IntelliTrack

4. In comparison:

a. BellHawk is ideal for those organizations such as food, chemical, cosmetics and

pharmaceutical distributors that need materials traceability and possibly

FDA/USDA/HACCP/SQF certification.

b. Fishbowl is highly integrated with QuickBooks and is ideal if you want to use

QuickBooks and do not need materials traceability or high volume retail picking.

c. IntelliTrack is ideal if you need to use techniques such as wave picking for high

volume picking in a “retail” distribution warehouse.

Manufacturing

For organizations currently using Sage PFW to track financials plus process inventory plus

process-batch manufacturing:

1. If you are a large company with lots of money then Sage X3 is a single system that tracks

just about everything that a process-batch manufacturer needs to track. It is complicated and

expensive to set up but has a very rich feature set.

But please recognize that Sage X3 does not directly connect with data collection devices such

as barcode scanners, mobile computers, barcode label printers, RFID encoders and readers

and process control systems. These capabilities must be added through third party software.

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To add these capabilities in a discrete batch operation then use MISys. To add these

capabilities in a process batch operation then use BellHawk.

2. BatchMaster ERP is a look-alike replacement for Sage PFW with similar process

manufacturing execution capabilities and uses the same client-server technology. It has the

most compatible look and feel of all the replacements for PFW and will minimize training. If

you want to stay in a client-server world and must replace the PFW financials for audit

reasons then this is probably a good choice. Otherwise stick with PFW or replace it with

modern web-enabled technology.

3. If you are a smaller company and want to move to web-enabled technology then upgrade to :

a. QuickBooks Enterprise or Sage 300 plus BellHawk, or

b. QuickBooks Enterprise or Sage 300 plus MISys

In comparison:

c. BellHawk is ideal for those organizations such as food, chemical, cosmetics and

pharmaceutical manufacturers that need materials traceability and possibly

FDA/USDA/HACCP certification. It is also ideal for those organizations that have

multiple facilities in different locations.

d. MISys is ideal for those organizations such as automotive and aerospace

manufacturers that perform discrete batch manufacturing at a single location.

4. While Fishbowl does claim to do discrete manufacturing and is closely integrated with

QuickBooks, we do not recommend this unless your organization only does very simple

discrete manufacturing operations such as assembly and kitting.

5. If you need formula Laboratory development, MSDS management, Hazardous Labeling, or

Nutritional calculations then add Formulator to any of the above recommendations.

6. Both BellHawk and MISys have integrated MRP (Materials Requirements Planning)

capabilities. Alternately BellHawk can use the MRP capabilities provided with Sage 300

Manufacturing. The MISys MRP capabilities are reputed to be excellent for discrete batch

manufacturers. The BellHawk MRP capabilities represent a simple to use alternative for

smaller process-batch manufacturers but BellHawk recommends the use of the Sage 300

MRP for organizations with more complex supply chain requirements.

Summary

1. If you are a large company then upgrade to Sage X3.

2. If you are happy with the current client-server version of Sage PFW and it meets your

accounting needs then continue to use it until it dies. If not then choose one of the following:

3. If you are a smaller company that has simple accounting requirements then upgrade to

QuickBooks Enterprise.

4. If you are a mid-size company that has more complex accounting requirements then upgrade

to Sage 300.

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5. If you are a smaller company and need to add warehouse management then add-on BellHawk

for applications that need materials traceability or Fishbowl or IntelliTrack if you need retail

warehouse management capability.

6. If you are a smaller company that needs to track its manufacturing then add-on MISys for

discrete manufacturing or BellHawk for process-batch manufacturing or multi-site operation.

7. In all cases if you are a process manufacturing company and need laboratory development,

testing, regulatory MSDS and, or nutritional calculation then add Formulator Software to

your migration from PFW.

Authors

Eric Green

Eric is a summer marketing-operations intern for BellHawk systems. He did all the research for

this paper. Eric is studying Operations Management at UMass Dartmouth. He previously worked

in a food distribution warehouse, as a QC person for an abrasives manufacturer, and for a

demolition company. He is currently President of the ENACTUS Chapter at UMass Dartmouth,

which is dedicated to encouraging socially conscious entrepreneurship amongst students

worldwide.

Peter Green

Dr. Peter Green is a recognized expert in implementing industrial materials tracking and

traceability systems. He currently serves as the CTO and President of BellHawk Systems which

developed the BellHawk and Bell-Connector software, under his guidance. Dr. Green has led the

implementation of over 100 tracking systems for clients as diverse as small food processors and

the U.S. Air Force and Navy. Dr. Green was previously a Professor at WPI and a member of the

research staff at MIT. He received his BSEE and Ph.D. from Leeds University in England.

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Appendix A – Results

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Appendix B – Software Products

Sage PFW ERP

Sage PFW was originally developed as BatchMaster and Platinum Accounting, both DOS based

products to manage the manufacture of chemical products. It was spun off to become Platinum

ERP, which was then upgraded to be a Microsoft Windows product, called Platinum for

Windows by Epicor Software. BatchMaster was upgraded to Windows and sold to eWorkplace

Solutions. Sage Software (then called Best Software) purchased both products in 2002 and fully

integrated them. Sage PFW was sold as Platinum accounting with limited inventory functions

and the process version sold as BatchMasterPFW. eWorkplace retained the BatchMaster

trademark and Sage then marketed both versions as Sage PFW. While it has a wide range of

capabilities, this product is now technologically obsolete, which is why it is being replaced.

QuickBooks Enterprise Accounting

This is the client-server big-brother version of the QuickBooks product used by millions of small

businesses world-wide. For small, single facility, manufacturing and distribution companies it

provides a low cost but very comprehensive financial package. It has been criticized by many

accountants as not having enough audit controls but it is very simple to use. The big advantage is

that a 5 user system can be purchased for around $2,500 with an annual maintenance fee of

around $700/year. These 5 seats are more than adequate for the front office operations of smaller

organizations when combined with inventory and production tracking add-ons such as

BellHawk, Fishbowl and MISys which have standard interfaces to QuickBooks.

Sage 100 ERP

This is the new name for the old MAS90 and MAS200 products. This has a large user base,

mostly amongst smaller manufacturing and distribution companies who purchased it as a low

cost ERP system 20 years ago. This uses older client-server technology. It was upgraded about a

decade ago to use a relational database but is unlikely to be further upgraded. Even worse,

MAS90 and MAS200 are really two different products, so this product does not have internal

consistency. We understand that Sage is now targeting Sage 100 at services companies.

Sage 300 ERP

This is the old Canadian AccPac product, which is not to be confused with the other AccPac that

became Sage Pro, which is also due or end of life in 2014. Sage 300 is used by a large number of

discrete batch manufacturers and is available in three levels:

1. Financials – was Sage AccPac 100

2. Distribution – was Sage AccPac 200

3. Manufacturing – was Sage AccPac 500

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This product was recently updated to have a web-browser portal interface and is likely to remain

around for a long time. We understand that Sage is retaining its manufacturing focus but adding

a distribution market focus.

This product is moderately priced but requires add-on products such as BellHawk, MISys and

Formulator to provide all the capabilities that were available with PFW.

Sage X3 ERP

Sage X3 evolved from the acquisition of Adonix, a French software product. It has had

significant upgrades since acquisition by Sage. It was developed from the ground up in Java to

be Cloud compatible and runs on a wide variety of platforms. It is offered in the same three

levels as Sage 300 but is aimed at the process as well as discrete manufacturing. It is a high-end

product with many that enables it to compete with Oracle ERP and SAP R3. But it is expensive

and is complicated to install and setup. This is the true Sage replacement for PFW. Unfortunately

many small and mid-sized companies that currently use PFW cannot afford X3, nor do they need

all its capabilities.

BatchMaster ERP

This is the manufacturing execution system software created in India, starting with a discrete

manufacturing package by eWorkplaceSolutions, who retained the BatchMaster brand name

after selling the traditional BatchMaster product to Sage Software. Today this product largely

mimics the old PFW BatchMaster product in look and feel. While it has a wide-range of

capabilities for process-batch manufacturing, it uses obsolete client-server technology. This

company has its headquarters in California, but most of its activities are based in India and most

of its clients are international. Details of product pricing and plans for future upgrades to be web-

enabled are unknown.

Formulator – Formula Management

Formulator was founded by a member of the original BatchMaster Reseller team to provide

formulation management to Batch Process Manufacturers (Chemicals, Cosmetics, Food &

Nutritional, Pharmaceuticals). It has been extended to add regulatory MSDS data sheet and

Hazardous Label creation, Nutrient calculation, Laboratory Project Management, Sample

Management, Quality Management modules. It is designed to provide the development sand box

for the lab, then send approved formulations to ERP systems and bring cost back from the

accounting system. Interfaces are available to QuickBooks, Sage 50, Sage X3 and multiple

additional ERP programs and BellHawk. Many Sage PFW accounts also integrate with

Formulator.

BellHawk – Real-Time Inventory and Production Tracking

BellHawk, by BellHawk Systems Corporation, was originally developed as a client-server

manufacturing execution system for use by process-batch manufacturers. It has since been

upgraded to add a wireless warehouse management capability and to have both web-browser and

web-services interfaces. Standard interfaces are available to QuickBooks Enterprise and Sage

300 as well as to Formulator. BellHawk is able to work in multiple units of measure and is able

to track the processing of batches of formulas. It has been validated for use in FDA applications

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and captures materials traceability data. BellHawk also comes with an interface development

toolset that enable the rapid development of automated data exchange interfaces to a wide range

of systems.

Bell-Connector – Automated Data Exchange

Bell-Connector, by BellHawk Systems Corporation is a toolset for rapidly implementing

automated data exchange interfaces between legacy client-server and web-services enabled

systems. It provides over 90% of the needed code pre-built or automatically generated and also

provides extensive web-based capabilities for monitoring and management data transfers. It has

the ability to automatically trap and manage bad data exported from one system before it is sent

to another system. It is used to provide BellHawk with the ability to communicate with a wide

variety of systems. But it is a stand-alone toolset that can be used to web-enable a wide variety of

legacy client-server systems.

MISys – Manufacturing

MISys was originally developed as a client-server manufacturing execution system for use by

discrete-batch manufacturers. It has since been upgraded to have a web-browser interface.

Standard interfaces are available to QuickBooks Enterprise and Sage 300 as well as to

Formulator. MISys is able to work in multiple units of measure and is able to track the

processing of batches of formulas.

Fishbowl – Inventory Tracking

Fishbowl was originally developed as a client-server based inventory tracking add-on to

QuickBooks. It is closely integrated with QuickBooks and has seen widespread adoption

amongst QuickBooks users. It has been upgraded to add wireless warehouse management

capabilities as well as to add a web-browser interface. More recently, Fishbowl has added some

manufacturing capabilities but these are believed to be limited to the kitting and assembly

tracking supported by QuickBooks.

IntelliTrack – Inventory Tracking

IntelliTrack was originally developed as a low-cost stand-alone inventory tracking system. It was

upgraded to use client-server technology and to add wireless warehouse management

capabilities. IntelliTrack now claims to have a web-browser interface. It has a standard interface

to QuickBooks. The primary application for IntelliTrack is in smaller retail warehouses as a low

cost alternative to products like Accellos.

Accellos – Warehouse Management

This is the old Radio Beacon product. It is an add-on wireless warehouse management system

that is primarily used in large high-volume retail distribution warehouses. This product is

expensive and is primarily used as an add-on to ERP systems that need wireless warehouse

management in a high-volume retail distribution environment.