When looking at the cost, functionality, and time to implement a software, you expect to get everything you want and need. Part of any successful software decision journey is the process of defining needs, prioritizing functionality, and building your list of potential vendors to deliver on your expectations.
Defining ERP Requirements Is Critical—But What’s Being Offered?
The process of determining your needs is one of the most important steps to a successful decision, as your next ERP is expected to provide you functionality as you grow and change, helping to overcome functional gaps in your current system. Breaking down functionality into four areas—essential, desirable, not an immediate need, and nice to have—everything about this process directly affects the product fit, timeline, cost, and complexity.
Whether delivered internally or through a third-party application, ERP needs to be able to work for you, but also can’t break your budget by throwing in a bunch of extra things that you don’t intend to use.
Why Acumatica Is Built for Flexibility
Luckily, Acumatica was built for this flexibility. Rather than herding you into this functionality, Acumatica delivers its product through editions—providing you an initial vision of a product before allowing you to tailor the product to meet your business requirements.
Whether it’s the aptly named General Business—providing core financial functionality and optional features for distribution—or a wide range of other product editions, Acumatica helps you to get what you need without burning through cash to get there.
A Quick Look At What You Get in Each Acumatica Product Edition
Like looking at a car, many features in ERP come standard. Some features come standard in one product but not another, while certain features are optional across the board. Part of getting the best value is to avoid those features that aren’t considered an immediate requirement until you need them—something made easy by cloud ERP—while avoiding those you’ll never use.
Some ERP solutions come with all the bells, whistles, and odd nuances of an import; others are going to provide you a relatively healthy set of features. Acumatica? Reliability comes standard, but you’re also going to be able to make a whole lot of changes as you see fit. First-party additions that can be installed with ease? Check. Third party products that work perfectly with the product? Double-check.
So, when looking at products and asking what comes with each suite and what's optional, here’s what you get from Acumatica:
Standard Functionality Across All Editions
Found in all five product editions—General Business, Distribution Edition, Manufacturing Edition, Retail-Commerce Edition, and Construction Edition—you get the following functionality standard.
Advanced Financials: Offering all the things you’d expect from a financial management solution, Advanced Financials will give you everything you need. This starts with General Ledger functionality, integrated with AP, AR, Cash Management, and more. Learn more about the financial management functionality here.
Cloud xRP Platform: The Acumatica xRP platform is a versatile architectural framework and application development platform for building business applications. Designed to make the product flexible, this is what makes Acumatica a joy to work with for developers and an easy to configure product for customers.
iOS and Android Applications: Get the anytime, anywhere access you need—without the hassles of a mobile site. iOS and Android Apps deliver a great experience for users without strain or missed taps.
Time Management: Capture time for employees, contractors, and other staff or resources. Facilitate reporting and track projects without hassles, relying on the aforementioned mobile apps to make it even easier.
Reporting and Analysis: Gain greater insights into your organization with self-service tools from Acumatica to generate reports and analyze trends easily and in real time. Another standard feature, you receive a bunch of standard reports and the flexibility to create your own.
Optional Finance and Platform Functionality
Optional in each industry edition, these are the tools that expanding businesses need to get the job done. Whether it’s currency management for international players or recurring revenue for software and services, these help make the product more focused on the end user.
Bank Feeds
Multiple Currencies
Consolidation
Intercompany Accounting
Deferred Revenue
Recurring Revenue
Advanced Expense Management
Fixed Assets
Acumatica Payroll
Project Accounting/Job Cost Accounting
Customer Management: Available Across Editions
Finally, in addition to core financials, Acumatica’s CRM functionality works to connect your entire business. In this, you get the following options.
CRM (Salesforce Automation)
CRM Service & Support Case Management
CRM Portals
Acumatica General Business Edition
Designed to provide the backbone that your business needs, General Business edition offers the core functionality that every business needs. Acumatica Cloud ERP General Business Edition puts financials, reporting, and CRM at your fingertips, letting you manage your company from anywhere.
Core General Business Functionality
Built around the five basics, you get core financials, a strong, accessible platform, time management, and reporting tools. Think of this as a much more effective accounting software for your growing business.
Optional Functionality: Order Management and Inventory
General Business Edition is built to get you up and running quickly. In turn, you can add basic distribution functionality to the product including a feature rich order management product and inventory management.
Distribution Edition
One of the most well-known of Acumatica’s focuses, Distribution Edition was built by distributors, for distributors. Combining functionality, comprehensiveness, and integration, you get a wide range of functionality to connect warehouses and more.
Core Distribution Edition Functionality
In addition to the five standard features (Financials, xRP Platform, iOS/Android Apps, Time Management, and Reporting), the multitude of optional features, and the freedom to add a CRM platform, the following come standard in Distribution Edition:
- Inventory Management with Lot/Serial Tracking, Matrix Items, Physical Inventory, and Replenishment
- Order Management (Sales, Requisitions, Purchase Orders, Pricing, Returns, and Shipping)
Additional Distribution Option: Warehouse Management
Take your distribution business further with Warehouse Management with Barcoding, designed to extend the Distribution Edition with barcode scanning for warehouse and inventory transactions. Accurately and efficiently manage your advanced warehouse needs in commerce, wholesale, manufacturing, retail, and other industries.
Additional Functionality to Expand beyond Distribution
Pivot your business with a variety of additional functionality that’s ready to work for the distribution business.
Service Management
Equipment Management
Commerce Connectors (Magento or Shopify POS)
Commerce Connectors (BigCommerce or Shopify)
Point of Sale Powered by IIG
Learn about all of the functionality of Acumatica Distribution Edition here.
Manufacturing Edition
From the boardroom to the shop floor, today’s manufacturers need to remain constantly connected. Built for Manufacturers, the following come standard in Manufacturing Edition:
Core Manufacturing Edition Functionality
Manufacturing ERP
Bill of Materials and Routing
Production Management
Materials Requirements Planning
Inventory Management with Lot/Serial Tracking, Matrix Items, Physical Inventory, and Replenishment
Order Management (Sales, Requisitions, Purchase Orders, Pricing, Returns, and Shipping)
Additional Functionality
Built to provide flexibility for a variety of industries, you can add the following to your Acumatica Manufacturing deployment:
Product Configurator
Estimating
Advanced Planning and Scheduling
Engineering Change Control
Manufacturing Data Collection
Acumatica for Arena Native Connector
Service Management
Equipment Management
Warehouse Management with Barcoding
Commerce Connectors (Magento or Shopify POS)
Commerce Connectors (BigCommerce or Shopify)
Point of Sale Powered by IIG
Get to know all about the benefits of Acumatica Manufacturing Edition and the reasons to turn to the experts in Manufacturing ERP here.
Retail-Commerce Edition
Designed to provide a consistent customer experience across all your sales channels with full integration between your online, mobile, kiosk, and in-store service, Retail-Commerce empowers the omnichannel business.
Core Retail-Commerce Functionality
Get all of the options above with functionality for the retail business:
Inventory Management with Lot/Serial Tracking, Matrix Items, Physical Inventory, and Replenishment
Order Management (Sales, Requisitions, Purchase Orders, Pricing, Returns, and Shipping)
Commerce Connectors (BigCommerce or Shopify)
Additional Retail-Commerce Optional Functionality
Acumatica also empowers you to work the way you want, providing optional point of sale, Magneto, and Shopify connectors. Whether it’s to help you manage your warehouses or provide after-sale service, the following come optional in Retail-Commerce Edition:
Warehouse Management with Barcoding
Point of Sale Powered by IIG
Commerce Connectors (Magento or Shopify POS)
Manufacturing ERP
Bill of Materials and Routing
Production Management
Materials Requirements Planning
Product Configurator
Estimating
Advanced Planning and Scheduling
Engineering Change Control
Manufacturing Data Collection
Acumatica for Arena Native Connector
Service Management
Equipment Management
Get the Right Advice: Cloud 9 ERP Solutions
Acumatica provides the flexibility you need at the price you want—and with the help of the right partner, you can get everything you need to run your business. Whether you need a fast implementation or a complex one, the right partner can ensure that you get the industry-specific functionality you need while delivering the product you want.
Whether you come to us with a simple project or a complex one, you’re putting your trust in good hands. At Cloud 9 ERP Solutions, a Gold Certified Acumatica Partner, we have configured and implemented this cloud ERP solution for companies like yours and understand the unique challenges that you face throughout the decision and implementation process.
Verifying a potential implementation partner’s qualifications isn’t always easy, but it’s worth the effort to properly vet final candidates — a company’s success depends on it. To learn more, read our guide Choosing the Right ERP Implementation Partner.
Contact us to learn more about moving to a cloud-based ERP system and to schedule a free consultation, or to request a demo!
