What’s New in Acumatica 2018 R2?

Acumatica is designed for its customers, built to make it easier for end users to do their jobs. However, there is no such thing as complacency for the firm, and they continually work to make improvements to the product. Whether they are compliance necessities, interface improvements, or better integrations, Acumatica continues to make twice-yearly improvements based on customer requests, with the most recent update, R2 2018 featuring big changes to make the product better.

Announced at a Boston release event for customers, prospects, analysts, and channel partners, Acumatica 2018 R2 brings innovations and new features focused on usability, customer satisfaction and compliance. From the core product enhancements to the industry-specific improvements, the 2018 R2 has something for everyone. We had the pleasure to attend this event and got to see the improvements first hand, and are excited to share some of the takeaways below:

Core Application Improvements

Financial Management Enhancements

Some of the biggest enhancements come to the core financial management application, with improvements built around multi-entity management, tax calculation, ASC 606 compliance, and more:

Multi-Entity Enhancements: R2 2018 makes it easier for multi-entity businesses to close books independently of one another. This important functionality improvement allows for more control over different locations or regions while still allowing for the visibility needed at the top.

Tax Calculation Integration: The R2 2018 update also supports updated Tax Calculation Integration, providing a choice of sales tax calculation providers. Some sales tax providers work better with your company than others, and now you have more choice and flexibility regarding your preferred sales tax application. Learn more about Acumatica Tax Management.

ASC 606 Compliance Readiness: ASC 606 is set to change the way that nearly every company does business, and with the deadline for private companies rapidly approaching, this important update offers additional functionality to support deferred revenue recognition for ASC 606 compliance.  

Project Accounting

Many businesses have turned to Acumatica for its project accounting ability, and the R2 2018 update makes it even easier for these businesses to maximize project profitability and visibility. The R2 update supports connected businesses by allowing salespeople to work collaboratively with project managers to create quotes and convert them to projects. This provides helps salespeople, the project team, and project managers to do their job more effectively, no matter where they are doing it.

Customer Management

Companies turn to Acumatica for more than ERP, and their Customer Management/CRM software is designed to provide an intuitive interface and built to integrate with both internal and external modules and applications, giving marketing and sales people more power to do their jobs.

In R2 2018, CRM upgrades include a deeper Outlook integration linking email activities with any contact in the system and GDPR Compliance Tools to simplify and safeguard the handling of personal data.

Industry Edition Improvements

In addition to the core product, Acumatica provides numerous industry-specific applications designed for the unique needs of distributors, manufacturers, and retailers. R2 includes enhancements and innovations with these customers in mind, including the following improvements to each edition:

Distribution Management

Updates in Acumatica Distribution Management R2 2018 include several ease-of-use improvements focused on making the end user’s job easier. Among the key enhancements:

Discount Functionality Improvements: Each customer is unique, but too often, outdated ERP makes it hard to treat them that way. The R2 2018 builds on an already-strong discounting functionality, and R2 builds on this, making it easier to save time in sales, order management, purchasing, and accounting.

Landed Cost Enhancements: New landed cost enhancements streamline purchase receipt processing and provide additional landed cost allocation capabilities.

Simplified Returns: The purchase return process improves control over returns, including the needed accounting transactions and shipping improvements that match freight costs to shipments and reduce operating costs.

Manufacturing Edition

Acumatica Manufacturing Edition is a strong player for businesses who need a unique solution for a challenging accounting and planning process. R2 2018 builds on this, adding the following capabilities:

Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) Enhancements: Acumatica makes it easier than ever to handle planning, and R2 2018 equips manufacturers to consistently and cost-effectively set accurate and reliable delivery dates.

Tighter Integration with Project Accounting: Integration with the Project Accounting module aggregates cost tracking over multiple production runs so businesses can determine profitability for large jobs and contracts. The bill of materials includes additional revision status controls and production management provides additional processing screens for streamlining processes.

Field Service Edition

Field Service companies face unique challenges and need to leverage a wide variety of features to support customers. R2 2018 enhancements for Field Service include the following:

Allocation and Prepayment: R2 2018 adds allocation and prepayment features to support industries involved with selling and installing custom items.

Additional cost tracking provides field service companies with insights regarding service order profitability.

Commerce Edition

Retail and ecommerce businesses are finding a home in Acumatica for its ability to provide finance professionals the visibility they need into every product, transaction, and shipment. R2 2018 continues to enhance this product to equip customers with the technology they need to succeed in an omnichannel environment. With many small enhancements, one the biggest improvements in R2 2018 is built on improving workflows for omnichannel businesses that need to meet their customers where they are—online or in-store. R2 2018 supports additional sales order processing workflows for an omnichannel experience.

Related: View the Acumatica 2018 R2 Press Release

Learn More about R2! Join Cloud 9 ERP Solutions at Two Upcoming Launch Events!

We are happy to say that we got to see the release event first hand in Boston, and are excited to announce that we will be heading to two more of these release events, part of the R2 Launch Event Series. We will be at the October 11 event in Atlanta and October 16 event in New York City, and we look forward to networking with you there. Click the links to learn more and register.