Six Little-Known Eclipse Process Improvements to Simplify Your Life

By: Scott King

Please note: this blog post was written and posted before the world seemingly shifted (or at least, for those of us based in the U.S.). We still wanted to share it with our audience, though, because we know many of you are looking for ways to streamline operations now, and these tips may still prove helpful in that regard. Be well, stay safe; you are all in our prayers.

Epicor Eclipse has been around in some form or fashion for a pretty long time, since 1990 to be exact. Many of Zerion’s customers have been using the software for about as long. As a Zerion consultant who often travels to our customers’ offices to help train or trouble-shoot their Eclipse operations, I have come to realize that many Eclipse users aren’t utilizing the platform to its fullest potential.

In order to share this knowledge, I recently compiled a list of the six areas within Eclipse that house functions most companies never knew existed that could make their lives – at least as it relates to Eclipse – substantially easier:

1. Accounting Procedures. You’re in the distribution business, not accounting. You may be having difficulties closing out the month in Eclipse. Zerion’s team of experienced consultants can work with you to balance accounts, close down time periods, and much more, all in the proper progression.
2. Pricing. Eclipse users are often looking for advice on how to price their items but are unsure about where to start. Should you start on the vendor side with PDW, price lines, and auto price updates? Or should you begin with setting up pricing for customers? Zerion can provide foundational pricing set-up, yet we also have the expertise and experience to implement more complicated options, such as velocity pricing.
3. Report Creation. While many Eclipse users understand how to input information as it relates to their products and customers, some are not yet taking full advantage of the data contained within the system to evaluate their operations. Zerion creates reports tailored to our clients’ specific needs, and we can also train users on how to best extract and organize their Eclipse data to draw conclusions about what’s needed to more successfully move operations forward.
4. Data Refreshes. We see this all too often. Some of our customers have bad data in their systems, hampering their ability to utilize Eclipse to its full potential. It’s critically important to test your data from time to time. When importing data into Eclipse, never stop testing. Erroneous data is usually input into the system when users stop testing. Zerion can help you clean up your data as well as share our years of experience and best practices for importing data to ensure it’s the most up to date.
5. Consolidate Invoicing. Do you – or your customers – feel monthly invoicing is clunky and inefficient? If you’re hearing that it’s confusing to receive multiple invoices for shipments and returns each month, it may be time to set up consolidated invoicing. This type of invoicing allows Eclipse customers to combine multiple orders on the same AR invoice.
6. Running Overnight Maintenance Reports. Eclipse’s overnight check programs run each night to retain the integrity of your files. However, running these reports only works well if you check in on what the reports are saying from time to time. Don’t disregard any error messages or red flags. Zerion can help your company ensure that these reports are running the way you need them to.

In much the same way as someone may become comfortable running the same functions repeatedly in Microsoft Excel or PowerPoint, we recognize that Eclipse users often stop short of using the software to continually improve workflow and increase efficiencies. You’ve got a business to run and stopping to train or dive deeper into additional aspects of Eclipse is probably low on your list of priorities. Zerion can help. Our consultants understand your pain-points are and can make suggestions about all the areas within Eclipse that can make your operations run smoother. And if the functionality you need from Eclipse does not yet exist, we can often find a way to provide integrated solutions that will bring the software to where you need it to be. We’ve helped hundreds of companies throughout the years, and we’re just a phone call (877-872-1726) or e-mail away.