ATLANTA — CDC Software, an enterprise software provider of on-premise and cloud technologies, today announced the general availability of Ross ERP 7.0, the major release of its next generation of ERP applications offering improved interoperability, increased collaborative capabilities, enhanced usability, new mobility features and more advanced traceability that can lead to higher productivity, faster decision-making, and reduced costs and risk — all with a low total cost of ownership.
Ross ERP 7.0 takes ERP to the next level in enterprise visibility, collaboration, reporting, mobility and social manufacturing with new functionality featured in Enterprise Viewer, Document Connect, Event Management Framework, and Ross Mobile 2.0. Advanced collaborative techniques found in Facebook and Google were incorporated into Ross Enterprise Viewer and EMF. For example, utilizing “Subscribe and Follow” techniques, Enterprise Viewer allows sales reps to subscribe to a sales “widget” then follow the sales of their own customers on their dashboards. As another example, EMF delivers real-time alerts to the sales rep whenever one of their customers exceeds certain credit limits. Continuing Ross’ focus on vertical-industry needs for the process manufacturer, Ross 7.0 offers deeper functionality in traceability, pricing, product costing and quality control.
"We are very excited to launch our next generation of Ross Enterprise that was designed in partnership with our customers and various industry associations," said Sherri Rodriguez, president of Ross Systems, a business unit of CDC Software. "Ross ERP 7.0 takes an intuitive, social networking, collaborative and proactive approach to information management that can transform a process manufacturer into an agile business with broad visibility into its operations. Notably, with the new, extensive enhancements in the core modules, Ross 7.0 also offers one of the market’s most comprehensive and feature rich quality management application available today."
Highlights of Ross ERP 7.0:
- Enterprise Viewer. This new user interface employs “widgets” to push relevant, real-time information to users. A “widget” displays specific information about customers and products, such as “Orders Due To Ship Today” and “Inventory Availability.” After subscribing to a given “widget,” a user can then follow their selected customers or products, with the ability to execute drill downs and key commands directly from the widget, helping to increase user productivity and customer service levels.
- New Document Connect. This new feature allows users to drag and drop documents, including videos, directly into Ross ERP screens from their desktops, then later access these same documents from the screens, eliminating the need to manually store and retrieve documents on one’s file server. The feature automatically stores and indexes transactional documents in a preconfigured SharePoint file structure.
- Event Management Framework’s (EMF) alert engine. This new feature delivers real-time, actionable alert messages to users’ dashboards, emails and mobile devices. In addition to exception conditions, users can be alerted to non-events, such as no response to a purchase order or an overdue delivery.
- Ross Mobile 2.0. This new native mobile application offers access to customer, sales, inventory and other key enterprise information on iPhone and Android devices, helping to expedite one’s decision-making and improving customer service.
- Enhanced TraceExpress. New enhancements included in Ross ERP 7.0 reduce the number of product trace paths and allow users to review the details of a Lot Trace within a certain Date Range, helping to expedite product recall notifications and facilitate compliance even further.
- Ross Reporting Services. Based upon Microsoft’s SQL Server Reporting Services, this new feature offers embedded graphical objects and transactional links within its report templates to generate interactive reports in a variety of formats across the ERP modules.
Join food safety and traceability experts on the June 14 webinar titled "Leveraging MESA Food Safety and Traceability Guidelines: Improving Productivity, Reducing Risk, and Ensuring Compliance," and moderated by Manufacturing.net editorial director Jeff Reinke. Those interested can pre-register for the event here.
The topics for the webinar will include:
The Food Safety & Traceability committee at MESA International offers best practices in data architecture and enterprise applications for improving food safety and traceability across the value chain. With increasing regulatory pressure for improved food traceability, recall accuracy, and adverse event response time, the collection and sharing of specific information between a company’s shop floor systems and ERP application is critical.
On this live webinar, Matthew Littlefield, President and Principal Analyst at LNS Research and MESA Food Safety & Traceability Committee Chairman, joins Jack Payne, Vice President of Ross Enterprise, to discuss the collection and usage of shop floor data, the integration of traceability systems and an ERP application, and the automation of quality, HACCP and ISO/SQF processes.
According to LNS Research and MESA International, there are still major process and data collection gaps in the areas of Manufacturing Operations Management, Quality Management, and Automated Data Collection amongst many small to medium sized food processors. Matthew and Jack compare the pro’s and con’s of employing a single version of the truth and single system versus multiple software systems to manage these areas. Specific attention will be paid to achieving “world-class” performance in food safety and traceability with specific functionality found in today’s leading ERP solutions.
