“On a cold winter Wednesday, I joined a metal fabrication conference in the Cleveland area. We were led to a room covered in brown; the far wall lit up by a projector. As I unpacked my laptop, trusty notepad and pen, I was approached by a man with a jovial smile. The feeling that I should know him welled up inside me. After taking a second glance at my nametag, he said, “we’ve worked together, but we’ve never met face-to-face.” He went on to tell me how years prior we collaborated on a BPM that defaulted the correct shipping address for purchase orders according to the User-ID on the PO. “Before you built that, about once a month, these huge semi-loads would arrive at our office building, over 400 miles away from the factory. It was extremely frustrating, but now we can laugh about it because your BPM has saved us 10’s of thousands of dollars. It hasn’t happened since.” He shook my hand and thanked me, as we remembered working together. Hearing this story made me proud of what I do and where I work.”
– PracticalTek Senior Developer
“We don’t have a traditional IT department…… I’ve worked with a few different consultants over the last 3 years, after I found PracticalTek (An independent professional services provider), I will always go to them first with a need. They got to my projects in short order, knew exactly what I was talking about most of the time and if they didn’t, it was easy to explain to them what I needed. The rate is better and the work is more efficient than I have found elsewhere. I would highly recommend PracticalTek (An independent professional services provider) to anyone using Epicor®.”
— Dudek & Bock • Steel Manufacturing Industry
“The straight forward approach was a relief and I appreciate how the PTS team jumped straight in despite the complex challenges we faced. I was able to speak with Jim directly several times which provided a great amount of comfort, I never had any trouble reaching him and/or a member of his team.
The team at PTS assisted in arranging meetings in which we discussed complicated business process and procedure requirements. This sped up the improvement process significantly. PTS’ methodology was a perfect fit to quickly and thoroughly address our needs and provide solutions.
The functional results that were produced as a result of Jim’s team were a key component in keeping operations running. Moreover, their skills for development are extraordinary. On top of his work, Jim’s team also provided excellent support. They dealt with questions ranging from the absolute basics to advanced easily and with an air of patience that can only be described as completely forgiving!
In short, I would have no hesitation in recommending PTS to any prospective client and I would be happy to answer any questions related to this reference.”
— Olmsted Products • Industrial Pump Industry
“We have used PTS for several of our Epicor® needs. They have helped with our Epicor® implementation through training of our staff. They have also helped with more technical aspects such as helping us set-up a secondary application server. I have found PTS to be extremely knowledgeable and professional, and quick to help when needed.”
— Seymour Tubing Inc. • Tubing Components Industry
“The other service we used from PTS was a training session that lasted a few days on site. We used one of their trainers, Jeremy, who was very talented in Epicor® but also had a naturally good communication style about him. He taught a few of our people the basics of writing Crystal Reports out of Epicor®. We plan on using PTS as a resource in Epicor® as we move forward.”
— Precision Marshall Steel Company • Steel Manufacturing Industry
“We are a growing Engineering and Manufacturing company within the Mail Order Pharmacy industry. About a year ago, we purchased Epicor® 10 as a tool to help us grow the company and link all departments from a system point of view. Epicor® sales presentation provided the proof that these goals would be met with this software. We fortunately found Jim Chance at PTS. He has been working with us over the past quarter, with all of our testing and implementation (go-live) pain points. He has spent many long hours with us onsite, understanding our company and our needs as it relates to Epicor®. He is currently helping us to develop processes, procedures, forms, and BAQ’s for each end user and each department, on an as-needed basis. I have found him and his team to be extremely knowledgeable in all areas within Epicor® – from production to finance – which has made him and his team extremely valuable to our company as we embark on this software implementation. ”
— R/X Automation Solutions, Inc. • Mail Order Pharmacy Industry
“I found PracticalTek with a Google search. I spoke and met with Jim Chance and had a lengthy discussion about his company’s capabilities. Everything sounded well as they possessed the capabilities we wanted, the reasonable rate and low risk. That is, if this did not work out, I could sever the relationship quickly and move on. We have provided PTS with detailed specs often with screen-shots. Our initial specs were for relatively simple customization’s. We found that PTS worked very efficiently and coordinated very well with the project team. Today the staff of PTS is tackling our most complex customization and is working with us on other Epicor® implementation issues. We also will utilize their report-writing capabilities shortly. Because of this positive relationship, I highly recommend PTS for their efficiency, knowledge, communications and professionalism. “
— Doble Engineering • Electric Power Industry
“I am very happy and honored to provide you with a reference for Practical Technology Solutions. I have been EXTREMELY happy with the work that has been provided. I have not been using them for long (just a number of months), but in a very short time frame they have reassured me that my trust in them as a consulting business partner is well worth it. I see their knowledge of the Epicor® Product lines as being very in-depth and their staff as highly resourceful. I highly recommend them as a business consulting partner for your business and technical application needs.”
— M-B Companies • Pavement Marking Industry
“We have been using Practical Technology Solutions for about 8 months now to augment my 1 person Epicor® staff. We are using PTS to help us with screen changes, report development, BAQ/BPM development, performance advice, solution design, system integration, and functional consulting. We have been very happy with their work. They have always been clear about work estimates and stayed within them. Their technical quality has been excellent and their cost reasonable. PTS has always been able to address our requirements even in emergency situations. I would recommend PTS as a partner for Epicor® technical services and continue to use them. “
— Kadant Black Clawson, Inc. • Global Engineered Systems Industry
“Imarda has faced several business challenges recently as we have been undergoing significant growth for our i360 product. This growth has resulted in increased manufacturing volumes, and complicated BOM’s (Bill of Materials) and increased billing to be produced from an aging ERP system (Epicor® Vantage 8) that is in need of replacement.
Imarda had done an amount of work with PTS in the past and I contacted Jim from PTS in the hope this company could assist. Jim’s team jumped straight in aware of the challenges we faced. I was able to talk to Jim directly several times which provided a huge amount of comfort and even though the time zones were different I never had any issues reaching him or a member of his team. Their straight forward approach was a relief. The team at PTS assisted in arranging meetings, eliciting the answers from iMarda staff with questions backed up
Their straight forward approach was a relief. The team at PTS assisted in arranging meetings, eliciting the answers from iMarda staff with questions backed up from years of experience in Epicor®. This sped up the business improvement process significantly. Their agile methodology was a perfect fit as we needed to jump between issues often very quickly and due to the nature of our remote staff the timing of such meetings was often at short notice. The functional results that were produced as a result of Jim’s team were a key component in keeping the operations process running within Imarda.
On top of this work, Jim’s team also provided excellent support, as our lack of knowledge with Epicor® due to staff churn again left us challenged with internal support options. Jim’s team dealt with questions ranging from the absolute basics to advanced questions easily and with an air of patience that can only be described as completely forgiving!! In short, I would have no hesitation in recommending PTS.”
— Imarda • Transportation Fleet Industry
“We were looking for some good Epicor® E9 expertise to help us in streamlining our E9 implementation and better align our business processes with E9 where practical.
Practical Technology Solutions (PTS) brought both business process background and E9 application knowledge to the table in a very affordable package. PTS helped us with both High level advice as well as detailed implementation assistance and outright programming assistance to develop and test customization’s and reports. Their knowledge of reporting tools such as Crystal Reports and the database schema is excellent. While working with PTS recently, our consultant is responsive, always with a friendly, professional attitude. He has provided insight and demonstrated a high level of technical skill. We have assigned projects of various degrees of complexities with PTS and generally, have received a response in a timely manner. We would recommend PTS as a solution in assisting with ERP business challenges.”
— Fenner Dunlop Americas • Mining Industry
“General Formulations is a mid-sized manufacturing company currently using Epicor® for our manufacturing system. We have used PTS for a number of tasks including custom SSRS reports, custom dashboards, BPM’s, and Go Live Support. I have found PTS knowledgeable, talented and extremely capable in the work that they have done for our company. I have worked with Jim, Sam, Jarrad, and Glenn and found them all to be consummate professionals with great attitude and ability. I can recommend PTS with the greatest confidence to anyone looking for top-notch help in implementation and customization of Epicor®.”
“I do want to say I have been very impressed with PTS and in helping us deal with this problem. (Our consultant) has been great and I know he hasn’t been alone in assisting us on this. Your help is greatly appreciated, and PTS is a great partner.”
— General Formulations • Pressure Sensitive Films Industry
“So far Jim and a group from PTS have come in to do a CRP/training session for two days that was extremely helpful. They have also developed and installed a customized program to assist in automated Order Entry and processing, shipment entry and processing, and have developed customized SSRS reports. They have always addressed our concerns in a timely manner, and are very conscientious about costs, and very detailed in their work.
I definitely recommend PTS as a partner for Epicor® technical services and continue to use them. I only wish I had found them sooner. I will continue to go to them for enhancements, training and consulting as there is no doubt they will help us maximize our investment and minimize our time spent implementing various Epicor® solutions.”
— Unique Sports Products, Inc. • Sporting Goods Industry
“The straight forward approach was a relief and I appreciate how the PTS team jumped straight in despite the complex challenges we faced. I was able to speak with Jim directly several times, which provided a great amount of comfort. I never had any trouble reaching him and/or a member of his team.
The team at PTS assisted in arranging meetings in which we discussed complicated business process and procedure requirements. This sped up the improvement process significantly. PTS’ methodology was a perfect fit to quickly and thoroughly address our needs and provide solutions.
The functional results that were produced as a result of Jim’s team were a key component in keeping operations running. Moreover, their skills for development are extraordinary. On top of his work, Jim’s team also provided excellent support. They dealt with questions ranging from the absolute basics to advanced easily and with an air of patience that can only be described as completely forgiving! In short, I would have no hesitation in recommending PTS to any prospective client.”
— The Oilgear Company • Hydraulic Pump Industry
“Morton Manufacturing utilizes Epicor® for MRP functionality. PTS helped us through projects when we ran into roadblocks. Their advanced expertise was more than enough for the problems and concerns we were facing. They are well versed in visual basic and C# and they completed our projects very quickly.
The results of their work were exactly what we wanted, and allowed us to continue moving forward. We haven’t had any problems and we plan to use PTS again in the future.”
— Morton Manufacturing • Aerospace Industry
Dynamic Metals was in need of system change. Both Culture and Processes needed improvement. Multiple attempts have been made over the last 10 years with our current system to reimplement, upgrade and improve processes with little success. Dynamic was stuck in manual mode and we needed assistance to break the culture and improve processes. We met with PTS to discuss our options. We decided to utilize their services as they are familiar with our current system as well as the system we are in the process of implementing. PTS completed a thorough review of our current state understanding that we want to improve our processes using best practices with the new system. The PTS staff has been knowledgeable, professional and is allowing us to implement with fewer resource hours from our staff. With their assistance and guidance we have garnered enthusiasm throughout the organization for change that otherwise would have been a difficult task. They have ensured with constant communication to mitigate any potential scheduling roadblocks in order to maintain the target schedule. I look forward to completing the implementation and working with PTS on future improvements in our processes. I would certainly recommend PTS for consulting needs.
— Dynamic Metals • Aerospace and Defense Industry
Stanley Machining needed a quick turnaround on development and creation of many complex dashboards to help streamline our business flow. PTS (Practical Technical Solutions) expertise in the field of Vantage/Epicor® was a tremendous help in the creation of these dashboards and has since streamlined the way we process certain information in our plant. Not only was the response from their team quick and professional, there rate per hour is extremely competitive. I would go so far as to say. Epicor® can learn some lessons from PTS in regards to their consulting, implementation and billing process. Stanley Machining would recommend PTS as a trusted source in assisting with any ERP challenges.
— Stanley Machining & Tool • Steel Machining Industry
“PracticalTek worked with us immediately and tirelessly to get our Avante System and Company back up and running. Thank-you for coming to our rescue – to rescue a stranger in need. It speaks volumes to the type of company that PracticalTek is, and to the type of people you are. Thank-you and your team from all of us at Bird Technologies Group.”
— Bird Technologies Group
PracticalTek is an Independent provider of Epicor® professional services