Phocas BI and financial planning platform

Inconsistent KPIs tied to Epicor Kinetic.

Limited visuals.

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CRM. The lack of secondary owners and other issues leave the CRM underpowered.

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CRM, but this is now being adapted to our requirements.

The on-screen display is not as adjustable as in other BI tools, and column sorting is not easily done at the user level.

Link CRM activity to business performance.

The search function is very rigid and restrictive depending on which screen I am using, and it often returns no results when searching for text.

Reporting and filtering.

Ability to update data more effectively across the multiple data sources connected to Phocas.

Needs better integration capabilities, cannot connect to Slack, and lacks Excel-like functionality in the main analytics module.

The legacy analytics are being phased out, but Flex modes don’t yet have dashboard functionality.

Better ease of use; it takes a long time to learn how to use.

Ability to schedule reports and send them by email.

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Sometimes it is rigid, and there is no easy way to do something a little differently.

Building a database is very complex.

Synchronising systems and adding new fields to databases. The option to specify in the instructions that users may add certain fields themselves, within reasonable limits.

There is not enough training on how to use the product, or it can be non-straightforward to learn.

Support can be improved. We need to follow up frequently on tickets submitted. Also, better training to improve understanding and to better use the Phocas software.

API connector can be hard to use; speed for large volumes could be improved; better dashboards.

Inability to pull data from an existing report. Cashflow is too rigid; should be a user‑defined statement.

Free format comments are difficult to extract from the system.

The cost. It isn't cheap if you want more people to have access to it.

Very large workbooks can be a bit slower to load.

More reporting graphs.

The budgets module can be slow.

It seems like the budgeting and forecasting module is still in the early stages of development despite being the most expensive subscription.

User interface is not intuitive to casual user. Tool tips, function hints, etc. are missing. For us, planning and forecasting are executive tasks, not a staffed department. Forecasting and planning elements are heavily dependent upon formats (i.e., financial layout) defined outside of forecasting component. Appears to be unable to import Excel or CSV data for planning data.

Documentation appears to often be outdated. Error messages provide no guidance resolve issues. Training is generally task driven rather than explaining context and design considerations for planning components. User interface needs to be relearned each year as tool tips are rare, context often determines what options or selections are available, shortcut keys are limited, etc. No ability to import from Excel; minimal documentation on what operational streams of planning data might be available for performance measurement during the year (SKU? By Customer? By Pdt Group? By Region?).

It would be good if there was better documentation within Phocas on how to use each area of the system.

More flexibility around budgeting (or specific knowledge of doing so).

Not much!

Integration between analytics and budgeting and forecast models.

Limited design options for graphs.

Keep working on improving the ease of use of all the functions of the software.

Budgeting and forecasting needs some work to be able to display individual budgets.

Can’t add in easily a new dimension you don’t have to see if it will work for budgeting. NI in the UK can.t be easily calculated through the payroll headcount function due to the levels and functions on that calc. We have a couple of companies, one database for sales and 2 for finance, currently looking at restructuring, hard to see budgets for different scenarios

Data sync processes.