Epicor Prelude (formerly Activant Prelude) fully integrates all areas of a distributor's operations—from front office to back office functions.
The solution allows immediate transfer of information between departments and permits flexible online inquiry into virtually any kind of data.
In addition, Prelude provides powerful technology for distributors that have a specific need for distribution software that handles rentals and shop repair.
Prelude's Rental functionality meets the requirements of distributors that rent tools and other equipment. In addition, the Equipment Control System satisfies the fleet management and utilization information requirements of distributors that rent construction and other heavy equipment. The software provides an integrated, full-featured Repair System, which allows easy review of all repairs done on equipment, plus detailed history of sales and purchases related to that equipment. Many features such as Rental Exchanges, Overtime, and Periodic Billing were designed specifically for the rental industry.
Prelude's Shop Repair module enables your company to manage service and repair operations professionally and efficiently. Products originally sold through the regular Sales Order Entry process can be linked to a Shop Repair order for setup and repairs. A single order can automatically maintain multiple repair or setup jobs, while keeping track of additional part requisitions, technician repair time, extra repair costs and service requirements. When entering an order, you have access to warranty information, repair cost/time estimates, and repair history on specific model and serial numbers. The status of a job and the productivity of the technicians can be viewed at any time. Once a repair job is complete, the order can be invoiced immediately, expediting the billing and cash flow for your company.
Prelude works the way distributors expect a software solution to work. Whenever an event occurs that should logically cause an action to be taken, the software automatically takes the next step if there is no exception requiring human judgment. When business rule exceptions occur, the appropriate person is notified online so that judgment can be applied.
In addition, Prelude makes it easy to access timely data so your organization is better equipped to identify challenges and recognize opportunities. Through its intuitive dashboards (which can be easily designed using the solution's wizards), Prelude provides an interactive interface with rich graphs and charts that allow users to quickly identify and analyze complex operational and customer data for improved business performance.
Epicor Prelude is fully scalable to the largest UNIX-based servers supporting thousands of users. The architecture of the application, coupled with the openness of the underlying database environment, allows for an extensive, flexible, and portable software solution.
As part of the Epicor Distribution Suite, Prelude integrates with many value-added modules, including Epicor Proof of Delivery and Strategic Pricing.