With functionality ranging from finance to distribution, manufacturing to project services, Sage 1000 is the flexible ERP solution at the heart of many organisations. This section explains how ZAP improves financial and operational performance by giving all Sage 1000 users access to data-driven insight, with information on features, specs, business- and board-level benefits, alongside expert commentary from IDC.
ZAP improves the financial and operational performance of businesses using Sage 1000, by simplifying and speeding up the collection, organization and analysis of data. A data-driven business makes confident decisions quickly, based on truth. To achieve this, ZAP provides business-wide visibility across multiple systems and data sources. It automates the collection and integration of data from all six modules of Sage 1000: Finance and Accounting, Distribution and Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Fixed Asset Management, Project Management and CRM. As well as data from other applications and sources. ZAP’s ability to integrate hitherto-inaccessible or siloed data strengthens business decision making, by unlocking previously hidden insight. Relevant information is delivered, on any device, via personalized dashboards aligned to Sage 1000 roles. Conscious of short- and long-term IT overheads, ZAP is rapid to deploy and simple to administer. ROI is increased as business insight is delivered immediately. TCO—including setup and maintenance costs—is minimized thanks to both ZAP’s pre-packaged components, automation and ‘out-of-the-box’ capabilities. And thanks to its deep integration with Sage 1000 itself. Security and data governance are integral, as with all ZAP products. ZAP for Sage 1000 has also been built with potential migration to Sage X3 in mind: it is possible to retain historic Sage 1000 data and access it for reporting purposes once using Sage X3, removing a significant headache from the migration process.
As leading analyst firm IDC explains in the IDC Market Note, ZAP: Improving Time to Insight for Midsize Firms (doc #EMEA43048517, SEPTEMBER 2017):
Information empowerment comes from the six key facets of ZAP for Sage 1000: hybrid scalability, automated data integration, pre-set flexible data models, built-in governance, analytics and visualizations:
Hybrid scalability Any element of ZAP can be deployed either in the cloud, on-premise or as a hybrid combination of the two. Its architecture is specifically designed to flex and scale as both the volume of users and the volume of data in an organisation increases over time. Private or public cloud deployments can be set up on either AWS or Azure. And a data gateway provides straightforward, optimized access to on-premise data sources via the cloud or across existing networks and firewalls.
Automated data integration Connection to—and collection of—Sage 1000 and other business data is automated by ZAP. Out-of-the-box connection to other cloud and on-premise data sources is provided, too. These are all integrated quickly and simply with Sage 1000 data in a secure central hub of business-wide insight. Further sources can be added at any time in the future.
Pre-set, flexible data models ZAP has a pre-packaged Sage 1000 data model that delivers immediate insight. A user-friendly data modeling interface with drag-and-drop UX means data models can be customized to meet even the most demanding reporting requirements. IT overheads are reduced as ZAP’s intuitive data modeling UI enables users of all levels of expertise to prepare data for reporting. Technical effort is further reduced by ZAP’s data warehouse and semantic layer automation, which remove the need for a manual data warehouse project.
Built-in governance Data governance is at the heart of ZAP. Our systems have strong, comprehensive system administration and data governance tools built-in. Enterprise-class security controls set permissions, regulate access and protect data at any level of granularity. ROI is maximised as usage can be both monitored and audited via specific dashboards, which keeps performance optimized and costs minimized. TCO is controlled as upgrade life-cycles can be actively managed to ensure consistency of data and business continuity at every turn.
Analytics and visualizations Self-service reporting is delivered via both enterprise-class analytics and data visualization tools. Our responsive, touch-friendly user interface—for ready-to-use, role-based dashboards—adapts to any device, driving user adoption across the business. Easy-to-adapt, dynamic analytics systems enable drill-down data discovery and information sharing, while powerful data modeling capabilities are accessed via an intuitive, user-friendly UI. Data can be customized to meet specific reporting demands, with no specific requirements for high-level technical expertise. And ZAP’s pre-set dashboards, reports and calculations span all business functions, from finance to sales, procurement to inventory.
