Eclipse ERP
Original author(s)
  • Michael E. London
  • David Berger
  • Joe Bennett
  • Richard Montegna
  • Scott Raderstorf
Developer(s)
Initial release26 November 1990; 33 years ago (1990-11-26)
Stable release
9.0.2.12 / 8 July 2016; 8 years ago (2016-07-08)
Written in
Operating system
Type
LicenseProprietary

Eclipse ERP is Distribution Management Software used by distribution companies for order processing, inventory control, accounting, purchasing, and sales. It is programmed in Pick programming language using MultiValue database UniVerse powered by Rocket U2. It is not industry specific, but provides capability across a wide range of market sectors, including Wholesale, Industrial, Electrical, HVAC, Plumbing, PVF, Tools, Construction, and Utilities.

History

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Before Eclipse ERP was created in 1990, distributors mainly in the North-East used SHIMS (Supply House Information Management System) that was owned by Ultimate Data Systems. Development of Eclipse ERP started in 1990 by Eclipse Inc. Original team consisted of Michael E. London, David Berger, Joe Bennett, Richard Montegna, and Scott Raderstorf. The project was a huge success, and customer base increased tremendously. Eclipse Inc was sold in 2002 to Intuit for $88 million.[1] Activant bought Eclipse ERP on August 17, 2007 for $100.5 million in cash.[2][3][4] Apax Partners merged Epicor and Activant on April 5, 2011. Thus Epicor became the owner of Eclipse ERP.[5][6][7] Over the years, Eclipse ERP had the following owners:

Eclipse History
Company Name Date Range
Eclipse Inc. Nov 26, 1990 - Jul 2002
Intuit Inc. Jul 2002 - Aug 2007
Activant Solutions Inc. Aug 2007 - Apr 2011
Epicor Software Corporation Apr 2011 - Present

User Interface

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The two user interfaces are the "chui" Eterm interface, and the window based Solar interface. Users who used it for decades prefer Eterm, because of easy keyboard shortcuts. In Eterm there is no need to wait for screen to load, just keep on pressing keyboard shortcuts and Eterm will catch up with the user. Slow PC for Eterm is not a problem, but Solar needs faster PC. Some of the screens are not available in Solar. For example, the RF module is only on Eterm. The creation of any custom dictionary item, subroutine, or program must be done in Eterm. Solar is point and click, thus making it easier to learn for new users.

Community

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There is a large community of Eclipse users. Users meet annually at the Epicor Insights for networking and training. Insights 2017 is hosted by Epicor in Nashville, TN on May 22-24, 2017. Another annual meeting takes place in the fall. Encounter 2017 is hosted by the Eclipse Users Group in Albuquerque, NM.

Documentation

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HTML help is available for users, administrators and developers. The various Eterm and Solar interfaces are documented in the Online Help. The list of files used by the system is available with the following command in Terminal Command Language (TCL): LISTFILES .

Companion Products

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Companion products extend functionality of the core product.

  • Auto Order
  • Business Connect XML
  • Business Connect-EFT
  • Business Connect-Remote Backup
  • Carton Packing
  • Customer Profit Analyzer
  • Eclipse Mobile
  • EDI
  • Forms Package
  • Job Management
  • Learning Management Systems
  • National Sales Tax (TaxZip)
  • Nxgen Payment systems
  • Point Of Sale
  • Product Data Warehouse
  • Proof of Delivery
  • Remote Data Collection
  • RF
  • RouteView
  • Sales Management Plus
  • ShipGear (Worldship)
  • Signature Capture
  • STARSHIP
  • Strategic Pricing
  • Time Clock
  • Web Commerce
  • Web Integration
  • Work Order Processing

See also

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References

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Category:ERP software Category:Accounting software Category:Supply chain management