Essential Automation

ECi Advantage equips you with over 1800 management tools, offering everything you need to deliver flawless customer service and manage key areas of operation.

• Accounts Receivable
• Accounts Payable
• Collections
• E-mail
• Faxing
• Financial and Management Reporting
• General Ledger
• International  and Overseas Compatibility
• Inventory Management
• Invoicing
• Multi-Location Management
• Payroll
• Point of Sale
• Purchasing
• Rentals
• Report Creation
• Vendor Communications
• Worker Time Management

New & Innovative Features

ECi Advantage isn’t just about providing you with the latest technology—it’s about using that technology to provide real solutions for your business: helping you sell more products, reduce operating costs, retain customers and acquire new ones. Here are just a few of the ways the new ECi Advantage makes it easier to profitably manage your business.

(For easy off-line browsing, download the complete ECi Advantage product guide.)

Multiple SQL Databases

ECi Advantage works with multiple SQL databases, including Microsoft SQL Server 2005, My SQL and more. This SQL framework offers you access to all your critical data.

Real-time Transactions

With ECi Advantage, every transaction is processed when it happens. That means no end-of-day or end-of-month processes are required—not only saving you the trouble of tedious month-end tasks, but also providing fail-safe updates.

Universal Graphical

With the industry’s most advanced and user-friendly graphical interface, it’s easier than ever to use the tools that made ECi Advantage a word-of-mouth sensation.

Freedom to Choose Any Operating System

Java-based coding lets ECi Advantage run on Microsoft Windows®, Mac® or Linux®, giving you the freedom to choose the computers that best suit your business.

Robust Multi-Location Management

Even if your business has only one location, your software should support every step of your future growth. With role-based permissions for system access and powerful tools for multi-location inventory, GL and more, ECi Advantage has you covered.

Unlimited Scalability

From 1 store to 100, from 5 terminals to 5000.

Ultra-Flexible Servers for Top Performance

From server clustering for load balancing, to server grouping for high volume request processing, nothing is beyond your reach with ECi Advantage’s unique n-tier technology. This new enhancement will make a dramatic impact on your overall productivity—and higher productivity is higher profits in the making.

Multi-Lingual, Multi-Monetary Compatibility

No other system offers the international versatility of ECi Advantage. Compatible with multiple languages, currencies, exchange rates and time zones—ECi Advantage is the system of choice for globalized business.

Perfect Visibility Through Drill Downs

With inquiries and source documents all on one screen, it’s easier than ever to perform account audits, execute balancing processes and make informed decisions.

Advanced Security Features

In a country where fraud and theft cost employers over $70B annually, security is critical to overall success.
With unique features like enhanced login protection, centralized security management, role-based security permissions and record-level database encryption, your business will never be at risk again with ECi Advantage.

Customizable User Interface

ECi Advantage lets you customize system colors, shortcuts, icons, fonts, menus and more. Change ECi Advantage to fit your company’s brand for a professional look that will make a definite impact on your customers, or to suit individual preference.

And beyond appearance, the fully graphical interface gives you complete control over layout: fluid-movable columns, custom menus, notes and custom fields even in reports—all for your ease of use. The result is an efficient workflow that can save your staff hundreds of man hours in the long run.

Integrated Business Intelligence

ECi Advantage mines your data for insights you can take to the bank—and presents it all on a business dashboard with at-a-glance reporting on vital areas of your operation. The result: you make management decisions with all the facts at your fingertips.

Use Your Current Hardware and Database for Minimal Investment

ECi Advantage’s broad compatibility means you can probably continue using hardware and database from your current business system—a savings of thousands that can make your ECi Advantage ROI even more dramatic.

Advanced Reporting

Zoom in, drill down, create charts, make notes, link to maintenance records or transaction history, design custom reports—then print in your choice of currency or export to PDF, HTML or CSV.

With the industry’s most advanced reporting, ECi Advantage can be the silver bullet for so many business goals: saving at-risk accounts, selling more to each customer, getting the most out of your inventory, etc. ECi Advantage even lets you save and retrieve report parameters—access your most important data without all the manual setup.

Unique Features

ECi Advantage has a lasting commitment to innovation.  Our core system includes these specialized features, unique to Advantage among all industry providers:

• Suggested items at point-of-sale remind employees to cross-sell accessories and other related items
• Automatically add pre-defined charges (e.g. freight) to orders, saving time at point-of-sale
• Check gross profit and margin—for one item or an entire ticket—without leaving the customer’s order
• Track special items (damaged, discounted, discontinued, etc.) with separate pricing and inventory quantities
• Refer to item usage statistics while building your POs
• Simplified AR invoice adjustments
• Automatic expense allocation
• Track credit card purchases back to the vendors for matching with AP invoices
• Job Scheduler sets processes or reports to run automatically, with results auto-emailed or faxed to your preferred contacts
• Set security restrictions and program configuration by job role (e.g. order entry clerk, purchasing specialist) for simplified system administration
• Pre-built forms for financial processes—budget forecasting, batch journal entries, etc.

Training & Support

Advantage Support

Our industry-leading Advantage support is available around the clock, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. ECi support technicians are always on call, ready to offer you assistance for any emergency. With ECi’s Advantage, you will never be at the mercy an electronic inbox, waiting hours or even days for a callback like with other providers. When our customers call, they get help from qualified specialists with minimal delay.

And since we don’t charge additional fees just to give you the fastest response, you can rely on top-quality support, every time.

In-System Help

The new Advantage comes with many in-system help features, including a quick reference assistant embedded in the main status bar, as well as searchable help desk for in-depth assistance. This interactive database offers information on every field, subject and procedure in the system (including special help sections for each OS and database we support). Once you’ve found the help you need, you can use our Help Frame to see step-by-step checklist solutions alongside your usual operating window.

New Customer Support

For the first 90 days after implementation, you will receive dedicated personal attention to help you gain confidence with system. During this period, you can count on daily follow-up calls to check on your progress with the software, answer questions, and resolve any issues you might have.

Training

ECi offers a variety of training services for both initial implementation and ongoing education, helping new and existing customers use their software for a continuing market advantage.

• Advantage Academy: With classes and one-on-one sessions held in the dedicated training facilities at our Texas branch, Advantage Academy offers hands-on instruction in a focused environment, free from the distractions of your normal workday.
• On-Site Training: To minimize disruptions of your business and time away from work, we make our specialists available for on-site training sessions, with a curriculum personalized to your specific objectives.
• Advantage Webinars: A low-cost, time-saving alternative to traditional classroom training, ECi Advantage webinars offer an opportunity to train a large number of employees cost effectively.
• Video Training: Get training on Advantage applications at your convenience, without leaving your desk. Training videos on a variety of topics will be available through the ECi Web site.

Implementation

With an implementation method that has been perfected with decades of experience, we help you get the maximum benefit from your technology investment. Across the board, ECi systems offer the shortest implementation time for LBM and hardlines—an average of just 8 days per location. It’s a benchmark that we take pride in, because the sooner our customers can begin using their new software, the sooner they see a return on their investment.

 

System Requirements

Configurations will differ based upon certain factors such as number of users, number of physical locations and number of transactions processed. Please contact your Advantage sales representative for specific configuration recommendations. These minimum system requirements have been established to define a starting point for all configurations.

Workstations

• Windows XP, Windows Vista, Linux Red Hat 9/Fedora Core 4 or Greater, or Mac OS X
• 2.0 GHz Processor
• 1GB RAM
• 20GB Hard Drive
• Network Interface Card
• JRE 1.6.0 (Java Web Start)

Single-Tier Server Configuration

• Windows Server 2003 or Linux Fedora Core 5
• Jboss EJB Server 4.0.0
• PostgreSQL 8.1.3, Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Standard, MySQL 5.0 or Oracle 10g-Release 2
• Dual Core 2.4GHz Processor
• 4GB RAM
• 100GB Hard Drive
• Network Interface Card
• JDK 1.6.0

Dual-Tier Server Configuration (One App Server and One Database Server)

Application Server

• Windows Server 2003 or Linux Fedora Core 5
• Jboss EJB Server 4.0.0
• Dual–Dual Core 2.4Ghz Processors
• 8GB RAM
• 200GB Hard Drive
• Network Interface Card
• JDK 1.6.0

Database Server

• Windows Server 2003 or Linux Fedora Core 5
• PostgreSQL 8.1.3, Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Standard, MySQL 5.0 or Oracle 10g-Release 2
• Dual Core 2.4GHz Processor
• 4GB RAM
• 100GB Hard Drive
• Network Interface Card