Company overview
Forward ERP is a comprehensive and single source Enterprise Resource Planning solution. Forward ERP has been created with inspired creativity using cutting edge technology and exhibits flawless design, construction and execution. It provides for Manufacturing, Distribution and Service oriented organisations.
Forward ERP offers a fully integrated solution, providing for complete control over planning and execution of business processes and activities.
Comprehensive reporting views allow the use of business data within the system.
Forward ERP includes barcode label printing, barcode scanning and a radio frequency scanner system.
The first version of Forward ERP was developed in 2002, and the current version is version 6.06. It is a fully integrated system, based on real time transacting and offers comprehensive functionality.
It is scalable from just a few users to hundreds of concurrent users, and provides for a cost-effective solution using cutting edge technology.
From the first Forward ERP clients in 2003, the client base has grown significantly in the last decade. Refer to the client testimonial section to see what our clients say about us and Forward ERP.
Functionality
Financial Management
Accounts Payable
Manages the accounts payable process, including amounts outstanding and payments due alert. Applies settlement discount. Facilitates commission payment for external agents. Caters for Foreign Exchanges contracts.
Budgeting
Allows for multiple concurrent ledger and sales budgets. Simple creation using adjusted historical figures. Sales budgets on various levels, including customer, item class, item groups, individual items and/or sales person. Compare approved and latest budgets with actual.
Fixed Assets
Manages fixed asset classes and fixed assets. Allocate assets between various business units. Maintain book and tax values. Scheduled and ad-hoc depreciation entries. Asset tracking and reporting.
Financial Ratios
Analyse financial ratios in real time.
Ledger Tax Report
Manage tax (VAT) from the system. Monthly or bi-monthly basis supported. Retain workings within the system indefinitely. Automated payment via cashbook.
Credit Management
Control credit limits per organisation or organisation grouping. Apply credit limits on order entry and/or invoicing.
Business Units
Create and maintain unlimited number of business units (can be profit centres and/or cost centres). Maintain and easily modify the organisation structure. Perform financial reporting on business unit level and perform consolidations. Ledger and system settings maintained on the business unit level.
Accounts Receivable
Manages debtors, including statements and debtor ageing, settlement discount and automatic interest calculation on overdue accounts. Manages debtor balances and allows for credit management.
Cashbook
Process payments and receipts made. Transfers between cashbooks. Performs bank reconciliations. Allows for cancelled and not honoured transactions. Applies settlements from bank transaction entry.
Financial Reporting (ledger based)
Design and use any number of general ledger based reports. View financial reports in real time. Compare financial reports on monthly basis.
General Ledger
Set up general ledger per business unit. Manage transaction application per ledger account.
Manual Journals and Standard Journals
Use manual journals for ledger posting where the source process is not managed within Forward ERP. Standard Journals provide for manual journals that are performed periodically. Use the manual journals also for provisions and accruals that are automatically reversed.
Multi-Currency
Deal with customers and suppliers in their own currency. Manage foreign currency cashbooks.
Availability
The system remains available at all times, and month-end or year-end processes do not require it to be unavailable at these times.
Manufacturing
Manufacturing Orders
Create and maintain manufacturing orders. May contain multiple lines. Manufacturing order lines is for work centre or specified routing consisting of potentially many operations in different work centres. Manage material requirements per manufacturing order line. Costing per manufacturing order line.
Manufacture at planned cost, and optionally revalue manufactured cost upon closing of manufacture order.
Work in Progress
Manage work in progress on item/order line detail level as well as on ledger level.
Manufacturing Operations
Use manufacturing operations as per specified routing, and can be customised per manufacturing order line. Maintain planned time and cost, and collate actual time and cost either by batch capture or by real time capture from shop floor. Has ability to calculate operation times and cost per serial number.
Project Management
Project Work Breakdown Structure
Define project, including milestones (can also be payment milestone) and other tasks. Define teams and roles for project.
Budgets
Maintain turnover and cost (material and labour) budgets for projects, either consolidated or per financial period. Compare budgets to actuals. Rolling up of budgets and actual.
Time and material billing
Convert timesheets and other expenses automatically to accounts receivable invoices using a user defined billing rate matrix.
Timesheets
Book time against billable and non-billable projects, or fixed price contracts. Approval and analysis of timesheets. Recover labour and overhead cost using individual or expense class rates.
Repetitive Billing
Use project management to control repetitive billing using different billing frequencies and escalation policies.
Fixed price contracts and projects
Manage fixed price contracts and project.
Supply Chain
MRP
Use the MRP engine to calculate potential stock shortages, and to suggest replenishment orders (purchase and manufacturing orders). Perform MRP runs globally, per business unit or per item.
Landed Cost Tracking
Perform landed cost tracking using cost elements as defined by the user. Include cost elements from various suppliers.
Stock Reorder Interface
Use the simplified stock reorder interface if the environment is not yet ready for MRP, or if the integrity of planning data is being verified. Automatically create purchase and manufacturing orders based on supply and demand parameters.
Order Processing
Sales Orders and Quotations
Capture and manage sales orders and quotations. Use stock sales order lines, non stock sales order lines and manufacturing sales order lines. Include transport and delivery charges. Use link sales order lines for dependant supply. Put sales orders automatically on hold should credit limit be exceeded. Link sales order line to project and/or predefined equipment.
Bulk Sales Order Activate
Use the bulk sales order activate functionality to activate quotations and orders on hold in bulk.
Credit Management
Apply credit limit checking on individual organisation or on organisation group level on order entry.
Purchase Orders and Request for Quotation
Use purchase orders and request for quotation to procure stock and non stock goods. Manage subcontract processes, integrated with work in progress and inventory management, as well as repair purchase orders.
Job Card
Use job card for the repair, enhancement or manufacture of items, including serialised items. Manage loan units to a customer or replacement of existing units. Include material and labour/overhead cost in job card. Use the cost estimate functionality to determine price based on planning and specified margins. Track planned versus actual cost on a job card.
Setup and Administration
Financial Calendar
Define financial calendar as per company policy. Open and close financial calendar per transaction type, retaining complete history.
Permissions
Define permissions per individual user or for permission templates, which may be linked to users in turn. Retain complete history on permission changes. Choose to apply additional permissions to cashbook transactions (cashbook that a user may transact on, as well as transactional and daily limits), stock transactions per warehouse and reporting views.
Integration
MS Office Suite
Utilise the native integration in MS Office components.
Data Migration and Consolidation
Use the migration functionality for controlled migration of take-on data as well as periodic take-on of data generated externally. Use the consolidation to create export files, and to synchronise different Forward ERP databases.
Inventory Management
Batch and Serial Numbers
Use the batch and serial number control in stock transactions, work in progress and inventory figures.
Item Structure Costing
Perform simulations on item structure costing, including different scenarios for imported materials. Compare item structure costing of various items on consolidated and detail level, exposing cost and quantity differences.
Bin Locations
Use predefined or dynamic bin locations. Enforce item bin location definitions if required. Linked items to warehouses. Optionally manage bin capacities or bin capacity per item.
Stock Count
Use the stock count system for period, perpetual or cycle counts. Retain full history of stock count detail indefinitely. Use mobile scanning devices for real time counting. Optionally use a second count, and always have ability to amend counted quantities until count is approved.
Item Structure
Maintain item structures and bills of material. Keep history of various versions of an item structure. Include manufacturing operations and its cost in item structures.
External Tracking
Track location and history of serial and batch numbers at client or supplier sites. Maintain serial number structure of stock external to Forward ERP.
Stock Transactions
Use stock transactions such as Stock Transfer, Stock Issue, Issue to Order etc. to manage inventory. Use integrated barcode scanning and/or radio frequency scanning device system to capture stock transactions in real time. Use stock precedence policies such as FIFO, LIFO or bin alphabetical.
Customer or Supplier Owned Stock
Manage stock owned by customers and suppliers, and use such stock in other stock transactions.
Warehousing and Distribution
Dispatch Management
Cater for dispatch warehouse, utilising integrated picking slips for picking to dispatch. Cater for pick waves based on various criteria. Can enforce dispatch verification before delivery note is released. Picking and dispatch can be performed using mobile scanning devices for real time verification and transacting.
Warehouse Transfer Requisition
Use the warehouse transfer requisition to control transfers between different premises, keeping complete detail of the transfer. Optionally add transfer cost to inventory transferred between warehouses.
Delivery Tracking
The delivery life cycle can be controlled using the user defined delivery workflow, with specific data requirements per status within the workflow. Capture the number of boxes and weight per box, the delivery agent and documentation particulars. Record image of proof of delivery, which is linked to source data on Forward ERP for simple and easy location and sending upon request.
Reporting and Views
Report Screen
Use the report screen formatted reports, containing both standard reports and custom reports as required by the client.
Data Grid
Use reports presented in dynamic and flexible spreadsheet like interface to allow for further manipulation and sophisticated analysis. These reports can be printed or exported for further analysis.
Organisation Management
Customers and Suppliers
Maintain record and trading attributes for customers and suppliers, including credit management if required.
Contact information
Record and maintain particulars on contact persons for external organisations. Use these particulars to email business documentation directly from the system. Capture details of contact events.
Shop Floor Management and Control
Shop floor stations
Use the touch screen, fingerprint identification and serial scanner enabled shop floor interface to view and record order lines, materials and operations. Retain complete history on material issues and returns, and operation times either by virtue of clocking on and off operations, or by elapsed time per operation (from start to end).
RF Scanner System
Integrated RF Scanner System
Use the integrated RF Scanner System for stock transactions. Transactions performed on the mobile RF Scanners are permission based, and the user and timestamp of transactions are recorded in the system in the same way as other stock transactions. These transactions are subject to the same validations and control as other transactions.
Configurable Menus
The RF Scanner System provides for a graphical user interface, with configurable menus by user.
Integration
Seamless integration is provided for with system functionality. In fact, transactions performed on the mobile RF Scanner devices are integrated and recorded in the same way as other transactions in the system.
System requirements
Forward ERP uses a client server architecture, where the following minimum requirements exist:
Database Server (exact specifications depend on factors specific to a particular environment):
Windows 2003 Server or newer
MS SQL Server 2008 or newer
Hard disks in RAID configuration
The Forward ERP clients can be accommodated on an application server if so desired. The specification of such a server depends on various factors which will determine the recommended configuration.
Client Workstation:
Windows 8.1 or newer
2 GB memory
1024 x 768 screen resolution

Our Customers
Contact Us
Tel: +27 12 548 5885
E-mail: info@meritec.co.za
62 Taaifontein street
Unit 25 PKN Office Park
Montana Park Pretoria