Infor SyteLine Reviews

“strong fit for the business!”

Pros

The product meets our business needs across the board for us and works well without requiring major customization.

Cons

In our specific implementation, the only downside is that we're still on an older release. The 8.x version can feel a bit confusing from a UX standpoint and also runs somewhat slower in terms of performance. That said we expect both of those issues to be addressed soon once we move to CSI10.

“flexible and polished design”

Pros

Plenty of functionality is packed in and I find the interface looks polished while it can also be customized well for different users.

Cons

Some users feel the system runs a bit slowly and users aren't able to build their own reports.

“powerful digital transformation impact”

Pros

Our team at Moldes Medellin Ltda, part of Ross International, adopted a parametric approach that helped us standardize, digitize and automatically centralize Product Design information from CAD and Quality Control records into the SQL database. I've seen this give us a highly structured and powerful foundation to automate and simplify a long list of processes, including design parameter validation, scheduling, BOM creation, pricing, CNC and CMM programming, pre-filling shop floor forms, handling quality control data and automatically generating and emailing SPC reports to customers. This digital transformation delivered a level of efficiency we had never reached before, while also shifting the way we think, encouraging even more automation and creating a continuous cycle of improvements that could open up new business opportunities and additional revenue streams.

Cons

Honestly I can't point to any real negatives related to it.

“flexible features for our needs!”

Pros

CSI covers most of the functionality my company needs and I've found it can be tailored to match our specific requirements and preferences.

Cons

The documentation on the support side is not detailed enough to handle installation tasks on our own so we still need assistance from a partner or support team.

“packed with useful features”

Pros

It comes with a ton of features, covering everything from accounting to inventory management. Once I was trained on it, I found the system easy to use and very user-friendly.

Cons

At times, it can bog down and create delays in production which leads to frustration around the workplace. It also tends to run slow at least once a day.

“strong data tools but weak reporting”

Pros

Without question, the Data Collections feature has been the standout part for us when using this system. It allowed us to create our own job and job material transaction module outside of CSI, load the tables with the data we need and then let CSI handle the rest. Compared with other areas, I've found the accounting side actually built very well, aside from reporting which is poor across the board. They also offer a custom Office integration module and I've seen that make detailed accounting analysis and customer report creation much simpler. That piece really helps offset the weak reporting design. Our Controller has been very pleased with the accounting functionality overall, with the exception of stock reporting.

Cons

Reporting is frankly awful. System Administration takes a huge amount of trial and error and not every table updates automatically or stays current. One example is quantities allocated to Production. The number shown on the inventory screen can be outdated and needs a utility to be run before it reflects the correct value. There is no real guide explaining which fields require utilities and every field that needs correction seems to have its own separate utility. We currently have five set to run automatically every day just for inventory and time-phased data. On top of that, error messages are very vague and the help index is either outdated or missing important details and definitions for terms and fields. Patches are really more like updates than targeted fixes. If you hit a known issue, you have to be very careful about which patch you apply because they are not designed just to fix the specific problem but also to update and enhance other modules at the same time. The 9.01 web platform also has quite a few bugs. For example, we still cannot upload documents when creating notes. It is a known issue but fixing it requires a full toolset update on the Mongoose framework which would also force us onto a newer version of CSI. Customer and Vendor Item Cross References are also poorly designed. That makes mass updates during contract renewals basically impossible so I have to update the cross references and expiration dates programmatically.

“powerful and endlessly customizable”

Pros

One of the best things about this software for me is how transparent it is, nothing feels hidden behind a black box. If I take the time to dig into it, I can usually understand exactly how things work. That openness also means I can customize nearly anything inside the platform. On top of that, I find it incredibly powerful when it comes to building my own user applications within it. Overall it's a really enjoyable tool to work with.

Cons

From the development side, the learning curve is definitely steep. A lot of things aren't immediately obvious so you end up figuring them out through trial and error. That said once you finally understand how something works, it tends to stick with you and you usually don't have to relearn it.

“Perfect cpq tools that deliver!!”

Pros

The Configure Price Quote tools have been excellent for us. I've seen they include everything our customers need to configure specific, one-of-a-kind products exactly to their requirements.

Cons

Getting comfortable with the development environment took a while. It works differently from the legacy systems we used before but once we understood it better, it became a much more powerful tool for our team.

“useful workbenches and updates”

Pros

The workbenches help with certain tasks and make some functions more manageable in my experience, even though they don't always match every company's workflow. The updates have also been valuable since I've noticed they keep adding functions that were needed.

Cons

It can be pretty slow and even very basic tasks often take too many transactions to complete.

“powerful planning and customization”

Pros

Right away, I found the flexibility in the Mongoose toolset to be a big advantage for us. We can add both simple changes and more advanced functionality without affecting patching or future upgrades which is a huge plus. The out-of-the-box feature set is extensive and lines up really well with the needs of our metal fabrication business. Users also benefit a lot from being able to filter data directly on forms since it helps them get to the exact records they need without having to rely on IT. Another feature we've really appreciated is the Dataview tool because it makes it much faster to display and export data without having to go through the usual process of running traditional reports. On top of that, I've found the APS planning engine to be excellent.

Cons

Since we run it on-premise, performance at remote locations over the WAN is noticeably slower compared to the site nearest the data center. The built-in Financial Reporting tool also feels pretty limited and basic for our needs. In addition, both A/P and A/R would benefit from having more functionality added.

“flexible workflows that fit”

Pros

Everything in the software feels generally logical to me so it all fits together well and gets the job done. I've also noticed there's usually more than one way to handle a task which is really helpful. A lot of us build or buy large boxes and then sell them as smaller ones and I find the software gives the flexibility to follow a process that works the way we want to do it.

Cons

One downside is that it really exposes the gaps in your data and most issues usually trace back to user mistakes or data quality problems. There also seem to be plenty of small patches and fixes and each one needs testing across a lot of different areas. I do wonder whether having a larger quarterly update cycle might work better.

“powerful fit for metal processing”

Pros

Packed with features and clearly built with the metal processing industry in mind, I've found it handles a lot of complexity really well. Creating custom reports is easy for me and there's plenty of room for customizations to match company-specific requirements.

Cons

At the same time, it's not quite as flexible as it should be. We've run into several situations where we had to significantly change our own processes to fit the system, rather than having it support the way we already work, unless we were willing to spend heavily on add-ons. Some workflows also still involve too much manual effort especially accounts payable when multiple currencies are involved.

“user-friendly with valuable training”

Pros

Using this software has been a pleasant experience for me because it's very user-friendly. Another part of the Infor package I really appreciate is the education and training component which adds a lot of value.

Cons

Our team has some very specific requirements so I'm pretty much pushed toward customization. I understand that no software can fully satisfy the needs of thousands of users but dealing with those customizations during upgrades becomes tough.

“powerful filtering and sql backend”

Pros

Working with the SQL Server back-end has been a real plus in my experience since it's easy to use. The "Filter In Place" search feature is especially powerful and I've found it works very well as a basic ad-hoc reporting tool.

Cons

The it9 Dataviews are a clever concept but creating or editing them is far from easy. The "IDO"s or Intelligent Data Objects which are essentially form-based interfaces tied to underlying tables and queries, are hard to manage. Infor really needs to build a true drag-and-drop or click-and-drag interface for relating items. At the moment, it feels like it will take years to become truly skilled at building or modifying Dataviews as they exist now. To be honest, putting together an MS Access front-end connected directly to the back-end database tables is simpler especially when it comes to linking tables and building custom queries.

“flexible reporting once set up”

Pros

After the data is entered across the company, I find it becomes really simple to work with and generate reports. The line-by-line view also makes it convenient for me to see multiple entries at the same time.

Cons

Data entry initially can be a bit tedious since the information doesn't automatically carry over to multiple areas, although I'm not sure whether that's something that could be programmed in.

“User-friendly start :)”

Pros

As a first-time user, I've had a good start with it. It feels user-friendly to me and I haven't run into any issues so far.

Cons

Since I'm still new to the company, having a manual would really help. I'd also appreciate more insight to better understand everything.

“Excellent tool for inventory and sales”

Pros

It works really well for us across production, sales and inventory management.

Cons

It's not that strong when it comes to finance, accounting or managing resources like staff or machines.

“excel import and responsive updates”

Pros

There's a lot to appreciate in this software. I've found loading data through the Excel import very easy and being able to export back to Excel makes it convenient for me to adjust and work with the data outside the system. Dataviews and the Workbench Suite are also great tools. On top of that, I've noticed Infor pays attention to customer feedback and continues improving the software based on what users ask for which is a big advantage.

Cons

Getting around the forms can feel a bit clunky at times. For example, during one customer interaction, you may have to jump between Customers, Customer Orders and Customer Order Lines which makes navigation less efficient than it should be.

“Great tracking tool”

Pros

Managing my company's parts database is part of my job and I've found this software has become a key part of keeping everything accurate and organized. Moving through the different screens is fairly easy for me and it's dependable when working through revisions and making sure the correct material amounts are applied to the job.

Cons

There's definitely a pretty steep learning curve and it's easy to lose track of where you are with so many windows needing to stay open at once.

“highly customizable for my field”

Pros

It's very flexible to customize in my experience which was important for the kind of work I do and I've rarely found anything I need that the system can't handle.

Cons

To implement it takes a lot of training and it's not very simple. Even long after setup, it can still feel extremely overwhelming.