FRx Works With Lots of GLs

Did you know that FRx integrates with about 50 different GLs?

Folks are often surprised that there are this many installations of FRx. The ones I see most often are in the MBS Dynamics series, Great Plains and Solomon, probably due to my previous years as an MBS consultant working with accounting implementations, and probably also due to FRx’s parent company Microsoft. I expect to see more Axapta and Navision shortly since that link is finished.

But I also see FRx used with Sage (MAS 90 and MAS 200), Epicor, Viewpoint, Platinum, Clarus (aka SQL Financials), Epicor iScala, and even JD Edwards a few years back. There are close to 50 in all.

There are even some GLs for which a custom interface has been written by one of FRx’s integration partners. These are on the FDM (financial data mart) version of FRx, in which a SQL Server database lives between the GL and FRx, and FRx reads SQL Server instead of going straight to the GL.

So where am I going with this? My point is this: that in every instance, even for those obscure GLs that no one has ever heard of, the FRx user interface remains the same. So a row format in FRx for Great Plains looks like a row format in FRx for Epicor which looks like a row format in FRx for Viewpoint. This is a row format in the training version of FRx (it doesn’t connect to any particular GL):

Anybody see any differences? I didn’t think so. I usually walk into a company and never even need to open their GL.

FRx has done the behind-the-scenes work to connect their system to all the tables in your GL, so the screens that you and I see as the end users are the same.

This can be significant if you’re changing ERPs, as your existing base of knowledge will transfer over if your new ERP still uses FRx. I’m guessing you’ll want to take this opportunity to modify your account structure and/or numbers, and that’s an FRx project in and of itself, but suffice to say you won’t have to relearn FRx.

That said, there are a few peculiarities between systems. For instance, Solomon puts current year net income in an account in the balance sheet. You have to know it’s there so you can get a trial balance to balance. (But even if you don’t know it’s there, it’s pretty easy to figure out.) And Axapta and Navision are dimension-aware ERPs, so there is a Dimension Wizard to walk through before you get to the FRx interface. And there are some differences at the transactional level with all systems if you’re looking at transaction details in FRx. But for the most part, the interface is the same!

One other thing to be aware of—because the ‘behind-the-scenes’ programming is different for different general ledgers, the service packs are different. So don’t install an FRx Service Pack for Great Plains to an FRx for Epicor system. Unless you want to test your backup. Which you should be doing anyway, but I’ll save that for another day!

PS. In case of curiosity, here’s the most current list I could find:

Aderant
Adonix
Answers on Demand
Advanced Data Systems
AXIS Computer Systems
Best Software Inc.
Cheetah Advanced Technologies, Inc.
Datatel
Dexter + Chaney
Epicor Software Corporation
Expandable Software Inc.
FlexiInternational Software, Inc
FREEDOM Group
FSC Limited
Infor
IQMS
Khameleon Software  
McKesson Information Solutions
Microsoft  Business Solutions
New Generation Computing
Public-Sector Solutions
Professional DataSolutions, Inc.
Ross Systems
SOFTRAX
Thomson Elite
Viewpoint Construction Software

Granted, there aren’t 50 here, but these are the software publishers, and there may be multiple ERPs under one name. (MBS has 4 of them!)