Independent Review of Industrial Distribution ERP Software for the Chemical Industry

Below you will find a comprehensive, independent review and comparison of Industrial Distribution ERP software for the Chemical industry. We provide an easy-to-navigate matrix comparing general data (e.g. price, financing options, etc.), materials management, sales order management, financial management, production management, supply chain management, and customer relationship management, plus any additional capabilities each vendor might provide. Click on the links to dive deeper into each vendor's software or request a free demo to get more hands-on experience.


General Data
Product Name	SYSPRO	abas ERP	Sage ERP X3	Enterprise 21 ERP	Microsoft Dynamics AX
Version	7.0	2016	7	8.1	AX 7 2016
Price Range	$25K-500K onsite	$75K and up-	$2600/ user-	$30K-$750K	$20K-750K
Financing Options	Lease, Owner Financing, Subscription	Lease, Financing	Owner Financing, Lease to own	Lease, Interest Free Financing	Lease, Owner Financing, Financing
User Range	25-1000	10-250	20-1000+	5-1000+	5-2,250
Multi Site	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Multi National	Yes, 60+ Countries	Yes	Yes	English / Spanish	Yes
Architecture	SOA, XML, Webservice	SOA / Multi-tier		SOA	SOA, .NET, Cloud
Database Platform	MS SQL Server, Other, Cloud-Based (Saas), Universally Compatible w/all Data Base Platforms	Cloud-Based (Saas), abas Open Object Oriented Database, Universally Compatible w/all Data Base Platforms	MS SQL Server, Oracle, Cloud-Based (Saas)	MS SQL Server, Progress, IBM DB2, Other, Oracle, ODBC Compliant, Proprietary`, Customized per Client, Pervasive, Power, Sage ProvideX, Sybase, Cloud-Based (Saas), PostgreSQL, MS SQL Express, abas Open Object Oriented Database, MS Access, IBM UniData/UniVerse, Universally Compatible w/all Data Base Platforms, Quickbooks, Salesforce	MS SQL Server, Oracle, Cloud-Based (Saas), Microsoft Azure
Server OS	Windows	Linux, Windows, Unix	Linux, Windows, Unix	Mac OS, Linux, Windows, Unix	Windows
SAAS	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Materials Management
	Inventory Management	Inventory Management	Inventory Control	Inventory Management	Inventory Controls
	Lot Traceability	Material requirements planning (MRP)		Procurement	Manufacturing
		Material Cost Posting		Warehouse Management System	Material Planning
		Scheduling			Warehouse Management
		Warehouse Management
Sales Order Management
	Document Flow Mgmt.	Costing	Purchasing Management	Sales & Order Management	Sales & Marketing
	Ecommerce Shopping Cart	Invoicing	RF Warehousing		Sales Management
	Point Of Sale	Process History	Sales Monitoring
	Report Writer	Quotation Management
	Return Mgmt	Sales Management Overview
	Sales Analysis	Shipping Order
	Sales Orders
Financial Management
	Budget Management	“What if” Financial Scenarios	Business Intelligence	Financials Overview	AP / AR
	Accounts Payable	Cost Accounting	Data Collection	Financial Reports	Financial Management Overview
	Accounts Receivable	Financials and Accounting	Financial Overview		Fixed Assets
	Activity Based Costing	Fixed Assets			General Ledger
	Tax Management	Liquidity Planning			International Capabilities
	Assests Register	Perpetual Inventory Costing			Project Accounting
	Payroll
	Analytics
Production Management
	Bill of Materials	CAD Integration	Discrete Manufacturing	Manufacturing	Bill of Materials
	Engineering Change Control	Production Summary	Process Manufacturing		Key Production Features
	Factory Documentation	Project Cost Accounting			Product Builder
	Cost Tracking	Project Management
	Planning and Scheduling	Time Recording / Job Time
	Projects and Contracts	Work Order Management
	Quality Mgmt
	Quotations
	Requirements Planning
	Shop Clock
Supply Chain Management
	EDI Solution	Purchasing		Material Requirements Planning (MRP)	Key Supply Chain Features
	Freight Calculator	Requisitions		Distribution Requirements Planning (DRP)
	Inventory Forecasting	Sales Planning & Forecasting
	Shipping Mgmt	Supplier Relationship Management
Customer Relationship Management
	Contact Management	Customer Relations Mgmt.	CRM	Customer Relationship Management	Marketing Automation
	CRM for Syspro	Customer Relationship Management Overview			Sales Force Automation
Additional Capabilities
	Document Mgmt	Electronic data interchange (EDI)	Multi-Channel Retail and Direct Marketing	Business Intelligence	Alert System
	Espresso Mobile	Business Intelligence	Wholesale Distribution	e-Commerce	Business Intelligence and Reporting
		Multi-Site		Enterprise 21 Workbench Designer	Compliance Management
					Human Resource Management
					Service Managment
Services Support
	STARS	Upgrade Guarantee		Direct Developer Support	Support Options
	Support
	Training and Education

General Data

Product Name

Microsoft Dynamics AX

Version

7.0

2016

8.1

AX 7 2016

Price Range

$25K-500K onsite

$75K and up-

$2600/ user-

$30K-$750K

$20K-750K

Financing Options

Lease, Owner Financing, Subscription

Lease, Financing

Owner Financing, Lease to own

Lease, Interest Free Financing

Lease, Owner Financing, Financing

User Range

25-1000

10-250

20-1000+

5-1000+

5-2,250

Multi Site

Yes

Multi National

Yes, 60+ Countries

Yes

English / Spanish

Yes

Architecture

SOA, XML, Webservice

SOA / Multi-tier

SOA

SOA, .NET, Cloud

Database Platform

MS SQL Server, Other, Cloud-Based (Saas), Universally Compatible w/all Data Base Platforms

Cloud-Based (Saas), abas Open Object Oriented Database, Universally Compatible w/all Data Base Platforms

MS SQL Server, Oracle, Cloud-Based (Saas)

MS SQL Server, Progress, IBM DB2, Other, Oracle, ODBC Compliant, Proprietary`, Customized per Client, Pervasive, Power, Sage ProvideX, Sybase, Cloud-Based (Saas), PostgreSQL, MS SQL Express, abas Open Object Oriented Database, MS Access, IBM UniData/UniVerse, Universally Compatible w/all Data Base Platforms, Quickbooks, Salesforce

MS SQL Server, Oracle, Cloud-Based (Saas), Microsoft Azure

Server OS

Windows

Linux, Windows, Unix

Mac OS, Linux, Windows, Unix

Windows

SAAS

Yes

Materials Management

Inventory Management

Inventory Control

Inventory Management