Editor's note: While November was "Inventory and Manufacturing Month," some of our promised features didn't make it due to the short month. So here's our feature on MISys Manufacturing, which wraps up our promised solutions.
MISys is a manufacturing solution that integrates with QuickBooks and several other general ledgers/accounting programs. While QuickBooks Desktop offers fundamental inventory management—including purchasing, sales, item and inventory control—the product was designed with limited manufacturing capabilities. Even QuickBooks Enterprise with Advanced Inventory really does not provide a wealth of manufacturing functionality beyond what is otherwise found in QuickBooks Desktop.
When you consider QuickBooks Online—including QBO Advanced—you might as well forget even using the term "manufacturing" because the functionality does not exist. That's why whether you are using QuickBooks Desktop Pro, Premier, Enterprise, QuickBooks Online or QBO Advanced, adding-on an external manufacturing software like MISys Manufacturing helps. The software specifically is designed to provide the manufacturing functionality without duplicating the features that QuickBooks performs well, which enables you to use both to the best of their abilities.
One of the best examples of this, and something that makes MISys somewhat unique among manufacturing programs, is the ability of MISys to track items within both MISys and QuickBooks. Since MISys performs no sales functions, users transfer finished goods back to QuickBooks for sales and invoicing. In fact, there is a step built into the manufacturing process that automates the transfer to QuickBooks.
You will use QuickBooks to manage your front office, including everything associated with your customers. This includes customer records, sales estimates and transactions, and your accounts receivable. QuickBooks also will manage your accounts payable and other general ledger functions. MISys Manufacturing will manage your production functions, including purchasing, raw materials inventory, finished goods, production scheduling, and much more.
MISys also maintains a sub-ledger of all the manufacturing costs and syncs it to your QuickBooks version whenever you determine. The transactions are easily audited and performed automatically. And there is never any double data entry.
Before your first manufacturing task is ever completed or synchronized between MISys and QuickBooks, you will configure how you want things to integrate from the MISys Accounting Administration menu (as shown in the example below for QuickBooks Online).
In addition, you will configure other accounting settings, including period end consolidation preferences, Invoice Bill reference numbering, your QuickBooks Company ID, User ID (for MISys) and Password, and other settings required for your configuration.
Also, because your version of QuickBooks may include multi-location functionality, if you are using QuickBooks Enterprise with Advanced Inventory or QuickBooks Online, MISys lets you select one of the locations as the Default Site for transactions posting between MISys and QuickBooks.
There are subtle differences between how MISys works with QuickBooks Desktop versions and QuickBooks Online. For example, when integrated with QuickBooks Desktop, you initiate a sale with a Sales Order in QuickBooks, which can be transferred to MISys to trigger a manufacturing order. On the other hand, when MISys is integrated with QuickBooks Online, you initiate a sale using an Estimate; when that Estimate is accepted in QBO, it triggers either a work order or a manufacturing order in MISys based upon the finished goods required.
As with QuickBooks Desktop, when the manufacturing process is completed in MISys, even though you are using QuickBooks Online, there is a process that automates the transfer of the produced item(s) back to QuickBooks so the item can be invoiced in fulfillment of the customer's order.
Thus far, we have talked about manufacturing orders and work orders, and various other terms that MISys uses as part of the manufacturing process based on how you have chosen to design MISys to meet your requirements. But MISys is a modular system designed to grow as you grow your business, and to provide you with additional functionality based on the needs of an expanding manufacturing environment.
Basic Manufacturing Features
Initially, you will begin with basic manufacturing features that serve as the foundation for the MISys Manufacturing System. While they refer to these as basic, they include a long list of features you would find in advanced inventory functionalities of other programs, including:
- Detailed Inventory Data including numerous custom fields
- Track quantity and cost history for each item
- Detailed stock status for all inventoried items
- Inventory levels with minimum, maximum and reorder points
- Inventory tracking by multiple locations
- Maintain the value of stock on hand, in reserve, in WIP and on order
- Maintain the stock status of an unlimited number of stocking locations
- Control inventory levels of raw materials by conducting physical inventory cycle counting
- Choose from standard, average, recent, FIFO, LIFO and last supplier cost accounting
- Roll-up standard costs automatically; revalue inventory at any time
- Decimal precision for fractional quantities and costs
- Embed detailed item notes, or attach word processing documents and pictures to any item record
- Associate a unique set of general ledger accounts with each item or class of items
- Track unlimited qualified suppliers and manufacturers for any item
- Track supplies, labor and overhead
- Use multi-level bills of material, revise BOMs and process production work orders
- Transactional history includes component where-used (BOM implosion) and outstanding order status
- Import and export data from/to other systems to speed setup and data analysis
- Transfer manufacturing sub-ledger entries to QuickBooks at period end (determined by you)
Advanced Production Functionality
Manufacturers who produce variants of standard assemblies for custom orders of one-off items may find that the MISys Advanced Production feature module provides critical functionality for their businesses. Advanced Production enables you create sophisticated Manufacturing Orders and Customized Job Orders.
Advanced production performs more sophisticated cost estimates and job tracking. Easily compare projected manufacturing costs with the actual costs for accurate analyses of productivity and profitability. And, because you can associate all your costs with job orders, you can get detailed cost analysis by job. You also can analyze standard, projected and actual job costs with performance variances.
You can create Manufacturing Orders from either a standard Bill of Materials or from scratch without previously defined components. Use Bills of Materials with Routing Details through Work Centers to guide shop floor operations using MISys Shop Floor Control features. Another feature of Advanced Production is turning a Quote produced in MISys based upon details you generate within advanced production workflow into a Sales Order in QuickBooks.
Shop Floor Control
Turn Manufacturing Orders into Production Management with the MISys Shop Floor Control feature (module). Shop Floor Control delivers the ultimate solution to running a manufacturing or production facility by allowing you to accurately predict your costs based on estimated materials, labor, and overhead and allowing you to analyze actual production costs.
Shop Floor Control turns your production schedule into a workflow that establishes routings for your various Manufacturing Orders as they pass from one work center to another with assigned personnel, tools, equipment and component requirements scheduled to meet the work requirements. Resolve work center conflicts using the MISys drag and drop capacity management tool.
When Shop Floor Control is combined with the MISys Labor Tracking feature, you can track elapsed time production workers actually spend on selected jobs and manufacturing orders and automatically post that data directly to the time-related actual costs of those jobs and orders.
Material Requirements Planning (MRP)
Determine purchasing and productions requirements by analyzing current inventory, open orders, and sales orders to spot impending shortages and respond by creating purchase and production orders. If you need to plan your production and purchasing activities weeks, months and even years in advance, your business should consider the MISys MRP module.
You can create a Master Production Schedule that analyzes your current inventory in the context of open purchase orders, work orders, manufacturing orders and sales orders. Spot shortages within a time frame that allows you to meet production requirements and remain on schedule, then create all required purchase orders and production orders with a single click.
For a better understanding of the diversity of the term MRP used by different inventory software vendors, and how MISys uses this term along with the capabilities of the MISys MRP as related to the strict APICS definition, take a couple of minutes to watch the short video found here.
Serial and Lot Number Tracking
Suppose you need to comply with strict regulatory requirements that require the tracking of serial or lot numbers for all components and not just finished goods. In that case, you will find that the serial/lot number tracking feature (module) is designed with compliance in mind.
It is ideal for medical device manufacturing, pharmaceutical production, food products production, automotive manufacturing, aerospace and defense manufacturing requirements. Designed specifically to meet the requirements of the US Federal Aviation Administration, US Food and Drug Administration and ISO 9000.
Bin Tracking Functionality
While MISys Basic Manufacturing supports an unlimited number of physical locations, the Bin Tracking feature is designed to track similar inventory at multiple physical locations within common areas when you may need to keep raw materials, sub-assemblies or finished products in specific containers (bins, bales, bolts, etc.), and record unique inventory values and attributes for each.
MISys EXT
Process real-time transactions using the MISys Mobile web-based interface. Works on any tablet, smartphone or web-enabled device. With MISys EXT, you can:
- Log in/out as a standard MISys Manufacturing company database user
- Process any stock transfers, including item transfers, assembly transfers, supplier transfers, component transfers and dispensing tools
- Mobile alert feature allows you to send/receive email messages from smartphones or other mobile devices originating from within MISys
- Process purchase order receipts or returns
- Process work orders, including reserving, allocating and completing any released work order
- Process manufacturing orders, including starting, starting/scrapping individual components, and completing any released manufacturing order
- Perform entire shop floor control operations, including starting and completing operations, processing time and direct labor transactions and processing scraps
- MISys EXT can uniquely manage multiple active operation timers as part of shop Operations processing
- Create new physical inventory batches or add new detail lines to physical inventory batches.
- Print new barcode labels
- Any field may be populated using the provided finder, scanning a barcode or entering a quantity
- Full integration with the shop floor control, serial/lot tracking and bin tracking MISys modules
- Transfer quantities of items to sales, or vice-versa, and sales transfers as part of work order or manufacturing order processing when your MISys Manufacturing is integrated with QuickBooks Desktop or QuickBooks Online.
MISys Integration with SolidWorks CAD
MISys integrates with SolidWorks 3D CAD Software, making it easier to create items and Bills of Material in MISys from production designs in SolidWorks. In addition, you can map SolidWorks parts and assemblies to your MISys items, and use templates to configure how MISys assemblies match up to your SolidWorks designs.
For more details about the integration between MISys and SolidWorks, I suggest watching the short video found here.
MISys Deployment Flexibility
MISys Manufacturing, built on the Microsoft SQL database for performance, scalability and deployment flexibility can be installed as an on-premise Microsoft networkable solution. MISys Manufacturing also can be deployed on cloud-based servers or using third-party hosting to provide anytime anywhere access.
Conclusion
For many QuickBooks ProAdvisors specializing in Manufacturing solutions, MISys Manufacturing generally has been "the solution of choice" for heavy manufacturing and production businesses that used QuickBooks Desktop for their accounting—even if they were using QuickBooks Enterprise with Advanced Inventory. The reason was simple, MISys offered more functionality, greater capability in the long run and did everything related to manufacturing better for the cost.
Implementing MISys meant many QuickBooks Pro/Premier users never migrated to QuickBooks Enterprise. In addition, many QuickBooks Enterprise users were able to reduce the number of QuickBooks licenses they had to purchase and even eliminate Advanced Inventory, which helped offset the cost of implementing MISys.
In recent years, MISys integrated with QuickBooks Online because QuickBooks Desktop users using MISys already saw they could easily transition their accounting to QBO. In addition, the same accounting data would transition to the QuickBooks cloud as easily as their own QuickBooks server. Then, by migrating MISys to either a cloud-based server or a third-party host, they no longer had to concern themselves with the responsibilities of operating their own networks.
But MISys Manufacturing also should be considered a primary tool to migrate small manufacturing companies that start on QuickBooks Online and find themselves using Excel spreadsheets or other third-party software to run their production functions. They might be using something for scheduling and something else for tracking workflows, and something else for labor and costs.
While it all adds up, rarely does it work well in the long run, especially when they continue to grow. If you have QuickBooks Online production businesses like this, then MISys Manufacturing should also be "the solution of choice" if they are on the path to becoming a major manufacturer.
I have given you good reasons to explore MISys on your own. This is not the typical learn an app in a few hours solution; this is a workhorse designed to meet the needs of major manufacturing businesses that want to continue to use QuickBooks (Desktop or Online) for their General Ledger and general accounting functions (accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll, etc.).
If you need to transition a client struggling with their manufacturing requirements or growing beyond their existing capabilities, MISys may be the solution. Or, if you want to develop a niche practice in manufacturing and production client support, MISys should be one of your first options.
In either case, I suggest you reach out and explore the MISys website and not only sign up for the Explore MISys automated tour, but also register for an Introductory Demo.
Acknowledgments and Disclosures:
Graphics and content used within this feature were derived and/or adapted by the author in part from MISys Manufacturing source materials, including the MISys Manufacturing Website, MISys Manufacturing Website Partner Portal content, and other MISys Manufacturing related content. Adapted source materials published within this feature by Insightful Accountant are for educational and product promotional purposes only.
MISys, MISys EXT and MISys Manufacturing, as used herein, refer to one or more registered trademarks of Manufacturing Information Systems, Inc. of Woodstock, VT.
QuickBooks, QuickBooks Pro/Premier, QuickBooks Enterprise (with Advanced Inventory) and QuickBooks Online, as used herein, refer to one or more registered trademarks of Intuit, Inc., a publicly-traded corporation headquartered in Mountain View, California. They are used herein for informational and educational purposes only.
Various other trade names used herein refer specifically to registered trademark products held by their respective owners. And are used for informational and educational purposes only.