Very flexible and includes a wide range of modules for many business needs

Pros

Business World is very customizable. More times than not, you can tailor the software to meet your business process, rather than changing your processes to match the software. Business World has a wide array of modules including core financials, payroll, hr and more. Since first purchasing Business World in 2005, the product has been able to grow with us and we have purchased many additional modules to fit our needs.

Cons

Because the software is so customizable, we run into issues when performing upgrades as we're not always running things in "default" mode.

UNIT4 Agresso Delivers Flexible Power

Pros

We needed a mid-market full ERP product with a strong payroll module. We process our own payroll internally. We are one of the largest professional services staffing companies in the United States. Agresso is a truly modern ERP package, because it's based upon modern object-oriented code, not based upon COBOL, like most other mid-market offerings. Agresso can be hosted in the cloud or run on premise, but most important, Agresso can be extended and customized unlike purely cloud based solutions, which do not offer customization features, since all customers run on the same cloud version (that makes upgrades easy, but you cannot handle complex situations with one-size-fits all solutions). With Agresso, you can add user-defined objects, not merely user-defined fields using the Agresso Flexi-Field Groups feature. This is the most elegant ERP design in the world today.

Cons

The only downside with Agresso is that it is just starting to catch on in the United States, so even though it is the number 1 mid-market ERP in the U.K. and other parts of Europe, there are not yet that many consultants working with it here. That's unfortunate, since it's such a great software for large people centered organizations, like not-for-profit, professional services, education, etc. I believe that Agresso will continue to rapidly expand its customer base in the United States over the next decade.

Using Agresso is painful!

Pros

Absolutely nothing, using Agresso is a complete nightmare and wastes my time whenever I have to use it.

Cons

Glitches, grinds to a halt and gives error messages when using via Chrome - colleagues tell me it's slightly better with IE. The welcome screen retains an old password instead of updating it so you always have to put the new password in once you've changed it. Completely counter-intuitive; one small but representative example is that you have to hit the "search" button instead of the return key to search. Weird, meaningless terminology in error messages; eg Costc: Direct relation-connection not retrievable since parent field dim_2 is not filled in! Value for field dim_1 is fixed. Project: Direct relation-connection not retrievable since parent field dim_4 is not filled in! Value for field dim_2 is fixed Impossible to find eg. requisitions for PO numbers that you've made previously. Impossible to find a way to get a list of outstanding requisitions or PO numbers.

Flexible, User-friendly, well-designed accounting software

Automated large journal entry processes, automated investment allocation procedures, gave web-based access to end users minimizing calls and questions, improved state and federal reporting using attributes assigned at payables level. Would recommend highly to a mid-size or larger organization.

Pros

Powerful inquiry options both instant and report-based; flexible setup able to capture multiple unique attributes needed for our reporting; importing and exporting to/from excel very straightforward.

Cons

Could be more flexible from a display standpoint (changing display size/colors). Only a few other clients in the University Foundation field so few peers to network with.

A Happy Unit4 Business World Customer

With reliable access to all of our data, we have been able to harmonize projects, departments and service delivery.

Pros

We chose Business World because it enables us to modify the system quickly and easily as needed to meet our changing needs. It has improved our overall accountability with accurate budgeting, simply by enabling staff to access the information they need when they need it. It also gives us the flexibility we need to meet our unique needs.

Cons

For new hires, Business World comes with a learning curve but the Unit4 support team is always there to help us.