FOCUS is the first formula manufacturing users conference from Vicinity Manufacturing. Focus brings together software users, Microsoft Partners, Vicinity team members, and process manufacturing industry experts together to discuss ways to improve and most effectively utilize Vicinity software.
This year we had an outstanding event with clients and partners from all over the country. FOCUS helps companies improve operational efficiency, increase employee productivity and helps maximize clients’ current ERP systems by providing valuable training and industry advice.
A variety of informational and highly-interactive learning sessions were included to understand better how you can further leverage your Vicinity software.
Boot Camp Training
We started the week with Boot Camp Training. Boot Camp is a one-day skill strengthening program consisting of a series of training sessions and hands-on exercises. This intense (and fun) series was designed to quickly and dramatically improve user proficiency of Vicinity Software for the individuals and teams that attended. Vicinity offers two tracks Foundations and Advanced, to provide introductory training for new users participating as well as content to help seasoned Vicinity users explore new projects and expanded functionality.
Sessions
FOCUS featured many interactive sessions including new feature and functionality highlights, Vicinity Tips & Tricks as well as our development round-table session with attendees and Vicinity software architects. Throughout the session content at FOCUS attendees have the chance to learn about new Vicinity resources such as software documentation and different upgrade programs available to help them stay up to date year-round. Live feature walk-throughs help attendees get a hands-on understanding of new functionality, as well as complimentary products other Vicinity users may be using. These sessions help everyone to understand some of the roadblocks experienced and how the software can better serve our clients.
“My greatest takeaway is the versatility of Vicinity. I knew that we did not use Vicinity in it’s greatest capacity. I was not aware of everything that it can do to improve our efficiencies.” – Tonya Edwards, Nanochem Technologies
Connections
FOCUS brings industry experts, Vicinity developers, and Vicinity software users together transforming into an endless number of opportunities to make lasting relationships within the formula manufacturing and Microsoft Dynamics communities. We hosted clients across chemical, flavorings, beverage, food manufacturing and more. Connecting with users in similar industries can help new users identify how they can streamline Vicinity at their organization. In contrast, many users gain inspiration for new and innovative process ideas from connecting with individuals outside their industry and learning how they apply the software in their environment.
Development Round Table
The development round-table is where attendees and Vicinity developers take the time to talk about new feature sets, functionality requests and idea sharing for future development.
Through this interactive session, our team takes the time to present new feature ideas and discuss how they can apply to various client processes. It is also an opportunity for our customers to bring their ideas to the table, and share a particular feature idea or explain an existing manual process or gap in functionality that Vicinity software could potentially address. This discussion is put at the forefront of future development roadmap meetings and incorporating into our annual development schedule.
Some new ideas proposed by clients during FOCUS 2017 event included:
• Related Quality Control Test
• MRP Planned Transfer
Take a look at our Development blog to learn more about these particular features and others implemented this year.
https://www.vicinitymanufacturing.com/vicinity-development-year-review/
New items discussed this year and in the queue for development include a new screen named Formula Search. This screen will allow users to launch an advanced multi-level find based on tailored search criteria. Our initial launch of this screen will be available for clients in our July 4.23 release later this summer.
Another client request the Vicinity team will be hard at work on include Global Configuration options. With these new controls, users will be able to create custom names for fields based on their internal vocabulary, possibly an industry-specific term or a language translation option. In addition to field labels, configuration options can associate with colors, sections or establishing particular settings to be universal across a user type or organization.
Stay tuned for more information on these features.
Save the dates for the 2019 FOCUS Users Conference! Join us May 15-17th in Atlanta, Ga. If you are interested in learning more about FOCUS, new features or how Vicinity software may be able to meet your Batch Manufacturing needs, please contact our team today!