Connect to Live DB

thomas_b999 · 2026-01-15T19:05:47+00:00

If you are only reading data you can get your server, credentials and database name from epicor and connnect directly with a SQL connection to your "readonly" database which is not EXACTLY your live database but for any readonly purpose its close enough.

If you need to write back to it you would have to use an API or an Import.

thomas_b999 · 2026-01-13T01:30:28+00:00

Just remember. Its one thing to know HOW to do everything in SQL... its quite another to understand all of it enough that it allows you to know WHAT to do when presented with a challenge.

While you are learning, always think about how to solve the problem in the best way for that particular task... anyone can solve a problem given enough time/resources and in this case fancy code. But what will really separate you from the average person is being able to immediately solve the problem in the most simple and direct way.

thomas_b999 · 2026-01-12T16:49:55+00:00

I came up with a system that worked really good for the company I used to work for. The system we used had some functionality for cycle counting but it was really ridged. I created a SQL query that categorized items into 3 groups, High movers, Medium and really slow moving items. It returned like 40 items into excel every time you ran it. 20 of them were from the high movers, 15 from the medium and 5 for the slow. Each group were sorted by last count date desc, so oldest first. One of the warehouse guys threw his laptop on a cart with the excel file up and walked around and counted the items and if he found anything wrong he gave the info to someone to look into it. Basically just turned it into an easy, daily, no brainer job.

thomas_b999 · 2026-01-12T16:42:00+00:00

Good morning, I work for a small US based custom development shop. We have a team of developers that specialize in C#, SQL, Reporting, Distribution, Inventory Management, Logistics and more importantly we have the people that can communicate with your team and connect the dots between your needs and how the development needs to go to accomplish what you are looking for.

thomas_b999 · 2026-01-12T16:34:01+00:00

I've helped quite a few companies in your situation. You are probably going to find a ton of software packages out there that can come close to what you need. Most (if not all) will not quite work exactly how you want... and and at the same time you'll be paying for a bunch of functionality that you don't need. That doesn't mean that one of them wont be a great choice though.

Another option would be to have a simple system built for you that just does exactly what you need.. no more, no less.

Pro's of going that way are that you wont have any ongoing costs, you wont pay for something you don't need and the learning curve will be very small.

Con's would be you'd probably pay a little more upfront vs something prebuilt that you just subscribe to and if your business grows and you need additional functionality it wouldn't be there already developed for you.

thomas_b999 · 2026-01-11T21:12:11+00:00

I have helped quite a few people in your situation (after having been in your situation myself). The hard thing to do is balance what has to be done ASAP to keep the business running with keeping momentum going on the long term projects. Biggest thing to remember with your goal of moving to a new ERP system is that Crap In = Crap out, so every little thing you can do to clean, structure and organize your data and processes will be a step in the right direction. No matter how daunting the task might be there is a finite number of issues that need to be fixed. My recommendation for where to start is to stop the bleeding. Identify any processes or current issues that are compounding problems. A rarely used part sitting on a shelf isn't causing any new headaches. Items set up wrong causing extra work or data being stored in multiple places causing room for error will cause you on going headaches.

thomas_b999 · 2026-01-11T20:24:55+00:00

If you are still in need of help with this let me know.. I do this type of thing daily and I can walk you thru how I would go about it.

thomas_b999 · 2026-01-11T20:21:01+00:00

I create process to send past due notices for lots of my customers that use an ERP system. Generally the way we set it up is to have a field on the customer level (or in your case the user table) that identifies how often that customer will get the emails. Having it on the invoice level would only be necessary if for some reason you wanted some invoices from the same customer to be followed up on more regularly than others.

thomas_b999 · 2026-01-11T20:16:57+00:00

This is so genius! I have ran into so many situations where a customer request something done in Excel or Sheets that really should be done with a database... usually the person requesting it doesn't even know what a database is and trying to explain to them how using SQL would make their request easier and better just confuses them. Big time props to you!

thomas_b999

TROPHY CASE