What’s New in Release 2024.1 of Kinetic

The latest release of Kinetic delivers new products and features that enable you to work smarter, not harder. As automation and Artificial Intelligence continue to revolutionize the way the “Make, Move, Sell” industries operate, Epicor is committed to providing solutions that harness the power of these technologies while keeping humans at the forefront. And as always, many of the features we’ve built came straight from the feedback you’ve given us in Epicor Ideas over the last 6 months.

Let’s take a look at the highlights of this release:

Field Service Management for Kinetic*

Epicor is excited to introduce Epicor Field Service Management, an end-to-end cloud field service software solution. Optimized for service organizations that use mobile field resources, Epicor FSM allows companies to engage with their customers and their customers’ equipment while automating and streamlining the service process. Plus, the robust integration with Kinetic allows customers to combine all the benefits of their current ERP with the field service capabilities of this new offering.

Results:

• Reduces billing turnaround times
• Puts the right technicians in the right place at the right time, allowing customers to focus on managing and growing their service and installation business
• Helps you make better informed decisions with quick access to customer information, equipment service history, and technician availability & skill level

*Only available in the U.S. and Canada as of Release 2024.1. Over the coming months, FSM will be made available to other select regions. Please contact your Epicor customer account manager for more details.

NOTE: An additional subscription or license is required for this solution. For these details and to inquire about deployment for users, contact your customer account manager.

Connected Process Control*

Join the Industry 4.0 movement with Epicor Connected Process Control - a powerful no-code/low-code process control system with embedded digital visual aids that can connect to almost any device with communication capability. By delivering a combination of process control and guided digital operating instructions, Epicor Connected Process Control helps users produce a consistent quality product and improve operational efficiency by tracking each individual task along the way.

Results:

• Maximizes quality and throughput on the plant floor while reducing costs, giving you a competitive advantage in a crowded marketplace.
• Enables you to eliminate paper from your work cells, onboard new employees efficiently, and optimize growth potential with a flexible, scalable solution.

Learn More About Epicor Connected Process Control

*Only available in the U.S. and Canada as of Release 2024.1. Over the coming months, CPC will be made available to other select regions.  Please contact your Epicor customer account manager for more details. 

Epicor Learning AI Knowledge Assistant

With Microsoft Azure OpenAI ChatGPT integrated into the Epicor Learning Help & Support panel, you can now use the power of AI to quickly and easily find what you’re looking for in the learning center. Designed as an “ask and respond” chat experience, the Knowledge Assistant will provide precise, practical answers to your product questions, including linking to the source material it’s drawing from.

Results:

• Eliminates time and effort spent manually searching for the information you want. Ask Knowledge Assistant a question and it will find the information for you.

Core Kinetic + UX Enhancements: Your Voice in Action

Based on your feedback, we are delivering the third wave of optimized Browser UX top-used screens in this release. These enhancements allow you to do your job faster and easier with screens that have an improved data entry flow, fewer clicks to navigate, and less scrolling.

Other notable features for Core Kinetic coming directly from Epicor Ideas include:

• Time-Phased Inquiry is updated to have more information and to allow users to update planning parameters & run MRP Regeneration for a single part
• The ability to create an RMA from an order, invoice, or shipment pack
• The Stock Status Real Time Dashboard where customers can view data from areas like the part bin table and the part lot table
• MRP will now honor the expiration date on expired lots, and customers will be notified to replace expired material by MRP

Accelerated Value with Extended Solutions

Our portfolio of Modules offers additional capabilities that enhance the Kinetic experience. Here are some highlights from Modules’ 2024.1 releases: 

• Epicor Automation Studio, Powered by Workato, has created a connector for Quick Ship version 2024.1. Accompanying the connector is our first Industry Template, a recipe for Less-Than-Truckload (LTL) provider Priority 1. Our Early Adopter customer for the Quick Ship connector and LTL Industry Template estimates this will save them at least 4 hours daily!
• We have made improvements to the ECM user interface to enhance the search functionality, ease of use, and admin page. We have added one-click searches (including quick-access shortcut tiles), a toolbar for quick access to common document actions, a favorites searches pane with many pre-defined searches, and rearranged the admin page to make use of improved real estate.
• In the latest update, we have improved BAQ support in FP&A. Now users can create comprehensive reports by combining non-financial and financial data into a single document. We’ve also renamed “ERP Connect” to “Data Sources.” Within Data Sources, users can add a new data source called Kinetic BAQ. This allows them to choose from a list of BAQs and map their data columns to either a FACT table or a dimension.

• Epicor CPQ 2024.1 enhancements include:

  • Expanded functionality for administrators including the ability to filter auto-complete search fields and to copy UI modules from one configurator to another.
  • Enhanced 3-D visualization capabilities including Sketch and Extrude improvements and the ability to convert geometry and materials in running scenes to GLB and FBX formats.
  • Optimized technology and integration including integration with Grow, Apple Vision Pro support, the ability to configure conditional formatting options, select from dropdowns via keyboard, easily distinguish disabled fields and add configured parts to the Part Master.

Ready to Upgrade to Kinetic 2024.1?

Already a Kinetic user? The Epicor Services and Support teams are ready to help you upgrade today. Contact your Customer Account Manager to get started. 

Don’t forget to check out our new Customer Success Hub!

Whether you’re a new or existing customer, our new Customer Success hub serves as your comprehensive resource center for all things Epicor. Need to access EpicCare? Want to explore Epicor Learning? Or perhaps you have an enhancement idea for Epicor? Look no further — the Customer Success Hub is your one-stop-shop for all these resources, and more.

Christine Hansen

Director, Product Marketing

Christine Hansen serves as the Director of Product Marketing at Epicor, where she applies over 20 years of industry expertise to drive inventive solutions for the manufacturing sector. She holds BAs in Spanish and business administration from Augustana College (SD) and is based in Minneapolis, MN.

Read More by Christine Hansen