FAQs
Other things to know about TIW Technology, Inc and ALERE
Common General Questions about ALERE
What is ALERE?
ALERE is a vertically integrated ERP software suite that manages an organization’s financial accounting, inventory, CRM, manufacturing, field service, and data acquisition (barcoding) activities.
Why ALERE?
ALERE has been designed, first and foremost, with the user in mind. A significant amount of effort was put into developing an interface that makes it easy for users to find reports, functions, and data as easily as possible. This has led to better implementations that are less drawn-out or frustrating and an overall better experience with a higher satisfaction rate in the choice of ALERE. Additionally, by increasing overall usability by end users, data in ALERE tends to be significantly more accurate than competing packages because data entry is less of a chore.
Is ALERE built for a specific vertical?
No. ALERE is a class of ERP system known as a General Purpose ERP system. General Purpose Systems are intended to provide all the tools required to effectively run an organization and meet GAAP and IFRS accounting standards. This class of systems is also designed to be highly modifiable, enabling users to tailor the ERP system to their particular needs or create entirely new feature sets to best suit individual best practices and workflows.
What makes ALERE different?
TIW’s approach to developing the ALERE ERP system has been shaped by the fact that it started life as a manufacturing system rather than an accounting system that had manufacturing added later. This has led to an approach focused on providing users with tool sets rather than processes. By understanding and plying ALERE’s tool sets, users gain significantly more flexibility in day-to-day activities and the ability to solve problems that are exceptions to routine workflows without the usual frustration accompanying attempting to document exactly how they solved the issue within the ERP system. The outcome is less user frustration and better control and reporting for organizational stakeholders.
Where is ALERE hosted?
Wherever you like, as long as there is only one installation per license.
ALERE is an on-premise ERP solution, but that doesn’t mean you’re limited to running it solely on in-house hardware. ALERE can be installed on a number of cloud hosting services, enabling it to be accessed anywhere, anytime.
This also means that you control and own not only your data, but also the relational data for which you purchased an ERP system in the first place. Forever.
What type of database does ALERE use?
The recommended ALERE back end is SQL Server. For smaller organizations a LAN back end is also available.
A conversion utility from LAN to SQL is included with ALERE to transition to SQL as your organization, and dataset, grows.
Can ALERE be modifed?
Yes, ALERE can be modified. TIW offers a Developer’s Kit for making modifications to ALERE.
Importantly, customizations made to ALERE are typically compatible with new releases of the system. This protects organizational investment into critical infrastructure and allows customers to upgrade to the most current version of ALERE, allowing them to make the most of the software maintenance agreement.
The readme on each new release will cover the data structures changed. But always test your customization before deploying the new ALERE version to your production environment!
Common Licensing Questions
How is ALERE purchased?
ALERE is sold through a nation-wide authorized reseller channel. Resellers of ALERE also provide services such as the consulting, project management, training, customization, and implementation services necessary for a successful implementation.
TIW can provide factory training and customization services as required by the client and reseller.
Is ALERE a SASS ERP system?
No. ALERE is a perpetually licensed ERP solution. Once purchased, the key to the distributed version is good forever.
How easy is it to add a module to ALERE?
ALEREs modules are pre-integrated with one another and designed to use the same relational dataset. In most cases modules can be added to ALERE and used with minimal setup. Training is always a good idea though!
Does ALERE have any recurring fees or a Software Maintenance Agreement (SMA)
Yes. ALERE carries a software maintenance agreement based on the number of modules an organization owns. Users have no impact on the recurring cost of ownership.
The SMA provides users with:
- New version releases of ALERE.
- Technical support directly from TIW Technology, Inc.
- Access to ALEREs technical training portal with 60+ hours of self guided training.
How are users licensed in ALERE?
ALERE licenses users by the number of concurrent users. In other words you may have as many named users in the system, with as many roles as you would like, but only a certain number of users may be in the system at a given time.
Users are easy to add to ALERE and do not carry an annual fee, so start with the minimum you think you’ll need.
How many users can ALERE support?
The largest installations of ALERE have in excess of 120 concurrent users.
Other Questions
Is there a help manual?
Yes. A compiled help manual is accessible to every user by clicking on the “?” found on every screen within ALERE.
Individual pages may be easily printed; however, the total manual exceeds more than fifty thousand pages, which defies printing it in whole.
An HTML version of the help manual may also be accessed online here.
Is ALERE an acronym?
Yes it is. ALERE stands for Assets, Liabilities, Equity, Revenue, and Expenses. The name describes the heart of accounting.
How long have TIW and ALERE been around?
TIW Technology, Inc was founded in 1983.
Recognizing a need for an affordable manufacturing-oriented software suite for small and mid-sized organizations, TIW created ALEREs predecessor a manufacturing execution software packaged called Workshop. Workshop was designed to meet the needs of organizations requiring sophisticated manufacturing software tools, which were utterly unaffordable to all but the largest companies of the time.
Workshop 1.0 was released in 1990 and featured a wide range of work order, BOM, Route, and costing tools with a real-time backend. The system found immediate success in the US and abroad, which included being translated into multiple languages.
In 1999 TIWs accounting software partner was sold to another organization, prompting TIW to take stock of its options. The decision was made to build its own accounting software suite from the ground up using the lessons learned from the partnership and the experience with Workshop. Chief among these was figuring out how to solve several common accounting quality of life issues and how to make use of the real-time reporting and transaction posting mechanisms pioneered by Workshop.
ALERE Accounting 1.0 was released in early 2000 and was one of the first real-time accounting suites (real-time inventory, general ledger, and reporting) to come to market.
In 2008 Workshop and ALERE Accounting were merged into a single product simply called ALERE.
