ERP Support for Manufacturing in Ontario, Planned Around Your Production Schedule

Two layers. Your ERP vendor or reseller looks after the software: licensing, configuration and version upgrades. Your IT partner looks after everything the ERP runs on and connects to, which is where a lot of what a plant calls “an ERP problem” actually sits.

ACT360’s ERP and accounting system support covers Sage, Dynamics and QuickBooks: integration support, setup, training and ongoing support, delivered with the rest of your plant’s IT. Vendor management is part of ACT360 Managed IT, so one named contact chases the vendor when the fault really is in the software.

Check two things: the ERP version and the database and PCs underneath it. Several pieces many Ontario plants still run have recently lost, or are about to lose, vendor support.

• SQL Server 2016 reached the end of extended support on July 14, 2026, according to Microsoft. Many on-premises ERPs store their data in SQL Server, so an older plant server may be running it without anyone noticing.
• Microsoft Dynamics GP stopped new perpetual licence sales on April 1, 2025 and new subscriptions on April 1, 2026. Product and tax updates end December 31, 2029, and security updates end April 30, 2031 (summary of Microsoft’s announced dates).
• Windows 10 reached end of support on October 14, 2025 (Microsoft lifecycle). Shop floor terminals and the PC beside a machine are often the last to be replaced.

None of these breaks anything on the day support ends. The risk is that the system your plant runs on stops getting security fixes, and you find out during an incident. ACT360 records versions and support dates during the assessment, then plans upgrades or migrations with your ERP vendor around the production calendar. The background on ERP types and deployment options is in what an ERP system is.

By connecting the ERP to the tools around it, so a job number, quote or invoice is entered once and flows wherever else it’s needed.

In a typical plant, the same job gets typed into the ERP, the quoting tool, the scheduling spreadsheet and the invoice. Every re-entry is a chance for a mistake, and it’s why the owner can’t answer “where are we on this order?” without walking the floor. ACT360 builds the pieces that close those gaps:

• ERP and CRM integrations, so data goes in once and reaches the other systems on its own.
• Custom applications where no product fits: a quoting tool built around your process, or a job costing app that matches how you track work.
• Internal dashboards that pull production, financial and scheduling data into one view.
• A customer portal where clients check order status and download invoices without calling the office.

Integration and app work is scoped per project. See custom web applications for how that work runs, and AI automation for manufacturing for why clean, connected ERP data comes before any AI project.

Dashboards that people actually open. For a multi-location healthcare provider, ACT360 embedded Power BI reports in the client’s existing intranet and cut estimated reporting costs from about $600 a month to under $50.

The client isn’t a manufacturer, but the problem will sound familiar: the financial and operational data already existed, mostly in Excel, and nobody looked at it. Staff sign in with their existing Microsoft 365 accounts, each location sees only its own numbers next to the overall average, and the reporting capacity switches on only when someone opens a report. That’s why the cost follows usage, not headcount. The full story is in the Power BI Embedded case study.

A plant can use the same pattern on ERP data: job status, margins by job and on-time shipments, visible to the people who need them without a separate licence for everyone who glances at a number.

Support for the systems around your ERP is part of an ACT360 Managed IT agreement, priced per user. Integration and custom app work is scoped separately, and ERP licences stay with your vendor.

For the per-user side by plant size, see what managed IT costs a manufacturing business in Ontario. When ERP support is delivered as part of an ACT360 Managed IT agreement, that agreement includes a 90-day exit clause. If the ERP server is also your biggest security worry, cybersecurity for manufacturing in Ontario covers how to protect it.