Denali Business Reviews

Overall: I am 66 years old, and do not possess all the technical skills of todays youth. Having said that, I learned Cougar Mt Software 25+ years ago. (when DOS based was the norm)! Cougar Mt Pro was easy to learn and work with. The Program writers did a great job with the transitioning into Denali. The Software is easy to access, understand and maneuver though..The Modules were well thought out and set up. It gives me what I need for our Accountant and more so. I'm an extremely cautious person that doesn't go outside the box of what is comfortable for me. For that reason, I "always" purchase and rely on the Support Contract package offered. Its worth every penny! From the girls that take your Support Request, to the Installers of new Updates, the specialist dealing with customized report needs and I can not forget or say enough good about the Technical personnel! With 25 years of working with Cougar Mt., I can honestly say the Customer Service Representatives are outstanding! Everyone is courteous, knowledgeable and focused. In the fast pace world we are in and everyone needing help "now", the turn around time from call to help is minimal. Everyone at Cougar Mt is so dedicated to helping you solve your issue! I am ever so grateful for their support team!

Overall: Anything that is wrong with the software, they make you feel it's your fault, or they designed it that way. Customer service feels like it's run by a your worst nightmare of a Cable Company.

Pros: History. I love history for my customer's past purchase. Multi Level Pricing for inventory. 2 Must haves for my business.

Cons: Software is more suited for a simple Cash drawer. Forget a mixed environment, card swipe and online terminals for Credit card processing. Even Cougar Mountain does not use integrated Card Processing themselves. Credit Cards processed though Sales do not show in Bank Reconciliation, yet Card Payments in AR do show in Bank Reconciliation. Ask why, Because you might not make the deposit from the Sale. Just a example of odd answers from Management. Many things just don't work the way they should. Warnings that an invoice is not printed before posting also include any on hold order not printed. Ship To address files have crossed variables. A Ship To Company Name is NOT used anywhere but in the UI for entering. Contact name becomes the Ship to Company name. This was "designed" this way. eDelivery for Invoices/Statements still limited to 75 pages per run after software has been around for a year. Their solution, just select less than 75. eDelivery Software then tosses out system level errors. Solution, Reboot your computer as Windows 10 Pro is at fault. Even a computer from Cougar, setup just for their software.

Pros: It can be tailored to fit nearly any need. With CMS I can get the Custom Modifications I need for some of my special needs. Right out of the box it has so many customizable options you can not imagine what all it can do. If you can not fid a way, just call CMS. They can and will find a way to fit everything you need.

Cons: It is not a pop-the-top and pour software. It can be a little complex for the beginner. But with time and use you can usually make it perform however you need.

Recommendations to other buyers: Look at the price versus power. It is a super value when you see all that it can do. Plus it is not just for mom and pop. It can run a fairly complex company with ease.

Pros: From an audit standpoint, batch processing, locked transactions and audit trail, easy G/L, full module integration. From an ease of use, straight forward accounting product.

Cons: From an ease of use, graphics and click area make for some clunky functionality. Payroll reporting should provide more detail to make sure quarterly reports can be completed in case Aatrix is unavailable.

Recommendations to other buyers: CMS will do more than enough accounting processing for the typical organization while costing 25% of some other software. However, you would need to establish how important it is for you to drill down to transactions on the fly versus the batch processing style.

Pros: It is a very stable platform and the service we get from computer team is first class

Cons: they use a genuis credit card capturing device and we feel that the device should capture the signature of our customers that have an open account. we have to have the customer sign twice or copy the A/R invoice!

Recommendations to other buyers: Try it out and use computer team for service Cougar Mountain offers service but its, second rate to Dave at computer team and alot more expensive.

Pros: The only good thing I can say about it is the searches and reports using crystal reports versus report writer is lightning fast.

Cons: Our company purchased our first Cougar software in the early 90's, and have updated to every new version along the way. In July 2015 we bought the Denali version, and it has been terrible. Don't touch it with a ten foot pole. Hardly a day goes by that we don't find new errors in the software. Spent a lot of dollars to get everything converted and our rep, while trying to be helpful, gets the run around from support. When I talk to support they tell me our support dollars have been used and they can't report the problem to fix, even though it's obviously a program error. We can't generate purchase orders, because the system ignores items on back order. We can't do a general ledger month to month comparison. I pointed out this problem in July and they said it may be fixed by year end. Many of our month end statements have to be changed because of wrong amounts, and the payroll has bugs. I feel that we are a Beta test sight and paying them to learn of all the errors.

Recommendations to other buyers: Stay away from Denali. They have poor customer service for an even worse product. Issues regularly and no resolve.

Pros: The Support Staff is outstanding. Every time I have needed them they have solved the problem or answered my question successfully.

Cons: Some of the reports need improvement. The payroll reports should be keyed more to the information needed for quarterly reporting. They need to allow for more than one accounting year to be open at at time.

Recommendations to other buyers: It's the best available in this price range. Every other software we have reviewed has not measured up.

Overall: Cougar Mountain has excellent customer service and support. They are incredibly responsive and always ready to help and answer any questions. They follow up with you to ensure you are satisfied and don't have any questions. They go above and beyond to ensure customer satisfaction. Their software is also incredibly straightforward and easy to use. I work for a non-profit so I purchase Denali with GL, Payroll, AP, Bank Rec and Donor Express management. The different modules correlate incredibly well together allowing the accounting to be super efficient. It was easy to learn and just makes sense. My sales representative went above and beyond to ensure I had everything I needed and was progressing with my installations and training appointments. He checked in with me regularly and truly cared that this software was meeting my needs. The installation techs were very friendly and ensured the software was up and running quickly. My trainer was incredibly helpful and walked me through how to use the program and different modules. He was thorough, responsive and very friendly. I highly recommend Cougar Mountain!

Overall: The integration of all of the packages and the easy customization to your needs. I like that you can get as much detail or as little detail as you require on your reports. The financial statements, trial balances, and audit trails work to assist you in finding any posting errors. Security (audit trails), customization abilities, training videos, knowledgeable and timely answers to questions/problems. I like the integration of the modules (ie.e purchase order, to inventory, to accounts payable, to general ledger). This speeds up all data entry. We really like being able to archive reports rather than printing reams. Overall, this software is great!

Pros: I like the inventory control the best. I also like the fact that Cougar Mountain has regular updates and that they are always striving to improve their product.

Cons: I'd like to be able to better customize what and how a screen looks and acts.

Pros: I love that the product is so functional. There are so many ways to use the system to meet the very specific needs of our company. The customer service is beyond awesome. Not only are they extremely knowledgeable, they are eager to help learn the product and use it to its full capabilities for your application. I could not recommend them more highly!

Cons: There is literally nothing I don't LOVE about Denali and Cougar Mountain Software. They have exceeded my hopes and expectations in all ways.

Pros: Multi user and multi currency. the customer support is great. they do quickly respond to us. they have great remote desktop software to control your machine and quickly help with problems.

Cons: poor code requiring constant updates/fixes.., which most time is Full 3gb .iso install. since we are spread across the globe most of these I have to get very large iso across very slow, high latency, frequent dropped VSAT connections. frequent code generated end of year imbalances which requires yet another upgrade... hardcoded SA access for database queries.. published SA password so one code easily hack any competitors databases. until the last round of Installations very careful, undocumented tricks for installation.

Recommendations to other buyers: to use this software you need high speed internet for the frequent updates and code fixes... patience like Job and

Overall: I am very unhappy with Cougar Mtn. and the software...things do not balance and know one can tell us why. They have messed up our Customer notes and can not fix so now we really have a mess. When I ask a question, I am told they can not answer that and they don't know why the reports look the way they do??? One report won't even print out with the correct customer address and days have been spent trying to fix it and it wasn't fixed....customer order sheets have the incorrect address or no address

Pros: The system is user friendly and pretty easy to navigate. I like that I can add modules at anytime. The customer service is fantastic!

Cons: I would like to be able to customize my own reports. But it may be that I'm not familiar enough yet with the reporting to realize there is a report out there that is what I'm looking for. I'm still new finding my way around.

Pros: I like the inventory control the best. I also like the fact that Cougar Mountain has regular updates and that they are always striving to improve their product.

Cons: I'd like to be able to better customize what and how a screen looks and acts. As far as the vendor, the thing I like the least about them is sometimes it's hard to get through to support.

Recommendations to other buyers: If you're thinking of switching to Denali, make sure you get as many live demonstrations as you think you need to make sure the software can do what you need it to do. It's very customizable in a lot of ways though, so usually you can make it do what you need it to do.

Overall: I know that we have an outdated version of your software, but find it to be not user friendly and when you call for help, you are initially put on hold for as much as 45 minutes and then it takes the whole day to get a call back. When I need help, I need it at the time... No need to contact us, we are changing software and are about to go live.

Pros: It seems as though it could be a valuable software. Was probably a large step up from the DOS days.

Cons: You can't go back an look at transactions. They have an internal coding that you must first learn to get anywhere around the software.

Recommendations to other buyers: Don't believe everything you hear. I would seriously doubt there staff has an accounting background.

Pros: The product seems to be well-thought-out. The vendor has been great in providing support and training

Cons: My sales representative quit soon after we purchased the product. However, his replacement was helpful and we got through it well.

Recommendations to other buyers: Keep in mind that the software scales well. What I mean is that there is a lot of information that you put into it when using it that you can pull out for other purposes. It seems to be reasonably priced, has great support and serves many purposes.

Overall: Pro's - Easy data entry, batch processing, data integrity. Con's - Not easily customizable (lots of extra data fields to enter thru in data entry), sub-ledgers have to be balanced to control accounts manually (a/p and a/r ledgers versus balances in General ledger) - doesn't not flag when they are out of balance. Financial reports are very basic. No cash-flow reports. Overall, I am very pleased with this accounting package.

Pros: I like the integration of the modules (ie.e purchase order, to inventory, to accounts payable, to general ledger). This speeds up all data entry. We really like being able to archive reports rather than printing reams.

Cons: I would like for the updates to be easier to install.

Recommendations to other buyers: Work with your rep to understand the system. Use the demo version.

Overall: Only downfall I have found is I can not search by any word in the description. Example: 3/4" carbide drill bit - you have to put 3/4" in before it pulls up, you can not search carbide and it show up. Would prefer any word in the description allow the item to show up (If that makes any sense) :) Other than that, great customer service and its an easy to use program.

Overall: We only use Cougar Mountain to post information from our hand written invoices. We post invoice #, total due and customer po# only. This gives us an ability to mail a statement with payments posted against it. It does give us a report to use for Sales Tax. We do not have inventory or A/P on this system.