Infor LX Tips, Infor LN Tips, BPCS Tips, Baan Tips, Infor M3 Tips & Infor ERP News, Crossroads Connection

We all remember our school days and the nervousness that we felt when it came time to get our grades. Even if we were doing well, we were still nervous. Sometimes we experienced that same nervousness when it came time for a performance review in our job. Nervousness…sometimes dread…knowing that our performance maybe was not what we wanted it to be, or others expected it to be. 

Somehow I think the feelings that we felt in our past often find ways to creep into our present. I have seen this recently when I suggested an ERP system review to one of our customers. They immediately became flustered and thought about every possible problem that they knew existed within the software and how they were currently using it.

An ERP system review or more specifically a Utilization Review is NOT a personal report card, or performance review showing how well a particular individual does his/hers/their job, nor is it an attack on the team that implemented the software. 

An ERP Utilization Review will:

Companies are collecting oceans of data, and struggle with transforming it into usable information. Most businesses focus on two methods of sharing data - the report and the dashboard. While these two terms mean many things to many people, it is important to understand what these terms mean and how the report and dashboard have similar features but they are not the same thing.  

What is a Report?

A report is meant to be used to gather detailed intelligence on the operations within an organization, thus a report can be either very broadly covering a wide scope of related information, or narrowly focusing on details of a single item, purpose, or event. All of this information, while presented in a report, is meant to be a snapshot in time.

Quite often, a report is built within the ERP system itself and often is constrained by the graphical and user limitations within the ERP. More often than not, large amounts of data are exported to Excel where added features allow for better manipulation of the data to a format that is digestible by users. Regardless, the data is only valid for that moment and time.

What is a Dashboard?

A dashboard is a graphical interface that provides at-a-glance views revolving around answering a central question. For example, an executive may ask you for up-to-the-minute details on "how the business is doing?". The answer to that question is as complex as the organizational structure of the company, but it is probably very simply measured with approximately 10 metrics. Those 10 metrics can likely be analyzed in chart form, and can and should be combined into one chart when the numbers are relatable or are on a similar scale. All these things should be considered when building a dashboard.

Dashboards, similar to the one in your vehicle, display critical data. Imagine driving down the road and having to push a bunch of buttons to find out how much fuel you have left, or having to pull over and pop the hood to check the oil pressure. It would be dangerous and a waste of your precious time. Your car's control panel or dashboard displays the most crucial information in an easy-to-use, graphical way.

How do Dashboards and Reports differ?

It's hard to efficiently manage your ERP system and support the users who rely on it every day when you are spending all your time running your manufacturing business. We get it and want you to know you are not alone. 

Are you able to answer any of these questions?

1. How much available disk space is there on my ERP system box?
2. What happens when users encounter an error in the ERP system?
3. How are new employees being brought up to speed on ERP functionality?
4. What needs to be done to ensure optimal performance of our ERP system?

If you don’t know all the answers that's because it's not easy to be the ERP guru of a company AND successfully stay on top of everything that is necessary to keep your business systems running efficiently and effectively. So, this begs the question…why do it? ....

Don’t laugh! I know, I know…many of our customers say that after 7-10 years they are finally settling in after the implementation! We have seen many a customer stretch out the lifespan of their ERP system to 20+ years. That sounds great for the company’s bank account, but is it good for the business?

An outdated ERP system hurts your business in many ways, not just with slow performance. The best-of-breed functionality is now 2 decades old, and obsolete technology can't leverage newer technology. Lack of integration leads to siloed data that hurts communication and your internal teams feel the pain, and your customers are noticing. Poor visibility into your operations makes it nearly impossible to achieve industry-based regulatory compliance and meet financial auditing requirements. Not to mention the sheer size of Big Data that is being collected today vs. 2 decades ago or the fact that your vendor is no longer supporting your ERP version.

Let’s scrap it all and start over!...

1. Crossroads RMC has been in business since 1984 & has been an  partner since 1991. 
    
2. Crossroads RMC offers functional & technical training on all versions of Infor LX, BPCS, Infor LN, and Baan and will completely tailor the training to your specific needs. 
    
3. Many of our consultants are 🎵 musically inclined, so you might have the added benefit of some entertainment while your ERP problems are being solved!
    
4. Our consultants have expert level functional & technical knowledge of every version of Infor LN & Baan from Triton 2.X through LN 10.7., and Infor LX & BPCS from BPCS 3.0 to LX 8.4!  💡
    
5. Crossroads RMC is a value-added reseller of data collection equipment (mobile computers, printers, RFID equipment, and more).
    
6. Our headquarters are just outside of Chicago, but for some silly reason, our East Coast staff thinks they have the best pizza.🍕
    
7. Our integration specialists have developed close to 50 different integrations to Infor LN, Baan, Infor LX & BPCS.
    
8. Crossroads RMC offers 24 X 7 support to all of our customers. 💪
    
9. Our technical consultants have developed many Infor ERP software add-on solutions like MES, Data Collection, an Analytics Dashboard, FedEx / UPS integration, and more that are used by thousands of Infor users every day.
    
10. We’ve been publishing Infor LN, Infor LX, BPCS, and Baan tips & tricks since February 2010, and most are still available on our website, with new ones being added every other week!