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

Crossroads Connections

Infor ERP Tips & News from the Experts

Infor LX | Infor LN | BPCS | Baan | Infor M3

Baan/LN Tip of the Week: Company Calendar

Kathy Barthelt 0 74791 Article rating: No rating

Baan uses the company calendar in the following modules to determine the start and end dates for planned orders:

  • Master Production Scheduling
  • Material Requirements Planning
  • Capacity Requirements Planning (All three combined in a single planning module for Baan V and LN)
  • Shop Floor Control

The calendar provides the valid working days, number of shifts per day and the number of hours in a day.

Baan allows for a single calendar for the whole company or for a calendar for each work center.

BPCS/LX Tip of the Week: SFC600 & SFC650

Anthony Etzel 0 87044 Article rating: No rating

These programs are used to capture and post shop floor information. Labor reporting, machine time, etc. can be captured by either program. The key difference is that one will also capture the production receipt and backflush components. Based on your company information / transaction process, one of these programs will most likely be used daily to capture current shop floor data. You can use the shop packet labor ticket for the manual recording, and the keying of the data. Alternatively, you can incorporate an automated method like an MES solution to capture the data and streamline the process.

Crossroads RMC to Exhibit at Manufacturing Matchmaking 2014

Crossroads RMC 0 45146 Article rating: No rating
Crossroads RMC will exhibit at the inaugural Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center (IMEC) Manufacturing Matchmaking Event 2014 on September 23, 2014. Manufacturers from across the state of Illinois will come together at this event to discuss ways to improve the productivity and competitiveness of Illinois' small and mid-sized manufacturing firms.

BPCS/LX Tip of the Week: What is the bubble number and how do I maintain it?

Anthony Etzel 0 79142 Article rating: No rating

The bubble number is maintained at the component level for each component defined on the Bill of Material. It is an extra user-defined reference number that you can use to re-sequence the maintenance screen display or bills of material listings.

In Infor LX, the system displays the bubble number for the existing child items. Engineering drawings often use a bubble number at the component level on the drawing so that same bubble number can be used on the Bill of Material for a link of the component to the drawing. Alternatively, you may use it simply as a method to sequence the BOM.

Be careful of how you assign the number. It is a good idea to assign the number with a consecutive count by 10 leaving room to allow for component additions to the Bill of Material.

Baan/LN Tip of the Week: Setting Up New Employees in LN

Kathy Barthelt 0 75763 Article rating: No rating

In LN, the People package is used to register the employee’s hours and expenses. To support the People package, the Employees - General (tccom0101m000) session only contains the general employee data.

The title of the Employees - General (tccom0101m000) session was changed to Employees – General (tccom0101m000).

From the Employees - General (tccom0101m000) session, users can start the following sessions to define the more specific employee data:

  • Employees - People (bpmdm0101m000).
  • Employees - Project (tppdm8101m000).
  • Employees - Service (tsmdm1140m000).
  • Skills by Employee (tcppl0120m000).
  • Employees by Team (tcppl0150m000).
  • Roles by Employee (tcppl0170m000).

After users define the employees, users can also start the listed sessions from the Employees Dashboard (bpmdm0101m100) session in People.

Baan/LN Tip of the Week: Month End - Miscellaneous To-Do's

Kathy Barthelt 0 72139 Article rating: No rating
  • Print Sales Order History Information
    • all invoices processed through sales
  • Check Inventory Valuation
    • this should tie out to your inventory accounts
  • Print Integration Information
    • see all postings from WIP to finished goods
  • Print G/L Transaction Information
    • print specific transaction types for any GL account
  • Print Lot Control Information
    • will show where serial numbers were used

BPCS/LX Tip of the Week: Why Define Location Fields in the Work Center File

Anthony Etzel 0 74193 Article rating: No rating

If you setup the “From” and “To” Location fields in the Work Center file, this will determine the locations for material issue transactions and production reporting transactions.

The reporting of the transactions happen through production reporting, JIT600, or using the Shop Floor labor posting, SFC600, or Shop Floor Posting from SFC650.

Remember, any location used in the work center file must first be set up in the location master file. Using an MES solution by-passes the need to key any of the data to Infor LX.

If ERP is plumbing for the Enterprise; How do we unplug it and keep it from making a huge mess?

David Dickson 0 55741 Article rating: 5.0

I have been working with ERP in various roles for over 30 years, directly involved in over a hundred implementations, while my company has been involved with over 300 more. Of course, in many ways the systems we use today are completely different from what we used in the ‘80s – back then it was green screens, simple transaction entry forms, and cumbersome updates (at best) to link what one department did with all the other areas that needed access to that information. Then there were those planning programs that took all the information along with various parameters the users needed to set and told us what to do.

The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

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Tips:  LX | BPCS | M3

Improves control over PO costing changes during invoice entry by replacing passive warnings with an intentional override action.

  • In ACP500D3 (Invoice Entry PO Costing), users previously could unintentionally accept changes by pressing ENTER, even when quantity to cost or amount to cost values had changed.

  • A new “F14 to Override” warning message replaces the old message:
    “Details have changed. Press enter again to accept data.”
    This ensures users acknowledge and confirm significant changes explicitly.

New System Parameter:

  • “Apply GRN Costing Tolerance for PO Costing” (optional):

    • Within tolerance: Displays the original message —
      “Details have changed. Press enter again to accept data.”

    • Outside tolerance: Triggers the new override requirement —
      “F14 to Override”

Benefits:

  • Enhances oversight and reduces unintentional cost acceptance.

  • Enables better control of PO costs when invoice details differ from expectations.

Last

Tips: LN | Baan

An ERP System Review is NOT a Report Card

It's a no-judgment-review - we promise!

report card C minusWe 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 on our job. Nervousness…sometimes dread…knowing that our performance 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. I asked them to consider the purpose of the ERP system review.

An ERP Utilization Review will:

  • Document how your company is using your ERP system (or a particular aspect of the system) and to what extent the system meets the needs of the business.
  • Identify challenges encountered using the software.
  • Create opportunities for improving business processes and generating additional value.
  • Identify potential risks and areas that need improvement.


key hole to the futureSo, if the result of ERP system review is to establish a path forward for growth based on current status, then why doesn’t every company take advantage of it? I think for some, the answer lies in the feelings of nervousness and dread still stuck in the recesses of our brains.

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. 

As they say, hindsight is 20/20. What we view now to be a less than ideal implementation methodology may have been absolutely appropriate at the time the software was originally deployed. The software has likely matured and the skillsets of the individuals responsible for the system have likely matured as well. In some cases, those resources are no longer with the company, leaving those that remain with no back story as to how and why implementation decisions were made.

Instead of viewing the ERP utilization review as a reason to find fault in previous decisions, think of it as discovering untapped potential – both of the ERP system and the people who use it. Viewing an ERP utilization review in this way puts a positive spin on it and allows us to challenge ourselves to identify opportunities for growth far greater than anything we imagined before. This means not only moving our businesses forward faster but also advancing the strength of the company as individuals and as a team.

What untapped potential lies within your company?

Consider a utilization review of your entire ERP system, or just a part of it like Finance, Technology, Materials Management, Order Processing, or Shop Floor Control. You just might be surprised at what greatness can be achieved… far greater than anyone could have imagined.  

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Kathy Barthelt

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