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

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Infor ERP Tips & News from the Experts

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

Infor Customer Meeting: LX, XA, and System21 All-Hands Call

Live Webinar for all Users - Wednesday, April 20 2022

Crossroads RMC 0 18261 Article rating: 5.0

Infor Customer Meeting: 
Live Webinar for all Users

Wednesday, April 20
11:30am - 12:00pm EST

Please join Infor leadership, who will discuss the exciting future strategy for our LX, XA, and System21 customers in the Americas. In this session, we will cover our stated direction, product future, and how this will positively impact your business.  Additionally, we will discuss the driving forces behind these changes and how our study group of customers has been reacting.  Whether you are a long-time customer or a relatively new customer of Infor’s, we welcome you to join this brief update of the future of your ERP solution and introduce you to the Infor team that will service and support your organization.

Our GM of the Americas, Bill Vellante, and VP of the Americas, Jay Allison will host this 30-minute session.

RSVP now

Join Event

Infor ERP Tip: Top 5 Ways Modern Analytics Reduces Spreadsheet Risk & Inefficiency

Infor LX | BPCS | Infor LN | Baan

Crossroads RMC 0 27248 Article rating: 5.0

Spreadsheets are often the tool of choice for many organizations to store and arrange information for financial planning, analytics, compliance, and more. Ironically, for many business processes that involve managing data, it creates the exact opposite effect––silos of information and inefficiency. And because it stores organizational data in a readily sharable way, there is a high risk of exposing confidential information.

Read this Infor best practice guide to discover the top five business processes that a modern data and analytics architecture can automate and deliver far more value than spreadsheet-driven techniques.

Infor Best Practice Guide: 5 Ways Modern Analytics Reduces Spreadsheet Risk and Inefficiency

Infor LN & Baan Tip: Cost Component Setup

Kathy Barthelt 0 57669 Article rating: 5.0

To break down an item’s standard cost, sales price, or valuation price, use cost components. With cost components, you can compare estimated and actual costs, calculate production variances, and analyze costs in Standard Cost Calculation.

If cost components are set up in a detailed way, detailed records...

Manual Processes Are Killing Your Productivity

Infor LX | BPCS | Infor LN | Baan

Crossroads RMC 0 20672 Article rating: 5.0

Nearly 70% of workers say that the biggest opportunity of automation lies in reducing time wasted on repetitive work.

Which repetitive tasks would workers most like to see automated? A recent study by McKinsey Global Institute found that there are three productivity killers that workers are eager to automate:

  1. Data Collection: Eliminate human error and manual data entry by automatically collecting, uploading, or syncing data into a system of record (55%).
  2. Approvals: Become more efficient by automating approvals, sign-offs, and confirmation requests (36%).
  3. Updates: Reduce wasted time by automatically requesting status updates and other information (32%).

Workers believe that automating these tasks will reduce wasted time (69%), eliminate human error (66%) and recover hours lost to manual, repetitive tasks that could be automated (59%).

Too expensive you say? Too big of an effort to make it happen?  Not necessarily...

Infor LX & BPCS Tip: Hold Status - Customer Orders

George Moroses 0 21994 Article rating: 5.0

How do I know which orders are on hold? – Pick Release / Pick Confirm

Orders that are on credit hold, customer hold, user hold, margin hold, credit card hold, or pricing hold cannot be selected for Pick Release or Pick Confirm. The ORD952B, Orders Not Selected Report, can be requested at Pick Release or Pick Confirm to list any order that would normally qualify for selection, but has been excluded for other reasons, and to print that reason. ORD952B has been modified to validate the hold status of the original customer order, instead of the intercompany automation warehouse order that is being processed, and to print a reference to the original customer order along with the reason.

Collaborate IN-PERSON With Infor LN Users

LN North America User Group - Face-to-Face 2022 (lnnaug.org)

Kathy Barthelt 0 24674 Article rating: 5.0

Exciting News - LN North America User Group Annual Meeting is Face-to-Face in 2022! (lnnaug.org)

Crossroads RMC is proud to sponsor the LN North American User Group Annual Meeting on April 19 & 20, 2022 in Columbus, Ohio.

Are you ready to collaborate IN PERSON with other Infor LN (ERP LN) customers? Would you like a chance to speak to Infor team members in Product Development, Product Management, and Software Development?

Then this FREE event is for you! 2 Full Days of learning sessions, customer stories, discussion groups, and networking. Join us!

To Register →

Infor LN & Baan Tip: Project Status Options

Kathy Barthelt 0 56320 Article rating: 5.0

Ever wonder what the implications are of choosing one project status versus another?

Here is the explanation of project status possible values:

Free
You can carry out project engineering. This means that you can:

  • Define the project master schedule (PMS) by using the Project Control module.
  • Maintain the project structure.
  • Maintain the customized product structure by using customized bills of material and routing sheets.
  • Carry out project estimating.

Simulated
You simulate the rough capacity requirements planning...

Infor LX & BPCS Tip: How Items Are Selected for a Cycle Count

George Moroses 0 24388 Article rating: 5.0

The Cycle Counting Sub-System Within Inventory Management

The system uses the following information as the basis for cycle counting selection:

  • Cycle Counts/Year: The system calculates the time between cycle counts based on your entry in this Item Master file field for each item (optional).
  • Last Cycle Count Date: This date is in the Location Inventory file, ILI, if you use locations, or in the Warehouse Inventory file, IWI, if you don't.

The system adds the time between cycle counts (calculated as described above) to this date. If the result is less than or equal to today's date, the item is selected for cycle counting. If it is greater than today's date, the item is not selected, it is not due yet for cycle counting.

There is another special condition that causes an item to be selected for cycle counting. If the ILI/IWI record of the item has a Y in the Cycle Flag field, the item is selected automatically. This flag indicates that the item's on-hand balance has gone to a negative value sometime since the last cycle count. That applies even if the value is not negative at selection time. The programs that can set this field are INV500D, INV510, and BIL540.

You can also limit the items selected for counting by specifying limits of the item numbers or warehouses to be searched.

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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.

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Tips: LN | Baan

Kathy Barthelt

Infor LN & Baan Tips & Tricks for TECHNOLOGY: Data Sharing Methods (Advantages and Disadvantages)

Depending on the multicompany scenario you choose, an implementation team must decide whether or not tables must be logically linked or if data must be synchronized in another way to achieve availability of data across various companies. 

There are 3 ways in which data may be shared among companies. Here are some advantages and disadvantages of each:

  1. Logical Table Linking - If two companies use the same physical data, the physical table exists, or is used, in only one company: the physical company. Each piece occurs only once: one instance of the same data. If the term logical table linking is used, users from multiple companies use a single physical instance of the data. If the company tables are on the same server, this can be accomplished by logical table linking. Access to specific data can be restricted, if required.

    • Advantages: Logical Table Linking takes place in real time; therefore, the moment a record is created or modified in one company, a record becomes available in all other linked companies as well. The setup and maintenance of logical table linking is easier than the setup and maintenance of data replication. Logical table linking is extremely reliable because this type of linking is independent of network connections and user interventions. 

    • Disadvantages: Table sharing implies that all attributes for a record are the same in all companies. Therefore, suppose you share the item table and, for a particular item in a company, the product class is XXX. In this case, in all other companies, the product class for this item must be XXX as well.

  2. Data Replication - In this situation, each company has exactly the same data, but each company has a unique copy of the data. The same piece of data exists in multiple (physical) places: multiple instances of the same data. The process to copy the data is called data replication.

    • Advantages: Rather than using table sharing by means of the logical linking of tables, you can replicate the content of tables between companies. The advantage is that, on company level, some (non-key) attributes of a record can differ by company. For example, if the bills of materials are replicated instead of shared, for each company, you can link a different warehouse to the bill of material. As a result, the bills of materials can be the same across all companies and only the warehouses differ. Using replication, you can also make only a subset of the records available in other companies. For example, if you replicate items between companies, in a sales company, for example, by means of the item group, you can only make end items available. In addition, you can replicate only a subset of items, for example, depending on the item group. Note that replication also requires that the referenced tables are replicated or shared.

    • Disadvantages: Replication is not in real time, and therefore, for processes that require real-time integrated data as the financial integration processes, replication is not an option. For replication, you also must take into account the sequence in which you replicate. First, you must replicate the child tables and then the parent tables, and therefore first the business partners and then the purchase contracts. During the replication process, the data must be frozen. This point is of particular importance if the replication process takes a lot of time.

  3. Manual Syncronization - If only a small number of records are the same between some companies, you can enter, maintain, and keep the records synchronized manually. Note that the more dynamic data is, the more difficult this process is. This solution is strictly procedural. Therefore, depending on the discipline of the users, the solution is error sensitive: data can be forgotten, updated too late, or typing errors may occur.

  • Advantages - The main advantage is the flexibility so that only the data that really must be shared can be kept synchronized. By manually keeping data synchronized, not all attributes of a record need to have the same value.

  • Disadvantages - The main disadvantage is that this method depends on user interaction. Therefore, the method depends on the user’s time - because the method is not a real time procedure and the user may forget to update the data - and users can make mistakes.

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