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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 LN & Baan Finance Tip: MPS Planned vs. MRP Planned

Kathy Barthelt 0 59760 Article rating: 5.0

What items should be MPS planned, and what items should be MRP planned…

Master Scheduled Items are those items that are finished goods, or service items, that receive their requirements either specifically from Independent demand, or both Dependent and Independent demand.

  • Independent Demand is...

Crossroads RMC Welcomes Robert Brown!

Crossroads RMC 0 17942 Article rating: 5.0

Crossroads RMC Welcomes Robert Brown, as a Sr. Business Consultant!
Bob brings 30+ years of shop floor and project management skills to Crossroad RMC. He is a self-starter that has progressively mastered the Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Finance modules within Infor LX. Bob will get started with EDI/ECM set up for new trading partners and within the Supply Chain ranks. Bob is a great addition to the Crossroads RMC team, and we look forward to his leadership expertise on implementations and upgrades in the near future.

You can benefit from a business process review only if...

Infor LX | BPCS | Infor LN | Baan

Crossroads RMC 0 20874 Article rating: 5.0

Did you implement your ERP system 5 years ago… or maybe 20 years ago? At the time, it was like a brand new car… sleek, fast, top-of-the-line, and fuel-efficient. And although it may have needed a few minor “adjustments”, overall you were very pleased. Fast forward to today. Does it still have that new car smell? Does it run as efficiently as it used to? Do you know how to fix a problem when it occurs?

While ERP systems are certainly designed to last, over time, your business changes, your customers’ needs change, employees change and you are left with a system that may run “fine”, but you certainly don’t feel the same way about it as you did when it was brand new.

So the good news is that you CAN restore that “new car smell” with a utilization review, or business process review.

What is a Utilization or Business Process Review and Why Do I Need One?
Simply put, a business process review is an...

Dashboards vs. Reports – What do they offer and which do I need?

Crossroads RMC 0 26700 Article rating: 5.0

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?

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

Live Webinar for all Users - Wednesday, April 20 2022

Crossroads RMC 0 18560 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 27850 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 58589 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...

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Tips:  LX | BPCS | M3

Tips: LN | Baan

Kathy Barthelt

Infor LN & Baan Tips & Tricks for OPERATIONS: Absorbing Cost Items into Projects

Operations: To absorb the cost of cost items into specific projects, you'll need to handle them as customized items. However, cost items cannot directly be defined as customized items. Customized items must be physical, either manufactured or purchased.

That said, it's still possible to absorb cost items into a project, although indirectly. Here's how:

  1. Set Up Ledger Account: First, create a new ledger account in session tfgld0508m000 and set the type to "PCS" (project) in the operations management integrations. This account will be used for matching and approving purchase orders for cost items.

  2. Create and Activate Projects: Ensure that the necessary projects are created and set to active status.

  3. Purchasing Cost Items:

    • If needed, create the cost items.
    • Create a purchase order for the cost items without referencing a project number.
  4. Matching PO to Costs:

    • When matching the purchase orders in session tfacp2107m000, select "Add Costs" from the specific menu on the toolbar (you'll need to be in the matching details to access this).
    • This will open session tfacp1133s000, where you will enter the previously specified ledger account number.
    • Once done, the "PCS Transactions" option on the toolbar becomes available. Selecting this brings up session tipcs3140m000 (General Actual Project Costs).
       
  5. Disbursing Costs to Projects: In session tipcs3140m000, the PO costs for the cost items can be disbursed to any open and active project.

Since these are cost items, they won't go into stock. The key is ensuring that the cost disbursement ("Add Costs") is correctly linked to the appropriate project, giving users visibility of the cost items as general project costs.
 

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Kathy Barthelt

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