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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 Tip: Save Space in General Ledger

Kathy Barthelt 0 59900 Article rating: 5.0

One way to save space in your general ledger is to compress integration transactions. The transactions are combined into one ledger account number, and the detail is still available in the integration transactions sessions.

The compression is seen after the transactions are finalized. 

Compression is established in the mapping scheme by checking the box under the columns “Compression of Debit/Credit Transactions. This can only be done in a mapping scheme that is not activated. 

Infor LX & BPCS Tips: Purchase Order Print Security Validation

George Moroses 0 27601 Article rating: 5.0

This enhancement allows users to restrict access to purchase order print programs, providing additional security at the company and warehouse levels.

The purchase order print programs were updated to provide security validation for the user who selects the purchase orders to print. The security validation is controlled by the PO Print Security Validation flag on the Purchasing System Parameters screen, PUR820D-04.

Infor LX & BPCS Tip: Customer Tax Exempt Declarations, SYS160D1

George Moroses 0 24471 Article rating: 5.0

The Customer Tax Exemption Maintenance program, SYS160, allows you to specify customer declarations used by the Customer Order Entry (ORD) and Billing (BIL) applications to apply a tax rate code to specific order lines of an invoice.

With this program, Infor LX can invoice customers without value-added tax (VAT) if one of the following conditions occurs:

  • The cumulated...

Infor LN & Baan Tip: Important Porting Set Announcement (all versions of LN & Baan)

Kathy Barthelt 0 68153 Article rating: 5.0

There has been a recent porting set change due to Infor’s Product Life Cycle Policy.  

How to determine the maintenance stage of an Infor LN product version and release

Before a customer starts deploying Porting Set 9.4a or a later release, they must determine the actual maintenance stage of their Baan / Infor LN product. The definition of the maintenance stages for the product versions and releases of all versions of Baan and Infor LN are outlined in the Product Support schedule as published in the PLC policy. The maintenance stage of the ERP version is either “Mainstream Maintenance”, “Extended Maintenance” or “Sustaining Maintenance”.

How to manage Porting Set updates

The following conditions apply to customers who intend to upgrade to Porting Set 9.4a or later Porting Set releases:

Are You Running Your IT Department, or is IT Running You?

Crossroads RMC 0 24819 Article rating: 5.0

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 - the average lifespan of an ERP system is 7-10 years

Crossroads RMC 0 33220 Article rating: 5.0

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!...

Infor LN & Baan Tip: Purchase Order Text

Kathy Barthelt 0 61812 Article rating: 5.0

Is the text linked to the purchase order just an information field? Could it be used for another purpose?

The text editor is just an information field when linked to the purchase order line and there is no other logic behind this functionality. The line text or the header text could be a part of the printed document. When you add text to a purchase order line you are creating a unique code that links the purchase order line (Baan - tdpur041/ LN - tdpur401) to the text (tttxt010).

Infor LX & BPCS Tip: Vendor Terms Maintenance, ACP160D1

George Moroses 0 33586 Article rating: 5.0

This program allows maintenance of vendor terms, which you individually assign to each vendor. Vendor terms designate the due date and the discount date as a number of days after the invoice date. You establish the discount percentage here. Vendor terms are stored in the AVT file. Rather than use the method specified above, you can override due dates and discount dates so those calendar days are used to age invoices.

Access: Menu ACP02

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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

Is Your Infor ERP System the Elephant in the Room?

The Infor ERP Elephant in the Room That Must Be Addressed

In a recent survey of Infor ERP customers, we discovered that 50% of respondents said that they did not know whether or not their ERP system had the features and functionality required for their business.  50%....1 out of every 2……not good.

Why is this the case? Well, the causes can be traced back to one of the following reasons:

  • A key-person has retired or left the company and their knowledge left with them.
  • Systems were implemented based on how the previous system worked.
  • Upgrades and implementations were viewed as a “technical upgrade”, meaning that the upgrade was done to get off an old or outdated platform. All the new features and functionality weren't researched so they are unknown and no one could be trained on them.


You may say “So what? Who cares if our team doesn’t know what else is available, or how the rest of the ERP system functions? Does it really matter?” It matters more than you think.

If you rely on an Infor ERP system to get your job done, you need to not only know what sessions to run, what fields are required, and what reports provide results, you also need to understand how the transactions impact the rest of the system. Without that understanding, you are inadvertently creating a departmental silo which can have a negative impact on the performance of the ERP for the rest of the company. 

Not knowing the functionality of the ERP results in limited use of the system as a whole. In my 25 years working with ERP systems, I have seen many cases where a company becomes frustrated with the limitations of the system only to discover that they were only utilizing 10-20% of the ERP system's capabilities. The system didn’t impose the limitation…it was the use of the system, or shall I say the lack of it, that was the culprit.

To be competitive in today’s economy, an ERP system should be able to move in lockstep with a business as its needs change. In order for this to happen, the entire company needs to be willing to change too. Part of this change involves taking advantage of the best practices that are built into the Infor ERP system. If you're not sure how to do that - you are not alone! Fully understanding your Infor ERP requires a team of capable users in each key department of your organization to marry the capabilities of the ERP system with your business objectives. Sounds complicated? Well, it doesn't stop there. Your team of capable users needs to communicate between the key departments to make sure one department's procedures don't handicap any other department. Once this level of understanding and communication is established, decisions can be made to take advantage of the most effective way to minimize costs, increase efficiency, improve quality and deliver the highest level of customer service possible…everything you invested in the Infor ERP system for in the first place, is now unleashed.

Not sure where to start? Crossroads RMC's consultants have this exact expertise and the skills to get you through tough times. Our expertise comes from years of experience, and best practices to evaluate your business processes and identify areas where improvement is needed. Whether you need to increase the return on your ERP investment or have no idea what to do next, our comprehensive ROI business case, cost estimates, benefits, and a plan of action will supply you with the information you need to add value to your business.

Request a free phone consultation>  or contact us to learn how to get started> solutions@crossroadsrmc.com  |  800.762.2077

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