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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 59959 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 27627 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 24502 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 68170 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 24882 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 33250 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 61910 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 33603 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

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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