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Crossroads RMC launches NextTrack Insights at inPOWER 2025!

Beta testing underway—general availability by year-end.

Nick Olson 0 1425 Article rating: 5.0

Big News from inPOWER 2025!

At this year’s event in Wisconsin, Crossroads RMC unveiled NextTrack Insights, our most advanced analytics solution yet. This release marks a major step forward for manufacturers looking to unlock deeper insights from their ERP systems.

The highlight? AI-powered natural language querying. Instead of digging through static reports or dashboards, you can now ask plain-English questions like “Which machines are down?” or “Are we on track to meet production targets for this shift?” and get immediate, actionable answers.

👉 Beta testing is underway, with general availability by year-end.

Learn more...

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Infor LN & Baan Tips & Tricks for OPERATIONS: Pegging Material Supply Lines for Operation and Product Subcontracting

Kathy Barthelt 0 2013 Article rating: 5.0

For project pegged production orders, operations can be subcontracted. The material delivered to the subcontractor can be project pegged or anonymous. The subassemblies sent and retrieved are always project pegged. Costing breaks can be applied to direct the costs of the subcontracted operation to a specific project cost account. If (production material) costing breaks are used, a purchase order line's peg can differ from the peg on the material supply line.

For product subcontracting, the subcontracted purchase orders can include materials that inherit the project pegs or can include anonymous materials. The pegged materials are stored in inventory and are shipped to the subcontractor with project pegged orders.

In case of a project pegged order, a peg distribution is linked to the Purchase Order Material Supply Line in the...

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Infor LN & Baan Tips & Tricks for FINANCE: Currency Differences

Kathy Barthelt 0 1714 Article rating: 5.0

When currency differences are posted, several parameters affect the way the entries in the General Ledger are created. This section explains the possible parameter settings:

  1. Ledger accounts by currency

  2. Writing off currency profits

  3. Fixed exchange rate

  4. Writing off currency differences for anticipated payments


1. Ledger accounts by currency
This parameter is recorded in the Finance Company Parameters (tfgld0503m000) session...

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VJES (Visual Job Execution Software) for Infor LN & Baan

Kathy Barthelt 0 13727 Article rating: 5.0

In a recent study on employee training and trends in manufacturing, the following results were obtained:

  1. Improved Learning Retention: People retain about 80% of what they see and do, compared to only 20% of what they read. This makes VWIs, which combine visuals and hands-on action, significantly more effective for training.
  2. Reduced Errors: VWIs help minimize mistakes by providing clear, step-by-step guidance. Companies that have switched from traditional text-heavy instructions to visual formats report a notable decrease in errors, leading to better quality assurance. 
  3. Faster Onboarding: New employees can reach full productivity much quicker with VWIs. Some organizations have cut training time by nearly 50%, allowing workers to learn at their own pace with minimal supervision.

​Every manufacturer relies on a few core metrics to manage operations: efficiency, productivity, capacity, and labor and equipment utilization. These benchmarks are used worldwide to assess performance and process effectiveness.

What if you could...

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Unlock Value from Your IBM i & Infor ERP System with 3 Must-Attend inPOWER Sessions

September 22 - 25, 2025

George Moroses 0 1619 Article rating: 5.0

inPOWER 2025 Must-Attend Sessions
Crossroads RMC is pleased to offer 3 powerful sessions at inPOWER 2025, designed to help you unlock value from your IBM i and Infor ERP system.


1. JUMP START FOR WEBTOP DECORATORS FOR INFOR LX
SESSION 1—Lapham 4
Tues 3:15pm-4:00pm 
Presented by Nick Olson, Crossroads RMC

Infor LX users know the value of WebTop for simplifying navigation and extending capabilities. In this session, we’ll show you how to take things further with WebTop Decorators' powerful tools that allow you to customize and streamline your Infor LX experience.

2. UNDERSTANDING THE INFOR LX TECH STACK TO MOVE AWAY FROM GREEN SCREEN
SESSION 2—Hearthside
Tues 3:15pm-4:00pm
Presented by Tim Baker, Crossroads RMC Leena Patel, Infor
Ajay Thanniru, Infor

For many organizations, moving away from the traditional green screen interface is a key step toward modernization. In this joint session with Infor, we’ll break down the Infor LX technology stack and explain how it can be leveraged to transition to modern, user-friendly interfaces.

3. CHAT WITH YOUR IBM i DATA
>This session applies to all attendees, not just BPCS/LX
SESSION 3—Lapham 4
Tues 4:15pm-5:00pm
Presented by Nick Olson, Crossroads RMC

Imagine being able to ask questions directly to your IBM i data and get answers in real time. In this session, we’ll demonstrate how AI-driven tools can connect with your IBM i, making data analysis faster, more intuitive, and more accessible than ever before.

Stop by the Crossroads RMC Booth!

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Tips:  LX | BPCS | M3

Tips: LN | Baan

Kathy Barthelt
/ Categories: Infor LN & Baan Tips, Technology

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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Kathy Barthelt

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