Please Wait a Moment
X

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

Crossroads Connections

Infor ERP Tips & News from the Experts

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

ION News: Crossroads RMC uses the ION process to deliver data to/from LX 8.3.5

George Moroses 0 30074 Article rating: 5.0

Crossroads RMC is currently working with a customer in the food and beverage industry to develop 18 inbound and outbound customized BOD messages using the ION process to deliver data to/from LX 8.3.5.

All of the messages will be using the standard OAGIS (Open Applications Group Integration Specification) BOD Message. The OAGIS is a widely accepted standard within the industry which specifies a standard way of passing data in and out of applications using an XML format. 

Some of the BOD Messages that we will be processing are:

  • Item Master
  • Purchase Order
  • Receipts
  • Accounts Payable Invoices
  • Vendor information
  • Notifications messages

This project kicks off in February 2020 with milestone deliveries throughout the year.

How Do I Determine If MES Is Right For My Business?

George Moroses 0 34605 Article rating: 5.0

There are certain key questions that must be answered to determine whether or not an MES system would benefit your organization: 

  • How do you analyze OEE?
  • Is there an opportunity to reduce WIP inventory, indirect labor, downtime, waste or scrap?
  • What is the cost and impact of producing and distributing shop paper including drawings and work instructions?
  • Would you like to go paperless on your shop floor?
  • How are your continuous improvement initiatives tied to your ERP?
  • Is Management requesting real time production status reporting via dashboards or drilldown reports?
  • What different “islands of automation” exist on your shop floor?

The answers to each of these questions could have a significant impact on the profitability of your business. Want to quantify your results? Contact George Moroses today to schedule your FREE MES ROI Analysis.

Consulting News: How comprehensive is the Crossroads RMC ERP business audit & how does it work?

George Moroses 0 41669 Article rating: 5.0

Our Infor LX Practice just finished a Supply Chain and Manufacturing audit for one of our customers. During that engagement, several areas of the business were identified that could benefit from additional training and consulting support. 

Areas of significance were:

  • Purchasing
  • Customer Service
  • Billing
  • Inventory
  • Costing
  • Bills of Materials and Routings
  • Material Requirements Planning
  • Shop Floor Control

Several manual procedures and “tribal knowledge” systems were discovered. The evaluation was done by two consultants who spent time with key users during two onsite visits. The next step in the process will involve working with the client to prioritize the list of items identified and develop a strategic plan focused on growth and efficiency.

Infor LX & BPCS Tip of the Week: Order processing enhancement – LX 8.4

George Moroses 0 50235 Article rating: 5.0

Restrict Over-shipments to Customers

  • System parameter option controls when over shipments are allowed

Options to:

  • Continue current process with warning message
  • Give error message
  • Automatically correct to quantity available for shipment
     
  • Option to revise the order quantity so that pricing, promotions, credit checking load planning and other processes reflect the actual quantity
  • Allows better control of exceptions for over shipments
  • Ensures that pricing, promotions are correctly based on actual order quantity

About 65% of the world’s population are visual learners. This extends into the ERP software realm, too.

Infor LN & Baan

Kathy Barthelt 0 66192 Article rating: 5.0

Graphical representation makes complex concepts—like the intricacies of an ERP system—more universal, relatable and easy to understand.

ERP dashboards gather and visualize critical metrics from across the organization, offering insight into the performance, outlook and interconnectivity of business processes.

By setting up ERP dashboards that illustrate key metrics and compellingly communicate operational performance, key stakeholders will have a clear picture of the health of the business—and make better, more informed business decisions as a result.

The Crossroads Analytics Dashboard has preconfigured views for all of the following:

 Infor LN & Baan
  • Accounts Payable
  • Accounts Receivable
  • Journal
  • Booked Sales
  • Invoiced Sales
  • Production
  • Receipts
  • Purchase Orders
  • Inventory

To learn more visit our Analytic Dashboard webpage.

Data Collection: Are you able to perform a full cycle count of your inventory in one day?

Kathy Barthelt 0 39338 Article rating: 5.0

Cycle Counting Benefits:

  • Overall increased inventory accuracy
  • Increased accuracy of count
  • Ability to review and approve count before direct update of Baan / Infor LN tables
  • Elimination of unnecessary re-orders of items with current inventory
  • Greater ability to satisfy customer orders due to greater visibility to accurate inventory levels
  • Direct labor cost savings – less staff required for count
  • Increased productivity during count

Some of our customers counts used to take weeks. They can now complete a count of their entire inventory in one day. One of our LN customers just told us that they recently wrapped up a cycle count using our software and said it was the first time ever that they completed a count without one complaint or mistake!

Contact us today to learn more - 800.762.2077

Integration News: Crossroads RMC has developed an integration from Baan IV to Modula OnePick for Grindmaster Corporation

Kathy Barthelt 0 33597 Article rating: 5.0

One Pick is a Modula Lift automatic vertical warehouse with a special picking bay equipped to provide expedited picking and a high level of pick accuracy. With this system, Grindmaster is able to save floor space, store items safely, automate inventory management, track items, save picking time and prevent picking errors. Go live for this solution is expected in Q1 2020.

First4950515254565758Last

Tips:  LX | BPCS | M3

Item Facility Master has a new attribute to define the override inspection days lead time CICP.ICINSD.

  • When an item facility has a defined override inspection days lead time, that value will be used instead of the system parameter inspection days lead time.

MRP exception report, MRP200B
Purchase planning report, PUR285B
Purchase order / Requisition maintenance, PUR500D3
Purchase order consolidation / release, PUR640B1
Vendor splits, PUR653B

This enhancement improved the subfile utilized in MRP320D Master Schedule Detail Inquiry -SCR001 by expanding the subfile with data rather than clearing the subfile as user pages. This change provides full support for the WebTop 4.8 Grid decorator.

This enhancement updated the approach used to populate the subfile to allow a deployed Webtop Grid to function correctly. There is no visible or user-impacted change to the way the program functions.

This enhancement provides improved functionality and full support of a Webtop grid applied to the subfile.

Last

Tips: LN | Baan

Check-Ups are important… Including Infor LN & Baan ERP Check-Ups!

What would you say to someone if they never went to a doctor for a check-up, or never took their car in for regular maintenance, like an oil change?

You might say that they were asking for problems, right? The point of those check-ups is to catch a problem early, or better yet before it occurs. Going for check-ups gives you the peace of mind that things are running well and if an issue is identified early enough you can reduce overall risk. Regular check-ups can help reduce out-of-pocket expenses over time.

What about Finance, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Company-wide Check-Ups for your Infor ERP system? What will happen if you NEVER hit pause?

Here are some questions by department to consider.

Finance:

  • Do I have the right visibility into our ERP data to be able to do proper financial planning, forecasting, and reporting?
  • Can I reduce the amount of time it takes to do a monthly close?
  • Is my ERP system covering all of my tax compliance requirements?
  • Are we losing money because we can’t track our costs accurately?
  • Do we understand why we do what we do?
  • Can we eliminate or streamline processes to become more efficient?


Manufacturing:

  • Is there a way to gain better real-time visibility into my operations?
  • Can we increase OEE?
  • Are we accurately capturing our time and labor on the shop floor?
  • Are we properly planning to maximize our production efficiency?
  • Do we understand why we do what we do?
  • Can we automate some of our processes to become more efficient?


Materials:

  • Do we have full visibility into our supply chain?
  • Is planning negatively impacted because of how we communicate with our suppliers?
  • Are we managing our inventory properly?
  • Are we able to fully analyze our sales in order to maximize profitability?
  • Do we understand why we do what we do?
  • Can we eliminate or streamline processes to become more efficient?


Company-wide:

  • How does data flow from one department to another?
  • Are we relying on outdated processes and procedures?
  • Do we understand why we do what we do?
  • Can we eliminate or streamline processes to become more efficient?
  • Are we making bad business decisions because one department doesn’t have access to real-time data or data from another department?
  • Are we losing money because we can’t track our costs accurately?
     

Whether your Infor ERP investment was made one year ago or twenty, your business deserves the opportunity to maximize the investment that was made.

Crossroads RMC offers a variety of Infor ERP Utilization Reviews to allow companies to achieve a greater return on their Infor ERP investment, maximize efficiency and improve overall employee satisfaction.

Utilization Review for Infor LN (ERP LN)
Utilization Review for Baan

Learn more about our Types of Utilization Reviews for Infor LN (ERP LN) & Baan.

  • Automotive Exchange / ION Utilization Review
  • Technical Systems Utilization Review
  • MRP Utilization Review
  • Supply Chain Utilization Review
  • Financial Utilization Review
  • Manufacturing Application Utilization Review
     

Visit our Utilization Review FAQ section for Infor LN (ERP LN) & Baan.


Request a free phone assessment

Previous Article Infor LN & Baan Tip: Rework of Serialized Items
Next Article Infor LN & Baan Tip: How to deal with data growth of your ERP system…
Print
91446 Rate this article:
5.0
Kathy Barthelt

Kathy BartheltKathy Barthelt

Other posts by Kathy Barthelt

Contact author

x

Categories