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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

The Top 5 Benefits of a Manufacturing Execution System (MES)

by PlanetTogether

Anthony Etzel 0 37474 Article rating: 5.0

MES provides the right information at the right time to show the floor manager how to optimize current conditions to improve production output.

Need 5 more reasons why you should invest in an MES system?
Read the full article by PlanetTogether:

https://www.planettogether.com/blog/the-top-5-advantages-of-a-manufacturing-execution-system

Clearly, an MES does more than simply track the amount of product coming off of your production lines. Improving your facility's efficiency begins with accurately recording production, material usage, and personnel time. Crossroads MES accomplishes this feat with ease and precision.

Infor LX & BPCS Tip of the Week: Trim Leading Zero

George Moroses 0 61267 Article rating: 5.0

In LX 8.4, an enhancement has been included to allow for the expanded Company fields to have the leading zero truncated.

To trim leading zeros, CEA515B is called during macro resolution to trim the leading zero based on the position in the Zero Trim file (GZT). The Zero Trim file contains all the company number fields currently defined in the CEA Cross Reference fie (GXM).

This enhancement provides year over year comparison in financial reports and eliminates the need to setup new companies in programs such as Alias Definition. Financial programs trim the leading zero on Company fields, such as Company 010, on subsystem transactions to process as Company 10 during CEA macro resolution. Clients who prefer to retain the Company value as 010 on financial reports can clear the GZT file.

Infor LN & Baan Add-ons: Need a reason why you should barcode your inventory? How about 8 reasons!

Kathy Barthelt 0 34157 Article rating: 5.0

Top Eight Benefits of Barcodes

Barcodes are often overlooked as a method for cutting costs and saving time. A valuable and viable choice for businesses looking to improve efficiency and reduce overhead, barcodes are both cost-effective and reliable.

Crossroads RMC offers RMClabel which can be tied to any data collection system, or run stand-alone. Create barcode labels with 1D

Infor LN & Baan: Data Collection

Be honest. Does your business REALLY operate in real time?

Kathy Barthelt 0 40401 Article rating: 5.0

Do you have up-to-date real-time information on labor, machine time, and parts consumed? How accurate is your data? Can you get an accurate picture of what is going on across your operations at any time?

If not, Crossroads data collection solution should be considered. By combining sessions, eliminating duplicate entries and using available information to complete a transaction, Web Collect, formerly RMC3 extends the Infor LN and Baan applications to ensure efficiencies and timely information flow and reporting. 

Consulting News: Are you familiar with your Infor LN / Baan System Log?

Kathy Barthelt 0 38819 Article rating: 5.0

Data about the system and the application is stored in a system log. The system data includes information about:

  • The application environment
  • Any reorganization of tables
  • The available free disk space
  • The back-up schedule
  • The user data reports
  • The updates
  • Changes in the system
  • The error messages and solutions

Are you comfortable with reading your ERP system log? Have you checked it lately? Need help interpreting if your system may have a problem? Contact Kathy Barthelt today and one of our expert technical consultants can help to put your mind at ease and make sure your system is running as it should.

Infor LN & Baan Tip of the Week: Warehouse Blocking – LN 10.7

Kathy Barthelt 0 74148 Article rating: 5.0

The functionality to block a warehouse for inbound or outbound transactions has been enhanced. A check for blocks is performed not only during receipt and shipment confirmation, but at multiple stages in the process. In addition, you can specify these blocking options for the inbound and outbound processes:

• No

• Yes

• Interactive

For example, if Blocked for Inbound is set to Yes, no inbound actions are allowed in the warehouse. Consequently, users cannot confirm receipts, generate and put away inbound advice or storage lists, and perform inbound inspections. 

If Interactive is set, during a non-automatic warehouse inbound procedure, warnings are displayed which offer the user a choice to either cancel the action or continue. Batch or automatic inbound processes continue, but the corresponding reports and logs make note of the blocking. However, in all scenarios, receipt confirmation is not allowed.

The same rules are applicable for the warehouse outbound procedure steps. The restriction for receipt confirmation also applies to shipment confirmation.

For warehouse transfer orders, not only the ship-from warehouse is checked for outbound process blocks, but also the ship-to warehouse. This prevents situations in which goods get stuck in transit due to inbound procedure blocks that apply to the destination warehouse. Now, the transfer process is already blocked during outbound.

Partner News: Are you up to date on all of the sales tax changes that have gone into effect this year?

Crossroads RMC 0 34254 Article rating: 5.0

Like it or not, requirements for collecting sales tax change monthly and keeping up with those changes requires someone to be “on it” full time. Fortunately, Avalara handles all of that. Learn How >

Contact us to learn how we can take this burden off your plate and ensure that you are 100% in compliance, 100% of the time.

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Tips:  LX | BPCS | M3

Tips: LN | Baan

Kathy Barthelt

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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