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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

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

George Moroses 0 29939 Article rating: No rating

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: Methodology for Infor LX & BPCS Upgrades

Anthony Etzel 0 39827 Article rating: 5.0

Throughout the years, Crossroads RMC has participated in several 4.0.05CD upgrades to LX, from which we had the opportunity to refine our methodology for CEA (Configurable Enterprise Accounting) implementations/upgrades. As a result, we have fine tuned our overall upgrade approach and have been very successful in implementing this approach with our clients.

CEA replaces the green screen GLD module and allows for considerable flexibility in the design of the COA (Chart of Accounts).

Our approach incorporates any changes that are needed in the COA and facilitates the transfer or replacement of Profit Centers and Account Codes from BPCS to LX, building on the existing GL. Among the issues we manage is the conversion of historical GL balances.

We maximize the use of LX and CEA while minimizing the manual effort that gets you there.

Contact Frank Petrasio to discuss how we can help you:

  • Preserve what works in BPCS
  • Optimize what works in LX

with a maximum of respect for your time and budget. Learn more about Crossroads RMC Consulting>

Infor LX & BPCS Tip of the Week: Additional Selection Criteria for Cycle Count Purge Enhancement – 8.4

Anthony Etzel 0 56872 Article rating: 5.0

The final step in Cycle Count processing is to maintain the (ICY) Cycle Count file. This history file increases in size with each posting session. It is up to users to purge the historical data that you no longer need. Previously, INV015 Cycle Count Purge by date only allowed users to purge the cycle count file by date. Now, additional selection criteria have been added that allows users improved ways to control records they may want to purge.

Infor LN & Baan Data Collection News: Crossroads RMC Cycle Counting Application

Kathy Barthelt 0 34631 Article rating: 5.0

How often are you counting your inventory? Are you sure your counts are accurate?  Are inaccurate counts affecting your ability to satisfy customer orders?

Crossroads RMC Cycle Counting Application gives you:

· Overall increased inventory accuracy

· Ability to review and approve count before direct update of Baan/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 – with some of our customers, counts used to take weeks. They can now complete a count of all their inventory in one day.

Learn more: Crossroads RMC Data Collection - Web Collect 

Consulting News: ERP Implementation or Upgrade... Are You Prepared?

Crossroads RMC 0 38530 Article rating: 5.0

There are several factors that need to be considered when undertaking a major project like an ERP implementation or upgrade. Before you look to others outside of your organization to provide the expertise needed, you need to first look internally to ensure that the right players are in place to lead the project and also ensure business continuity during the project.

  • Executive Sponsorship - Does Senior Management have a clear and well understood commitment to project success?
  • Strong Project Manager?
  • Core Team Functional Representation - Are the Team Members knowledgeable participants and able to keep the project moving forward?
  • User Community Support?
  • Motivation - Are the Team Members willing and able to provide the time needed for a large-scale implementation?

Do You need help figuring out if your organization is properly positioned for an implementation or upgrade? Contact us. We can help.

Infor LN & Baan Tip of the Week: Job Shop Bill of Material – 10.7

Kathy Barthelt 0 77697 Article rating: 5.0

The job shop bill of material is defined by site. It is used as the source for the estimated materials in the job shop production order.

The new job shop bill of material differs from the old bill of material. These changes are applicable for the new job shop bill of material:

  • It has a header and a status.
  • It is always revision controlled.
  • It can be designated for planning and for costing.
  • The effective dates have been moved from the material lines to the header.
  • The BOM quantity has been moved from item production data to the header.
  • The use up has been moved from alternatives to the material line.
  • The warehouse is defined on the material line (mandatory).
  • The routing operation is defined on the material line (optional).

The job shop bill of material can be generated through the production bill of material.

IDF News: default order class for the warehouse customer

George Moroses 0 29449 Article rating: 5.0

In IDF Customers, the default order class for the warehouse customer should be a user-defined order class (base order class = 004). Do not use base order class 002 or 005, to allow for automatic invoicing of warehouse orders (if a separate manual Ship Confirm event is required per the order class, auto invoicing cannot occur from Pick Confirm).

Can you afford not to invest in MES?

Anthony Etzel 0 32716 Article rating: 5.0

Given the environment today with growing global competition in terms of innovation, cost and time to market (given by short product cycles) as well as with increasing regulatory demands, the answer to the question “Can you afford not to invest in MES?” is turning into a clear “NO”. 

Click here to read the full Critical Manufacturing article.

Crossroads MES is Infor’s global solution for manufacturing execution and is perfectly suited to fill the gap between your manufacturing initiatives and your ERP system.

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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.

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Tips: LN | Baan

Kathy Barthelt

Infor LN & Baan Tips & Tricks for EXECUTIVES

OPERATIONS: Update, Cancel or Remove Outbound Order Lines
When the originating order or order line of an outbound order line is canceled or changed, this affects the outbound order line and may affect the related outbound advice, shipments, or shipment lines.

For most order origins, warehousing order-type parameters determine whether these actions are allowed:

  • Update the outbound order line if the originating order is changed.
  • Cancel the originating order line and the outbound order line.
  • Delete the canceled outbound order line.

If updating is allowed, changes made to the originating order are updated to the outbound order line and the related outbound advice, and, if present, picking lists, are deleted.

If updating is not allowed, a message is displayed, and the input is blocked when you try to change the originating order line.

If canceling is allowed, the outbound order line is deleted or set to Canceled when the originating order line is canceled.

When a canceled outbound order line is deleted, if present, the related outbound advice and picking list are also deleted. Outbound order lines originating from manual order origins cannot be deleted when canceled.

To process an outbound order line that is not deleted but set to Canceled, the outbound order line must be set to Shipped. The status of the outbound order line determines whether all steps of the outbound and shipment procedures must be completed to process the outbound order line.

When a canceled outbound order line is set to Shipped, the shipped quantity is automatically set to 0. You can create a transfer order to return the not-shipped goods to inventory.

If canceling is not allowed, you cannot cancel the originating order line or the outbound order line. A message to that effect is displayed when you try to cancel the originating order line.

To prevent the goods from being shipped when canceling is not allowed, you must complete the outbound and shipment procedures. When confirming the shipment line, you must set the shipped quantities to 0 and create a transfer order to return the not-shipped goods to inventory.

FINANCE: Currency Differences Accounts
Currency differences can make the financial analysis and reconciliation more complex. These types of currency differences can occur:

  • Currency differences
    Currency result caused by fluctuations in the exchange rate, for example, if the rate differs between the invoice date and the payment date.

  • Exchange gain and loss
    Currency result caused by the use of different exchange rate types, for example, the Sales rate type and the Internal rate type, or if using the rate determiner you have changed the exchange rate for a transaction during the order handling procedure.

  • Translation gain and loss
    Currency result caused by the use of different currencies during the order handling procedure, for example, if the order currency or the payment currency differs from the invoice currency.

  • Destination gain and loss
    Currency result caused by different results when the transaction currency is converted to the various home currencies. Destination gain and loss can only occur in an independent currency system.

To support good reconciliation possibilities, currency differences and exchange gain and loss are posted to these accounts:

  • Exchange Gain and Loss
    For differences between related amounts (debit and credit postings) due to different exchange rate types or different currency rates.

  • Currency Translation
    For transactions in which the debit posting and the credit posting are made in different currencies.

  • Currency Differences contra account
    For currency differences on the invoice accrual account due to rate changes between the receipt date and the approval date of the invoice and calculated when you close a financial period.


TECHNOLOGY: Advantages of Data Replication
Instead of sharing tables through logical linking, you can replicate table content between companies. This approach allows certain non-key attributes of a record to vary by company. For example, if you replicate bills of materials rather than sharing them, each company can associate a different warehouse with the same bill of material. This way, the bills of materials are consistent across companies, while the warehouses can differ.

Replication also enables selective availability of records in other companies. For instance, when replicating items, you might limit which items are available in a sales company based on their item group, only including end items. You can further refine replication to specific subsets, such as particular item groups.

Keep in mind that replication requires any referenced tables to be either replicated or shared as well.

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Kathy Barthelt

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