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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

Analytics Dashboard: How To Save Time, Effort AND Money

Infor LX, BPCS, Infor M3, Infor LN & Baan

Crossroads RMC 0 35951 Article rating: 5.0

So often companies spend a lot of time, effort, and money to create custom reports to analyze their data.

Sometimes 5, 10 or more reports are necessary to satisfy the different needs of executives, managers, and sales reps.

Why go through this hassle when everyone can create their own views of the data without customizing a single thing?

Crossroads RMC's Analytics Dashboard puts the control in the hands of the users. Multiple views of the data can be created, saved, and retrieved all with the click of a button.

Analytics Dashboard for Infor LX, BPCS & M3>
Analytics Dashboard for Infor LN & Baan>

Infor LN & Baan Tip of the Week: Customer requested delivery date

Kathy Barthelt 0 83648 Article rating: 5.0

The “Use Customer Requested Delivery Date” parameter has been introduced in the Sales Order Parameter (tdsls0100s400) session, which is used to track the customer’s requested delivery date.

If this parameter check box is selected, various additional date fields become available to track the customer Initial Requested Delivery Date and the Original Promised Planned Delivery Date.

Infor LX & BPCS Tip of the Week: ION Tip – Pausing Receiving and Sending of Messages

Anthony Etzel 0 71609 Article rating: 5.0

If it is necessary to pause sending and receiving of BOD messages on your IBM i during your month end process, it is best practice for the document flows that point to the IBM i to guarantee delivery of BOD messages. Once the month end process has been completed, you will need to Resume the ‘Receiving’ and ‘Sending’ Active Connection Points so your documents will continue to process.

Pausing Sending messages

To pause sending messages to ION:

  1. Select Connect > Active Connection Points.
  2. Select the connection point that must be paused for sending messages.
  3. In the Sending Paused column, click Pause. The page is automatically refreshed and the Sending Paused checkbox is selected. A Resume button becomes available. 

Sending of messages by this connection point is stopped....

Tax Law Changes by the Numbers - Infor LX & BPCS Integration to Avalara

A look at what's changed in 2018-2019

Anthony Etzel 0 44234 Article rating: 4.0

Are you up to speed on all of the sale tax changes that could affect your business?

Tax Law Changes by the Numbers
A look at what's changed in 2018-2019

  • 21 states adopted economic nexus as of December 31, 2018, requiring out-of-state businesses with a certain amount of economic activity in the state to collect and remit sales tax
  • 33 states have enforced economic nexus as of June 30, 2019
  • 43 states will enforce economic nexus as of December 31, 2019
  • 7 states had marketplace facilitator sales tax laws as of December 31, 2018, requiring marketplaces to collect sales tax on behalf of their sellers
  • 15 states have marketplace facilitator sales tax laws as of June 30, 2019
  • 28 states will have marketplace facilitator sales tax laws as of January 1, 2020

The trend to tax remote sales is certain to continue, and there will be the normal slew of rate, regulation, and product taxability changes. 

Sales Tax is complicated! Crossroads RMC provides the integration from Infor LX & BPCS to Avalara to make it easy. Click Here to Learn More

Steps to undo an IDF modification and restore to the default

Anthony Etzel 0 38171 Article rating: 5.0

Changes are great, but if you want to undo an IDF modification and restore to the default, you need to follow these steps:

Reset to an Infor shipped view (“un-modify” it)

  1. Open the public node of an object you would like to reset to the shipped status. Notice that all of the standard views (i.e., those owned by Infor) are unmodified.
  2. Select the row with the Modified column = yes
  3. Select the Reset to default button on the toolbar
  4. Say Yes to the prompt
  5. The object is now back to the way it was shipped by Infor. Note that it now shows that it has not been modified. If you display the editor, you will see that the attribute you deleted has been restored. Note that only objects owned by Infor can be reset. If you change a standard definition, and later regret it, you can use this feature to restore it with a couple of clicks.

How to Improve Customer Shipments With OTTO - A Case Study

Anthony Etzel 0 30756 Article rating: 5.0

Setting Industry Service Standards

Shenandoah Manufacturing, a $20 million producer of poultry-raising equipment (heaters and brooders), had been having difficulty for some time shipping orders to customers in a timely manner. They had successfully implemented a popular ERP system and had been using it for more than 3 years, yet the situation didn't improve.

Customer Service Representatives were complaining about the frequent backorders and late orders. Employees were giving it their best effort, but were frustrated, and customers were threatening to take their business elsewhere.

The company considered installing an APS system as a possible solution, but found implementation would be difficult, expensive, and running the system might be a challenging task as a number of key business practices would have to be changed. A consultant familiar with OTTO suggested they look at that product as an alternative to APS. Several OTTO aspects cited by the consultant convinced them to consider a cursorily review. Specifically:

  • The non-intrusive nature of the product.
  • It's relative inexpensive initial investment.
  • The low overall total cost of ownership.
  • The integration with their ERP system.

The initial demonstration was impressive. OTTO was installed on Shenandoah's server within 45 minutes of arrival and, most impressively, it was fully functional with their real "live" data immediately. Needless to say, the demo was well received. Even more importantly Shenandoah was able to "test drive" the software to prove its applicability before making any dollar commitments.

According to Mark Shank, Information Systems Manager, some baseline measurements were made last year, and it was determined that approximately 50% of their customer orders had shipped on time. As they began using OTTO, on-time order performance rose to 90% for the month. And Shenandoah caught up on its entire backlog and started working ahead on February's orders. In February on-time shipment performance jumped to 92% and subsequently on-time performance has ranged somewhere between 98.3% and 99.5% — well above the 96% goal set by Management.

OTTO provides the means for keeping the whole production organization focused on the few things that have to happen as the ship date approaches to get each order shipped on time. Components that have the potential for delaying an order are identified so they can be managed. Shenandoah's staff, a precious and limited resource, now concentrates on analyzing information and managing the right things at the right time rather than digging out date. To quote one production control individual: "what use to take hours now takes seconds."

According to Roy Hackett, Plant Manager: "Knowing the right things to pay attention to at the right time"

Crossroads RMC's Analytics Dashboard serves as the perfect complement to extend your MES solution

George Moroses 0 34420 Article rating: 5.0

Did you know our Analytics Dashboard serves as the perfect complement to extend your MES solution?

Need real-time information regarding what shop orders are active, which lines are down, and overall OEE? Want to display all of this data in easy to understand graphs and charts with drill-down capability?

Contact us today to find out how our Analytics Dashboard can provide all of the information you need in real-time.

  • MES Work Center Job Step Status
  • MES Work Center Machine Status
  • MES Shop Order Status
  • MES Order / Operation Status
  • MES Order / Parts Status
  • MES Badge Status

Contact George Moroses to learn more.

Infor and Crossroads RMC Partner to Drive Success at Ridewell

Anthony Etzel 0 36445 Article rating: 5.0

Earlier this year, Ridewell Corporation inked a deal with Infor to move their BPCS 4.05 CD system to Infor LX. As part of that deal, Crossroads RMC’s MES software was selected to provide shop floor automation. 

For the ERP upgrade, Infor reached out to Crossroads RMC to provide support for both Finance and Data Conversion due to our positive track record with 4.05 CD to LX migrations. Crossroads RMC has extensive migration experience and developed a methodology for converting legacy 4.05 CD GL into CEA. 

The process Crossroads RMC developed makes it cleaner, more manageable, and easy to embrace from the client perspective. Infor also engaged Crossroads RMC to provide technical support to manage the data conversion, utilizing the Infor utilities and converting Ridewell’s 4.05 CD data to standard LX.

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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

You can benefit from a business process review only if...

You can benefit from a business process review only if...

Infor LX | BPCS | Infor LN | Baan

Did you implement your ERP system 5 years ago… or maybe 20 years ago? At the time, it was like a brand new car… sleek, fast, top-of-the-line, and fuel-efficient. And although it may have needed a few minor “adjustments”, overall you were very pleased. Fast forward to today. Does it still have that new car smell? Does it run as efficiently as it used to? Do you know how to fix a problem when it occurs?

While ERP systems are certainly designed to last, over time, your business changes, your customers’ needs change, employees change and you are left with a system that may run “fine”, but you certainly don’t feel the same way about it as you did when it was brand new.

So the good news is that you CAN restore that “new car smell” with a utilization review, or business process review.

What is a Utilization or Business Process Review and Why Do I Need One?
Simply put, a business process review is an exercise designed to help businesses identify areas of improvement to become more agile, efficient, and streamlined.

Does my organization need a Business Process Review? 

While every company could benefit from conducting a business process review, it's only worth the time and effort if you have a specific problem you're trying to solve or a goal you are trying to achieve. Furthermore, and perhaps most importantly, organizations must be ready and willing to make changes. 

That's why a business process review is critical; it helps align processes, define goals, and thoughtfully plan and build solutions that help businesses achieve actual growth.

Our consultant reviews the current usage and related business processes of your entire Infor ERP system, or a particular area like Finance, Manufacturing, Materials Management, or Technology to make recommendations that will reinvigorate your Infor ERP system and those that use it.

Other benefits include:

  • Creating a consistent way of working across the business
  • Automating processes to reduce effort and increase productivity
  • Improving decision-making capability by providing access to real-time, reliable, and accurate information
  • Creating opportunities to improve your customer service levels and response times
  • Increasing your ability to attract and retain quality staff

Your ERP system may require some engine work, or it may just require an oil change and an expert to look everything over to make sure things are running smoothly. Either way – whether this is a project you take on internally or decide that you need some expert guidance from a company like Crossroads RMC, it is worth the time and investment to ensure peak performance.

Business process reviews can be performed 100% remotely via phone or web meeting, or in person – you choose what works best for your team.

Contact Us: 800.762.2077 | solutions@crossroadsrmc.com


 

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