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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

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

George Moroses 0 67534 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 37851 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 43871 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 41920 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 79289 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 37399 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.

IDF News: Multi-Language Support

George Moroses 0 29159 Article rating: 5.0

IDF capabilities have been enhanced to provide support for many description elements to be displayed in the user’s language. MLS address and description information has been added to Vendor/Customer/Item business objects. Users can add/remove information as needed. Those display icons that do not have MLS fields on them may have MLS objects already created that can be used to add MLS field to those display icons.

Scope: The following multi language description fields are now available in IDF. To show them, select the multi-language field for the desired IDF panel.

• Item Description

• Warehouse Description

• Customer Name

• Vendor Name

• Vendor Accounting Type

• Company Name

• Currency Description

• Country Description

• General Ledger Account Description

• General Ledger Segment Value Description

 

Impact: These IDF programs are new or were updated to support multi language functionality:

• Account Segment Value MLS Extension

• Bank Branch MLS Override

• Bank MLS Override

• Company MLS Override

• Country Extension MLS Override

• Country MLS Override

• Currency Extension MLS Override

• Currency MLS Override

• Customer MLS Address Override

• Customer MLS Note

• Customer Order Class MLS Override

• Customer Terms MLS Override

• Enterprise Item MLS Note

• Enterprise Item MLS Override

• Freight Term MLS Extension

• Note MLS Line

• Sales Representative MLS Address Override

• Vendor MLS Address Override

• Vendor MLS Note

• Warehouse MLS Address

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Tips:  LX | BPCS | M3

Tips: LN | Baan

An ERP System Review is NOT a Report Card

It's a no-judgment-review - we promise!

report card C minusWe all remember our school days and the nervousness that we felt when it came time to get our grades. Even if we were doing well, we were still nervous. Sometimes we experienced that same nervousness when it came time for a performance review on our job. Nervousness…sometimes dread…knowing that our performance was not what we wanted it to be, or others expected it to be. 

Somehow I think the feelings that we felt in our past often find ways to creep into our present. I have seen this recently when I suggested an ERP system review to one of our customers. They immediately became flustered and thought about every possible problem that they knew existed within the software and how they were currently using it. I asked them to consider the purpose of the ERP system review.

An ERP Utilization Review will:

  • Document how your company is using your ERP system (or a particular aspect of the system) and to what extent the system meets the needs of the business.
  • Identify challenges encountered using the software.
  • Create opportunities for improving business processes and generating additional value.
  • Identify potential risks and areas that need improvement.


key hole to the futureSo, if the result of ERP system review is to establish a path forward for growth based on current status, then why doesn’t every company take advantage of it? I think for some, the answer lies in the feelings of nervousness and dread still stuck in the recesses of our brains.

An ERP system review or more specifically a utilization review is NOT a personal report card, or performance review showing how well a particular individual does his/hers/their job, nor is it an attack on the team that implemented the software. 

As they say, hindsight is 20/20. What we view now to be a less than ideal implementation methodology may have been absolutely appropriate at the time the software was originally deployed. The software has likely matured and the skillsets of the individuals responsible for the system have likely matured as well. In some cases, those resources are no longer with the company, leaving those that remain with no back story as to how and why implementation decisions were made.

Instead of viewing the ERP utilization review as a reason to find fault in previous decisions, think of it as discovering untapped potential – both of the ERP system and the people who use it. Viewing an ERP utilization review in this way puts a positive spin on it and allows us to challenge ourselves to identify opportunities for growth far greater than anything we imagined before. This means not only moving our businesses forward faster but also advancing the strength of the company as individuals and as a team.

What untapped potential lies within your company?

Consider a utilization review of your entire ERP system, or just a part of it like Finance, Technology, Materials Management, Order Processing, or Shop Floor Control. You just might be surprised at what greatness can be achieved… far greater than anyone could have imagined.  

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Kathy Barthelt

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