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

Baan/LN Tip of the Week: Problems With Staying on an Old Porting Set

Kathy Barthelt 0 69470 Article rating: No rating

Here are some issues that you might run into if you stay on an old porting set too long:

  • Incompatibility because of operating system patches
  • Printing issues because of out-of-date libraries
  • Potential performance issues if binaries are not updated
  • Updating third party products may not be possible because of dependencies
  • Limited support from Infor
  • Issues with updating database software/patches because of dependencies (if database is also running on same server as application)

Need help getting on a newer porting set? We'd be happy to help.

Optimize Your Manufacturing Today!

BPCS/LX Tip of the Week: Facility Security Ranges

Anthony Etzel 0 33735 Article rating: No rating

Previously, a user was able to complete the Cost Transfer (CST920) process for any range of facilities regardless of their security settings established in SYS600.

This enhancement verifies the user security settings that were set up in SYS600 before processing cost transfers for a range of facilities in CST920. If the user has authority for a facility range, but there are facilities within that range that are not authorized, the program skips those facilities and complete the cost transfer process. This enhancement provides security in CST920 that prevents incorrect cost transfers from being processed.

Optimize Your Manufacturing Today!

BPCS/LX Tip of the Week: Inventory Transaction Post to G/L by Cost Type

Anthony Etzel 0 32515 Article rating: No rating

This enhancement provides a method to post material, labor and overhead values on inventory postings to the general ledger to meet financial reporting requirements. The solution provides an optional further breakdown of cost by cost bucket using the new G/L Cost Type.

The benefit this program provides is the ability to post detailed material, labor, and overhead values during inventory posting to the general ledger to meet financial reporting requirements. It also helps isolate import and transport cost elements required by some countries. Global companies with intercompany purchasing are able to isolate material costs so that it is eliminated at a consolidated level.

Optimize Your Manufacturing Today!

Baan/LN Tip of the Week: Inventory Tracking

Kathy Barthelt 0 70323 Article rating: No rating

Do you have a good handle on your inventory? Do you know when products need to be reordered and which are on their way? Are you able to find inventory easily within your facility, or are items getting misplaced and then unnecessarily reordered? Having a good inventory system in place will avoid unnecessary costs and save lots of time. We’ve been helping customers with this for over 20 years. Let us know if you need help getting started.

Optimize Your Manufacturing Today!

Baan/LN Tip of the Week: How is Your Productivity?

Kathy Barthelt 0 74126 Article rating: No rating

Are your employees not as productive as you’d like them to be? 
Are jobs not getting completed on schedule? 

Without actual data, making decisions about how efficient your operation is will be difficult. Start tracking actual time to complete each operation. Compare different production lines running the same job. Is one line running more efficiently? If so, start looking at why. Track downtime, setup, etc. Once you start really analyzing each piece of the puzzle, you can begin to uncover areas that are ripe for improvement.

Optimize Your Manufacturing Today!

BPCS/LX Tip of the Week: Understanding What Goes On – Out on the Factory Floor

Anthony Etzel 0 28790 Article rating: No rating

Ok… so you want to know the status of a specific shop order that was released two days ago.

What do you do?

It’s a sure bet that you have a manager, supervisor, or planner who can walk the floor and find the order at whatever work center it happens to be at. He/she can then answer “what operations have been completed and how many were completed?” All this requires leg work, and of course, a fair amount of time.

Now, if you have setup your BPCS master files properly, and you report transaction activity, you should be able to get those shop order statuses much faster using the SFC300 Shop Order Inquiry Screen.

At your fingertips you can see:

  • Release date & due date
  • How many hours remain in total and at each operation
  • The quantity required, what was finished and the remaining quantity
  • What components (materials) have been issued

Pretty basic information, right? Are you getting what you need to know? If not, then you may want to reexamine how your BPCS files are setup and what transactions along with their frequency are captured.

Optimize Your Manufacturing Today!

December Lunch & Learn Webinar for BPCS & LX!

ERP Data Analysis Made Easy!

Anthony Etzel 0 25293 Article rating: 5.0

Want answers to questions like…

  • Which lines of business are performing best, and what products are being sold?
  • Who are my top-performing sales reps, and what products are they selling?
  • What trends can I see based on my customers’ purchases?
  • What warehouse orders are planned over the next 6 months and do I have enough inventory on hand?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Get all of this and more with easy drag and drop capability all without touching your ERP system or creating custom reports!


1:00 p.m. ET | 10:00 a.m. PT

Watch Video Now

Learn How to Create Views for:

  • Accounts Payable
  • Accounts Receivable
  • Labor
  • Material Costs
  • Production
  • Sales Orders
    And more!

BPCS/LX Tip of the Week: Role-Based Security

Anthony Etzel 0 36040 Article rating: No rating

Role-Based Security introduces role type profiles and allows combining the use of role profiles with the traditional LX user type security profile functionality. The new role type profile can be defined to allow or deny access to All Products, Attention Key, Programs, and Transaction Effects.

Facility, Warehouse, and Company securities are still defined solely by the user profile settings and are not affected by the assignment of a role. Where applicable, the role authority is displayed alongside the user authority on the security profile maintenance screens making it easy to see where there are differences in authority between the user and the assigned roles.

When users are assigned to roles, security access in LX becomes a combination of authorities granted or denied by the role plus any user exceptions. User exceptions override authorities set by the roles. A user can also be assigned to more than one role.

Optimize Your Manufacturing Today!

First8081828385878889Last

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.

Previous Article Infor LN & Baan Tips & Tricks for EXECUTIVES
Next Article Infor LN & Baan Tips & Tricks for FINANCE: Cash Flow Statements (tfgld 0123m100)
Print
35132 Rate this article:
5.0
Kathy Barthelt

Kathy BartheltKathy Barthelt

Other posts by Kathy Barthelt

Contact author

x

Categories