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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

BPCS/LX Tip of the Week: LX 8.3.5 Facility Period Close

Anthony Etzel 0 46976 Article rating: 5.0

The Facility Period Close process was introduced in Infor LX 8.3.4 and has been enhanced in 8.3.5. This feature allows continuous or 24-hour worldwide operations in multiple facilities to submit Period End Close jobs for each facility as daily operations cease, or shifts end.

This enhancement provides a batch mode for the Facility Period Close (INV930) process and allows the Update IIM Inventory from IWI (INV931) process to be submitted from the INV930B program. The enhancement also provides a batch mode for the INV931 process.

Optimize Your Manufacturing Today!

Baan/LN Tip of the Week: Order Series Full – Switching to a Different Series

Kathy Barthelt 0 210787 Article rating: 5.0

In general, you can enter a different series in the order field if you have an available series.

To add a new series, find the appropriate group in the First Free Number session, and add a new series and first free number (usually 1).

In Baan IV, go to the Maintain First Free Numbers Session (under Common, Tables, Maintain Logistics Tables, Maintenance 1).
Groups are easily identified (e.g., Purchase Order, Sales Order, etc.).

In Baan V, go to the First Free Number Session (under Common Data, Tables, Logistics). There are number groups (e.g., 570 may be for Purchase Orders, 650 may be for Sales Orders, etc.).

In LN, go to the First Free Number Session (tcmcs0150m000 – it is in different places in the menu under different Feature Packs). There are number groups (e.g., 210 may be for Purchase Orders, 310 may be for Sales Orders, etc.).

BPCS/LX Tip of the Week: Revisit The Last Brilliant Idea

Anthony Etzel 0 49324 Article rating: No rating

Sometimes the best ideas have to be tabled due to competing priorities. That doesn’t mean that the idea was bad. Revisit previously suggested cost savings ideas, or ideas to make a manual process more efficient. Now could be the right time to do something great!

Optimize Your Manufacturing Today!

Baan/LN Tip of the Week: Difference Between a Serialized Item and Unit Effective Item

Kathy Barthelt 0 140817 Article rating: No rating

A serialized item is not the same as a unit effective item. A serialized item has a serial number that is used to identify and track individual items, whereas a unit effectivity item has an effectivity unit that provides some information about the item's configuration. However, an item can be both serialized and unit effective.

Optimize Your Manufacturing Today!
 

Baan/LN Tip of the Week: Alternative Materials in BOMs:

Kathy Barthelt 0 429764 Article rating: No rating

Often, multiple items are interchangeable even when these are purchased from various vendors. You can use any of these items as material in a bill of material (BOM). If a shortage of a standard material is expected to delay a production order, LN can automatically select one of the alternative materials. You can define up to nine alternative materials for any material in a BOM.

The use of alternative materials has the following advantages:

  • LN can handle material shortages for some items without user intervention.
  • The use of alternative items can reduce the average inventory level.

BPCS/LX Tip of the Week: Purchase Order “In Use” Reset Feature 8.3.5

Anthony Etzel 0 44693 Article rating: No rating

 

This new feature provides the ability to resolve or reset a purchase order or requisition that is no longer being processed, but the system still indicates it is ‘in use’. We all remember those situations where we could never figure out how the order got hung up.

What we previously had to do was run a behind the scenes script to reset the flag so the order was again accessible. This enhancement provides the ability to resolve the issue and resume processes quickly.

This option is now on the PUR menu, and the user can select the Purchase Order/Requisition in Use Maintenance, PUR940D. The user then enters an order or requisition to remove the “In Use” status.

 

Optimize Your Manufacturing Today!

Baan/LN Tip of the Week: Advantages / Disadvantages of Virtualization

Kathy Barthelt 0 159356 Article rating: 5.0

I know a lot of our customers are considering virtualization projects. I came across this, and thought it might be useful:

The advantages of virtualization include the following:

• You get more out of your existing resources. Pool common infrastructure resources and break the legacy “one application to one server” model with server consolidation.

• You can reduce datacenter costs by reducing your physical infrastructure and improving your server to admin ratio. Fewer servers and related IT hardware means reduced real estate and reduced power and cooling requirements. With better management tools, you can improve your server to admin ratio so personnel requirements are reduced.

• You can increase the availability of hardware and applications for improved business continuity.

• Securely back up and migrate entire virtual environments with no service interruptions. Eliminate planned downtime and recover immediately from unplanned issues.

 

• Gain operational flexibility. Respond to market changes with dynamic resource management, faster server provisioning, and improved application deployment.

The disadvantages of virtualization include the following:

• Virtualization adds overhead to the CPU, memory, IO, and network.

• Virtualization adds an additional layer to the hardware and software stack. Therefore, additional complexity is introduced in the following circumstances:

  • When sizing the physical server.
  • When planning VM capacity.
  • When planning multiple VMs on the same physical server.
  • When investigating performance issues.

 

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Tips:  LX | BPCS | M3

Tips: LN | Baan

ERP & the Importance of Accuracy & Productivity

Infor LN & Baan

If you don't think accuracy and productivity are important, you need to take a hard look at HOW you’re running your ERP system.

  • Have you eliminated large amounts of data entry?
  • Is your data error-free at month's end?
  • Do all of your systems talk to one another?

If the answer is no, Crossroads RMC can improve accuracy and productivity with system integration and/or automation.

Too expensive you say? Too time-consuming and way too much effort to make it happen? 
Not necessarily... Crossroads RMC consultants deliver valuable integrations and automated processes at a fraction of the cost of other providers.

Whether you’re running ION on the latest version of Infor LN or using Baan IV or Baan V with no integration platform in place, there are benefits to automation and system integration for every area of your business:

Finance:
Say goodbye to typos that lead to huge problems, like paying invoices late or charging the wrong customer. You’ll have accurate data in your system, so month-end processes run smoother and your employees are freed up to do more important tasks.

Customer Relationship Management:
When it comes to keeping customers happy, speed is crucial. You can automate invoicing, customer reports, and more to ensure that customers always have what they need. Automate report delivery from your system to ensure you always have the right information at your fingertips. And even without automating report delivery, your ERP system brings all the information together in one place, and automated data entry and extraction means it’s accurate.

Supply Chain Management:
Set up automated alerts to the right people. With ERP automation, you can trigger an email when a product has low stock or is overstocked. Keeping inventory levels just right is essential to be able to fulfill orders but not waste resources by having too much on hand.

Manufacturing Resource Planning:
Say goodbye to appending data manually. Let’s say you get a shipment of inventory that is a different color than you’d planned, which means they need different SKUs. Now you have thousands of SKUs to update, but an automated process can append data in the system unattended in a fraction of the time it’d take a person to do it.

Human Resource Management:
It might not be that hard to pull the sales data to calculate commissions manually for one sales rep. But multiply that by a growing sales force every pay period, and you’ll be grateful you automated your ERP system. Integrate with HR platforms to manage data transfers for calculating sales and commissions, even setting up triggers to do this automatically at the same time every week.

These are just a few of the possible ways to simplify your ERP system and produce accurate results that save time and money. 


Crossroads RMC has assisted many clients with integrations and automation for Infor LN and Baan. 800.762.2077 |  solutions@crossroadsrmc.com

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Kathy Barthelt

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