In an era of rapid digital transformation, having a robust enterprise resource planning (ERP) system like Baan or Infor LN is a solid foundation. These systems are powerful data repositories and transaction engines. However, their true power is often limited when they operate in isolation.

Connecting your core ERP system to other, specialized applications—whether a customer relationship management (CRM) platform, an e-commerce site, a warehouse management system (WMS), or even a specialized QMS—is no longer a luxury; it's a strategic necessity. This integration transforms your ERP from a single source of truth into the central nervous system of your entire operation, enabling seamless data flow, improved decision-making, and enhanced efficiency.

Here’s a breakdown of the advantages, potential disadvantages, and what your business stands to gain.

The Major Advantages of System Integration

Connecting disparate systems offers a wealth of benefits that can fundamentally change how you operate:

1. Enhanced Data Accuracy and Real-Time Visibility...

You can maintain all the master data, such as items, business partners, central purchase contracts, general ledger and related data in one company and share this data with the other companies. This master data company can be one of the operational companies, but you can also assign a separate company only to be used for the master data.

The advantages of having a separate master data company are:

• Clarity: Having a single company as master data company is clear for all users.
• Authorization: In general, only a few people in an enterprise can maintain the master data and, particularly for this maintenance, the authorization is important. If one dedicated master data company exists, you can use the company authorization to maintain this authorization very easily.

After selecting the Manufacturing check box and clicking Generate in the Generate Master Data (tccom0231m000) session, LN generates Manufacturing item data by site in the Items - Production by Site (tiipd0151m000) session.

The data is retrieved from:

• The Items (tcibd0501m000) session
• The Item - Production (tiipd0101m000) session
• The Item - Production Defaults (tiipd0102m000) session, if default data have been specified.

• The value in the Site field is retrieved from the warehouse or the work center listed in these sessions:

  • Bill of Material (tibom1110m000)
  • Generic Bill of Material (tipcf3110m000)
  • Production Orders (tisfc0501m000)
  • Production Schedules (tirpt4101m000)
  • Production Schedule Lines (tirpt4102m000)
  • Routing Operations (tirou1102m000). Sites are not retrieved from subcontracting work centers.

In a multilogistic/single-finance company structure, you can manage the manufacturing and distribution processes in a number of separate companies and perform the financial accounting in one company.

You must create one or more enterprise units in each logistic company and link all the enterprise units to the financial company.

For example, you can use a multilogistic/single-finance structure for an organization that consists of a number of separate production plants in one country that use their own BOM and production process but that form one legal entity. The reason for this is because BOMs, and the item cost prices based on them, are specific for each logistic company.

FINANCE: Multilogistic/Single Finance

OPERATIONS: Generating Manufacturing Item Data by Site

TECHNOLOGY: Table Sharing with a Multi-Company Setup - Using a Master Data Company

Please be aware that the Infor LN embedded EDI module (ECEDI/BEMIS) will transition to sustaining maintenance in the second half of 2027. This feature has not received enhancements in recent years, and no future updates are planned.

Existing customers using the embedded EDI module are encouraged to transition to EDI Exchange or Automotive Exchange, in order to benefit from ongoing enhancements and future capabilities. Infor has invested significantly in EDI Exchange and Automotive Exchange to support a broad range of EDI communications with external parties, as part of continued innovation within Infor LN Cloud.

For new LN CE customers, the embedded EDI module will no longer be provisioned.

Action steps
For more information please see Knowledge Base (KB) article 3632427.
 

The Problem: Knowledge Gaps in a Legacy ERP Environment

For organizations running long-established global ERP systems such as Infor Baan or LN, upgrades can be daunting. Over the years, employee turnover, internal role changes, and evolving business structures often erode institutional knowledge of the original ERP setup.

When the time comes to upgrade, teams frequently lack a clear understanding of how the system is currently being used. This knowledge gap leads to inefficient planning, costly rework, and missed opportunities for process optimization.

The Solution: A Blueprint-Based Assessment and Optimization Strategy

To address this challenge for one of our LN customers, we implemented a blueprint-driven assessment designed to provide a clear, data-backed foundation for their ERP upgrade.

Our strategic approach focused on objective comparison and actionable insight, using a step-by-step methodology:

1. Benchmarking Against a Standard Blueprint
   We created a standard LN functionality blueprint representing the ideal model of available processes and best practices.

2. Site-by-Site Analysis
   Each customer site’s configuration and usage were compared to the standard blueprint, identifying gaps, customizations, and inefficiencies.

3. Efficiency and Optimization Reporting
   The comparison highlighted workflow inconsistencies and process variations across sites, enabling targeted optimization and standardization.

4. Budgeting and Roadmap Development
   The results provided a data-driven foundation for budgeting, along with a clear, prioritized roadmap for the upcoming upgrade.

How the Solution Was Implemented...

Use this session to to define which fields must be audited, and when they must be audited.

Note: 

• It is not required to define the fields that must be audited. Only if not all fields in a table must be audited, you must specify the fields that must be audited. You can only specify fields for a table for which you selected Specified in the Field Selection field of the Audit Tables by Profile (ttaud3120m000) session. If you selected All in that field, all fields in the table are audited, and no fields can be specified.

• For a detailed explanation of the relation between audit type and field specification, refer to the section How to determine the net result of the audit configuration in the Audit Configuration Management topic.

• The audit functionality uses the positive approach, which means that you can only specify which tables and fields must be audited, but not which tables and fields must not be audited. Therefore, through the appropriate menu, commands are available to load all (key) fields. You can then delete the fields you do not require.