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Infor LX Utilization Review & Process Improvement

Infor LX (ERP LX) Business Process Consulting & Utilization Review

Authoritative knowledge from the largest Infor LX practice in North America

Crossroads RMC's consultants expertise comes from 30+ years of experience aligning Infor ERPs with manufacturer's unique business strategies. Our team excels at identifying the strengths and weaknesses of Infor ERP systems, and providing a comprehensive insight to improve efficiencies, lower costs, and maximize the return on your ERP investment. Whether you know exactly what needs to be done, or don't know where to start, Crossroads RMC works with your team to get you the most out of your Infor ERP.

 




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What is Business Process Consulting?

Crossroads RMC's consultants improve your Infor ERP system based on a pre-identified issue, often found during a Utilization Review. Our Business Process Improvement Consultants can fix your issue, train your team to resolve the issue, or work side by side with your team to resolve the issue.

What is a Utilization Review or ERP Assessment?

Crossroads RMC's consultants perform a complete review of your business processes that relate to your Infor ERP System. The assessment can be performed on-site or remotely, and include a comprehensive write up of the findings, prioritized recommendations that include estimated costs, benefits, and a plan of action to be systematically discussed with key management personnel. A typical Utilization Review is a deep dive that targets the business processes that require change to improve your system data and expected outputs, and typically takes a few days to complete. 

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Types of Utilization Reviews

If your business requirements and your resources have undergone major change since your original implementation, it is time to take a look at your ERP system to see if it is being utilized properly. The Crossroads RMC Utilization Review is designed to work with your people to identify the best way to apply the powerful capabilities within the Manufacturing, Financial, Supply Chain, and Technical modules within the Infor LX software to best suit the needs of your business, not only today, but in years to come.

Manufacturing Data Master Files: Review content and use of data files to verify consistency with standard LX files and uses. Identify areas of concern and any implications for planning, shop floor control, costing, or other system applications.

Planning: Analyze the current flow of demand and supply data, to identify any missing or disconnected elements.

  • Demand Planning- Incorporation of forecast, distribution and customer demand into overall demand estimates
  • Master Scheduling- Finished goods planning and planning of major subassemblies
  • Material Requirements Planning- Planning of minor subassemblies and fabricated or purchased components and materials
  • Capacity Management- Comparison of available vs. required labor and/or machine capacity
  • Other site specific requirements

Shop Floor Scheduling and Control: Define and analyze current methods of communication and feedback between the shop floor and shop scheduling, as well as inventory control and accounting.

  • Shop order release and initial dispatch. Includes prior review of capacity and materials, as well as potential lot identification and assignment
  • Material allocation and issue. Includes several factors:
    • Potential for lot control and traceability, as well as implications to shop order material control, allocation, and issue
    • Material allocation and/or back-flushing options, including “point of use” and kitting
    • Material issue options
  • Shop order reporting:
    • Operation completions
    • Time reporting
  • Shop order completion and close
  • Other site specific requirements

Purchase of Manufacturing Components and Materials: Evaluate the ability of current purchasing procedures to support frequent changes and requirements in the production schedule.

Time-consuming processes around month-end close, year-end close, AP matching, invoicing, account reconciliation, vendor payments, tax compliance, and more can weigh down a Finance team. Your business and your customers’ needs have changed and you are in a constant battle to keep up. It's hard to know which area to tackle first and where the greatest impact can be made.

Financial Data Master Files: Review content and use of data files to verify consistency with standard LX files and uses. Identify areas of concern and any implications in the setup of Models and Events and the use of Reason Codes and Macroable Events, as well as other system applications and system parameters.

CEA: Analyze the current Ledger setup and the Financial Reporting Requirements, to identify any missing or disconnected elements including areas for improvement.

  • ATP (Advanced Transaction Processing)- Validate the integrity and completeness of all LX sub-systems, including Inventory and Costing. In addition, review customer specific requirements, organizational requirements, user specific setup, entry validation
  • BTP (Batch Transaction Processing)- Validate the integrity and completeness of all non LX sub-systems
  • General Accounting- Analyze and validate the closing process, including the Period Master and Events Processing

Vendor Transaction Management: Analyze the current flow of invoice data, to identify any missing or disconnected elements including areas for improvement.

  • 3 Way match- Customer specific requirements, organizational requirements, user specific setup, entry validation
  • Expense invoices- Analyze and validate the process
  • Recurring payments- Analyze and validate the process
  • Payment process- Analyze and validate the process
  • Other site specific requirements

Cash Management: Analyze the current flow of cash receipts data, to identify any missing or disconnected elements including areas for improvement.

  • Customer payments- Customer specific requirements, organizational requirements, user specific setup, entry validation
  • Write-off's- Analyze and validate the process
  • Credits and deductions: Analyze and validate the process

Supply Chain Data Master Files: Review content and use of data files to verify consistency with standard LX files and uses. Identify areas of concern and any implications for the order to invoicing business cycle as well as other system applications and system parameters.

Customer Order Management: Analyze the current flow of order data to identify any missing or disconnected elements including areas for improvement.

  • Order Processing- Customer specific requirements, organizational requirements, user specific setup, entry validation
  • Order Picking- Analyze and validate the process
  • Pick Confirmation- Analyze and validate the process
  • Ship Confirmation- Analyze and validate the process
  • Customer Drop Shipments- Validate setup and processing
  • Other site specific requirements

Resupply Order Management: Analyze the current flow of data to identify missing or disconnected elements.

  • Customer setup for warehouse relationships
  • Address Master setup
  • System parameters
  • Resupply specific transactional setup for inventory management as well as finance

Billing: Analyze the current flow of data to identify missing or disconnected elements including areas for improvement. Also, analyze and validate system parameters.

Promotions and Deals: Analyze and validate pricing strategy setup as it relates to Sales Order Processing, Accounts Receivable, Billing, CEA and Sales Analysis.

  • System parameter setup
  • Customer order processing for pricing
  • Validation and analysis of:
    • Customer Master
    • Pricing and promotion master files
    • Charge and allowance files

Inventory Management: Define and analyze current methods of communication and feedback between customer order management, as well as inventory control and accounting.

  • Material allocation and issue. Includes several factors:
    • Potential for lot control and traceability, as well as implications to customer order allocations
    • Material allocation requirements for customer orders
  • Other site specific requirements

Purchasing Management: Evaluate the ability of current purchasing procedures to support frequent changes and requirements in regards to customer order management.

Sales Analysis: Evaluate reporting requirements and insure that current setups can support these requirements.

Businesses across all industries rely on IT infrastructure, whether it be servers, ancillary equipment, or the communication that ties everything together. These systems are vital to your core processes, which is why an inopportune failure of any one of them is a cause for concern. Rather than being left to improvise when your critical support systems are not working when you need them the most, Crossroads RMC offers IBM i Infrastructure Performance Evaluation and Support. Through this offering, you’ll have the benefit of a complete system evaluation, a pre-established monitoring schedule and proactive evaluation and recommendation of system resources to ensure maximum uptime for your system.

Initial System Performance Assessment: Crossroads will document the current IBM i system configuration/topology. The deliverable from the evaluation will be a document that defines the current high-level system execution and sets the scope of the IBM i system that will be supported under the Agreement for the current term. A Crossroads consultant will access the system on a predetermined schedule set forth and mutually agreed upon by both parties as part of the engagement review.

  • Set up remote console for remote system access
  • System Admin:
    • PTF review and updates
    • User access
    • Save/Restore
    • Security
    • IPL – Monthly on a weekend or off hours
  • Monitor and advise on the following:
    • DASD & Memory utilization
    • System Error Messages
    • User Access Needs
    • Joblogs
    • Output Queues
    • Device Configurations
    • Communications
    • System Performance

Technical assistance via remote access (VPN or as otherwise mutually agreed) to resolve system issues. All activities will take place remotely.

Assistance with and recommendation(s) related to system administration for Client’s IBM i server.

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How can a Utilization Review help my company?

Your ERP system lies at the heart of your business. How it’s utilized is critical to operating a stable, well understood and effective business system. Crossroads RMC's consultants have helped 500+ Infor customers increase the return on their Infor ERP investment by utilizing proven processes to optimize your manufacturing systems through the most cost effective means possible.

My ERP has Fallen
& Can't Get Up

Aging ERPs can't support your business needs, lack flexibility, and can't integrate with up-to-date technology.

Upgrade & Implementation

Infor LX increases productivity and improves the efficiency of your enterprise's operations. Our team has developed best practices to improve the way your employees, resources and technology work together.

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No Clouds Here But
Still Lack Visibility

The last thing you want to risk is your relationship with customers and suppliers, but having poor visibility to your supply chain does just that.

Real-Time Visibility

With Infor LX, manufacturers can rely on real-time data to gain visibility into their shop floor operations to determine which areas are most impacted by performance. Infor LX can be implemented in the Cloud or on premise.

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Tired of Throwing
Money at Your ERP

An outdated ERP system costs more money to maintain than a modern ERP. Your competition is counting their money, and your stuck in the past. It's time to look to the future.

Infor LX - Modern ERP

Infor LX supports real transformation, and is aligned with today's business environment in which you and your competitors operate. Our team delivers on-time and on-budget!

Talk to a Consultant >

Does my ERP
Need an Upgrade?

Businesses relying on outdated systems are open to increased vulnerability, decreased productivity and a loss of competitive advantages.

ERP Utilization Review

It’s time to evaluate the functionality of your ERP system and how it supports your business initiatives. Newer ERP versions provide easy to implement workflows, and take your business to the next level with a cost-effective solution on premise or in the cloud.

Get started >

FAQs

Infor LX Utilization Review & Process Improvement Consulting

Typically 3-5 days including the post review write-up of findings.

Subject matter expert(s) from the area being reviewed. Time required is mostly for a pre and post review meeting and accessibility during the review to answer questions.

No, your system will not need to be down during the utilization review. Although the consultant will be reviewing data and settings in your production system, no changes will be made to the system without client approval. To illustrate/test best practices against client data, a test/dev system should be used. If a test/dev system is not available, our team of consultants have access to test environments on the Crossroads RMC's network to use for demonstration purposes.

If possible, make a test system available that is a duplicate of production, make sure subject matter expert(s) can be available when needed, identify objective for the review, secure VPN access for the consultant doing the review.

The consultant will create a post-assessment summary document detailing his/her findings and recommendations and will conduct a post review meeting to review the entire document with your team.

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  • "Crossroads RMC has been one of those rare discoveries. Competent people that care that they do a good job and have a good way of communicating without being demeaning. We hope to have Crossroads RMC on our backup team for years to come."


    Nidec Avtron ManufacturingDirector of QA & MIS




  • "We are very happy with the results and by all accounts the project is a success. Crossroads RMC continues to deliver extremely knowledgeable consultants and project management. We simply wouldn't have made it without them. It continues to be a pleasure working with Crossroads RMC."


    Brandt Agricultural Products LtdIS Manager



  • "Crossroads RMC was instrumental in assisting us with upgrading our LN system from 10.2 to 10.6. We had a few security obstacles that we had to work around and a short time frame in which to complete the project, but Crossroad was quick to resolved the issues to get the new system online. They were integral part of our success."

    HunterDouglasIT Specialist


  • "FSB North America Inc. had a desperate need for inventory control capabilities in conjunction with our Infor ERP LN deployment. Crossroads RMC not only had a solution, but also a deployment process that was simple, patient and knowledgeable. We are extremely happy with the Crossroads RMC Data Collection solution (Web Collect) and have seen our efficiency increase significantly. Crossroads RMC completed the project on time and on budget. We are happy to have chosen them for this project."

    FSB North America Inc.Warehouse Operations & IT Manager



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    RHI MagnesitaIT Manager


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    "The recent BPCS work completed by Crossroads RMC was the most satisfying consulting project I have been involved with over my 20 year career, some of that having been a consultant myself. Hugh Carty and Luis Diaz are both very competent and efficient technically but also, importantly, respectful and courteous to all employees with whom they worked. They are what a consultant should be. Should the need arise again we will certainly hope to obtain their services."


    Central Wire IndustriesIT Director


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    "Crossroads RMC has a highly responsive Director of their IBM i Group in Frank Petrasio. During our implementation of Infor’s ERP LX, we needed additional assistance beyond what Infor could directly provide. Another consultant that I trusted and respected suggested that I contact Frank. The short version of the story is “I did and I’m pleased with the results”. I used resources recommended and assigned by Frank who were both 3rd party and direct employees in the areas of EDI, OLM, Finance, and general programming during our conversion and go-live. Post go-live, I was searching for assistance with the possibility of implementing the ECC (Engineering Change Control) module of LX. I again reached out to Frank for a resource and had the opportunity to work with a consultant who knew more about ECC than anybody else I could find from any company. Overall, I would say that my experience with Frank, his company and their resources could be summed up like this: “I found a Director who understands responsiveness, works diligently to provide quality resources, met some amazing consultants and got some amazing results.” If you have need of IBM i services, contact Crossroads RMC and speak with Frank Petrasio. I believe you’ll be as happy as I have been."


    Peterson Manufacturing Company Corporate Director of IT


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    "We sought out Crossroads RMC to be our main source of service on our aging ERP system that is becoming more difficult to maintain internally. Every task, request and email has been answered with accuracy and professionalism. We look forward to continuing our relationship with Crossroads RMC and consider them a valuable partner to our support team."

    Western Industries Plastics Products LLCIT Manager


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    "Our upgrade from BPCS 6.1 to LX 8.3 was greatly aided by Crossroads RMC. Their extensive knowledge of the financial system was a saving grace for us since we had a system that was setup over 15 years ago by people no longer in the company. The patience and professionalism of Hugh Carty made the transition much less complicated and frustrating. There is no doubt in my mind that it would have taken a much longer period and a substantially more painful path if it was not for Crossroads RMC bending over backwards to accommodate our processes and time constraints. Crossroads RMC was also able to help us with AS400 technical training, MRP production system design and pricing using Promotions and Deals. This large swath of knowledge was very helpful in management discussions. Thanks to the Crossroads RMC team and in particular Hugh Carty, Yupo was able to bring this implementation under budget and on time."


    Yupo Corporation USAIT Manager


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    "Crossroads RMC has been a valued and trusted technology partner for a decade. The Crossroads RMC consulting and technical teams have enabled Mohawk to achieve the maximum benefits of our BPCS enterprise resource planning implementation. Crossroads RMC is responsive to all of our consulting and technical requirements ranging from daily operational issues to large-scale systems integration projects. Recently, Crossroads RMC supported the design and implementation of a highly successful eBusiness project to integrate our customers, banking institutions, and third- party warehouses to our enterprise-systems. Mohawk will continue to partner with Crossroads RMC to leverage information technologies, to maintain a competitive edge and to remain the largest manufacturer of premium printing, writing and imaging papers in the country."

    Mohawk Fine PapersDirector, Business Process Management & Information Technology


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    "Crossroads RMC supported us in our corporate pursuit of “Excellence of Finance”. They helped us reduced the mundane day-to-day tedious functions in Finance by building automated reconciliations and interfaces that allow us to provide our financial statements to our shareholders in much less time on a monthly basis."


    Sandvik Materials TechnologyCIO SMT Americas


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    "Regarding ION development work / interface to EAM. Tim Baker completed every task in a timely manner and was very easy to work with. I feel the value of Tim’s work is exceptional and I would recommend his services to any company that is looking for a competent project developer / coder. I truly believe that Tim’s skill set is one of the best values for the dollar of any consultant I have worked with on any Infor product. Thanks and I look forward to future projects with Crossroads RMC."


    Yupo Corporation USAIT Manager