BPCS/LX Tip of the Week: Getting the Most Out of the Shop Order Inquiry Program – Part 2

Anthony Etzel / Tuesday, January 12, 2016 0 34972 Article rating: No rating

Understanding: How many hours remain in total and at each operation?

Now let’s look at what information is being supplied from the shop floor.

It’s not uncommon for transaction reporting to be captured manually on the shop packet that was issued to the factory floor when the SO was released.

The big question is, is anything done with the data? Is it collected and keyed to a spreadsheet and not shared, or is the transaction data keyed to SFC600? If it is being keyed, ask how often and by whom? Some companies use alternative methods to capture transaction data that do not require batch keying via a keyboard.

Not a lot of data is required to be keyed to SFC600 in order for the SO Inquiry to be useful. The data that should be reported for the transaction process is as follows:

The type of hours being reported – machine, run labor, setup labor
If reporting setup and run labor you want an employee clock number
The shop order and the operation that is being reported
Is the operation complete
How many good were produced at this operation
How many hours – the numbers of hours are critical. Do the employees estimate how many hours they worked, or do they track actual time started and stopped in order to calculate the actual number of hours.

Based on what is captured and how often will have an impact on the SO inquiry screen. Understanding the batch times as to when the transactions are keyed will provide you with the window as to the SO status at that point in time. Or, are they keyed as they happen in a near real time fashion so that you can have a more current view of the factory floor.

Baan/LN Tip of the Week: ERP Setup - Pros & Cons

Kathy Barthelt / Tuesday, January 12, 2016 0 44714 Article rating: No rating

You may have started your setup of your ERP system one way, and have discovered over time that maybe it no longer fits how you need to do business. Here are some pros/cons to consider for a Single Finance / Multi-Logistic setup.

Pros

All accounting functions are centralized into one company. One balance sheet is generated – even though multiple logistics sites are involved. Income statements can be generated by logistic company via use of a Dimension to represent the logistic company.

Allows logistical functions to be decentralized within one legal entity – if this is what is desired.

Logistics data not visible across companies – pro if you do not want users to see other company’s data.

Cons

Top Losses in Manufacturing

SuperUser Account / Monday, January 11, 2016 0 0 Article rating: No rating

Crossroads RMC Maintains Preferred Partner Status With Honeywell / Intermec for 2016

Crossroads RMC / Wednesday, January 6, 2016 0 30384 Article rating: No rating

Honeywell has renewed Crossroads RMC’s Silver Level status in their Performance Partner Program for 2016. This recognition provides Crossroads RMC with the authorization to resell Honeywell/Intermec mobile computing products at a substantial discount, thereby allowing Crossroads’ customers to take advantage of that discount as well.

Crossroads works closely with the Honeywell /Intermec engineering group to provide the best hardware offerings at a good price point for manufacturers across North America.

BPCS/LX Tip of the Week: Getting the Most Out of the Shop Order Inquiry Program – Part 1

Anthony Etzel / Wednesday, January 6, 2016 0 36925 Article rating: No rating

Understanding: How many hours remain in total and at each operation?

First let’s look at some key BPCS Master File data starting with the routing file.

How many routing steps (operations) are set up that reflect how the product is produced in the factory? If you take a short cut and set up only one operation for the entire process, then you will limit the information seen on the SO inquiry program. Set up the operation steps to reflect what you want to report back to from the factory floor.

Will each of the routing steps run in one work center, or in different work centers? To keep it simple you may want to set up work centers as departments. For example:

Assembly
Machine
Paint
Etc.

For each operation setup consider how you have set up the following:

Load Codes – for example a code 5 is used if reporting both setup time and run labor time. These codes are maintained in the work center file
Basis Code – typical codes are P for pieces per hour, 3 is used for hours per 1,000 pieces
Setup hours – if you set them up, you also want to report them
Run hours – Direct Labor
Machine hours

How you set up th

Baan/LN Tip of the Week: ERP Setup - Pros & Cons

Kathy Barthelt / Wednesday, January 6, 2016 0 48427 Article rating: No rating

You may have started your setup of your ERP system one way, and have discovered over time that maybe it no longer fits how you need to do business. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be providing some pros/cons to consider for different company setups.

Pros/Cons of Single Finance / Single Logistic Company Set-Up

Pros

Easy to implement and to maintain.

No risk of processing data for another company.

Data not visible across companies – pro if you do not want users to see other company’s data.

Cost Prices can be different for the same item in the different logistics companies.

Easy to add or remove companies when companies are bought or sold.

Accounting functions are all separate by company. – Pro if each finance company is managed separately.

Cons

Decentralized operations – purchasing, sales, manufacturing, planning, warehousing, etc.

User must go in and out of companies if there is a need to view or create transactions in more than one company.

6 Manufacturing Trends to Watch Out for in 2016

SuperUser Account / Wednesday, January 6, 2016 0 0 Article rating: No rating

It’s NOT All About the Money, Money, Money… Motivating Employees in the New Year!

Kathy Barthelt / Tuesday, January 5, 2016 0 33487 Article rating: 5.0

Have you ever thought about what really motivates your employees?

It’s not about the almighty dollar, you know. Ok, ok…..money doesn’t hurt, but money alone doesn’t keep most people in their jobs. You actually need to motivate your employees to keep them showing up, mentally, and physically. Employees that don’t feel motivated are probably underperforming, and that means you’re losing money.

Ask yourself these questions about your employees:

Are they happy…..YES….HAPPY! Do they enjoy coming to work every day?
Do they feel challenged, or do they feel demeaned?
Are they sinking, or are they swimming?
Do they have the right tools in their arsenal to battle the giants?
Where’s the reward?

Happiness - I’ve worked with manufacturers for almost 20 years now...

RSS

First Previous 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 Next Last

Theme picker

Tips: LX | BPCS | M3

12Nov2024

Infor LX/BPCS Tips & Tricks for EXECUTIVES

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

TECHNOLOGY: Facility Security Ranges

Previously, a user could 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 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 completes the cost transfer process.

FINANCE: Expiration Date for Quotes and RMAs

A Cancel-by-Date has been added to the Quote Header and RMA Header panels. This optional field can limit how long a quote or authorization to return items for credit is valid.

For quotes, this enhancement provides an optional end date for the quote. For RMAs, it provides an optional date by which the customer must return the items to receive the credit listed on the RMA.

The Cancel-By-Date prints on the Order Acknowledgement and RMA Acknowledgement to inform the customer of this important limitation to the quote or return authorization.

An Order Entry user cannot copy the quote to create a new order if the Cancel By Date has caused the quote to expire.

OPERATIONS: Default Split Salesperson to Customer Orders

Sales commissions are based on combinations of the Primary, Split, and Line-Level salesperson and the commission codes defined for the customer and item. You can now define the Split Salesperson in the same master files as the Primary Salesperson. While the Primary Salesperson is mandatory, the Split Salesperson is optional. It defaults during Order Create using the identical hierarchy as Primary Salesperson. Using Split Salesperson provides more flexibility in the calculation of sales commissions. The ability to define a default Split Salesperson improves the accuracy of sales commission qualification and calculation and reduces maintenance and adjustments necessitated by corrections.

12Nov2024

Infor LX/BPCS Tips & Tricks for TECHNOLOGY: Facility Security Ranges

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next Last

Theme picker

Tips: LN | Baan

Crossroads RMC / Wednesday, April 13, 2022

/ Categories: Because I Care, Analytics Dashboard

Dashboards vs. Reports – What do they offer and which do I need?

Companies are collecting oceans of data, and struggle with transforming it into usable information. Most businesses focus on two methods of sharing data - the report and the dashboard. While these two terms mean many things to many people, it is important to understand what these terms mean and how the report and dashboard have similar features but they are not the same thing.

What is a Report?

A report is meant to be used to gather detailed intelligence on the operations within an organization, thus a report can be either very broadly covering a wide scope of related information, or narrowly focusing on details of a single item, purpose, or event. All of this information, while presented in a report, is meant to be a snapshot in time.

Quite often, a report is built within the ERP system itself and often is constrained by the graphical and user limitations within the ERP. More often than not, large amounts of data are exported to Excel where added features allow for better manipulation of the data to a format that is digestible by users. Regardless, the data is only valid for that moment and time.

What is a Dashboard?

A dashboard is a graphical interface that provides at-a-glance views revolving around answering a central question. For example, an executive may ask you for up-to-the-minute details on "how the business is doing?". The answer to that question is as complex as the organizational structure of the company, but it is probably very simply measured with approximately 10 metrics. Those 10 metrics can likely be analyzed in chart form, and can and should be combined into one chart when the numbers are relatable or are on a similar scale. All these things should be considered when building a dashboard.

Dashboards, similar to the one in your vehicle, display critical data. Imagine driving down the road and having to push a bunch of buttons to find out how much fuel you have left, or having to pull over and pop the hood to check the oil pressure. It would be dangerous and a waste of your precious time. Your car's control panel or dashboard displays the most crucial information in an easy-to-use, graphical way.

How do Dashboards and Reports differ?

First, a report contains much more detailed information. Where a dashboard might provide a CEO with information on how the entire company’s sales are progressing, a corresponding report will give the CFO or VP of Sales the ability to see how each sales region or even salesperson is performing and make leadership decisions. Just like responsibility, data will get more granular as the organizational hierarchy goes down. The C-Suite might be interested in the detailed data, but for seeing a snapshot of high-level information, the dashboard is the desired mode.

Second, a report is much longer than a dashboard. Not only in the amount of detail but also visually. Tables and charts that live within a report can take up many pages. Furthermore, a report will likely require the reader to scroll through many screens or click from page to page.

A dashboard should confine its display to a single screen with no need for scrolling or switching among multiple screens. Something powerful happens when we see things together, all within eye span. Likewise, something critical is compromised when we lose sight of some data by scrolling or switching to another screen to see other data.

When an individual dashboard has so much information on it that scrolling is required, the power of the dashboard is diminished because the information that lives there is intended to be viewed together. Each piece of information on the dashboard is meant to give the reader the ability to answer part of the central question of the dashboard. These charts combine to answer the question, so if the reader can’t see them together, making them work together is much more difficult.

To sum it up, a report is a more detailed collection of tables, charts, and graphs and it is used for a much more detailed, full analysis while a dashboard is used for monitoring what is going on. The behavior of the pieces that make up dashboards and reports are similar, but their makeup itself is different. A dashboard answers a question in a single view and a report provides information. Put in another way, the report can provide a more detailed view of the information that is presented on a dashboard.

With dashboards, you can empower your entire team with data insights in real-time information, so your data is never stale. Users can create and share custom views of your data on the fly, in minutes.

With powerful Dashboards, you can:

Create pie charts, graphs, interactive maps, and more with just a few clicks.
Build a dashboard once and make it instantly available on any device.
Tell a story with your data with your own custom layouts, colors, and commentary—all with no coding and changes available instantly to users.
Know you always have current reports with real-time data updates.
Access your dashboards from anywhere–computer, tablet, or phone.