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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

Improve Profit and Cut Costs at the Same Time

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Want to Improve Profit and Cut Costs at the Same Time?

“Real-time executives averaged a 14% improvement in operating cash flow and achieved a 6% reduction in operating costs” According to the Aberdeen Group.

So, how do you accomplish this great feat? By streaming real-time data to the executives.

The need for visibility into what is happening in the trenches, and the comprehensive understanding of key metrics and their implications for overall performance, are critical for an organization to be at the “top of their game”.   read full article>

Learn how Crossroads RMC can provide for this data streaming with Analytics Dashboards.

Industry News: How Small and Mid-Sized Manufacturers Can Harness the Transformative Power of Technology…

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Industry-Specific Technology Changes the Game:

"One of the most significant changes has been the development of software and enterprise-wide technology that is designed to specifically meet the needs of particular industries. This has multiple advantages. The technology doesn’t have to be “over-configured” to be functional; the functionality is built-in. It can also be deployed quickly and cost-effectively, with less effort and less risk." Industry Week Article by Kelly McGowan, American Securities.

 

Crossroads RMC has software that has been built specifically for your industry. Learn how Analytics Dashboard can improve your efficiency, productivity, and quality while driving down costs.

Industry News: Technology - The Secret Life of the American Factory

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New Data: New Fruit…that’s the promise of finding new data sitting right there under your nose on the factory floor.

Doug Woods, president of the Association for Manufacturing Technology and MTConnect champion says it this way:
"At the end of the day," he explains, "after you've invested in hardware and machines, at some point it all comes down to how do you wring the maximum amount of productivity out of them? How do you get the ultimate efficiency out of the facility?" The only way to be confident you're doing that, he says, is to really understand what is going on with all of the equipment in the factory all of the time. And that, he says, comes down to having "really good data." 

Read Full Article>

Discover How Crossroads RMC can meet this need with Analytics Dashboard.

Baan/LN Tip of the Week: Project Templates

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Project templates are useful because you can specify all of the information that you would normally want to include when creating a new project such as project structure, budget, and so on.

In Baan IV/V, project templates do not exist, but you can set up a project template by creating a regular project, and setting the status to simulated or free. This is done so that the project does not create plans. Under this scenario, you can easily copy one project to another.

In LN, when you create a new project, a template can be used as the starting point. This is similar to copying a normal project, but unlike normal projects, no costs or revenues can be posted on a template.

BPCS/LX Tip of the Week: Work Center - Cells

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The LMP module (Lean Manufacturing Process) uses work centers but refers to them as production cells.

A cell is one or more work centers that produces an end item. So when a company decides to adopt the lean manufacturing philosophy, the concept of work centers takes on a new meaning.

In lean terms, the work center, or group of work centers, becomes a production cell. In other words, a mini-factory producing end items with similar characteristics.

BPCS/LX Tip of the Week: The Machine Master Part 2

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Understanding:

The Machine Master File

Do your machines have a fixed asset tag? The machine master file has a field called Fixed Asset.

BPCS does not use this field, so you can use this field for anything. You can record your fixed asset tag in this field and use the effective date. You can create a custom fixed asset list by using a DFU or Query program.

Baan/LN Tip of the Week: Business Partner Structures

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In ERP LN, users can define a distributed business partner organization by defining parent business partners to link the business partners with different roles.

In Baan IV, users can define a distributed business partner organization in the Maintain Concern Structure of Trade Relations (tccom3101m000) session.

Harsco Rail Goes Live With the RMC3 Data Collection Solution

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Harsco Rail, an industry leader in the railway track maintenance, has completed the first phase of their implementation of the Crossroads RMC Data Collection Solution for Baan V. The initial implementation included receiving and putaway. Harsco’s data collection project manager reports, “When I ask them (the users) how it’s going, they smile. I have had nothing but very positive feedback. It’s been very uplifting for me to work on this project and have it so well received.” The next phase of the implementation will include Report Operations Complete, Inventory Transfers, and Stock Inquiry.

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Tips:  LX | BPCS | M3

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.

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.

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Kathy Barthelt

Infor LN & Baan Manufacturing Tip: Performance Problems in Generate Order Planning (cprrp1210m000)

When the Generate Order Planning (cprrp1210m000) session is run it can take minutes to days to finish the process.

The performance of this session depends on many settings, like the number of plan items, the number of orders, but it also depends on hardware and database setup.

Here are some guidelines on how performance can be improved.

  • Be sure you are always on the latest solutions with the planning sessions. We are constantly improving the software to gain more speed in the Enterprise Planning (EP) sessions.
  • The number of planned items is critical. Try to reduce the number of planned items. Is it necessary that all items be planned via EP? For shop floor stock the TPOP or SIC replenish systems are often more suitable.
  • When you use PCS, be sure to close the projects when they are finished. When a PCS project has status Closed, the customized items will not be planned.

It's better to run Remove Plan Items for closed Projects (cprpd1220m000). This session removes the item planning data for customized items of closed projects.

  • If you run EP with the option, Also Generate Item Master Plan and/or Online Update Item Master Plan, consider if you need an Item Master Plan for all plan items. An Item Master Plan is usually meant for global long-term planning. Again this is not very useful for shop floor stock. Reducing the number of master-planned items improves performance.
  • When you use Resource Master Plans; are all your resources really critical? If a work center is not critical do not create a Resource Master Plan for it.
  • When using Item Master Plans and/or Resource Master Plans, set in Scenarios (cprpd4100m000) the total scenario length as short as possible. For example, if your sales order horizon is 2 years, a scenario end date which is 3 years after the current date is sufficient. During the calculations of the Item Master Plan and the Resource Master, all periods defined in the scenario are checked and calculated. So if you have the end date of the scenario on 2038, EP will do the calculations (for every master-planned item) until 2038.

Defining a rolling scenario will keep your scenario length constant and you don’t have to worry that you run beyond your scenario's end date.

  • Updating the pegging relations has a serious impact on the EP performance. In EP Parameters (cprpd0100m000) you can set the Pegging Horizon in days. Keep this horizon as short as possible. The Update Signals by Item/Planner option also has some impact, but less than the pegging.
  • EP uses the so-called phase numbers to detect the lowest level in which an item is used within a BOM structure or in a supplying relation. If the phase numbers are not ‘up-to-date’, EP will correct the phase numbers during the planning. This takes time during the planning run. If there are loops in BOMs or in supplying relations, this recalculation has a big impact on the performance. Therefore you could run Compute Phase Numbers (cprpd6200m000) on a regular basis. For example once a month. Always run this session with the Generate Report option selected. If loops are detected these are reported. Be sure to solve all the reported errors.
  • When unexpected results occur, especially when the data is imported from external packages, always check the number of records in tables cprpd100 and cprpd120. The number of records should match! Remark: From 10.4 onwards the table cprpd120 has become obsolete so this point not applicable anymore.
  • The number of calendars also impacts planning performance. Then for every warehouse, work center, or BP, and so on, a different calendar is defined. Planning has to read all of these calendars from start to end. This can have a huge impact on performance.
    • If you link a calendar to a work center or warehouse, avoid defining a new calendar for every work center/warehouse. Try to link the same calendar to more than one department.
    • Define the start of the calendar close to the start date of the scenario. For example, the current date is 01-07-2014, the start date of the scenario is 365 days in the past. So a start date for your calendar could be 01-07-2012.
    • Define the end date of the calendar not too far in the future. Depending on the end date of the scenario you could use 5 years ahead.  For example, the current date is 01-07-2014, the end date of the scenario is 3 years in the future. So an end date for your calendar could be 01-07-2022. Do not define an end date past 19-01-2038, which is the last UTC date Infor LN can handle.

Also, the interaction with the database can have a big impact on performance. 
A commonly used way to improve the total run time of the EP run is to start the session in parallel processing. 
See also Knowledge Base Article 22881401 Performance, Tracing and tuning Guide, for more details.

These guidelines are just some hints, and a good starting point because performance is a complex issue.

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Kathy Barthelt

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