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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

Manufacturing: How much time are you wasting on manual processes?

Crossroads RMC 0 27261 Article rating: 5.0

It tells us that there is a great need for a review of your manufacturing processes.

Manual processes around labor reporting, production completions, issuing of material, inspection approvals, serialization, and more can weigh down the entire shop floor team and can be the source of significant errors. Your business and your customers’ needs have changed and you are in a constant battle to keep up. It is hard to know which area to tackle first and where the greatest impact can be made.

That's where the Crossroads RMC Manufacturing Utilization Review comes in. Whether you're on an old version of BPCS or Baan, or the latest version of Infor LX or Infor LN, odds are there are aspects of Manufacturing / Production Control in the ERP system that doesn't fit your business's current strategy. Do you throw out the software and start with something new? Odds are that is overkill. Sometimes it just boils down to taking the time to understand how your current state matches up with your corporate strategy, understanding the gaps, and developing a plan to get you from point A to point B.

We have successfully helped companies transform their business in the areas of: 

  • Planning / Scheduling
  • Shop Floor Control
  • Final Assembly
  • Quality Control
  • Production Control
  • Forecasting
  • Work Centers / Routings / Bill of Materials

Our consultants have 30+ years of experience that bring about REAL...

The Best Baan IV | Baan V | Infor LN Financial Reports to Analyze Company Performance

Kathy Barthelt 0 30448 Article rating: 5.0

You know what data you need to analyze your company’s financial health, but sometimes it is a struggle to get that data in a format that is meaningful. Here are some reports in Baan IV, Baan V, and Infor LN which you may find useful.

As is the case with most ERP reports, with each version progression from Baan IV, to Baan V, to LN, there are improvements in selection criteria and report content. Some may require some setup and others may require some formatting if you would like to export them to Excel.  Contact me if you have questions or need assistance.

BAAN & LN FINANCE:

The Best BPCS | Infor LX Financial Reports to Analyze Company Performance

George Moroses 0 26201 Article rating: 5.0

You know what ERP data you need to analyze your company’s financial health, but sometimes it is a struggle to get that data in a format that is meaningful. Here are some reports in BPCS & Infor LX which you may find useful.

As is the case with most ERP reports, with each version progression from the earliest versions of BPCS to the latest version of Infor LX, there are improvements in selection criteria and report content. Some may require some setup and others may require some formatting if you would like to export them to Excel. Contact me if you have questions or need assistance.

BPCS & LX FINANCE:

Finance: How much time are you wasting on manual processes?

Crossroads RMC 0 27820 Article rating: 5.0

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.

That's where the Crossroads RMC Finance Utilization Review comes in.
Whether you're on an old version of BPCS or Baan, or the latest version of Infor LX or Infor LN, odds are there are aspects of Finance in the ERP system that doesn't fit your business's current strategy. Do you throw out the software and start with something new? Odds are that is overkill. Sometimes it just boils down to taking the time to understand how your current state matches up with your corporate strategy, understanding the gaps, and developing a plan to get you from point A to point B.

We have successfully helped companies transform their business in the areas of:

  • Procure to Pay
  • Record to Report
  • Quote to Cash
  • Financial Planning & Analysis

Our Finance consultants have 30+ years of experience that bring about REAL...

Analytics Dashboard Pre-configured views for Infor LX | BPCS | Infor LN | Baan | Infor M3

ERP Reports: Get EXACTLY what you need when you need it for as little as $125/user/month

Crossroads RMC 0 28731 Article rating: 5.0

Everyone understands the importance of ERP reporting, but what if you’re relying on the wrong reports?

Having access to ERP data in a usable format allows for a common understanding and the ability to take action based on what the data is telling you. What do you do if the way your data is presented is not useful, or flat out wrong?

How can your reports be wrong? That would mean that the data is wrong, wouldn’t it?
Not necessarily. Reports are wrong because they are stagnant. They represent the truth ONLY at the moment they are run. If that data is shared with others within your organization, the information the report(s) is trying to convey has already changed. Decisions are then made on bad information.

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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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Tips: LN | Baan

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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