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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

Infor News You Can Use: Discover the Power of Advanced Planning & Scheduling with industry expert Greg Keating

Kathy Barthelt 0 4581 Article rating: 5.0

CloudSuite® Industrial APS - Effective Planning & Scheduling

Learn what it is, how it works, and how it can transform your manufacturing operations.

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Presented by

Greg Keating, Senior Solution Consultant, Infor

About this talk

Bring the future into closer focus If you are like most manufacturers today, managing your planning and scheduling resources has become a major challenge. The disrupted supply chain, workforce availability, equipment capacity, sporadic market demand, and changing customer expectations all contribute to the complexities of planning. Having the right resources available is essential for keeping production flowing and ensuring customers receive orders on time. In this session we will focus on Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) capabilities within CloudSuite Industrial. Our Infor expert will share: - What APS is, how it varies from traditional Manufacturing Resource Planning and the difference between Planning and Scheduling within CSI. - The basic configuration requirements needed to effectively utilize APS and available-to-promise/capable-to-promise (ATP/CTP) functionality. We'll also look at the key differences between these solutions - Examples of advanced applications that help identify accurate and reliable commitment dates.

Watch now On-Demand >

Infor On-Demand: 67min talk

Bring New Life to Your Infor LN & Baan ERP System

Kathy Barthelt 0 4021 Article rating: 5.0

Bring New Life to Your ERP System

Did you implement your ERP system 5 or 20 years ago? Back then, it was like a brand-new car—sleek, fast, and efficient. It may have needed minor adjustments, but you were very pleased. Fast forward to today, does it still have that new car smell? Does it run as efficiently as it used to?

While ERP systems are designed to last, your business evolves. Customer needs change, employees come and go, and you are left with a system that may run “fine” but lacks its original spark.

GOOD NEWS: You can restore that “new car smell” with a utilization, or business process review.

What is a Utilization or Business Process Review?

Our consultants review your Infor ERP system's current usage and related business processes to make recommendations that reinvigorate your system and its users.

Does My Organization Need One?

While every company could benefit, it's especially worthwhile if you have a specific problem to solve or a goal to achieve.

Financial Benefits Include:
Technology Benefits Include:

Join Us at inPOWER 2024!

George Moroses 0 4935 Article rating: 5.0

We are excited to invite you to the Infor user group inPower event this September 23-26, 2024.

As a Gold Sponsor, Crossroads RMC is proud to support this premier event. Here are some reasons you should attend:

  • Networking: Connect with peers and industry experts.
  • Product Updates: Discover the latest features and future roadmaps.
  • Training: Participate in hands-on workshops and expert-led sessions.
  • Problem Solving: Learn from other users’ success stories.
  • Influence: Provide feedback to Infor’s product development teams.
  • ROI: Gain insights on maximizing your Infor investments.
  • Community: Engage with special interest groups and regional user communities.

This event is a great opportunity to enhance your knowledge, solve challenges, and optimize your use of Infor solutions. Don't miss out!

What's in it for me?

inPower has something for everyone!

Technology:
Operations:
Finance:
Executives:

Infor LX/BPCS Tips & Tricks for EXECUTIVES:

George Moroses 0 6195 Article rating: 5.0

FINANCE: Default Billing Reason Code from User Order Class
This enhancement allows users to define a Default Billing Reason Code by User Order Class in addition to the Base Order Class. User Order Classes provide configurability for order processing events and the documents to be printed during those events. This enhancement allows users to configure different Billing Reason Codes for each User Order Class. If no specific code is defined, the system will default to the Billing Reason Code set up for the Base Order Class.

TECHNOLOGY:  Security Manager
New LX security type "M" for an LX Security Manager. Authority is similar to that of an LX Security Office (type "S"), but without the automatic authority to execute every LX program, and without the authority to change the authorizations of Security Officers and Security Managers. Users defined as LX security managers have authority to maintain security information for users other than themselves, but are only allowed to access regular LX programs if granted authority by an LX security officer.

OPERATIONS: Track all order holds added & released
Enhancement: Order Hold Audit Functionality
This enhancement introduces an audit file to track all holds added or released for customer orders. The audit file includes details for various types of holds: credit hold, margin hold, customer hold, user hold, and credit card hold. All applications that add or release a hold now write an audit record, capturing the user, date, time, and program associated with each hold action.

A new IDF Order Hold Audit Inquiry application allows users to review holds based on various criteria:

  • Hold type
  • User
  • Specific order
  • Transactions for a customer within a date range
  • Other combinations

Additionally, the selected data can be printed if desired.

Infor LX/BPCS Tips & Tricks for TECHNOLOGY: Security Manager

George Moroses 0 4691 Article rating: 5.0

New LX security type "M" for an LX Security Manager. Authority is similar to that of an LX Security Office (type "S"), but without the automatic authority to execute every LX program, and without the authority to change the authorizations of Security Officers and Security Managers. Users defined as LX security managers have authority to maintain security information for users other than themselves but are only allowed to access regular LX programs if granted authority by an LX security officer.

VJES (Visual Job Execution Software) for Infor LN & Baan

Kathy Barthelt 0 5221 Article rating: 5.0

​Every manufacturer relies on a few core metrics to manage operations: efficiency, productivity, capacity, and labor and equipment utilization. These benchmarks are used worldwide to assess performance and process effectiveness.

What if you could integrate quality control into every operation at every work center to ensure high-quality finished goods and simultaneously train high-quality operators? Manufacturing quality can be achieved using documented, repeatable, and measurable processes.

Introducing Crossroads RMC's ERP-independent solution, VJES (Visual Job Execution Software). VJES is an electronic work instruction interface that bridges engineering and the paperless manufacturing floor. VJES ensures that only one version of the work instructions is available—the correct one. By deploying up-to-date, visually rich work instructions, images, and videos, VJES provides personnel the best opportunity to build it right the first time and tracks worker productivity throughout the build process.

VJES achieves RESULTS:

  • Turn new hire welders into specialized welders in 2 weeks
  • Improve quality scores from 68/100 to 93/100 in 12 months
  • Reduce employee training time from 1 week to 3 days within the first month of use
  • Maintain a first-pass yield percentage of 100% for 8 consecutive months this year
  • Incorporate a quality cell after productivity increases due to the bandwidth gained from adopting VJES
     

Contact us to learn more, or Request a Demo today!

800.762.2077

Infor LN & Baan Tips & Tricks for FINANCE: Integration Transactions - Compression

Kathy Barthelt 0 5713 Article rating: 5.0

Compression

Integration transactions can be compressed before they are posted. For each integration document type, you can indicate whether the debit transactions and/or the credit transactions must be compressed.

Transactions can be compressed if the following transaction details have the same value:

  • The source financial company.
  • The destination financial company.
  • The transaction type and series.
  • The ledger account and dimensions.
  • The transaction currency.
  • The fiscal year and the financial period, the tax period, and the reporting period.
  • The integration document type and the Debit/Credit indicator.
  • If related gain and loss transactions are generated, the same compression criteria are used to compress these.

Note: Intergroup transactions are not compressed.

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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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