Please Wait a Moment
X

Infor LX Tips, Infor LN Tips, BPCS Tips, Baan Tips, Infor M3 Tips & Infor ERP News

Crossroads Connections

Infor ERP Tips & News from the Experts

Infor LX | Infor LN | BPCS | Baan | Infor M3

Why should I automate my processes?

LN & Baan

Kathy Barthelt 0 29140 Article rating: 5.0

The truth of the matter is that automation is a necessity in order to stay competitive in today’s marketplace. The demand to do more with less is ever present. Automating your processes can give you the competitive advantage you’ve been looking for.

Basic automation tools also help manufacturers track performance, such as cycle times, and order-to-delivery times, so that they can measure improvements. This tracking ability provides a historical record, as well as analytics that can be used to predict future needs. With this information, manufacturers can keep a close eye on trends in production orders, and use them to identify seasonal and customer buying trends and triggers. This insight can be helpful in planning for needed resources—from personnel to raw materials.

Read more > Manufacturing Industry Perspectives - Shop floor automation: A necessity for competitive manufacturing

Contact Kathy Barthelt today to discuss how Crossroads RMC can help you automate your processes and propel your business beyond the competition.

 

Infor LN & Baan Tip of the Week: Inventory aging analysis report

Kathy Barthelt 0 42841 Article rating: 5.0

A new standard Inventory Aging report can be printed in the Perform Inventory Aging Analysis (whina1440m000) session. This report is mainly based on the physical incoming and outgoing inventory movements and transactions. The date of inventory consumption or issue is compared to the date of receipt. If inventory is not yet issued, a reference date is used for aging calculation.

The report includes this information:

• Which inventory items are not frequently used or are obsolete.

• How long items have been stored in a warehouse.

• Inventory and transaction values. This facilitates the financial auditing process.

To use this new feature, an inventory aging analysis definition must be available in the Inventory Aging Analysis Definition (whina1140m000) session.

What do you get with IDF?

Infor Development Framework

George Moroses 0 26719 Article rating: 5.0

What do you get with IDF?

With Infor Development Framework (IDF), you can configure your view of the application data without modifying the core application and its supportability. Included with IDF are several interfaces including:

• PowerLink – A Windows-based client for end users

• Link Manager – A Windows-based environment administration client for importing environments, starting and stopping environment, and installing Fix Patches.

• Net-Link – A browser-based client (used by LX when running with SiW)

• System-Link – A XML-based interface for processing transactions from external sources.

The IDF ISO includes several components:

• All of the above interfaces

• Enterprise Integrator – for customizing IDF components and creating new business objects

• EGLi – Enterprise General Ledger 

• CRMi – Customer Relationship Management 

If you already have IDF installed for Infor LX 8.3.x, then it must be upgraded to a level that is compatible with LX 8.4. IDF PTFs and Fix Patches are required. See the Infor LX IDF 06.03.05 Installation and Upgrade Guide for details.

OTTO Q&A from the Director of Planning & Technology at Champion Industries

George Moroses 0 23842 Article rating: 5.0

1.  How difficult is it to initially install OTTO?

Dead easy is the straight answer. We relied on you to install, and you installed in the predicted 1 hour.  

2.  Would you install it on a test system or on the production system?

Production system is another easy answer. I use OTTO as the ideal prototype when talking to business contacts about “add-on” products. It is non-invasive; it only reads data from our ERP files. I know the implementation is 100% safe because no ERP files are ever updated (read corrupted) by OTTO.

3.  How difficult was it to implement OTTO? Was there a negative impact on daily operations?

There is a learning curve involved in using any new tool that has value to add. OTTO implementation is very low on the impact scale, but I would strongly recommend that a prospective client plan on investing in education and practice. OTTO implementation is low impact. No valuable tool is “no impact”.

Click here to learn more about OTTO

Is the Crossroads Analytics Dashboard Product Better than Spreadsheets?

Crossroads RMC 0 30832 Article rating: 5.0

You bet it is!

The Analytics Dashboard allows you to take your data and configure it any way you’d like, all without touching your ERP system! 

Any number of reports can be generated with just a few mouse clicks. In addition, full color graphs are automatically generated to illustrate the data being presented. Paper reports and Excel spreadsheets are dated. With Analytics Dashboard, data is refreshed at the touch of a button. 

Analytics Dashboard for Infor LN & Baan >
Analytics Dashboard for Infor LN, BPCS, & M3 >

MES News: Current trends indicate plants and factories are seeking to improve...

George Moroses 0 30577 Article rating: 5.0

Current trends indicate plants and factories are seeking to improve internal flexibility, implement a common information platform, and deliver real-time information. MES supports a variety of lean concepts on the plant floor, including kanban, waste reduction, load balancing, etc.  It maximizes your existing investment in your ERP system while embracing lean initiatives.  Visit our Crossroads MES page to learn more.

Infor LX & BPCS Tip of the Week: Purge optional during Month/Period End - LX 8.4

George Moroses 0 33553 Article rating: 5.0

For various month/period end programs, the purge function is now optional.

Scope:

INV903, Inventory Month End Close, optionally purges both inventory records as well as customer invoices. Some applications already have a flag or option for purging (for example, ACP900) and other applications are stand-alone. If you do not want to purge, do not run these programs: Order Purge and Close, ORD900, Close Quotes, ORD930, and Delete RMAs, ORD935. Now there are options on whether to purge records during the month end or period end programs.

The Benefits include:

• Flag or option added to allow the user to decide whether to perform month-end function with or without purge.

• Allows for month-end processing without purge.

• Improves efficiency of month-end processing.

Impact:

This enhancement includes these programs or areas:

• INV903, Inventory Month End Close

• ACR900, A/R Period Close

• CST900, PRF900, SFC900 Shop Order Close

• PUR900, Purchasing Month End Close
RSS
First5051525355575859Last

Theme picker

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.

12345678910Last

Theme picker

Tips: LN | Baan

Kathy Barthelt
/ Categories: Infor LN & Baan Tips

Infor LN & Baan Tip: Considerations for Release to Warehousing for a Cost Item

When there are two Cost Items, one with Release to Warehousing applied and the other with Release to Warehousing not applied, upon approval of the Sales Order, the Cost Item that is released to Warehousing will go straight to Staged status, pending Shipment confirmation, while the Cost Item that is not released to Warehousing will be up for Sales Deliveries.

Apart from this main difference in functionality between having and not having this option to release to Warehousing checked, there are other impacts to consider. Below is some information gathered from various KBs related to the impact of having release to Warehousing applied (or not). KBs used as reference are listed as “– REF: KB XYZ”. Editing the checkbox “Release to Warehousing” itself If there is a Sales Order (in status Free is enough) for a Cost Item, the check box is not editable. As soon as all the Sales Orders for which the Item is involved are Closed (or Canceled or Deleted) the check box becomes editable again. – REF: KB 1439313 & KB 1613780 Simultaneous/separate release to Warehousing with Physical Items In a scenario where a Cost Item (that is released to Warehousing) and a physical Item are released to Warehousing separately, then the shipment confirmation of each of these Items will occur separately. If they are released simultaneously, the shipment of the Cost Item will not be processed unless and until the physical Item is ready to be shipped. – REF: KB 1449001 Note: Ensure a Warehouse is added to Order Lines to ensure Release to Warehousing Activity is applicable. – REF: KB 2229767 Invoicing

To invoice them separately or together, factors to consider are:

  • Composing Criteria, a list of fields that need to match to have a single invoice created – REF: KB 717977
  • Invoicing Methods (tcmcs0555m000) in the General tab, select Combine, for example, Shipments, to combine different Shipments of the same Sales Order into one Invoice. This Invoicing Method is also defined in
  • Invoice-to role of a Business Partner (tccom4112s000) in the Invoicing tab. – REF: KB 812637
  • For a Return Order where a Cost Item and a Physical Item were originally invoiced together, to invoice them together again, consider using Original Document type = Invoice and link the original Invoice to the Return Order. – REF: KB 2072847 

Note: Consider solution in KB 2108605 if Composing Criteria is met, yet still Credit Notes are not combined for a Return Sales Order copied from original Sales Order for one Physical Item and one Cost Item without release to Warehousing. 

ASN ASN cannot be generated for Purchase Order Lines with Cost Item if not released to Warehousing. – REF: KB 1548301 & KB 2111341 Intercompany Trade Intercompany Trade can be applied for a Cost Item that is released to Warehousing, as Intercompany Trade needs a Warehouse and a Department. – REF: KB 2112430 Customs Value Cost Items that are released to Warehousing that are handled via normal Sales Order Lines are considered as delivered goods and will get the customs value assigned like other Items being subject to warehouse handling. Cost Items handled on Shipment Lines as "Additional Cost" are not considered as delivered goods but as pure costs. The customs value of these shipment lines gets defaulted with a zero amount and cannot be modified. The same applies to additional costs on sales order lines. – REF: KB 1600847 Freight  Cost Items cannot be used for Freight handling. – REF: KB 1830170 Additional Cost

  • For automatically generated Additional Costs in Sales Orders, Cost Items that are released to Warehousing are not released to Warehousing. This is because automatic Additional Costs are always generated with 0 quantity, therefore only the amount is filled for these Lines, which leads to the Delivery Type being set to Sales and not Warehouse. As a result, delivery must take place in Sales module. – REF: KB 1995781
  • For Additional Cost Lines added to Shipment for Cost Items, refer to KB 2236856.

Intrastat Record When using Cost Items without release to Warehousing, there is no shipping data within Invoicing. Therefore, the corresponding Intrastat record cannot be found during the printing of the Invoice. To get the Invoice data filled on the Intrastat record, Cost Items with release to warehousing should be used. Otherwise, session Update Intrastat Transactions with Invoicing Data (tccom7271m100) should be ran to update the Invoicing data in Intrastat. – REF: KB 2005482

Previous Article Infor LN & Baan Tip: What conditions must exist before changing an item's inventory unit?
Next Article Infor LN & Baan Tip: Cash Flow Functionality and Setup
Print
15508 Rate this article:
5.0
Kathy Barthelt

Kathy BartheltKathy Barthelt

Other posts by Kathy Barthelt

Theme picker

Contact author

x

Categories