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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

1st Infor LN 10.7 Implementation for Crossroads RMC!

Kathy Barthelt 0 25171 Article rating: 5.0

We are proud to announce our first Infor LN 10.7 implementation in partnership with Infor Consulting Services for LOOP, Inc. (Louisiana Offshore Oil Port Services). As part of this project, Crossroads RMC will be providing Finance and Data Migration as well as Infor OS / Ming.le consulting services.

Learn More about Crossroads RMC Consulting Services and our knowledgeable Consultants!

Infor LN & Baan Tip of the Week: Credit Checks for Business Partners

Kathy Barthelt 0 39171 Article rating: 5.0

Did you know that you have several options for credit checks for your business partners?

Action-several options are available:

  • Always Hold (Credit)—the order will always be held until released
  • Never Hold (Credit)-the order will never be held
  • Check Credit—a credit check is performed at time of sales order entry, release to invoicing or at confirm shipment.  When this status is used, the check can be performed at one or all three steps.  The steps are only visible with this status.
  • Always Hold (Overdue Invoices)—the order will be held for overdue invoices until released.

Link the credit rating to the invoice to a business partner in the credit control session. You may also enter a credit limit. A credit limit of zero means unlimited credit.

The Security Model in IDF

Anthony Etzel 0 28228 Article rating: 5.0

By applying security to an object, you can control which users can view the object and which users can create, change, delete or copy the object.

Basic object security allows you to control who can display or maintain an object. Advanced object security allows you to control selectively who can create, change, delete, or copy an object.

In the basic model, all of the maintenance activities are permitted to those users who are authorized to maintain the object. Use the basic security model if you want a user who can change an object to also be able to create or delete the object. Use the advanced security model if you need to restrict some users to changing the object but not creating or deleting the object.

Upgrading from BPCS 6.1 to LX 8.3

Anthony Etzel 0 33073 Article rating: 5.0

It's always great to hear nice words from our customers!

"Our upgrade from BPCS 6.1 to LX 8.3 was greatly aided by Crossroads RMC. Their extensive knowledge of the financial system was a saving grace for us since we had a system that was set up over 15 years ago by people no longer in the company. The patience and professionalism of Hugh Carty made the transition much less complicated and frustrating. There is no doubt in my mind that it would have taken a much longer period and a substantially more painful path if it was not for Crossroads RMC bending over backward to accommodate our processes and time constraints.

Crossroads RMC was also able to help us with AS400 technical training, MRP production system design, and pricing using Promotions and Deals. This large swath of knowledge was very helpful in management discussions. Thanks to the Crossroads RMC team and in particular Hugh Carty, Yupo was able to bring this implementation under budget and on time."

Tim Knight — IS Manager, Yupo Corporation, USA

Learn More: Crossroads RMC Consulting Services

Infor LX & BPCS Tip of the Week: Partial Search in Item Description List

Anthony Etzel 0 30293 Article rating: 5.0

Previously, if a user performed a partial search for an item by using a double byte language, no matches were found. Regardless of whether the MLS module is used, this enhancement allows a user to use a double byte language to perform partial or full item description searches. This enhancement resolves an issue with partial searches on screens where the Item Master Lookup (WINIIM) screen is used, such as Material Status Inquiry, INV300D-01, Item Master Selection INV100D1-01, Facility Planning Selection, MRP140D1-01, and Purchasing Inquiry, PUR300D1).

The user selects the F4 prompt from these screens to open the Item Description List. In the prompt window, the user specifies option 10 to perform a partial or full search on an item description.

What does OTTO do that finite scheduling doesn’t?

Anthony Etzel 0 26817 Article rating: 5.0

Finite scheduling identifies what constraints need to be overcome and it provides the best schedule given the constraints. But the objective is not only to overcome or remove the constraint but to prevent the constraint from even occurring. Only people can anticipate and overcome current constraints, and this requires time for analysis and people to apply their knowledge to the data. OTTO removes the non-value-added tasks of extracting and manipulating data and provides visibility to support people in solving near-term, complex problems. 

Crossroads RMC welcomes MBL (USA) Corporation

Anthony Etzel 0 26006 Article rating: 5.0

Crossroads RMC welcomes MBL (USA) Corporation as our newest Data Collection and Warehouse Management client.

MBL (USA) Corporation, with headquarters located in Ottawa, Illinois, manufactures all types of V-Belts, V-Ribbed Belts, Timing Belts, and Variable Speed Belts for both original equipment and service parts in the automotive, recreational, and industrial markets. In addition to supplying North, Central and South America markets, products are exported to countries worldwide. Their corporate parent is Mitsuboshi Belting LTD located in Japan.

MBL (USA) Corporation’s objective was to improve inventory visibility, eliminate paperwork, and use a bar code scanning solution to manage warehouse inventory and eliminate the manual process for inventory warehouse transactions.

Our discovery was able to highlight improvements to streamline the process in the warehouse and improve inventory visibility. Crossroads RMC is a reseller and support partner for TouchPath Warehouse Management which is integrated to MBL (USA) Corporation’s ERP/LX software. TouchPath Warehouse Management provides the insight into your inventory and the warehouse management tools to help you increase customer satisfaction and reduce costs.

We are proud to have MBL (USA) Corporation as our newest client and look forward to being a strategic partner and support their company growth and success.

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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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