Using an Office 365 SMTP Direct Send MX Endpoint for Lawson Business Intelligence

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When setting up an SMTP host and user email inbox for LBI and or Smart Notifications, you may want to consider using an MX (Mail Exchanger) Record for your next setup via direct send. This can not only save you on license costs, but also skip the need for setting up an inbox.

 

If you’re not a network admin and solely working within Lawson, you’ll need to reach out to one to setup the MX Record for you. You can also read up more on this topic here if needed.

 

Once setup, the network admin will send you an MX Endpoint URL similar looking to this: contoso-com.mail.protection.outlook.com

 

 

  1. Now in LBI go to Report Administrator
  2. Under Server Administrator >> Select Email and Printer Settings
  3. Under Device Type Tools >> Select Manage Device Types >> Select Email
  4. Copy the MX Endpoint into the Host field, the From address could be anything you prefer
  5. Now go to Smart Notifications (if needed).
  6. Select Admin >> under Settings >> Select Install Validator
  7. Under Field 16, select “Click here to modify”
  8. Enter same settings:
  9. Now run some smart notification and LBI tests to verify all is working. Make sure you check your junk mailbox. Good luck!

Scanned Invoices no longer displaying in Lawson Portal for MHC IXDrill

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There are a few common reasons why scanned invoices may stop showing up in Lawson Portal via MHC’s IXDrill.

 

Reason 1 – IXDrill is outdated on the user’s PC and may need a newer version (assuming auto-update is not enabled or working).

Reason 1 resolution: The server’s version of IXDrill may have updated, you’ll need to contact MHC or your organizations Windows IT support to get a newer version installed of MHC IXDrill

 

 

Reason 2 – Error: Cannot connect to ixQueryEngine Server

Reason 2 resolution: The server’s IXQueryEngine process may have crashed and your organizations local IT windows support may need to reboot it. Alternatively, the server may have migrated to a new virtual machine and the URL in your IXDrill settings will need to be updated.

 

 

Reason 3 – Incompatible or Outdated Browser

Reason 3 resolution: Contact MHC to get a compatibility matrix for browser supported with the version if IXDrill you’re currently using or contact your Lawson support team to verify the browser in use is also supported with Lawson Portal.

Resolving LBI Error: There are not any Rights on File for the requested User

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Lawson Business Intelligence has this common issue where users load up a report and get an error that they don’t have the proper rights to access a report setup with bursting. At first glance it appears they are all setup but are they?

 

Resolution:

  1. Login into LBI (must have admin rights) >> Tools >> Report Administration
  2. Go to Maintain Rights and filter down on the user that is having this issue:
  3. At this point it appears the user is setup correctly but there are two checks that need to be done.
    • Verify the report the user is accessing (assuming it’s a historical instance) was generated after the Start Date field, else change the Start Date to an earlier date to resolve.
    • Click on the blue green people icon to make sure the user’s bursting rights weren’t setup before the user synchronized into LBI from LSF.
  4. If you see the user is categorized as a (Custom Group), delete the users current rights.

Delete:

  1. LBI dashboard >> Tools >> Synchronize Users and Roles >> Click Synchronize
  2. Go back and create the users rights and verify the (Custom Group) is no longer displayed near their name.

Hope this was helpful, good luck!

Resolving Lawson IPA Error: Unable to lookup RMI object

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If you’re reviewing an Infor Process Automation log and notice the “Error: Unable to lookup RMI object rmi://localhost:16003/dbSecurity” or something similar firing on a FileAccess node, this means your bpm.ear config file got updated (possibly from an environment update) and needs to be fixed.

To resolve this, you’ll need to update the dbrmihostname field from “localhost” to the LSF server domain name in the bmp.ear file. See steps below.

 

To update the bpm.ear and bpm.war files follow the steps below:

  1. You must run the command from the same directory as where the bpm.ear file and bpm.war file exist:

cd %GENDIR%/assembly/products/bpm/jar

  1. Execute the perl script to rebuild the files, providing the new RMI port and hostname of your LSF machine:
    • perl %GENDIR%/bin/updateArchive.pl <RMI_PORT> <HOSTNAME>
    • Example: perl %GENDIR%/bin/updateArchive.pl 16003 lsfserver.domain.com
  2. Redeploy bpm.ear in WebSphere from the %GENDIR%/assembly/products/bpm/jar directory.
  3. Generate and Propagate the Plugin in WebSphere.
  4. Restart Process Flow.
  5. Restart the LSF WebSphere Application Server(s).
  6. Restart the web server.

Lawson PA100 Job Goes into Recovery due to On-Prem BSI License Expiring

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Problem – PA100 Job goes into recovery with similar error:

 “Error connecting to Taxfactory11 – THE PROVISIONAL LICENSE IS NOW EXPIRED.”

 

  1. To resolve this issue, login to your MyBSI account at https://mybsiconnect.force.com/login
  2. Go to your TaxFactory Tab on the Home Page
  3. Select Maintain Machine Key

  4. Click Add New Key >> Select Desired Version and enter Host Name where BSI is being hosted.
    1. Note: To verify current Host Name of license, open command prompt, change dir to where tf11lic.exe is located and type following command tf11lic -v

  5. One you enter the New Key Info, select the Request Server Key button
  6. You should now see your newly added Machine Key, click Save as File to download
  7. Copy the machinekey.lic file to the server where TF11 is installed and the tf11lic.exe is located
  8. In command prompt, cd to where tf11lic.exe is and type this command: tf11lic -i machinekey.lic

  9. Type tf11lic -v to validate if the license is valid.
  10. In Lawson portal, calculate a PR80 record to verify Lawson is connecting to BSI
  11. Connect to Lawson Interface Desktop >> jobschd >> recover PA100 job in recovery (or any other job that requires a valid BSI license that went into recovery)

 

That’s it! Good luck!

Microsoft Edge Browser redirects to Internet Explorer 11 instead of the Lawson Login Page

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If you’re using Microsoft Edge and trying to access Lawson but it’s redirecting you to an IE11 browser page with the error: “The request contained illegal input and was cancelled”, there is an easy solution to resolve this.

 

  1. This issue is caused by using a deprecated Legacy version of Microsoft edge instead of a new Microsoft Edge Chromium version.
  2. The best way to verify you’re using the correct browser, is comparing the Edge browser icons (see below)

Using the New Edge version should resolve this annoying redirect and get you into Lawson faster since IE11 is no longer supported.

 

Good luck!

How to verify if Lawson Payroll is working with BSI

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You may have installed a new BSI update/license or need to verify if it’s safe to run an update batch job.

 

An easy way to do this is to run a simple smoke test in PR80.

 

  1. Login to Lawson portal and go to PR80
  2. Start with a company, employee, bank code, and payment number
  3. Under the Time Records tab FC >> Add >> Pay Code 0001 >> Hours 80
  4. Go to Payment Tab >> Select a Payment Date >> Deduction Cycle 2
  5. Now click Calculate and wait for it to finish.
  6. You should be brough to a HR99.1 Messages form with warnings etc. This means everything ran and Payroll communicated with BSI.

NOTE: Remember that the parameters above may be different for your organization and most can be anything since we are simply testing to see if Payroll is communicating with BSI by doing a calculation. As long as we are selecting Calculate, nothing is being changed with the record.

 

Good luck!

How to Decommission Lawson

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When William Lawson, Richard Lawson, and John Cerullo founded Lawson Software in Minneapolis in 1975 they probably had no idea it would serve customers for nearly 1/2 a century. It has been a very impressive run that has created entire communities along the way. Whether you have been a user, an implementer, or somehow otherwise involved in the ecosystem, you have no doubt felt like you have been part of a community. As a consultant who started out with the Summit Group back in 1999 and later worked directly for Lawson software I have spent nearly every workday of the past 22 years working with Lawson. It is bittersweet therefore to be talking about this subject of decommissioning this brilliant application. With more and more customers migrating to CloudSuite applications and other ERP systems over the next few years, it makes sense now more than ever to begin planning the proper way to decommission the Lawson application.

The easy part of decommissioning is unplugging the servers. The hard part is to figure out a plan that ensures continuity with minimal disruption to the business. Therefore any discussion of decommissioning and archiving of an ERP application has to include the following three components:
  • Data Retention
  • Accessibility and Auditability
  • Security
Data Retention
Most organizations have data retention policies that are derived from industry or regulatory requirements. This is a good starting point. Working with subject matter experts within HR, Payroll, Finance, and Procurement, will flush out additional requirements around specific items like pay stubs, open invoices, or personnel action history to name a few. The important thing is to ensure whatever plan you have for decommissioning satisfies these requirements.

 

Accessibility and Auditability
Retaining data is fine and good, but you will need access to it if it’s going to serve its purpose. There is a lot to unpack here but the main requirements with accessibility are:
  • Intuitive User Interface – Given that this data is historical it doesn’t make sense that any interface to it should need extensive training.
  • Integration with AD – Future proofing your archived data means user accessibility must be supported for the duration of the data retention period and remain compliant with your IT standards for years to come.
  • Auditability – One of the main utilities of archived data is to serve the needs of auditors. In this capacity, your archival solution must provide reporting capabilities that can satisfy all audit requirements without the need for further skills or professional services.
Security
Under normal circumstances, your Lawson data is heavily secured with specific access rules in place to ensure prevention of improper access, segregation of duties, and malicious intrusion. The fact is that the security of this data is just as important in archive status as it was when it was in production. Any viable solution must have the ability to secure the data in such a way that satisfies all your data security requirements.
We built the APIX platform from the ground up with these specific requirements in mind. Our clients have been able to completely decommission Lawson in as little as six week and still get full access to their data through the APIX lightweight interface. Contact us to schedule a demo of the APIX Lawson Data Archive solution today!