A CRM Agency’s Secret Weapon: The Data Scientist

The life of a business relies on data. Collecting, analyzing and acting on data is how you stay in business. So how do you optimize your data to grow your business? The answer is data science. Data science is the art of transforming existing data into meaningful insights that businesses can use to make decisions.  Core to the data scientist’s toolkit is artificial intelligence (AI), which strives to enable machines to replicate human intelligence to execute reasoning. Many experts have motioned for the integration of AI into customer relationship management (CRM) systems, the data powerhouse of a strong business. With CRM and AI, one can apply predictive analytics to grow and scale a business. Rekha Gibbons, chief operating officer at Raare Solutions, shares an article on Destination CRM explaining how data science can leverage this even more. Data is all about understanding people and CRM systems do just that – understand and record customer behavior. Gibbons lists a few examples of how brands successfully utilize data science to leverage customer data to their advantage.

 

Predictive. What’s better than knowing your customer’s needs? with predictive analytics, you can go a long way with sending personalized emails and offers based on data found from customers’ spending habits.

Personalization. Amazon has set the standard for personalization based on Big Data. Consumers can buy anything on Amazon, but the choices can be staggering. To reduce churn and help the consumer get what they really want, Amazon adopted a collaborative filtering engine. The collaborative filtering engine analyzes the items previously purchased, online shopping cart or wish list, products reviewed and rated, and frequent searches. This personalized recommendation system offers products that people with similar profiles have purchased.

Innovation. Peloton was storming the fitness world well before COVID-19. Because of the pandemic, the cycling company had to change their sales model a bit to conform to customers’ new needs. Peloton showed how data innovation can succeed even during extreme crises: confined at home with your own sanitized bike, while you connect to people just like you.

Cleanliness. Part of the beauty of understanding the more technical portions of data science is the foundation of data hygiene. Data integrity is always a problem. It makes absolutely no sense to add AI or machine learning if the data itself isn’t clean. And what does that mean? No duplicate records. Unique customer ID. Continuously fresh data.

 

Gibbons concludes while data science is a science, the instrumental factor is humanization. This is why CRM’s secret weapon is data science. This discipline allows marketers to answer core questions: Who to target? When to target? How to predict behavior? How to retain? Which channel? The next time you use analyze your data, make use of your secret weapon—the data scientist.

 

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NSE Group Chooses Infor to Support Evolution of its Information System for its Activities Related to Services

Infor recently announced that NSE Group, a company specializing in the design, manufacture and maintenance of high-tech electronic equipment, has chosen Infor SyteLine as part of a project to rationalize and perpetuate its activities. The objective of the project at the beginning of the year was to replace the legacy enterprise resource planning (ERP) system set up in 2007 in NSE Group’s services business unit, which coordinates and handles the interface with customers, the supply chain operations and the repairs of consumer electronics, aeronautics and defence equipment. Per the press release, the previous solution required too many specific developments, thereby taking up time and IT resources that the group wanted to allocate to higher-value tasks. “The objective for NSE with this migration to Infor SyteLine was to be able to quickly respond to the diversification of our group’s business sectors,” says NSE Group’s project manager Sylvain Séramy. NSE Group also opted for the Infor Factory Track solution, a complete production automation solution that promotes warehouse mobility and traceability, the Infor CPQ (Configure Price Quote) pricing and quotation software, and the Infor OS (Operating Service) platform.

 

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LBI Auditing Part 3b – Overview of Reporting Service Admin Audit Reports

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In LBI Auditing Part 3a we went over Framework Service Admin Audit Reports. In this article we will go over the Reporting Service (RS) portion of reports.

 

RS01.RS Reports:

This report shows all your reports in LBI along with the below details.

Column Name Description
Report ID Assigned ID when report was created.
Report Name Report Name (may differ from given dashboard name).
Owner Owner who published report.
User User access to the report.
Date Created Report creation date.

 

RS02. User Access on Reports:

This is a security report showing user/group access to specific reports.

Column Name Description
User User with LBI access.
Report ID Assigned ID when report was created.
Report Name Report Name (may differ from given dashboard name).

 

RS03.Top Viewed Reports in RS:

This report shows statistics on your most viewed reports, what users viewing them the most and total views per user.

Column Name Description
Report ID Assigned ID when report was created.
Report Name Report Name (may differ from given dashboard name).
Access Viewer Top Viewer of a specific report
Number of Views Total number of views by a specific user

 

RS04.Top Scheduled/Exported Reports

This report shows statistics on your most scheduled and exported reports.

Column Name Description
Report ID Assigned ID when report was created.
Report Name Report Name (may differ from given dashboard name).
Frequency Total number of time a report has been scheduled/exported.

 

 

For more details on these admin audit reports, check out Part 3c “Overview of Service Now Admin Audit Reports” (coming soon) and/or Part 3a “Overview of Reporting Service Admin Audit Reports”.

 

 

Viewpoint Stays on Point with Infor

Edinburgh, Scotland’s elder home facilities in the Viewpoint Housing Association has extended its investment in Infor SunSystems. This partnership is part of an ongoing program to ensure the association delivers optimal value for money by achieving maximum efficiency. Infor partner Kick ICT will ensure Viewpoint is able to not only use the most up-to-date functionality but also benefit from faster, easier upgrades and integrations with existing third-party systems. As a hosted solution, it will also make fewer demands on Viewpoint’s IT staff, who can now be redeployed to higher value tasks. Per the press release, the upgrade will also help improve remote working by delivering tighter workflow approvals and stronger supplier security. Additionally, Mike Gibson, head of finance for Viewpoint, says of the partnership, “This upgrade has yielded an array of benefits. Not only can we be confident we are on the most up-to-date version of the software, but the new functionality has meant less time processing transactions and more time looking at what they tell us instead.”

 

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LBI Auditing Part 3a – Overview of Framework Service Admin Audit Reports

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In LBI Auditing Part 2, we went over setting up admin audit reports in LBI. In this article we will go over the Framework Service (FS) portion of reports.

 

FS01.FS Content:

This report may contain a lot of data and can take longer to generate. It displays dashboard, module, and content links. Couple with this type of data, you will be able to see user ownership, security type, shared/view access, create and modified date data.

 

Column Name Description
Dashboard-Module-Links Created content name, shared/not shared.
Item Specify Type of content (Dashboard, Module, Link).
Owner Owner of content
Shared to User or groups that have access, specific sharing rights.
Security Specify Shows whether shared access is public, from a user, or group.
View Access Viewing rights from users or groups (design rights or not).
Modified Date Last logged date the content has been changed/modified.
Creation Date Date in which the content was created.

 

FS02.User/Group Access on FS Content:

This report shows what content a user or group has access to.

Column Name Description
ID The ENPTREEENTRYID where the user belongs to.
User/Group User/Group Name and their access to certain content.
Security Specify Access Type: public, user, or group.
Access Items Content each user has access to.
Item Specify Type of content (Dashboard, Module, Link).
Creation Date Date in which the content was created.

 

FS03.Top Viewed Links in Framework Services:

Links that are captured and logged in the database if the Auditing feature is turned on. (See LBI Auditing Part 1 of how to set this up.)

Column Name Description
Names Names of the FS Links.
Access View User access.
Access Value Access level to a certain user or group (if public at all).
Views Count How many times a link was viewed

 

For more details on these admin audit reports, check out Part 3b “Overview of Reporting Service Admin Audit Reports” and Part 3c “Overview of Service Now Admin Audit Reports” (coming soon).

Why Do Schools Need ERP Software?

School management enterprise resource planning (ERP) software platforms has proved to be a valuable place in the education systems operations. With centralized dashboards and streamlined operations that take care of the automation and technological needs, teachers – especially in this pandemic environment – an spend more time teachers and parents and students have easier experiences with their school’s online ERP platforms. Mrudul Modh, chief NetSuite Consultant of VNMT, shares an article on CoFounder Magazine showcasing more reasons why ERP software platforms would greatly benefit schools.

Automation. “ERPs are adept in automating your backend and frontend processes so that you can function with a tremendous amount of efficiency. An ERP platform would help you compile a report of the total amount of expenses you incurred in the last financial year.”

Aids with Prompt Decision Making. “One of the critical highlights of deploying an ERP platform for your school is that it helps with prompt decision making. School management ERP platforms can generate reports in bulk for administrative tasks like admission, fee payment, etc.”

Beneficial for Teachers. “When you have ERP software platform deployed, teachers can get respite from the administrative tasks placed on them. In this manner, they can concentrate on the primary functions at their disposal. From keeping a tab on attendance to uploading report cards, school ERP platforms can perform a vast range of functions.”

Advantageous for Parents. “School ERP systems comprise built-in tools that would foster a significant connection between teachers, students, and parents. Parents can avail real-time tracking of their child’s transportation, too, with ERP systems. So it is quite apparent that ERP systems help in maintaining the educational success of a school.”

Modh also points out that school ERP software platforms can also help with the course management system, which can handle everything from course scheduling to sharing the requirements of the course. School ERP software platform ultimately makes it simpler for everyone using it.

 

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6 benefits of having Enterprise Resource Planning in your pocket

Today’s workforce is dependent on real-time, on-the-go information and connectivity. Your enterprise resource planning (ERP) system can be the key to helping your business migrate to a more mobile workplace. Mobile ERP can keep your employees informed in real-time, as well as customer communications. Tech reporter Joe Devanesan shares an article on Tech HQ explaining how many businesses may have already adopted mobile technologies, though they may not be using them correctly or to its full capabilities. Devanesan provides 6 key benefits of having Enterprise Resource Planning in your pocket and on-the-go.

  1. Flexibility. Mobile-based ERP provides unrivaled convenience in data logging by making it easy for workers to enter all relevant data accurately without re-keying the data into back-end systems.
  2. Quality Data. Mobile-based ERP can be designed to capture bad data and erase it from entering your ERP system, thus helping you to collect data more easily.
  3. Greater Productivity. Mobile-based ERP also allows companies to gain a competitive advantage by providing instant access into real-time business data, while at the same time having the capability to take necessary actions on your mobile device.
  4. More Visibility. By having the ability to anticipate the demand, companies can evaluate the status of their business and plan in real-time with the information and data they get from different points.
  5. Agile Systems. For most users of the mobile-based ERP, it will allow them to simplify strenuous and time-consuming processes that would have been tedious and repetitive.
  6. Improved Quality of Service. With instant access to relevant information regardless of where mobile workers may be, mobile-based ERP enables any queries to be resolved and data to be provided to customers immediately.

Now more than ever businesses and businesspeople must be flexible as mobility will be more prevalent in the workplace.

 

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LBI Auditing Part 2 – Setting up Admin Audit Reports

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In LBI Auditing Part 1, we went over enabling dashboard auditing. This time we will go over how to set up special Admin Audit Reports to view more information about LBI activity via Framework/Reporting Services and Smart Notifications. These reports are for 10.6.0.0 and later but check with Infor if they are supported for older versions.

 

  1. Login to Infor Support Portal and go to the LBI Product Download page.
  2. Download the BI-Samples.zip file and unzip to a temporary location
  3. Locate Infor-LBI-Admin-Reports-SolutionPack.zip
  4. Login into LBI and go to Tools dashboard
  5. Click the Deployment Utility link and a Deployment Utility window will pop-up
  6. Browse for the solution pack mentioned in Step 3, select it and then click Import
    • NOTE: Framework Services content is delivered in a folder called fs; Reporting Services in a folder called rs; Smart Notification in a folder called sn.
    • No tab will be displayed for a service if the solution package does not contain a solution for that service or if the service is not registered/installed.
  7. When the import is completed, a screen is displayed with a tab for each imported package, click on a tab to view the import and additional details.
  8. If the import fails for any reason, try and correct the issue, verify zip file is not corrupt, re-import.
    • NOTE: Remove any applications directories where the import was successful to avoid duplicate content.

 

Make sure to check out Part 3a – “Overview of Framework Service Admin Audit Reports”  (coming soon) to get more insight into these reports.

Borders College Makes the Grade with Infor

Infor recently announced that Scotland’s Borders College has upgraded its investment in Infor SunSystems (to 6.4). Implemented remotely by Infor partner Kick ICT, Infor SunSystems will enable Borders to establish a platform for the digital transformation of its finance function. Per the press release, the upgrade will ensure Borders College operates from a fully supported platform, reducing the risk of downtime and costly emergency fixes. It will also enable finance, procurement, HR, health and safety, and other back-office functions with plans to digitalize student-facing programs. Hazel Robertson, Borders College vice-principal for finance and corporate services, says of the upgrade, “We are already looking to share our newly developed best practices with other colleges and look forward to even more collaboration in the future.”

 

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LBI Auditing Part 1 – Setting up Dashboard Auditing

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You may not be aware that LBI has many different auditing features. Today I’ll be talking about dashboard auditing specifically.

Dashboard auditing in a nutshell allows you to track what dashboard links and content are being accessed by your user base. This can be helpful for reviewing security permissions, getting rid of unused links, as well as optimizing overly used links/reports.

To enable Dashboard auditing you must have Administrator rights in LBI.

  1. Login into LBI and go to the Tools
  2. Select System Settings and go to the Dashboard Audit Section
  3. Select Yes to Allow Dashboard Audit and Save Changes
  4. Stop and restart the server for the changes to take effect.

Framework Services will now automatically capture and log relevant dashboard info to your LBI database table FS_AUDIT.

 

Make sure to check out the second article in this series, LBI Auditing Part 2 – “Setting up Admin Audit Reports”.