Top 10 benefits of ERP

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all areas of the economy, which highlighted the need form businesses to transform traditional supply chain models. Worldwide, 75% of companies have reported supply chain disruptions as a result of COVID-19. With the appropriate use of enterprise resource planning (ERP) technology, solutions exist that enable business continuity for small and medium enterprise owners in this fragile economy. An article on IT Web by Seidor Africa explains the impact ERP has for businesses fighting to stay running during this pandemic.

According to the article, the benefits of an ERP solution include:

  1. Increased ROI: Return on investment is achieved through integrated information sharing, increased efficiency, real-time data access and governance, improved inventory management and reduced costs.
  2. Improved analytics: Analytics allows for more informative decisions, helping companies to work through stressful times.
  3. Real-time information: Real-time information is available across any part of the business.
  4. Improved productivity: By enhancing business workflows, employee performance is improved.
  5. Increased customer satisfaction: An ERP system helps companies deliver goods to customers faster, improve productivity and implement inventory control. It can foster better customer communication at a time when customer retention is vital.
  6. Compliance and risk management: ERP systems facilitate regulatory compliance.
  7. Flexibility, scalability, longevity: With cloud-based ERP there is no need to go through numerous different software systems and implementations in the future.
  8. Standardisation: Standardised business processes ensure increased control and reliability of information.
  9. Improved reporting: With instant visibility analysis capabilities, companies can manage and monitor financial performance in real-time.
  10. Improved inventory management: Stock availability and location information is available in real-time, whether in transit, in the warehouse, in the online store or in the shop.

 

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Lawson APINVOICE database table contains usernames instead of NTIDs

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You’re being audited or want to review previous invoices and you notice that usernames were being stored in the APINVOICE database table. Usernames of employees that no longer work for your organization or may have had a name change, thus not matching up their NTIDs found in your listusermap. This makes it near impossible to hold previous and existing employees accountable for older invoices.

To resolve this issue, follow these steps:

  1. Download and apply patch CTP-121954 from Infor Concierge cloud portal.
  2. A new token AP900 is added to Lawson Security. Add this token access to an existing class/role.
  3. Login to Lawson Portal, go to AP900, add a new job for each company your organization has.
  4. Backup the APINVOICE table.
  5. Submit the AP900 Job, this job can take anywhere from minutes to hours to complete.
  6. Verify all usernames have been converted to NTIDs.

 

Five questions to answer for a successful ERP implementation

Deciding to integrate and enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution is just the first step of the decision-making process. Choosing the best solution and implementing it is a feat of its own. You don’t want to rush it, and you want to make sure it’s money and time well spent. IT expert Steve Brooks shares an article on Enterprise Times that has managers consider five key questions they need to consider and have an answer for when finding and implementing an ERP solution for their company. These questions were derived by an interview with Peter Wong, Senior Director of professional service at Rootstock Software, who believes answering these questions will aid in a successful ERP implementation for your firm.

  1. Why are you looking to replace the old ERP solution?
  2. What are you trying to achieve with the new solution?
  3. Who should you involve in the project?
  4. How should you complete the project?
  5. How long should the project take?

To hear the whole interview, click on the link below for the podcast.

 

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Infor and Nippon Systemware Forge Alliance to Market Infor CloudSuite Industrial ERP for Japan’s Manufacturing Industry

Infor CloudSuite Industrial, Infor’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) package for the manufacturing industry, inked a new partner agreement to help Nippon Systemware’s (NSW) Japanese customers accelerate their digital journey. This partnership will enable both Infor and NSW to provide even higher value-added solutions that span both the engineering chain and supply chain. Per the press release, NSW has a long history of achievement and expertise across the engineering chain, managing data related to design and manufacturing in the manufacturing industry. Infor and NSW will continue collaborating in the areas of Infor CloudSuite Industrial and other solutions for the manufacturing industry as both parties help build core business solutions that support digital transformation for customers.

 

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Cannot Delete, Requisition is Awaiting Approval

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Often users submit a requisition in Lawson and later find an error in the order and need to re-submit. When trying to delete via RQ10, they get the error “Cannot delete, requisition is awaiting approval.” Luckily this is an easy fix.

  1. Go to RQ13 and inquire on the company and requisition number. Then click Unrelease and confirmed it released.
  2. Go back to RQ10.1 and inquire on the same requisition. You’ll now see that its status is “Unreleased”. Now press Delete.

Done! Now go ahead and resubmit a new requisition with corrections.

Five Must-Do’s When Assessing ERP Data Security

If there is anything that the current pandemic has caused, it’s panic. Businesses had to scurry to either close down or adjust their way of day to day operations and sometimes that panic can make them vulnerable. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) data security should be a carfeully monitored, especially when most employees have been ordered to work from home with remote networks (that may or may not be as secure as their work networks). Marcus Harris,  with Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP, share an article on lexology.com  about ERP data security and how important it is to ensure maximum safety. There are five must-do steps that organizations need to take in checking ERP data security and then close any gaps that are revealed:

  1. Assume nothing. Begin with the premise that the outcome is unknown. Making assumptions will put an organization at risk.
  2. Use every tool to assess risks. Recognize that no single tool will solve the problem of ERP data security. It is far safer to also assess risks that may arise elsewhere, using things such as network detection and response software.
  3. Keep an open mind. Relying on the history of what you have always found in the past creates its own bias. It is vital to look at the data from all angles.
  4. Don’t judge in advance. No matter how keen one’s judgment and experience might be, a holistic approach – and solution – to solving a problem is needed. Professionals need to see everything happening on a network.
  5. Beware of what the eye sees. Be wary. A small discrepancy that isn’t usually perceived as a genuine threat could well be masking a more lethal attack.

 

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Infor Turns High Touch into High Tech with New Contactless Applications for Hospitality

Infor recently revealed a fully contactless suite of applications for the hospitality industry, specifically designed for hotels and resorts, casinos and gaming, restaurants and food services, and event sales and table reservations. Infor Hospitality Cloud Solutions are designed to address hotel operational needs for social distancing and contactless processes – including mobile check-in/check-out, digital keys, and the ability to order room service via one’s own device. This is especially essential because of the current pandemic. Per the press release, Infor Hospitality Management Solution (HMS), Infor HMS Online Check In, Infor HMS Online Check Out, and Infor POS Order Now have been added to the Infor Hospitality Cloud Solution Suite to deliver convenience, clarity, and care with every stay. New to the suite are web-based tools that allow guests to manage their check-in and check-out experiences according to preference. With real time accessibility, this tool will help hoteliers keep pace with the current pandemic safety measures as well as the busy lives of their guests.

Additionally, Infor’s restaurant technology (Infor Point of Sale) has been enhanced with the Self- Service Order Now solution to online food ordering. Guests can order food online on their smart device in the comfort of their hotel room or in a restaurant facility without having to interact with staff keeping social-distancing norms. These are just some of the many new enhancements to Infor’s technology suites to help staff and customers stay safe during these difficult times.

 

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Security Violation for Activity Group

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You may have tried to add a report or update a job recently in Lawson and received a “Security Violation for Activity Group <XXXXX>”

 

Your first solution may be to give the user full rights to the Activity Group form (AC00) and table, but you’ll find that this solution will heed the same results.

 

  1. Check the security class causing the error. It’s likely it was written as an ELM rule (element) based on the Company Element.
  2. If this is true, it’s checking the CompanyControl attribute on the user’s RM Admin setup.
  3. The AC system uses the Security Code as defined on the AC00 (Activity Group) setup and interprets that value as the Company for AC security. By default, the AC00 Security Code is 9999.
  4. Add Company 9999 on in the users attributes as a valid company in the CompanyControl settings.

 

Recap: Because the ELM rule checked the CompanyControl attribute values, this Security Code (Company) value of 9999 needs to be added to the CompanyControl values for the user.

5 Reasons your Business needs a CRM System

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology has long been regarded as an essential tool for all businesses of various sizes and industries. With dedication to customer experience and growth, this took gives you a competitive edge. Dale Murray shares an article on Customer Think providing 5 reasons your beusiness should implement a CRM system right away.

  1. 1. Improves productivity by as much as 50%. A CRM system can perform many activities. One of the simplest yet most effective is its ability to automate time consuming, manual tasks by leveraging workflows.
  2. Increase sales by up to 29%. A well implemented CRM system makes pin-pointing existing opportunities and creating new ones easier. Sales and marketing teams can easily segment customers according a wide range of criteria such as spend, activity, market sector etc.
  3. Boosts customer satisfaction by 47%. CRM enables you to deliver business strategies designed to engage and empower your customers. Relationships with customers are easily managed and nurtured with a CRM in place and will help you to exceed customer expectations, creating loyal brand advocates in the process.
  4. Enables testing and refining of marketing to obtain 37% higher engagement. Without the use of a CRM solution, your marketing teams will find it difficult to determine the marketing campaigns that have brought the best engagement and ROI. By proactively and continuously enhancing your marketing content, you will engage your audience and enhance brand and customer loyalty.
  5. As much as 42% increase in forecasting accuracy. A well-designed and implemented CRM system acts as a single source of truth for all your customer and related business data, in real-time. With up-to-date data always at their fingertips, sales and marketing teams are in a strong position to prioritize and target customers that are demonstrating buying signals.

 

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Infor Launches New Fully Integrated Multi-Tenant Payroll Module

Infor recently announced the arrival of its new Payroll module for Infor Global Human Resources (Global HR). Per their website, Infor Payroll provides in-house payroll processing capabilities with multiple options for service partners to help manage back-end payroll processes, including employment tax filing, wage payments, wage garnishments, and other value-added services. Infor’s payroll solution offers flexibility to help organizations enable the desired balance of operational control. Updates to this new offering include benefits of being a module within Global HR as well as being included as part of industry-based CloudSuites. Payroll is now offered to all Infor CloudSuite HCM customers and is fully integrated with Infor CloudSuite Financials, with plans to make third-party financial integration available.

 

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