How do I request a new Lawson software license key?

, ,

Have you ever wondered how to request a new Lawson software license key?

You will need to request a new software license key from your Infor Representative. Here are the steps to do so:

  1. Log into Infor Concierge
  2. In the Application Switcher select the Infor Support Portal application.
  3. At the top click on the Resources menu
  4. Select Request a Software Key > Key Request
  5. Click the Browse button to search for and locate your company name
  6. Fill/Select required fields
  7. Select Next button
  8. Select the product you need a license key for. If what you need is not on the list, then note it in the ‘Notes’ section at the bottom of the page.
  9. Click the Submit button.

 

That’s all you need to do!

The Critical Role Of AI And Automation In Endpoint Management

Business big and small are not immune to cyberattacks, especially in today’s vast digital landscape. Cybercriminals are becoming more clever and sophisticated by exploiting vulnerabilities faster than we can patch them up. Tony Bradley, cybersecurity expert and Editor-in-Chief of TechSpective, shares an article on Forbes with a key weapon to combat these cybersecurity threats in endpoint management: the artificial intelligence (AI) and automation. “These two tools offer a robust solution to augment human resources and bolster security postures,” says Bradley. He also cites Verizon’s 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report where it says that it takes organizations about 55 days to patch 50% of critical vulnerabilities once they appear in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. Meanwhile, the median time for a vulnerability in the CISA KEV catalog to be scanned by threat actors is just 5 days. “This disparity leaves a significant window of opportunity for cyberattacks,” he notes. “Additionally, a majority of breaches involve vulnerabilities that are over six months old, highlighting the persistent problem of delayed patching and vulnerability management.”  Bradley shares two effective roles you can include AI and Automation in your organization’s cybersecurity business model: Leveraging AI for enhanced security and automating compliance and risk management.

Leveraging AI for Enhanced Security. “The use of AI in cybersecurity offers significant advantages, particularly in prioritizing vulnerabilities and detecting threats in real-time. By using a combination of AI services for prompt writing, result generation, and result analysis, organizations can improve the overall performance of their AI-driven security measures​​.”

Automating Compliance and Risk Management. “Automation also plays a pivotal role in maintaining compliance with various security standards such as HIPAA and PCI. Organizations need to employ solutions with built-in capabilities to automatically monitor and enforce compliance, snapping endpoints back to the required standards whenever deviations are detected​​. This not only helps in passing compliance audits but also ensures that security best practices are consistently followed across the organization.”

 

For Full Article, Click Here

Top 10 governance, risk, and compliance certifications

Government, risk, and compliance (GRC) skills are highly sought these days due to the increased regulations, cybersecurity events, and geopolitical issues on the rise. Sarah White, senior IT writer for CIO.com, shares an article sharing the top GRC certifications you should consider for your organization that would be worth your time, money, and effort.

For starters, White defines GRC certifications are what validate the skills, knowledge, and abilities that IT professionals have to manage governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) in your enterprise. “With companies increasingly operating on a global scale, it can require entire teams to stay on top of all the regulations and compliance standards arising today,” she says. “It’s crucial to ensure your organization is operating lawfully in every country it operates, that your business is protected from cybersecurity threats, and that your company both manages risk and establishes processes to govern those tasks.” The main goal of GRC essentially is to reduce risk and manage business processes more efficiently. Below are White’s top 10 GRC Certifications that businesses should highly consider and prioritize

Top 10 GRC certifications

  • Certified Compliance & Ethics Professional (CCEP)
  • Certified Governance Risk and Compliance (CGRC)
  • Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC)
  • Certification in Risk Management Assurance (CRMA)
  • Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT (CGEIT)
  • Certified Information Security Manager (CISM)
  • Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
  • ITIL Expert
  • GRC Professional (GRCP)
  • Project Management Institute — Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP)

 

For Full Article, Click Here

How to clear up Lawson Interface Desktop (LID) processes and free up licenses error

, ,

Follow this simple guide below to learn how to free up Lawson Interface Desktop (LID) error about max license usage.

When too many users are using LID (or don’t exit out properly), you can max out license usage.

To resolve this error, on the LSF App server (or server users are connecting to via LID), open task manager and end any LAPM.exe tasks as shown below (the users login name should show below so if this request is for a specific user, you can surgically end these lapm.exe processes):

Once those lapm.exe processes are killed, tell the user to try and login again and it should allow them to do so.

 

The 10 most common ERP security issues and ways to fix them

Today’s digital landscape is as vulnerable as ever. Especially with enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, they are exposed like never before. Kevin Beaver, independent information security consultant at Principle Logic, LLC, shares an article on TechTarget highlighting the 10 most common ERP security issues and the immediate ways IT teams can take action and fix them.

  1. Unknown vulnerabilities. “The most common ERP security problem is IT and security staff not knowing what they don’t know. IT leaders must first gain a thorough knowledge of their company’s ERP security risks before taking any further action. Once they understand their organization’s unique threats, vulnerabilities and related gaps, they can take the proper steps to minimize exposure and limit the effects when a security incident does occur.”
  2. Missing software updates. “Workstations and servers that are part of the ERP system are often missing needed software updates. Lack of updates can lead to anything from ransomware infections to denial-of-service attacks to full remote unauthenticated access. IT teams must regularly update software and implement security patches, including a formal patch program, even though doing so might lead to critical systems experiencing system outages and downtime.”
  3. Weak ERP authentication. “At a minimum, ERP authentication should be as strong as internal domain account controls. This standard usually isn’t met if the system is simply using unique credentials. IT leaders must take action to strengthen logins where needed to avoid security problems, which can include unauthorized access and system downtime.”
  4. Web application-specific vulnerabilities. “Some web applications allow SQL injection and privilege escalation, and they possess business logic flaws that allow users to manipulate parts of the system, including aspects belonging to other parties in a multi-tenant setup. IT leaders must be aware of which applications include these potential problems and include all web-related components in ongoing vulnerability and penetration testing efforts.”
  5. Open network shares. “Certain ERP systems — usually older ones — require network users to have access to the ERP system folders. This practice is extremely unsafe and can lead to ransomware and unauthorized access for the casual user, or attacker, who is browsing the network. IT leaders should consider a software change if the company’s current ERP system mandates these permissions.”
  6. Lack of communication about security issues. “Employees must notify IT or other tech leaders immediately when an ERP security issue occurs. Employees might assume that IT and security staff are taking care of any issues, but IT and security staff may not even know about them.”
  7. Lack of incident response planning. “IT leaders must make a plan now to avoid scrambling during a crisis. Staff should practice incident response procedures through tabletop exercises and make ongoing updates as needed.”
  8. Lack of proper testing. “IT leaders can’t address ERP security issues if they don’t know about them. They must implement periodic and consistent vulnerability scans and penetration testing that go beyond IT control audits.”
  9. Unclear employee expectations. “A security committee should work alongside legal counsel and human resources to ensure employee computer usage rules are clear and that employees are well-trained on security issues, acting as part of the team rather than working against it.”
  10. Lack of ongoing education for technical staff. “Tech staff must stay up to date on the most common ERP security issues as those issues grow and change and must understand the latest security concepts and practices.”

 

For Full Article, Click Here

GL190 message: “Another job currently processing for company (0)”

, ,

The Journal Posting (GL190) program output states the message “Another job currently processing for company (0).”

This error indicates that another updating job is currently processing, in needs recovery, or was deleted from recovery.

Go to Job Scheduler and choose all users and verify that an update job is currently running for this company. If so, you will need to allow this job to complete before you can run GL190.  If no active jobs, check waiting and resolve any jobs in needs recovery.

If there is not another job being processed or needing recovery, you will need to update the record that will allow GL190 to run.  Create a paint a screen to update the GLSYSTEM file in the IF System Code and change the Updating field to 00 or blank out the field entirely.

GL190 may also create a GLMONITOR record that needs to be cleared. To clear this record, go to GL15.1, GLMONITOR Maintenance, and Inquire on the program that is running (in this case, you would Inquire on GL190). If a record appears, but the job is not actually running, delete the record.

10 most powerful ERP vendors today

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is no doubt becoming a necessity for any business. With its strategic importance for organizations who seek to digitize and automate business processes, modernize their application stack, migrate to the cloud, and accelerate the speed of business, having the right ERP system is critical for business success. Selecting the right ERP system is an important decisions, and knowing everything the vendor has to offer is a must for your organization’s personal checklist. Tech expert Neal Weinberg shares an article on CIO highlighting the most powerful ERP vendors who dominate the space and why they rightfully earn their place at the top. “In terms of market share,” says Weinberg, “there’s a clear demarcation between the Big 3 — SAP, Oracle, Microsoft — and everyone else. The Big 3 strive to offer the broadest suites of ERP offerings, whereas smaller competitors try to differentiate themselves with deep insight into business processes for specific vertical industries.”

  1. SAP: Restructuring to target AI. “Pure-play powerhouse SAP is the runaway market share leader with a vast installed base of large enterprise customers. Through deep discounts and other incentives, SAP is successfully moving customers from its rigid on-premises ERP platform to the S/4 HANA Cloud, a fully managed SaaS solution with modules that cover all of the ERP bases.”
  2. Microsoft: Powerful integration of genAI features. “Gartner puts Microsoft in the visionary category in its latest Magic Quadrant for ERP systems for service-centric organizations. Dynamics 365 is primarily a SaaS solution hosted as a managed service. The advantage Microsoft has is that it has integrated its ERP capabilities with the rest of the Microsoft ecosystem, including the Azure cloud and applications such as Power BI, Power Apps, and Dataverse. In addition, Dynamics 365 is both an ERP and a CRM, which creates integrations across sales, marketing, and customer service.”
  3. Oracle: Two-headed ERP monster. “Oracle’s one-two punch of Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP for the largest of enterprises and Oracle NetSuite for smaller companies gives the company a unique market position. Gartner puts Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP in the Leader category for its modular and configurable ERP offerings that can run in Oracle data centers, in the Oracle cloud, or at customer sites.”
  4. Infor: Industry-specific solutions. “Infor doesn’t shy away from competing against the top players for the biggest accounts. Infor’s differentiator is its industry-specific ERP solutions that combine technology with invaluable knowledge of how business processes work in industries ranging from healthcare to aerospace. Says Forrester analyst Liz Herbert, ‘Companies that are on the larger side generally get attracted to Infor because they find it to be a good solution that is more affordable, and also a vendor that is easier to do business with than SAP or Oracle but still has credibility and proof points in large and global enterprises.'”
  5. Workday: Managing human capital. “Workday is a Leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for service-centric ERP with its focus on HR (Workday Human Capital Management) and financial management (Workday Accounting Center). The Workday Enterprise Management Cloud is aimed at upper-midmarket, large and global organizations, but also has many customers with annual revenue of less than $150 million, says Gartner.”
  6. Epicor Software: Focusing on ‘cognitive ERP’. “Epicor’s Industry ERP Cloud provides industry-specific packages: Kinetic for manufacturers; Prophet 21 for distributors; Eagle and Propello for retailers. Most of Epicor’s customers are midsize companies in automotive, building supply, distribution, manufacturing, and retail verticals. Epicor’s roadmap focuses on AI-enabled supply chain data and analytics, including the use of genAI and sustainability capabilities.”
  7. IFS: Manufacturing innovation. “The IFS Cloud is a powerful ERP system targeted at manufacturing, aerospace, defense, construction, engineering, energy, utilities, food and beverage, and chemical industries. Customers are primarily midsize, but IFS also competes for business from the largest enterprises as well. Listed as a visionary in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for product-centric ERP, IFS invests heavily in manufacturing-centric features such as digital twin, smart factory capabilities, and shop floor integrations for real-time planning and execution.”
  8. Sage: Accounting and finance for SMBs. “Sage is a leader in ERP systems focusing on accounting, finance, HR, and payroll for small and midsize businesses with its two product lines, Sage Intacct and Sage X3. Sage’s ERP is cloud-based and the company offers services to help organizations migrate their apps to the cloud.”
  9. Acumatica: A modular approach to cloud ERP. “Acumatica is a leader in the SMB market, with its industry-specific modules for manufacturing, construction, distribution, retail, and general business. Acumatica is cloud-only, and its strength is the modular nature of its architecture, which enables customer to select only the capabilities it needs.”
  10. QAD: Manufacturing and supply chain innovation. “QAD is a visionary in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for its Adaptive ERP product suite that provides administrative and operational ERP capabilities on a single platform. QAD primarily targets six manufacturing sectors: automotive, consumer products, food and beverage, high tech, industrial, and life sciences.”

 

For Full Article, Click Here

How AI in ERP will drive smarter cloud cost control

One of the biggest game-changing fields that artificial intelligence (AI) is dipping its feet is its integration with enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms. Technology editor and expert Adrian Bridgwater shares an article on ERP Today depicting how AI in ERP is the driver to better and smarter cloud cost control. “With the rapid developments currently being seen in generative Artificial Intelligence (gen-AI),” notes Bridgwater,”existing ERP systems can be enhanced and augmented in new ways to extend, enhance and augment their core functionalities. But as important as front-line functionality always is, we can now elevate our use of AI to point towards cloud cost control in the FinOps space at a higher-level platform tier.” CEO of smartR AI Oliver King-Smith adds, “By integrating AI with ERP systems and cloud-based data sources, FinOps will experience significant advancements. AI’s capacity to correct and update real-time information in an ERP system through third-party source integration paves the way for heightened efficiency. Moreover, its predictive analytics capabilities enable a more intricate analysis of the enterprise, anticipating seasonal, marketing-based and channel-centric fluctuations that drive higher profitability and top-line growth.” Bridgwater explains that the fusion of AI with FinOps could enhance legacy system integration, amalgamating incompatible systems into the ERP framework from a holistic perspective. “As AI accelerates information flow across cloud data sources, it empowers FinOps teams with what many agree are swift and profound insights into the enterprise’s competitive position. By demonstrating quantifiable efficiencies in maintaining the FinOps environment while amplifying profitability and growth potential, those embracing AI will undoubtedly yield substantial value increases for all stakeholders,” he states. In addition, King-Smith has said that GPT models could complement ERP systems by providing Natural Language Interfaces where GPT helps create more intuitive ways for users to interact with ERP systems, using natural language queries instead of complex navigations. “Report Generation as GPT can assist in generating summaries and reports from the data within an ERP, making information easier to understand,” he explains, “Intelligent Assistance where GPT-like models might provide suggestions or insights based on the data within an ERP, acting as a smart assistant for users.”

 

For Full Article, Click Here

Check the WAS Server status

, ,

There is a simple way to check the WAS Server status. First, open the command (cmd) prompt. The command to check which servers are running in WAS is in WAS_HOME/profiles/<profile>/bin.  To check all the servers, supply the switch “-all”.  Otherwise, provide a server name. See the screenshot below for a visual reference for checking the status of your WAS Server.

 

 

Explainer: Time to introduce Digital Product Passports in fashion? Infor expert weighs in

As the requirement for textile products sold in the EU to have Digital Product Passports (DPPs) approaches, Helene Behrenfeldt, industry solution director – fashion at software provider Infor, tells Just Style that it is ‘time for action’. Science, Education and beauty editorial expert Rachel Lawler shares an article on Just-Style.com highlighting Behrenfeldt’s professional takes on DDP and its impact in the fashion sector. By 2030, notes Lawler, every fashion and textile product sold within the EU will require a Digital Product Passport (DPP) – scannable QR codes or other tags added to products to provide information about the product’s material composition, supply chain and how it can be recycled or disposed of safely. The scheme should make it easier to share information about a garment’s supply chain and other useful data as well as aiming to provide consumers with better information to allow them to make informed choices, helping move society towards more sustainable choices and eventually circularity.

How will the fashion sector use DPPs? “With such complex supply chains, many businesses in the fashion sector are likely to find implementing DPPs a challenge,” says Lawler. Behrenfeldt said that sourcing this type of information can be “difficult” for many fashion brands. She added that the sourcing of this data will be “the easy part” for many brands and that finding a way to share and store the information will be trickier. “There’s a lot of work that can be done, but the common denominator is the data and you’ll need to have a solid plan in place,” says Behrenfeldt.

Are any companies already using DPPs? Lawler found the following, “In September 2023, clothing brand Nobody’s Child added DPPs, in the form of unique QR codes, to each of its product’s care labels. Clothing with the DPPs is already available through UK retailers M&S, ASOS and John Lewis. This offers consumers the possibility to trace their garments through incentivized gifts, and a unique NFT offered in collaboration with Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange platform. The partnership enables Nobody’s Child to connect to their customers using Web3 technology. Users will be able to store the Nobody’s Child DPPs NFT within a Coinbase digital wallet.”

How will fashion consumers use DPPs? With information on how products can be recycled, repaired and reused, Lawler notes that DPPs could help fashion consumers make more informed choices and move toward circular models. Behrenfeldt explained that there are likely to be two broad groups of consumers – those who are not particularly interested in the information provided via DPPs and those who use the detail to shape their purchasing choices. “The information provided by DPPs could be hugely beneficial to the growing resale fashion market, giving consumers information about a garment – including how to care for it, how to dispose of it – even after it has changed hands several times,” says Lawler.

Will countries outside of the EU adopt DPPs? “Fashion is a global industry,” Behrenfeldt explained. “It’s not like food and beverages, which is quite local – fashion is the opposite.” Lawler says that even if other countries do not adopt DPPs, it’s likely that the requirement for them in the EU will impact the global sector and consumers outside the EU will find the codes or tags on their clothing – and expect to be able to use them too.

Are there any benefits to adopting DPPs? Behrenfeldt explained that DPPs offer fashion brands another chance to connect with their consumers “on an emotional level”. “Consumers have so many options. You want to make sure they are loyal.” She added that DPPs could be a way to inspire this, sharing detailed information about a product’s origins – even including pictures of where the materials were grown or the products made.

What should fashion brands do now to ensure they are on track for Digital Product Passport rollout? Behrenfeldt believes that it is now time for the apparel sector to take action to ensure they have the right tools in place. Lawler notes that brands will need to decide how they plan to share their DPPs with consumers – such as through a QR code or website link – and how they plan to present the data to users. “It all comes down to one thing – data,” said Behrenfeldt. “And you need to have a plan for that.”

 

For Full Article, Click Here