Auckland Transport Selects Infor for Standards Compliance and Asset Optimization to Deliver a Better Customer Experience

Infor recently announced their newest partners in Auckland Transport (AT), New Zealand’s largest regional people mover on land, by rail and over waters. AT will deploy Infor CloudSuite EAM to standardize and manage their assets and will help optimize the organization to attain better decision-making and ultimately boost customer satisfaction. The Infor CloudSuite EAM solution will provide AT with a modern asset information system to support collaboration and an evidence-based culture of decision-making across all asset classes and asset lifecycle phases to align with the ISO 55000 principles of the International Organization for Standardization being adopted by Auckland Transport. “Infor and AT put customer-centricity first,” says senior vice president and general manager Helen Masters of Infor Asia Pacific and Japan. “We are committed to partnering with AT to help enable the organisation to better respond to the challenges of a rapidly-growing city – by combining modern asset management practice with digital technology to improve both network performance and the customer experience.”

 

For Full Article, Click Here

Activating Patches – dbreorg error

, ,

Occasionally when installing patches, you may get a message during the dbreorg phase of the activation. This usually means that some process has a lock on your files. Bounce your Lawson services, then run the dbreorg manually. If you get the same message, you may need to delete the + dictionary file.

Now, activate your patch.

Thick Client Identity

, ,

When AD FS is configured for Lawson, there is also a “Thick Client” installed, which allows users to connect to client tools such as Microsoft Add-ins or Lawson Security Administrator. For users to be able to log into these tools, they must have a thick client identity set up in Lawson Security.  The thick client value will be the same as the ssop value.  Password isn’t used, so it can be set to anything.

5 ways to leverage ERP in the cloud without throwing away millions

Not too long ago, the concept of moving your business to the “cloud” was a cautious and risky gamble. Nowadays, almost everyone is utilizing cloud technology. Like many current technological trends, how to take advantage of cloud services and how to do it right is just as important as actually moving forward with it. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions are taking advantage of cloud migration to provide a better user experience for everyone involved in a company. Michael Bathon as Diginnomica explains how a person must understand the full range of cloud deployment, know where they want the direction of their business to go, and consider alternatives before deciding to put their company on that path. Bathon further shares 5 ways to leverage one’s ERP system in the cloud below:

  1. Use SaaS where it makes sense – There are drawbacks to SaaS, but even if you won’t move the whole company, SaaS ERP might make sense for a division, a newly acquired company, or your distributed salesforce.
  2. Lift and shift trusted applications – Those who don’t think their organization needs a heart transplant still may conclude it needs to build new muscles. They can begin running their existing ERPs (customizations and all) on cloud infrastructure and gradually weave in other cloud services.
  3. Take advantage of world-class infrastructure – Unless you work for a Fortune 100 company that has made considerable investments in building cloud-like data centers, and they focused their new investment where it will drive competitive advantage and growth, you can’t hope to match the economies of scale and DevOps expertise that exist within companies such as Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure. These are resources you could never hope to field on your own.
  4. Access leading-edge cloud resources – Strategic use of the cloud allows you to begin asking questions and creating solutions that otherwise would have lingered forever out of reach because of cost and technical barriers. Taking advantage of advanced cloud services becomes much more practical when your applications and data are already there. Microsoft, Amazon and Google are investing billions in creating next generation data management tools – and you can take advantage of them for pennies on the dollar.
  5. Earn your cloud cred – IT leaders of today who are not prepared to go all-in on the cloud as your modernization strategy must often be prepared to explain themselves because “everybody knows” the cloud is the future. You may indeed score points with company leaders by showing you are embracing that future.

You do not have to more everything to the cloud, and you should not rush the migration process either. Strategically mapping out what you can benefit from cloud technologies to better your business is the first step. Remember, Bathon suggests that it’s “about taking a ‘business first’ not a ‘cloud first’ approach.”

 

For Full Article, Click Here

Can’t assign a printer in a RECDEF job?

, ,

Can’t assign a printer in a RECDEF job? Make sure you have a Printer assigned to you.  Although the rest of the job can be setup, if you do not have a printer assigned to you, then you won’t be able to assign a printer to a step in RECDEF.  For more information see KB 1206370.

How To Smooth The CRM Installation Process

In his latest Forbes post, Barrett Cordero, president of leading global speakers bureau BigSpeak, shares an interesting article for entrepreneurs on the process of installing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems as stress-free as possible. Cordero and his team have successfully implemented their CRM software and is already seeing immediate return on their investment. Of course, as with any implementation, they had their share of obstacles, though Cordero’s team managed to have an overall easy transaction. Below are some tips/guidelines on how his team did this smooth implementation.

  • Set expectations super low. That way, when things go wrong, you’ll be expecting it — and it won’t put more stress on your team.
  • Make sure the system meets minimum work integration requirements. Define the minimum work integration requirements you need the system to meet before you launch. Don’t be afraid to delay the launch by a few days or weeks if needed — it’s more important to hit your minimum requirements first.
  • Let employee experts lead the way. Ask for employee volunteers from various departments to train with the vendor. That way, they’ll be on the lookout for what solutions are needed to solve specific issues in their respective departments.
  • Overcommunicate until you annoy people. As a leader, you will need to go over the information several times and then check to see if people understood.
  • Keep pushing until it’s right. If you think all the heavy lifting is done in preparation, think again. When you install a system, look forward to spending lots of quality time with your vendor to get it right.

Implementing a new CRM will greatly benefit your business. Though you must be prepared for all the hurdles that come with it. With the few tips that Cordero shared above, you will be on your way to a smoother installation process.

 

For Full Article, Click Here

Setting up PGP Encryption in Landmark

, ,

There may be multiple applications for PGP encryption keys at your organization.  It is very simple to create and use the keys using the secadm tool on your Landmark server.

  1. On your Landmark server, open a command line tool and set your environment
  2. Type command secadm -m, then enter the security utilities password if prompted
  3. Select option “Key management” (in later versions, this is found under Service Management)
  4. Choose option “Generate PGP Key Pair for a service”
  5. Enter the service (such as SSOPV2)
  6. Open the Service in Rich Client and validate that the PGPPrivateKey and PGPPublicKey properties were added

Unlocking business potential with AI-integrated ERP software

There is no doubt that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here to stay, and is revolutionizing the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) space. Mark Bowen at Intelligent CIO recently shared how the partnership of AI and ERP is going to affect the “very essence of the system-controlled business operations.” AI-integrate ERP systems can unlock the hidden potential of your business data.

Impact of AI on industries

  • AI in manufacturing – AI technology help ensure faster production in less time. From planned preventative maintenance to every other operation performed in any manufacturing plant, AI would make them more efficient and less prone to errors.
  • AI in retail –  Virtual reality functionalities in advertising, intelligent chatbot customer service and extensive customer behavior profiles are just a few areas where AI would thrive in the retail industry.

 

AI is transforming the way ERP functions

Integrating your ERP system with AI opens a world of opportunities and shed some light in your daily operations. With detecting customer behavior patterns and performing routine tasks, inclusion of AI in ERP systems can provide the following benefits:

  • Identify the problems even before they occur
  • Automates routine tasks with system intelligence
  • Improves user experience through interaction

AI is still in its early stages, believe it or not. Though it is no doubt that AI will be a part of ERP systems moving forward. So be ready for this change if you want your business to remain competitive in the years to come.

 

For Full Article, Click Here

Use IPA to update multi-step job

, ,

IPA is a useful tool for dynamically updating the parameters of batch jobs in Lawson. At some point you may find the need to update a multi-step job. In that case, you will need to supply values for some of the hidden fields on your batch job. You will need to provide a value for _STEPNBR (a 0-based array).  _f13 is used to name the print file, _f14 is used in the Reports section to set the distribution (“None” for default, “Dist Group” for a distribution group, “Printer” for a printer.  _f15 provides the value of the item in the _f14 selection. So, if you set a “Dist Group”, you would provide the distribution group name in _f15. Field _f18 sets the directory of the print file, if you want it to be different from the default. Here is an example of a multi-step update:

 

How to find accounting information on PO lines

, ,

There are two places where GL distribution information resides. One is in MMDIST. If the item is a special item or not setup on IC12, then MMDIST is where you will find the GL distribution information.

Keep in mind that a PO line might have started as a requisition and the GL Distributions were added then. When you are looking for PO line distributions,  make sure you look for the document type of PO and specify the company and the document number that matches the PO you are looking for.

 

If the item is on IC12 it is either an inventory item or a non-stock item that is found at an IC location. All items that are setup on IC12 will have a GL Category assigned to them and that is where the GL distribution information can be found for these items. The key fields here are the Company – IC Location – Item. You will be able to find the GL distribution information for these items using these key fields on the GL Category table.