Since Infor Process Designer is an open-ended visual design tool, different users can achieve the same end goal but in many different ways. While the flow might technically “work”, this level of design freedom usually leads to processes that are not as efficient as they could potentially be.

Here are some tips to keep in mind as you design your next flow:

  1. Use a MsgBuilder node instead of writing to file for each record

     

    By using a MsgBuilder node, we can append all found records to a String in memory. We can then call the string when we need to write the records. This is much faster than individually writing each line, each time through the FileAccess node.

  2. Merge Assign Nodes

    This is a common mistake in many processes. There is no reason two Assign nodes would have to line up one after another in a flow. You can simply use one Assign node for all your variables/javascript. More nodes in your flow results in slower speeds so you should always try to use as few nodes as possible.
  3. Remove Unnecessary Assign Nodes

    When a value is returned from a query or processing node, it is automatically assigned an internal variable name.

    In the screenshot above, we see the values pulled from my SQL query have already been automatically assigned a variable. Therefore, there would be no point in having an Assign node to set SQL ADDRESS to my custom variable <!ADDRESS>. It would be better to simply call <!SQLQuery1080_ADDRESS> when needed as the variable has already been created for me.

  4. Remote File Access
    When the Infor Lawson business applications and ProcessFlow are on the same server, file access is blazing fast since all the files are local. However, when IPA is on a separate server, the process slows down since the flow must now access the file across the network and not locally.

    To mitigate this issue, make sure file access is done as efficiently as possible. Perhaps reach out to those in charge of network IT to see about reducing network lag.

  5. Upload the Process with Logging Off
    Process logging can negatively affect performance. Unless you are troubleshooting a problem, processes should be uploaded with Log Level: No debug

Using HTML or inserting images via the IP Designer Email node seems to be a common problem based on the number of forum posts on this topic.

Here are some of the solutions that have been proposed.

USING HTML

Based on the responses of senior IP Designer users, the gold standard for using HTML in your email is to write the HTML directly into a MsgBuilder node (https://www.nogalis.com/2017/09/12/ip-designer-series-message-builder-node/) so that we can call the MsgBuilder variable name in the email body of the Email node.

INSERTING IMAGES

  1. A simple way to insert images in emails sent by IP Designer Email node would be to compose HTML as shown above and bring in images from web servers.
  2. Another way would be to store the image in the Lawson emailattachments directory in order to attach it in the Email node.In Windows the directory to store the images is: lawsondirectory/bpm/emailattachments
    In Unix: lawsondirectory/LPS/emailattachments/


Newly formed Iberian Sport Retail Group (ISRG) recently joined the Infor Nexus Supply Chain Network (the world’s leading network for multi-enterprise supply chain orchestration. ISRG is the combined group of Sprinter, Sportzone and JD Sports – creating the second largest sports retailer in Iberia. Being part of the Infor Nexus enables ISRG to manage the flow of goods across the global supply chain efficiently and collaborate in real time with a community of buyers, suppliers and logistics providers. Improving supplier compliance and accountability by increasing automation throughout the supply chain process is important for ISRG and Infor Nexus could get them there. Infor Nexus will also help ISRG achieve their corporate goals on sustainability enabling supply chain transparency and collaborative relationships with supply chain partners inspiring change within the industry.

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  1. Performance degradation? Forms slow to load?
    Try following these steps:
    • Click the Settings Gear Icon on the top right of your ServiceNow screen, next to your name. Then, navigate to the Forms tab.


    • Changing the Related list loading from “With the Form” to “After Form Loads” for a slight improvement in performance. Changing to “On-Demand” can result in significant performance gains as this would change it so that records get loaded only upon click.

  2. Change the form view to a cleaner tabbed format versus the normal lengthy vertical layout.
    From the same Forms tab in System Settings (refer to tip #1), we can turn on Tabbed forms to change to this view.

    BEFORE:

    AFTER:

  3. Using asterisks (*) and double asterisks (**) for Reference fields.
    In ServiceNow, searching for a record in a reference field will automatically use a “STARTSWITH” query.

    This can cause some difficulties when trying to search for records.

    The solution is to use an asterisk before typing in the search term. This will change the query to a “CONTAINS” search which makes searching for records a lot easier.

    Also, you can also use double asterisks (**) to quickly return the first (up to) 15 records in the table.

  4. ServiceNow Keyboard Shortcuts.
  5. Quickly add attachments by simply dragging file to “Work notes” area.

    Attaching files by clicking the paperclip icon and then browsing for the file is a slow process. You can
    simply drag and drop the file you want to attach into the Work notes box.

This article discusses the DECLARE statement in SQL, which you can find the official documentation here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/t-sql/language-elements/declare-local-variable-transact-sql?view=sql-server-2017

The DECLARE statement is used in a SQL statement to declare a variable. The declared variable can then be set using SET statement. Once set, the declared variable can be referred by the SELECT statement.

The DECLARE statement can also be used to declare a DATETIME and the SET statement can modify this DATETIME with DATEADD. This allows us to avoid dealing with JavaScript datetime variables.

For our case, we wanted to query all individuals that were set to turn 18 years old within a year.

In order to do this, we first ‘DECLARE’d the variables we would need and modified them using SET:


Note: First argument of DATEADD function can be any accepted SQL interval (year,month,week,day,hour,second,etc.)

Now that our 3 variables had been set, we were able to refer to them in the WHERE portion of the SELECT statement:

Full query with results:

By specifying the search range using DECLARE and SET, we are able to query the DOBs of just those users that are set to turn 18 years of age within a year of the query date.

If your business is not using a customer relationship management (CRM) system to manage contacts and improve customer experiences, you are missing out. CRM has evolved throughout the years to better sales, customer data and maintain relationships. Today, big data and artificial intelligence are integrating with CRM systems. However, this doesn’t mean that CRM technology, though becoming fully automated, will not be as effective for sales and marketing. In fact, the technology available can help your business manage customer relationships better than ever. It can provide what your customers are looking for before your competition can. The following are measures to leverage CRM software most effectively to focus on customer relationships.

  • Create Relationship-based Touchpoints – Once a customer relationship is formed, it’s crucial to maintain it. It often takes several touchpoints for customers to gather and fully process information about a brand. The key here is personalization and customers can usually pick out if a message is automated by a robot, or personally written by a salesperson. So invest in utilizing CRM data to have more personalized touchpoints with customers.
  • Finding the Right Amount of Touchpoints –  Every customer is different, but marketing professional Jeff Hoffman suggests using 5-7 touchpoints. Learn about your customer segments, demographics and buying behaviors to determine the ideal touchpoint for your customers to increase your chances of success.
  • Optimizing Customer Data – The optimal CRM system will allow you to see all of the touchpoints with a customer displayed on one single page. These insights are the building blocks of a solid customer relationship. They can help you plan future outreach messages and analyze business growth.
  • Building Relationship Through Emotional Connection – Many people claim they make decisions based solely on facts, but the truth is that most choices are based on emotion and subconscious rationales. Buying behavior, especially, has an emotional factor to it for some customers, so utilize your CRM data for your marketing team to reach out to customers on an emotional level.
  • Creating Integrations – Integrations make work so much easier. It de-clutters, saves time, and organizes your productivity. Integration your favorite tools and applications to your CRM system will provide maximum coverage and optimal contact to your clientele.

True CRMs help businesses forge meaningful relationships with their customers. Cultivating relationships with the help of your CRM system will lead to an increase in customer loyalty and increased brand reputation.

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For those who spend a large part of their day behind a screen, keyboard shortcuts are great and the time saved by using these shortcuts definitely accrues over time. You are losing precious seconds of productivity every time you lift your hand off the keyboard to use the mouse instead. Effectively using keyboard shortcuts can cut that wasted time down.

Most of us are already familiar with the most common keyboard shorts such as cut/copy/paste/undo/redo (ctrl+x/c/v/z/y).

At one point or another, we all have probably seen some type of chart online that shows all the possible keyboard shortcuts. This list is a bit daunting to take in at once and difficult to commit to memory unless you actually sit down and make it a point to memorize all the shortcuts. Even then, I find that it quickly fades from memory if not put to regular use.

Therefore I wanted to create this short list of keyboard shortcuts that I actually use in my daily work:

  1. Windows key + Arrow direction key – Snaps app window to left/right side/corner of screen

    Examples:
    Windows key + Left arrow direction key
    – left side


    Windows key + Right arrow direction key – right side


    Windows key + Left arrow direction key then Windows key + Up arrow direction key – left upper corner

    Windows key + Left arrow direction key then Windows key + Down arrow direction key – left lower corner

    Windows key + Up arrow direction key – Maximize window
    Windows key + Down arrow direction key – Minimize window

    The most common use case for me is when I want to compare two similar files. For example, sometimes I pull up an erroring work unit log on the left side and a normal, functioning log on the right to compare the two and see where the path diverges. There are also times that I will compare an old backup file to a new modified one to visualize the changes.

  2. Windows key + E – Opens File Explorer
  3. Windows key + M – Minimizes all windows (useful for quickly accessing desktop shortcuts)
    Windows key + Shift + M – Restores all minimized windows
    Windows key + Comma – Temporarily peek at the desktop
  4. Windows key + S – Opens Windows search.
    Simply start typing the program/file name after pressing Windows key + S. Useful for opening programs/files quickly.
  5. Ctrl + Shift + V – Paste as plain text. I use this at least a couple of times a day. This is especially useful when composing emails with copied snippets from other sources.Ctrl + V:


    Ctrl + Shift + V:

The Lawson Jobinteg command is powerful for clearing up orphaned jobs that may be causing users issues. This is usually in the form of a job that can’t be deleted or is corrupted and likely caused from patches and or upgrades to the form or job.

Disclaimer: For v10, a patch may also be needed to fully resolve some jobs when running the jobinteg command.  The patch is available for LSF 10.0.6 and 10.0.7 only, as of 8/2015 and may have changed since then.

jobinteg -v

Brings back all bad records and NTIDs tied to them.  This is useful if you need to create a report to analyze which potential jobs are corrupted/bad or get approval to delete them.

jobinteg -t

Brings back summarized report of all bad jobs.

jobinteg -d

Wipes all orphaned/corrupt jobs listed in the summary or full report.  This usually resoles most jobs that receive errors upon inquiry or running them.

Hope this was helpful!

In ServiceNow there are a ton of buttons when you first start using it and it can be overwhelming and easy to ignore them at first.

When a ticket finally makes it to you, it might be in a hierarchy of other ticket types (requests, changes, tasks, incidents).  For my example it’s under the “Request Item” field.

The Request Item in our case is another ticket type in the hierarchy and usually has more detailed of what the task is to complete this ticket.  A useful button that you may overlook is the “I’ button which is essentially an Info button with tons of helpful information.

This button shows a plethora of information that may be relevant in resolving the ticket or task and essentially allows you to view more specifics about the ticket without just searching for it elsewhere in ServiceNow.

All these Info buttons could be useful, some give detailed user information while others give location info.  It saves a bunch of time. Hope this was helpful!

Infor has released the Infor CloudSuite CRM Mobile for iOS to simplify customer relationship management for busy, on-the-go sales professionals. This new native mobile solution aligns with Infor’s goal of anticipating the needs of the emerging workforce. Users have access to information such as events, contacts, notes, and reminders from their mobile devices anytime, anywhere – all without navigating through pages of data. Infor CloudSuite CRM Mobile is part of the Infor Customer Experience suite of solutions and will help sales professionals seize opportunities in real-time, as well as increases active selling time by encouraging sales teams to be proactive. Additionally, users have a streamlined resource that leverages the most relevant features of Infor CRM and iOS functionality including contacts, meetings, directions, and analytics from core product and Apple 3D Touch, Apple Maps, and the iOS Quick Look file previewer. Infor CRM Mobile is currently available in the Apple iOS App Store and is planned to be available for Android devices in late 2019.

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