Make UK and Infor recently published a survey of 135 companies (conducted between June and July 2023), that results in manufacturers seeing a surge in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning as they push for greater automation and improvements in productivity, efficiency and quality. Per the press release, the survey shows that companies are increasing their investment in automation across a broad range of technologies and functions from manufacturing processes to product design and development. These investments are set to accelerate in the next two years, leading to an increase in higher levels of skills and a fall in lower skilled roles. However, this still translates in the majority of manufacturers believing that the UK is failing to keep up with competitors. In response to this feedback, Make UK is urging the UK government to roll out the successful Made Smarter scheme nationwide to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) adopt digital technologies, and work with companies to address the continued shortfall of technical skills in the workforce and reform of the Apprentice Levy. Below are key survey findings from the press release.
Key survey findings:
- More than half of companies are investing in artificial intelligence, machine learning and augmented reality
- Almost two in five companies are planning to adopt generative AI
- More than three-quarters of companies have invested, or are planning to invest, in automation
- But majority of companies believe UK is failing to match competitors
- Barriers to automation remain, including lack of technical skills, cost and workplace culture
To help address these barriers and boost further automation, Make UK has made the following recommendations:
- Roll out the successful Made Smarter scheme nationwide. This is a proven scheme to help with the adoption of new technology in manufacturing businesses. It should also extend the remit of Made Smarter to include industrial decarbonization to aid energy efficiency and transition to net zero.
- Make full expensing capital allowances permanent to enable businesses to plan investment over long leads.
- Expand the R&D tax credit to include capital expenditure to spur further digitalized R&D.
- Government should work with business organizations and sector -specific bodies to help SME engagement with the successful Catapult Centres. This is especially important given the geographic distribution of the centeres and would help more SMEs take advantage of their world-leading facilities.
Lawson Expense Management can occasionally lead to a duplicate invoice or another issue. If you’re running the EX542 and it goes into status 1 or 2 (in process or error) in EX20.1 and EX20.2 for your expense report. Then you’ll likely see an error saying “Invoice Already Exists”.
To resolve this, you may need elevated privileges. If you believe you have the access, follow the steps below.
- Go to EX20.1, inquire on your ER number.
- Change the status to 9 and click Change.
- Go to EX20.2, inquire on your ER number (locate the ER with the error field “Invoice Already Exists”
- Change the status to 9 and then remove the error field. Click Change.
- Re-run EX542 and see if it completes properly.
That it! If you’re still having issues and Infor is not able to assist, it might be worth looking into Lawson Managed Services (MSP). Reach out to a Nogalis representative to see if they can assist and or to provide your organization 24/7 Lawson support from an entire team of consultants at a fixed rate instead of having to hire a full-time position.
Your Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is the vehicle that integrates all your business processes across your organization. When CIOs first selected their ERP platforms, t hey saw immediate impact. But that implementation happened many decades ago, and ERP has since evolved. More specifically, cloud-based ERPs look like the way to go. Moving your on-premise ERP systems to the cloud not only makes it more accessible and secure, but it can be a cost-saving solution if you plan it out well. Spiceworks.com of several ways having a Cloud-based ERP can not only help your business run smoother, but can also cut operational costs significantly.
- Best Cost-Saving Practices. “Best practice translates into best cost efficiency. If you maintain your automobile according to the manufacturer’s best practices, you can, on average, extend the car’s life, save money through optimal fuel efficiency, and enjoy better driving performance. It is no different with your business because following best practices means business tasks and operations are accomplished more efficiently using fewer resources. It also provides other benefits that lead to added cost savings. A cloud ERP solution, such as SAP S/4HANA Cloud, can ensure that your organization has the ready-to-go, preconfigured processes it needs to better perform on day one.”
- Energy and Space Savings. “Companies are increasingly adopting sustainability and green initiatives driven by ethical, economic, regulatory, and reputational motivations. Opting for a cloud ERP solution not only negates the need for hefty hardware investments and their upkeep but also eliminates cooling requirements. This shift can lead to significant reductions in energy costs. The space previously used for servers can be reallocated for other revenue-generating activities or reduced.”
- Grow Without Limits. “A cloud ERP solution provides the scalability that businesses need to quickly adapt to acquisitions, reorganizations, and new business unit creation with flexible organizational structures and reports that can analyze the company across any dimension. When implementing a cloud-based ERP solution, savings are realized from the very beginning as the ramp-up for a cloud ERP system is much faster than on-prem deployment. Additionally, Cloud ERP continually introduces new capabilities that support business best practices without incurring additional costs or undergoing complex upgrade processes. This gives companies the chance to leverage innovation as soon as it is introduced. Cloud ERP fosters both scalability and innovative growth.”
- Enhanced Collaboration and Mobility. “In a hybrid workforce, your location managers, mobile sales teams and remote workers need to be able to access necessary information without needing to be at the company’s primary location, reducing travel and associated costs. Mobile capabilities are built into SaaS ERP products rather than added on as an afterthought. Cloud ERP systems also allow for real-time data updates. This means that when one department makes changes or updates data, other departments can immediately see and act upon those changes, ensuring everyone is working from the most current information. Whether accessing Cloud ERP from a desktop in the corporate office or a mobile device at home or on the road, users encounter the same unified experience thanks to the same universal interface.”
- No Effort Patching. “It has become a constant mantra among IT departments — keep your systems fully patched with the latest updates. While patching certainly helps with cybersecurity and system performance, it is also a mundane, costly process for the IT department. By removing patching and updating from their plate, you could instantly free up considerable time and expense for them. With automated patching in cloud ERP systems, security updates are applied as soon as they’re available. This swift action extends to zero-day vulnerabilities, which are prime targets for hackers. Given today’s heightened emphasis on security, cloud ERP emerges as a decidedly more secure option.”
tokendef: Using tokendef to add a user menu with a couple of different forms as menu options in Portal.
Trying to use ‘tokendef’ to add a user menu with a couple different forms as menu options, specifically for AP90.1 and AP90.2. In Portal the menu launches (the menu name appears at the top), but the menu options do not display. An XML error may also be encountered in Portal when trying this.
Resolution:
To setup this up correctly, menu names that are going to be used in Portal, must be in a XXXX.01 format, where ‘X’ is a letter or number.
After creating a new menu using tokendef you will need to run an IOSCacheRefresh otherwise, you will get an error stating bookmark not found in Portal when trying to access the new menu.
Infor recently announced that major French oil supplier Daudruy has chosen to deploy the Infor CloudSuite Food & Beverage solution, a cloud-native enterprise resource planning (ERP) suite powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and specifically built for the food and beverage industry. The deployment will be carried out by Infor partner LTTD Consulting, a food industry expert and privileged partner from the outset of the project. Per the press release, Daudruy and its subsidiaries focus on oilseed-related businesses, offering customers vegetable and animal oils and fats, biodiesel and, more recently, biogas. The company is recognized for the quality of its products and for its strict social and environmental values. It has implemented rigorous traceability and tracking rules, addressing issues at the heart of modern business concerns. Daudruy is also recognized for its exceptional ability to offer made-to-measure products. Daudruy employs 200 people and generated €520 million in revenues in 2022. Additionally, Laurent Lebecque, ERP manager at Daudruy, points out that “Securing our business processes through validation workflows was a key element in the study of our information system transformation projects. We really wanted to improve this aspect with a solution dedicated to our business sector, while retaining the agility and precision we already have in terms of customization thanks to unique practices, controlled from end to end in terms of product quality, volumes and logistics.”
When restoring an existing cloud user in Lawson security (that was previously disabled), you have to match the mingle IFS ID with the SSOP identity.
- Go to mingle >> User Management
- View a user and under details look for the IFS User GUID
- Go to your orgs Infor Security Service webpage and edit the users identity
- Under SSOP Identity, (delete existing one) and copy the IFS User GUID in step 2 in the user field.
- Type in any password in both fields and click Save
This should resolve the authentication error.
Here is a screenshot of the whole process (ISS on left, Mingle User Management on right):
Good luck!
While you may think purging your data may risk you tossing information that may be needed in the future, it is even more of a risk to have too much obsolete data hanging around without the proper security measures. Not only does removing obsolete data clear up space, it also helps organizations minimize both legal and compliance risks. John Edwards, business technology journalist, shares an article on InformationWeek along with other technology experts on how to safely delete your obsolete data from your organization.
Reliable Identification. “‘A reliable way to identify obsolete data is to periodically review all collected data and then draft a retention policy based on sensitivity and need. Any data that doesn’t need to be stored should be deleted promptly,’ says Mungai. Beth Fulkerson, privacy and data security partner at law firm Culhane Meadows, adds, ‘To achieve comprehensive privacy compliance, organizations should create a data map listing all of the types of personally identifiable information (PII) collected, processed, stored, or shared. A data management policy can be created in a similar manner, involving different stakeholders for different types of data and taking into consideration laws that require deletion rather than retention.”
Safer Handling. “The best way to handle obsolete data is to minimize the amount of data collected. Mungai suggests that ‘By reducing the data that’s collected to only the bare minimum, organizations significantly reduce the risk of inadvertently storing unnecessary data. This approach is effective because it’s proactive instead of reactive.’ Kurup add that organizations should plan for archiving or deleting data long before it becomes obsolete.”
Key Components. “‘Training and change management are key components of a successful data management program,’ says Edwards. Kurup adds, ‘Adjusting user behavior related to email, file storage, tagging, and sharing can streamline data management and significantly reduce the amount of obsolete data created.’ To be successful, Kurup concludes, organizations should work to improve the user experience instead of just simply establishing new policies and procedures.”
