MMI Hotel Group Embraces Cloud-Based Infor Solutions to Streamline Growth

MMI Hotel Group recently selected Infor Hospitality to provide hospitality management and pricing solutions for its expanding independent property base. The tech giant will provide the hotel management company with easy access to valuable incoming data that can quickly be turned into action, allowing teams to better track guest preferences, simplify reservations and provide consistent quality and services. Per the press release, MMI will have access to cloud-based tools that will allow its teams to better serve guests and achieve competitive positioning through dynamic pricing strategies. Infor HMS is a specialized, multi-departmental property management platform for the hospitality industry that integrates front-office and on-property technology to better manage room availability, dynamic pricing and guest profiles to boost profitability and maintain a competitive edge. With this suite, properties in the MMI Hotel Group portfolio will be able to increase revenue potential, streamline operations and build a better guest experience. Additionally, Infor EzRMS, a powerful hotel revenue management tool, will automatically calculate demand and revenue forecasts, while recommending appropriate selling strategies. MMI’s users will benefit from deep-learning algorithms that dynamically recognize patterns to ensure optimal and accurate business forecasts, pricing and selling strategies to increase yield and profit.

 

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Lawson MHC – An Error occurred while printing

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Scenario: You have Lawson invoices or orders that get moved over to MHC.

When you print them from MHC, the print queue you have setup produces PDF.

 

An error occurred while printing

 

Make sure you go into the folder where the PDFs are produced and delete any old or existing ones.

 

This all depends on how you’ve setup your print queues. Good luck!

Foodservice Technology to Shift Focus in 2023

In this technologically advanced era we live in, technology has fast become an important aspect for any business today. In the food service sector, technology has played a pivotal role for many retailers and restaurateurs. Part of the sudden influx in technology for this sector would be thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 where people all over the world were asked to stay home, thus turning to food delivery and online ordering for their meals. Melissa Kress, executive editor of Convenience Store News, shares a great read on tech integration and its impact in the food industry and what to watch for in the coming year. The biggest goal for those in the food service sector to integrate more technology, Kress notes, is the focus on stability, cost efficiency and labor efficiency. “There are areas of innovation foodservice retailers can focus on to help relieve some of the pressures,” she states. “They include delivery-only kitchens to take the pressure off existing locations and automated low-level tasks that are labor intensive.” These tasks could be met with the help of technological resources. For customer-facing technology, loyalty is key. Keeping focus on loyalty programs and accessibility would keep returning customers satisfied.

 

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New Healthcare Tech and the Future of IoMT

When technology changes, so does it’s footprint wherever it goes. This means technological innovations across industries such as manufacturing, education, and of course healthcare. Healthcare technology has made itself a standard in the medical industry, and it’s just getting started. Indiana Lee, business operations expert, shares an article on BBN Times introducing us to the Internet of Medical Things and its continuing impact in the field of healthcare. Like the well-known Internet of Things (IoT), the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) refers to a broad constellation of health-related devices that are connected to the internet and rapidly send and receive critical information. IoMT technologies are specifically designed to optimize patient care by making the industry more efficient and effective. New healthcare tech is constantly being introduced in the field and is effectively changing the way we treat patients. Some newer tech include:

The Potential of 3D Printing
Thanks to emerging innovations in the arena of medical 3D printing, Lee points out, patients needing a brand-new synthetic replacement of lost limbs can have one made via 3D printing – exactly replicating their physiognomy. In the dental field, 3D printing technology is being utilized to create crowns and dentures for patients. As medical 3D printing technologies continue to evolve, it is IoMT can play an instrumental role by connecting medical 3D printers to secure internet networks to access and remotely transmit patients’ medical records to print custom prosthetics — all without requiring the transport of physical patient records, an expensive, time-consuming, and often risky practice.

Enhancing Surgical Care
Another emerging tech that Lee discusses is the enhancement of surgical care. She states that the advent of laser surgery guided by 3D imaging is transforming cataract surgery, making these procedures more precise, more efficient, and more efficacious than traditional processes. Through the use of the IoMT, ophthalmic surgeons can use 3D images of the patient’s eye to guide the surgical laser with greater accuracy based on the individual’s eye anatomy.

Telehealth and the IoMT
Lastly, with telehealth becoming a new norm thanks to the covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the IoMT holds tremendous promise for relieving an already overburdened healthcare system while at the same time improving patient outcomes and experiences. Lee states that not only can IoMT devices enable patients to connect with healthcare providers with the mere touch of a button on their smartphone or laptop, but they can also allow medically fragile persons to remain in their homes and retain their independence for far longer. The information collected through IoMT devices enhances patient diagnosis and treatment planning, but it also has incredible analytical capacities of the artificial intelligence (AI) technologies that are often integrated into IoMT telehealth devices.

Healthcare and technology these days basically go hand in hand. Technology’s role has never been more important than it is in today’s lifestyle. Not only is the advent of the IoMT promoting more convenience for patients, Lee concludes, but it’s adding a level of optimization that increases success rates with patients — something providers only hoped for in the past.

 

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Getting started with Spreadsheet Designer

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Here is a brief guide to get yourself set up with Spreadsheet Designer (ISD).

  1. Ability to comment out rows and worksheet/s enhancement is available in ISD 10.0.16.245.
  2. Click the Infor Button > Settings

The feature is disabled by initial install/upgrade. Check the Comments>Enable checkbox to turn on comments.

 

 

  1. Using Row Comment
    • For row comment/s, insert “//<space>” or “// ”on first column of the row.
    • Click Upload/Upload Sheet Range/Upload All

 

** For Batch Upload, check Upload in Batch Mode in Settings, then repeat steps 4.1 and 4.2

 

 

  1. Using Worksheet Comment
    • For Worksheet comment, insert “/*<space>” or “/* ”on first cell of the Worksheet (cell A1).

Or

  • Click Upload or Upload All

** For Batch Upload, check Upload in Batch Mode in Settings, then repeat steps 5.1 and 5.2

 

Gulfsands Moves Financial System into the Cloud with Infor and Progressive TSL

Independent energy company Gulfsands recently selected Infor SunSystems Cloud as its financial platform via Infor Gold Channel Partner Progressive TSL. The first customer of the multi-tenant cloud financial application, Gulfsands stands to benefit from increased security, reduced risk, and a smaller physical and environmental IT footprint, enabling greater resource availability and focus on its core business goals. Per the press release, Gulfsands selected Infor SunSystems Cloud having been a long-standing SunSystems on-premises user. As an independent, public energy company with a growth strategy, having a robust platform from which to support its potential, scale and business expansion is crucial, as is the ability to handle the varying currency, taxation and legislative demands of a wider geographic reach. Additionally, the cloud delivers a much easier way of supporting an increasingly dispersed workforce, whether it involves finance professionals working from home or in geographically-spread projects and teams.

 

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Lawson ISS – Using an ISS Sync to remove roles assigned to users

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In Lawson ISS, you may come across one or both of the two scenarios below:

  1. I removed a role from a number of users in Lawson System Foundation (LSF) and want to use an Infor Security Services (ISS) sync to remove these same roles from Landmark (LMK).

or

  1. I removed a role from a number of users in Landmark (LMK) and want to use an Infor Security Services (ISS) sync to remove these same roles from Lawson System Foundation (LSF).

 

There is a resolution for both of these scenarios:

A full ISS sync does not have the ability to remove roles from users. However, you can run a list-based sync via an ssoconfig command to remove the roles in the other system.

 

There is a flag that can be included in the list-based sync file that allows for roles to be overwritten in the system that is being updated called the mergeActorRoles flag. When this flag is not included in the xml file to be used, or is set to true, the roles from the source system (the one you are NOT updating) that are not found in the other system will be appended to the roles currently assigned. When this flag is set to false, mergeActorRoles=false, the roles assigned in the system that is being updated will be overwritten to match those in the source system, hence removing roles if necessary.

 

A list-based file template is delivered with each upgrade to ISS, you will use this file as a base for your work. The location of the file is:

 

GENDIR\system\provisioning\metadata\backgroundSyncTemplate.xml

Create a copy of the file and edit the copy, ensure the following are set:

 

defAction is set to update the system where the roles have NOT already been removed options:  update_remote or update_local

mergeActorRoles is set to false

IMPORTANT: The local and remote sections shown in the example below MUST be included since the users already exist in bot LSF and Landmark. These areas would contain each user to be updated.

Example of a completed list-based sync file that will update roles in LMK for existing users test1 and test2 to match roles in LSF:

Once you have the file the way you need it, you need to run the ssoconfig command for the list based sync.

The syntax for that is as follows and there is no ssoconfig password required for this process/command syntax:

 

ssoconfig -S sync_file_with_fullDirectoryPath

 

Example command for Windows customers:  ssoconfig -S D:\LSFPROD\gen\system\provisioning\metadata\FileNameOfBackgroundSyncTemplate.xml

Example command for Unix or IBM i customers: ssoconfig -S /LSFPROD/gen/system/provisioning/metadata/FileNameOfBackgroundSyncTemplate.xml

 

NOTE: In the above examples, if you placed the xml file for this process in another directory, simply replace the full path to the location of your xml file.

 

 

The 6 Most Important Tech Trend Predictions For 2023

Bernard Marr, strategic business & technology advisor, shares an article on Forbes of the most important tech trend predictions we should expect this year, backed by Deloitte and other industry experts. The analysts at Deloitte named these trends based on the dynamically shifting industry backgrounds where they operate, as an aim to focus on real-world use cases. Marr reviews each trend, along with Deloitte chief futurist Mike Bechtel, to give us insight of the likely impact of these trends.

The Metaverse – “The true value of the metaverse will be the new business models that it makes possible. This will occur as part of the ongoing natural progression towards simpler ways of interacting with machines.”

Artificial Intelligence – “The key trend around AI in 2023 will involve trust. In many ways, attaining the necessary level of trust is likely to be dependent on the extent that the AI itself can become transparent and explainable.”

Cloud Computing – “For many organizations, the focus on the cloud space in 2023 will be firmly on ‘taming cloud chaos.’ This will take place as we work on getting to grips with the ever more complex ecosystems of public, private, hybrid, and multi-cloud solutions that make up the average enterprise tech stack.”

The Skills Gap – “This is an issue affecting businesses in all industries, but none more so than those that rely on highly sought-after STEM skills. To counteract this, Deloitte’s report suggests that successful companies will look to ‘flexibility – the best ability.'”

Decentralized Systems – “Of all the breakout technology trends, blockchain – the decentralized, encrypted database platform that underpins cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin – probably has the biggest image problem. To many, this means it’s hard to understand how every enterprise organization from Silicon Valley to Singapore is investing heavily in the technology. Essentially, the aim of the search is to find ways of eliminating trust from digital transactions involving more than one entity. In 2023, we move on to a new stage in this search, suggests Deloitte: ‘In Us We Trust.'”

Mainframe Modernization – “This refers to an ongoing drive to link legacy hardware – such as the venerable mainframe platforms of yore – to emerging technologies. Rather than rip and replace legacy core systems, businesses are increasingly looking to link them to emerging technologies using innovative new connectors so that each family of systems can do what it does best.”

 

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4 Manufacturing Industry Trends in 2023

With a new year comes new trends, and the manufacturing industry has a handful of trends that can make significant impacts for businesses. Thanks to the COVID pandemic, technology lent a hand in furthering traditional manufacturing processes. An informative article on Paycor outlines four trends that are showing up in manufacturing this year and beyond:

  1. Moving to Cloud-Based ERPs. “Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems help manufacturers manage facility operations and can include anything from payroll to production. In this era of rapid change and constant disruptions, responsiveness is necessary to succeed. A cloud-based ERP can give manufacturers the real-time insights and analytics they need to make immediate decisions to keep production moving. Becoming cloud-based also allows them to layer in other applications, such as employee safety apps or back-to-work systems, in order to quickly meet their needs.”
  2. Dealing with an Uncertain Job Market. “For manufacturing, the extent of staffing issues can vary depending on what product the company makes and sells. During COVID, those who produced non-essential goods reduced headcount and relied heavily on automation and optimization to control costs. But manufacturers who made essential goods had to increase headcount in order to ramp up production and satisfy demand. Now, as the world slowly returns to normal, manufacturers will continue to reevaluate their workforce based on product demands and a potential recession in 2023.”
  3. Invest in Big Data. “In order to generate real-time insights during production, manufacturers can expect almost every surface to be transformed into a sensor for data collection. Using software (such as Paycor Analytics) to analyze their people data will also play a key role in forecasting labor costs and production time. The ability to collect data from multiple sources will give manufacturers a comprehensive understanding of their business which is an absolute must as they reevaluate planning models.”
  4. Upskilling Your Workforce. “The manufacturing skills gap in the U.S. could result in 2.1 million unfilled jobs by 2030 (via Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute). As older workers begin retiring, the more traditional, apprenticeship training model may not be ready to facilitate the types of changes needed. Manufacturers will have to employ more efficient training methods such as virtual reality and mixed-model assembly to drive results and upskill employees”

 

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Disabling TLSv1 in ADFS

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We recently had a requirement to disable TSLv1 in our ADFS instance.  Some portions of Lawson, as well as LBI, still depend on TLSv1 security.  So, the best way to accommodate this requirement, while also making sure the applications stay fully compatible, is to set the QoP (Quality of Protection) protocol to SSL_TLSv2 in WebSphere on all nodes for all products.

To do this, for each WAS instance, log into the console and navigate to SSL certificate and key management > SSL configurations > (cell or node – do them all) > Quality of protection.  Set the protocol to SSL_TLSv2.  Once you have saved these changes for all cells and nodes, restart the server.