How CRM and ERP Integration Can Benefit Your Business

There are many enterprise tools  that help your business run smoothly. Two major systems are customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP). Individually they make a strong addition to your business processes. Together, CRM and ERP can keep your business running smoothly. Both systems share a few common functions that can be used interchangeably in your organization, but do have their main functions to contribute to your business model. ERP usually pertains to internal business functions such as human resources, accounting and supply chain, while CRM focuses on external functions for marketing and sales, as well as managing customer data. Technology writer and expert Lauren Hansen share an informative article on CIO Insight explaining how CRM and ERP working side by can greatly benefit your business. Hansen points out that CRM and ERP work with related data, thus are capable of working together. Pairing ERP and CRM benefits company culture, management, HR, and the research and development team through communication, planning, and product information, says Hansen.
  • Communication. “Customer data in the CRM platform is a goldmine of information that informs much of the business’s back-end. Opening CRM data to the rest of the organization promotes transparency and empowers cross-functional collaboration among employees to solve problems.”
  • Planning. “ERP that integrates customer relationship management helps improve business planning. Based on CRM data, a business can better anticipate ebbs and flows in production, delivery needs, and the people and materials required across the supply chain.”
  • Product/service quality. “Integrating your CRM solution with your ERP system helps your business improve product or service quality, based on salespeople’s interactions with clients. When accounting data shows unprecedented returns or when the same complaint gets registered in the CRM, a good ERP system will alert management and point to a bigger internal issue. Effectively addressing product or service issues will reflect happier customer data in the CRM.”

Hansen concludes when your ERP and CRM solutions are integrated, your business can greatly improve with a streamlined data process driven by both systems.

 

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Configuring MSCM 10 with ADFS

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To configure MSCM 10.x for ADFS, update the mscm.filter.properties file.  Set the service.name.param to the thick client identity, or you can set it to both thick client and SSOP delimited by a comma (i.e. SSOP, THICKCLIENTLDAPLS).  Also, set the lawson.username to the UPN.

Run an updateconfig to set the changes.

NOTE: All MSCM users in Lawson Security must have a thick client identity configured before making these changes.  Otherwise, the user synchronization task will fail in MSCM.

You can validate the change by checking the USER_IDENTITY table in your MSCM database.  This should show records for each user for each identity configured.

 

NTM Set for Success with Infor

Finnish engineering leader Närpes Trä & Metall (NTM) recently decided to partner with Infor CloudSuite Industrial Enterprise to help unify and standardize its complex operational and manufacturing processes across the globe. Per the press release, the system, which will be delivered via multi-tenant cloud on Amazon Web Services (AWS), will be deployed by local Infor partner Midport Scandinavia, beginning at NTM’s headquarters in Närpes, Finland, and then rolling out across the group’s other sites in Russia, Sweden, Estonia, Germany, the UK, Canada and the United States. NTM develops, manufactures, sells and maintains transport equipment for heavy goods vehicles and refuse and recycling material collection vehicles, engineered-to-order to meet the demands of a varied customer base. They were looking for a solution to bring a commonality to its processes across all business sites, with the goal of unifying and standardizing systems to create a platform for pursuing further growth. A multi-tenant cloud deployment was also a crucial factor in NTM’s decision, ensuring the business can benefit from continual updates with minimal administrative burden on the in-house IT team, as well as enabling the swift on-boarding of new entities.

 

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IP Designer Series – Web Run

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The Web Run node can be used to make different types of web calls, whether it be to external APIs or internal Infor Lawson commands.

The first step to setting up a Web Run node, is to configure the Web Run Connection in your IPA configuration set.  For Internal Lawson commands, this will be your Lawson configuration set (usually “main”).  For external connections, you will want to create a new configuration set.

If your organization is using ADFS for authentication to Lawson, make sure you set up the Web Run Connection using the Lawson thick client site.

Once you have a Web Run connection, you can set the properties of the node.  The “Configuration name” should be the configuration set for which you just set up the Web Run Connection.  The default is “main”.  If this is an internal Lawson connection, select “Infor Lawson”.  Otherwise, select “External”.  Provide the Web program that you are running.  The Web Run node can be used internally with Lawson to run batch jobs or add attachments/comments to Lawson forms.

See this article to read more about making external API calls with IPA.

lawson-ios/action/SubmitJob?jobName=<!JobName>&jobOwner=<!JobOwner>&wait=TRUE

 

Infor Extends Commitment to Sustainability in Fashion with Made2Flow Partnership

Infor recently announced one of their newest partnerships with Made2Flow, a tech company specializing in analysis and validation of environmental data in the fashion industry. Infor and Made2Flow together will support global fashion brands looking to increase transparency of the production supply chain through traceability and impact measurement solutions. Per the press release, consumer-driven interest in the environmental impact of purchases is driving the fashion industry and brand owners towards providing more information on the sustainable credentials of their products. The only way to understand how sustainable different products are is by measuring their environmental impact in relation to CO2, water and other environmental indicators. This is a complex and lengthy process, with tight engagement from brands and their production partners to gather, normalize and validate necessary data. With Infor’s help, Made2Flow can support this process through automating environmental impact calculations, which leverage machine learning to bridge potential gaps, to provide credible and transparent results. Further, Infor’s product lifecycle management (PLM) capabilities will dovetail with the Made2Flow platform, providing crucial data for impact measurement purposes, with the collaboration set to enable fashion companies to continuously measure the environmental impact of products to meet targets and reassure stakeholders.

 

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The 9 Best Healthcare Technologies That Have Improved Wellness

Technological advancements of any kind should always be recognized for their contribution to society. In the healthcare sector, certain technologies have been essentially “life savers”. Writer Chris Odogwu shares a great article on makeuseof.com highlighting the best technologies that have improved wellness in the healthcare industry. This influx in healthcare technologies will continue to put a positive impact in our overall wellness.

  1. Artificial Intelligence. “Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been around for decades, and it has proven that healthcare technology can be an excellent resource for a better and risk-free future. With AI, you can recreate operational techniques, aid the efficiency of populated healthcare outcomes, and reduce burnout. You can now do away with those time-draining factors and focus directly on improving your health.”
  2. Personalized Wearables. “Personalized wearables have contributed mainly to the healthcare system. You can keep track of your heartbeats and other health-related data by wearing a healthcare device. With personalized wearables, you can become aware of your health status [in real time].”
  3. 3D Printing. “There’s no limit to what the healthcare system can achieve with 3D printing. It’s effective in creating visuals on bio tissue, blood vessels, and artificial limbs. 3D printing is a regeneration tool for human cells or tissues. It’s an effective remedy for diabetes, arthritis, cancer, and many more.”
  4. Amazon Echo Smart Speaker. “Amazon Echo brings a new flare to the healthcare system to ease health-related tasks. With Alexa on Amazon Echo, you can manage and control your blood pressure. Amazon Echo also provides live first-aid tutorials. This technology goes as far as helping to buy and manage insurance claims. It’s an excellent choice for older people.”
  5. Robotics. “Robotics continues to support wellness for humankind. This technology helps ease the surgery process, no matter how complicated it may seem. Helpful in avoiding physical contact with infected persons, Robotics varies and include pharmaceutical robots, disinfectant robots, and exoskeletons. The best part is that they work best for a multi-functional purpose.”
  6. Chatbots in Healthcare. “Chatbots are an intelligent resource for monitoring health. They consist of machine-learning algorithms that aid hospitality and help manage a healing procedure. Due to the sensitive nature of human health, it’s vital to seek professional advice on health-related issues. Chatbots ensure that patients get the medical advice they need without necessarily going to the hospital to see a doctor in person.”
  7. Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). “Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) make room for nonphysical interactions. AR helps users engage with digital information from remote locations in real-time. VR provides medical training and helps you become aware of diseases.”
  8. Technology in Mental Health. “Technology in mental health is a powerful form of medical treatment and an awareness tool. Some apps help relieve anxiety, with others monitoring your day-to-day mental health. Hence, the invention of AI, VR, and other digital healthcare devices is replenishing mentally.”
  9. Digital Therapeutics. “Digital therapeutics are different from regular healthcare devices. It must be software-driven, tested, and confirmed to help cure certain health conditions. Digital therapeutics takes the burden of undergoing complex treatments. It feels better to get medical help wherever you are when you need it. With this kind of approach, you can take better care of yourself with fewer resources.”

As time goes by, technology will continue to improve and continue to benefit our lives.

 

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Configure S3 Connection Pooling

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If you are receiving frequent connection failures between IPA and Lawson S3, you may want to configure the connection pooling for S3.

To do this, open the Landmark Grid, and click the “gear” to open the configuration manager.  Click Applications > [your landmark application] > Edit Properties.

Expand “LPA Settings” then “S3 Pooling”.  Click “pfi.pooling.s3UsePooledConnections”

Select “All” for the display complexity.  Click the top LPA option, first column.

Check the box “pfi.pooling.s3UsePooledConnections” and click “Create (or Update) Property”

Now, set the rest of the s3 connection properties.  Best practices are as follows:

Be sure to click the save button at the top of the screen.

My Food Bag Delivers Quality Meal Service at Scale with Infor

My Food Bag recipe and meal delivery service recently deployed Infor CloudSuite Food & Beverage (F&B) ERP in order to achieve organizational-wide transparency and full visibility of end-to-end profitability. Per the press release, My Food Bag experienced exponential growth over its first five years of operation with revenues of more than $100 million, thus recognizing the need to invest in a modern, industry-specific enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform. Additionally, a rapid implementation of Infor CloudSuite F&B and Infor Product Lifecycle Management for Process (Optiva) happened in a matter of months, which has benefited internal and external stakeholders, including customers and suppliers. My Food Bag previously relied on manual spreadsheets for nutritional information and allergens but Infor PLM for Process has provided a robust recipe management system with controls and parameters to provide confidence at any scale. Partnering with Infor’s industry-specific knowledge, cloud-first strategy, and strong integration was the direction that My Food Bag was aiming towards so that its systems could continue to scale.

 

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Unable to get a SQL connection from the pool

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What to do if you are seeing this error on a SQL node in an IPA work unit:

java.sql.SQLException: Unable to get a SQL connection from the pool at com.lawson.bpm.processflow.pooling.SQLConnectionPool.borrow(SQLConnectionPool.java:79) at com.lawson.bpm.processflow.pooling.SQLConnectionPool.getPooledConnection(SQLConnectionPool.java:58) at com.lawson.bpm.processflow.workFlow.flowGraph.FgSQL.executeQuery(FgSQL.java:1107) at com.lawson.bpm.processflow.workFlow.flowGraph.FgaSQLQuery.startActivity(FgaSQLQuery.java:149) at com.lawson.bpm.processflow.workFlow.flowGraph.FgActivity.execute(FgActivity.java:947) at com.lawson.bpm.processflow.workFlow.flowGraph.FgProcess.run(FgProcess.java:2201) at com.lawson.bpm.eprocessserver.grid.ExecuteFlowImpl.executeFlow(ExecuteFlowImpl.java:427) at com.lawson.bpm.eprocessserver.grid.ExecuteFlowImpl.restartFlowForUA(ExecuteFlowImpl.java:181) at com.lawson.bpm.eprocessserver.ProcessFlowEngine.execute(ProcessFlowEngine.java:193) at com.lawson.bpm.eprocessserver.ProcessFlowEngine.reStartProcessAt(ProcessFlowEngine.java:116) at com.lawson.bpm.eprocessserver.KBConnectionDispatch.dispatch(KBConnectionDispatch.java:48) at com.lawson.bpm.eprocessserver.KBConnectionDispatch.run(KBConnectionDispatch.java:37) at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1145) at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:615) at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:744) Caused by: java.util.NoSuchElementException: Timeout waiting for idle object at org.apache.commons.pool.impl.GenericKeyedObjectPool.borrowObject(Unknown Source) at org.apache.commons.dbcp.datasources.SharedPoolDataSource.getPooledConnectionAndInfo(SharedPoolDataSource.java:181) at org.apache.commons.dbcp.datasources.InstanceKeyDataSource.getConnection(InstanceKeyDataSource.java:701) at com.lawson.bpm.processflow.pooling.SQLConnectionPool.borrow(SQLConnectionPool.java:68) … 14 more

 

To resolve this error, try setting your Maximum Core Pool Size, which determines how many work units can concurrently execute SQL nodes.  Best practices are to set this value to the number of work units that are allowed to concurrently run on your system.

To add this parameter, search for “Configuration Parameter” in Process Server Administration in the GEN data area.  Create the parameter if it doesn’t already exist.

 

Seven steps to help protect your ERP system against cyberattacks

Your company’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) houses your most vulnerable data, yet you may not realize the system itself is even more vulnerable. Cyberattacks now more than ever are an ongoing issue and an attack to your ERP system would take a huge blow for any company. While many businesses are investing in upgrades and cloud migrations at the top of their list with their ERP systems, they should also greatly consider an upgrade to their security efforts. Katya Defossez and Wolf Richter share a great article on McKinsey.com highlighting the best ways to protect your ERP system against cyberattacks. While there is no such thing as a perfectly protected environment, Defossez and Richter suggest these seven activities that companies should consider to better detect, defend against, and recover from cyberattacks.

  1. Identify your most important information
  2. Create a road map to identify all interfaces with the system
  3. Install middleware to monitor data flows
  4. Reduce vulnerabilities and data flows where possible
  5. Stop backing up ‘hacked’ systems
  6. Make ERP teams an integral part of cyberattack-response exercises
  7. Be more systematic in hardening ERP systems

Nothing in the digital space is hacker proof, but taking the necessary security precautions can help prevent it from being an easy target and risking your data and your organization’s resources.

 

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