This error message “No record found for given key PDLSET1 in PRODLINE” can rear its ugly head in multiple ways.  The most common way is when you log into Lawson Security Administrator and see the message below.

After you click Ok on both messages, you will see that the data sources are not visible.

In this case, the best way to resolve the issue is to stop and start the Lawson services in the proper order (or reboot the Lawson server).  First, stop all the IBM services and the lawson.insight service.  Make sure everything comes down.  Check the task manager to make sure no java processes are running, and no “laxxxx” processes are running.

Next, bring up the services in the following order:

  • insight environment
  • IBM Cell Manager
  • IBM Node Manager
  • IBM Application Server

If you see this error message when trying to build RM Queries or Updates in IP Designer, but you are not seeing it in LSA, then you can stop and start the pf services on the Lawson server.  Open a command line utility and set the Lawson environment variables (or log into a LID session).  Run these commands in this order:

  • stoppfem
  • stoppfrmi
  • startpfrmi
  • startpfem

Infor recently acquired Lighthouse Systems, a leading provider of manufacturing execution system (MES) software for smart manufacturing. Per the press release, the company’s flagship product, Shopfloor-Online™, helps manufacturing companies manage and improve manufacturing operations across production, quality, inventory, and maintenance. Further, Lighthouse Systems’ MES solution can be fully integrated into Infor CloudSuite ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems, helping Infor address a critical customer requirement of 24×7 manufacturing operations. Lighthouse Systems customers include Ball Corporation, Formica, Lucite International, Nissan, Benteler, and the Timken Company.

 

For Full Article, Click Here

Activities have multiple budget types available.

They can be Life Only Budgets – just to make sure that you have not gone over the total budgeted amount for the project.  This works well when:

  1. The project spans multiple years to be completed such as a new building
  2. You are managing your project budget in a different system and just want to know if you have exceeded the total budget for a project.

They can be Annual and Period budgets – these automatically interact.  If you make a change at the period level, it will be reflected in the annual view and if a change is made to the Annual budget, it will be reflected in the Period Budgets.

There are multiple ways to create budgets:

  1. You can spread a total budget amount over multiple years or just a single Fiscal Year. You can create spread codes that allow you to determine how to spread the amounts – periodically, Quarterly, every other month, etc.
  2. You can use a Compute Statement to create the budget
  3. You can create a budget based on Last year’s Budget or Actuals
  4. You can create a budget for both or either amounts or units.

You can budget at multiple levels

  • Activity Group – least detailed – all activities in this group will be included in the budgeted amounts
  • Activity Only – this is for a specific activity and would be for all account categories
  • Activity and Summary Account Category – If you use summary account categories in your structure, you can create a higher level budget for things like CapEx and Opex instead of creating a detailed budget for each type of cost.
  • Activity and Account Category – this is the most detail level budget for each activity for each type of expense or revenue item.

Budget Edits – will not allow transactions to post to an activity if it will exceed the budgeted amount plus any tolerance specified.  A good way of getting around causing the budget edits to prevent transactions is to add a large tolerance, like 99%  – basically doubling the budget before edits will prevent new transactions.

Forming solid and ongoing relationship with customers is what measures business success. Customer relationship management (CRM) software aid in this operation. These platforms not only measure customer relationships and behaviors, but also offer strategies to better serve your audience. There are many CRM strategies to implement and each business is different. An interesting article on Euro Weekly News shares several practices and strategies to optimize your CRM platform utilization.

  1. Keeping information updated. “CRM tools allow users to customize the data they want, helping them understand customer behavior further and serve them better.”
  2. Establishing clear data entry procedures. “Identify the data you need and have clear policies in place for a more organized and streamlined CRM implementation.”
  3. Integrating CRM with other business software. “When linked with an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, for instance, CRM provides a better view of the current marketing, sales, and financial data, allowing enterprises to have more realistic predictions.”
  4. Tapping CRM’s artificial intelligence functions. “CRM software offers various solutions that can help multiple business processes. With the help of machine learning or artificial intelligence (AI), businesses can automate their operations better and offer more time for sales and marketing representatives to perform their core tasks, including lead qualification, content marketing, and sales forecasting.”
  5. Be wary of data privacy regulations. “Despite the extensive customer information and marketing and sales analysis that a CRM tool can provide, businesses must not forget about their responsibilities concerning data privacy regulations. Being careful with handling CRM data helps prevent business data breaches. This is critical in preventing costly payments that could shut your company down.”

 

For Full Article, Click Here

You can build a budget by Company – accounting unit and Account.  You can edit a budget in a number of ways.

What does it mean to edit a budget?

You create a budget at the detail level but you are only concerned that the budget for the accounting unit (cost center) stays under budget for the fiscal year.  Not each individual account.  Things change throughout the year and managers are responsible for moving budget dollars from one account to another as things change.

Using budget edits at the accounting unit level allows your personnel to enter transactions and not getting over budget messages when the entire budget for the accounting unit hasn’t been breached yet.

What you need to make this work:

  • On GL10 you need to indicate that your budget edit is summarized. This is on the Budget tab.
  • On FB11 – create budget groups that indicate the accounting unit and the group of accounts that you want the budget associated with. Some users do only their expense accounts, some do edits by summary account.  This is very flexible and can even include more than one accounting unit if a department has more than one.
  • Build the budget edits. This can be done one at a time on FB11 or for all edit groups using FB111.  Keep in mind that the company- accounting unit – account combinations can only belong to a single budget edit.

That’s all there is to setting them up.  Now you have control over how you receive over budget messages throughout your system.

 

Panda Restaurant Group — the parent company of the largest family-owned and operated Asian dining concept in the U.S., Panda Express — recently selected Infor Expense Management (XM) to automate expenses, realize greater efficiencies, and streamline how the organization tracks travel and entertainment (T&E) spend for its multiple brands. Per the press release, Infor XM is one of the most flexible and configurable T&E expense management solution on the market, delivering real-time reporting for advanced T&E data visibility. It offers a modern and user-friendly experience design that streamlines all phases of the expense reporting process, including four modules for Expense Reports, Travel Plans, Payment Requests, and Timesheets. Users have the tools to improve the way they track, analyze, and control employee-initiated expenditures to realize important opportunities for cost savings. Further, application supports mobile usage and social collaboration, helps eliminate manual processes and delivers a consumer-grade experience built for enterprise users.

 

 

For Full Article, Click Here

When setting up an SMTP host and user email inbox for LBI and or Smart Notifications, you may want to consider using an MX (Mail Exchanger) Record for your next setup via direct send. This can not only save you on license costs, but also skip the need for setting up an inbox.

 

If you’re not a network admin and solely working within Lawson, you’ll need to reach out to one to setup the MX Record for you. You can also read up more on this topic here if needed.

 

Once setup, the network admin will send you an MX Endpoint URL similar looking to this: contoso-com.mail.protection.outlook.com

 

 

  1. Now in LBI go to Report Administrator
  2. Under Server Administrator >> Select Email and Printer Settings
  3. Under Device Type Tools >> Select Manage Device Types >> Select Email
  4. Copy the MX Endpoint into the Host field, the From address could be anything you prefer
  5. Now go to Smart Notifications (if needed).
  6. Select Admin >> under Settings >> Select Install Validator
  7. Under Field 16, select “Click here to modify”
  8. Enter same settings:
  9. Now run some smart notification and LBI tests to verify all is working. Make sure you check your junk mailbox. Good luck!

Cloud technology and cloud usage has grown in importance for our everyday work, school, and personal lives. Despite the ease of use, there are major areas to focus on such as portability and connectivity, on reining in the cost of these elastic services, and on a rebalancing of cloud versus on-prem workloads. Database Trends and Applications (DBTA) writers Joyce Wells and Stephanie Simone share 11 cloud technology predictions from IT leaders for 2022 and the coming years.

  1. Cloud-native apps go to the edge
  2. “The Great Resignation” and IT talent shortage will create a push to cloud adoption
  3. 2022 will see the first public cloud vendor make its services available on another public cloud
  4. Revisiting cloud investments and best practices in 2022
  5. On-prem storage will increase in importance
  6. The marriage of cloud and edge computing
  7. Hybrid (everything) is here to stay
  8. Multi-cloud infrastructures will become mainstream
  9. Hybrid cloud is a reality and a multi-cloud strategy is a no-brainer
  10. The value of multi-cloud will be challenged
  11. A large-scale software supply chain attack will take down a major cloud computing service

 

For Full Article, Click Here

There are a few common reasons why scanned invoices may stop showing up in Lawson Portal via MHC’s IXDrill.

 

Reason 1 – IXDrill is outdated on the user’s PC and may need a newer version (assuming auto-update is not enabled or working).

Reason 1 resolution: The server’s version of IXDrill may have updated, you’ll need to contact MHC or your organizations Windows IT support to get a newer version installed of MHC IXDrill

 

 

Reason 2 – Error: Cannot connect to ixQueryEngine Server

Reason 2 resolution: The server’s IXQueryEngine process may have crashed and your organizations local IT windows support may need to reboot it. Alternatively, the server may have migrated to a new virtual machine and the URL in your IXDrill settings will need to be updated.

 

 

Reason 3 – Incompatible or Outdated Browser

Reason 3 resolution: Contact MHC to get a compatibility matrix for browser supported with the version if IXDrill you’re currently using or contact your Lawson support team to verify the browser in use is also supported with Lawson Portal.

The Infor Coleman AI Digital Assistant app is now available for Microsoft Teams. The addition to Microsoft Teams will help reduce adoption friction when rolling out the digital assistant to organizations that already use Teams in their day-to-day work. Per the press release, The Infor Coleman AI Digital Assistant provides a conversational interface to the Infor OS platform, the underlying foundation of Infor CloudSuites. It offers custom skills, a chat UX, and natural language processing (NLP) capabilities. Additionally, as a digital assistant, Coleman uses a conversational UX and natural language processing to chat, hear, talk and, in the future, analyze images to help people work more efficiently. Further, The Infor Coleman Digital Assistant can help maximize human work potential by advising, augmenting, automating, and conversing with the user. Infor Coleman makes its AI capabilities easily accessible, as it is built on the foundation of the Infor OS enterprise application platform (EAP).

 

For Full Article, Click Here