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.

Palais des Thés Moves its ERP to the Cloud with Infor

Infor recently announced that Palais des Thés, the French house known for its exceptional teas, has opted to move its enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to the Cloud with a pair of Infor suites. The first suite Palais des Thés chose was Infor CloudSuite Distribution Enterprise, a cloud-based ERP platform with features designed and developed for the food retail sector. Second, they chose the Infor Factory Track module, a solution for automating and simplifying stock and production operations that manages automation in factories and warehouses, from receipt of raw materials to processing and packing to dispatch of finished products, while integrating inventory, operations planning, and the associated work and attendance times. Per the press release, this project, which launched in the beginning of 2022, aims to provide Palais des Thés with the management system needed to support its strong growth, while moving it towards greater standardization, and addressing major challenges of warehouse and logistics management. With a decade old ERP that wasn’t adaptable to their new company size and scale, Palais des Thés needed to upgrade their system, and Infor was the one they wanted. Moreover, Philippe Maillet, Infor’s sales director for SMB & channel in France, says of the project, “We are happy to count among our customers a reference like Palais des Thés, a fine brand that respects the values of this new world and has been able to withstand the difficulties of the past two years. Deployed in a multi-tenant cloud environment hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS), our CloudSuite should enable their young and dynamic teams to focus on their core business and on higher value-added tasks.”

 

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AS400 Debug Batch Programs

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To debug batch programs through command-line entry, use the following steps:

To debug batch programs through command-line entry

  1. If LAWENV is not called as part of your user profile’s sign-on program, you must call the LAWENV program to set the environment variables correctly.
    1. At the IBM i command line, type
      CALL LAWENV
    2. Type the name of an Environment and press Enter.
  1. Compile the program you want to debug. At the Qshell command line, type
    qcompile -D productline systemcode programcode

Note: If you need to include modules in the compile, use qcompile -Dm productline systemcode programcode .

  1. Submit the program to a job queue that is on hold or is not tied to a subsystem (so that the batch job does not execute).
  2. Start a service job for the program.
    1. Get the job information by typing at the IBM i command line,
      WRKJOBQ QueueName
      where QueueName is the job queue to which you submitted the batch program.Select option 5 (Work with) for the job queue and then write down the job, user, and job number information for the appropriate job.Note: You can also use the WRKUSRJOB command to find the job information, but this may yield a much longer list of jobs to view in order to find the one you need.
    2. At the IBM i command line, type:
      STRSRVJOB JobNumber/UserName/JobName
  1. Start debug. At the command line, type STRDBGand prompt it (F4). Make sure the library is the one where you compiled the source and that UPDPROD(*YES) is set. If the information is correct, press Enter.
  2. When source listing appears, press F12to resume.
  3. Start the batch program by changing the job to run in an active queue. On the “Work with Job Queue” screen, enter 2(Change) to change the job queue for the job. After typing in the job queue name, press Enter.The ILE debugger will display the “Start Serviced Job” screen with the following message: “The serviced job has been released from the job queue. Press Enter to start the job or F10 to enter debug commands for that job.”
  4. Press F10and then at the IBM i command line, type:DSPMODSRC
  1. Set break points (F6), then press F12, and then press F3 to return to the “Start Serviced Job” screen.
  2. Press Enterto run the program.
  3. After finished with debugging, end debug and the service job. At the IBM i command line, type:
    ENDDBG
    thenENDSRVJOB

How technology will shape healthcare in 2023

Healthcare and technology have been a welcome partnership and while technology has established a presence in the healthcare sector, it wasn’t until the COVID-19 pandemic that patients started relying more on the option of healthcare technology. While the economy in general is trying to settle back to “pre-covid” times, certain new “norms” are here to stay. Digital health and public policy writer Rebecca Pifer shares an article on Healthcare Dive explaining how healthcare technology will continue to be in demand in 2023. Pifer shares despite the return to the traditional healthcare resources or recent privacy and cybersecurity threats, digital health will still provide medical experts better insight to patient data. Here are a few predictions Pifer sees in healthcare technology this year:

Digital health goes back to basics. “After a volatile few years of record digital health funding followed by a painful market correction, health tech is going back to basics this year as investors prioritize safety over risk, experts predicted. Digital health funding may still experience a slight drop compared to past years, but funding levels should stabilize in 2023, according to Credit Suisse analyst Jonathan Yong.”

 

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The Evolving Role Of The CISO In 2023

With many people working remotely and many business operations moving online as well as databases stored in the cloud, cyber security has become a key need for companies. Thus, the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) role has become more important than ever. Andrew Hay, cyber security expert and COO at Lares, LLC., shares an article on Forbes explaining how the role of CISO has evolved and the importance of this position in today’s business environment. One of the primary roles of the CISO, Hay shares, is to “develop and implement a comprehensive security strategy for their organization. This involves conducting risk assessments, identifying vulnerabilities, and implementing controls to mitigate potential threats.” The CISO plays a key role in learning and communicating security risks to their employees and their stakeholders. This role works closely with essentially every department to ensure security is integrated in all aspects of the business. Hay makes note of the biggest challenge for this position – cybercriminals. It is the CISO’s job to anticipate and prepare for new threats as they emerge. Another challenge to overcome is data privacy, Hay explains that with the implementation of regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), companies must be more transparent about how they collect, use, and protect personal data. Therefore, the CISO must work to ensure that the organization is compliant with these regulations, while also balancing the needs of the business. Hay concludes that the role of the CISO, although faced with high level challenges, is crucial in today’s digital landscape. With more and more companies joining the digital workspace, more and more cybersecurity is needed. As we look to the future of work, the CISO will play an essential role for your business and employees.

 

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