8 ways to avoid business disruption from a new ERP system

Implementing anything new to your business is a huge and challenging process, often disrupting your day-to-day operations. With major implementations such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, it’s no exception. A major disruption that can occur during an ERP implementation is employee training on the new system, resulting in less time to complete their normal work. But how do you avoid potential disruptors so you don’t lose valuable time and money? Tech consultant Eric St-Jean shares an article on TechTarget on how to avoid business disruption from a new ERP system.  To limit disruptions, St-Jean says, project leaders should take the following steps as they begin planning for an ERP system implementation.
  1. Develop a detailed schedule. “The schedule will help guide the project and ensure key deadlines are met while also providing project team members with information about their time commitments.”
  2. Allocate sufficient resources. “To avoid overloading project team members, the project leader should carefully calculate how many project members the implementation will require. Doing so will help ensure that employees aren’t neglecting ongoing business needs.”
  3. Create checklists. “The project leader should use checklists to track tasks so project team members know what others have completed and can plan next steps.”
  4. Develop a roadmap. “The roadmap should include key dates and high-level tasks for each stage of the project. The roadmap can also highlight future phases, which could help managers and others who take care of workforce planning.”
  5. Conduct ongoing risk assessments. “The risk assessment process will enable the project leader to stay on top of potential issues and those that have already affected the business. The organization may be able to limit unplanned interruptions that could negatively affect the company and project team members.”
  6. Provide clear communication. “The project team should provide employees with clear and concise communication about the implementation as often as possible. The team should tailor messaging so employees get the details they need without overloading them.”
  7. Plan post go-live support. “Once the ERP system is live, the project team will need to be able to provide all-hands-on-deck support. As employees begin using the new system, they’ll likely have questions and run into issues, so subject matter experts should be available to help.”
  8. Provide multiple training options. “The organization could offer some in-person training, live online courses, e-learning courses and documentation. Employees could save time by only taking training that is directly related to their role. Micro-learning options could also be helpful.”

 

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EPS Tech Sets its Sight on Success with Infor

EPS Tech, a leading Israeli provider of advanced embedded electronic systems to the defense and industrial markets, recently chose Infor CloudSuite High Tech & Electronics and Infor PLM to improve process efficiencies across the business. Per the press release, the multitenant cloud, enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, which is powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS), and delivered by Infor’s partner, Intentia Israel, will span all business processes at the firm’s Tzur-Yigal facility. It will deliver real-time visibility and increased collaboration across the end-to-end supply chain. Additionally, EPS Tech went through a thorough assessment of the market and a competitive tender process before choosing Infor CloudSuite High Tech & Electronics for its industry-specific functionality. Further, an integral part of the implementation will be its Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) capabilities, designed specifically for discrete manufacturers, which will be fully integrated into EPS Tech’s production and assembly processes, providing full transparency across the product lifecycle.

 

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WorkUnits Not Running

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Problem Description

WorkUnits are not moving forward after a user takes an approve action in the inbasketRoot

 

Cause

The Lawson user was set to have “Run as” disabled. This prevents WorkUnits from successfully updating their PfiQueueTask records to move forward. This occurred as part of a sync that was executed a week before. The ISS SCWebAppAdmin had the Lawson user flagged as run as “No“, when the sync occurred the Landmark Lawson actor was updated. This did not impact the system until a week later when the Landmark system was restarted after applying windows patches.

 

 Solution

Change the Lawson user to “run as enabled”

and push that new setting and do a rolling restart on LPA/LmrkAll node to restore functionality.

 

 

 

Central Ohio Transit Authority Drives Digital Transformation with Infor

Infor recently had a successful go-live with Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA), the public transit system and mobility solutions provider for greater Columbus and Central Ohio. Working alongside Infor Global Professional Services (GPS), COTA will use Infor’s CloudSuite applications – an upgrade from their on-premise solution – to further align to its mission in using modern enterprise software that will allow its teams to be more nimble, informed and efficient. Per the press release, COTA has integrated its core business processes, enabling the organization to automate tasks, including confirming sufficient parts inventory to help ensure COTA transit vehicles stay in service. Additionally, the organization has also increased productivity, streamlined the financial budgetary edit process, and improved financial reporting, both internally and externally. Further, Infor GPS helped COTA realize the benefits that Infor’s modern solutions enable for its business. They plan to partner again to deploy additional solutions in the future, including Infor Global HR and Infor Payroll, which will be rolled out in phases along with new functionality in finance, supply chain and talent management.

 

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505 – Internal server error when accessing Lawson Inbasket

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This problem can occur after updating Lawson and Landmark from an older version and or when organizations update previous users to a newer naming convention.

 

Problem: A user is trying to access their Inbasket to approve orders but receive the error below:

 

  1. Validate the user is setup correctly in Lawson Security
  2. Validate the user is setup correctly in Landmark via Rich Client or Process Server Admin
  3. The RMID in Lawson Security must match the Landmark Actor ID.
  4. If Step 3 does not resolve the error, look into the IOS.log and see how the users RMID is appearing there and make sure the Actor ID matches the casing there.

This can be a tricky issue to resolve, especially for organizations with a single Lawson professional to debug while they are swarmed in daily tickets and also tasked with maintaining recurring process flows.

Alternatively, organizations will hire a Lawson consultant team that have a wider range of expertise who offer managed services at a fixed monthly rate. This would be more ideal for larger organizations with many daily tickets or workflows to maintain or even smaller ones who don’t need a single dedicated Lawson professional but still need weekly maintenance/support.

 

Is It Time to Replace Your Legacy ERP System?

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems have been around for decades as a game changing tool to help organizations manage various business processes. We are in the digital age with many of our personal and professional resources being entrusted in the digital space. It’s no surprise that ERP systems have shifted over to the cloud, providing businesses with more accessibility. It’s also no surprise that there are a large number of businesses still running legacy, or on premise, ERP applications. The current pandemic had many people shift to a work from home environment, forcing businesses to create a remote workplace. While the cloud is not a new technology – or the primary choice over on premise  solutions – it became a more appealing solution for the sudden switch to remote/hybrid work spaces. Though not every business realizes when it’s time to switch over. Technology expert Claus Jepsen shares an article on readwrite.com pointing out the signs that will let your know if  your legacy ERP system needs to be replaced – preferrably in the cloud.

  1. You’re spending more time and money modifying the configuration and customization(s) of the ERP to accommodate changes in your business processes.
  2. You’re finding data integrations increasingly complex.
  3. Employees are unhappy with the ERP system.

When the pandemic hit in 2020, Gartner coined the term “composable ERP” to describe an ERP approach that incorporates agility and flexibility by integrating multiple applications and platforms. This modern strategy, Jepsen notes, enables mid-sized enterprises to adapt quickly when markets are disrupted (i.e. the COVID-19 pandemic). The cloud makes it possible for businesses to be flexible and control scalability, something the pandemic challenged all of us to consider.

Making the decision to replace your legacy ERP system is only half the battle. Now you’re tasked with finding the right cloud-based solution, determining if it fits in your budget, choosing a reputable vendor, and deciding what tools within an ERP system will increase your overall productivity.  Jepsen concludes when you take all of these factors into consideration, they is a vast savings potential that a modern, cloud-designed ERP can provide, which can be an exciting possibility within a business’s reach.

 

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Infor to Help Transform Galva Coat for a Digital Future

Galva Coat Industries LLC, a landmark plant in the industrial area of Abu Dhabi that produces a wide range of steel products, has selected Infor CloudSuite Industrial to enable the digitalization of the production process and delivery, in its effort to become the leading producer of lighting poles and guard rails across the region. Infor CloudSuite Industrial is a powerful cloud-based, industry-focused, enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, which will help Galva Coat move forward with their transition from their legacy on-premise systems to the cloud – a crucial part of its digital transformation. Per the press release, after evaluating various options, the company chose Infor CloudSuite Industrial, powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS), to enable order management with CRM, planning, shop floor operations, time sheets management, supply chain including vendor portals and customer portals, finance and analytics. The multi-tenant Infor CloudSuite Industrial, running on the Infor OS operating services platform and powered by AWS, helps with Galva Coat’s aim to automate and integrate its production control systems and plant maintenance solutions and provide meaningful real-time analytics across operations to its senior management. Further, the deployment will start in April and is expected to go live before December. ITWare LLC, Dubai, UAE, one of Infor’s long-standing ERP channel partners, worked closely with the Infor team during the entire presales cycle and will be leading the implementation efforts.

 

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How to search for user properties in LDAP

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Searching for user properties in LDAP may not be as straightforward to do or you may not have had formal instructions in past to do this task. Below is a step-by-step guide to easily search for user properties in the LDAP application.

 

D:\LSF > ldifde -f cli.ldif -r “samAccountName=Cli”

Connecting to “cust.private”

Logging in as current user using SSPI

Exporting directory to file cli.ldif

Searching for entries…

Writing out entries1 entries exported

 

The command has completed successfully

D:\LSF > ls cli*

cli.ldif

D:\LSF > lashow cli.ldif

 

dn: CN=Li\, Catol,OU=Users,OU=Accounting,OU=Finance,DC=cust,DC=private

changetype: add

objectClass: top

objectClass: person

objectClass: organizationalPerson

objectClass: user

cn: Li, Catol

sn: Li

title: Accountant I

description: Finance – Accounting

physicalDeliveryOfficeName: Halo

telephoneNumber: (713) 644-3333

givenName: Catol

distinguishedName:

CN=Li\, Catol,OU=Users,OU=Accounting,OU=Finance,DC=cust,DC=private

instanceType: 4

whenCreated: 20210218225523.0Z

whenChanged: 20220224165103.0Z

displayName: Li, Catol CatolCat

uSNCreated: 293302835

memberOf: CN=!AP_Invoice_Process,OU=Distribution Lists,DC=cust,DC=private

memberOf:

CN=FortiGateWebFilter_Finance,OU=Web Groups,OU=Information Technology,DC=cust,

DC=private

 

Foodex Group Opts for Infor as Part of Global IT Overhaul

In recent news, Japanese food importer and distributor Foodex Group has selected to implement Infor CloudSuite Distribution Enterprise, a cloud ERP platform with prebuilt capabilities for food and beverage distributors. Per the press release, the 20-year-old company from Paris has chosen a “One Infor” approach, entrusting the vendor with the entire project through a mission of consulting, support and services delivered in SaaS mode throughout the project. Infor’s CloudSuite covers the main needs of large international food distributors as standard, from omnichannel sales and order management, through purchasing, inventory and supply management, financial management, and associated analytical reporting with the implementation of the Infor Birst BI module.

 

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Socket Error in ISA

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If you receive a “socket” error when saving data in Infor Security Administrator, it is probable that your Federated Server Certificate is corrupt or out of sync and needs to be recreated.  Note that this is NOT the WS Federation Certificate.

To recreate the Federated Server Certificate, open a command line window on the LSF server and set the environment variables.  Log into ssoconfig -c.

First, get the Federated Server Certificate name.  “Manage Federation” > “Manage Federated Server Certificates” > “List Federated Server Certificates”.  Make note of the name.

Select “Manage Federation” > “Manage Federated Server Certificates” > “Delete Federated Server Certificate”.  Type in the name that you saved above.

After a successful confirmation, restart the servers and try again.  A new Federated Server Certificate will be generated upon recycle.