How infor Lawson Consulting Can Put Money in Your Pocket

hello, everyone!

It's been a while since I posted, things have been very busy.

I have been thinking about consulting and how many companies view it.  for the most part, I think that the average Lawson ERP user would rather not have to pay a consulting firm like mine to come in and perform work on their systems.  not because the work is not affordable or effective, but just because it's an added cost.  not to mention the fact that it means something is either wrong or could be.

But if you'll allow me, I'd like to present another way to look at things.  Hiring a consulting firm like Forte Technology Resources has so many cost-saving benefits:

• We provide in-house training which saves a huge amount of money because there is no travel, lodging and food expense associated with it like remote trainings.
• The knowledge from on-site training workshops has a much higher retention rate and is more practical
• Catching an unforeseen software issue before it pops up can save a huge amount of money and time
• proper system organization makes it easier to maintain and upgrade
• An occasional system checkup is just as important to your ERP as it is to your body
• Independent consulting firms are generally much cheaper than going directly to Infor or one of it's registered affiliates
• your indepednant firm, like Forte, will create and value a much more productive and effective customer relationship with you.
• An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, let's face it.

So the next time you need some help, some upgrade assistance, some training or just want to ask a question, keep in mind that infor Lawson consultants are here to help.

does your Infor Lawson ERP system have a clean bill of health?

I think we'd all agree that your Infor Lawson enterprise resource planning software environment is extremely complex.  Not only is it a large integrated application suite, but it's vital to the performance of your company.

The truth of the matter is, the more complex a system is, the more the need arises for regular maintenance, or checkups, if you will.  Just as your car needs a tune up now and then, and you go to your doctor for an annual or semi-annual physical, so your Lawson system also needs a regular inspection to ensure it's running smoothly and effectively.

Perhaps out of these three examples, the ERP is in the greatest need of a regular checkup.  When you consider how much is riding on it, and how far-reaching it might be.  with multiple departments  and multiple locations accessing the system, not to mention the cloud, there is a tremendous  amount of data being manipulated.  Additionally, with frequent service packs, upgrades , patches and new versions being installed, it's easy to see how a complex system like your Lawson ERP can become bogged down, under-powered or even outright "sick."

So no matter what your circumstances, it's never a bad idea to bring in a consultant to give the system a look see.  Even just a cursory examination can reveal unseen issues or issues that may become critical at some point in the near future.  As much as you rely on your Infor Lawson suite, it's vital to make sure it's healthy and doing the job you require of it.

The right training means you get more from your Infor Lawson ERP software

Hello everyone,

Training is an unavoidable and necessary part of the smooth operation and optimization of your Infor Lawson enterprise resource planning suite.  With so many new service packs, patches and updates coming out every year, it's vital that a staff be kept up to date.

The standard method of training is to send people away to a remote session.  While the norm, this is often not nearly as effective as the alternative of bringing the training directly to you.  The remote option carries with it several less than desirable factors.

For one, you lose the productivity of the staff members whom you send to the training.  They arent' at work doing their jobs and even if you replace them temporarily, those temporary people are not doing their jobs, at least not fully.  Second, there are many costs involved with remote training.  there is the cost of the training itself, lodging, travel and food for example.  Finally, the training tends to be a generic one size fits all type of program.

On the other hand, an in-house training program has none of these downfalls.  Because you bring in a trainer and consultant, the only costs involved are those of the training and some small ancillary costs.  Further, the training program is customized to your company and your people.  The knowledge retention rate is far higher because the students work on real-life problems based on your system.  And there is also no loss of productivity because the training schedules can be set up around your operations.

When you consider the benefits of cost, time and knowledge, in-house Lawson training workshops are the best choice for any Lawson user.

Customizing your Lawson Process Flow

Have you ever wanted to create custom JavaScript functions for your Lawson Process flow?  Have you ever been afraid of modifying the pflow.js file in your IPA?  Well, here is a little info that I think you will find very useful.

 

Believe it or not, it's actually possible to create your own custom-made or user-made JavaScript library called "pflow_user.js."  You create this file in the same folder as the pflow.js file that is delivered with the install.  The Process Flow designer will treat your custom file exactly like (and in parallel with) the functions in the pflow.js file.  Your custom functions will also appear in the assign node "Functions" drop down list.  However, you must be careful to ensure that your file is formatted exactly like the provided pflow.js file for this to work.

 

Another great benefit of creating your own library is that if you create a JavaScript function with the same name as a default function, your new function will override or extend the existing function.  This is an incredibly powerful feature, as it allows you to extend valuable existing functions without having to create them entirely from scratch and while preserving the original for backup purposes.

 

This will work on both the Pflow Classic 9.0.1 version and the IPA (Landmark) 9.2.x versions.  It may even work on earlier versions.  This should be easy enough to check.

 

I hope this has been of some benefit to you.  Have a great week!

 

Plan to Succeed

No matter what you want in life or in business, you must begin with the end in mind.  After all, you probably won’t get what you want unless you define what that is.

 

So before you go out there, either in the "real world" or virtually, you will want to set a goal and plan to achieve that goal.  It’s pretty simple, really.  But you’d be surprised how many entrepreneurs and managers fail to do this, or at least fail to do it completely.

 

By defining a very specific goal, not only will it be easier to reach because you will know exactly what you want, but it will be easier to create a plan to get it.  When you have a definite aim, you will be able to create a definite plan that will include the step by step actions to take, as well as those things you might have to sacrifice to get what you want.

 

As tedious as goal setting and planning can be sometimes, it’s so vital.  So plan for success and go get what you want!

 

Our new website is live!

Happy weekend, everyone!

I just wanted to post a quick announcement about our new website.  it's finally up as of today.

I'd like to invite everyone to come on over and take a look and let us know what you think.  We've added a few new features and are adding more shortly.  For one, we've created and are accepting subscribers for a new Lawson and Kronos newsletter.  This will be packed with all sorts of great information, ideas and offers, so come and join us.

We'll also be adding new updates to the site, regular postings of information and more.

http://www.forte-corp.com

Infor Requiring Some Lawson users to Do a licensing Audit

hello,

I have been doing some reading and research and have discovered some interesting information.  As many of you know, with the purchase of Lawson by Infor, there have been and will continue to be some changes.

These changes will be both positive and negative.  The positive changes will be that Infor wants to incorporate more functionality and flexibility  into the Lawson ERP system.  On the other hand, they are also doing some things which can be annoying, to the say the least, to the application users.

it seems that Infor wants to have all existing Lawson users do a new licensing audit.  They provide a script to run and then ask you to let them have more access.  There are some over at the lawsonguru who are complaining that these scripts themselves are not functioning properly.

Nothing worse than running a program to help your program that doesn't work right.  This only goes to show how complex the enterprise resource planning system is.  While these types of things can be frustrating, they are to be expected.  The Lawson system is highly complex and needs constant administration.  The trouble is this is often overwhelming for the users.

I try to be cautious about this, but this circumstance does sort of shine a light on the need for consultants, doesn't it?  It's nice when you've got someone around who can not only guide you through these situations but can even offers alternatives to scripts that don't work, license issues and the like.

Hang in there, everyone, although this change from Lawson to Infor Lawson is going to have its share of issues, we can get through it.  There are many resources available to us all, be it in-house System Administrators, Third party consultants such as my own company, online resources like Lawson forums and websites, and who knows what else will be coming soon.  But for those of you who are users of the systems, just remember there is always a solutions to your problems. 

A little helpful info

I hope everyone has had a productive week and is enjoying the weekend.

I wanted to put up a quick link to a site that has helped me out a bit.  I have a friend who gives me SEO advice now and then and it seems that creating back links to your website is one of the most important things you can do.

I was turned onto this link exchange site and have found it useful and helpful.  they provide a lot of websites to link to and they also continually check to make sure all exchanged links are active.  it's worth checking out, I think:

http://www.linkmarket.com

Our new Lawson & Kronos ERP system website is nearly complete!

Hello everyone! I just wanted to post a quick update on our Lawson and kronos ERP system consulting website. As you can see below, we have announced a new website and are looking for suggestions. Once completed, we'll announce it here and invite you all to come and take a look and join our new newsletter. Aside from showcasing our consulting and training services, our new site will be a resource for ERP software users and will continue to grow in that capacity. We hope to regularly add new features and tools. As Always, if you would like to see something, or have a question or suggestion, please feel free to comment here or visit our current website and contact us.

A little interesting info you might enjoy on Infor Lawson

Another Update on Alleged Patent Infringement

Leave a Comment Posted by John Henley on July 2, 2013

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Back in 2011, Lawson responded to an Alleged Patent Infringement by replacing Requisition Self-Service (RSS) with Requisition Center (RQC). In the meantime, Lawson has been acquired by Infor, but the patent case still lingers.
Here’s an update. Some of you might have received this notice from Infor, and are unsure how this might impact your organization. The usual disclaimers apply: No, I’m not an attorney, nor do I play one on television. Here’s my interpretation.
The court has modified the finding against Lawson/Infor by removing the RSS-only configuration; since the bulk of customers have upgraded to RQC, it no longer applies. This leaves any customers using either punchout, or EDI in conjunction with punchout (essentially, punchout functionality was the original basis of this alleged patent infringement). Those customers are at risk of not being supported—for any Lawson product—if they have punchout or EDI installed on the server.
And yes, I have had customers who were refused support in this configuration even though the case had nothing to do with procurement.  The case is turned over to the client’s account rep to figure out what products need to be replaced in order to comply with the court order.

Increasing our value to all Lawson and kronos ERP users

Hello everyone,

As we're now at the end of another week, I was thinking about value and what we're all looking for.  The reason we created this blog was so that it would become an invaluable resource to all Lawson and kronos ERP software users out there.

In order to meet this goal, we are taking several proactive steps.  First, we're in the process of redoing our website to be more informative and offer more tools and options to our current and future clients.

Additionally, we're brainstorming with several consultants, those who have been in the field and who have lots of ideas on current customer needs, wants and ways to help them.  in this vein, we'd like to ask all of you to interact with us here.

Post comments, ask questions, give suggestions and interact with us on ways we can make this blog and our website a better and more valuable resource for you.  We would greatly appreciate it,we we'll work hard to meet your needs and become a vital part of your Enterprise Resource Planning operations.  Thanks and have a great weekend!

An article we recently published for all business people

How To Sell - 3 Essentials For An Effective Salesperson
By David C. Lucas

Even in this day and age, when the internet has become a powerful and effective marketing tool, the ability to sell yourself and your products and services is still very much a necessary skill. Not only is it vital that you become an effective sales person, you must also know how to spot and hire them as well.

Sales can be a scary topic for some. Many people think that sales, like musical talent or the ability to sculpt is some kind of inborn skill. While there may be some truth to this, you don't have to be a natural to be a good sales person. The real key to sales is repetition and practice. Not unlike music or sculpting, for that matter.

If you are shy, or feel you're not charismatic enough, you can overcome this. You do the uncomfortable until it becomes comfortable. Believe it or not, after a very short time of making cold calls, approaching prospects or networking, you will find that little lump of trepidation in your stomach will vanish. It really doesn't take long. It just takes consistent and persistent effort.

The truth of the matter is, especially for entrepreneurs, you have to be able to sell yourself. In the beginning, when money is tight and you have more time than funs, you must be able to convince others that you are worth their time and money. So in that regard, let's now discuss 3 core essentials for being an effective sales person.

Essential #1: Develop Your prospect List

This is vital in the beginning, but never forget about this. No matter how successful you become, a list of prospects will always be a valuable tool.

There are many ways to create and maintain your prospect lists. In the very beginning, you start with a list of people and companies to whom you already have a connection. And list them all, no matter who. You can always pear down later. The act of thinking of this list and writing down names will jog other names from your memory, so don't' skip anyone, even your family.

From this first list, you will weed out those who will not or cannot be customers. You will then contact the potentials and make your pitch, which we'll go into later. It is from this list that you can often develop a secondary list from referrals of those who hire you or buy from you, as well as from those who are not interested but might know someone who is. Referral lists are very powerful.

Once done, you will now have to seek out potential clients. This is where you can go online and do some research to find companies who are probable customers as well as individuals. There are many ways to do this, and it can be very effective.

At any given moment in time, your list will probably have at least three classifications of prospects. The A list, which are those who are most likely to buy immediately, the B list of those who are somewhat interested but for one reason or another, cannot act now. The final will be the C list. These are cold prospects or those on the fringes. They may even be a No thanks list, but for different reasons, you may want to go back to them later.

Essential #2 - Prospect Farming

This may seem like it belongs in the last tip, but really, this is a separate idea. Because what we're referring to here is how you cultivate your crop of prospects. Once you've gotten that list, your seeds, you must plant them, water them and take care of them.

Sales is not always a one shot deal. In so many cases, especially after you get past the list of your best possibles and their referrals, you have to cold contact people. This means making initial contact with secretaries, receptionists, administrative assistants and so forth.

You may have to do some direct mailing and cold calling. You mail a piece, then call a little while later, perhaps after the second or third time the prospect has received your mail. This creates an awareness in their minds so that when you call, they know who you are and what you represent.

Think of it as peeling an onion. Each layer you remove is one step closer to the sale. This might seem very tedious, but in the process you will build some relationships that can be very helpful. When you finally get to the principle, you may have an advocate in the form of his or her assistant, a fellow employee and so on.

Essential #3 - Offer Value

This one sounds almost too obvious, doesn't it? You might be thinking, 'Well, of course I'm offering something of value." And no doubt your product or service is good, but we need to take it a little further.

Remember that everyone is an individual. And what are individuals concerned with more than anything? Themselves and their prosperity. People buy because they believe it's good for them to. They hire you because you can do them some good.

This is a vital key to sales. When you can show your prospect how working with you will profit them, you will have crossed a huge hurtle. Show them why you, your company, your product or your service is the right choice. Show them how you can make them money, save them money, save them time, and make them look good or feel important. You are what they need and want. If you can demonstrate this, you will be far ahead of the game.

Of course, there are many sales tips. They fill volumes. Tips like make a customer a sales person, mostly by following essential #3. Don't be overly pushy, don't be too passive. Make the prospect feel important. The customer of my customer is my friend. On and on.

With just these three simple tips, you can have a great deal of success in your sales efforts. And use this as a starting point. Go forward and gather as much info as you can. And don't forget to simply ask your prospects or your customers what they think of you and how you sell. Good luck!

In the process of building his Lawson ERP Software consulting firm, David has become a master sales person. He knows how to tune into a potential customer and match solutions to their needs. To see examples of this, please visit his website:
http://www.forte-corp.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=David_C._Lucas
http://EzineArticles.com/?How-To-Sell---3-Essentials-For-An-Effective-Salesperson&id=7832494

infor Lawson News Report

Infor Completes Acquisition of TDCI, Inc.

NEW YORK - May 16, 2013
Infor, a leading provider of business application software serving more than 70,000 customers, today announced it has completed the acquisition of TDCI, Inc. The acquisition, initially announced April 23, brings leading product configuration management for manufacturers and distributors of customizable products and services into the Infor product portfolio. The expanded capabilities will help companies capture the knowledge of their product experts in easily maintained product models, guide users through selection of the product, features, options, and dimensions that best fit their needs, and generate a wide range of configuration-specific outputs, including images, models, and documents.
The TDCI Product Configuration Management solution includes:

• TDCI Product Configurator - Provides product or other configuration services to a variety of applications including ERP, CRM, and sales solutions.
• TDCI Sales Portal - Provides a web portal for sales people and trading partners to quote and order configured and non-configured products.
• TDCI Flex Suite for the generation of 2D drawings, 3D models, photo-realistic images, and dynamic documents.

TDCI products are already integrated with many leading Infor ERP applications, including Infor LN, Infor SyteLine, Infor XA, and Infor Distribution SX.e. Infor expects to integrate capabilities from TDCI with additional Infor ERP products. The transaction also includes TDCI's MAC-PAC XE, an ERP system for discrete manufacturers.
Financial terms of the proposed transaction are not being disclosed.
About TDCI
TDCI's product configuration management solutions enable manufacturers to transform the buying experience for their customers. The creation of compelling web experiences, quotations, and accurate orders with dynamic bills of materials and routings greatly streamline the marketing to manufacturing processes. This helps manufacturers increase revenues, reduce costs, and differentiate their brands in the marketplace. To learn more about TDCI, please visit www.tdci.com.
About Infor
Infor is fundamentally changing the way information is published and consumed in the enterprise, helping 70,000 customers in 194 countries improve operations, drive growth, and quickly adapt to changes in business demands. Infor offers deep industry-specific applications and suites, engineered for speed, and with an innovative user experience design that is simple, transparent, and elegant. Infor provides flexible deployment options that give customers a choice to run their businesses in the cloud, on-premises, or both. To learn more about Infor, please visit www.infor.com.
Infor customers include:

• 19 of the top 20 aerospace companies
• 12 of the top 13 high tech companies
• 10 of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies
• 23 of the top 50 largest US hospitals
• 43 of the top 50 industrial distributors
• 26 of the top 35 global retailers
• 5 of the top 9 brewers

some interesting lawson ERP Food For Thought

Theresa Rice

Talent Management is Management

Posted by Theresa Rice on Apr 11th, 2013 in Lawson/Infor, Talent Management, | 0 comments

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Shockingly there is one key myth about talent management that continues to take precedence in organizations. Is talent management the job of human resource departments?
Many organizations lack processes for identifying and correcting ineffective managers. In addition to not teaching ineffective managers about effective talent management practices, these organizations fail to reward good managers for great people-management results. Placing sole responsibility on HR is another bad strategy. Talent management is management.
So what should managers and organizations do to enact best practices in talent management in their organizations? They should take the talent game seriously and make finding and growing the best talent a top priority. How should your organization improve your talent management strategy?

1. An effective hiring process should last no longer than three weeks – any longer, and candidates will leave the process. They decide to stay where they are, they find other opportunities to pursue and take other jobs. Make it a priority to keep your hiring process down to three weeks or fewer to ensure you don’t lose the best talent. Make is easy for them to find opportunities, communicate the process and make it easy for them to apply.
2. Pay market value for talent. “You get what you pay for.” This has never been truer than when it comes to paying for great talent. When the demand is high for talent and the supply continues to get lower, unless a firm has an unbelievably strong value proposition (a great reason to work for that company opposed to any other alternative), it is extremely difficult to attract “A” players.
3. Define career paths. Top performers get promoted. They set career goals and are focused on over achievement in the areas that they are measured. They are driven by what they need to do to get to the next level.
4. Adopt a performance management system! It is no longer a luxury, but rather a necessity for any company who wants to achieve success in today’s competitive market. A good system allows a company to set clearly defined goals and objectives, to track activity metrics and relevant data in a concise and timely format, and the ability to evaluate the data quickly and effectively.
5. Offer training and development. Top organizations have extensive training and development plans for every employee that not only focus on what they can do to improve their performance, but also to help them with their future career goals within the organization. Educated employees tend to take responsibility for their productivity.

how Small Businesses Can Attain Affordable help To maximize Their Lawson Environment

Every company that uses the lawson ERP is looking for ways to improve the system, or to get more out of the system, and for ways to find the most cost-effective consulting and independant services possible.  This can become a more difficult problem when a company is on the smaller side.

This is due to several factors, including budgetary restraints, lack of qualified personnel and time.  That is one area where we focus.  So I thought i'd briefly list a few key areas where hiring a consulting firm can not only help a small business leverage it's Infor Lawson ERP, but do so in a timely and affordable way.

1.ProcessFlow integrator - this is a very powerful module released by lawson that allows a company to streamline it's flow of information as well as integrate the ERP with 3rd party software.

2.Virtual System Administrator - Some smaller companies don't have the resources to sustain a full-time System Administrator on staff.  But the job is still needed.  Because of the network capabilities of the application, a virtual monitoring can be set up with a qualified consulting firm that allows the small business to have remote monitoring, upgrading and problem solving services rendered at a fraction of the cost of bringing in a specialist for every single issue.

3.On-site training workshops - In order to keep the staff up to date and the system running properly, constant training is required.  The standard is to send staff members to a remote class, thus incurring the costs of training, travel, lodging and other expenses.  by bringing in a qualified Lawson trainer, a company can save large amounts of money, time and efficiency as well as gaining in a higher level of knowledge retention.

4.Routine checkups - Even if the Lawson system is running okay right now, it can be a good idea to do a system-wide evaluation every now and then.  This helps streamline processes, uncover any hidden or impending issues, as well as gives the company an opprotunity to ensure their overall system health is in good shape.

Just a couple of quick ideas.  These are powerful methods for smaller firms to improve and enhance their all-important ERP system without breaking their banks.

Some starter links

As per my last post, here are a couple of links to some articles that I hope you will find useful.  On each of these sites, as well as others I'll post in the future, there are a lot more of these.  Please enjoy and as always, we're open to your feedback.

Top Common Issues Faced By Lawson ERP Users Part 1
http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Top-Common-Issues-Faced-By-Lawson-Clients-and-How-to-Solve-Them-Part-1&id=7564157

Part 2:
http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Top-Common-Issues-Faced-By-Lawson-Clients-and-How-to-Solve-Them-Part-2&id=7564162

An article on the value of in-house training workshops vs. remote training:
http://www.amazines.com/article_detail.cfm?articleid=5740480

A new resource for you

Welcome to Forté Technology Resources' Lawson ERP sysstem blog.  We will use this forum to post updates on the Infor lawson software suite and  the Kronos software suite.  This will include links to our articles, videos and other online resources to assist you in optimizing and maximizing the full power and potential of your enterprise resource planning software system.

We invite comments, questions and suggestions from anyone who wishes to participate.  Our hope is that this blog and the resources within become in invaluable tool in your business management.  Thank you for reading and we look forward to interacting with you.

if you would like, please visit our website at:
http://www.forte-corp.com