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.