What is Infor LN?
Infor LN is one of the most important industry-agnostic Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) tools. The solution offers a system for the E2E planning of all relevant business processes, from design, manufacturing, warehousing, and supply chain to the integration of external partners and customers. Thanks to its incredibly user-friendly design, Infor LN significantly simplifies these complex processes in everyday operations.
How does the Implementation of Infor LN work?
Infor LN is a multilingual ERP system that is well-suited to global companies and their customers. Benefits include elevated internal and external process transparency with high-performance analysis tools, optimised error management capabilities (automated alerts, prioritisation of errors, prompt forwarding to the responsible departments) and the ability to manage both manufacturing and service features without having to carry out customer-specific adaptations. Infor LN not only facilitates Enterprise Resource Planning in the narrower sense, it also uses Infor OS technology to link other business applications – such as a tool that integrates within the ERP system and acts like a social network for employees to communicate and solve on-premise problems.
Infor, LN is consistently implemented according to the requirements of the respective implementation partner. It is designed to run on Unix-like operating systems and supports relational databases. LN uses BEMIS (Baan Electronic Message Interchange System) as its internal messaging standard, so a standard interface is highly recommended. The well-documented CSV interfaces are easy and quick to use, as users have a simple directory structure at their disposal for reading in and setting up the data.
Here is an excerpt from a sample file:
“SA1″;”ETN080702131713000000000000000004″;”ETN293″;”293000992″ORD001″;”BEMIS”;””;;20080702;;1317;”SA1_END”
“SA2″;”ETN080702131713000000000000000004″;”ETN293″;”293000992″;20080702;20080702;20080702;””;””;””;”FCA”;”Free carrier”;””;””;””;””;”030″;”30days credit”;30;0;0;”EUR”;;””;””;;0;”POAMS1″;”ZZ”;””;”ETSUP1″;”ZZ”;
“BFBP”;”ZZ”;”SFBP”;”SFBP”;”ETSUP1″;”0HBP”;;”ETSUP1″;”ZZ”;”PTBP”;””;””;”0″;32;;””;”TEST VD”;;;;;;;;;;;”SA2_END”
“SA3″;”ETN080702131713000000000000000004″;”ETN293″;”293000992″;”BFBP”;”NLD”;”ZARA Gran Via 293 Financial Company”;”ZARA Gran Via Nergenshuizen”;”ZARA Gran Via”;””;;””;”1011 NH”;”NH”;”12345″;””;””;””;””;””;;”Den Helder”;”DH”;”SA3_END”
Infor LN Considerations
As mentioned above, there are two main preliminary hurdles for companies looking to introduce the ERP software Infor LN. BEMIS can cause challenges, depending on the project and implementation partner. These specific implementation parameters should be clarified well in advance to avoid deviations. To ensure the project runs as quickly and smoothly as possible, companies would do well to have a specific objective in mind – possibly identified with the help of an ERP consultant. Source and target formats, communication protocols (e.g. SFTP, AS2, AS4, OFTP, etc.), and test data should also be discussed.
The economic benefits of using Infor LN.
An Infor LN-enhanced ERP provides economic benefits for all areas of business. These may include:
• Automated and transparent processes to ensure operational excellence
• An agile supply chain for reduced operational expenditure, e.g. cost-centred supplier management as standard
• Service-oriented business model by expanding manufacturing
• Agile, low-cost, customer-specific adjustments to the software to fortify the competitive position
• Data-based decision-making with transparent ERP-relevant data
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Where does Lobster come in?
Lobster_data is a data integration solution that acts as a comprehensive construction kit for driving the creation of Infor LN interfaces. The Lobster middleware offers release-proof default interfaces that streamline communication with implementation partners. In addition, CSV interfaces such as Bemis can be implemented quickly and are easy to scale.
Furthermore, without metadata, such as in XML, information is readable to humans, eliminating the need for software developer support to map or maintain these interfaces.
Customer or project-specific requirements are easy to implement, while ISO certifications and certified protocols provide the necessary security. Most templates and formats are included as standard in Lobster_data or can be created very easily and quickly.
Lobster Consultants are on hand to support ahead of the project or during the implementation phase.
