Using Infor Workspace to create an automatic, customized collaboration process that supports effective and efficient decision-making across the enterprise.

by Soma Somasundaram, senior vice president, Global Product Development, Infor

Many companies have mastered the mechanical aspects of enterprise applications — deployment, procurement, data collection, etc. But even when they manage to gather the right information, most still lack the ability to leverage information in the right way.

It’s no secret: In manufacturing firms everywhere, waves of information swamp productivity efforts. Some employees desperately create their own, undocumented methods to filter the rushing flow of data, while others dive into unconnected pools of data, searching for insight before giving up, exhausted and demoralized. The end result is that every day, every employee is making crucial decisions based on incomplete information — or none at all.

The truth is that gathering information doesn’t make a company more competitive, but effectively using the right information does. It matters less how much inventory is in the pipeline than whether or not that inventory is in the right part of the pipeline to fulfill the right need. Likewise, what happened yesterday may or may not be meaningful today, but what’s happening right now always matters.

In his book The Velocity Manifesto, author Scott Klososky challenges corporate leaders to take a hard look at the “digital plumbing” within their organizations and take responsibility for making sure the right information is being efficiently pushed to the right users for immediate and effective decision-making. As the velocity of business continues to accelerate, this ability will separate leaders from laggards.

“If you want to be a high-velocity leader, you must understand what it takes to have the very best visibility into what your organization is doing and what the performance trends are — in real time… You simply cannot confidently keep pace unless you can clearly see the current status of the machine.”[1]

The complexity of manufacturing in a global marketplace requires multiple real-time views into the state of the “machine.” Customers want faster delivery, higher quality, and more flexible responses. Suppliers meet or don’t meet these demands based on hundreds or even thousands of small decisions made by multiple employees each day. The quality of the cumulative outcome rests on the quality of the information employees can use to make these decisions. Your company might be collecting stockpiles of potentially actionable information, but what good is it if only a handful of people use it strategically?

Infor Workspace addresses this imperative by providing a powerful and consistent information-access interface that’s also easy to use, helping users to become more productive based on context of usage. With Infor Workspace, enterprise applications can coexist with outside information, such as KPIs, dynamic alerts, and other tools that target key functions within the application. Two examples of these tools:

• Mapping for visibility into locations of goods, inventories, assets and supply-chain networks.
• Currency and time conversion to “normalize” the interactions of globally dispersed teams.

These tools also are context-aware, and automatically anticipate and adapt to user needs and interests based on the user’s role and the business function he’s performing at a given moment. The result is proactive decision-making based on the highest-quality information available to that user at that time. Instead of a user searching for confirmation that a delivery was made, for instance, the interface sends an alert of delivery status. Without the alert a user might find information confirming delivery, but it would depend on whether information was recorded, where the information was recorded, and the user’s ability to locate the information.

Infor Workspace’s “context-awareness” takes the variability out of these handoffs, turning them into an automatic, customized collaboration process that supports effective and efficient decision-making across the enterprise.

While there have been consistent interface advancements since business applications were first introduced, Infor Workspace is a completely new approach. It’s a step-function advancement, designed to revolutionize the way users work with software and each other. No longer will business and social tools be separate. Infor Workspace seamlessly melds them together, making it as easy to interact with coworkers around the world as it is to use the application itself.

Manufacturers have made huge strides internally in customer-focused quality improvement through process control. Advances in monitoring technologies allow manufacturers to now anticipate and prevent potentially costly product failures before they erode output and profitability. Yet most manufacturing companies have yet to apply the same innovations externally to their service and maintenance offerings—despite the fact that these programs offer significant opportunities to diversify revenues and increase profits while building customer loyalty. In fact, “process control” can actually be more important for services than for products, since service activity usually takes place offsite—where problems are harder to see and fix, and where response times are longer.

Executives who want to improve process control for their service and maintenance programs focus on three key initiatives:

• Establish universal standards for service delivery.
• Develop real-time access to full customer records.
• Institute rigorous monitoring capabilities across all service processes.

Spare parts replacement is a good example. From a customer’s point of view, a 100% quality experience is having machine part availability in real time—either for a scheduled replacement or when an existing part suddenly fails. Anything short of a seamless process for replacement will hurt the customer’s bottom line—and leave a bad taste in his mouth. At the same time, in most industries the customer’s perspective will be that 100% quality for spare parts replacement isn’t “extra,” but “expected;” yet for most manufacturers this “expected” capability requires synchronization of multiple processes across multiple departments, enabled through real-time access to information at the customer’s site.

How do you put this process control in place? With a fully integrated and automated field-service management solution such as Infor’s Service Management for System i. Service Management helps improve service visibility while empowering service organizations to proactively manage aftermarket services in the field by preventing bottlenecks and missed connections at headquarters.

Take the spare parts example: What if a service technician could access and monitor customer service contracts in real time, and create recurring workflows that prompt actions to supply adequate spare parts for scheduled replacements or parts failures? With automation, the end-to-end parts-replacement process (verification of availability, confirmation of delivery date and shipment location, invoicing, etc.) can be standardized—and communicated to internal staff and customers alike—making parts inventories and service calls more predictable and more profitable. Unfortunately, most organizations still manage service operations with a flurry of phone calls, faxes, emails, and voicemails among technicians and internal contacts—a so-called “process” that’s inherently unstable, unpredictable, inconsistent, and rife with error. 

Infor’s Service Management for System i supports the creation of predictable, repeatable standards by enabling best practices and workflows to be embedded into the system and improving customer record accessibility. And with role-based workbenches, front-line employees have direct access to customer records and service activity, allowing them to quickly spot and respond to customer needs and emerging issues. Service Management also includes comprehensive mobile-device support, and can be delivered through a cloud platform. This can reduce wasteful back-and-forth among office employees and field teams, creating a more efficient, effective service model. It also helps create a uniform path for recording customer interaction, initiating root-cause problem solving, and measuring performance and accountability.

With service standards established and customer records available to all staff in real time, service monitoring can occur at multiple organizational levels via various tools within Service Management: detail-level analytics; at-a-glance gauges; ad-hoc reporting; schedule, route, and certification information for technicians; work-order tracking; and inventory and equipment tracking with the addition of Infor Barcode. These capabilities also can be accessed via mobile devices or through a cloud platform.

Leading manufacturers are learning that the skills they’ve developed to control product quality are equally applicable to service offerings. Infor’s Service Management provides a comprehensive, scalable, and easily integrated platform to help them get there.

 

Posted by Ross Freeman, Product Manager, Infor10 ERP Discrete iEnterprise (XA)

More than three-quarters of the US GDP comes via services, according to The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 2010. Smart manufacturers know this, and they’ve been looking for ways to differentiate their new products by adding new services to the value equation. Even now, according to the 2009 Annual Survey of Manufacturers from the US Census Bureau, manufacturers generate about 6% of total value of shipments from services. This includes installation, repair, and training support and services. In sectors such as industrial equipment or computers and electronics, that percentage is even higher. Yet manufacturers searching for service revenues should proceed with care: Customers demand responsiveness from service organizations, and they penalize firms that fail to deliver at world-class levels.

What does it take to meet world-class service levels? Simply this: staying one step ahead of customer inquiries and requests. Yet for most firms, this is anything but simple. It requires tracking every customer touch, transaction, and function; sharing that information with every employee who might touch that customer in the future; and monitoring and reporting customer service activities for day-to-day decision-making as well as strategic planning. Infor’s Service Management—a fully integrated, robust, scalable, and automated field service management solution for System i—improves service visibility and allows service organizations to proactively manage aftermarket services.

With Service Management you can meet customer demands, increase visibility into service performance metrics, and improve collaboration across the enterprise to find new revenue opportunities. Better customer relationship management increases sales opportunities and revenues while also boosting revenue per technician via improved scheduling. Not surprisingly, service profits also rise through improved forecasting and planning, spare parts management, warranty tracking, and contract management.

No two service organizations are alike, so you’ll need tools tailored to your firm’s needs—both in the office and in the field. Service Management includes all the flexible, digital tools you’ll require—with seamless, end-to-end integration including:

• Customer service interaction management/call management
• Service performance management for generating and maintaining complex equipment records
• Customer web portal for faster, more accurate response and a web-based service order dashboard for providing visibility and control to dispatchers, supervisors, and customers
• Electronic transactional capabilities, including Infor Barcode and RFID for tracking key components and high-value items
• Mobile support, including mobile service entitlement management (contracts, warranties, and service policies) and mobile connectivity and service scheduling with complete field workforce management, workload forecasting capabilities, and a dynamic scheduling assistant

As your service organization succeeds, Service Management can smoothly scale to meet growing needs by supporting new sites, partners, subsidiaries, and franchisees. It ensures that everyone in the organization has up-to-the-minute information for confident decision-making that improves customer satisfaction and profitability. How’s that for service?

Let us know what you think, we would love to hear from you.

Posted by Joe Marino, Vice President, Development, Support, and Product Management, System i

In today’s marketplace, you need to constantly look at how you do things, and ensure you do them well.  You're off to a great start with a proven ERP system that works with your IBM System i platform, but you need to build automated processes that are carefully mapped to make your business more efficient. When that happens, you'll be able to work better, faster, and smarter than ever before. The key is to have a process mapping and automation tool that lets you quickly identify areas for improvement, reduce the number of tasks your teams have to handle, and apply your own business rules to software applications without modifying your ERP system.

Sounds good in theory, right? But you’re probably wondering where you can get such a tool. Well, you came to the right place. With Infor Workflow for System i, a drag-and-drop design tool, you can quickly create a graphical representation of any business activity. The tool provides you with:

• "To do" action automation. Once the process map is complete, you can specify how to automate steps and start a process. Any process step can automatically place an entry on a user's "to do" list.
• Automated task assignment. You can assign tasks to groups of users (or roles) and individuals. Your employees get easy access to the information they need to complete tasks. Plus, escalation rules ensure that important tasks are never forgotten.
• Automated business logic execution. Not all processes require human intervention. Infor Workflow for System i can automatically execute business logic, decreasing the time it takes to complete a process and reducing the number of tasks your employees must perform.
• Automated communication. The benefits of Workflow are not restricted to Infor ERP users. Any step in a process can automatically send a mobile text message or email to an individual or group of individuals, including suppliers and customers.
• Event tracking. Within the application, all activities are recorded and traced by user, date, and time—providing you with both an evidence chain and the ability to identify bottlenecks quickly.

Could your company stand to benefit from better communication, continual process improvement, and greater productivity and lower costs? Whose couldn’t? With Infor Workflow for System i, you get a complete ERP workflow, modeler, and business process management solution combining a graphical process modeler with sophisticated automation. Why not see for yourself?

We’d like to hear from you. What are you doing to work harder, faster, and smarter? Would our tool be of help? Please leave your comments and feedback here.

Posted by Kari Miller, Senior Director, Product Management, System i, Infor

Spending on information technologies (IT) is heating up in most industries. For example, Gartner, Inc. recently raised its growth prospects for worldwide IT spending to $3.4 trillion in 2010, a 5.3% increase over 2009; Gartner projects $3.5 trillion in spending for 2011, a 4.2% increase from 2010 [www.gartner.com]. Manufacturers are once again investing to improve infrastructures and grow their businesses. Yet after the last two years, manufacturers also realize that every IT  dollar counts—and needs to pay off sooner rather than later.   

   

A recent study of System i users conducted by The MPI Group (and sponsored by Infor) showed that all the participating System i manufacturers believe that return on investment is an important purchasing criteria: 75% said “extremely important” and 25% said “somewhat important.” Not surprisingly, 71% of these manufacturers measure ROI. Savvy executives have long known that in making IT purchases, it’s especially important that they project total cost of ownership (TCO) over the life of the investment.

 

Yet many manufacturers lose that TCO focus after a few months or years. Long-term considerations sometimes fade as systems become familiar (i.e., same old, same old) and newer IT options entice buyers. Those firms need to reassess their System i capabilities and potential, evaluating ongoing TCO. What will they likely find? That their cost of ownership is steadily decreasing, especially if their systems (as is typical) have been functioning well and they’ve effectively managed their IT assets.

Tens of thousands of manufacturers still prosper on the System i platform, leveraging previous investments over an expanding lifetime. They’re putting freed-up IT dollars into new System i solutions to stay current with IT trends—without the expense or pain of a platform change. For example, they’re upgrading System i-based ERP systems via Infor’s Flex Upgrade and Flex Exchange programs. Others are extending ERP functionality with new System i applications from Infor, such as performance management (PM), customer relationship management (CRM), and supply-chain management (SCM).

 

You might see other manufacturers spending on IT. You might see still others migrating to new platforms—and paralyzing their businesses just when they need to be strongest and most nimble. Don’t bet on an untested, new TCO model when your current System i continues to deliver improved TCO and, more importantly, the functionality you need to succeed today and tomorrow. After all, don’t you have better things to invest in?

Posted by Kari Miller, Senior Director, Product Management, System i

For most of this decade everyone seemed to want the latest and greatest gadget, technology, service, whatever—and wanted it right now. All of us knew people who appeared at every meeting with a new phone or MP3 player or tablet PC—even if their previous toys were still perfectly functional (and often less buggy). Technology became the new fashion statement.

But lately there’s been a shift in the general moral, intellectual, and cultural climate. True, consumers will continue to plow ahead with purchases, even with the frequent buyer’s remorse after getting their hands on a bright and shiny gizmo: “But I liked the old interface … I used to be able to do this … Where are my familiar apps?” Even if the new toy completely fails, the costs of going backward to an older system or a different new system usually won’t break a personal budget. The shift has occurred at the corporate level, where executives just don’t have the luxury of trying a completely new gizmo with a few more apps and then walking away if it doesn’t work.

Too often “bright and shiny” had your IT department swooning like love-drunk teenagers as they described a new enterprise system and the functionality it would provide. You even found yourself nodding in approval, also smitten by new functionality. Today, you slow down the conversation and consider the tangled web of implementation costs, drain on resources (among IT and every single person and department that is touched by the change), and potential mishaps that could put profitability in jeopardy. Do you need new functionality? Yes, probably. Do you need a big, bright, and shiny new system? Not necessarily.

Many manufacturers using System i ERP aren’t aware of just how far they can extend the platform. The ability to leverage new broad-based functionality—such as customer relationship management or asset management—as well as industry- and process-specific solutions is very real, very affordable, and very low risk. You may still find yourself pressed by techies in your IT department to move to a completely new platform with a rip-and-replace approach, but that rarely makes good operations or economic sense.

Jim Shepherd, senior VP research, AMR Research, wrote, “ERP rehabilitation is an option that is available to many companies who are running older systems. These products often have strong vendors, attractive upgrade paths, and a broad assortment of complementary applications. AMR Research is pleased to see the ERP vendors becoming more aggressive about packaging and selling this option within their customer bases. There are too many companies that have allowed their vital business systems to atrophy because they weren’t prepared to buy a new ERP system. Many of these companies could derive great benefits from a relatively inexpensive ERP upgrade and buy themselves another 5 to 10 years before they have to step up to a replacement project.” [Should You Rehabilitate Your Current ERP System Rather Than Buy a New One? AMR Research, September 2009]

With every dollar closely watched these days, wouldn’t it be smart to explore how you can apply a new business solution to your old System i—achieving advanced functionality without massive investments or implementation headaches? I’ve listed a few applications below to help you extend your System i:

• Customer relationship management helps improve and leverage customer relationships with real-time integration of marketing, sales, and service information.
• Enterprise asset management enables manufacturers and distributors to save time and money by optimizing maintenance resources, improving equipment and staff productivity, increasing inventory efficiency, and minimizing energy use and emissions.
• Performance management connects corporate strategies to operational plans and targets, generating clear guiding instructions that ultimately increase productivity, control costs, and improve overall business performance.
• Product life cycle management optimizes every stage of a product’s life cycle—bids, portfolio management, product development, production and delivery, maintenance, and retirement—integrating information from all activities to speed development, ensure quality, and mitigate risks.
• Supply chain management offers a comprehensive solution capable of integrating today’s complex global supply chains, helping to better manage supplier relations, reduce supply chain operational costs, and improve customer service and profitability.

Infor offers System i manufacturers in various industries and with unique business models the means to automate, plan, collaborate, and execute according to their requirements. Is your System i bright and shiny as the latest SmartPhone? Not exactly—but it’s tested and true; the most secure, reliable platform in the market with ever-evolving capabilities, and it’s already paid for. Why not use it to help leverage your IT investments over a longer lifetime, avoiding the disruptions and problems of changing platforms, and allowing your company to focus on pursuing best practices and new ideas to compete today and tomorrow?

Leave a comment to share your ideas about extending the life of your ERP system.

Posted by Kari Miller, Senior Director, Product Management, System i

Ever catch a ride with a friend who drives a high-end car—but not the latest model? Ever tempted to ask when he or she might trade it in for this year’s sexy new thing? Go ahead—but prepare to be surprised. Because often the answer—at least among successful, affluent drivers—will be “Newer than what?” Why? Because auto aftermarket options such as Bluetooth, navigation systems, and DVD players are frequently superior in quality and price to manufacturer-installed components, meaning that a well-maintained, high-performance vehicle can actually outperform newer rivals—without the pain of instant depreciation and monthly car payments.

I’ve been thinking that more CIOs ought to ride in one of those high-performance, no-monthly-payment cars. Because thousands of executives today run their companies based on the high-performance, low-cost System i platform. These leaders and their IT departments are being enticed by vendors large and small to move to newer platforms. My hope is that, like the successful, affluent drivers above, these CEOs and CIOs will thoroughly consider whether such an expensive new purchase is necessary, especially compared to what they can do now—and in the future—with System i.

Tens of thousands of manufacturers prosper on the System i platform, finding new ways to grow their businesses and leverage their legacy IT investments while avoiding the disruptions, problems, and costs of changing platforms. The key word here is “grow.” These manufacturers tap into new and exciting solutions offered by Infor (and others) to keep their infrastructures current without the expense and aggravation of moving to a perceived better platform. Here are a few ways that manufacturers are making what seemed old, new again:

• Programs such as Infor’s Flex Upgrade and Flex Exchange allow users to stay current and cost-effectively upgrade their System i-based ERP systems. If, for example, a merger or acquisition stresses your current ERP system, the Flex programs offer the ability to jump to a more robust system, adding both functionality and access to software innovations.
  
  
• Other manufacturers extend their existing System i ERP, adding capabilities such as performance management (PM), customer relationship management (CRM), supply chain management (SCM), etc. Infor solutions can keep your company’s System i current while minimizing IT spend. For example, Infor PM allows System i manufacturers to break free of outdated, spreadsheet-based performance management. I’ve got nothing against spreadsheets, but why not get real-time reporting and analysis of operational and financial data? Or the ability to more rapidly use that data to streamline processes and improve productivity?

• With service-oriented architecture (SOA) for System i ERP by Infor, many manufacturers will extend the life of System i for years to come. How? By using Infor Evolve components that add functionality and value for each maintenance dollar, allowing them to quickly connect additional components instead of building a new component each time they upgrade. Ray Wang, vice president, Forrester Research Inc., wrote that Infor’s Evolve components “allow new and old Infor clients to leap frog old code. Overall very impressive.” [Infor’s Evolve Strategy Fits Their Customer, ZDnet, March 16, 2009] Not surprisingly, many manufacturers feel the same way.

Manufacturers getting more from their System i platforms are like those savvy drivers with their up-to-date “classic” cars. Their operating costs continue to fall as they extend the life of their platforms even as timely additions address new needs. Employees, customers, suppliers, and shareholders are all happy with a comfortable, safe, technologically advanced ride—and grateful for the fact that there’s no debt hanging over their investment. In fact, the only thing they might miss is that new car smell—or the five seconds of fun that comes with tearing open the shrink-wrap on a complicated new piece of software.

But not much.

Posted by Mark Wright, Senior VP and General Manager, System i

In these unprecedented economic times, business plans must be stronger, more pragmatic, more accurate, and, above all, more agile than ever before. Managers must gain control of issues that might have been ignored during the years when revenues and results were stellar. Companies need low system costs and the highest system capabilities.

Bottom line is: Don’t let cost or the fear of disruption stand in the way of your company’s vision for the future. Infor is here to help.

Proactive businesses see this economic climate as an opportunity to strengthen their competitiveness, gain market share, and be ideally positioned for profitability when economic growth resumes. Together, Infor and System i create the ideal platform—powerful and most cost-efficient—for businesses competing in today’s economy. Infor’s 14,000 System i customers are in a strong position to achieve the robust and nimble environment they need today and in years to come.

 

This white paper touches on a number of topics to help guide you through this economic jungle:

• Thriving in unprecedented times
• A vision of the perfect IT world
• Infor’s System i “A Team”
• Getting to the latest technology—Infor Flex
• Empowering the vision

Learn how Infor’s System i can help you realize your vision for the future. Download Infor's guide to empowering your future now. 

 

Posted by Kevin Piotrowski, Director of Solution Marketing

We all know how the economy has impacted manufacturing. And, with a multitude of sources providing helpful information about how to improve your processes, meet customer demand, and still turn a profit, you should still look internally to make sure you have the ability to monitor, track, and report from the shop floor all the way to invoicing. Let’s face it, the greater visibility you have into your operations, the more effectively you can plan, manage, and respond to activities on the shop floor and report on those activities.

So, you’re asking yourself, “How do I make that happen?” The answer: MES. Implementing a manufacturing execution system (MES) integrates your business systems, such as ERP, with your shop floor equipment, increasing visibility throughout the organization. The MES puts in place process and quality management as well as helps manage production scheduling and sequencing, and creates an audit and tracking trail.

 

We recently hosted a webinar featuring the Infor MES solution from Paper-Less tohelp our ERP XA customers optimize processes and performance and transform mission-critical processes in scheduling, inventory, production, and quality into one integrated solution providing unparalleled visibility and management of manufacturing.

 

Posted by Ross Freeman, Senior Director, Product Management