Frequently Asked Questions: Infor SyteLine ERP

Enterprise resource planning (ERP)  is business management software that allows an organization to use a system of integrated applications to manage the business. ERP software integrates all facets of an operation, including product planning, development, manufacturing processes, financials, sales and marketing.

ERP is a cross-functional enterprise system driven by an integrated suite of software modules that supports the basic internal business processes of a company. ERP gives a company an integrated real-time view of its core business processes such as production, order processing, and inventory management, tied together by ERP applications software and a common database maintained by a database management system. ERP systems track business resources (such as cash, raw materials, and production capacity) and the status of commitments made by the business (such as customer orders, purchase orders, and employee payroll), no matter which department (manufacturing, purchasing, sales, accounting, and so on) has entered the data into the system. ERP facilitates information flow between all business functions inside the organization and manages connections to outside stakeholders.

In simple terms it connects interested parties to relevant information and creates new information by logically combining data to create new resources. Studies have shown that organizations in the growth stage of their lifecycle typically need to formalize their information technology systems. ERP gives a company an integrated real-time view of its core business processes such as production, order processing, and inventory management, tied together by ERP applications software and a common database maintained by a database management system.

This is a question we get asked often. The only real answer is, it depends. There are many different requirements for different types of manufacturing. A small business has different needs than a complex, multi-site or multinational operation. There could be compliance demands for your specific industry. You must also take into consideration general IT issues such as total cost of ownership, vendor stability, technology flexibility and ease of implementation. It is very important to choose a vendor that will help you answer these questions and to ensure they address your unique requirements.

Success is dependent on the goals your business wants to achieve. ROI is measured by many organizations based on cost and time savings that are achieved with the implementation of an ERP software system.  Potential ROI can be seen in many processes and even departments.

Ultimately, Infor SyteLine ERP is a manufacturing ERP system that helps manufacturers improve the bottom line by adapting business processes to market requirements. Packaged with smart functionality to address the key challenges manufacturers face today, Infor SyteLine ERP  ERP Manufacturing software requires less customization, shorter implementation time, and fewer IT resources to maintain. That means an immediate return on your investment and lower total cost of ownership over the long term.

Infor SyteLine ERP  ERP Manufacturing Software supports continual change as manufacturers strive to maintain their competitive edge and adapt their business processes to continually meet customer promises, demands and business-specific requirements.

Best of all, Infor SyteLine ERP  ERP Manufacturing software is flexible enough to let you shape the ERP experience. You gain a powerful, easy-to-use manufacturing ERP system that works the way you do, rather than forcing you to conform to a rigid set of processes and procedures.

Cloud? Or on-premise? This is undoubtedly one of the biggest and most frequent questions our clients ask when purchasing a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

Cloud-based ERP systems are becoming more common than ever before. In fact, nearly every ERP vendor now offers some form of cloud deployment option, and some have moved away from their on-premise offerings altogether. Infor’s Infor SyteLine ERP Manufacturing Software is available on-premise, hosted, in the cloud/SaaS, or hybrid.

There are several reasons why a small or midsize business might choose a traditional on-premise system, which, until recently, was considered the norm in the industry. Which one is right for your organization? Only you can make that decision, but this breakdown on the pros and cons of each will hopefully serve to make the decision easier.

By knowing the advantages and disadvantages of each type of ERP system, business owners and decision makers can determine the best fit for their business. This allows for a more informed decision-making process and encourages the proper allocation of resources and an overall more efficient ERP workflow.

Read more on how to select an ERP that is right for you here.

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software helps businesses simplify sales, marketing, and customer service. The best way to build customer loyalty and encourage collaboration across your company is by ensuring that customer information is visible and accessible in a single database, companywide. The best way to do this is to integrate it with your ERP.

A unified ERP-CRM solution enables your sales team to create quotes and estimates based on actual resources and inventory. In addition, your financial team will be able to manage customer billings and create forecasts based on actual orders. Products can be configured using CRM data for make-to-order environments. Maintaining customer information in separate systems is not only inefficient, but it opens the door to service complaints and inaccurate orders. Connecting ERP and CRM is vitally important in a competitive market.

If you are looking to save money, improve collaboration, have better analytics, improve productivity, keep your clients happy, simplify compliance and risk management, improve inventory monitoring, improve your production planning and manage your resources better, then ERP is most likely exactly what you need. The benefits of an ERP system far outweigh the initial cost, time and effort involved in implementation.

Read more here about how to choose the right ERP.

Today’s managers can no longer afford the luxury of multiple independent views of the business. The Infor SyteLine ERP Manufacturing system provides complete financial management and enterprise business intelligence capabilities including budgeting, forecasting, financial planning, and executive analytics so you can control the cost of doing business and adjust operations accordingly for increased profits.

Infor SyteLine ERP Manufacturing software provides a fully integrated set of financial functions that coordinate all financial and costing transactions with production operations. You can consolidate, integrate, and analyze all your financial and project-related information, so you can track business success now and, in the future, no matter where your business operates.

For a more in depth study of financial management and ERP, please go here.

Many businesses implement ERP for the first time when they realize their entry-level accounting software lacks scalability and functionality, and just doesn’t give them the reporting they need. ERP software systems facilitate managing much more than just financials. An ERP system like Infor’s Infor SyteLine ERP is developed with modules and applications that cover everything from manufacturing management, distribution logistics, CRM, order management, e-commerce, product lifecycle and engineering control, scheduling, inventory and warehouse management.

Infor’s Infor SyteLine ERP Manufacturing Software is highly customizable, and with different deployment methods, such as Cloud, On-Premise, Hosted, and Hybrid, there will be a perfect fit for you.

Browse the full catalog of modules and integrations by visiting out Infor SyteLine Master page. You can navigate through all the features using the sidebar navigation. 

CPQ is a business software solution that gives you the features your business needs to create a more successful and productive custom product sales process. CPQ, or Configure, Price, Quote software, is a sales tool for organizations to quickly and accurately generate quotes for orders. CPQ applications often work together with ERP and CRM programs. Quotes produced with CPQ software are automated according to a preprogrammed set of rules, ensuring error-free pricing that takes into account quantities, discounts, customizations, and optional features of products.

With CPQ, you will get:

• Intuitive product configuration engine
• Auto-generated 3D and 2D product imagery
• Comprehensive quoting and ordering system
• Automated documentation
• Robust sales portal
• Industry Specialization

With Infor CPQ, you can:

• Make it easy for your retailers and distributors to quote product add-ons and services in order to provide a single, integrated quote – making you an easy brand to sell. Reach more customers and deliver the best products and services.
• Speed up and simplify the creation of new products, as CPQ allows you to roll out your new features and pricing electronically – exactly according to plan. Minor changes can be made at any time depending on your changing needs.
• See projected profit all the way through the quoting process, allowing sales reps to upsell more effectively. With the information at your fingertips, it becomes more natural to suggest improvements to the order.
• Create BOM’s on the fly and integrate with your ERP system so as to store these instructions with the fulfillment process. These dynamic instructions and generated 2D/3D drawings clearly show the final assembly, reducing errors.

For a more in-depth overview of Infor CPQ, you can read more here.

ERP (Enterprise resource planning) systems are a considerable asset for many organizations. ERP ensures that your organization runs smoothly by unifying and protecting your information, automating processes, producing easy-to-understand trends and reporting. While there are many other benefits and capabilities to ERP, the aforementioned reasons alone make your day-to-day operations and long-term planning more efficient. Following is a list of the biggest ERP benefits:

1. Focused IT costs
2. Total visibility
3. Improved reporting and planning
4. Complete customization due to modular makeup
5. Improved efficiency
6. Customer service
7. Data security and quality
8. Improved collaboration and workflow
9. Standardized business processes
10. Facilitated regulatory compliance
11. Improved supply chain management
12. Superior scalability

Before ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning Software) there was MRP (Material Requirements Planning Software). MRP was developed to help manufacturers track parts and components that were needed to complete orders. MRP eventually evolved into ERP as other applications were added to expand and improve the connection of other areas of the business, such as production operations, sales, and financials.

Here is a helpful checklist to assit you as you begin the process of selecting ERP software:

Selection Team

1. Form a selection team from various departments of your organization
2. Choose a project lead from the team
3. As a team, define a timeline and a scope of project

Requirements

1. Map your current business processes so that you can determine where you have inefficiencies (areas for improvement)
2. Identify where your current system falls short
3. Identify key challenges that you wish to solve with ERP
4. Identify the processes of each department within your organization to best determine the new system requirements
5. Prioritize the requirements for the new system

System Specification

1. Identify the total number of users that will require system access
2. Determine the best deployment model for your organization (Cloud, On-Premise, Hosted, Hybrid)
3. Determine the need for mobile access (smart phone, tablet, etc.)
4. Determine requirements for offline system access
5. Determine if multiple languages or currencies are needed
6. Identify any existing systems that will need to be integrated
7. Document existing network and hardware resources

Vendor Services

1. Document requirements for support scope and delivery method (phone support, online support etc.)
2. Document requirements for training scope and delivery method (classroom training, on-site training)
3. Document requirements for implementation consultancy
4. Document requirements for external project management
5. Identify data protection and security compliance requirements
6. Identify critical data sets in your legacy systems
7. Document data migration requirements for these critical data sets
8. Identify external requirements for system and network maintenance

ROI (Return on investment)

1. Forecast the value of each system requirement
2. Forecast costs for the new system
3. Work with your finance department to produce final ROI forecast figures

Vendor Shortlisting

1. Research ERP systems used by similar organizations in your industry
2. Identify ERP solutions that are specific to your industry
3. Compile initial shortlist of vendors
4. Compile your requirements and business processes in a document to distribute to prospective vendors

Vendor Selection

1. Define the scope for your ideal software demonstration
2. Organize selection teams to attend the demos
3. Schedule demonstrations with each of the vendors on your shortlist
4. Seek references on each of the vendors on your shortlist
5. Make final selection as a team
6. Contract negotiations
7. Negotiate terms of implementation with the chosen vendor

It really depends on your business. Determining the time it will take to implement business software as large and complex as ERP varies from case to case. It can take anywhere from three months to a few years. Implementation time is contingent upon the number of desired modules, available resources, and deployment locations, as well as customization and data conversion. This is an important question, and as it is so customized for every business, it is imperative that this be one of the questions you ask at the front end of a project.  It is important to keep expectations realistic.

Another question that many people ask is: Is there a difference in deployment time for cloud vs. on-premise ERP systems?

Yes.  Cloud deployment is generally faster, simply because it doesn’t require the purchase and installation of new hardware AND because it is instantly accessible from anywhere a wireless network is present.

Almost any software implementation carries risk, and ERP implementation is no exception. Following is a list of the most common issues that can delay or derail ERP implementation.  It should be noted that all can be avoided with proper planning and follow-through.

1. Failure to redesign business processes to fit the software, or to customize the software to fit the business
2. Lack of senior management support
3. Insufficient training of users
4. Lack of ability to recruit and retain an ERP specialist
5. Lack of commitment to project management
6. Lack of integration
7. Lack of change management
8. Poor technology planning