Jon Davis is our special guest author at visualnuggets.com and is an active participant in the VISUAL community. Jon is a Software Engineer/Systems Analyst at Helwig Carbon Products - who recently upgraded to VISUAL 9 from VISUAL 7 on a SQL Server platform.
I want to sincerely thank Jon for sharing his upgrade thought process and experience.
Connect with Jon Davis online at LinkedIn
Our Background
Helwig Carbon Products is a mid-sized manufacturing company, makers of specialty carbon products, has been using VISUAL for almost 15 years. This past year we upgraded from VISUAL 7.0.0 to 9.0.3, doing all the upgrade work internally. Our IT department consist of three employees and it took roughly 3-4 months to prepare and execute the upgrade.
We have 75 user licenses and have added a lot of customizations to VISUAL over the years. Most of our customizations are done through Macros or internally built applications that connect to the Visual database directly.
We also use SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) as our reporting solution and our database is SQL Server 2008 R2. Our client machines are running Windows 7, mainly because VISUAL 7.0.0 doesn’t work in Windows 10 and we had to hold off on our Windows 10 upgrades until we moved to VISUAL 9 (which does support Windows 10).
Our Challenges
The biggest hurdles to overcome in the upgrade were caused by the schema changes in 9.0.3 especially because we’re a single-site company that was using 7.0.0 which didn’t include multi-site functionality.
We also had several applications and reports that referenced the VISUAL database directly and all had to be reviewed to see if the schema changes affected them. Fortunately, the “look and feel” between VISUAL 7 and 9 are roughly the same so little training was required for end users.
Our Preparation
To prepare yourself for the upgrade you’ll first have to set up a test database and application server. We ended up having to run through the test upgrade process roughly 6 times before we were even able to get the actual upgrade script to run successfully, so having a test system will be necessary.
The first thing to note is that the upgrade caused our database file to more than double in size and it caused most of our problems. In our case, we have nearly 20 years of data in our VISUAL database (some was migrated from our old ERP system) so our DB file went from 70GB to 200GB.
If you can purge any data in your VISUAL system before upgrading it would be highly recommended.
Our Considerations & Decisions Made
A lot of the steps you’ll need to take depend on how your current system is set up, so I’ll just run down a few things that affected us or you might need to review in your environment
Our Timeline
It took us roughly three months from start to finish. The complexity of your customizations and your specific environment will greatly change this for you. Our actual project timeline looked like this:
Our VISUAL Upgrade Steps
As for the details on our upgrade process...here are the step-by-step instructions we followed on our actual upgrade. I’ve included some notes to help clarify some steps:
Since VISUAL doesn’t have an MSI or any solution to easily mass install clients on multi PCs we used a piece of software called “Auto IT” to semi-automate the process.
After our GO LIVE Upgrade, we had a few things to work out, mostly because VISUAL 9.0.3 was a little tighter on data integrity with certain things VISUAL 7 didn’t care about. Namely, how our terms were set up for customers and our allocations of Customer Orders to Work Orders.
Most of our issues stemmed from custom macros needed to be tweaked to work with VISUAL 9 but we did have a handful of actual bugs in the VISUAL 9.0.3 code that needed to be resolved with Infor Incidents. Most of those issues have been resolved as of now (4 months after our upgrade) but we are still waiting on one or two more to be fixed.
All in all, the process took a lot of preparation, but the actual upgrade was deployed over a weekend.
I often get asked...
Why Use Macros? What are they good for?
A Macro is one of the many components (features) in VISUAL ERP that you can use to drive productivity and efficiency within your organization. When carefully designed and deployed, macros can have a tremendous impact on your operations - with immediate benefits.
Why? Well they can facilitate in areas where you may want to:
And this is just to name a few.
I would say that with any continuous improvement initiates that involves using the VISUAL user interface - a macro element should be involved.
just sayin...
Here's a snippet of a macro that will update the want date of linked work orders to equal the desired ship date of the customer order. So if you have customer orders that are constantly changing desired ship dates AND the have linked work orders attached - this macro makes it easy to keep dates aligned (if needed). You certainly don't what to work on work orders early if the CO has been pushed out.
This can be used as an "On Demand" macro or be integrated into a "OnAfterSave" macro. You can take this further by prompting the VISUAL on whether they want to update the linked work orders with a YES OR NO - whatever makes sense for your business
If you like this snippet - and would like access to more and other nuggets, please be sure to subscribe below.
strServerName="E N T E R Y O U R S E R V E R N A M E" '*** Connection string for SQL Server if TRIM(ORDER_ID & "")<>"" and Lines.Value.Count>0 then Set cmd = CreateObject("ADODB.Command") SQL="UPDATE WORK_ORDER SET DESIRED_WANT_DATE = ISNULL(COL.DESIRED_SHIP_DATE,CO.DESIRED_SHIP_DATE) " & _ Cmd.Parameters.Append Cmd.CreateParameter("@OrderID",adVarChar,AdParamInput,15) Next conn.close end if |
So now that we covered some of the basic setups for MRP - let's run MRP and see what happens.
(remember, we're just scratching the surface here...one step at a time)
For your reference or catch up:
From VISUAL's Material Planning Window, select Material Requirement Planning from the FILE menu
In the following window, you have several options to choose from that will affect how MRP will execute and plan your supply orders.
On the left, you have the options on WHERE you want to run MRP ...
As for the options on the right, let's start with the first 2 radio buttons ...
Regeneration OR New Change?
Regeneration (1st radio button) processes ALL parts (from the top down) to determine any shortfalls between supply and demand and will generate planned orders for parts accordingly based the defined Order Policy under the part's Planning Tab
Net Change (2nd radio button) looks at only those parts which have had activity since the last time you ran MRP. Note: Deleting a planned order of a part is not considered an "activity" on its own - so just know that this activity alone will not flag a part to be included in a Net Change MRP run.
Regeneration should be run at least once a week to ensure that all parts are processed
Single Pass
MRP is an interactive and dynamic process - it will evaluate ALL parts until planned orders cover ALL supply shortfalls.
When MRP generates planned supply orders - these planned supply orders themselves can create demand (for sub-components) that will in turn generate additional planned supply orders
If you select Single Pass - MRP will only do one pass, which could result in parts having newly created demand but may not have planned orders created for them if MRP created the demand after the first pass.
Clear as mud?
Let's say that part ABC is used in part XYZ and there is demand on part XYZ...
MRP will evaluate ABC first and see no demand, it will then move on to XYZ and create a planned order.
Only in the second pass will MRP find that there is now demand for ABC and create a planned order for it.
MRP will keep running passes until there is no more shortfalls in supply
So, in a Single Pass scenario, only a planned order for XYZ will be created
Why use single pass? Well - you may want this if you are wanting to run MRP during production hours and don't want to use up too much system resources evaluating - especially if you have complex, deep and multi-level BOMs - that would require many, many many passes.
MRP Exception Marking Limits
This allows you to configure MRP to evaluate based on a horizon or time frame - which you may consider as a "firm" schedule.
I suggest selecting NO HORIZON - basically have MRP evaluate all demand - regardless of how far out they may be in the future. You can then easily focus on the amount of orders to look at by filtering on a date range/time frame.
If you do want to set a horizon for MRP to evaluate- you are free to do so. The option Plus part leadtime ensures that MRP evaluates demand for a part within the part's leadtime so that planned orders will be created in time - so the horizon then varies for each part.
Other Options
The next 2 options, Net on-hand quantities and Apply Min/Max/Multiple, are available to use if you use Advanced MRP and have parts that are Master Scheduled.
If you happen to use Advanced MRP...
Exclude On-hold Customer Orders - MRP will exclude these customer orders when evaluating demand
Exclude Unreleased Work Orders - MRP will exclude these work orders when evaluating supply and demand.
Enable netting message - This will display a message if the processing of a part exceeds 10 seconds. Don't enable this - it just slows down everything
Log MRP - This option will create a log file detailing MRP process and steps taken. Great source/tool for troubleshooting issues (if any) with MRP and unexpected results
Part of the MRP Fundamentals Series (for Infor VISUAL ERP). Be sure to check back soon as I continue further into using MRP in VISUAL
Picking up from where I left off in How to set up Part Planning,
You likely noticed an option under the PLANNING tab in Part Maintenance to set "Do Not Inherit Demand Warehouse" for a part. What is this?
Well, it’s something you really only need to be concerned about if dealing with multiple warehouses – with a mix of universal and independently planned warehouses.
What’s the difference between universal and independently planned? Read this
What exactly does Inherit Demand Warehouse mean? Basically, it allows you to configure how or where demand for a part is to be driven from - meaning from which warehouse.
For instance, if you look at an Engineering Master/Work Order - demand for component parts can either be driven from the warehouse specified on the EM/WO Header Card (inherit) OR can be driven from the warehouse specified on each individual material card.
So, if demand for component parts are to be driven by the warehouse specified in the header card - the parts are "inheriting" the demand warehouse of the EM/WO.
There are a couple of places in VISUAL where you can configure a part to "Inherit Demand Warehouse" or not.
On the Material Card (Manufacturing Window), there is a checkbox to set Inherit Demand Warehouse.
The Inherit Demand Warehouse is checked by default in the Material Card UNLESS you checked the DO NOT INHERIT DEMAND WAREHOUSE of the part under the PLANNING TAB in Part Maintenance.
If you select this checkbox in Part Maintenance - the Inherit Demand Warehouse option in the Material Card becomes unavailable for the part and you can specify the warehouse on the card or as needed at time of transaction.
BTW - you would normally want to Inherit the Demand Warehouse. But you have the option if your situation calls for it.
Next: What you need to know about running MRP
Part of the MRP Fundamentals Series (for Infor VISUAL ERP). MRP basically looks at all your existing demand and supply for your fabricated and purchased parts – and will generate "planned" supply orders for those parts that are short. Simple enough.
Planned supply orders are based on several factors relating to the part, such as:
But before we can get into any of these - we need to start at the warehouse.
In Warehouse Maintenance, there are 2 ways you can set up a warehouse that will have an impact on MRP.
Universal Warehouse vs Independently Planned Warehouse
Universal Warehouses - MRP will treat all universal warehouses as a single unit where inventory is pooled and considered shared - meaning, MRP will net inventory across all universal warehouses based on planning parameters specified for UNIVERSAL (under PLANNING tab in Part Maintenance - we'll get to that in another post)
Independently Planned Warehouses - This option allows you to separate inventory and plan by warehouse. You can view inventory along with universal warehouses or look at it separately. These warehouses have their own unique set of planning parameters for associated inventory.
Associating your Parts to Warehouses
You likely know this already - but I only bring this up as I wanted to bring your attention to the Warehouse and Location Status field for a part and what it means to MRP.
This field can be one of 3 values:
Next: The Planning Tab in Part Maintenance
In my experience, I found that there is a misconception related to inventory and WIP reconciliation process. This is why I want to provide more information on how Visual works in this area. I believe it will give you the knowledge on how to take the right approach in order to validate your published numbers.
The core of your Visual inventory resides in the accumulation of transactions. This happens to be in the Manufacturing side of the system. Typically, raw material is purchased and it is then used in the manufacturing process before being received into inventory and finally sold or shipped to consumers. The sequence of entering these transactions is critical for the guarantee of a proper cost allocation. When the sequence of this order is broken, discrepancies between the different Visual reports appear. This is when the confusion begins and you are left wandering which report has the correct numbers.
Let’s review the proper steps to take in order to validate those values:
Stay tuned, as I continue onto the next topic. Month-end quality: How fast can you close the month?
Valeria Vicco, CDDP - Financial Consultant, is our special guest author at visualnuggets.com and is an active participant in the VISUAL community. Valeria is part of BMS Business Monitoring Systems Inc (BMS 365) - who focus on Innovative solutions that move Visual ERP users forward.
Connect with Valeria online at LinkedIn and BMS365.com
Here's an example on how you can take advantage of SmartViews to drive VISUAL in your Material Planning efforts.
If you are considering a VISUAL upgrade or at the beginning stages of one - there's no doubt that you are navigating your way through system requirements and compatibilities. All to determine whether your environment is "ready" for a VISUAL upgrade.
Depending on how many supporting business applications you use with VISUAL, this can be a arduous task ⇒ reviewing release notes, manuals, calling on colleagues, forums, user groups, channel partner, Infor, etc.
Well, Infor has actually made this process a little easier. They've created an Online Compatibility Matrix tool which is available on Infor Xtreme.
This tool enables you to quickly determine what Infor products play well together as well as what versions of browsers, servers, O/S and other 3rd party software are supported. Simply select the version of VISUAL you are planning to upgrade to - and you get the entire list which you can then export for further review
You can use this tool for any of Infor's products.