Infor LN Reviews

Infor LN is an ERP software suite that focuses on automotive industries, hi-tech electronics, industrial manufacturing, heavy electricals, heavy engineering, and so on. We supply manpower for IT leaders operating in India, like HCL, Accenture, and Infosys. We have quite a few customers in other parts of the world as well. 

While Infor LN incorporates the latest business processes and functions, there is always room for improvement as the business grows. In the new normal, it could stand to incorporate quite a few automation processes like the RPA and utilize machine learning in the Internet of Things. 

I've been using LN for close to 20 years.

LN is definitely a stable product. It's number one on Gartner's four quadrants. 

Infor LN is one of the easiest ERP software to install. However, implementation takes time. It takes somewhere around 25 to 30 days to do the basic piloting of the software.

Compared to other high-end ERP software, Infor LN's cost of ownership is lower. The difference isn't huge, though.

The competitors of Infor LN are S4 Hana of SAP and Oracle E-business Suite. They are the best software when it comes to ERP functionality. However, when it comes to technology, Infor LN is quite ahead. SAP is catching up in that area though.

In terms of ease of use and product vision, Infor LN stands tall. It stands at number one. I would rate it 9.75 out of 10. I can't say 10. I've explored most of the functionalities, and it caters to the complete fleet of business processes, but then again, there is some industry-specific equipment that can come up, so I speak to how LN would handle that. So I can only say it is nine out of 10.

I would definitely recommend Infor LN. They are keeping pace with the digital transformation and transformations industry. 

The product configurator in ERP was managing sales quotations and orders, as well as BOM and routing through defined product features and corresponding constraints. That automation prevented user mistakes, speeded up employee on-boarding, saved engineering time to focus on new products and designing elevators for prestigious buildings all over the world.

Project-wise, discrete manufacturing business could yield to manual or semi-automated planning for production. MRP covered that need from the very first day, and provided better insights both for material and operation planning under unlimited capacity.

As a multinational company, acting in various markets, reporting and documenting in various currencies was essential. Costing would be another issue to be competitive in the market. Multicurrency functionality saved valuable resources both in logistics and finance.

Baan IV is used in both logistics and finance. An integrated environment with the product configurator, MRP and multicurrency capabilities provided better insights to manage company instead of ad-hoc operational maneuvers. Product traceability and customer experience is improved.

Infor ERP LN after Feature Pack 8 covered the following needs: non-sequential PCF, advanced scheduling, better user experience (Facebook like, user social space for processes), ION architecture, and better customization/development options. Further evaluations are needed for supply-chain and warehouse operations. In any case, detailed analysis is needed for specific requirements. Actual costing should also be reviewed in detail.

I have used Baan IV for 13 years and it is still in use.

Baan IV is in use at various sites. Infor ERP LN is also close to live for global upgrade.

We have not encountered any stability issues.

There is limited support on Baan IV, but for Infor ERP LN there are more options. When it comes to vendor support on implementations, I prefer to see Infor as a partner not as a vendor. They should be closer to the customer.

Previous solutions were partial ones. They didn’t cover both logistics and finance.

Initial setup was straightforward: one logistics – one finance; manufacturing and finance integration was postponed to a later phase to give users time to manage BOMs and getting acquainted with ERP’s functionalities, preferably driven by a PDM solution.

Concurrent/named user licensing provides flexibility and expandability. Having cloud-based licensing in evaluation will open up different opportunities. Although price is a major concern at the initial investment, a company will reach expected business results easily especially if they have add-on modules providing better process integration and business intelligence.

When evaluating the upgrade to Infor ERP LN, Oracle and SAP were on the short list.

Infor ERP LN is a fair option, especially for discrete manufacturers. Implementation is a key differentiator. ERP project team members (both internal and external) are key players that will set the level. Sponsors and steering committee support and care is the most important factor from the first day until going live.

My rating considers user experience, missing advanced scheduling and sequential product configurator.

The following features are valuable to us:

Software Version control – helps in clearly separating Global/Country/Customer specific software components.

Web enablement – the development tool is common for both regular forms as well as web forms. Hence, the product did not have to be redeveloped for web enablement.

Order Management, Warehousing and Planning – these modules have considerable depth in functionality.

Kiran - The way the ERP LN Architecture is structured that it allows for different versions of the same component to be present in a single environment. ie for example there could be 3 versions of a purchase order functionality ie global / country / customer . user could create an company using any of the versions. This helps in testing, environments involving multi location / country set ups etc

Infor LN Development Tool’s basic structure has remained the same (of course there has been a lot of enhancements) since it was a forms based client server application. Presently the ERP has a new HTML 5 web based UI. The web UI is created internally by the ERP development tool and Infor did not have to redevelop the forms for eb enabling the application. ( To give an analogy It’s like a VB based application and an internal engine converts it completely into asp.net )

Complete cost capture and control in project based environments has helped in evaluating project cost breakdown for cost control and estimation.

The following need improvement:

• Standard beautiful looking reports - Most reports have too much content and often need to be customized for user friendly presentations.
• Standard reports – LN offers hundreds of standard reports. Many of these should be redesigned by Infor so that there are basic reports that can be available out-of-the-box in printable formats. Most standard reports have too many fields and need to be customized or modified before the users can actually use them.
• Task Management – Presently LN requires one to use an add-on component called ION/Xi so that users get a task list. If one uses only the core, then user needs to go through some reports to get a ‘to do list’ for the user. If this is incorporated in the core ERP then it will be a great value addition and make the processes very efficient for the organizations, as it will be ‘pro-active’ on the part of the ERP.

I have been using Infor for 15 years.

I did not encounter any issues with stability.

I did not encounter any issues with scalability.

Support for Core ERP is extremely good.

Regarding add-ons, with many different technologies involved, support is not as smooth and swift.

We did not have a previous solution.

Initial set-up is complex. Infor ERP LN, like any top line ERP, has a lot of functionality and so has to be suitably set up to prevent making it too big to handle.

Look at total cost when dealing with Core plus Add-ons.

We did not evaluate any alternatives.

Look for an experienced partner/resource. Clearly spell out objectives and outcomes for the project. Put your best people in the implementation project and let them take complete ownership. Try to phase out the functionality implementations appropriately based on needs and size of your company.

• User experience
• Ease of use
• Rich functionality

The process module needs improving as in Baan IV which had a module for customers in the processing industry, for example, paint manufacturing.

I've used it for over 18 years, in its various versions as Baan (from v4) and then ERP LN.

As expected every software will have its bugs, and the ones for this are -

• Q/A of the product is not up to expectations
• Users are forced to test the software during implementation

Once the bugs are fixed, product is quite stable.

The product is highly scalable but setup is a bit complicated. Once the parameters have been set, however, companies from five to 5,000 users can operate the product.

It's reasonable.

It's reasonable.

From the beginning I implemented it. Initially using a legacy mainframe application, Unis-1100 on a Unisys mainframe. I also implemented MTMS, a UK based Cobol based MRP2 software before moving onto Baan. From there, I have stayed with Baan/Infor and its various versions for the last 18 years,

Baan IV was straightforward but ERP LN became complex and the latest version is highly complicated.

I recently joined a company with heir own IT department, but prior to that I would implement ERP LN.

Much higher than that of SAP.

• It ranges on the size of the company and number of licenses
• Day to day cost is annual maintenance fees, functional analysts and technical developers to support the application in house
• Typically most companies have at least two resources to implement any ERP package
• ERP LN latest version requires at least 3 resources

When I was originally part of a consulting company, we evaluated three in 1997 -

• Baan (now Infor ERP)
• Oracle
• Made2Manage

Find the right implementation partner as there are many consultants who have no clue of the products functionality. Also, most of the implementation partners don’t take any ownership in implementation. You need to dedicate a group of users to the implementation, otherwise you will be spending lot of money on consultants.

• The ability to customize and add functionality.
• Given that the ERP core is standard for all clients around the world, they are able to customize any process or create a new one.
• It is a great tool to adapt the ERP to clients, independently of the country or countries where the ERP is implemented.

My company is a professional services firm whose main activity is the implementation of this product.

• In the older versions, the visuals could be improved.
• Internet access and the general integration with other systems using different technologies (SOAP, REST, etc). In the new versions, these points were improved.
• I have a lot of expertise in the newest version of ERP (Infor 10 or Infor ERP LN 8), since we have been implementing this version for our clients. However, the last version that we implemented, ERP, didn't have the ability to consume a web service by way of REST or JSON.
• Another point is the lack of user-friendly tools to create reports.
• The ERP has a report generator/editor, but it could be more friendly and versatile.

I have been using this product for more than eight years.

In general, the system is very stable. From my experience, stability problems arise when there is a mismanagement of the resources in the application server or in the database.

We have not had any scalability issues.

In general, technical support is OK.

The initial implementation can be somewhat complex. The size of the system cannot be customized for all the ERP clients due to the costs of doing so.

Many times the corporate environment must adapt to the system's functionality.

I don’t know.

This doesn't apply to my work.

Do not hesitate to implement it because it is a good product. It is robust and reliable.

Infor LN has basically the same structure as CloudSuite Industrial, but LN has more advanced planning tools for manufacturing.

From a technical perspective, LN needs to work on customization and integration. It's fairly expensive for many clients to migrate from a customized private solution to the cloud. Infor needs to improve the cloud solution to make the migration from the on-prem customized solution faster and smoother. Otherwise, many clients will find it difficult or expensive to do.

Infor LN is highly stable.

Infor needs to create an online support chat directly embedded in the product. I will never understand why they don't make a special cloud for support.

If you have a demo company, the setup is easy.

I rate Infor LN eight out of 10. I would recommend Infor LN for large enterprises.

• Ease of Use
• Ease of Development
• Bundled with a lot of capabilities

We spend less time analyzing the data with the easy reports and data management. Due to a simpler implementation style, not much time is taken for new developments.

Technology is a continuous improvement process. So as far as I know, Infor is going great with the technological advancements.

I've used it for three years.

No issues encountered.

None. If the users are trained properly there should not be any big issues. Also, Infor Support Service is an add-on.

None and it doesn't require a lot of investment for the server's and database.

8/10.

8/10.

I have worked with two firms. My previous firm used to have Tally ERP 9 which was their legacy system. But switching was necessary to cope up with the competitors in the market. With multi-site support and advanced reporting, Infor LN services are the best.

It was straightforward. Infor Implementation follows a process which goes through implementation, user training and deployment. It follows the SDLC model very well.

We implemented it through Infor's Implementation Partner who are 7/10.

I can't say as I am not a part of the management time, but more on the technical side. However, I am sure it would be good.

We also looked at SAP.

A simple piece of advice, "Infor is the future." Go for it!!

For most of the clients that I have consulted for, the manufacturing module and the distribution module is utilized and implemented to its fullest.

Some of the clients used to use the traditional ERP. With Infor LN, many of the processes have been streamlined because it has a central repository of all the data. Moreover they could integrated their applications like Salesforce CRM, Crystal Reports, etc into Infor LN quite easily.

The User Interface needs to be more user friendly with a sleeker design and the industry best practice processes needs to be implemented. Also, migration from legacy system to Infor LN should be made smoother a process, so that it gives them edge over its competitors.

I've used it for over seven years.

No issues encountered.

The earlier version of Infor LN ERP i.e. Baan IV is quite stable.

No issues encountered.

They do have good team which provides satisfactory customer service.

They have in their armory a good set of technically skilled people with varied experience and provides quick resolutions to its clients and customers.

No previous solution was used.

One needs to carry out the as-is and study it to see if it is feasible to implement ERP LN for their requirement. The initial setup is not that complex enough, if you have all the pre-requisite in place.

Have a good understanding of the product features, and check if your requirements can be mapped through this product.