Sage X3 - Tips, Tricks and Components

Sage ERP X3 Pharmaceuticals and Life Science Specific modules

greytrix — Fri, 18 May 2012 15:02:59 +0000

Sage ERP X3 provides a flexible software solution aimed at managing the most elaborate business processes in a simple and efficient way, while complying with the demanding quality requirements of FDA-registered manufacturers. It delivers industry specific solutions with flexibility to accommodate your specific business process and functionalities.

Powerful Formula Management Engine
- Variable units of measure
- Packaging variations
- Sub-Contract & Supply Chain Mgmt.
- Cost analysis
- Raw material potency
- Expected yield calculations
- Decimal precision
- By-products
- Weighing scale interface with calibration and Hazard notification

Regulatory Compliance
- MSDS; Labeling; Bar code
- Electronic Signature
- Certificate of Analysis
- Transaction Audit change control
- FDA – 21CFR part 11
- Logon protocol & network security
- Validation Scripting & Certification assistance

Lot Control and Tracking
- End-to-end traceability
- Sub-lot control
- Physical inventory by lot
- Expiration date management
- Allocate inventory by lot
- FEFO inventory allocations

Quality Management
- Technical sheets with user-defined Q&A
- Accepted and rejected status control
- Inspections performed at user-defined steps
- Customer-specific quality procedures

In our next article, we will see a case study on how Sage X3 streamlines business process of a pharmaceuticals company.

How Sage X3 resolves challenges faced by Pharma Industry/Life Science

greytrix — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:39:37 +0000

Sage X3 has been a vital part of the success engine for the Pharmaceutical / Life Sciences companies mentioned below:

* Fleming & Company Pharmaceuticals
*Avanced Bionics
* Fareva Holding
* Gemini Pharmaceuticals
*Schwarz Pharma
* Sartorius Stedim Biotech
* Teikoku Pharma USA, Inc.
* Uresil
.. Many more

Of these let us see, how Sage X3 has enabled Uresil in streamlining their operations.

Company: Uresil,LLC, headquartered in Skokie, IL, is a leading manufacturer of products for interventional radiology and vascular surgery. These products are distributed worldwide through independent sales representatives and a network of domestic and international distributors.

Challenges: Uresil has been operating on an MRP system that was soon ought to become unsupportable because of too many customizations.

Along with this, complying with FDA regulations and maintaining the required documentation proved to be challenge which had to be met. It was necessary for the company to find a simple, economic and flexible solution, based on modern technology.

With Sage ERP X3: Sage ERP X3’s flexibility made it easy for Uresil manage business processes instead of having to adapt its processes to fit the software Streamlined tracking system. As a result, it has become easier for it to comply with FDA regulations.

Tracking systems have been streamlined and paperwork is more manageable now.

The company now operates in a just-in-time planning philosophy, minimizing inventory and warehouse space. This has also enabled company to reduce finished goods lead time by 50 percent.

Sage ERP X3 for Life Sciences and Pharmaceuticals Industry

greytrix — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:05:26 +0000

The global pharmaceutical industry has witnessed a rapid change in past decade driven by a growing middle income group and rise in the private healthcare institutions in emerging markets. The future of this industry seems to be stellar with global pharmacy appetite crossing $600 billion mark.

However, the global reach and growth has brought with itself, increasing complexities in processes may it be country wise legislations or business processes. Moreover, the FDA-registered manufacturers are under increasing pressure to maintain their competitiveness while simultaneously complying with an increasing array of regulatory requirements. Along with thinning pipeline and skyrocketing operating costs and regulatory burden, the pharmaceutical companies are facing unprecedented challenges.

Sage ERP X3’s Pharmaceutical vertical addresses these unique and specialized needs of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers. Sage ERP X3 is a global solution that dramatically simplifies the management of businesses and supports all operations across finance, distribution and manufacturing within one singular software design, and is affordable, effective and simple to manage.

Sage X3: Extensive Functional Coverage
Sage ERP X3 combines advanced manufacturing, customer relationship management (CRM), distribution, warehousing, and accounting functionality with application features that address the complex business process needs of your company.

Following are other noteworthy features of Sage X3:

* Sage X3 supports multi-currency, multi-locations, multi-enterprise, multi-units, multi-country and country specific legislations.

* It provides business intelligence, e-business and automated RF data collection. The integrated Business Intelligence tools to promote effective management reporting and decision-making. With e-business expand your business online while keeping one single coherent management system.

* In addition to accounting functions, Sage ERP X3 offers a set of core enterprise-wide workflow management software features that help you transform your business into a real-time, on demand organization, responsive to the needs of your customers.

Do read our next blog where we will see Sage X3’s Pharmaceutical specific modules.

Sage ERP X3 for Medical Devices industry

greytrix — Fri, 18 May 2012 13:31:49 +0000

The global Medical Devices industry has witnessed a rapid growth in past decade fuelled by a growing Middle Income class and rise in the Private Healthcare institutions in emerging markets. The 2008 global medical device market was estimated to be around $206.59 billion with an annual growth rate of nearly 16% and the latest figures would be much much higher.

However, the journey for this industry is not something smooth. Medical device manufacturer has to meet the challenging demands of the industry like regulatory agencies compliance, strict quality assurance and short product life cycles etc. The manufacturer has to maintain efficient production activities along with compliance with guidelines laid by FDA as done by Pharmaceutical industry. Let alone the increased product complexity, time to market and competitive challenges.

Keeping in mind these challenges, Sage X3 ERP has been fine tuned to meet these industry specific requirements. Sage ERP X3 provides the advanced functionality required to remain competitive in the face of these difficult challenges.

Industry Specific Functionalities:

Sage ERP X3 combines advanced manufacturing, distribution, warehousing, customer relationship management (CRM), and accounting functionality with application features that address the unique and specialized needs of your company, including:

Full lot and serial number traceability.
Electronic signatures with transaction audit traceability.
Quality management.
Sophisticated pricing and contract management.
Sub-contracted operations and supply chain control.
Post-sale service and support.
Extensive device history.
Advanced order fulfillment and inventory allocation procedures.

Compliance with Regulatory Agencies:

Compliance with the government regulations requires hosts of reports. This calls for accessing and compiling the data required for such government reporting. This again entails expensive labor and time consumption. Sage ERP X3 also helps your company comply by providing a convenient and efficient way to gather and monitor relevant process information and eliminating manual procedures throughout the manufacturing process.

Sage X3 ERP Application Footprints

Identification and Traceability:

The nature of this industry calls for controlled processes to develop and manufacture products that meet the strictest quality standards. If a defect does occurs in product, immediate action needs to be taken to not only prevent consumers from serious health problems or death, but also to protect the viability of your business.

Creating and maintaining trace relationships between lots is arduous and time consuming. Sage ERP X3 provides complete forward and backward lot traceability. A full audit trail and archive of historical transactions is maintained for multi-year periods. The fully integrated quality control process rigorously enforces inspections to assure item conformance to any required characteristics, operational tolerances or expected results.

How to Get the Safe X3 Java Bridge Host and Port values

greytrix — Sat, 05 May 2012 13:09:09 +0000

The Safe X3 Java Bridge provides the ability to add technical functionalities to the X3 platform, it also plays a very important role in integrating Sage ERP X3 with external systems. What can be done using Safe X3 Java Bridge Server, well almost everything that can be done in Java and Visual Studio.Net.

The below function will get the Safe X3 Java Bridge Server information from within X3

Local Char WTARGET (128)
#Get Java Server Name
Call GETJAVSRV(GINSTID,WTARGET)
End

Subprog GETJAVSRV(ASOLNAME,AJAVASRV)
Value Char ASOLNAME
Variable Char AJAVASRV()

Local Char WHOST(200) : WHOST = “”
Local Integer WPORT : WPORT = 0

Local Char VPROP(200)
Local Integer OK
Local Char WTARGET (128)

# Find the value of the property in Solution.xml
# OK=0 value found
#   =1 property not found
#   =2 solution file not found
#   =3 Error reading file

# Search the value of the property “component.serverjava.servername” in Solution.xml
Call RECHPROP(“component.serverjava.servername”,VPROP,OK) From INTRUTILA
If OK = 0
WHOST = VPROP
Endif

# Search the value of property “all.host.port” in Solution.xml
Call RECHPROP(“all.host.port”,VPROP,OK) From INTRUTILA
If OK = 0
WPORT = val(VPROP)
Endif

If WHOST <> “” and WPORT <> 0
Onerrgo GETJAVSRVERR
#The use of SRVEXISTS function may impact performance
Local Integer WEXISTS
WEXISTS = func SRVEXISTS(WHOST,WPORT)

If WEXISTS=1
AJAVASRV = WHOST
AJAVASRV += “:”
AJAVASRV += num$(WPORT)
Endif
Endif
End

$GETJAVSRVERR
End

$GETJAVSRVEND
End

#——————————————————————-
#
# Function test for the existence of a server
#
#——————————————————————-
Funprog SRVEXISTS(AHOST,APORT)
Value Char AHOST()
Value Integer APORT
Local Integer WOPEN
[L]WOPEN =-1 :# ni 0, ni 1 !!!
Onerrgo EXISTSERR

# generates an error ”27″ if unknown host or if the port is not open
Opsock [L]AHOST,[L]APORT Using [TSTB]

# test si il y a eu une erreur
If [L]WOPEN=0 : Goto EXISTSEND : Endif

# Wait for Closure after a second
Sleep(1)
Opsock [L]AHOST,0 Using [TSTB]

# Wait for the closure is effective after 2 to 3 seconds!
Sleep(2)
[L]WOPEN =1
Goto EXISTSEND

$EXISTSERR
[L]WOPEN =0
Resume:# Block error is necessarily confined by a ”Resume”

$EXISTSEND
# To delete the error of disconnection
Onerrgo
End [L]WOPEN

Configure Interface User in Sage ERP X3

greytrix — Thu, 03 May 2012 11:32:36 +0000

As a part of our ongoing series, where we explore configurational tweaks that are simple but can be very useful, we will see how to restrict a user to a single legislation, configure proposed selection etc.

These configurations are done at User Level. So let’s go to the User Parameters screen:

Parameters -> Users -> Users.

Now select the user for whom the configuration is to be done. The list on the right displays the configuration settings for various categorizes as per module.

Select the ‘Supervisor’ Module with ‘INT’ group. Now, right click and select ‘Detail’.

This would pop up the ‘User Parameters’ screen as shown below. There are 10 such parameters (shown in the below screenshot).

1. Automatic selection (AUTOSEL): This parameter is useful with the fields which has selection with respect to the values in the table. When set to ‘Yes’, and the value entered in the field doesn’t exist in the table then, one of the following three scenarios may occur:

a. Selection window opens automatically and displays all the values whose code starts with the characters keyed-in, if there is more than one.
b. If there is only one value, it is populated automatically.
c. If there is no value, an error message is displayed.

2. Calculate number of decimals (CALNBRDEC): This parameter is to define the default number of decimals to be used in the calculator. This number can always be modified when using the calculator via right click Decimals.

3. Legislation – selection filter (LEGFIL): This parameter can be used to restrict a user to single legislation. Just enter/select the Legislation to which a user has to be restricted.

Although the user will be able to see the records created for other Legislations, however won’t be able to create one.

4. Confirm abandon (CONFABD): This parameter determines if whether the user will prompted while abandoning of a creation, modification or a duplication of a record.

If this parameter is set to Yes, the abandon of a record must be confirmed by the user.

5. Confirm copy (CONFDUP): If the parameter is set to Yes, the copy of a record must be confirmed by the user.

6. Confirm deletion (CONFSUP): If the parameter is set to Yes, the deletion of a record must be confirmed by the user.

7. URL (MAPDSP): This parameter enables viewing map of a location as per the entries in the field. This parameter can be set to an URL that will be called to display a map related to an address. The parameter value must contain a calculation formula that will be evaluated to obtain the final URL.

The parameters that can be passed are the variables of the AVISUPLAN screen, i.e.:
[M]CITY for the city/town
[M]STREET for the street
[M]COUNTRY for the country.

It must be noted that URLs can be called from the Country field and may access to paying services.

Also, if the parameter is not entered, the MAP function won’t be available.

8. Calculator history(HISTCALC): This parameter determines the number of calculation entries to be maintained. The history of calculation can be accessed by right click on Calculator and select ‘Archived’ option.

9. Parameters in batch trace (PARTRABTC): When set to Yes, the log files of any batch task carried out under a given user account start with a comprehensive of the parameters.

10. Presentation styles (STYLE): This parameter is used to associate a user with a customized style. In this way, a user can define their own criteria (color, font, effects, background color) for each of the styles defined in the software to underline fields or field titles in the screens.

Hope this blog has been helpful. We will be posting more such blogs, so stay tuned.

Sage ERP X3 Development: Outsource your Stress

greytrix — Wed, 02 May 2012 10:20:39 +0000

Sage ERP X3 Sales Convention was a great place for converging of sales and development teams of X3 partners worldwide and it proved to be a fertile ground for exchange of ideas and collaboration. It has been more than 3 months now and Greytrix would like to recap one of the most interesting discussions and knowledge which was shared with different partners with regards to Development and programming outsourcing for Sage ERP X3. Sage ERP X3 having a large number of functionalities still requires configuration and development to customize it for particular vertical or industry. A common discussion revealed 3 methods of taking up development projects for different X3 vendors.

In house Development Staffing: This is proving to be the most popular methodology by Sage X3 partners to keep X3 development staff for programming and development needs. The pros are the obvious like quick response, knowledge base and skill sets, lower costs, front ending and comfort of end user to see YOUR staffs while cons are difficulty of retaining of staff and training, discontinuity and over dependence on few people.

Contractual Freelancing: This is another popular method where a few X3 experts freelance for difference consultants on a man hourly/man monthly basis. This trend is pretty much prevalent in SAP and Oracle environment and it is easier to get freelance SAP consultants but for X3 it is increasingly difficult to get qualified consultant at a logical costing.

Offshore Development: This methodology is very popular in established ERP systems while not so much in X3 environment. The feeling is that X3 partners are still learning the ropes to actually work with offshoring partners profitably and develop specifications to the best way possible. The potential is immense and scalability it offers to the partners is huge. This was discussed as the future and any partners who can make this model work can actually tap into the potentially huge development resources in India, Asia, Australia and Africa at a lower cost and large scale of operations. A pure offshore development is not recommended and the best way to approach X3 development is through a “Mixed Model” approach.

Mixed Model: Mixed model approach is having an inhouse techno-functional project manager to handle an offshore development team. This results in huge cost saving with the inherent advantage of inhouse staffing being intact. The lower end work is pushed to offshore development center at lower costs. For Sage X3 projects, this outsourcing and development methodology is the most suited and Greytrix has found to be the most effective. It has been also collaborated by a number of independent Sage X3 experts and partners as the best way to approach the large X3 implementation and development projects.

How can the Mixed Model work commercially and legally?

Time and Material: For projects which are estimated to be ranging in months (at least 3 months + contract), time and material basis is the best suited The billing and invoicing is done on a monthly basis at the start of the month. For an organization which expects continuous work in X3 (at least 15 + days of work per month or a large project), this method proves to be very successful and cost effective as well as builds up the relationship with the developer.

Fixed Cost (Ballpark) Cost Basis: For projects which has well defined specification which we can convert into a good design/concept document covering all possibilities, a fixed cost is the way to go. The risk factor is pretty low for clients as outsourcing company like Greytrix take the responsibility of any cost overrun if it is NOT a requirement change order based over run. The terms of payment is for this project is usually 50% advance, 25% on Delivery and 25% on successful completion of the project further mitigating the risk.

The source code and intellectual property of the project is usually owned by the client unless it is being used from the library of code of the outsourcing company. The NDA and Non-Compete is usually also signed to keep the projects in hand.

Where are the outsourcing development companies for Sage X3 located?
They are located all over the world. In the sales convention, Greytrix met with a number outsourcing organization willing to take work based out of Africa, Asia and even USA. Greytrix is one of the largest in Sage X3 development outsourcing in India and is building up a continuous base working with Sage resellers and partners.

What does it usually costs?
On a per man day basis, the range can be between 300 USD to 1000 USD per man day depending on the outsourcing company’s location and cost competitive advantages.

Disclaimer: The above views are personal views of the author and experience of working and collaborating with Sage ERP X3 community and it is based on observation rather than statistical analysis and concrete proof. For further discussion and possible collaboration, you can touch base at the following email id x3@greytrix.com

Manipulation Of Selection List/Window – Part II

greytrix — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 09:09:21 +0000

In our last blog, ‘Manipulation Of Selection List/Window-Part I’, we saw how to configure the Selection List/Window and explored selection listing parameter’s ‘NBRCHOOSE’ and ‘SELRACPAS’. In this blog we will continue with the rest 7 parameters.

Number of QuickSelect Elements (LFTBOX): This parameter defines the maximum number of records to be displayed in the left list. The value parameter like NBRCHOOSE needs to set after considering the record size and number of users.

Load last read (CHDERLUS): This is a simple parameter that determines if the last read entry of the screen must be read when the screen is reopened. When set to ‘Yes’, the re-opening of the screen would fetch the last read record. When set to ‘No’, the screen would open the default record.

Last read lines (NBDERLUS): This parameter determines the number of entries to be loaded in the ‘Last Read’ left list, if it is present in the Object/Screen. Just like Parameters related to the number of lines, the values for this parameter needs to be set after considering the number of users and the size of the table.

Left list fill on tunnel (LFTBOXTUN): This parameter specifies if the left list needs to be loaded when the record/object is accessed by means of tunnel.

It is recommended that for companies/sites, that has large number of records and users, to set this parameter to ‘No’. This is because the loading of records consumes lot of resources while the tunnel is already positioned to the correct entry. If required, one can always load the left list by pressing ‘F5’.

Liaison Group (GRPLIASION): In the object customization, it is possible to parameterize the presence of a left list called object explorer for each object.

This parameter defines the links that the user is entitled to see in this left list when the latter is present.

By default, a STD code is proposed. If all the users use this group and if in addition the group used for automatic links is the same, all the users will see all the links.

Automatic links (LIAISAUTO): This parameter defines the link group used when a user, in object management, automatically creates the links conforming to the parameterization defined in the object parameterization.

If this group is empty, the automatic links will not be created.

If this group is different from the user’s link group, the liaisons created automatically will not be seen.

Global selection (SELGLO): This parameter is used, if it is set to Yes, to create the memo files for “global” selection. Remember that these memos, accessible to all via the selection menu, are used to create the selection filters in object management.

If this parameter is set to No, only the personal memos (i.e. not global) can be created, but nothing stops the user from making use of the global memos created by others.

That was all for the Selection Listing configuration, stay tuned as we will be exploring more such configuration parameters.

Manipulation Of Selection List/Window – Part I

greytrix — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 09:00:44 +0000

One of the most widely used feature on a Standard X3 screen is the Selection List on the left. This list has been my best pal while looking for entries. But only few know that with some technical tweaks this selection feature has a lot more to offer. So, in this blog we are going to explore the potential of the Selection List.

The Selection List can be configured from the Parameter Values screen.

Open the “Parameter value” screen form “Parameters -> General Parameters -> Parameter Values”.

Right click on ‘SEL’ group and select ‘Detail’ option.

This would pop up ‘Parameter Values’ detail screen. There are 9 parameters that control the behavior of the Selection List. So, let us explore these parameters:

Note: Please note all these parameters will have effect only after re-logging into X3.

Break in quick selection (SELRAPCAS): This parameter determines the case-sensitivity of searches. The value can be set to ‘Yes/No’. When set to ‘Yes’, the search will become case sensitive. Whereas when set to ‘No’, the search will become case insensitive.

A general notion would be to set this to ‘No’ i.e. make it case insensitive. However, one needs to consider the size of data that is being traversed while making such searches. Because when this parameter is set to No, this can seriously hamper performance. Since this type of search cannot be optimized by the use of an index.

Thus, for bulky tables i.e. table with hundred thousand records, using searches of such a type can cause time-consuming queries and thus will slow down the rest of the users. Hence it is recommended to set this parameter to ‘Yes’ if the folder contains such bulky tables.

Default elements of Selection (NBRCHOOSE): This parameter determines the number of lines to be read by default when a selection window is opened.

It is obvious that the loading time of the list, which we use very often, is proportional to the records read. This in turn consumes resources both at Processing Server and Data Server.

So, in a situation where there is large number of users, the number of record lines to be fetched can slow down the system performance. The situation might become more inconvenient if the reading involves a complex query.

So, it is recommended to give this parameter a reasonable value even though it is possible to set it to thousands.

I guess, this article has given fair idea of what more you can do with Selection Listing/Windows. If you want know more about these parameters then do read ‘Manipulation Of Selection List/Window – Part II’, where the rest seven parameters has been explained.

———- Related Posts —————-
* Manipulation Of Selection List/Window - Part II

Using the Inquiry screen during Financial Data Extraction

greytrix — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 09:07:50 +0000

As continued from our earlier blog now we are already acquainted with configuration of the FDE setup/ Calculation part. Now we are remaining with only the last part to View the data in FDE. Let’s discuss the same in this blog:

FDE Inquiry:

Function Path: Financials > Reporting > Financial Data Extraction > Inquiry

This option makes it possible to consult the financial data extractions. Before carrying out the very first inquiry, it is necessary to have launched at least once the Calculation option of the financial data extraction.

FDE Inquiry Screen:

The inquiry is carried out on a single screen from which it is possible to zoom to the detail of the amount constituting the line, then to the entry inquiry (account, nature and dimension inquiry). Specific actions are authorized on this screen and especially the launching of the calculation of a financial data extraction or an export to Excel.

The Inquiry screen comprises of Identification and Tab Section:

Identification Section: This section allows selection of the Extractions and the respective Version number.

Tab Section: There are 4 Tabs in the Tab section viz.

* “Values” Tab: This tab provides a view of the extraction result. The extraction contains a maximum of 20 columns. The first column contains the parameterized titles and the next columns are those that are defined during extraction parameterization.

At this level some amounts may be simulated by directly modifying the requested amount. During any modification, the user is asked if they wish to recalculate the totals.

* “Parameter Definitions” Tab: The use of this tab is similar to that of the Calculation button. It recalls the extraction parameters (company, site, start and end dates, used currencies, used variables and their values). The table cannot be modified.

* “Parameters” Tab: This tab cannot be modified but it specifies the content that enables the field to be assigned.

To return to the modification mode on the parameterization, a tunnel is available at header level, in the “Extraction” field.

* “Office documents” Tab: This tab is used to populate the financial data extraction (Code version) via an Office document of Excel, Word or PowerPoint type.

Document templates can be previously prepared in the corresponding function.

Calculation button: Unlike the Financial Data Extraction Calculation function that can extract data in bulk, by group of extraction, this button makes it possible to re-launch the calculation of a single extraction.

The default parameters are retrieved from the extraction being consulted.

If any value from the table has been deleted, it is still possible to include them by clicking the adequate flag “Take into account the entered values”.

Reports: By default, the following reports are associated to the function:

TXSVAL: Financial Extraction Inquiry

This can be changed by a different setup.

Once you go through all the FDE relevant blogs posted by Greytrix you will in a position to create your own FDE in X3.