Hello fellas,

My current company is shifting its home-made ERP (yeah, the one that looks like missing puzzle, and bug ridden, plus obsolete technologies ) to Infor ERP.

The reason we chose Infor is because of its competitive price. However, the management prefer to chose Baan V over Ln 6.

As a developer, I think it would be smarter to choose Ln 6 in many views. From the product support, I think Ln 6 will last longer in the market than Baan V (obviously,lol) and the technology is much better since by default, newer applications performs better in current hardware.

For rebutting the insane idea, I did some research on both products details in the internet. I can get overall picture of Ln 6 from many website, but unfortunately Baan V, none. So the comparison is not going very well.

Oh, the guy that made the decision is not coming from IT industry. Maybe thats why. But that aside, could any of you give me details on Baan V, regarding its technology, modules and performance? Also, is Ln 6 installation much harder and complex than Baan V? Also, if any of you have experience in both products, could you elaborate more?

Thanks alot. This forum is the only lifeline I have for this project. I do not want this company to make wrong decision as we know, implementing wrong ERP is simply a major pain in the a$$.

Blaze.

bump for justice and desperation. Any info/opinion/criticism is greatly welcomed by me!

Blaze,

I am more Technical than functional person. Here are a couple of threads on the forum for reference -

Improvements in LN visa vis Baan 5c (http://www.baanboard.com/baanboard/showthread.php?t=23507)

technical advantage LN compared to Baaniv or BaanV? (http://www.baanboard.com/baanboard/showthread.php?t=23086)

Question Differences between Baan IV, V and iBaan. (http://www.baanboard.com/baanboard/showthread.php?t=6915)

Hi,

First of all: welcome to baanboard.

I can't tell much about the functionality, I working on the technical side of Infor. I have managed baanV for a about 8 years, last 3 years working with mostly ERPLN.

Regarding performance: both products use the same portingset so the statements that the driver generates if the application performs the same sql should be the same.
If you are able to handle/manage baanV you can handle ERPLN as well. The 'tools' part in ERPLN is a of course updated but still uses the same technology. (E.g. in ERPLN reports only need to be compiled in english because labels are taken out, in BaanV you need to compile reports in all languages in which you need them.)

ERPLN has some more nice features (like defining your own custom database fields) which makes it better. Also with ERPLN the concept of feature packs are introduced so new functionality is added on a yearly base. With Baan5c there is not much new development apart of the bug fixing. Some things are back ported (like the WebUI), but not all.
Think also about reporting: with ERPLN FP7 it will be possible to beautify reports with MS reporting, in BaanV you have to use third party products.

I wouldn't recommend new customer to install this kind of applications themselves, rather hire a experienced consultant to do it. Normally they need about 3 days to do it.

In my opinion ERPLN would be a better choice.

Regards,
Han

Thanks for awesome replies.

I see. Because the management main reason of not getting LN but Baan V instead is because the implementation team is not familiar with LN. So, from your input, if the implementation team is capable of Baan V, they should be able to do LN 6 without any problem right?

From the hardware view, is Baan V capable of running on modern servers? Which one is more hardware-friendly and efficient ?

Also, can you please describe platforms that both Baan V and LN6 capable running on, as well as databases?

Thanks,
Blaze.

NPRao, the link that you gave me is very useful as my company is an automotive company. But the thread is old, the replies are on 2000-2004. Since that, has LN6 evolved to cater automotive industry?

Also, I forget to ask this..what type of programming language used in LN6 and Baan V?

Application is partly quite different between BaanV/ERPLN so I don't think that will be an easy task for your implementation team. I was only referring to the 'tools' part (application administration).

Right now they use the same portingset so both can run on same platforms. However ERPLN is consuming more memory.

Platforms: some unix (hp-ux/solaris/aix), linux (SLES and Redhat ES/AS), windows. RDBMS: ms-sql, oracle, db2, informix (not all on all platforms). Exact details are mentioned in the portingset release notes.

The programming language is a own kind of basic language. It's 4GL (partly event driven). To know the events is the most difficult part rest should not be a problem if you know how to write an if/then/else and while statement.

But the thread is old, the replies are on 2000-2004. Since that, has LN6 evolved to cater automotive industry?
You can get some more information on the Infor site - http://www.infor.com/solutions/erp/

Also, I forget to ask this..what type of programming language used in LN6 and Baan V?
On the left panel on the forum page you can click the 2 links for more information on System Architecture and features of the Programming language.
* BaanERP Tutorial
* Programmer's Manual

I got this press release from the linkedin site -

Infor ERP LN Helps Stork Power Services Unite its IT-solutions (http://www.infor.com/company/news/pressroom/pressreleases/infor-stork/)

Infor's focus on automating key business processes and integrating over 70 acquisitions of proven and widely deployed application products has served its customers well. These customers include:

* The top 10 aerospace companies
* Over 450 major apparel and footwear companies
* 14 of the world's top 25 automotive suppliers
* Nine of the top 10 high tech companies
* More than 4,500 machinery manufacturers
* 21 of the top 35 life sciences companies
* Nearly half of the top 100 electrical distributors
* 1,000 financial services companies
* 2,000 municipalities and government agencies
* 22 of the top 50 global retailers
* Seven of the top 10 brewers

Thanks alot Han and NPRao. Without your explanations, I would be still crawling in the dark.

In general, here is the list of modules involved our company operations:

- Product Lifecycle Management
- Production Planning
- Manufacturing
- CBU Sales
- Spare Parts
- Service
- Plant Maintenance
- Quality Control
- Finance
- Purchasing

I know that you (Han & NPRao) are from technical site, but if we were to implement Baan V or LN 6, what is the best implementation methodology? What is the sequence of the implementation (in terms of module) ?

Thanks,
Blaze

Hi Blazingknife,

If your implementation team is only familiar with BAAN V then get a new implementation team!
I cannot believe that in this day and age a company will choose its most important business tool based on the lack of knowledge of consultants.
BAAN V is out dated technology this has been there since 1998.

Unlike NPRao and Han, I am only focussed on the functional side and have done numerous BAAN V and two ERP LN implementations. My recommendations is ERP LN because it is so much better and has many new features in all the areas that are important for your company:

- Product Lifecycle Management
- Production Planning
- Manufacturing
- CBU Sales
- Spare Parts
- Service
- Plant Maintenance
- Quality Control
- Finance
- Purchasing

For example Spare Parts, Service and Plant Maintenance. These three areas are covered by LN Service and this is so much better than BAAN V Service. Spare parts sales are not covered in BAAN V and can only be done by sales orders. In LN Service you can actually do specific spare parts sales that are related to your service business.

I will not make a recommendation of what methodology to use and what is the best sequence of implementing these modules because everybody has different views and approaches. But, if you look at it from a high level, these are all the same.

Just get a good advisor who knows both BAAN V and ERP LN and who can tell your management why your company should implement ERP LN.
Good luck and keep us informed of the progress!

Hello blazingknife,
are your company is automotive supplier or assembly? I am have experiance in implementation of ERP LN for car assembly plant, and I can talk you, that ERP LN Assembly Functionality is very good solution for this type of Industry.

Hi Edwin,

Yes, that is what I am trying to explain to them but apparently in this conglomerate, they put the decision on the wrong guy. That is why I am here, to collect as many information as I can and present to them to rebut the idea of implementing Baan V because they dont have expertise in Infor Ln.

Therefore, I welcome any idea/suggestion that you guys throw.

Also, you mentioned that they are all the same on the high level of view? Can you please explain that in details?

------------------

For Vkpacc,

My company supply, manufacture and assembly. But we are more on manufacturing. Most of the parts are supplied by vendors but we do produce some part and supply them as well.

Do you have good suggestion on the implementation methods vkpacc? Any information will be highly appreciated.

As usual, thanks for helping this poor little fella, lol.

blazingknife,
we used INFOR SIM methodology and DEM with referent models. Like result we implemented ERP LN for new car assembly plant in 12 months.
About Baan5 and LN. If your consultancy known Baan5, they can learning ERP LN in shortest time, if we talk about base functionality. But in ERP LN you can use some very important functionality for Automotive - Assembly Control and Purchase/Supply Schedules. For this functions you need more trainings, or consultancy with success experience.

Vkpacc,
Wow 12 months is a very short time. Is there somewhere that I can get the reference of this Infor SIM and DEM methods?

Hello,
I can send you presentation of this project on e-mail.

This is VOLGA SIBER project. I have presentation on English and can send it by mail.

get another team of consultants, if they are only familiar with Baan V: If they did not do a single ERP LN implementation in the last couple of years, they are bad consultants anyway. The ONLY reason why you should be implementing Baan V would be that you're part of a global group that has Baan V as a MANDATORY group standard.

Baan V is DEAD as the parrot in the Monty Python sketch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Parrot_sketch ). Probably you should show that sketch to the manager opting for the old version.

For Baan V you don't get *new* functionality, you only get bugfixes. Also, Baan V has a lot of conceptual shortcomings that were removed with ERP LN. Just don't do it. Cry. Scream. Change your job. Even Baan IV is more "active" at Infor then Baan V.

Uli

Blaze,
Ed and Han already said it best! You should pick LN.
We are in Baan V since 2000 and still on it, no doubt its a beautiful piece of software and take care of our companiy business. But if you are starting now, it make sense to go Baan LN. If i were you its not even a choice, i will go with LN right away. Purely because of just one thing, (as ed put it), Baan V is atleast 12 years old, why you want to invest in a technology so old?
Few other points i can think of
1) With the improved technology, LN will make it way more easier to integrate to Web and other third parties. Definitely it can do better than V
2) All the new improvements come out in LN and then Baan 4 (Baan 5 is left aside). reason they skip 5, it probably doesnt have as many customers on it than Baan 4. As an example, In the last Inforum i saw they were developing a new tools development kit, which looks more like Visual Studio and that was for LN and they were not planning to port it to 5
Looks like you have some dummies as decision makers there, get rid of them, your company will be better off :)

Hi Blaze,

What I meant was that all these consulting firms have all their own implementation methodologies and they are all saying they are the best.
However, ultimately these methodologies are all the same as they get you implemented.
One just goes faster and is cheaper than the other.

No rocket science as far as I am concerned.

By now, you must realize that BAAN V is not an option and the only way to go is ERP LN.

I am sure there is a bunch of people on this thread that is eagier to come to your company and do the right thing for you: implement ERP LN.

Keep us informed!

Thanks for the inputs. That really help.

Well yes..they are trying to impose the Baan V as the group standard ERP, but I dont see it is relevant to my company anyway. The rest of the subsidiaries are not automotive industry..they are manufacturer at best. No such thing as service, spare parts involved in those companies.

Vkpacc, you can email me the presentation at blazingknife at yahoo.com. I really appreciate your help!

But yes, our company's IT never really agree with the approach, and we always think it is best to get the latest version from the shelves. And i am collecting arguments for that purpose.

Thanks again. You guys are wonderful. I will update the progress as it goes.