A Look at Infor's Collaborative Approach to ERP

Do you Mingle? – Today’s State of Play

IT systems can create significant friction when trying to share information, thus constraining cross-country, cross-organization collaboration. Interfaces such as APIs connecting systems are cumbersome and require constant maintenance, and it is difficult to secure them. The use of email to communicate between departments can often slow down the flow of information in a business, with conversation trails getting lost in an ever-expanding Inbox. Information is not easily viewed across the whole business, with various reports being run independently and then amalgamated to show a complete picture of the company ticking over.

Part of the problem is that the ERP and IT systems are often based on a silo mentality. Each department maintains its own data and processes, creating tremendous friction in the sharing of information when collaborating across a business.

What is INFOR Mingle?

INFOR Ming.le is an application framework that provides a common user interface for integrated Infor applications. The Infor Ming.le interface includes a top navigation panel with an application panel to activate the display of Infor applications.

Infor Ming.le provides drill-back capability among Infor applications so that users can navigate from one application to another to track transactions, transfer of data, and report updates. Additionally, Infor Ming.le provides an infrastructure for sharing content among the different context applications

Moving between applications

If your company has configured Infor Ming.le, then when you sign into Ming.le, you can also access all other applications without signing in separately.

Sharing Information

What are the first things you do when you take your Mobile Phone? Most probably, check your social network platforms or your social media apps. And it happens many times during the day!

We all know that social media is nowadays a huge place for communication. People spend part of their days using network platforms for interaction with family, friends, workmates and others.

Knowing that these platforms are extremely powerful, Infor has added a Ming.le Activity Feed page where posts, alerts, tasks, and notifications are displayed. You can return to your feed page from most Infor Ming.le by clicking the Activity Feed tab. Examples of the content that is displayed on your feed page are:

Your own posts and comments about the posts
Content that you upload, such as links, files, and comments about the content
Posts and content to groups of which you are a member
Posts and content by your connected users and groups of which you are a member

You can also view other Infor Ming.le users’ feed pages. The content that you can see on another user’s feed page depends on your connected user relationship. If you are not a connected user, a link is displayed next to the user’s profile picture. To send a connection request to the user, click the Connect link.

ION Workflows & Notifications

A workflow is used to automate the tasks and accelerate the various processes in an organization. The ION workflow functionality in Infor CloudSuite is based on the Infor Back Office Extension functionality.

Consider the example above where a notification is created when a Machine goes down. This is set up to trigger on an event in the system and then notify the appropriate users with a Mingle Notification in their application ‘Inbox’.

Another great feature of Mingle is being able to ‘Share’ a specific record and add a message to the user you are sharing with. An example of this might be a Purchase Order that requires a price check from a specific user before ordering. The ‘Share’ function will then send an internal ‘Inbox’ message to the user who can hence drill-down into the message to view the Purchase Order in question.

Dashboards

Infor Ming.le is also a homepage smartly developed with pre-package Infor Applications plug-ins, which allows users to select the Infor applications they use most. The platform unifies navigation, making routine easy as they can find right away their tasks, alerts and workflows, for the daily job.

Conclusion

Today’s working environment should be one where collaboration is encouraged, and the right tools are provided to enable users to communicated effectively and efficiently.

Gradient Consulting can show you how this is possible to achieve using INFOR Mingle technology and their expertise in implementing creative solutions.