March 20, 2006   Volume 5 - Issue 1

TDCI.com | MAC-PAC | Training | TDCI Contacts   


In this issue:
»   News and Announcements
»   User Input Workshop Recap
»   Perspectives 2006 - TDCI Customer Forum
»   Enhancement Update
»   Tip of the Month


News & Announcements

Creative Foam Expands MAC-PAC XE™ Implementation and Refines Usage to Support Pull Manufacturing

Creative Foam Corporation, a MAC-PAC user since 1995, has expanded implementation of MAC-PAC XE™ to the company’s plants in Athens, Tennessee and Grand Blanc, Michigan. Creative Foam is now using MAC-PAC XE v10.2 at all five of the company’s primary facilities located in Michigan, Indiana, and Tennessee.

In addition, Creative Foam is now in the process of implementing a number of recommendations made as a result of a recent TDCI MAC-PAC XE Usage Assessment.   More>>

 

Compac Corporation to Implement Vizion for MAC-PAC XE™ Business Intelligence Solution

Compac Corporation, a leading manufacturer of vapor retarder facings and pressure sensitive adhesive tapes for the construction, industrial, automotive, and electronics industries, and a MAC-PAC user since 1994, is in the process of implementing a new sales analysis application based on the Vizion Business Intelligence (Vizion BI) solution for MAC-PAC XE. The solution will be delivered jointly by TDCI solution partner, Vizion Solutions, and TDCI.   More>>

 

Gorman-Rupp Success with BuyDesign Featured in APICS Magazine

MAC-PAC XE™ user, The Gorman-Rupp Company, is featured in the February 2006 issue of the APICS Magazine – the official publication of APICS – The Association for Operations Management. The article (titled “Pump Up the Volume” on page 44) describes the success Gorman-Rupp has had with their deployment of BuyDesign to support sales of the company’s pump products and replacement parts. Quotes from the article include: “The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.” (Bill Danuloff, Gorman-Rupp Corporate Vice President of Information Technology).   More>>

 

TDCI to Help EMD Chemicals with SAP Migration and Management of MAC-PAC XE During Transition

TDCI has been selected by EMD Chemicals Inc. (EMD) the North American specialty chemical affiliate of Merck, KGaA, Darmstadt to help with the migration from MAC-PAC to their parent company’s corporate standard SAP system.

To assist with the migration, EMD Chemicals is taking advantage of TDCI’s SAP_EXPRESS™ services offering.   More>>

 

TDCI Announces New MAC-PAC XE Solution Partner for Payroll, Human Resources, and Time & Attendance – Optimum Solutions

Optimum Solutions is TDCI’s newest MAC-PAC XE solution partner. Headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, Optimum Solutions is a leading provider of payroll, human resources, and time & attendance solutions for both the IBM iSeries (AS400) and Microsoft Windows platforms.

The Optimum Suite is an industry-leading Human Resources Information System (HRIS) system providing payroll processing and employee information management, as well as training and benefits administration – all at an affordable price. Powerful reporting tools found in the Optimum Suite help companies comply with federal and state laws and plan strategically for their organizations.   More>>

 

MAC-PAC XE User-to-User Enhancement Sharing Capability Now Available!

With the help and encouragement of the MAC-PAC XE User Advisory Board (UAB), TDCI has launched an important new service for MAC-PAC XE users with active TDCI maintenance agreements – a new ‘Enhancement Sharing’ section of the MAC-PAC XE web site.   More>>

 

2006 MAC-PAC XE™ Enhancement Survey Planned for Fall

In cooperation with the MAC-PAC XE User Advisory Board (UAB), the TDCI MAC-PAC XE team will soon be preparing for the 2006 MAC-PAC XE enhancement survey. This survey will give your company an opportunity tell TDCI your relative priority for a number of potential enhancements selected from user input over the past two years. Along with input from the User Input Workshops held this year and last year, the results of this survey will help drive TDCI’s MAC-PAC XE enhancement effort in 2007 and beyond.

A preliminary list of candidate enhancements will be reviewed at Perspectives 2006 – The TDCI Customer Forum August 20-23 in Columbus, Ohio, and the survey will be open for balloting in September. Be sure to attend Perspectives 2006 to participate in the preliminary review. If you have any questions in the meantime, contact Gary Addison at gaddison@tdci.com or 614-781-2325 x101.

User Input Workshop Recap

MAC-PAC XE™ Modernization Workshop Helps Steer TDCI Development

The 2006 MAC-PAC XE User Input Workshop held March 15 th in Columbus, Ohio attracted a good turnout and valuable interaction. Most companies sent both a financial person and an IT representative to participate.

The focus of this workshop was on TDCI's plans for modernizing MAC-PAC XE's capabilities for business intelligence and analytics, and on specific enhancements in the area of financial information and activities. This focus was selected based on input received in the 2005 ‘MAC-PAC XE Modernization Ideas' survey.   More>>

Perspectives 2006 - TDCI Customer Forum

Plan Now to Attend Perspectives 2006 – the TDCI Customer Forum

Mark your calendar now and make your plans to attend the Perspectives 2006 TDCI Customer Forum at the Hilton Columbus Hotel August 20-23 in the Easton Town Center. As a MAC-PAC XE™ and/or BuyDesign® user, this may be the single most valuable event you can attend in 2006. The TDCI Customer Forum is the one place you can stimulate new ideas to help your company improve customer responsiveness, productivity, and competitiveness using the enterprise software solutions you ALREADY HAVE.

  • Learn new ways to leverage MAC-PAC XE and BuyDesign capabilities for improved sales, manufacturing, and financial performance.
  • Learn about new MAC-PAC XE, BuyDesign, and 3rd party solutions.
  • Find out what innovative things other companies are doing with MAC-PAC XE and BuyDesign to address competitive challenges and create new opportunities.

Enhancement and PTF Update

New MAC-PAC XE Enhancements Available

MAC-PAC XE core application enhancements that have been completed since the last newsletter:

LA02 (AP) – Allow accounts payable inquiry strictly by external document type and number.

LA01 (AR) – Create optional customer master audit trails

KB37 (OP) – Improve data for AR posting drill-down

KB40 (CF) – Restrict vendor maintenance access by user

MAC-PAC XE core application PTFs that have been completed since the last newsletter. Problems resolved are:

L1AX (OP) – Users cannot ship valid line items of a cfg'd sales order if the order contains any line items with cfg errors

L1BD (IC) – Job log messages fills causing problem with the mfg configuration monitor

L1BF (TC) – Cancelling a transfer order does not reset the on order nor reserved/allocated values in WHSE balance file.

L1BC (RP) – Indicated firm horizon is wrong on RP output for mfg, make/buy, JIT part

L1AD (AR) – Inventory reservations are inconsistent if the item is not in stock and the order goes on hold

L1AQ (OP) – Incorrect error message on OP630A when reservations not allowed due to part status

L1AU (IC) – MO should not be closed until related phantom POS have completed quality processes.

L1AV (PO) – Bar coded phantom PO receipt fails on JIT part.

L1AZ (PO) – Receipt information not defaulted into AP inquiry (F18) from PURCH part transaction history

L1BA (CF) – Multiple bar coded scrap transactions for same MO# causes failure of transactions

L1AO (OP) – The selling CO/LOC/WHSE determines if over reservation is permitted rather than sourcing CO/LOC/WHSE

L1AT (PO) – Totals carrying over from prior statistics on reports PO720A & PO720B.

L1AP (OP) – Changing the route or ship via in the BOL header in shipping workbench affects future shipments

L1AY (OP) – OP120E aborts with ABT0354 after adding shipment tracking id

L1AM (CF) – CF030E should check DE100M, IC140M for preferred vendor use before allowing vendor to be deleted

L1AG (OP) – MPC0343 shipping workbench aborts with incorrect customer look-up

L1AN (AR) – AR120E aborts with chargeback processed if KB37 is applied

L1AF (ED) – EDI does not have error handling logic for failed configuration calls

L1AI (OP) – part description is incorrectly populated on OP695AP2 with the description of the last line item

L1AS (OP) – commit control error when calling shipping/billing program from the menu

L1AE (RP) - Divide by zero RP abort following RP creating an MO with order qty=0.

L1AB (IC) - IC510E aborting due to incorrect use of indicators for end of file condition.

L1AA (IA) - IA POST aborts with KB35 installed when using files in independent auxiliary storage pool (IASP).

L1AC (RM) - RM290P clearing IC130DP file incorrectly.

L1AH (AR) - AR125E batch payment program does not populate customer name ATCNAM in AR510AP.

L1AJ (AP) - Vendor and location total do not display when entities with same location # are sequential.

L1AL (OP) - Closing or reopening an RMA header does not update last maint data on RMA header file.

Full descriptions of these and other MAC-PAC XE enhancements and PTFs are available for download at www.tdci.com/macpac. Click ‘Support Login' at the top of the screen, then click either ‘Enhancements' or ‘Software Fixes' after logging in.

More enhancements and PTFs are always in the works, so check the MAC-PAC XE web site again soon!

MAC-PAC XE Online Support is available 24x7 to companies that are currently active on the TDCI MAC-PAC XE Maintenance & Support Service. 

Tip of the Month

Each MAC-PAC Tip of the Month is a selected Expert Reference Note (ERN) from the MAC-PAC ‘Helpful Hints' database in the MAC-PAC website. You can get the full text of this note or search the database by logging in to Support, then selecting ‘Helpful Hints' at www.tdci.com/macpac.

Q:   How is the purchase part (PP) rule used to generate a configured purchase requisition?

A:   A purchase requisition can be created through the manufacturing configuration monitor for either the configured sales order line part or for a component of the configured part.

Set Up Procedures:

Creating a Purchase Requisition for a component of a configured parent:

  1. The part master for the configured component must be the following:
    • Part Type = Manufactured
    • Make/Buy flag = Buy
    • Manufacture Configuration flag = Y
    • Planner Code = Valid Code for Client's environment

  2. A configured component (CC) rule should be set up in the parent part's sales order rules for the configured purchased component.

  3. A purchase part (PP) rule should be set up in the configured component's sales order rules.

  4. If the clients are using configured costing (configuration code options 3 or 4 on the part master) they need to set up a finalize cost (FC) rule in the configured component's sales order rules. The value of this rule will default into the Estimated Unit Cost (RQUNCT) field on the Requisition Master (PO160M1) file when the requisition is created and will also show up in Standard Material - Total (CCCFM) and Standard Total Cost (CCCFT) on EC140M. Should the costs change after the requisition is created they would need to manually update the costs on EC140M through Configuration Code Maintenance for the configured component part/configuration code and then do a cost regeneration on the SO to update the costs of the parent part.

  5. They will also need to set up a component requirement (CR) rule for the configured component in the parent's manufacturing rules.

Creating a Purchase Requisition for the part ordered on a Sales Order:

  1. The part master for the part must be the following:
    • Part Type = Manufactured
    • Make/Buy flag = Buy
    • Manufacture Configuration flag = Y
    • Planner Code = Valid Code for Client's environment

  2. A purchase part (PP) rule should be set up in the part's sales order rules.


  3. If they are using configured costing (configuration code options 3 or 4 on the part master) they need to set up a finalize cost (FC) rule in the part's sales order rules. The value of this rule will default into RQUNCT on PO160M1 when the requisition is created and will also show up in Standard Material - Total (CCCFM) and Standard Total Cost (CCCFT) on EC140M. Should the costs change after the requisition is created they would need to manually update the costs on EC140M through Configuration Code Maintenance for the part/configuration code.

Creating the Purchase Requisition

After the Sales Order is entered, purchase order requisitions are generated through the manufacturing configuration (EC200E) process. The requisition will be tied to the sales order line. If the sales order line is closed, the requisition has not yet been covered, and the Order Delete flag is set to Y, then the requisition will be canceled or deleted along with any manufacturing orders that are tied to that sales order line.

Search Helpful Hint # XRMJ2272 on the MAC-PAC Web Site for full text of this tip.

Tell us your wish!

Now you can easily submit any idea you have for any MAC-PAC XE component to TDCI development. Just send an e-mail describing your idea to the appropriate e-mail address for the product you wish to see enhanced. TDCI will acknowledge receipt of your input, review it, and take it into consideration in future planning. Please be as specific as possible when describing your request – the clearer your request, the easier it will be for us to consider.

e-mail addresses for MAC-PAC XE products are as follows:
> Core MAC-PAC XE applications: macpacwish@tdci.com
> BuyDesign: buydesignwish@tdci.com
> TDCI Integration Server: iswish@tdci.com

 
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