Infor Announces Next Generation of Datastream 7i

Infor today announced general availability of the next generation of the Datastream 7i enterprise asset management solution.

This version of Datastream 7i includes a number of new modules and enhancements designed to help customers optimize the performance of their capital assets, uncover hidden profit potential and gain more granular control over their asset management operations.

For example, the new budgeting module enables users to set up a budget calendar and structure, and automatically track costs against the budget. They can then generate reports at the enterprise level for executives and at the project level for managers to ensure that operations are staying within expense guidelines and to trigger root cause analyses when budgets are out of line with actual costs.

“The ability to identify cost differences before they get out of control enables us to locate and correct problems faster which goes straight to the bottom line,” said Earl Jackson, supervisor, maintenance planning and warehouse for Nucor Steel. “This is a must in today’s highly competitive market, where even the smallest improvements in efficiency and cost control have a huge impact on the company’s performance.”

Manufacturing services companies, public sector organizations, facilities managers and other service-delivery organizations will benefit from the new Datastream 7i Call Center module, which provides robust support for managing the entire service-delivery process from request to completion.

“By integrating our call center with Datastream 7i, the City of Greensboro has effectively eliminated the gap between service request and service delivery,” said Steve Sherman, GIS manager for the City of Greensboro. “This enables us to resolve service issues more quickly and also to provide citizens with the information they need, when they need it.”

Because Datastream 7i is built to support service-oriented architecture (SOA) deployment, its Call Center module readily integrates with existing call center applications to enable seamless transfer of information between applications. With this capability, call center personnel can generate work orders in Datastream 7i based on service requests and access a knowledgebase of asset information—ranging from repair status to facility locations and service information—to help provide prompt and accurate answers to caller questions.

“Datastream 7i continues to be enhanced to provide end-to-end support for business processes and enable new business models,” said Houghton Leroy, research director, ARC Advisory Group. “Seamless integration is the key to making this happen, and it is consistent with Infor’s greater vision of providing SOA-ready best-of-breed solutions that can readily interoperate with other Infor solutions or those of other providers.”

Additional Enhancements to Datastream 7i

Infor has introduced a number of enhancements to the core features and product modules of Datastream 7i, including:

* Preventive Maintenance Revision Control: This important enhancement for
regulated industries mandates that any new or edited material list,
task, route or preventive-maintenance schedule be screened and approved
by a designated “approver list.”

* Mobile Functionality: The new version of Datastream 7i has a new
synchronization engine that radically reduces data synchronization
time.

* Customer Service Request Advanced Module: This module enables facility
and institutional maintenance operations to support Web-based service
requests from customers.

* Change Notice Tracking: This feature makes it easier for customers to
keep track of repairs, modification or part replacements that need to
be made to a group of assets as a result of a manufacturer notification
of the required change.

* Expanded Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Integration: The
Datastream 7i GIS integration now includes dynamic asset segmentation
via map click. Users can define segments of linear assets, such as
roads or pipelines, and issue work orders for those specific segments.

“There is strong demand for Datastream 7i from asset-intensive organizations across a number of markets, including manufacturing, facility management and the public sector,” said Jerry Rulli, senior vice president and general manager of the Infor Cross Industry Solutions Group. “These enhancements to Datastream 7i will help organizations identify and uncover hidden profit potential by giving them greater control over asset performance and their enterprise operations.”

www.infor.com