September 2002


The LawsonGuru Letter is a free periodic newsletter containing provocative commentary about issues important to the Lawson Software community.

The LawsonGuru Letter is published by-and is solely the opinion of-John Henley of Decision Analytics.   Visit Decision Analytics at https://www.danalytics.com . For subscription information, see the bottom of this message.

The LawsonGuru Letter is not affiliated with Lawson Software.
In this issue:
1. Welcome to the inaugural issue of The LawsonGuru Letter!
2. Focus: Are you process-driven?
3. DataBasics not good enough for Lawson-how about for Microsoft?
4. Will Lawson deny support for non-Lawson installed software?
5. Lawson tips & tricks

1. Welcome to the inaugural issue of The LawsonGuru Letter!

I'm often called upon by Lawson clients for Lawson and related IT strategy consulting and advice. However, with my busy consulting schedule, I just don't have time to visit with as many Lawson clients as I'd like. I wanted to open up a new communication channel and share some of my Lawson insight (pun sorely intended!)   So, after months of internal debate, I've decided to give this a try. If enough people continue to subscribe, I'll continue this "experiment" until I run out of things to say (not likely!).   Without an official subscriber list, I'm sending this initial issue to many of you in the Lawson community, including my clients, colleagues, and others that I have met at CUE and the various user groups. I've also included those of you I've corresponded with and helped out on the topica.com message boards.   Some of you may be receiving this issue and would rather not. If that's the case, send me an email at mailto:letter-unsubscribe@lawsonguru.com , and I'll be happy to take you off the subscription list.   On the other hand, if you like what you read, please let me know. Comments and topic suggestions are always welcome at mailto:letter@lawsonguru.com . If you would like to provide "guest commentary", drop me a line.


2. Focus: Are You Process-Priven? 

I've been thinking and reading a lot lately about "process".   Michael Hammer, in his latest book "The Agenda" (ISBN 0-609-60966-1), spells out 9 concepts that companies will need to master in order to survive and thrive.  [Read More...] 


The number of CIOs who report directly to their CEO increased by 54% in 2002. Most used to report to the CFO. Source: CIO Magazine, 9/1/02 

3. DataBasics Not Good Enough for Lawson-How About for Microsoft?

A recent news item caught my eye--DataBasics has signed a developer agreement with Microsoft. (See http://www.data-basics.com/news.htm ). If, like me, you've been following the saga of lawson.insight 8.0 and the professional services vertical, you'll find this very intriguing.  [Read More...]


A study by Meta Group ranked Oracle 9i in the "leader" Category for databases, based on technology, services, and execution. IBM UDB [DB2] and Microsoft SQL Server 2000 were ranked as "challengers". Sybase ASE was a "follower". Source: Infoworld, 8/26/02
4. Lawson Denying Support to non-Lawson-Installed Software?

Heard through the grapevine that Lawson is getting tougher with its customers when it comes to getting support.  [Read More...]


5. Lawson Tips & Tricks

This issue's tip is for users of the Lawson XML User Interface. Most everyone who uses this interface knows that the URL http://<host>/lawson/xcs will load the interface.   Did you know that you can enter a specific form on the URL to take you directly to that form?   Try this: &_PDL=&_PDL=&_PDL=http://<host>/lawson/xcs/?_TKN=<form>&_PDL=<productline > where the value of _TKN is your token or form that you want to load and _PDL is the productline.   Example: http://lawson.mydomain.com/lawson/xcs/?_TKN=CU01.1&_PDL=PROD   This can be useful if you want to add a link to a particular form to a website, such as the Lawson Information Office.


The LawsonGuru Letter is a free periodic newsletter containing provocative commentary about issues important to the Lawson Software community. The LawsonGuru Letter is published by--and is solely the opinion of--John Henley of Decision Analytics.   Visit Decision Analytics at https://www.danalytics.com . To subscribe, send an email to: mailto:letter-subscribe@lawsonguru.com To be removed from the subscription list, send email to: mailto:letter-unsubscribe@lawsonguru.com
© Copyright 2002, Decision Analytics. All rights reserved. Please share The LawsonGuru Letter in whole or in part as long as copyright and attribution are always included.
Decision Analytics is an independent consultancy, focusing on Lawson technical projects, and specializing in customization/modification, data conversion, and integration/interfaces (including BCI & Mercator). Please visit https://www.danalytics.com for more information.
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