What Is Table Sharing?
Also known as: Baan table sharing, shared tables, tables by company
Definition
Table sharing is the Baan and Infor LN mechanism that lets several companies read and write the same physical database table, so master data such as items, business partners and currencies is maintained once and used by every company that shares it.
Table Sharing Explained
Baan and Infor LN separate data by company number, and by default each company gets its own physical copy of every table. Table sharing overrides that default table by table: you nominate one company as the owner of the physical table, and other companies are pointed at it instead of getting their own. Anything written by one sharing company is instantly visible to the others, because there is only one set of rows.
The setup lives in Tools, in the company and table maintenance sessions, and it is normally decided during implementation design rather than changed casually afterwards. Common master data is the usual candidate: items, item groups, business partners, currencies, countries, units and tax codes. Transaction data is usually not shared, because sales orders, warehouse orders and ledger transactions belong to one company by definition and sharing them would break financial separation.
The design tension is real. Sharing reduces duplicate maintenance and guarantees that an item code means the same thing everywhere, which matters enormously for consolidated reporting and intercompany trade. Not sharing gives each company autonomy over its own numbering, descriptions and defaults, which matters when acquired entities have incompatible conventions. Most implementations end up sharing a defined core and keeping company-specific tables for anything with local business meaning.
Changing the sharing configuration after go-live is where the pain concentrates. Splitting a shared table means deciding which rows belong to which company and rebuilding references; merging separate tables means resolving code collisions where two companies used the same item code for different parts. Both are data conversion projects with downtime, not configuration changes, so the sharing decision deserves careful modeling before any master data is loaded.
Why It Matters
- Sharing core master data eliminates duplicate maintenance and prevents the same code meaning different things in different companies.
- The sharing model directly determines how hard intercompany trade and consolidated reporting will be.
- Reversing a sharing decision after go-live is a data conversion project with downtime, not a configuration change.
- Auditors frequently ask which companies can write to shared master data, so the configuration is a control point, not just a technical setting.
In Practice
A classic failure is sharing item tables across companies that were never harmonized. Two plants each used code 100-200 for different parts, and after sharing, one plant's bills of material silently reference the other plant's component. Always run a code collision analysis across every candidate shared table before enabling sharing, and treat any collision as a master data cleanup task with an owner and a date.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which tables are normally shared in Baan or LN?
Master data tables that must mean the same thing everywhere are the usual candidates: items and item groups, business partners, currencies and exchange rates, countries, units of measure and tax codes. Transaction tables such as sales orders, warehouse orders and general ledger transactions are normally kept per company, because they belong to a single legal entity and must stay financially separate.
Can table sharing be changed after go-live?
Technically yes, but it is a data conversion exercise rather than a setting change. Splitting a shared table requires assigning existing rows to companies and repairing every reference; merging requires resolving code collisions where two companies used the same key for different records. Both need downtime, reconciliation and testing, so the design should be settled before master data loading.
Related Terms
Logistic Company
A logistic company in Baan and Infor LN is a company number that holds operational data such as items, warehouses, and sales, purchase, production and warehouse orders. Each logistic company is linked to exactly one financial company that carries its ledger.
Financial Company
A financial company in Baan and Infor LN is a company number that owns the general ledger: the chart of accounts, dimensions, fiscal calendars, currency setup and all financial transactions for one or more logistic companies linked to it.
Multisite (Infor LN)
Multisite in Infor LN is the configuration pattern for running several plants, warehouses or legal entities in one environment using sites, enterprise units and multiple companies, with intercompany trade rules that price and post transfers between them automatically.
Go Deeper
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Infor LN Logical Table Sharing Design Worksheet
Plan which LN tables a logical company reads from a physical company, including the reference tables that must be shared with them, before you touch Logical Tables.
New to Infor LN and Baan? Start with the Infor LN and Baan guide and toolkit, or plan with Training Path Builder, Upgrade Path Planner, ERP Table and Field Explorer.
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