I don't know how many people that I've run across that are new to Lawson and have experienced one of the following situations:
(a) Haven't received any formal Lawson training
(B) Do not have access to Lawson's web-based training library
© Took over for someone who implemented Lawson in their department and did not get to spend any time transfering their knowledge
(d) The person who I replaced did not document any of their Lawson procedures
(e) No one around me knows Lawson either
(f) All of the above

If you are finding yourself in this predicament, then this guide will hopefully serve as a good place to start.

To begin, there are a lot of online resources that many people don't know about:
1) LawsonTalk.com - You probably know about it know, since you're reading this article from the web site.
2) LawsonGuru.com - The web site of a Lawson consultant who is willing to share a portion of his expertise and knowledge for free (you don't see that every day). Extremely helpful from the technical standpoint since he puts the database table structures on his site and offers lots of technical tips and tricks. He also distributes the Lawson Guru newsletter, which goes out monthly.
3) Support.Lawson.Com - I wish I would have had this resource when I started with Lawson 6 years ago. The knowledge base is great, it answers a majority of the common, day-to-day questions in Lawson. All of the user manuals are on this web site as well. I much prefer using LIS to talk to Lawson Support than I do calling them.
4) Topica.com - Was replaced by LawsonTalk.com but you can still find a lot of interesting discussions in the archive.
5) http://www.schronce.net/lawson/ - David's web site full of great technical scripts to automate your Lawson tasks

So those are the online resources available to you. Now, where to start, how about the user manuals.

The Lawson user manuals (which can be downloaded from the support.lawson.com website) are a great resource for new users. The user manuals are thorough and complete and cover step-by-step how to accomplish general tasks and setup in Lawson. Note that I did say general tasks. If you ever need to set something up specific to you, the manuals aren't much help. For example, the manuals cover how to set up a pay code in Payroll, but they do not tell you how to set up a double-pay surgery overrun pay code that should be excluded from overtime calculations.

Another great resource is the Lawson User Groups. Each region has its own Lawson user group that meets on a quarterly basis. This is an opportunity to meet with experienced Lawson users who have made the same mistakes that you are about to make. So talk to them before you make them. For example, you can find out how to why your 401(k) deductions just stopped all of a sudden in October for a couple of employees and how to fix it.

Lawson also has an annual user group called CUE that is really helpful. Of course, the annual conference isn't cheap. But it's a great chance to network and sit in on sessions that cover topics specific to your area.

Another great resource that new users don't generally know about is the TEST Lawson system. Each install of Lawson usually includes at least two product lines in Lawson, PROD and TEST. PROD is your real Lawson system. With TEST, you can change or add new setups, perform actions on employees, and delete things out of the system without impacting the LIVE Lawson system. This is a great help when you're experimenting with something new.

Hopefully that is enough information to get you started with Lawson. Keep looking for more articles from me in the near future.

This is a highly disputable point. Topica is still going quite strong, and, for technical issues at least, is much more active than LawsonTalk (as of the date of this post). It is also, arguably, still a better source of information than LawsonTalk. I know of two questions that have been asked both on Topica and on LawsonTalk. One question was answered on Topica but not on LawsonTalk, the other one received what I think was a more useful answer on Topica than on LawsonTalk (note that I provided the "more useful" answer, so there is an obvious bias at work).

I monitor both forums and there are pro/con's to both. Following a single thread is much easier in the Lawsontalk forum, but geting/knowing about a response is quicker with Topica. This is somewhat true and somewhat perception - Since most helpful responders in Topica have it setup to receive emails instead of manually checking the lists on the web, a response is usually fairly quick, and there are far more users involved in each list and not all helpful/high volume responders are members of Lawsontalk. However, Lawsontalk also has methods that could be fairly quick depending if you set it up that way. You can mark threads to notify you of responses if you want and checking for new threads is nice as well, though to be on top of it instantly, you need to be logged in at all times to see any new threads that pop in. I haven't tried all of the bells/whistles it has, but I do see worth in using both forums, especially since more are joining both each day. It's not a compitition to use one or the other, use each for what it can give you for your particular needs. None of these great methods of sharing information has been around very long and are evolving each day.

If someone doesn't like a particular forum, then they can leave the list and monitor one that suites their needs instead of wasting everyone's time with complaining about it and not contributing anything worthwhile. I've help many people as well as have been helped by many people...for FREE AND a lot of times better and faster than what GSC or any consultant could have done if I had handed them a bag full of cash. I dont' think either one is the best Lawson forum or really any better one another, but I get what I need from each one and give what I can to pay back all of the time and frustration is has saved me using both.

NUFF SED!