Infosys’ blog on industry solutions, trends, business process transformation and global implementation in Oracle.

« February 2010 | Main | April 2010 »

March 30, 2010

Bank on ODI for high volume data transactions

Integration Technologies are quickly and vastly moving into an age where there is much more user interaction with data of different flavors by using different interfaces. Even if we find an application which fits our needs, we still crave for bringing data together and making sense of it becomes increasingly difficult. Most of the crucial applications database valor run on Oracle Database, other databases and platforms supplied by different vendors. Applications themselves may intercommunicate by using technologies such as SOA, Web services, and applications oriented communication and data may be hosted remotely as well as managed by in central data repository.
 
Working on a requirement for loading High volumes in our current assignment, we were astonished by the features of ODI and its support in various forms using ETL arch to FMW. We would like to throw some light on its capabilities and motivation for its basic functionalities.

Oracle Data Integrator addresses data integration needs in these increasingly heterogeneous environments. It is a Java-based application that uses the database to perform set-based data integration tasks also extends this ability to extract from and provide transformed data through Web services and messages and to create integration processes that respond to and create events in your service-oriented architecture.
 
High Level Functional Data Services –flexible data services it supports:

Batch Data Services – these are data services that provide bulk data movement and transformation services. Typically, a batch data service would expose a Web Service API for SOA-based applications to invoke these bulk data/ETL style jobs from the SOA layer. Several known implementations incorporate these batch data services as sub-processes to a transactional BPEL or ESB process – so that the point of control for the ETL jobs is at the SOA layer, but the delegation of efficient bulk data handling occurs at the most appropriate architecture tier.

    * Goad: ERP, Data Warehouses, Business Intelligence and Performance Management Applications require bulk data movement.

Data Access Services – these are data services that provide direct access, through a managed (synthetic or physical) view, to the resident location of the data. Data access services may be as simple as a Web Service for fetching data from database. Data access services may also be as complex as issuing queries to synthetic data views and having the service federate data source queries in real-time with aggregated data result sets.

    * Goad: Present a simplified query interface to consuming applications. Usually by combining a shared abstraction (Canonical Model) with instance virtualization (Data Mash up).

Data Quality Services – these data services use algorithms and pre-defined business rules to clean up, reformat, and de-duplicate messy business data. Typically these services are used inline with other data services (for example: using a data quality service inline with bulk data/ETL services) or statically on a data source (for example: cleaning up a legacy database). But more recent applications show that hosting a data quality service within a SOA can provide much needed cleansing and standardization services to SOA messages and data.

    * Goad: Automatically improve the quality of bad data so that legacy data resources become more valuable and usable.

Data Transformation Services – these are the classic data services, simply waiting to take one format in, and provide another format out. In a SOA-only world, these would have been deployed as XSLT libraries, where a consuming application service would send in some data, choose a corresponding XSLT, and receive the data in a new format. In a more mature SOA, transformation services may also include ETL like services that specialize in efficient transformation of bulk data (10-100’s of MB) payloads.

    * Goad: Present a reusable service for WSDL-driven data transformation – generally supporting multiple types of transformation (such as: RDB-to-RDB, XML-to-RDB, XML-to-XML, Flat-to-XML, Flat-to-RDB…)

Data Event Services – these are data services that monitor, correlate, and propagate events that happen on business data. Data events may occur at the middleware messaging, data integration, and database tiers of the infrastructure. In a mature SOA implementation, data events can be subscribed to regardless of whether the events are occurring in the database, middleware or elsewhere.

    * Goad: Every part of the data environment must be capable of trapping actions, checking policies and taking action based on those policies

A big part of the Data Service challenge is to provide a controlled, but flexible infrastructure that will allow different organizations to build, modify and publish their own services within a shared framework. Instead of arbitrarily assuming that every piece of data must be converted to XML at some point – that assumption could quadruple the size of payloads and decimate performance levels – instead, be willing to work on the data in its source formats.

In addition to these ODI provides Changed Data Capture (CDC) capability that identifies and captures data that has been inserted, updated, or deleted from a source, and it makes this data available for integration processes. Changed Data Capture uses publish-and subscribe model. An integration Scenario can subscribe to the changes that happen on a source. ODI provides two methods for tracking changes from source datastores to the CDC framework: database triggers and RDBMS log mining. The CDC framework is generic and open, so the change-tracking method can be customized. CDC also includes the capability to manage a “consistent set” of source data.

What we have mentioned above may not give the complete picture, but ODI can be used in most of the data services. It sounds trite, but the simple advice for people who are interested/deals in Data Services is to always use the right tool for the job.

Author(s):

Vamsi S.K.N,Prasanthi Sailaja Nalla
AIA Center of Excellence,Infosys.

Please feel free to send in your comments..

Posted by Prasanthi at 6:21 AM | | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

March 26, 2010

Complex Application Integration challenges? We have solution!!!

Some of the features which we look for while integrating various applications are like Integration need to flexible, loosely coupled and use standard business objects instead of Point to Point Integrations. Application portfolios need to be unified instead of Business Unit or Department specific applications managed in isolation. As we all expect it should be easy to plug-in and play with integrations without many changes to the existing design. We look for accommodating integration changes but with less risk, cost and complexity. There should not be issues to upgrade the version of End Applications.No need to worry now! We have Solution for all the above problems for Integration of various applications “Application Integration Architecture” (AIA).

“Application Integration Architecture (AIA) is a complete framework composed of comprehensive set of products that provides platform to build state-of-art SOA based integration for orchestrating agile, composite business process flows across heterogeneous application environments.”
 
Now we have solution and how AIA can help us to resolve Integration Challenges:
·    A standard framework to quickly develop business processes and integrate different products.
·    Open standards based Integration approach accelerates times to value
·    Empowered by Oracle SOA Infrastructure.
·    Accelerate adoption and migration to Enterprise SOA and Fusion Application.
·   Application independent design makes it easy to plug and play new applications, including Fusion Applications.
·    Pre-built, sustainable integrations reduce implementation risk and cost.
·    Documented best practice reference models help you optimize business operations.
·    Extension framework protects your investment from upgrades and releases.
 
And with this, we come to the end of my brief introduction to the Application Integration Architecture (AIA). Stay tuned for my next blog on how AIA works and what are its benefits!
 
Do feel free to send in your comments.

Posted by Anu Samantha at 7:12 AM | | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

March 23, 2010

Smart Metering - Smart Grid

Today your utility may have tens or even hundreds of thousands or millions of meters from multiple manufacturers generating data that's gathered in multiple ways. Ideally, you need one simple way to collate and analyze all your meter data for forecasting, planning, energy delivery, maintenance, and more to help keep your system reliable, profitable, and competitive.

Properly managed meter data enables utilities to predict system load and usage to avoid imbalances and reduce off-network purchases. Data analysis can help pinpoint over- or under-utilized infrastructure, improve system throughput, speed service restoration after outages, and more. Meter data helps utility leaders make good decisions, deploy new supporting technologies and get the most return out of their existing base of assets.

In countries where "smart metering" rollout has been initiated, companies are setting up systems in order to deal with this new incoming information. Indeed, they need a central place to collect, validate and store the customer consumption. Data collected is almost real time and be made available to the end customer thru web portals for example. Hence both parties have a better view about what is happening in real time. A joined "effort" takes place involving retailers who design new tariffs and customers who adapt his consumption to the new tariffs, creating a dynamic which helps reducing peak and saving energy.

Posted by Guerric Tailliez at 1:13 PM | | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

Demand to Deliver Solution—Remedy for Supply Chain Cost Inflation in Hi-Tech Companies

Previous post:
http://www.infosysblogs.com/oracle/2010/03/invigorating_the_topline_of_hi.html#more


"May you live in interesting times"—Chinese curse or not, this adage is truer for the recession hit Hi-Tech companies in recent times, as they struggle with challenges around shrinking margins, pressures on new product introductions, globalization and increased supply chain complexity. Our recent experience in the field has shown that Hi-Tech Clients are increasingly looking at process centered open framework driven IT investments to serve as a source of competitive advantage instead of taking a module centric approach to Enterprise Applications. The expectation is to have a seamlessly integrated, end to end ecosystem of applications that provide visibility to all demand signals, balance demand, supply and budgets in one system, reduce inventory carrying costs, enable partner negotiations and have access to concurrent analytics and Business Intelligence. The Demand to Delivery (D2D) solution jointly developed by Infosys and Oracle caters to this paradigm shift in expectations from the players in the Hi-Tech value chain. The solution comprises of 8 key process sub areas, namely—Sales and Operations Planning, Demand Management Sensing and Shaping, Strategic Sourcing, Operational Planning and Production Scheduling, Fulfillment and Warehouse Management, Logistics and Retail Execution.

What’s in it for Hi-Tech players and what is the value proposition of the solution, one might ask. The value levers for the D2D solution primarily centers on Net Revenue Improvement and Cost Reduction. In an earlier blog post on the D2D solution, we covered the operational levers through which Net Revenue Improvement can be achieved and how the D2D solution enables them. The solution can also be used derive value on the cost of side of the P&L statement and the operational levers for cost reduction primarily come under the following categories:

  • Optimized Inventory using a combination of Sales and Operations Planning, Production Planning & Scheduling
    • Complete visibility to support revenue and margin growth plans leading to Inventory Optimization
    • Optimized production plan integrated with shop floor execution
       
  • Higher Efficiency using Sales and Operations Planning, Strategic Network Optimization and Manufacturing Execution
    • Due to a balanced network to support strategic business objectives
    • Ability to React immediately to disruptions in the supply chain
    • Reduced manufacturing costs with integrated MES
    • Ability to Manufacture the most profitable product mix
  • Lesser Capital expenses using Manufacturing Execution System and Warehouse Management Systems
    • Ability to integrate outsourced manufacturing to reduce capital expenses
    • Improved manufacturing productivity through integrated and balanced MESIncreased asset utilization
    • Improved warehouse space, labor and resource utilization
    • Maximized utilization of labor, space and equipment
  • Lower Sourcing Cost using Strategic Sourcing applications like Oracle Sourcing, Sourcing Analytics, Price Protection and Ship and Debit
    • Online negotiations and bids with automatic recommendations
    • Cross-functional collaboration with internal and external partners
    • Sourcing knowledge capture and total cost analysis
    • Reduce sourcing event times and sourcing costs
    • Drive sustainable savings by enforcing negotiated terms
    • Improve effectiveness and efficiency of sourcing
  • Lower Transportation Cost using features of Oracle Transportation Management
    • Reduced transportation costs resulting from load optimization
    • Ability to Assess the financial impact of proposed rate changes
    • Reduced transportation costs by optimizing bid execution
    • Reduced claims management costs

While this provides a 20,000 feet view of the benefits, watch this space for more ground level details on the solution……

 

Posted by Padmini Ramakrishna Talagavaram at 7:02 AM | | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

March 22, 2010

The REST based approach for communicating between Legacy systems and middleware layer.. Part 2

As quoted earlier REST is not a set of tools but an architectural style in which the Web already works. It has derived many of its features from the existing web architectures. We are just re-constructing all these features into a single umbrella called REST which is being evolved as a most desirable architecture for modern web architecture.
 
REST approach develops many of its constraints from the existing web architecture such as using Client-Server concept to separate the user interface from the data storage and improve the portability and scalability of the applications across several platforms.

For every client-server communication to be stateless, no data related to session state will be stored on server. Every request to the server will itself contain all the required information. Frequently used data like the response data for a particular request can be kept in a cache so that the same can be re-used as the response for other requests also if applicable.

When we are interacting/integrating multiple applications it is important to make a note that the interaction should be in a standardized format rather than any specific application format. So, here we can use a uniform interface concept to separate the service implementation from the actual service which provides it.

There can be multiple components in a huge application leading to a high dependency amongst them. By using multi layered architecture we can ensure that a single layer is having knowledge and control on only its immediate layer.  Thus, enabling loose coupling and less complexity in the whole application.

Pre-built/Implemented applications can be extended on Code on demand basis which helps a client to extend the existing application for his specific needs.

Using REST based approach we can improve performance of applications, create Uniform interfaces, reduce interaction latency and enable security. The best implementation of REST based approach can be said to be World Wide Web till date.

And with this, we come to the end of the features of the REST based approach.
Do feel free to send in your comments..

Posted by Anjani Devi Badri at 12:07 PM | | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

March 19, 2010

The Combo for Successful Application Integrations is on its Way!

It makes sense for us to begin the story with the mention of nothing other than the Application Integration Architecture release 3.0 (AIA 3.0) which is going to be out shortly.  Application Integration Architecture is an integration solution for orchestrating agile, user-centric business processes across enterprise applications. It offers prebuilt solutions at the data, process and user interface levels delivering a more complete process solution to business end users. With handful of productivity tooling components, reference process models, infrastructure components, methodologies that guide us through the SOA development lifecycle and many more, AIA 3.0 is going to stand out as superior reference architecture for implementing best practice Service Oriented Architecture in Enterprise Application Integrations.

AIA 3.0 is powered by Fusion Middleware 11g which is based on WebLogic Server platform. WebLogic is a powerful Application Server platform which enables application integrations by way of offering best in class capabilities for deploying, testing and managing the composite applications across its life cycle stages.
 
AIA 3.0 is going to be the major release after AIA 2.5 that got released during last October. The Statement of Direction for Application Integration Architecture Foundation Pack 3.0 that got published in Dec 2009 indicates that AIA 3.0 leverages SOA Suite 11g components and other key FMW 11g features including Oracle Enterprise Repository (OER), Oracle B2B etc., and also has a support for Oracle Service Bus (OSB), the industry’s leading service bus.
 
People like us who have already started exploring the territories of SOA 11g are probably experiencing the same level of heightened excitement for AIA 3.0 as that exists when the blockbusters of Columbia Pictures flash on our screen. Yes, the excitement is all about the next big title “AIA 3.0”, to be released in the early half of this year. So, let us keep our fingers crossed for this magnificent event.

At this juncture, we are actively making our wish list for AIA 3.0 to test our luck when the release will happen.

However, you have to stay tuned to know the things that top our wish list which we will cover in our next blog (hope this is creating the same excitement that we mentioned above).

Author: Chaitanya Chandu, AIA Center of Excellence, Infosys

Posted by Guest Author at 5:58 AM | | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

March 18, 2010

Standardization and Vehicle Recalls - What next?

In my last blog, I wrote about some quarters linking recent Toyota recalls to usage of standard parts. In my opinion, usage of standard parts could not by themselves have lead to the recalls, they probably would only have made the number of impacted vehicles more because of the same part being used across models. Toyota has recently announced a spate of steps aiming at stricter quality control processes, formation of global quality committee and designating quality control officers for each major geography.

 

Keeping the focus on our discussion of standardized parts designed for use across multiple product models, a few steps that come to my mind that can be taken in general by all manufacturers (not just vehicle) to ensure that such parts are subjected to a stricter quality control are:

 

  • Have a mechanism of identifying the standardized parts when they are received (such as a simple note on the receipt traveler) such that receiving folks are aware of stricter inspection to be given to these parts.

 

  • If skip lot or sampling inspection quality controls are used on such parts, evaluate whether to move to a regular inspection, or whether to enforce stricter skip lot and sampling criteria for such parts.

 

  • Build mechanisms for early detection of any nonconformances trends in these standardized parts so that steps can be taken along with the supplier for early resolution.

 

  • In the products, design sensors that can detect problem signals which can be analyzed at regular intervals.

 

Of course, stricter quality control, more incoming inspections etc. all cost more time and labour. Organizations can therefore look at automated inspection procedures, in built sensors designed into the products etc. that can help in automated detection of nonconformances in such materials. At the end, it is better to increase the cost of quality than to have defects escape to the customer delivered products.

Posted by Rupam Das at 8:19 AM | | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

March 15, 2010

Critical Success Factors for Implementation projects

Having managed fairly large implementation projects from offshore namely among them being for a Banking Major & Global power leader , I would like to list down the critical success factors and the key points that we should not lose sight of .

  • Effort estimation of a project should drive the schedule and Go Live date
  • Solution Acceptance
  • PMO governance
  • Tighter control and tracking process
  • Data Migration
  • Infrastructure Planning
  • Performance/Stress Testing
  • Cut Over
  • End User Adoption
  • Risk & Readiness Assessment
  • Stakeholder Management & Responsibility Definition 
  • Resource Allocation

Having managed fairly large implementation projects from offshore namely among them being for a Banking Major & Global power leader , I would like to list down the critical success factors and the key points that we should not lose sight of .

 

 

Effort estimation of a project should drive the schedule and Go Live date and not the other way around. Working backwards is more or less a recipe for failure. For the Banking major, the program already had a Go Live date fixed and committed even before the Requirements phase and estimation for Build phase was completed and no points for guessing we couldn’t meet the date for various extraneous and unforeseen circumstances

 

Solution acceptance : Extensions are inevitable in any implementation and that’s a fact we all have to live with as there is no ‘’one size fits all’ package available. However whilst accepting the inevitability of extensions, it is important to keep in mind that extensions have a continuous impact in terms of maintainability of the implemented system. For the Global Power Leader, Infosys implementation methodology was further refined to include a well laid out presentation of solution options for several business processes gaps (along with Pros and Cons)  for helping the super users’ decision making (47+ KDD got submitted). Result was minimal change request & high user acceptability of the overall delivered solutions with several extensions getting eliminated.

 

 

PMO governance:  Ever changing change requests severely affect the solution stabilization which ties to the point above on Solution Acceptance. The later we go into the implementation cycle, it is imperative to enforce only ‘MUST & SHOWSTOPPER’ extensions to be approved. We should also enforce strict discipline & control in implementing Soft & Hard code freeze as this cannot be a moving date. A fully accountable and enforcing PMO needs to be constituted comprising of both client & Infosys representatives to ensure governance

 

Non-standard extensions should also have a tighter control and tracking process. It is a must to prepare a Business Process- Customization Mapping matrix & a Traceability matrix of all extensions. This will immensely help in future upgrades & also ongoing tasks where patches applied overwrite non standard extensions in standard code

 

Data Migration : This is the most important part to be successfully planned for a successful go-live as it involves migration of both master & transaction data. A minimum of 4 Dry runs should be planned and woven into the execution cycle with a dedicated Migration instance. All errors and the cause for the errors need to flow back into a master document that serves as a check list to be incorporated before the subsequent iteration. Reconciliation scripts need to be built for every entity that has to be migrated and the results should be published for user verification

 

Infrastructure Planning: Infrastructure Planning should be done and validated at the start of the project rather than mid-way. For the banking major, we were contracted to do the Upgrade from 11.0.3 to 11.5.10 and implement new modules & custom bolt-ons. The Program Management and Governance and Infrastructure piece rested with the client. Though we were operating as per what we were contracted for, the client didn’t have the foresight to evaluate whether the existing production hardware used in 11.0.3 would scale upto the new volume of data, additional users, additional modules . This resulted in a delayed Go live though the entire functionality was ready for deployment and it was expected that as a trusted partner of choice, we should have been pragmatic and advised the client on the same

 

Performance/Stress Testing : Performance Testing of critical business processes HAS to be budgeted for with proper simulation using Load Testing tools like LOADRUNNER. Due diligence should be performed well in advance along with the development phase and the scripts for the same need to be prepared/simulated  alongside the BUILD phase in time before SIT  so that we have a sufficient window before GO LIVE.

 

 

Cut Over : Most projects have a small cutover window of not more than  4-5 days wherein the entire transaction data needs to be migrated along with readiness testing and sanity testing. We should ensure there are no manual transactions that are expected to be performed as these have a highly probable chance of being underestimated in volume. For the Global Power major, we had to do reverse moves in 10.7 for all WIP transactions on uncompleted jobs and after transaction data migration, do the moves manually in R12 on the new jobs created. It was assumed in talks with business that the volumes for these move transactions would be minimal and this will be a manual activity. It came as a shock to us when this count ran into thousands closer to UAT and we ended up automating the entire process .Had this not been done, the Cut Over window would not have been sufficient at all. We should give due thought to archival and purge of the historical data prior to the project that results in lesser outage window & better performance of the instance etc

 

End User Adoption : The biggest risk envisaged by the Client’s Senior Management and PMO is the effective training to large diversified user base that can span a sophisticated production engineer to computer-illiterate warehouse labor. It should be our endeavour to deliver job-oriented, process-focused training (Training Methods), develop concise and work instructions based training contents (Training Development).Last but not the least, make training documents accessible through uploading it as an online help. For the Global Power Leader, Infosys developed and deployed high quality 300+ Oracle Tutor documents and 47+ Oracle UPK simulations which have become ever reliable asset for the client in the years to come. Oracle tutor was envisaged as single means of documenting end-to-end business processes, organizational policies, roles and responsibilities, business flow diagrams and job-specific training document. This best practice should be followed and encouraged by all implementations rather than going for the conventional mode of ‘Ppt and Module based training’  

 

Risk & Readiness Assessment : Risks pertaining to the program need to be  continuously documented and mitigation strategies adopted for good health of the project . Many implementations are usually transformation programs with multiple IT & business initiatives as part of the strategy. This leads to dependency on several parallel running programs . It becomes imperative then to monitor risks using well known frameworks such as  ‘Failure Mode & Effectivity analysis’ (FMEA)  which do help us prioritize Risks based on Severity, Occurrence, Detectability.  For the Global power leader, we had also a readiness assessment conducted on 4 dimensions – System, Data, People, Others to test preparedness & readiness before UAT and point out the ‘Lose Sleep’ / ‘Watch Out’ areas with mitigation steps. Both these practices clearly helped us attack all tumultuous and nagging bottlenecks upfront and take the complex project go-live on schedule & within budget

 

Stakeholder Management & Responsibility Definition  : It is imperative that we list down all activities to be performed per phase of the implementation and use the well adopted RACI matrix (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed)  to distribute stake in the activity across various Project Management, Functional & Technical functions.

 

Resource Allocation :  Dedicated resource allocation to critical projects is a must , especially around Subject matter experts . However I have also noticed that it doesn’t pay to go just by ‘on paper and number of years’ experience. One should have a good balanced team comprising of few senior folks to pave the way & direction and rest comprising of junior resources who have the hunger to prove themselves. We should give people a chance to deliver and more often than not with the right direction, they will surpass our expectations

 

Though what I have mentioned above is not oblivious to all, it is my earnest endeavour to have this serve as a checklist and I have tried to make it as generic as possible citing examples, situations and solutions wherever faced.

 

- Sanjay Pinto

 

Sanjay Pinto is a Senior Project Manager with Infosys Technologies Ltd. He has managed various implementation, support & upgrade projects as an offshore delivery anchor in the Oracle EBS space across verticals – Manufacturing, BCM, IHL

Posted by Guest Author at 10:47 AM | | Comments ( 2 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

On Demand TMS: A new reality in transportation sector

In the era of traditional Transpiration Management Systems (TMS), a company buys packaged software by paying an upfront license fee and deploys the software on computer platforms within their own enterprise, being responsible for the general technical support of the application.
Over the past few years, we have come across variety of terms like hosted solutions, ASP (application service provider), Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). The basic idea  shared among all such concepts is that rather than installing software on a server within the boundaries of the enterprise’s IT domain, the software resides outside the company’s walls by 3rd party service providers and delivered over web technology.
SaaS or “On Demand” generally implies a multi-tenant model, where multiple companies share a single/multiple instance of the software and associated hardware / infrastructure. It makes perfect sense for transportation processes to be deployed on SaaS mode as they are
  • Inherently network centric
  • Involve extensive communication and collaboration between different trading partners
  • Standard workflows across companies and industries

On demand TMS is the latest buzzword in the transportation industry. They are developed on Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) platform to keep pace with recent developments in IT industry. On demand TMS definitely scores over traditional TMS in many key areas such as

  • Incremental implementation (module wise) reduces initial cost overhead & ensures rapid deployment. 
  • Greater willingness to adapt to the application as on-demand TMS is perceived as a “service”, making buyers accept it as more standardized offering and demand less customization. 
  • Ready to use carrier connectivity enables providers to leverage existing carrier connections among common customers
  • Collaborative transportation opportunities via benchmarking transportation processes across the industry. 
  • Strategic flexibility to “unplug” an on-demand TMS solution and switch to another service provider 
  • Additional advantages provided by on demand TMS providers like process consulting by domain experts, streamlining support escalations and guaranteed performance levels.

    On demand TMS is definitely the way forward, but it does not pose an end to traditional TMS implementation as initial subscription cost in this model works out to be higher when compared to traditional TMS deployment. Only ‘vanilla’ configuration can be managed in such formats leaving little room for customer specific enhancements. Moreover, enterprise will always face the strategic risk of exposing company specific data to external world.

    Corporate shippers should look at a two step approach to TMS implementation. Initial phase of TMS project should be delivered via on demand service provider, but later with better process maturity, the enterprise should move to in-house TMS deployment to appraise processes to next level and maintain more control over data.

    Acknowledgments for inputs from - Nipun Lakhotia , OTM Consultant, Oracle Practice

Posted by Nilabja Dey at 6:50 AM | | Comments ( 1 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

Managed Solution for Staffing Industry

As staffing industries remain challenged to grow their revenues, their focus areas have also shifted to reduce their back office costs continually, streamline the business process through automation, front to back office integrations and integration with VMS systems. Given their proven experience in implementing and supporting global implementations be it compliance with global accounting requirements or managing global payroll, ERP System integrators are very strongly placed to help staffing companies reduce their back office costs both on the pay side and the bill side, thereby improving their bottom-line revenue.

Staffing industry are entering a perfect storm - they face such challenges as Customer Retention, Supply Shortage & Applicant loyalty, High operation costs, while seeking innovative options and models to reduce their back office costs and improve their profitability. These trends and challenges call for a  completely managed solution combining BPO services with internet based architecture and applications that would enable staffing companies to outsource the two-mission critical functions of their industry – billing customers and paying candidates/suppliers. The Staffing companies further pay for all of it according to how much is used. They pay ‘per billed invoice’ on the bill side and ‘per pay slip’ on the pay side. This solution can also accommodate variants such as SaaS in the ‘pay-as-you-use’ model.

-Anil Bhatia

Anil Bhatia is a Senior Engagement Manager with Infosys Technologies Ltd. He leads Business Platform Engagements in Americas and Canada for key verticals such as Manufacturing, Services, Energy, Utilities, Communication and Media. 

For more information on the Managed Solution for staffing industry, please meet us at booth#P3 at SIA executive forum. Click here for more details.

Posted by Guest Author at 6:39 AM | | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

Is it possible to achieve "Zero" breakdown in Maintenance World?

In maintenance world when we talk of "Zero Break down" most of the time maintenance crew says that it is not possible to achieve zero break down.  So is it really possible to achieve "Zero Break down" for a Machine /Equipment?  The answer is "Yes". 

What is breakdown? :- When a Machine (M/c)is working and suddenly something fails for e.g. in case of CNC M/c hydraulic hose pipe rupture and it leads to heavy oil leakage, thus Beak down due to hydraulic leakage occurs on the M/C.
Above Failure could have been anticipated by doing regular check of hydraulic hose piping by carrying out proper preventive, predictive maintenance.
What is "Zero Breakdowns"? :- When the Maintenance Department hand over a M/C to Production Department for the Production activities, that time maintenance department can confidently say the M/C would not fail due to "Hydraulic leakage" for another 24 Hrs as they have done a proper inspection/rectification through Preventive and Predictive Maintenance on the M/C  on Hydraulic side. This 24 hrs of running time without any Hydraulic failure is said to be "Zero Break Down" in Hydraulic piping area.
 After 24 Hrs again maintenance team would take the machine in their custody to do preventive and predictive maintenance to ensure that there would not be any failure due to "Hydraulic leakage" for another 24 hrs, thus maintenance team take over the control of M/C after certain running period of the M/Cs and do preventive/Predictive maintenance to achieve "Zero Breakdown" in specific area e.g. 'Hydraulic Pipe failure'. Over a period of time by doing proper, regular preventive maintenance on almost all the areas of M/C instead of specific area leads to achieve Total "Zero Breakdown" on an asset for certain mentioned period time frame by the Maintenance department.

 

What is Preventive and Predictive Maintenance? How Oracle eAM address it?

 

Preventive Maintenance(PM):- A maintenance activity done on a machine at regular interval based on the Preventive Maintenance strategy designed by Maintenance Planning Department by taking inputs from OEM(Original Equipment Manufacturer) recommendation ,Past Maintenance experience and  from  Reliability Centered Maintenance Department,generally at the beginning of each financial year to formulate the Preventive Maintenance execution time frame (PM frequencies) . It does not change frequency of Preventive activities frequently /on ad hoc basis, based on changes and findings during inspection once the PM stagey is defined for the year, which are generally taken care by other type of Maintenance like Predictive Maintenance work.

Case 1
Preventive Activity:- Hydraulic Oil Top up on CNC M/c  once in a month
Why Preventive Maintenance required:- This preventive maintenance  is required to avoid a breakdown due to less oil level which leads to less hydraulic pressures during M/c operation,doing so you can at least achieve Zero Break down due to "Low Hydraulic Oil level", similarly you can indentify frequent failures on M/Cs and try to work on preventive measures  as motioned below
How Oracle eAM Helps to achieve Preventive Maintenance Process:-
In Oracle eAM you can generate Preventive Maintenance Work Orders automatically based on meter readings, runtime and/or calendar days. An example of meter-based preventive maintenance is your vehicle oil changes. Most vehicle manufacturers recommend that you have to change your engine oil every 3,000 miles or six months, whichever comes first. A preventive maintenance definition having combination of meter and calendar days can be defined to achieve engine oil replacement activity based on the manufacturer's recommendation.

 

Predictive Maintenance: - A maintenance activity done on a Machine at regular interval along with Preventive maintenance or on continuous basis inputs from online system e.g. SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) or based on the inputs from other sources (e.g. Machine Operator's observation)  .In predictive maintenance the  detailed analysis of the inspection data is done and based on the analysis results prediction of the Failure is determined . To avoid the Failure Machine is taken for the Predictive Maintenance  work which may involve some major overhauling or shutdown .
Case 1
Predictive Maintenance carried out along with regular PM
Predictive Activity:- Oil Inspection & inspection result's detail analysis
Preventive activity: - Hydraulic Oil Top up on CNC M/c one in a month 
Why Predictive Maintenance required: - As a part of normal Preventive Maintenance  activity  oil is topped up every month  in hydraulic power pack, in case of Predictive maintenance oil sample analysis is done in detail e.g. for presence of  metal partials, color of the oil due to contamination etc. Based on the detailed analysis of the oil if it is found that oil is getting contaminated due to small quantity of coolant leakage and it may lead to change in the oil viscosity and ultimately loss of Hydraulic pressure and thus lead to Break down in future. This failure could be avoided by informing Production department to carryout Oil replacement and arresting  of coolant leakage work as predictive maintenance work.
Case 2

Predictive Activity:- Abnormality Observation by a M/C Operator 

Why Predictive Maintenance required: -Other than statistical Method as mention in Case 1,you need a mechanism to record any abnormality observed by operator/cleaner of the machine, as they work on M/Cs on daily basis and knows it's behavior very well and they are first level people who can immediately find  any abnormal behavior in the M/Cs  e.g. suppose the hydraulic hose clamping bolts loosen due to vibration and hosepipe start rubbing against  M/Cs part , this kind of observation could be taken as input to the Predictive maintenance ,M/c could be taken for the tightening of the clamping bolts as Predictive work to avoid the failure due  to sudden rupture of the hose pipe due to rubbing against machine part.

How Oracle eAM Helps to achieve Predictive Maintenance Process :-
Using Oracle eAM and Quality module:-  You can define the collection which would collect the data during Preventive maintenance and in case of deviation in the inspection results system would automatically generate one system generated work order( Predictive work order ).
Using work Request feature:-The inputs from the M/C operators could be recoded as "Predictive work request". Also the Vibration analysis or other external Tools statistical data analysis result can be entered as "Predictive work request "by configuring request type "Predictive" and maintenance manger can approve it for the Predictive work order.

 

Posted by Abhijit Talokar at 6:26 AM | | Comments ( 4 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

Lets Be Innovative like our own LIC

LIC – Life Insurance Corporation of India is the largest life insurer of India with an asset base of USD 160 billion and insuring 220 million lives over past 50 years.

It has recently come out with innovative schemes to revive insurance policies of individuals who defaulted on premiums during the global recession of 2009. As per a leading source, it was estimated that around 7 million policies were closed in 2009 alone. The schemes include:Laughing

a)    Revival of policies with all riders by paying premium along with interest at one go

b)    Payment of premium in easy instalments but revive the policies with immediate effect

 

Such schemes are turning out to be a win win situation for both LIC and the Individuals since the corporation would maintain a healthy bottom line by retaining customers and the individuals would gain by revival of their policies

 

Taking a cue from LIC, software companies should also start taking measures especially for their Banking and Financial industry clients who were hit hard by recession. For E.g. Software Companies acting in ERP space can identify:Smile

 

a)    Client programs which were called off during 2009 – Review these programs and present how effectively they can be carried forward by remediation or relooking at value proposition

b)    Clients would now like to analyze trends like Return on Investment and Pay Back period for investments made in IT, one needs to include such metrics in their proposals and project delivery

c)    Advice client to spend in the right place – Post recession clients have become risk averse hence one should suggest projects which would provide value for money in short to medium term  with long term vision still intact

d)    Device innovative billing methods like “Pay as you deliver” or “Milestone based payment”

e)    Identify new opportunities created post recession due to Mergers and Acquisitions

 

Like LIC, some of the above measures would definitely strike right chord with client and would go long way in redefining the existing relationships and also creating new value based relationships, thereby creating a win win situation by having a shared vision for Client IT strategy

Posted by Sachin Chitlange at 4:20 AM | | Comments ( 1 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

March 10, 2010

Has Standardization got anything to do with recent vehicle recalls?

Standardization has long been hailed as a means of attaining more efficiency in manufacturing. Standard parts, standard processes, standard means of doing things, all allow keeping variability down. Standardization of work activities, hand movements etc have long been in practice and are seen as a way to time processes and improve them and make them more efficient. The benefits of standardization have encouraged companies to standardize various aspects of their entire supply chains also. For example, companies have standardized their way of distributing products, way their retail stores are designed, product range, look and feel of documents and so on and so forth.

 

Recently however, opinions have been voiced from different quarters as to whether the recent huge number of vehicle recalls from car manufacturers such as Toyota is owed significantly to the high degree of standardization that the Toyota supply chain operates under? In Toyota, right from the design phase, emphasis is placed to develop a design that takes into consideration the requirement to use standard parts. This emphasis on standard parts helps Toyota to reduce the variability in design, processes, assembling and procurement and thus reducing the effort required to manage the variability. However, some have raised voices that since the same standard part is used across model variants, if one such part is defective, it could have a cascading effect on a lot of vehicle models. Even if only a few lots of defective parts have escaped and gone into a vehicle, it could means that multiple vehicle models have been impacted and not just a single model or product line.

 

This is a debate that has no easy answers. The demonstrated benefits of standardization are too high to let a few incidents of recall outweigh that, but it definitely requires revisiting the situation and maybe reevaluate standardized processes through the lenses of stricter quality control. Request your opinions on whether there is a need to consider more systemic quality checks and balances before standardizing a process.

Posted by Rupam Das at 10:12 AM | | Comments ( 2 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

March 9, 2010

Hitting two birds with a single arrow………. Integrating financial planning to operation reporting

If your organization is relying on spreadsheets to produce the information for forward looking guidance, it might be time to consider a more-robust solution, which provides more control. What more if these information systems can supplement the operational reporting needs?
Just as companies are seeking ways to better utilize their ERP investments, they are also seeking ways to maximize their ROI in business processes through integration and standardization. Industry is grappling with multiple challenges today, but there's no turning back – yes, the financial planners now need sophisticated measurement tools to churn out accurate estimates.
Need for sound financial planning has never been as profound as it is shaping up in wake of recent financial crisis. Businesses are fast recognizing a need to tighten integration of financial reporting; EPM; and governance, risk, and compliance. A greater integration in information delivery systems is being witnessed for serving dual objective of compliance and decision support systems.

Companies need big capabilities when it comes to financial planning
 

Growing complexity in business arena is fast changing the paradigm of financial planning. Superior computation capabilities have come in handy and are helping planners scale up forecast process to conceptualize greater number of variables in financial planning process. Improvements in computation methodologies and integration of EPM systems has helped percolate Activity Based Costing analysis down to business users rather than being reserved as a niche area for technology. This has proved to be a great launch-pad for technology to perform as a true enabler.
Integration technologies have gathered critical mass whereby it is now feasible to create a common platform for delivering unified performance management solutions. Web based technologies facilitate rapid dispersal of information systems that in turn ensures close tracking of operations and speedier introduction of ameliorative measures to address economic adversities.
Image of finance department which hitherto has been regarded as a cost center is being reburbished. CFOs are exhibiting greater say role in driving technology decisions. Justification of ROI for financial systems is now being visualized with a broader mindset. With an objective of complementing these growing aspirations, technology is adapting fast and is delivering information in ‘the way business thinks’.

==============================================

posted on behalf of Navpreet Singh(Navpreet_Singh@infosys.com)

===============================================

Posted by Dwaipayan Das at 3:41 AM | | Comments ( 2 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

March 5, 2010

Spend Time on your Projects, Not on Reporting

Project Managers work in a constantly changing environment and are often looking for ways to manage the multitude of data elements within their reach. Typically the data is available, but it is scattered across different screens and the project managers need to spend a long time in consolidating them. This would always mean a customization and would require some lead time for the IT team to develop it.

Another major limitation has been that the the Oracle Projects suite of applications requires the project managers to be always connected to the system to access the information. Most of the project managers are at client locations and do not have access to the ERP applications.

What they really desire is that the desired reports can be configured easily and are directly delivered to their mail-box at specified time so that they can take informed decisions. These features have been address by Oracle using the Reporting Pack functionality in R12.1

Reporting Pack is a powerful built-in tool that allows the users to design reports to cater to specific needs of your company.  It allows an unlimited number of customs deigns. The user can include charts and graphs also in the report. The reports would indicate the overall health of the project and are delivered to the stakeholders at pre-decided intervals by scheduling the reporting pack.

For example the key stake holders would like to review the status of the project bi-weekly and the format has already been agreed upon. Using XML Publisher tools, the system administrator can create new report templates to configure the content and output to meet the business needs. The report templates support colors, images, font styles, headers and footers, and countless other formatting options and the output can be viewed in PDF Format.

Oracle Projects provides a predefined data definition file that contains XML tags for performance measures and project data. Report can pull data for 200+ measures from .The data can be summarized at the project level, task level or even by expenditure category. The data definition template maps to fields in the Oracle base tables. The fields can be used for complex calculations. The distribution list for the reports can be prepared in advance to make sure that the reports are delivered to the authorized users.

Posted by Prasanna Kelkar at 8:58 AM | | Comments ( 1 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

March 4, 2010

IT - The Strategic Tool for Staffing Industry

The staffing industry has seen a huge swing towards recruiting professionals from varied streams such as Finance, Sales, Engineering, Information Technology, and Management. While this trend provides myriad opportunities for growth, it also brings a unique set of challenges that include Customer Retention & Serving new industries; Applicant loyalty, soaring operational cost due to disintegrated systems in usage; high percentage of manual effort involved in the process of matching the right people with the right job that prohibits a quick response to the customer for an order, and integration of the business processes across geographies.

To stay ahead of the competition the staffing firms depend on the Quality of hiring, Speed of delivering resources, developing Integrity or Credibility, Client Relationship Management, and the statutory compliances to cater to the changing needs of the staffing industry, which is rapidly becoming a strategic partner to its clients by managing the staffing in their global operations and delivering a host of value added services.

A completely integrated front- to back-office solution developed specifically for the staffing industry aptly provides scalability capability for the staffing firms. An integrated solution that seamlessly manages both the front and back office helps staffing organizations drive more business, extend client relationships, and streamline operations. Completely integrated systems, allow the staffing firms to seamlessly transition from job order creation and candidate assignment to time and expense capture, payroll, and billing.

Staffing companies must balance these desirable outcomes with the challenging consequences of technology implementation, such as training costs and misalignments between software and strategy that can threaten the bottom line.

The present state of the staffing industry requires an IT- BPO integrated solution that provides simplified and efficient cost management by pay per usage model, lowers the unplanned expenses, and helps the staffing firms to achieve the economies of scale by shared services execution interweaved with ERP lifecycle best practices.

-Sandeep Deshpande, Lead Consultant, Infosys Technologies Ltd.

Hear more on this from us at the SIA Executive Forum to be held on March 17-19 at Red Rock Casino Hotel, Las Vegas

Posted by Guest Author at 3:00 PM | | Comments ( 1 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

Invigorating the topline of Hi Tech enterprises through a streamlined and efficient Demand to Deliver Value Chain

Most of the Hi Tech Manufacturing organization are reeling under tremendous margins pressure due to flat to modest growth in the topline and ever increasing costs. In this tough environment its absolutely imperative for organizations to capitalize on whatever sales opportunities are presented to them. At the same time they also need to be very aggressive in scouting of new avenues for revenue growth, so that their toplines are positively impacted.

A streamlined, efficiently run Demand to Delivery Value Chain is the key to this objective and this in turn calls for a best of breed, cutting edge, integrated, Enterprise wide solution/application to support the execution of this value chain.

Refer the blog by Abhishek Sabharwal to follow the full storyline. (http://www.infosysblogs.com/oracle/2010/02/demand_to_deliver_value_chain.html)

Infosys has developed an Oracle Applications based Demand to Deliver solution (D2D), which enables the following 3 Business Value Levers, which should positively the topline of the organizations : Smile

1. Increasing the Forecast Accuracy with the Strong simulation capabilities to model strategic business scenarios, leading to better demand capture and fulfillment
   a) Ability to easily add external syndicated, POS and other data sources
   b) Ability to Forecast at any level of time, product, and location aggregation
   c) Ability to support different demand data for each customer and channel

2. Ensuring On Time Delivery leading to quicker Cash flow, enhanced customer satisfaction, stifling the competition
   a) Ability to Plan the entire supply chain with a single holistic plan
   b) Ability to Utilize sophisticated constraints and optimization algorithms 
   c) Ability to Include transportation/logistic partners and warehouse teams in the planning process

3. Ensuring lesser Stock Out situations leading to higher demand to sales conversion
  a) Ability to do comprehensive inventory and POS management
  b) Ability to generate supply chain visibility with accurate real-time POS data
  c) Ability to do forward looking replenishment and allocation plans

Posted by Abhishek Goyal at 10:29 AM | | Comments ( 2 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

March 2, 2010

Oracle BI on the move

Few days back after watching the launch of iPad by Steve Jobs, my thoughts just went 15 years back when mobile phones were a novelty and few could have imagined then that they would become so ubiquitous in just a decade.  iPhone was a landmark in what seems to be the dawn of the age of mobile digital convergence.  This obviously forebodes that we have a very exciting future as digital consumers.

We all know that the success of iPhone came from its positioning on rich user experience. And the iPad promises to enrich it further. It has a tremendous potential to take Visual BI to the next level with use of multi-touch capabilities. Oracle has taken a step by delivering the business intelligence on iPhone through Oracle Business Indicators. Oracle Business Indicators accesses pre-built reports that are delivered in Oracle Business Intelligence (BI) Applications, and include financial, human resources, supply chain, and customer relationship management analytics.

One of the interesting features is that, upon opening the reports in the catalog, you can zoom in and out of report details using the mobile platform’s multi-touch (or “pinch”) technology. You can double-tap to zoom in or zoom out of the data. One can turn the iPhone 90 degrees for a wider view of the data or chart. When you forward a report, Oracle Business Indicators sends an email that contains a link to the report that when clicked, launches the report in a Web browser. The recipient does not have to be an Oracle Business Indicators user to view the report.

I believe this is just the beginning. With advent of iPad, with its 9.7” displays, mobile Business Intelligence apps would become really appealing. Mobile apps can be developed on iPad which enable what-if analysis for business scenarios. Integrating Oracle Business Indicators with Oracle Fusion Middleware will give capabilities to get answers to real-time business questions on their multi-touch iPad screens. One wish I have is that the BI tools should have the capability of dynamic bubble charts made famous by Hans Rosling. The moment we expand our horizons for application of business intelligence, we see that it can move in to much wider realm, from the current focus on business data to any kind of data which can be presented to the new age digital consumers. And it is already happening with the kind of fancy apps you have with iPhone. The tablets of the future would be the real playgrounds for evolution of Mobile and Visual BI.

Posted by Uday Patil at 2:46 AM | | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

Subscribe to this blog's feed

Follow us on

Blogger Profiles

Poll

Infosys on Twitter


Recent Posts

Categories

Blog Roll

Archives