Infosys-Oracle Blog

If you look at any commodity in the market, Demand is greater than Supply. Likewise, with the ever expanding universe of users, Data demand is outpacing Data supply. Though the enterprises are growing at a faster pace, they are unable to scale up their applications in a cost effective way. Even the customers seem to be unhappy with the present day products and services offered by the enterprises, due to lack of revision and up-gradation of the existing system to their raising demands. They now demand for more features, high availability, reliability and greater performance of the applications.

But, nothing to worry! Oracle Coherence is lending its helping hand to overcome all these problems.

Having used Coherence for Java applications I can say, it's amazing! It is an object-oriented data manager and provides access to the frequently used data with the help of Coherence cache. With clustering mechanism it ensures there is no single point of failure or single point of bottleneck for the applications. It provides automatic scale out of servers, at any point of time, we can add new servers to the cluster and the data will be evenly re-distributed with the new members. Every data object in the memory has a back-up on another server of the cluster which helps in automatic high availability of the data.

We might have heard of many server clustering mechanisms but Oracle coherence clustering is truly very special! It is a collection of processes that work together and all of them have equal responsibility. There is no master and no slave.

With Coherence*Web adapter we are even able to maintain user's web session alive as user navigates across multiple portals across multiple server environments. I am sure you will not believe if I say coherence allows one coherence cluster to access caches from another coherence cluster with Coherence*Extend.

With this we come to an end of a short glimpse of Oracle Coherence features.

Do feel free to send in your comments..

Posted by Anjani Devi Badri at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

There is always an obvious choice at the end. It could to difficult to make though. But for long there have always been discussions which technology is better - RFDI or Barcode. There are many differences and benefits that each of these carry with them. Both bar codes and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) are a type of automatic identification and data collection (AIDC) technology.

Bar codes still have a dominant share of the auto ID marketplace, and are likely to continue to play a key role in supply chains for many years to come. There are many forms of both technologies and therefore there is not an easy way to differentiate the two.

In RFID there are "passive tags" that require energy from the reader to wake them up and broadcast a signal. That limits the distance from which they can be read. There are also "active tags" that carry their own power source and broadcast their own signals, and which thus can be read at much longer distances. There also exist hybrid tags that falls somewhere in between the active and passive tags.

In bar codes, there are a number of different types of symbologies, including the UPC code, Code 39, Code 128 etc. These are all examples of "linear" bar codes that contain just a single row. There are also "two-dimensional" bar codes that contains stacks of linear codes or some other approach that enables more information to be encoded in each symbol e.g. PRD417, QR Code.

RFID tags have higher data capacity and don't use line of sight communication as compared to the barcodes. Some RFID tags even have the read-write capabilities. RFID can provide increased value as compared to barcodes due to the following factors:

1. No line of sight communication requirement.
2. Unattended identification
3. Red write capabilities
4. Greater System Throughput
5. Higher durability

As they always say that a sword can't replace for a pen, hence it is the organizational requirements that drives the final choice between the two forms of the same technology.

Posted by Amit Sinha at 10:00 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 2 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

In today's challenging business environment a 'best fit' ERP can play a very vital role in meeting the business objectives through a successful design, implementation and support. A successful ERP solution can be the backbone for ambitious business goals.

To begin with let us see what makes an ERP so important to a mid-size company. Below are a few key parameters on which a company would most likely evaluate any ERP:

•       Ability to provide Industry specific solution
•       Features and Functions to enable faster execution of operations
•       A scalable and adaptable architecture, for future growth
•       Ease of use, quick user adoption and ease of training
•       Ease of maintenance and a lower TCO

With this perspective, the subsequent points may prove to be useful in evaluating JD Edwards (JDE), as an ERP for the ever increasing midsize sector's need for a cost effective and fitting ERP to suite their business.

Apart from the functionality and object oriented architecture that JDE provides, other value-adds of JDE are also discussed below:

1.      Industry Specific Capabilities

JDE provides multiple application modules, which includes Supply Chain Planning, Human Capital Management, Order Management, Manufacturing, Logistics Management, Financial Management, Asset Lifecycle Management, Customer Relationship Management to name a few. JDE also has Industry specific modules for Food and Beverage producers, Project and Government Contract Accounting and Real Estate and Home Construction.

2.      Features and Functions

JDE has a tailor-able and configurable User Interface. This speeds-up many business processes thereby reducing efforts and shortens the time required to perform daily operations. JDE offers a choice of databases, operating systems & hardware to meet business requirements and also has easy integration to new Technologies like Bar Code/ RFID etc. Among other things, JDE provides wide variety of Integrity reports for checking and maintaining integrity between different modules. JDE also provides mobile access to enterprise business data and role based access to applications.

3.      Architecture & Technology

JDE has a toolset for developing applications for creating a uniform look & feel. The architecture is an object-orientated architecture, wherein the Logic and the Data are treated as indeterminate objects. JDE is platform independent, with applications adaptable at runtime, which allows the user to change work and process flows etc and change to suite business at will. The applications are accessible through Internet and have robust security in place to allow access to Data / Processes for only authorized persons. It provides standard Z-tables which can be utilized with inbuilt data validation for most of the master and transactional data migration. JDE's Structured Configuration which provides a well-defined framework for Objects and Spec administration.

4.      Adaptability

JDE grows and expands with the business. It supports almost all major Global Languages and provides geography specific Localizations.

5.      Maintainability

JDE's application has been traditionally easy to support & maintain. There is ease of decoding and debugging and it is also easy to learn daily CNC activities. JDE has a new tool called Server Manager which simplifies system management. A new application called Performance Workbench in JDE provides debug information in both detailed as well as summarized format. A fresh concept, called Product Packaging, has been introduced in JDE, which enables the users to move JDE objects, from one instance to another, using a single tool and process. And also, the Oracle Metalink portal provides a single entry point to raise issues, access documentation, training, and other useful information. This facilitates quicker resolution of issues and a smooth run of JDE.

6.      Upgradability

JDE provides multiple tools for carrying-out faster and reliable upgrades. Here are a few examples:

• Software Update Impact Analysis Tool: This tool has the ability to review a software update to determine what objects will be impacted etc
• Visual ER compare tool: This enables you to compare two versions of JDE objects
• Support Assistant: This proves to be a very useful tool in carrying-out a successful upgrade.

7.      And last but not the least....Cost

JDE has a rapid deployment procedure, with reduced risk and accelerated time-to-market value. This forms a strong foundation for future growth, with Oracle Business Accelerators, for JDE EnterpriseOne. JDE also has a comparatively lesser Support and Maintenance cost as JDE is less complex to maintain. Reduced Training Efforts and cost, for JDE, also enable companies to help maximize training and education return on investment. With Oracle's User Productivity Kit (UPK) companies can swiftly develop and deliver intuitive user training, thereby reducing costs while accelerating user adoption and a successful deployment.

Apart from this, in terms of product stability - Oracle has a well defined road-map for JDE which is supported by Oracle's Applications Unlimited Policy and Lifetime Support Policy. Keeping all the points above in view and the potential for future growth for mid-size companies, JDE seems to be the best fit for mid-size companies.

Please feel free to share your opinion and observations on this.

 

Posted by Shriranjan Gharpure at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 2 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

Since the advent of data warehousing and business intelligence, the focus has always been to empower the line-of-business personnel with groundbreaking BI systems which will create intelligence with no or minimal IT intervention. Unfortunately, though we have been exposed to different ways and means of achieving it - starting from overtly cautious implementations to BI teams going overboard promising 'full automation' in no time, we are yet to experience systems with enough firepower to render IT non invasive.

Posted by Dwaipayan Das at 2:52 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 2 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

LIC - Life Insurance Corporation of India (Govt. owned) is the largest life insurer in India with an asset base of USD 160 billion and insuring 220 million lives over past 50 years.
Recently LIC was denied a license by the Singapore authorities to expand its operations in the country since it was not rated by an International credit rating agency. They have no option now but to get themselves rated by Moody's or S & P

Taking a cue from this incident and considering the changes in emerging markets like India, there may be a day when a ERP implementation or Software service provider may have to be rated by specialized agencies as AAA or at least A+ to qualify or bid for a proposal.

Following are the factors which I feel may lead to this scenario:
a) More and more Govt. agencies are moving towards ecommerce and they may want to ensure that the service provider is capable to execute turnkey projects
b) The size of IT projects being executed like UID (Unique identification authority) may warrant this need
c) Due to liberalization, a lot of FDI and private equity has been flowing to emerging markets and these foreign partners would want to ensure that you select the best for your IT backbone
d) Post recession of 2009, organizations may want to ensure that they select the best for huge IT transformation projects
There are other factors like regulatory changes, globalization etc which may call for this need.
Though agencies like Gartner and Forester are available to provide their opinion on service providers, the time has come to rate major implementations or at least the service provider in a more organized way. 

What do you think?

Posted by Sachin Chitlange at 4:22 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 1 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

Receiving and putaway have often being defined as 2 of the 4 pillars of a typical Warehouse Management System. Put together the two pillars account for no less than 17% of warehouse operating expenses. Hence choosing the right processes and a system to support these processes is paramount.

Supplier and supplier site settings in Oracle dictate EDI communication with a supplier. The point of initiation would be when a buyer creates an order and approves it. Thereafter the EDI order is translated into an EDI document format called an 850 purchase order. The EDI 850 purchase order is then securely transmitted to the supplier either via the internet or through a VAN (Value Added Network).

If the purchase order is sent using a VAN, then the buyer's VAN handshake with the supplier's VAN. Theses transactions are seamless, secured and reliable. The supplier's VAN ensures that the supplier receives the order.

The supplier's computer system then processes the order. Once the goods are ready to be shipped the supplier responds via EDI 856 which is the ASN instruction. This ASN can directly be routed to the host system or can be processed via a TMS and then integrated to the host system.

We all know the usefulness of ASN. ASNs can be processed within the host system and used to initiate the supplier invoicing ahead of the physical receipt of the goods. We assume here that the host system performs a standard receipt where the receiving and delivery are two separate transactions. In case the host ERP system also has Oracle WMS implemented the ASN information can be processed and tied to the putaway rules. These are the internal rules and procedures for positioning stock in a warehouse or store after goods inward processing.

Efficient usage of ASN in a WMS can help in cross docking products more efficiently and cost-effectively. The process is being used to reduce costs out of the supply chain, accelerate inventory velocity, and improve service levels.

Once the receiving activity is complete in the host system an Expected Receipt Transaction can be generated to the WMS system. There are best of breed systems available in the market to meet business needs. These include Manhattan Associates, High Jump, Red Prairie, Catalyst International, and SAP SCM 5.0 besides Oracle WMS. Most of these products provide for: 

• Detailed ASN information along with a supplier portal for manually capturing this information.

• Integrates inbound information into WMS logic to enable cross docking and labor planning

• Configurable rules enable the assignment of shipments to the best dock door available based on user-defined parameters.

• A graphical representation of the yard shows location status, trailer status, and visibility into truckload contents.

• Recommends a door based on the putaway class of the inventory on the trailer and the compatibility of the trailer with the dock door.

A prudent product evaluation will thus determine the strength of the two pillar of the warehouse. Therefore organizations indulge a careful selection of the product that best suits their requirements.

In the words of Peter Drucker: "Checking the results of a decision against its expectations shows executives what their strengths are, where they need to improve, and where they lack knowledge or information."

Posted by Amit Sinha at 2:57 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

Enterprise Performance Management and Business Intelligence nearly always overlapped but never quite went hand in hand. Oracle has taken a step towards this goal as is evident from its unveiling of the Oracle EPM - Fusion Edition. Heart of EPM fusion is a common platform integrating Hyperion suite for planning and managing corporate performance with OBIEE, predominantly a reporting and analysis toolset with process management as the center of attention. Let's try to explore on how organizations need to decide on the right technologies for the right needs for EPM/BI applications to achieve operational and management excellence. When an organization plans to build its business intelligence and EPM capabilities leveraging the strengths of both Hyperion and OBIEE, the rationale should be based primarily on the need and true demarcation of performance management requirements and business intelligence requirements.   

Posted by Dwaipayan Das at 7:04 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

I have seen multiple CRM implementations where, even though the CRM tools and processes are more or less similar, but the results on the ground vary across programs. Though CRM has always been the buzz word with the executives, but when it boils down to the actual users, "the Salesreps", some are extremely positive about it while others are struggling towards it.
Why would a sales rep embrace CRM Application? To answer that, let's wear a Salesrep's hat for a moment and see why he would not embrace it!

1. He sees entering leads/opportunities as a data entry operation where apart from working hours in the field, he is expected to enter Lead/Opportunity details in the application
2. He fears that by entering his leads/opportunities in the CRM application used across the organization, he may lose them to some other rep in the organization
3. He is not IT Savvy and struggles to understand the complete CRM process and is often stuck at a point with no one there to help. Failing which, he gives up on the system
4. In the real life scenarios of recession, he fears that his leads/opportunities are his trade secrets, and he will lose his value in the organization and may be handed over a pink slip if passes them completely to the organization

All the above are perceptions which can be worked upon with clear messaging and steps articulated below

• Often the organization feels that by implementing CRM, they would be able to better understand and address customer's needs but in reality it's just a tool! Implementing CRM is first step towards success and in no way an alternate for a sales rep who builds relationship on the field. The same message needs to percolate to the sales teams well
• Security Features within the tool have to be clearly proven to show how the rep can take the advantage of configurations and controls such as teaming to prevent his sales data to be accessed by any other sales rep within the organization
•  A story line has to be created highlighting the benefit of the CRM Tool, in a language which the reps understand and the key word is 'Margins'. How good quality opportunity data leads towards better sales forecasting, resulting in zero lost revenue due to stock outs, and therefore higher profits for the company and higher margins for the rep!!!
• Train Reps properly and provide them with job aids and support desks to scale up on the system
• Typically CRM Suites also come up with Offline Modules available where the data can be synched easily towards the end of the day with the online modules when the rep has access to Internet/LAN. Even PDA enabled features are enabled which reduce the dual entry at the rep's end
• Use the tool Reports for Standardizing Quarterly Business Review (QBR) formats.  This way the reps are able to clearly see how the tool is able to help them to understand the 360 degree view of their clients with a click of a button and eases the QBR process. In one of the review meetings, I witnessed Salesreps presenting a report to the customer about how fast they have turned around their quotes using data generated from the system, to prove their service quality over the competition. A data which obviously would not been available through offline diaries and notes!!!
• Survey your rep's CRM Application usage regularly and request feedback. Check once in a while - Is your top rep also the rep that is using the application heavily? If yes, engage him to present the case of the application to the larger audience so as to benefit the company as a whole. Take regular feedbacks from your reps on how the application can be enhanced for increased efficiency

I think until now the focus for CRM has been on the Customer but to realize the actual gains from investment, we have to start looking inwards and spread the usage of the application amongst Salesreps.

Please do share your experiences on this subject through this blog and continue the shared learning's towards a knowledge economy.

Posted by Abhishek Sabharwal at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 2 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

In today's competitive and mobile world, every business is looking for an integrated solution that has the fastest delivery rate - a technology that allows accessibility at all times and at any place. 'Staying connected to the grid' has become the latest mantra to enhance the user experience by leveraging new technologies and accessing data 'real-time'.

Undoubtedly, the possibilities and benefits are immense when it comes to the realm of mobile enterprise resource planning (ERP). This kind of experience will help in faster response to customer requirements, workflow approvals, generating/posting new requirements, placing an order online, checking inventory status and many other functionalities all 'on-the-go'. This will help the sales team and executives who travel continuously and are not able to plug-in to their laptop all the time.  What would serve better than to leverage the next-gen iPhone / iPad to achieve business orientation & customer satisfaction by connecting to ERP applications real-time! Imagine a sales executive working on the business platform while being mobile to increase his sales effectiveness. A salesperson's role today is not limited to the office premises only; for winning the deal and for customer satisfaction, he needs to respond to his customer needs from mobile locations, like while travelling or from a customer site.

As new generation cell phones & devices like iPad and iPhone come with latest technologies which support 3GS & 4G and internet over Wi-Fi, the possibility of hosting JD Edwards EnterpriseOne (JDE) ERP on these devices has to be explored as the next logical step in this direction of delivering business applications and mobility 'on-demand'.  The process of management and information flow of the enterprise's assets, inventory, financials, logistics and human resources through these smart-phone & mobile devices would give mobile ERP a whole new meaning. An example would be the ability of checking stock online and entering an order without having to be physically in the office or a field technician receiving a job while in the field,  completing the work order and invoicing or completing an RMA while in the field at real-time.

So moving forward, a step in the right direction would be to host the JDE application on an iPad. Since the screen of the iPad is just the 'right' size, it would make sense to have someone work on JDE better on the iPad rather than on an iPhone. iPhone may be a little too small for comfort when it comes to navigating through business applications, forms and data. On the other hand, the larger screen and the speed of the touch response on the iPad would make it the best suited option to host JDE.

Also if an iPad can provide the functionalities where a JDE user can connect to machine through VPN/Citrix/VM etc., then this may also help developers to perform the development activities, which otherwise are not possible to perform through web. This not only adds a new dimension of performing web based activities but also object development activities, adding a whole new set of flexibility while being mobile.

On the compatibility issue, yes there are challenges to be addressed to make the JDE application work on an iPad. The tablet's architecture is run with AT&T's middleware called Mobile Enterprise Applications Platform. There have been documented cases that even though JDE EnterpriseOne 9.0 is Safari certified, the screens do not load correctly or problems with ActiveX controls. However, these would be small roadblocks which will eventually ease out to ensure that JDE ERP on iPad solution would deliver 'at any time in any place'.

I'd be interested in hearing your comments, so please feel free to write back.

Posted by Rishikesh Arvind Kanegaonkar at 1:36 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 3 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

 

During a process improvement discussion on 'Voice of Customer' meet, one of the sales managers said, "Order processing in systems is the biggest bottleneck in our sales cycle. Further you simplify, more you will get it". The meet was part of large scale transformation endeavor, instigated with a new product launch for a legal media publishing company.

How true it is for a sale representative! Continuously bombarded with new products, company's acquisitions resulting in desperate order entry applications and compensation linked with products cross sell. Why only for sales? Even for call center reps doing order entry while on call, and for consumers doing order entry through self service channels.   

Let us take a quick look at online products; typically online products are sold as part of Menus. For legal publishing, these Menus consist of information published from content sources. The content provider publishes varied information like Cases, News, Public Records, and Court Filings etc.

Now let us look at some facts which make these offerings complex;

• Within last 10 years, number of menus has increased to 1400 %**
• Individual source can appear in any number of Menus
• Each Menu has a different price point 
                                                          (**Data - leading legal solution provider in US)

Typical characteristics of legal publishing enforce designers to think laterally for this industry where business models are getting transformed from "Service Providers" to "Solution Providers".

While it is true that legal industry dynamics and product structure contributes to Order entry complexities. But majority of complications are also due to 'People's involvement & training', 'Holistic Process definition' and 'Right use of technology & tools'. While there are enormous discussion opportunities on these subjects, I would limit the scope by illustrating on order processes.

In legal publishing, the order function revolves around following high level processes; 

• Proposal & Contract: Proposing different offers and finalizing on one, subsequently formulating a contract with approvals, legal terms editions etc. 

• Order Capture & Validations: Entering the order details and subscribers data along with system checks on data validations like emails, subscription period etc.   

• Security & Verification: Validation of subscribers, company and contact information for background check and future communications. 

• Billing Provisioning: Sending order information to billing application and setting up the billing cycles, account and subscription information.  

• Order Fulfillment & On-boarding: Running the subscriber information against authentication, generating and sending the user id password information.

• Subscription Management: Different operations on a subscription e.g. extend, inactivate, reactivate, terminate, interrupt, resume etc. with different level of validations and authorization.

The problem statement becomes more complicated while leveraging the alignment of "Order-to-Cash" with "Campaign-to-Order", "Cash-to-Care", "Billing & Invoicing" & "Royalty" processes. What make it worst is the inconsistencies in order  processing rules across different segments like Small Law Firms, Mid-Size & Large Law Firms, Law Schools, Law Students, Corporate & Non-Profit Firms and Government clients. 

Different leading software vendors have been collaborating with publishing leaders to enrich their application platform. Infosys team has been working with a US client to create a seamless solution on Oracle platform. We successfully completed the first milestone where the Order Management functions are configured on Siebel platform with an end-to-end integration with Billing (BRM), Finance (PeopleSoft), Fulfillment (WAM) and other back office applications. 

I'd be interested in hearing about your experiences and opinions for handling complex order management function on typical enterprise software packages. Also if you are facing similar challenges, I will be very happy to share more details. Please feel free to write back.

Posted by Vinay Joshi at 8:16 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 1 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )