Infosys-Oracle Blog: Business Process Transformation Archives

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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A diet for your General Ledger system: From “Fat GL” to “Thin GL”

Determining the number and composition of the extended accounts (Flexfield structure in Oracle) has been a topic of debate and angst amongst GL architects.

A “Fat GL” design as the name implies contains a very large number of journals, often containing information that would typically be required for operational management reporting and typically containing minimal summarization.

Continue reading "A diet for your General Ledger system: From “Fat GL” to “Thin GL”" »

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IFRS would change a company's financial statements forever

Come 2011 and there would be a major transformation in the manner Indian companies present their profit and loss accounts and balance sheets. 2011 is when it becomes mandatory for them to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)

What is IFRS
-- International Accounting Standard Board (IASB) has issued principles based pronouncements comprising of standards and interpretations which are popularly known as IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards).

-- Replaces existing Country specific Accounting Standard which are rule based

-- IFRS compliance is not just accounting change, its impact will be on all entities connected with an organization including shareholders and employees. Policy and Procedural changes need to be analyzed across all areas e.g. Organization, Taxation, Systems, Processes and Controls

Impact on Financial Statements:

Extensive Disclosures: The market value of Financial Derivatives, ESOPS, Properties , Machineries etc need to be disclosed as opposed to current practise of accounting only at historical cost. This would facilitate all stakeholders to assess the correct market value of organization.

Greater transparency: Goods will have to be sold to end consumer to be reflected as revenue instead of existing rule of recognizing revenue by just sending the goods to distributors godown

Risk related disclosures: Investors would have better access to information on company's exposure to interest rate risk, forex risk etc since such disclosures would be mandatory under IFRS. This in turn would help better risk management for the investor

Information Complexity: Since it is a principles based accounting standard, their may be lack of uniformity in disclosures by companies leading to increased complexity for investor. Investors must adjust themselves to such fluctuations

Overall it would increase the length of financial statements due to extensive disclosures but facilitate better and informed decision making for all stakeholders

To conclude, post IFRS the Financial Statements would be Re Born for ever, so are you ready for the change?

Posted by Sachin Chitlange at 12:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

India Incs 3 Critical Financial Changes in 2011- will they be winner like 3 idiots

The recently released movie 3 Idiots, based on 3 college graduates experimenting and challenging a deeply rooted, established education system, has turned out to be quite a huge hit in India. Taking a cue from the 3 Idiots, I cannot help but ruminate on the impact that the 3 Critical Changes will have on how the India Inc does its business? Will India Inc emerge a winner or a loser? There is no doubt that all three financial changes i.e. IFRS, GST, Direct Tax Code, which are supposed to be effective from 2011, will have some effects. Even if implemented in silos, they’ll change the way business is done and the financial statements are prepared. As an example, IFRS is not just an accounting change but it will also have an impact on overall policy changes that effect each and every stakeholder of the organization, be it an employee or a shareholder

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Posted by Giriraj Somani at 01:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Playing the Russian Roulette

Russia, post USSR days, though small has its own share of uniqueness. It has 83 states/provinces and 11 Time Zones. Given the fact that there are unique legal requirements, any ERP implementation becomes a challenge.

Continue reading "Playing the Russian Roulette" »

Posted by Sandeep Chatterjee at 04:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

5 Mistakes Every Future ERP Implementation should make

a) Choose a costly Partner than a cost effective vendor

One must thoroughly assess all of options in evaluating potential external implementation companies. Software companies aren't always the best at implementing their own software, and some are more expensive than others. An organization should look at a vendor who can partner with them in their ERP initiatives not only for software implementation but also in managing the non-technical aspects of the project, such as organizational change management, training, and ERP benefits realization.

b) Map the software to Business requirements don’t just buy it

If an organization has decided that ERP is the route it needs to take, it is important to begin by looking at the desired software to implement. In most of the cases, package selection is influenced by top executives who have previously worked on particular package.

Instead, executives should define and document key business requirements irrespective of the package that may be selected. This includes not only nice-to-haves, but also requirements that can be "proposal-breakers" if the software is unable to accommodate. The package selected should focus on achieving measurable business value for the organization, and one should choose the software that best enables to do this

c) Focus less on System training and more on Change management / Executive sponsorship

What is your Business Case and ROI? This is where many companies fall apart. Answering and documenting this question is important to get Executive sponsorship and ownership for an ERP program.

The lack of a change management approach as part of the program can prevent a program from succeeding. Resistance to change is human nature and is quite often caused by (1) A failure to convince a case for change, (2) Lack of involvement by those responsible for working with changed processes (3) Inadequate / Improper communication (4) Lack of visible top management support and commitment, and (5) Arrogance. A lack of buy-in often results from not getting end-users involved in the project from the very start, thereby negating their ownership of the new system and processes.

ERP-related training is also crucial as most employees must learn new software integration and business processes which affect the operation of the entire organization. Appropriate focus should also be given on this part of the ERP implementation else it leads to much pain and suffering downstream.

d) Don’t just Save Dollars sometimes?

One of the key causes of ERP implementation failure is unnecessary cost cutting. In an effort to avoid multi phased roll out costs, repetitive conversion costs, some companies take a very risky route and go live “Big-bang” at multi-plant sites simultaneously, subjecting all plants or some plants to a total shutdown, should there be a failure

Some projects have compressed schedules in order to save on expenses, only to eventually overrun both schedule and budget.

Sometimes the question “What is my Value for Money / ROI?” should take a back seat as some projects should be treated as an upgrade to the company infrastructure that is necessary to maintain or gain a strategic and competitive advantage.
e) Yes we can but are we prepared for Failure?

Best organizations would prepare themselves for unforeseen contingencies, similarly all implementation projects should have a fail over plan. No matter how well-run a project is, one should be prepared for failure.

If the project failed or if the software was not implemented correctly, what will be the backup plan? Would users be able to access legacy systems? Would certain processes be performed manually until the system is brought up? Catastrophic failures may not be common, but they do happen on occasions, so companies should be prepared for the "what-ifs."

Posted by Sachin Chitlange at 01:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Are you getting the most out of your investment in PLM and ERP?

Core ERP products are typically not geared towards the design and lifecycle management of products. ERP is very transaction oriented whereas design requires 3D drawings, specifications and other such unstructured data. As a result, customers are increasingly making investments in best-of-breed PLM products in addition to their ERP investment. The objective, of course, is to reduce development lifecycle and improve the time to market for new products.

Continue reading "Are you getting the most out of your investment in PLM and ERP?" »

Posted by Gaurav Yadav at 12:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Consistent product master data across the sales front ….today’s necessity!

As consumers we have increasingly become used to the idea of having a same product available to us across different stores or channels from the same selling company. And we expect consistent product information available to us across these sales channels.

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Posted by Rahul Guleria at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Making the most of your GRC Investment

With the ever increasing and changing legislations, companies are in a mad rush to make an investment in Governance, Risk and Compliance Projects. Making an investment does not yield results if you do not plan well.

Continue reading "Making the most of your GRC Investment" »

Posted by Sandeep Chatterjee at 10:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Sustainable manufacturing – The road ahead

Oracle has recently announced plan to develop an evolved offering for sustainable manufacturing using its Energy Specific Manufacturing Operation Center (MOC). It will use sensor technology from partner OMRON. While the Outcome of this initiative is yet to be seen, My focus in this blog would be to discuss about sustainable manufacturing which has become BUZZWORD from some time.

Continue reading "Sustainable manufacturing – The road ahead" »

Posted by Ashish Namdeo at 07:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Lean in Everyday Life

My last few blogs have been around lean principles as applicable to businesses. This blog is a little different and dwells on using lean thinking to see if some improvements in our day to day processes and transactions can be obtained. Lean philosophy advocates improving process by removing the non- value adding activities and if we take a few examples, we can see how we can apply lean in our daily lives and improve some of the processes.

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Posted by Rupam Das at 05:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Extend Lean To Your After Sales Service Too!!

Ever since Lean philosophy became mainstream, businesses have embraced it a lot all over the world with varying amounts of demonstrable and measurable success.

Continue reading "Extend Lean To Your After Sales Service Too!!" »

Posted by Rupam Das at 12:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

IFRS Implementation in India-Revisiting Fundamentals

In IFRS convergence Journey, companies will have to deal with changes in lot of fundamental definition which will be different from current one.

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Posted by Giriraj Somani at 03:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

IFRS Implementation – Not just an Accounting Change!!!!

To name a few like definition of subsidiary company, valuation of inventory on LIFO or revenue accounting based on net present value (in mention example either the concept or definition will change from existing one) .

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Posted by Pravin Sekhani at 01:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Feasibility of "KPO" Outsourcing of High Value Added Manufacturing Processes in Hi-Tech Companies

Knowledge process outsourcing(KPO) may be defined as outsourcing of high added value process where the achievement of objectives is dependent on the skills, domain knowledge and experience of the people carrying out the activity. It is being claimed that KPO is one step extension of BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) which is outsourcing of low value added services to a partner company.

Is it possible for a Hi-Tech company to outsource high value added and critical processes like Design, manufacture of critical components, etc. to global outsourced partners to achieve business benefits? Let's look at what are pre requisites for this and the pros and cons of this and evaluate.

Continue reading "Feasibility of "KPO" Outsourcing of High Value Added Manufacturing Processes in Hi-Tech Companies" »

Posted by K N Harilal at 09:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Innovation through Outsourcing in HiTech Companies..Is it Achievable?

In recent times Hi-Tech companies have increasingly looking to outsource substantial portion of their manufacturing to vendors in developing nations like India, China, ec. to uncover substantial reduction in costs. This outsourcing helps the companies to improve competitiveness and profitability and to some extent even helps in making the Hi-Tech companies operations viable in the marketplace.

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Posted by K N Harilal at 09:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

IFRS - Are you ready for Dual Reporting?

Worldwide countries are moving for either adopting or converging to IFRS as common accounting standards across globe. However during transition phase which is spread over next decade, organization adopting IFRS will have to do dual reporting to meet the requirement of IFRS 1.

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Posted by Pravin Sekhani at 10:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Needs & Opportunities - Staffing Industry

There have been astounding changes and developments during the evolution of the staffing agency in its 50-plus years of existence. The staffing industry has evolved from its early years where temporaries were provided in emergency situations to replace absent workers to become strategic partners for its clients by providing wide range of employment services and solutions.

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IFRS Implementation in India -Train has left station Embark now

Continuing from :http://www.infosysblogs.com/oracle/2009/04/ifrs_countdown_has_started_are.html & http://www.infosysblogs.com/oracle/2009/07/ifrs_adoption_to_wait_watch_or.html

The transition to IFRS in India is no longer a question of whether and when but a question of how. A journey which started in 2006 is coming very nearer to its destination.

Continue reading "IFRS Implementation in India -Train has left station Embark now" »

Posted by Giriraj Somani at 06:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Understanding Value Stream Mapping and its applicability to your business

Value Stream Mapping is one of the lean techniques businesses employ to understand the value adding activities in their current process and design a future process after weeding out the unnecessary activities that do not add value from a customers’ point of view. This technique found its origin in the automobiles industry and has found widespread acceptance in other discrete industries and also in service industries.

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Posted by Rupam Das at 02:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

How Risky is your supply chain?

Typically we talk about two kinds of supply chain- A responsive supply chain and an efficient supply chain. An efficient supply chain is mostly targeted at reducing costs while a responsive supply chain is designed to cater to the changing needs of the demand (both new and variant) by building some kind of redundancy in the system. But in both cases have you incorporated the risk element?

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Capture actionable information from your shopfloor

So you have just implemented an ERP system that automates your organization-wide business transactions, reduces a lot of paperwork and also helps with reports at different levels of aggregation. However, when it comes to the shop floor, is your ERP capturing what goes on behind the transactions? To find out the answer, you can start by asking your business the following question-Have there been improvements in the three key elements of your OEE- namely, Quality, Performance and Availability?

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Posted by Rupam Das at 01:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Green Design – A Means to reduce Product Development Costs?

It is seen that for High Technology companies’ compliance to green related regulations required for market entry is the top pressure driving green product development. Most of the High Technology manufacturers have a green product development initiative in place, even more than other industries. They also seem to brand energy efficient technology as one of their top marketing strategies
It is clear, that while today High Technology manufacturers are focused on compliance to regulations like RoHS, REACH, WEE, TSCA, etc. they must look ahead and add cost reduction strategies around green design in their efforts in order to capture and sustain competitive advantage.

But doesn’t too much focus on compliance lead to increasing product development costs and affect their sustainability in the marketplace?? Let us see how successful High Technology manufacturers address this.

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Posted by K N Harilal at 07:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

An Introduction to Oracle Manufacturing Operations Center (MOC)

Does your manufacturing intelligence system support proactive monitoring for quick decision support? Lots of data gets collected on your shop-floor – but how should it be organized to assess the performance of a machine, a line, a plant, or a fleet of plants? What will it take you to make the process more a science than an art? Oracle has launched a new product - Manufacturing Operations Center - to answer some of these questions.

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Posted by Deepak Wankhade at 06:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Best Practices in Handling Uncertainties in Business Requirements in Enterprise Solution Implementations

Experience shows it is impossible to define all business requirements in the initial phase of a packaged software implementation. Some requirements are missed due to schedule pressure or oversight, while others originate later due to changed business realities. How can program sponsors manage changing requirements without impact to budgets and schedules? This article attempts to answer the question based on practices observed in multiple large enterprise system implementations.

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Posted by Deepak Wankhade at 01:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Effective usage of Earned value management.

Earned value management is a tool by which senior management can track exceptions in projects execution very easily. However there are certain pitfalls in basing your decisions completely on this single measurement for project progress reporting, unless you take care of certain points for measuring projects progress.

Continue reading "Effective usage of Earned value management." »

Posted by Prasanna Kelkar at 09:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Calling up your customer - Think Twice

Recently I came across an interesting article which talked about how placing too much focus on customer sometimes irritates him/her so much that the customer builds up a negative image about the brand.

Continue reading "Calling up your customer - Think Twice" »

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IT Outsourcing - Recession Survival Kit - Series I

Everybody is talking about it.. Decision makers are contemplating either to invest for growth now or to cut costs to maintain margins.. or do both. well.. am sure people know that these are easier said than done. there are too many theories, hypothesis, advices, opinions and the latest in the list.. 'management books'... trying to use all possible ways of the current situation to make themselves heard.. but what is heartening is that there is good amount of truth and reality in all of these.. as they are directly from their heart.. they have felt it, experienced it and living with it.

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Posted by Ramgopal Natarajan at 08:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Video - Want NextGen Application Integration? Look at Oracle PIPs

Are you looking for a tool that ensures maximum convergence of the best-of-breed Oracle applications deployed at your enterprise?

Let’s discuss how Oracle Process Integration Packs (PIPs) not only offer out-of-the-box process integration solutions to composite industry processes, but also cut deployment times significantly.

Posted by Malay Kumar at 11:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Customizations to a ERP....

Can a ERP system exist without customizations? Can a Company run its business using a Vanilla ERP product? This is a question which can be debated on and on..

Continue reading "Customizations to a ERP...." »

Posted by Venkatesh Swatantra (Venky) at 11:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Regulated Energy and Utility Market Challenges – Pricing

In today’s competitive environment the unit prices for electricity and gas is driven heavily by the competition between energy companies.However, to ensure that the customer receives a fair price and to avoid monopoly, it is quite common to have this price overseen by regulation. Though there are many pricing models available in different countries, by and large the pricing models in regulated scenarios are either revenue based pricing or rate based pricing. This blog briefly touches upon the pricing models and the components of prices. Pl. note that the examples in this blog focuses on UK energy market.

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Posted by Ismail Syed Mohammad at 08:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Oracle's vertical integration - A move towards Cloud Computing ?

I read about Oracle’s acquisition of Sun; a move which had been preempted and discussed after IBM’s failed attempt to acquire Sun few months earlier. And then the obvious question “ Why Sun” ?

As per my understanding, Oracle acquired Sun for open standard Java language , a backbone of various applications and mobile phone related software . The second reason is Solaris on which a high number of Oracle database runs. Also a significant chunk of Sun’s revenue comes from maintenance services( around 40%) , a revenue stream which Oracle cannot ignore and which means Sun’s hardware business is still going to remain(though Hardware is considered to be a low margin business). And should we account of Sun’s customer base too..

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Posted by Amandeep Singh Syali at 08:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Regulated Energy and Utility Market Challenges - IFRS compliance challenges in Fixed Asset Management processes

Vertically integrated utilities have large assets in form of their generation stations and their components. This part of the business is regulated in some countries. Through the regulatory environment, the government gets involved in various aspects of utilities viz., pricing, Secured energy supply, Pressure to reduce carbon footprint etc.,. Equally there are some accounting challenges that are posed through regulations and reporting norms. This blog talks about one such challenge faced by generators on the way in which they manage and report their generation Assets and their significant components.

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Posted by Ismail Syed Mohammad at 07:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Unleashing MEA's Potential in Telecom Services

The telecommunication market in Middle East and Africa (MEA) is extremely diversified in nature. The region spans across 60+ countries and has an interesting mix of demand, expectations and maturity levels. In current global economy downturn, the MEA telecom market is relatively less impacted. Within some African countries the market is gaining momentum. Privatization and liberalization are visible latest trends and cost effective communication technologies are now becoming available to meet the needs of these diverse group of countries. These new technologies include fixed wireless access, mobile telephony, fiber optics and satellite.

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Posted by Mayuresh Vaidya at 05:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Failure of Peanut Corp. of America, what should we learn??

On 13 Jan 09, Peanut Corporation of America (PCA), announced a nationwide voluntary recall of peanut butter suspected to be contaminated with Salmonella. The call was extended further to include more products & lots. On 13 Feb 09, PCA filed for bankruptcy under chapter 7.

The peanut butter and peanut paste recall have been considered the largest product recall in history. Nine people have been died & thousands have reported sick due to consumption of PCA products. Questions are being raised about the food safety regulations & quality issue in Supply chain. Is it the system Failure or Greed of few individuals? Is it only the PCA whom to blame? What about the downstream Manufacturer who were using PCA products as their Raw Material? Also, are our Quality regulations sufficient? But the most important question that most Food companies should be asking themselves is this, what to do to avoid the repetition of same in future?

Continue reading "Failure of Peanut Corp. of America, what should we learn??" »

Posted by Ashish Namdeo at 12:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Transportation and Logistics market in Emerging economies like India - Glocalization approach needed

Logistics costs in India are estimated to be around 13% of the GDP, which comes to around US$94 billion in 2005-06.Transport sector’s contribution to India’s GDP is estimated to be around 7.6% in 2006-07, and road transport has a dominant role in this contribution with a share of 4.7% in India’s GDP.Currently, the market is extremely fragmented and dominated by unorganized sector. Most of the organized players are using their home grown operational TMS system for managing their day to day work.

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Posted by Nilabja Dey at 11:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Going "Lean with Green" through Enterprise Solutions

“Earth Hour” observed on Saturday 28^th Mar, 2009 from 8:30 to 9:30 PM across the world. While this is equivalent to switching off China's emissions for less then six short seconds, it shows our concern for climate change. It also means, Companies have to comply with stricter regulations in coming future.

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Posted by Ashish Namdeo at 05:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Why Lean may need ERP?

The traditional thinking is that Lean and ERP are contrary to one another. Lean signifies a pull system and simplicity whereas ERP signifies a push-based complex environment that relies on innumerable transactions at every step to run smoothly. Lean is reality-oriented while ERP is data-in-the-system-oriented. One can argue forever on these lines…

If one scratches the surface, however, it does not seem so contrarian after all.

Consider some real-life examples below from my consulting experience where an ERP system assisted the lean philosophy of an enterprise.

Continue reading "Why Lean may need ERP?" »

Posted by Gaurav Yadav at 05:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Changing face of EAM in a competitive 'Carbon emission control' environment

‘Climate change’ is one of the key topics that is getting more and more visibility at the board room level for industrial and commercial business. There is a pressure from all stake holders to ensure that the business houses consume and spend energy more efficiently. Staying ‘green’ is no more optional – it is becoming mandatory. This necessitates C&I businesses to re-look at the way in which they manage their assets that are very vital for their businesses. This blog briefly talks about what are the functions that are needed in a classical EAM business functions and the new business functions that are required to be managed, in view of the need to have a green strategy to mitigate climate change.

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Posted by Ismail Syed Mohammad at 06:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Top Down vs. Bottom-up techniques in Manufacturing… The debate continues

Continuing from my previous post:

Standardization: Top Down vs. Bottom-up

There are a few more considerations to the standardization approach. Implementation of enterprise software has led to the motto “Common…and Global”. As a result, companies are adopting standards in definitions and processes for global implementation. A standard implementation refers to a set of guidelines which is better known as a template or a blueprint allowing minimal deviations during rollouts. At times, these monolithic implementations indirectly lead to a situation, where established and efficient local practices are abandoned or compromised to make way for standardization. This in turn has the potential to create large scale organizational change issues and productivity loss in the short-term.

Continue reading "Top Down vs. Bottom-up techniques in Manufacturing… The debate continues" »

Posted by Nilanjan Chatterjee at 06:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Wanna beat the recession and still keep IT running?

Recession.. difficult times.. reduced cash flow.. credit hard to come by.. on and on and on..

Let us face it. These are unfortunate events but are reality.. but should we just sit and keep worrying about it or do something to beat it. We anyway need to have the business running.. Key executives are looking for ways to weather the storm by cutting down costs. Invariably, eyes roll towards the Enterprise IT of the company.. trying to optimize, consolidate or even retire some of the IT assets. Most easist and the fastest thing to achieve quick wins is to cut down on 'labor' as an asset class.

Continue reading "Wanna beat the recession and still keep IT running?" »

Posted by Ramgopal Natarajan at 09:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Brazil Localization: How is it different?

With the economy in such turmoil, more and more companies are looking at emerging countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) for growth. With unique statutory, legal and language requirements, it is imperative that companies follow the rules of the land to do business.

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Posted by Sandeep Chatterjee at 03:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Speed to Market - Using historical data

The other aspect of successful design is effective usage of historical data. Recall the fact that only 30% of new products launched succeed. Effort that would have gone into the other 70% of the failed product will prove useful in the new initiative.

Continue reading "Speed to Market - Using historical data" »

Posted by Krithivasan S at 10:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Detail Design phase - Speed to Market Strategy

Continuing the series of previous posts on Speed to market started at:

http://infosysblogs.com/oracle/2009/01/beat_the_competition_with_spee_2.html

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Posted by Krithivasan S at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Speed-to-Market - Get it Right for your Business

The first step in launching a new product is designing one. With available tools, once product design is frozen, manufacturing and launching can be managed effectively. The time taken to freeze the design is highly unpredictable. From my previous post, we will discuss on collaborative design and effectively using the historical data.

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Posted by Krithivasan S at 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Is my CAD vendor the natural choice for PLM?

As a head of Product Engineering team, you finally convinced the management for a PLM tool for your organization. The next big question will be which tool should you implement? All CAD vendors have PLM tools & few ERP vendors also offer PLM as a module.

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Posted by Krithivasan S at 06:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Quality and Liquidity

Very often we see the Terms Quality and Liquidity used interchangeably with Products or Services offered.

Although never directly related these terms are something which is heard everywhere on a day to day basis At one point of time you have the Customers talking about Quality, and the other part you have the Stakeholders discussing about Liquidity.Let us try to understand these terms and find out whether we can relate these terms and decide if ultimately Quality turns to Liquidity.

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Posted by Ramakrishnan Subramanian at 04:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Beat the competition with speed to market

Impact due to reducing product lifecycles and the need for speed and collaboration

In this Era of Innovation,the latest gadget becomes obsolete within no time. Better products come to market at cheaper prices and/or with higher value. The result is shorter product lifecycles.

The main effects of shorter lifecycles are:

Need for New Product Introduction(NPI) at shorter intervals – speed to market is the only way to beat the competition
Focus on cost effective / high value products
Innovation in processes

The key enabler to achieve the above is

More collaboration between stake holders.

Continue reading "Beat the competition with speed to market" »

Posted by Krithivasan S at 08:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Is Perfect Estimation Achievable

Historically it has been observed that lots of projects experience cost, effort and schedule overrun or poor quality. In most of cases, the project end up taking alternate paths to fulfil the budget constraint and ends up delivering an inadequate product/application/service. Further changing market Scenario does create estimation overruns. In such cases is it ever possible to get a Perfect Estimation.

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Posted by Ramakrishnan Subramanian at 06:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Standardization – What is required?

Standardization helps large ERP implementations to streamline their business processes and data which helps achieve operations efficiency by reducing the solution variability and achieving data consistency. On the long run this will help reduce the implementation / maintenance time and cost, especially in large organizations where the solution is rolled out to multiple locations and Companies.

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Posted by Srikanth Sripathi at 03:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Challenges in Demand Management in Recessionary Times

The recent macroeconomic changes and the speed at which they impacted end-consumer demand have significantly affected organizations. Some of the immediate effects on businesses include:

Production Shutdown: Excess inventory piled up at different stages of the supply chain have caused manufacturing facilities to shutdown production to reduce inventory
Workforce layoff: To react to reduced market demand and to cut costs, manufacturing facilities are reducing work force to continue to be competitive

Continue reading "Challenges in Demand Management in Recessionary Times" »

Posted by Samiksha Hariharan at 04:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Are you still using function points for estimating the size of Package Implementation?

Package Points is the buzzword in Oracle Practice now at Infosys Technologies Ltd for sizing an implementation project for the reasons which I am putting forward based on my experience in involving in sizing many development and package implementation projects.

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Posted by RamPrasad Vadde at 03:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Redefine your measurements to stimulate operational excellence

A difficult business climate as today’s provides corporations with an opportunity to take a hard look at their operational procedures to weed out inefficiencies that might exist in various business functions. Focusing on reducing waste and improving operational processes helps businesses in their journey towards attaining operational excellence. In addition, it also allows for cost savings, which can provide stability to the profit margins in adverse economic times as these.

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Posted by Rupam Das at 03:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Reuse and Recycle of WEEE (Wastage of Electrical and Electronics Equipment) – Optional or Mandatory?

The Directive on WEEE (Wastage of Electrical and Electronics Equipment) in EU notes that the content of hazardous components in electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) is a major concern during the waste management phase and recycling of WEEE is not undertaken to a sufficient extent. The WEEE directive places the responsibility of end of life (EOL) disposal responsibility of the products on the manufacturers either individually or by joining a collective scheme. This implies that the cost of disposal of the product and the harmful substances that it contains squarely lies on the manufacturer. The EU Commission has set new targets for recovery and reuse/recycling by 31-Dec-2008 for all EU countries.

Continue reading "Reuse and Recycle of WEEE (Wastage of Electrical and Electronics Equipment) – Optional or Mandatory?" »

Posted by K N Harilal at 09:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Importance of Outsourcing to provide flexibility to Hi-Tech Manufacturers

Today’s global environment has placed increased pressure on Hi-Tech manufacturers to become more competitive and profitable. Global outsourcing activities have increased in importance and have increasingly emerged as a key strategic tool in achieving cost reduction, quality and delivery improvement, cycle time reduction, and improved responsiveness to customer, competitive, and financial market demands. It is estimated that a well planned and executed global outsourcing strategy can result in a cost savings differential of 15 to 25 percent when compared to manufacturing inhouse.

Using external suppliers to design, manufacture, ship and service products or components - has been a growing trend in recent years as Hi-Tech manufacturers have sought, among other things, to divest themselves of production capacity (and the inherent risks associated with owning capital equipment), lower their labor costs and maintain greater flexibility in the face of ever-shrinking product lifecycles.

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Posted by K N Harilal at 08:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Large Projects challenges - Beyond applications

Industry challenges

In my earlier blogs, I had briefly touched upon how a project centric approach will facilitate utilities achieving process efficiencies by integrating its various business functions. We had also seen how Oracle out of the box capabilities can be leveraged. Whilst the oracle based project centric solution enables utilities, there are some industry wide challenges that cannot be addressed through any system or solution. Based on our experience the following are the few industry challenges that need to be considered while implementing any transformational solution to such project organisations.

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Posted by Ismail Syed Mohammad at 10:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Using Operational Levers To Boost Supply Chain Performance

To remain competitive in today's environment, manufacturing companies are looking at boosting their supply chain performance. One of the key levers for improving supply chain is 'cost reduction' at various stages of the entire chain.

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Posted by Samiksha Hariharan at 06:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Providing visibility to your large projects through a Project centric solution

In continuation with the entry here

Standardised project management process
Utilities have a trend of growing through acquiring other companies and hence the project management processes are likely to vary within their business. For e.g., an organisation that took over a contracting company that specialises in executing rechargeable jobs is likely to have its processes and systems for managing rechargeable jobs different form the rest of the business - unless there is a conscious effort to homogenize the processes. The project centric solution design addresses this by mapping the processes to the job classification available out of the box in Oracle ie., direct and indirect jobs Also project management templates can be defined to ensure that the projects are defined in a specific way that is aligned with other projects in the organisation. This substantially reduces the time required by the engineers and/or planners to create projects in Oracle. In some cases (Large capital projects), the project are likely to be created in best of breed project management software like Primavera or MS Projects etc.,. The out of the box interface available in Oracle eBusiness suite can be used to reduce the need to duplicate effort in entering project data into Oracle. With this, the process, the resource assignment and budgeting are the only processes that need to be done in Oracle eBusiness suite, whilst the other core project management processes are managed in the actual Project management suite.

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Posted by Ismail Syed Mohammad at 09:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

ERP implementations in a recessionary economy: Is Limited Functionality ERP the way?

Well, probably when every one is cutting cost, investing in a fresh ERP implementation may make the customer think twice. This is primarily because of the size of the initial investment required for such engagements on account of hardware, software and implementation cost.

Hence for an IT service provider, the challenge lies in guiding the customer to make the right amount of investment in a timely manner, so as to minimize the initial CAPEX requirements at these times of turbulence.

Here are some of the ways to my mind, which can be put in practice for proposing new engagements:

1. Partnering with stakeholders
Let us partner with the customer and create a close collaboration between customer, IT service provider and the OEMs to provide the customer the best price

2. Using out-of-box features
Customers should be encouraged to use the standard built in features of the ERP product to the greatest extent possible. Enhancements should be entertained for addressing only the business critical needs.

3. Customer driven design
The need of the hour is more emphasis on incorporating customer’s requirements and his wishlist at the very early stage and designing the solution along-with the customer. This will reduce the number of iterations and rework in the project life cycle. Extensive workshops with the customer on the product and design will help on this aspect.

To add to the above, another aspect which can be explored more can be to bring in more modularity in the solution. We need to work with the customer in identifying the core business needs that need attention on a priority basis and provide a solution on those areas only; however care should be taken to ensure for the future enhancements to be added to the core solution with ease later.

In summary, the impending recession has made customers more cost-conscious than never before; this is probably the right time to sell a limited functionality ERP in a big way. This concept may sell when corporates are trying to just sail through rather than expecting to make huge profits. Customers with basic business processes in place in an ERP framework will be equipped better to scale up in boom times through adding more functionalities.

Posted by Debashis Dey at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Managing large projects - Do you need a piece of paper or an integrated system?

‘What is the project budget?’, ‘Who approved this capital investment?’, ‘who is monitoring the budget overruns?’, ‘who is tracking the project performance in terms of cost, quality, time and effort?’ and finally ‘Where are we in terms of planned Vs Actuals?’ – These are common questions one will come across, if they have spent some time in utility industries. Utility industry is one of the very few industries that manage their operations as projects. Everything they do is managed in their systems as an outcome of a project or a group of projects. Given this challenge, what does one need to manage these projects? Will there be the organization’s ace project manager available to manage all your projects efficiently? – Probably not. !

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Posted by Ismail Syed Mohammad at 10:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Innovation through Collaboration: Addressing Flat World Challenges in the Hi-Tech Industry

It was Oracle Open World time in September and CXOs from leading hi-tech companies came together again for this year’s High Tech Leader Circle (HTLC) at the Moscone Center. I had the privilege of delivering the keynote session and could not think of a more pertinent topic than “Innovation through Collaboration” for a thought-provoking discussion with business leaders in the room.

The global business scenario has changed dramatically in the last year. Rising costs continue to put pressure on margins; globalization and the power of emerging economies are increasing the complexity of the business environment, and customer expectations from vendors and service providers has multiplied exponentially. The economic slowdown, collapse of the housing market and unexpected exchange rate fluctuations have made the business environment even more difficult. C-Level executives can no longer rely on conventional approaches to create a competitive advantage and have to look at innovation through collaboration to steer their organizations through turbulent times.

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Posted by Chandra Shekar Kakal at 06:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Earned Value Management for ERP Implementations

ERP implementations are a special breed of projects. They are often characterized by aggressive timelines, high budgets and involvement of diverse teams. This emphasizes the need to have a reliable tool to measure the performance of ERP implementations throughout the execution phases.

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Posted by Venu Kotamraju at 02:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Going Lean the ERP Way

We often see ERP Implementations failing because of lack of user acceptance for the new system. The user community is not convinced about the utility of the ERP System simply because they feel that they take a long time to execute the transactions in the new system.

Is there a solution to this? How do we make sure that from day one users start advocating about the new system. The answer to this question starts from the time the future state design of business processes is started. First question that any implementer should ask is" Is this the most efficient and lean way to deploy this process". "Are we deploying the correct tools and techniques offered by the package to design the future state business process?"

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Posted by Somnath Majumdar at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Localization vis-a-vis Customization: Which way to go?

There is often a dilemma in the customer’s mind,whether to go for Localization or do a Customization. Here are some of the pros and cons of these two options:

Localization comes pre-built with the product and does not need to be developed. While it can be assumed to have already been tested, effort needs to be estimated for the further rounds of testing.

This is beacuse,Localizations are add-on features which might not have been time-tested to the extent the base application features are.Also,Regional requirements change, all the implications of which might not have been addressed in the Localization in a timely manner. There can always be a lead time between a new requirement and its solution through Localization.

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Posted by Debashis Dey at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

ERP Systems for Small & Mid-Sized Companies

If we look at the world's 2 leading large ERP packaged suites, they are huge applications that offer tremendous flexibility to handle just about all possible kinds of manufacturing systems and business processes spread across all kinds of industries. Can these ERP systems be readily adapted by small & medium-sized companies and how do large ERPs really differ from those that are used by the SMB segment?

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Posted by Samir Das at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Age of packaged BI and analytics – Should you embark on this journey? Part 2

In the first part of the blog we looked at the rise of packaged BI http://infosysblogs.com/oracle/2008/08/age_of_packaged_bi_and_analyti.html

In this blog we analyze when and how should organizations evaluate packaged BI

Organizations today, are under pressure to improve efficiency and margins. Analytics has become an indispensible part of their existence. Large organizations face a challenge owing to constraints of increasing visibility across value chain in terms of analytics, BI in multiple silos, and heterogeneous systems from the legacy era.

Continue reading "Age of packaged BI and analytics – Should you embark on this journey? Part 2" »

Posted by Siddharth Pant at 01:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Large scale HRIT Portfolio Transformation

When there is a need to bring about large scale HRIT portfolio transformation (post merger, for example) it is important to use this opportunity to maximize the business value , while minimizing the TCO and risk of transition.

Infosys has a comprehensive framework, approach and accelerators to look at this transformation scenario in a global delivery model

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Posted by Ajay_Gachhi at 11:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Integrated Talent Management to improve workforce effectiveness

Organizations who want to strengthen their ability to attract and retain employees at all levels to meet the needs of Organic and Inorganic Growth, need to have an Integrated approach to Talent Management. This would not only offer sustainable competitive advantage, but also operational benefits like reduced time to productivity, developing targeted capabilities, and Talent mobility across the organization. Integrated Talent Management is a lot more than yet another HR process. It is a mindset that goes beyond the rhetoric towards a holistic and integrated approach. Based on our experience, we’ve identified three critical elements to achieve Integrated Talent Management: Strategy Integration, Process Integration, and Technology Integration.

Posted by Ajay_Gachhi at 10:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Going Green

Last week when I was in Kansas City presenting a paper at the 2008 APICS International Conference, I had an interesting observation. There was a tremendous emphasis on Sustainability. We talk about Lean Supply Chain but companies were one step ahead discussing Green Supply Chain. Initially I had dismissed it as another fad but I was amazed at the commitment more so in the High Tech Domain.

Continue reading "Going Green" »

Posted by Sandeep Chatterjee at 06:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Value Realization and Oracle - A Perfect Match

"Business case? What business case? This is a "strategic" investment"....ever heard that one?

Can any executive team pull that off in today's economy? Something tells me that those days are O-V-E-R.

"That which gets measured gets done"....so here's the secret: build a Value Story, define the core metrics, and measure, track, and transform using the Oracle OBIEE solution.

That's a mouthful. Let's talk about it live at Oracle OpenWorld. Ask for me at the Infy booth.

See you in SF -

Chris

http://www.linkedin.com/in/cspangler

Posted by Christopher Spangler at 02:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Transforming your business- beyond PPT

You only need to open one consulting proposal to see the classic (trite?) framework of "people/process/technology" being touted as the exhaustive framework that should drive your transformation. It's that easy (yeah right). Is it a coincidence that those 3 words correspond to the stock-in-trade consulting presentation package (.ppt)?....thats for another post.

Where is Value? Where is Capability? What about Accountability? Exactly how does this all happen without a well-aligned roadmap?

Our IMPACTtm frameworkhas been developed to address these areas. It also speaks to integrating the EXTENDED enterprise (where to work), new capabilities (what to work on) and managing the overall tranformation (how to do it).

Reach out to our Infosys team at Oracle Open World and ask for me - I will be happy to give you a personal guided tour to a whole new way of transforming your business in an Oracle-enabled environment.

Till next time,

Chris

Posted by Christopher Spangler at 01:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Managing Indirect Spend? Slash costs and Save upto 20% of indirect cost

Across Industries, specifically utilities and process industries, because of their capital intensive environments, typically spend a substantial amount on indirect procurement, especially services. Typically services account for more than 60% of the indirect spend for companies in these industries yet this area has remained unexplored for either automation or transformation efforts.

The Services Supply Chain comprises of unique and complex activities. This is then the reason why streamlining the process coupled with adequate systems support can lead to a large savings in this area. But how do we really go about it? Our experience tells us that this is definitely possible and is a huge opportunity for savings. Oracle Advanced Procurement Suite with its Services Procurement processes help organizations in streamlining processes in achieving these savings.

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Posted by Balakrishna Rao at 05:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

New Generation Business Intelligence

A few years back, I was working with the Campaign Management department of our client. The client was a leading mobile operator in Western Europe. Over a period of time we noticed that the success rates of the campaigns was gradually dipping, because of what was called as ‘mistargetng’. What it meant was that in many of the cases the sales representatives suggested services/products which the customer was already subscribed to. Such situations resulted in a waste of resources, time and money leave alone lack of credibility of the marketing department of the company.

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Posted by Somnath Mukherjee at 09:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

How to Improve Visibility into Customer Demand

Forecasting has been rated as one of the top supply chain issues in the globalized world. Organizations are striving to predict customer demand as accurately as possible. Accurate forecasting kick-starts demand and supply chain planning. A large number of products-geography-customer combinations require system enabled forecasting capabilities. A holistic forecasting system brings in Statistical Rigour and Modeling, Dashboards and Simulation capabilities and automatically tunes its models to suit changing business requirements. Sharing here excerpts from one of our working paper – the criteria in choosing the holistic forecasting system.

1. Ability to Model Demand:
Ability of a forecasting system to generate forecast at the most granular level across Time, Geography, Product and Customer dimensions, with the highest accuracy. This will also decide how effectively the system has been able to model the business requirements.

2. Statistical Rigour:
Forecasting systems need to have exhaustive library of statistical models - starting from simplest to most complex. This can help in choosing the best forecasting model which truly represents demand, yet manages model complexity. For example, there are cases where a simple “Moving Average" model may be adequate, whereas there might be cases that demand more sophisticated models (such as “ARIMA"). Moreover, there might be occasions where a combined model is chosen with a weighted average of different models. As a result, the system should not only provide the means through which different models may be easily applied but also facilitate the collaboration between these models for a true representation of demand.

3. Accuracy and Forecast Generation Time:
The preliminary requirement of any forecasting system to generate accurate forecast may not be enough. For example, an organization requiring daily forecasts for the planning purpose may not be able to use the forecasting system if it takes 10 hours to generate forecasts, regardless of its accuracy. Timely availability of forecast is as important as the accuracy it provides.

4. Interpretability:
Statistical error measures (e.g. MAPE, MSE) are popular yet widely misunderstood and misinterpreted. Quite often, end-users are not equipped to interpret the forecasting accuracy through such error measures. Forecasting system should enable business users with dashboard capabilities that communicate such measures in visually interpretable mediums.

5. Accommodate external issues:
Selecting the best forecasting model may not be enough. In majority of the cases, accuracy could benefit from the consideration of external components. These components could entail information such as the dates of forthcoming national holidays and the occurrence of exceptional events such as marketing campaigns. Hence an automated system should be able to understand such components and should be able to seamlessly combine them with basic forecasting techniques.

6. Automatic self-tuning:
An automated collaboration of the various components generates an additional consideration. When various models are combined, collaborative operation and self tuning becomes a major issue. The challenge arises from the relationships among the models. Although manual operation is a solution, it is associated with two major problems. Firstly, efficiency is reduced due to the required time and secondly, selection of models may be compromised in order to choose simpler alternatives. Hence an automated process for self-tuning would increase the flexibility and efficiency of the system.

7. Generic data representation :
Different applications will be associated with different forecasting parameters. Typical examples of such parameters include geographical areas, types of product and priority levels of service. This list could be enriched as diverse application scenarios might be considered. As a result, the design of a generic and fully automated forecasting framework requires the definition of a generic data representation. This data type will hide the low level details and present an abstract view on which the generic forecasting framework may operate on.

Excerpt from the working paper – Shah M., Owusu G., Shoban B., Balkundi N., “Improving Forecasting Accuracy of Traditional Demand Planning System” (2008)

Posted by Mitul Shah at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Six questions to analyze if your company is ready for SOA

In today’s extremely competitive world, any business needs a robust yet adaptable IT infrastructure. The growing information needs make it imperative to replace the old systems with new enterprise applications. And even enterprise applications need to upgrade from time to time. Your organization ends up spending a large amount of the IT budget in managing integrations with each new release and upgrade. You must protect the investments in existing applications and leverage the returns from existing systems. Only then your organization can improve the responsiveness of its changing business needs.

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Posted by Gaurav Sharma at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

How to make more money with customer information

Proliferating customer touch points has increased complexities in understanding the customer relationship. Increased globalization of businesses and its customers / consumers has put stress on ensuring apt customer experience. Businesses are facing new customer acquistion very difficult, specially in matured markets - turning their focus to sustain existing customer base and increase potential.

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Posted by lax_gopisetty at 12:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Do you wanna expedite your Order cycles?

Where is my Order????? When will it get shipped???? Another delay, yet again!!!! These are some of the very common and frequently asked questions by the Customers.
The challenging business needs, difficult to hold enough inventory, increase in cost of manufacturing and more so frequent re-org’s have made manufacturers to re-think about their business strategy. The business drivers are changing and increasing at a fast pace and Enterprises using ERP’s expect the product vendors to be more than up to speed to offer capabilities in the standard product and also provide an Integration strategy to offer seamless out-of-box integrations.These capabilities are targeted towards Increase in Agent Productivity, Significant reduction in cycle time, Automating Business flows, Orchestrating Business flows spread across disparate applications and Enabling Shared service operations etc.
Oracle has a taken a step forward to meet the above objectives and much more than that. The latest release of Oracle EBS (eBusiness Suite), which is popularly known as R12, is a significant step to meet the complex and demanding business objectives. The features like Multi Org Access Control (MOAC) allow agents to access data spread across Operating units from a single responsibility. The enhancements done as part of EBS R12 in Order Management, Advanced Pricing, iStore help in increase of Agent productivity and shorten the Order cycles.
Come and join the journey if you wanna know on how to expedite and streamline your prolonged Order cycles…….
This session will elucidate how Oracle R12 features can be leveraged to enable shared service operations with features like MOAC. It will elaborate the New R12 features in the areas of Order Management, Advance Pricing and iStore with suitable examples. The session will explain on how the new features like Price book will join the core stream and make it more transparent to the customers. This session will also talk about how the new R12 features and Fusion middleware product BPEL came together and delivered a composite Application model for a big Hi-Tech giant.

Oracle's latest version of its E-Business Suite (EBS) is a significant release. Current users need to determine if and when this upgrade will be appropriate, if they have not already done so. New users of Oracle applications need to ensure that Release 12 is the appropriate release to implement. – Gartner

The journey begins in the biggest Oracle Technology symposium – Oracle Open World, 21st-25th Sep 2008……

Session ID: S300276
Session Title: Shorten Your Order Cycles with New Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 Features: Wanna Know How?
Track: Oracle E-Business Suite

Posted by vikas khurana at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

High Tech Industry: A State of Flux

Moore's law describes an important trend in the history of computer hardware: that the number of transistors that can be inexpensively placed on an integrated circuit is increasing exponentially, doubling approximately every two years. The trend has continued for more than half a century and is not expected to stop for another decade at least and perhaps much longer. This alone is a testimony to the fact how the high tech industry is changing at a rapid pace. And companies seem to be in a state of shock trying to cope with this change. Rising costs, shrinking markets seem to add further to their woes.

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Posted by Sandeep Chatterjee at 07:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Thinking of Acquisition? Keep ERP as one of the decision parameters

John G. Smale, the former CEO of Procter and Gamble had once remarked, “Our commitment must be to continue the vitality of this company –its growth in physical terms and also its growth as an institution –so that this company, this institution, will last through another 150 years. Indeed, so it will last through the ages.”

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Posted by Sandeep Chatterjee at 04:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Age of packaged BI and analytics – Should you embark on this journey? Part1

Historians used two approaches to apply the past to the future: reasoning by analogy and projection of trends. The 1970’s saw the emergence of ERP systems in the form of Inventory Control Packages and Manufacturing Resources Planning (MRP II). Then came the integration of Finance, which was followed by the integration of various functional areas like Customer relationship, HR etc.

The evolution of Business Intelligence traces a trajectory similar to this. From a time of specialized tools and long multi-year customized solutions, we are seeing a convergence of enterprise applications, Data warehouse tools and analytic solutions. This is reinforced even further by the takeover and consolidation of BI vendors leaving few large players with capabilities across the value chain.

‘No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it.’ ~H.E. Luccock

Continue reading "Age of packaged BI and analytics – Should you embark on this journey? Part1" »

Posted by Siddharth Pant at 10:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Improving Package Implementations Estimates using Package Points

Today, ERP is used more to drive business improvements & operational efficiencies and hence, any delays or budget over-runs could impact the business. However, most independent surveys and studies indicate that about 55 percent of ERP Implementation projects incur budget overruns. According to Standish Group, a research firm, the average IT project runs over budget by about 43 percent. Among the litany of reasons quoted (such as excessive focus on technology at the expense of business processes, communication shortfalls, project management and operational issues) estimation & bad planning rank high in the list.

Continue reading "Improving Package Implementations Estimates using Package Points" »

Posted by Manikandan Munikrishnan at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Thinking of R12? Go for an Enhanced Upgrade

Call it the bane or boon of an ERP system, companies do not have a choice but to upgrade to a higher version. There are various factors which drive the decision to upgrade namely de-support of the current system by the ERP vendor, availability of new features in higher version which have the potential to give a strategic edge. Typically companies choose the upgrade path to avoid the de-support problem and hence what it finally does is a pure as-is technical upgrade. This has multiple benefits in the sense that it is least risky and also can be done in a shorter timeframe. But once in a while it makes sense to have a look at the new features which can bring efficiencies in the process.

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Posted by Sandeep Chatterjee at 05:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

High Tech Industry’s Logistics Woes: Oracle Transportation Management may be the answer

Gone is the era when customers would queue to your factory gate to buy the goods produced by you. Remember Bajaj scooter in the 80s when we had a waiting time of up to 10 years. Not any more. With breakthrough advancement in science and technology, we are in a situation where the market place is cluttered with supply surpassing demand. More so in the high tech sector where changes happen in split seconds. Given the current situation, the winner is surely the one who will be able to provide a better buying experience to the customer and yet charge reasonably for providing the service. This includes both choice of products and/or services and delivering it to the customer at a reasonable price.

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Posted by Sandeep Chatterjee at 10:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Collaboration: The way forward for High Tech Industry

In his classic best-seller ‘The Goal’, Eliyahu M. Goldratt discusses about the three fundamental ways of making money for a going concern namely,

Increase throughput (the rate at which the system generates money through sales)
Reduce Inventory (all the money that system has invested in purchasing things which it intends to sells)
Reduce Operational expenses (all the money the system spends in order to turn inventory into throughput)

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Posted by Sandeep Chatterjee at 06:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Retailing in a Down Economy, any different from a Boom?

An economic downturn affects everyone, some more than others. The overall effect tends to lower consumer confidence and this has a direct impact on consumer spending. Or does it?

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Posted by Venu Kotamraju at 03:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Having Confusion around Fusion!!!!!!!!!!!

I am around Oracle Fusion and SOA for last 3 Years now. It seems to me even though Oracle provides ton of information around the same, we have people still confused about Fusion. As a Fusion technology practitioner, we do get questions. I wanted to start my blog on Infosys blog site by posting few of questions.

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Posted by Malay Kumar at 03:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)

Segmentation: Value based or Need based?

Often I come across the discussion on whether a company or a unit should go for Value based segmentation or a Need based segmentation. Customer A,B,C are most worthwhile to me and XYZ are low value customers and therefore let me find ways to service low value customers at a lower cost, through self service channels, reduced customization, etc. or target most profitable customers within each segment for initiatives to increase retention & wallet-share

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Posted by Amandeep Singh Syali at 09:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

SCRUM Methodology: Does the Twenty-Twenty Version of the Waterfall Model Work?

The last month and a half has been exciting! The ardent cricket fan in me has been treated to some rapid fire cricket through the Indian Premier League 20:20 extravaganza. Round about the same time, my project team also started rapid application development using SCRUM, a methodology I would call the 20:20 version of the waterfall model of software development. Interestingly, the word SCRUM also has its origins from the sport of rugby where a “scrum” is a group of people responsible for picking up the ball and moving it forward.

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Posted by Padmini Ramakrishna Talagavaram at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

Infosys-Oracle Blog

March 19, 2010

The Combo for Successful Application Integrations is on its Way!

March 15, 2010

Managed Solution for Staffing Industry

March 09, 2010

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

March 04, 2010

IT - The Strategic Tool for Staffing Industry

February 28, 2010

A diet for your General Ledger system: From “Fat GL” to “Thin GL”

February 24, 2010

IFRS would change a company's financial statements forever

January 12, 2010

India Incs 3 Critical Financial Changes in 2011- will they be winner like 3 idiots

January 01, 2010

Playing the Russian Roulette

December 16, 2009

5 Mistakes Every Future ERP Implementation should make

December 02, 2009

Are you getting the most out of your investment in PLM and ERP?

November 26, 2009

Consistent product master data across the sales front ….today’s necessity!

November 22, 2009

Making the most of your GRC Investment

November 19, 2009

Sustainable manufacturing – The road ahead

October 09, 2009

Lean in Everyday Life

October 06, 2009

Extend Lean To Your After Sales Service Too!!

September 30, 2009

IFRS Implementation in India-Revisiting Fundamentals

IFRS Implementation – Not just an Accounting Change!!!!

Feasibility of "KPO" Outsourcing of High Value Added Manufacturing Processes in Hi-Tech Companies

September 18, 2009

Innovation through Outsourcing in HiTech Companies..Is it Achievable?

September 16, 2009

IFRS - Are you ready for Dual Reporting?

September 15, 2009

Needs & Opportunities - Staffing Industry

IFRS Implementation in India -Train has left station Embark now

September 14, 2009

Understanding Value Stream Mapping and its applicability to your business

September 05, 2009

How Risky is your supply chain?

Capture actionable information from your shopfloor

August 27, 2009

Green Design – A Means to reduce Product Development Costs?

August 12, 2009

An Introduction to Oracle Manufacturing Operations Center (MOC)

August 04, 2009

Best Practices in Handling Uncertainties in Business Requirements in Enterprise Solution Implementations

July 22, 2009

Effective usage of Earned value management.

June 30, 2009

Calling up your customer - Think Twice

June 16, 2009

IT Outsourcing - Recession Survival Kit - Series I

June 10, 2009

Video - Want NextGen Application Integration? Look at Oracle PIPs

June 01, 2009

Customizations to a ERP....

May 17, 2009

Regulated Energy and Utility Market Challenges – Pricing

May 15, 2009

Oracle's vertical integration - A move towards Cloud Computing ?

May 14, 2009

Regulated Energy and Utility Market Challenges - IFRS compliance challenges in Fixed Asset Management processes

April 20, 2009

Unleashing MEA's Potential in Telecom Services

April 01, 2009

Failure of Peanut Corp. of America, what should we learn??

March 31, 2009

Transportation and Logistics market in Emerging economies like India - Glocalization approach needed

March 30, 2009

Going "Lean with Green" through Enterprise Solutions

March 22, 2009

Why Lean may need ERP?

Changing face of EAM in a competitive 'Carbon emission control' environment