Agility by Design - eprentise Blog

Tips for Reducing the Total Cost of Ownership of Oracle E-Business Suite

PDFPrintE-mail

Written by Helene Abrams Tuesday, March 13 2012 (Reprinted for TEChanges March 2012)

The value of an ERP system lies in the promises of better information, consistent systems, and reduced operational costs. With an ERP system, the ability to share data across applications and among different business units translated into more clearly defined business processes. The promise and the value depended on consultants who defined the current state of the business and who had a crystal ball made up of their vast experience to anticipate the future state. Companies counted on their ERP systems to accommodate growth and business changes.

As companies approach 15 to 20 years running the same systems, they are deriving less value from the system that was originally implemented. The number of spreadsheets has multiplied, many are considering a reimplementation, and there are hundreds — if not thousands — of interfaces to systems that perform similar functions, consolidate the data, or translate it so that it is useful to the ever-changing business requirements. The promise of reduced operating costs and consistent systems has resulted in a very high cost of ownership and a loss of business value.

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is an attempt to quantify the financial impact of operating an IT product throughout the course of its life cycle. Usually including software, hardware, and training, TCO is a metric that tries to make the true cost of robust systems tangible. More specifically, TCO generally quantifies application-specific hardware and software infrastructure costs required for support, initial implementation costs, ongoing maintenance, and operational costs associated with how the application is deployed. However, focusing only on the hard costs of ownership ignores the significant reduction in TCO that can be obtained by changing operations and business processes. Companies will be able to significantly reduce the cost of ownership of their Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) by focusing on how the software provides value to the enterprise's operations. Eliminating silos of information, reducing data and process redundancy, and minimizing complexity for management reporting reduces the cost of ownership for the entire enterprise. This article focuses on extending the useful life of an existing EBS environment to accommodate ongoing business changes.

Add new comment

Read more: Tips for Reducing the Total Cost of Ownership of Oracle E-Business Suite

 

11 Reasons Oracle E-Business Suite Projects Fail (And How to Fix Them)

PDFPrintE-mail

Written by Helene Abrams Monday, January 09 2012

As a mission critical system, considerable time and attention should be devoted to maintaining, improving, and optimizing your Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) system. While most tasks are relatively routine in nature, sometimes—either due to organizational changes, the need to upgrade, or due to changes in management and regulatory reporting requirements—a change is needed in your EBS system that requires the initiation of a more complex project.

Even with the best of intentions, planning, and hard work, complex EBS projects can fail for a variety of reasons. Whether you’re planning for an R12 upgrade or reimplementation, completing a post-M&A consolidation, implementing OBIEE or Hyperion, or simplifying your EBS footprint (or more), reviewing and recognizing common Oracle project management failures and their respective best solutions can ensure that your projects succeed in 2012 and beyond.

Here are eleven specific and common reasons why Oracle projects fail, including advice on how to prevent them in advance.

Comments (4)

Read more: 11 Reasons Oracle E-Business Suite Projects Fail (And How to Fix Them)

   

Six Post-merger Integration Steps that Add Value to M&A

PDFPrintE-mail

Written by Lauren Appa Sunday, December 04 2011

In Part I of this two-part series we looked at why nearly 90% of mergers go awry and what must be done to ensure that M&A deals achieve maximum value. As discussed previously, regardless of merger type (coexistence, absorption, or synthesis), priority should be given to customer-facing processes vital for supporting the company's customer service, vendor/distributor relationships, sales, customer support, and order management. 

Focusing only on consolidation of core processes significantly reduces the time, effort, and costs associated with the merger, leverages the synergies of both companies, and increases the likelihood of success. Below, we've outlined a sequence of post-merger integration steps that focus on core processes and can add value to a merger or acquisition:

Add new comment

Read more: Six Post-merger Integration Steps that Add Value to M&A

   

Mergers & Acquisitions: Realizing the Value

PDFPrintE-mail

Written by Brian Lewis Wednesday, November 16 2011

There are few things that generate excitement and speculation like the announcement of a business combination. Almost without exception, the management promise of every merger and acquisition is to increase stakeholder value. However, it seems that this is not what typically happens. As evidenced by a 2008 study by KPMG, 42% of deals do not increase shareholder value. Worse, the same study indicated that 45% of deals actually destroy shareholder value. So with almost 90% of M&A deals failing to deliver on management’s promise of increased shareholder value, it begs the question— what is going so terribly awry? More importantly, what must be done to ensure that M&A deals do in fact deliver the maximum value possible? This article is meant to answer both of these questions.

Add new comment

Read more: Mergers & Acquisitions: Realizing the Value

   

More Articles...

Page 1 of 5

Email Newsletter icon, E-mail Newsletter icon, Email List icon, E-mail List icon Enter your email address to sign up for our Newsletter

Sign up now

captcha
TEChanges - Agility by Design

May Puzzle

David is often referred to as Rainman due to his peculiar ability to effortlessly figure out a certain date's day of the week. He recently displayed this talent when I asked him if there was a conflict with the upcoming Fuzzy Dice Conference and our weekly court-ordered community service. He asked the date of the convention. It was April 20th, 2012.

"Oh, that’s a Friday," he said, effortlessly. "And your sentences have you committed for the next few dozen Wednesdays so you'll be able to go." And of course he was right.

One day a few weeks ago I asked out loud in the office about the date June 5th. And of all people, my brother Tommy piped up and said "Oh, that's a Tuesday."

"That's right," said David.

Well how about Otcober 3rd?

"That's a Wednesday," said Tommy. Then I asked about Christmas Day 2012.

"Oh, that's a Tuesday." David nodded in agreement.

Do we now have two rainmen? Or had Tommy figured something out?

Show solution...

Solution

Here's what was going on. Tommy was using something called anchor dates. And these dates apply to each and every year. April 4th, or 4/4 we’ll call it from now on, June 6th or 6/6, 8/8, 10/10, 12/12, are all the same day of the week, each and every year.

So too are 5/9 and 9/5, May 9th and September 5th. So too are 7/11 and 11/7, and all the above dates are the same day of the week, as is the last day in February, Leap Year or not. And they’re all the same day as January 4th, it would otherwise be January 3rd, but this was a leap year, and that’s changes the anchor day from January 3rd to January 4th.

Tommy also knew that New Year's Day was a Sunday. He was sobered up by then. And he knew it was a Sunday because Christmas was a Sunday in 2011, so New Year's Day is a Sunday, so the Anchor Day for 2012, January 4th, has to be a Wednesday!

So if that's a Wednesday, then 4/4, 6/6, 8/8, 10/10, 12/12, 5/9, 9/5, 7/11, 11/7, and February 29th are all the same day of the week, and they're all Wednesdays. So when I ask for example, about October 3rd, he knew October 10th was a Wednesday, 10/10. So 10/3 must also be a Wednesday. 12/12 is a Wednesday in 2012, so it’s 12/26, which is two weeks later. So 12/25, or Christmas Day, must be a Tuesday.

Success Tips for Oracle Project Management

  • Create a standard for documentation at the beginning of your project, and hold team members accountable for completing documentation requirements as well as keeping them at and above the standards required.
  • Before promulgating user documentation or training, it’s also a good idea to choose a representative from the among the business users base to review materials first.
  • If you are not sure about the resources and budget required, obtain several estimates from people that have experience with the same size and scope of your project.
  • Be explicit, before beginning the project, what internal resources are required for execution. This includes people, infrastructure, hardware, and software.
  • Help the project champion understand the impact your project will have on the organization and how its successful completion will make him or her an internal hero or heroine for supporting it.
  • Break up your project into smaller projects (try for projects that can be completed in 4-6 months, especially early on) to get success and demonstrate momentum.
  • Make sure that your testing includes reports, upstream and downstream interfaces, customizations, enhancements, and workflows.
  • Ensure that comprehensive transition reports and meetings between departing and incoming personnel are completed.
  • Instead of spending time and resources implementing third-party reporting, consider consolidating multiple instances, moving to a global chart of accounts (CoA), and/or standardizing on a consistent calendar.
  • Include governance, risk, and compliance management as part of the project plan.
  • Finally, celebrate the successes. Too many projects focus on defects, failures, or small cost over-runs without looking at the big picture and what was accomplished.

The Analyst Corner

John Van Decker, Research VP of Gartner, states:

"A single chart of accounts allows consistency in financial reporting across the enterprise by standardizing on common metrics and reporting structures, reduces dependencies on a separate financial consolidation system, and significantly reduces the costs incurred with ongoing, complex conversions and translations."

Popular Articles


Copyright © 2012 eprentise.com. All Rights Reserved.   |   Privacy Policy   |   Terms of Service