ERP Blog

Fully Integrated Midrange ERP Accounting Software is Rare

Here is an interesting article on how the mid market ERP financials do not often serve their clients well:

Fully Integrated Midrange ERP Accounting Software is Rare

By Thomas R. Cutler

Few ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems offer a product which is simple enough for small companies, yet complex enough to manage multinational corporations with numerous companies and divisions. The accounting modules must offer a complete financial package which is fully integrated with the other enterprise modules.

Some of the functionality often missing includes:

• Consolidation of selected companies or divisions.
• Multi-currency conversion functionality.
• A “wild card” inquiry function is available for quick report generation.
• Online review of transaction detail.
• Reports that allow for functional and easily modifiable documents.

Read the whole article here…

Oracle Apps Unlimited

The latest word out of Oracle is that on January 31 and February 1st and in cities around the world, Oracle will host launch events for an unprecedented five new releases:

Oracle’s Siebel 8 – the global leader in CRM software
Oracle’s PeopleSoft Enterprise 9 – the extended value release for HCM
Oracle’s JD Edwards EnterpriseOne 8.12 – the industry release
Oracle’s JD Edwards World A9.1 – the future-ready release
Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 – business applications for the enterprise

Essentially, there will be five New Releases of products on Six Continents in 24 Hours. This will be an unprecedented event.

All of these software have undergone significant upgrades, including better SOA middleware, horizontal and vertical functionality improvements, and improved user interfaces. Most significant is the upgrade of JD Edwards World product. This is the first major upgrade in many, many years.

These new versions are sure to create a stir in the competitive ERP environment.

Link to the Oracle Announcement

Discrete vs. Process ERP Software

Discrete vs. Process in ERP
by Chris Shaul

One of the saddest things is a manufacturer who chooses an ERP software system that does not a fit with what they do. For example, a chemical producer who selects and implements software designed for a type of company which manufactures solid objects such as furniture. There once was a company that provided consumer packaged goods to the convenience marketplace who selected fish disassembly software. These are obvious mismatches. But the specifics may not be clear.

There are two types of manufacturing. There is discrete manufacturing, or a company that assembles products from widgets. There is also process manufacturing, or companies that blend liquids. Process manufacturing companies process formulas or recipes. While the majority of manufacturing is discrete (automotive, aerospace, or anyone else who builds component parts), there are a select group of manufacturers who are process manufacturers. These include food processors, cosmetics, chemical producers, paints and coatings manufacturers, and anyone else who deal with liquid or batch produced products.

What makes process manufacturing different from discrete? Process manufacturing uses formulations or recipes. A discrete manufacturer uses Bills of Materials (BOMs). A discrete manufacturer assembles along a routing, whereas a process manufacturer blends in a batch.

There are companies who operate in both environments and are often called mixed mode manufacturers. These manufacturers need both a process and discrete manufacturing system.

So what sort of ERP system works with these types of manufacturing modes? This can only be answered by looking at the markets these software companies serve. There are certain products which are clearly process, such as Batchmaster Software or Ross Software. These software deal with formulations, batching, and the other specific issues around process manufacturing. There are other software systems that are clearly discrete such as DBA software, Intuitive, or Made2Manage. These handle Bills of Materials, Routings, and specific discrete requirements. These are all systems that serve their niche.

When you get into larger systems, there is not a clear cut solution as they operate in Mixed-Mode. For example QAD software can handle both discrete and process requirements. Others that can do the same are MS Dynamics AX, Deacom, Ramco, and of course the Tier 1 players SAP and Oracle.

So the real lesson is to understand what you do first before looking at software. Are you a processor of liquids, or do you assemble individual items to create an assembled product? Knowing this will go a long way to help you properly choose software that fits you like a glove.

Related Article: the-top-10-process-manufacturing-erp-software

~~~~
Chris Shaul is an ERP Consultant and a regular contributor to ERPandMore.com

ERPandMore site update

We would like to announce a few new features that have been added to the site:

1. ERP and CRM News – Now you can get ERP and CRM news. Visit the links to these two topics!
2. ERP Benefits page – A new page listing ERP benefits and why people choose ERP.
3. ERP ROI page – This page will help you to determine areas for ROI justification

The benefits page and the ROI page are both a work in process. We will continue to build these pages to provide assistance to your next ERP project.

Gartner’s Magic Square to vanish?

According to Frank Scavo, a technology blogger, a source has informed him that Gartner’s Magic Square will no longer be prepared by the pundit group. For years this has been a source of analysis and vendor promotion. Who is a leader and who is a follower in the mid-market space is always the contested debate.

You can read more at http://fscavo.blogspot.com/2007/01/gartner-retires-mid-market-erp-magic.html

Interest in SOA, SAAS Expected to Grow in 2007

There is an article in Eweek about SOA and Software as a Service (SAAS) that discusses the Enterprise vendor’s direction for these two initiatives. From our observations, most middle market companies are not interested in these approaches as they are still struggling with will the software work for our business. Yes, the underpinnings of the ERP are important, but not as much as functionality.

So are SOA and SAAS two flavors of the month? To a certain degree yes. There is so much media hype about how important SOA is to business, yet the key differentiators in ERP selections is still functionality. Are SOA and SAAS important for the future of Enterprise Applications? This has to be yes. Oracle and Microsoft are still just trying to get there various products to talk to one another. They need these two technologies to make a viable “fused and green” product.

But in the end, the customers do not care about these two technologies. They care about something even more basic.. will it work for my business!

(We welcome your comments on this topic! Post them below or in our discussion forum.)

Here is the Eweek article:

Interest in SOA, SAAS Expected to Grow in 2007
By Renee Boucher Ferguson
December 26, 2006

For companies that use enterprise applications from the leading vendors, 2007 to some degree wont offer many surprises. The top vendors—SAP, Oracle and to some degree, Microsoft—will continue investing in service-oriented architectures and will grow their investments in software as a service, according to industry observers.

All three companies will continue their investments in their respective next-generation ERP enterprise resource planning suites, with an underlying middleware platform: mySAP ERP, Oracle Fusion and Microsoft Dynamics.

SAP, of Waldorf, Germany, will offer its first completely SOA-based suite of applications for the mid-market, and Microsoft, of Redmond, Wash., will release Titan, its multi-tenant CRM suite for the mid-market. Both offerings have implications for end users. SAPs hosted suite—the formal announcement is expected in the first quarter of 2007—could impact the mid-market, said Jim Shepherd, an analyst with AMR Research.

“SAP will announce a full mid-market ERP suite that is entirely SOA-based and all new code,” Shepherd said. “The question is if it is enough of a game changer where the mid-market buyer says, I was going to buy [new software] this year, but SAPs suite is not available until 2008. Ill just wait and see. It could freeze the market. We’ve seen it happen before.”

Read the complete article here…

2007 – Spending on Manufacturing Software to Rise Strongly

According to the Institute for Supply Management:

Spending by manufacturing companies on technology — particularly ERP and manufacturing software and integration tools — is poised to accelerate through 2007, stimulated by business issues such as globalization and the need for operational efficiency, according to three recently released reports.

This is good news. Especially for the ERP space. This month, being the year end, vendors are reporting that they are very busy. For a while, there was a drop in activity, but it seems that people are back looking at enterprise software again, especially in manufacturing.

ERP Software as GDP Indicator for China

ERP Software as GDP Indicator for China
By Frank Mulligan, Talent Software
The rollout of international level enterprise software in China has, over the
past 10 years, tended to follow a definite pattern.

The first phase began
in the early 90’s and only saw large scale systems such as SAP and Oracle. These systems
were rolled out in the US first. Closely after the US came Europe followed by
the first world markets such as Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan. Finally, China
was rolled out based on business models developed in the other countries. And
often there was no rollout at all, at least not for a few years
more. Before the 90’s, of course, international companies in China were
unlikely to get any of the kind of software and had to rely on manual systems.
Aaah, the good old days….. By the end of the 90’s China was on a par
with small first world countries like Singapore. The volume of software was
increasingly higher than these small markets but with its huge distances China
still posed a challenge. Now you began to see the emergence of software
specifically for HR and local systems like Platinum emerging. Another
five years on and things have changed again. I note with interest the
recent announcement by Adidas Group that they will roll out an e-recruitment
solution from a company called Jobpartners. This company is not at all known to me but
obviously they have something if Adidas is rolling them out
worldwide. What got my attention was that the rollout would be
simultaneously in Germany, the US, Hong Kong and Greater China. So now we are on
a par with a multinational’s HQ country and the US. Other countries will have to
wait and they don’t even get a mention in the press release. China has really
arrived. As if to emphasize this point, a report by Kevin Wheeler Global Recruiting
Trend 2006, informs us that Chinese is now the number one language, besides
English, for Applicant Tracking Systems(ATS). It ranks alongside German as the
second language of choice for ATS’s that are installed on a world-wide basis.
This tells you a lot about the installed base of ATS’s globally. Sometime
you find alternatives to GDP figures in surprising places.

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