Infosys-Oracle Blog

Oracle and BEA- The Real Fusion

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 12:32:55 +0000

Three years back Oracle concocted Fusion middleware to integrate and merge all its key enterprise applications into a high quality Fusion Application. Who would have thought that even Fusion middleware will undergo further Fusion? Acquisition of BEA Systems last year has enabled Oracle to position itself as the strongest in providers of middleware and java technologies for enterprises. Last two quarters we have seen a sea change in Oracle’s middleware strategy for most of its customers. Ambiguity and turbulence generated in customers and solution providers due to overlapping seem to be fading now. 2009 is expected to bring better understanding of the strategy of Oracle and its right adoption.

ERP for SME – why and why now?

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 11:49:48 +0000

For many the word ‘ERP’ conjures up an image of an extremely high priced and complicated set of applications that only a few understand and whose services only big organizations can avail. Over the last many years that I have been working as an ERP consultant I have come across many such instances wherein the managers of SME company are wary of ERP and ask ‘Can it be implemented for a small company like ours?’

With the present economic recessionary environment Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) which have been running on very thin bottomline must look at various avenues to reduce their costs and increase the operational efficiencies. The business applications provided by various ERP packages have over the last few decades evolved from just being a transactional system to one that provides functionalities built around industry specific best practices and standards. Notwithstanding the benefits an ERP may provide the IT and business executives of SMEs face the challenge of convincing the stakeholders that this is an investment towards an ability that provides better productivity which would help lead to better profitability, market share and / or customer service.

Operational Excellence Metrics – Implementation Considerations

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 05:52:22 +0000

Past couple of decades manufacturing organizations have focused on improving the quality of their business process to achieve operational excellence. ERP implementation is seen as an opportunity to re-engineer the existing business process, define / review Operational Excellence Metrics and ways to measure these metrics.

Leveraging Oracle SOA For A Regional Health Information Organization (RHIO)

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 03:52:28 +0000

Details of the successful SOA implementation using Oracle Fusion middleware for a RHIO.

Health Information Exchange (HIE) is a way to electronically make personal and medical information securely available among doctors, hospitals and other health care providers when it is needed for care. A secure electronic HIE allows patients to make sure their health information is available when they need it while seeking medical care or treatment. HIE enables authorized physicians and other health care providers to share a patient's clinical results across institutional boundaries.

Client utilizes a healthcare industry standard, which is based on XML, that could be easily consumed by other systems. Client also wanted to expose internal services encapsulating the data repository to external world so as to be easily consumed by other systems.

Case for a unified efficiency metric

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 07:30:04 +0000

In the current business scenario, manufacturing businesses are under pressure to outperform the prevailing economic trend. There is a need for a broader organizational perspective/metric that needs to be taken into account. Without this, it would result in the transfer of, if not addition of overall ‘waste’ to the organization.

Troubled Times? Remanufacture

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 03:38:30 +0000

Typically in the automobile industry, there is more wear and tear given the fact that mechanical parts are involved. So whenever we have a faulty engine, what do we do? We either send it back to the manufacturer (if it is within warranty) or go to a service mechanic. And when it is beyond repair, we scrap it (normally we buy it from a dealer who then takes custody of the old engine).

As companies struggle to cut costs in a dwindling economy, many of the automobile manufacturers have resorted to what we call as ‘Remanufacturing’.

How Quick can Oracle’s PeopleSoft be Implemented

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 11:55:31 +0000

Peoplesoft like any other ERP implementation involves huge and concerted effort and intricate planning from Project initiation to Go Live. Implementation in Less time translates to Less Cost for the customer. This assumes more significance in these times of recession where customers are seeking for more value for money and quick returns on investment.

Is Perfect Estimation Achievable

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 06:04:03 +0000

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.

Standardization – What is required?

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 03:16:42 +0000

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.

Operational Excellence in Recessionary times – An imperative or a distraction?

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 10:34:23 +0000

Tough times call for tough measures and that is what companies today are doing as a reaction to the recessionary conditions that have hit economies the world over. Every other day, newspapers and newscasters greet us with layoffs, impending bankruptcies, bailouts and other such grim news. Manufacturing companies, naturally, are not immune to the crisis afflicting financial companies. They are being indirectly hit by shrinking consumer demand and non-availability of easy sources of funding.

Challenges in Demand Management in Recessionary Times

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 04:22:01 +0000

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

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

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 03:18:01 +0000

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.

Redefine your measurements to stimulate operational excellence

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 15:26:49 +0000

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.

Is this the right time to go aggressive with online Retail Sales ?

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 01:08:45 +0000

Economy is still in the midst of a financial credit crisis, consumer spending is slowing and every stock market move up is followed by a corresponding move downwards. Are these tough times really the time to aggressive to go online with Sales? I think so, isnt that what the ERP packages were supposed to be ready to deliver?

R12 Upgrade - What's in it for Retailers?

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:11:59 +0000

Most Product companies flourish by rolling out newer versions every now and then. Most versions are mere bug fixes, is there a difference then in the fusion enabled Oracle R12 version, especially for Retailers who have been long waiting to get an integrated suite of applications to run their business!