Overview
What is Oracle E-Business Suite?
Oracle E-Business Suite is a comprehensive suite of integrated, global business applications. The suite includes cross-industry capabilities spanning ERP, CRM and supply chain planning.
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Popular Features
- Role-based user permissions (72)9.999%
- API for custom integration (69)9.898%
- Accounts payable (76)9.797%
- Accounts receivable (74)8.989%
Pricing
What is Oracle E-Business Suite?
Oracle E-Business Suite is a comprehensive suite of integrated, global business applications. The suite includes cross-industry capabilities spanning ERP, CRM and supply chain planning.
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- No setup fee
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Features
Payroll Management
Provides for pay calculation and benefit plan administration, in addition to managing direct deposit, salary revisions and payroll tracking.
- 8.1Pay calculation(29) Ratings
Pay calculation provides for computation of employee pay with state and federal deductions.
- 8Benefit plan administration(24) Ratings
Benefit plan administration is administration of health insurance plans and 401k plans, and other benefits.
- 8.1Direct deposit files(24) Ratings
Direct deposit is the ability to electronically transfer pay to an employee’s personal bank account.
Customization
This addresses a company’s ability to configure the software to fit its specific use case and workflow.
- 9.8API for custom integration(69) Ratings
An API (application programming interface) provides a standard programming interface for connecting third-party systems to the software for data creation, access, updating and/or deletion.
- 9.8Plug-ins(52) Ratings
A number of third-party plug-ins are available to expand the core functionality of the software.
Security
This component helps a company minimize the security risks by controlling access to the software and its data, and encouraging best practices among users.
- 9.8Single sign-on capability(66) Ratings
The software system supports a centralized authentication mechanism allowing the user to access multiple systems with a single, centrally managed password.
- 9.9Role-based user permissions(72) Ratings
Permissions to perform actions or access or modify data are assigned to roles, which are then assigned to users, reducing complexity of administration.
Reporting & Analytics
Users can report on and analyze usage, performance, ROI, and/or other metrics of success.
- 9.1Dashboards(43) Ratings
Users can create, customize and share dashboards, which provide an overview of the most important metrics.
- 8.3Standard reports(64) Ratings
The software offers pre-built reports with metrics standard to the category.
- 9.9Custom reports(64) Ratings
Users can create custom reports.
General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
Financial management solution, including capabilities for general ledger and configurable accounting
- 9.7Accounts payable(76) Ratings
This includes the automation and tracking of payment to vendors and suppliers, with features such as payment scheduling, check printing, open purchase order alerts, document management, direct ACH bill payment, and vendor records.
- 8.9Accounts receivable(74) Ratings
This includes the management and automation of invoices and collections, with features like statements, invoices, receipts, payment reminders, customer records, auto billing, and refund checks.
- 8.9Global Financial Support(52) Ratings
Account using multiple ledgers, multiple currencies, and multiple entities
- 9.7Primary and Secondary Ledgers(63) Ratings
Record and report across multiple currencies and accounting standards with primary and secondary ledgers
- 9.7Journals and Reconciliations(64) Ratings
Automate and synchronize ledgers and processes
- 9.8Configurable Accounting(54) Ratings
Configure accounting rules and segments for each chart of accounts
- 9.8Standardized Processes(57) Ratings
Centralize financial management to facilitate standardized financial processes
Inventory Management
The ability to track and manage the flow of goods or materials into and out of an inventory.
- 9Inventory tracking(52) Ratings
The software syncs orders and stock to maintain a real-time picture of inventory and supports multiple methods such as LIFO and FIFO.
- 8.8Automatic reordering(37) Ratings
The software can be set up to automatically reorder a good when it falls below a certain threshold.
- 8.9Location management(41) Ratings
The software can track multiple goods across multiple locations.
Order Management
The ability to process orders, and track them from quote to cash.
- 8.9Pricing(50) Ratings
Users can set up complex and unique pricing requirements.
- 8.8Order entry(52) Ratings
Users can enter an order once, and the data flows to all the necessary units such as fulfillment and billing.
- 8Credit card processing(41) Ratings
The software facilitates credit card processing.
- 9.7Cost of goods sold(50) Ratings
The software calculates the direct costs attributable to a finished product, such as materials and labor, and includes roll-up pricing.
- 8.9Order Orchestration(37) Ratings
Define and execute order fulfillment processes for products as well as services on the same order.
Subledger and Financial Process
Revenue management solution including capabilities for subledgers and financial processes
- 8.8Billing Management(46) Ratings
Access role-based billing work area, perform discrete and recurring billing
- 8.8Cash and Asset Management(55) Ratings
Manage liquidity and cash requirements, asset transfers, disposals, reclassifications, and financial adjustments
- 8.9Travel & Expense Management(49) Ratings
Enter expenses from mobile devices, integrate credit card and travel booking, configure policy enforcement
- 9.8Budgetary Control & Encumbrance Accounting(40) Ratings
Control spending at any budget level or time interval
- 9.7Period Close(59) Ratings
Sustain fast close with integrated subledgers, intuitive dashboards, embedded collaboration
Project Financial Management
Project financial management solution including capabilities for project budgeting, cost control, billing and contract management.
- 8Budgeting and Forecasting(33) Ratings
Establish project budgets and forecast future project financials
- 8Project Costing(42) Ratings
Standardize, track, and control costs at all project phases
- 8Cost Capture(35) Ratings
Capture costs including those for procurement, financials or time and labor, including from external systems
- 8.1Capital Project Management(33) Ratings
Track and manage capital asset costs
- 8.1Customer Contract Compliance(25) Ratings
Associate projects or tasks with customer contracts, and lines within contracts, to meet billing terms
- 8.1Project Revenue Recognition(32) Ratings
Recognize project contract revenue in line with accounting policies and regulations
Project Execution Management
Project execution management solution including capabilities for project scheduling, resource management, and team member task management.
- 7.8Project Planning and Scheduling(18) Ratings
Interactive Gantt chart for establishing tasks, durations, and delivery schedule
- 7.4Task Insight for Project Managers(18) Ratings
Project manager visibility into task progress of team members
- 8Project Mobile Functionality(16) Ratings
Capabilities for project functions such as updating and monitoring task progress and timecards from mobile devices
- 7.9Definable Resource Pools(15) Ratings
Definable and hierarchical resource pools of potential project resources
Grants Management
Grants management solution for higher education, public sector, or non-profits with capabilities for managing financial awards for program and project funding
- 9Award Lifecycle Management(20) Ratings
Manage the life of program funding awards from initial funding to close-out
Procurement
Procurement management solution with capabilities for sourcing, contracting, procure-to-pay and supplier management
- 7.9Bids Analyzed and Compared(27) Ratings
Evaluate, compare and recommend across multiple bids in real-time using diverse user selected criteria and graphical analytics
- 8Contract Authoring(26) Ratings
Document authoring with guided navigation, negotiation templates and productivity tools for reviews and collaboration
- 7.9Contract Repository(19) Ratings
Secure and searchable contract repository leveraging standard company language components, structures and formats
- 9.7Requisitions-to-Purchase Orders Integrated(36) Ratings
Create touchless purchases using purchase orders generated automatically per rules from approved requisitions
- 9.7Supplier Management(32) Ratings
Broadly manage and report comprehensive supplier profiles, capabilities and performance; identify bottlenecks; balance allocations, workloads
Risk Management
Risk management solution with capabilities for managing controls, assessing control effectiveness, certifying controls, and addressing deficiencies
- 7Risk Repository(10) Ratings
Idenity, document, and manage business risks in a unified repository
- 8Control Management(10) Ratings
Establish and update risk and controls matrix, control test plans, and instructions
- 6Control Efficiency Assessments(10) Ratings
Assess control effectiveness on criteria such as geography, business unit, compliance requirements, etc
- 8Issue Detection(11) Ratings
Detect and create issues as part of the assessment flow
- 7.1Remediation and Certification(12) Ratings
Create and update remediation plans and certify controls
Logistics
Logistics solution with capabilities for transportation planning, transportation execution, trade compliance, customs management, warehouse management and warehouse workforce management.
- 8.1Transportation Planning and Optimization(17) Ratings
Plan shipments across all modes of transportation via lowest costs/highest service
- 8.2Transportation Execution Management(16) Ratings
Execute and track shipping orders
- 7.3Trade and Customs Management(16) Ratings
Manage duties, tax rates, customs documents, and other data required for products shipped in and to specified countries
- 7.3Fulfillment Management(16) Ratings
Support for multi-channel demand and execution fulfillment processes
- 8.2Warehouse Workforce Management(16) Ratings
Set goals, measure actuals, and analyze productivity for warehousing tasks and activities
Manufacturing
Manufacturing solution for managing manufacturing processes and costs.
- 6.7Production Process Design(21) Ratings
Define data for plant hierarchy, process standards, work areas, calendars and standard operations
- 7.8Production Management(24) Ratings
Centralized critical status information for production supervisors
- 7Configuration Management(22) Ratings
Capture and process customer configuration orders
- 8Work Execution(23) Ratings
Monitor procution status, manage work orders for standard and non-standard production, enforce tight controls on serialized products
- 8.7Manufacturing Costs(24) Ratings
Estimate, plan and monitor costs and variances by plant. Capture resource costs using standard, actual, LIFO, FIFO or multiple costing methods.
Supply Chain
Supply Chain Planning solution with capabilities for planning, performance monitoring, change responses and execution.
- 8.7Forecasting(30) Ratings
Statistically forecast based on historical patterns and sales input, monitor accuracy and estimate new demand
- 8.8Inventory Planning(33) Ratings
Establish projected inventory levels, monitor actual levels and compare with projected levels
- 7.9Performance Monitoring(26) Ratings
Analyze business metrics and compare actual performance to plans, identify issues, prioritize demands and respond to changes
Product Lifecycle Management
Product Lifecycle Management solution with capabilities for innovation management, product development
- 8.3Proposal Management(13) Ratings
Capture budget, resource, and benefit expectations for proposals
- 8.3Product Master Data Management(12) Ratings
Create, classify, and manage product items, BOMs and product changes
Product Details
- About
- Competitors
- Tech Details
- FAQs
What is Oracle E-Business Suite?
Oracle E-Business Suite Competitors
Oracle E-Business Suite Technical Details
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Mobile Application | No |
Frequently Asked Questions
Comparisons
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Reviews and Ratings
(583)Attribute Ratings
- 8Likelihood to Renew10 ratings
- 3Availability2 ratings
- 6Performance2 ratings
- 6.2Usability4 ratings
- 6Support Rating3 ratings
- 4Online Training2 ratings
- 5In-Person Training1 rating
- 6.7Implementation Rating4 ratings
- 6Configurability1 rating
- 7.8Product Scalability2 ratings
- 6Ease of integration1 rating
- 4Vendor pre-sale1 rating
- 6Vendor post-sale1 rating
Reviews
(76-93 of 93)- Agile
- Extensible
- fit for purpose out of the box
- Perfect sustainable financial heart in the midst of SaaS, PaaS agility
- Room for improvement on APIs
- Room for improvement in Enterprise Service Bus support
Well suited: out of the box configurable, extensible solutions
Less appreciated: room for improvement on API level
Oracle CRM best suited for SME
Since the underlying ERP is Oracle R12 EBiz platform, it helps in smoother integration of customer and orders data with the EBiz environment.
- Real time searches within the application are pretty quick as compared to the other widely used CRM tools.
- One challenges with any CRM tool is data segregation and mapping. Oracle CRM inbuilt features helps in merging accounts and contacts which are repetitive in nature.
- Deployment of changes and customization are easy for the administrators of Oracle CRM. Once changes are made and the end user acceptance testing is approved, the changes can be easily migrated to production system.
- Oracle Reporting Engine is quite robust enough to handle any complex reporting requirement.
- From reporting standpoint, running and executing complex reports are time consuming and have some impact on the performance of the application.
- Some of the intuitive features which are present in a CRM like Salesforce are missing. Some of these features include Mobile Apps Integrations, Multiple Layout Views, etc.
- Mass deletion of data needs to be handled from the backend using webservices.
Undoubtedly, one of the most complete and versatile ERPs
- Huge integration between the different modules
- Matrix account plan, based on the concept of flex fields, are much more flexible than the traditional hierarchical concept (once the account department understand the new concept and possibilities)
- Very broad solution, with functionality for almost every area of the company
- Good integration with other solutions complementary to eBS modules
- Responsibilities definition and control can be a nightmare if you have to be SOX compliant and to respect segregation of duties. Specific modules for this task are available from Oracle at crazy prices.
- Taking developments from a non-productive environment to production has a lot of room to improve. eBS doesn’t have a mechanism as other ERPs do, so you need to develop your own tools or think in some other solution.
- When you work in countries with extremely complex taxes and withholdings, such as Argentina and Brazil, standard tax engines are never enough, even with the localization package. So you need to think about (a lot of) extra money to develop customs or to implement local solutions and cope with all the necessities. But I have to admit that the same happens with all the world class ERPs.
Excellent for a multi-national enterprise, with several companies and/or business units, with intercompany-eliminations. Companies should have a certain level of organization, with the same maturity in procedures; on the contrary, it can be extremely inefficient for companies with procedures full of “exceptions”.
Licensing, implementation and supporting costs might be very prohibitive for small companies.
EBS - The truth from the frontlines
- Supply Chain Management
- Costing
- Sales Order Management
- Multi-step outside processing
- User experience improvements across all modules
- Supplier Collaboration improvements
Make Oracle Great!
- Covering almost all the functionalities of Manufacturing cycle.
- Easy for business users to navigate and perform activities.
- GL fundamental is strong enough to cover the accounting.
- GL Complexity. Though it is strong, it's very complicated to manage. Lots of processes involved before getting the final account summary. NetSuite and Workday provide easy method of tagging the account on transactions and provide GL summary without any additional processes in between.
- Revenue Recognition - Not sure if latest versions of ERP address this. But, most companies go with external vendors for recognizing revenue to cover 605/606 standards.
Project Mfg Focus Improvment Needed
- Transactional drill-down
- Configuration
- Project manufacturing and dimensions of blended usage: common inventory + project inventory
- UI
- API completeness
Oracle EBS Overview
- EBS provides for seamless integration of business planning, processes, and activities that increase production, lower cost, and facilitate overall performance.
- EBS provides consistent global reporting from multiple data sources allowing the business to better plan global sourcing, inventory, and replenishment strategies.
- EBS planning and resource capabilities support improved supply and lead-time planning to increase manufacturing efficiency while minimizing inventory investment.
- EBS endows management with real-time knowledge that facilitates quicker, informed operational decisions.
- EBS provides for personalization and tailoring of workflows to meet organization-specific business-specific challenges.
- Although EBS comes with predefined reports, these seldom fit specific business needs from an "out of the box" perspective. Subsequently, customiztion, via code changes, is required.
- EBS does not integrate easily with other applications that an organization may already have in place. Building, testing, and rolling out customized interfaces is timely and an expensive proposition.
- EBS is extremely detailed and structured. Users don't find it "click-friendly" at first and implementation sites find that it doesn't increase employee productivity time until it's well established.
- The 12.x version is Java heavy and uses a lot of html screens. Speed and efficiency can be hampered by limited IT infrastructure at plant locations.
- All In ONE Solution. Oracle during the years have acquired a lot of companies ( Hyperion, Demantra and so on) but all the modules are well integrated. The information are available in REAL Time anytime, everywhere...
- Flexibility: Oracle’s best of breed approach, allows us to have more flexibility to accommodate changing business needs. We are able to accommodate setup changes and report/logic changes in a very short period of time. In the last year we adopted the "Agile" methodology in order to accommodate the business requirements and we discovered a new KILLER Couple. ORACLE+Agile Methodology is FANTASTIC DUO...
- Accounting: Very strong US GAAP accounting Module. With the new SLA engine also an IFRS model accounting can be easily implemented. With the support for Secondary Ledger, the IFRS accounting is automatic once the SLA engine have been setup.
- Open API Hooks: We used a lot of seeded Oracle APIs in order to expand Oracle Standard Functionality.
- Is an expensive ERP Suite to keep supported. Oracle has improved patching with the 12.2 version (Online Patching) that should reduce downtime, but there are still some hiccup caused by applying patches for one issue that causes a "Domino Effect" on other modules. But overall the ONLINE PATCHING is a very big innovation.
- Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is very expensive to be implemented.
1) Is your company "big enough" to have Oracle eBusiness suite implemented?
2) How many IT and Business analysts do you need to keep this "car" up and running smoothest as possible.
3) How much will be my annual fees for licenses and support? There are other companies that can provide support on Oracle eBusiness suite (outside Oracle Inc.)? Are these companies reliable? Do they have specialized knowledge?
3) Have you in place a Change Management process in order to control the functional/technical changes that will happen on the application?
- Oracle 11.5.10 CRM provides good cross-modular visibility. Oracle forms allow users to access entitlements, installed base configuration, contact information, and knowledge bases logically from functional forms.
- Oracle 11.5.10 CRM facilitates great installed base transaction tracking. The detailed level in which configuration alteration and equipment movement is accompanied from cradle to grave is exceptional.
- Oracle 11.5.10 CRM controls and simplifies data tracking during service request creation and throughout the servicing process.
- The Oracle 11.5.10 CRM forms are not easily or intuitively customizable to facilitate speed or ease of use. Custom forms are not supported by Oracle support, but call center functions require throughput velocity that the standard forms do not provide. The forms are also inflexible when it comes to selection-driven information or in-procedure guidelines. Data selections in one field should allow the limitation of data selection in other fields and should permit additional information to be made available for the users of the forms.
- The CRM administrator setups such as groups and territories as well as the dispatch center functionality are painfully slow and cumbersome to use. Not all reasonable filters are made available to ensure that the technician with the right skills is assigned to tasks. More flexibility in this area would improve Oracle 11.5.10 usability tenfold.
- Overall, the main issue when it comes to sales or service CRMs is always a question of flexibility. "When this customer calls, collect x data." "When a service request is created for that site, include information y for the technician." "Remember to ask the caller for z measurement when they open a service request for the other product type." More intuitive and elastic tools for the ebbs and flows of real service situations would certainly put a feather in Oracle's cap.
I would still recommend Oracle 11.5.10 otherwise, as well, but if speed or conditional information were necessary, I would recommend interfacing with a web GUI to allow for a more streamlined and purposeful front-end.
A close relationship also should be considered between service operations and IT to ensure that service exceptions are maintained in a timely and organized fashion.
Revenue Contract approval
- The finance model is extremely helpful in evaluating the revenue contracts.
- We use Oracle for Revenue, GL, Accounts Payable.
- It is nice to have so many depts within the company using various modules of Oracle.
- Provide more training
- Only key in data once and not duplicate times
- Log in should be the same as the global company log in.
Review from a distance
- Uploading information into the tool
- Plenty of data fields to customize reporting specifically for your business
- Reporting
- Not easy to customize for your unique business needs
- Manufacturing/work order is weak
- Job costing needs improvement
Using Oracle from the perspective of consolidating data
- Adding new users is easy.
- It works well for collaborating globally.
- Reporting can be a challenge. We primarily use Excel to create reports but retrieving data can be slow and cause computer crashes.
- Data entry can be challenging. Data upload is the best solution but if manual adjustments are required, copy and paste isn't an option.
Oracle eBusiness Suite - why you should have it on your evaluation list of ERP solutions
The different modules within EBS used by our organization include (but are not limited to):
- Manufacturing - used to accept incoming orders, schedule manufacturing jobs and accept returns (Return Material Authorization).
- Shipping - provide transit-time estimates and interface with third party shippers to enable real-time shipment tracking.
- Supply Chain - forecast demand, manage warehouse stocking and determine manufacturing lead times.
- Sales Representative/Customer Service - interface with customers and provide detailed information on their orders via various tools/modules in EBS.
- Finance - manage payables and receivables organization-wide.
- Human Resources (HR) - manage salary payments and tax/deductions/additions for employees.
- Oracle iStore - provide customers with the ability to place online orders.
- Support for doing business across various geographies - Oracle eBusiness Suite enables strong support for doing business internationally by providing multi-language and multi-currency features. Once a module is implemented, rolling it out to use in a new country/geography, in most cases, involves setup changes to translate messages and text in the new language. Currency conversion happens by default and can be linked to a third-party provider for up-to-date rates. For countries (e.g. Brazil) with specific regulatory and government reporting requirements, Oracle eBusiness Suite provides custom modules that can be used to achieve compliance with local laws and regulations.
- Support for modules dealing with Financials - Oracle eBusiness Suite provides comprehensive support for financial transactions and reports for both Receivables and Payables. Within Receivables, support for various payment methods include credit card payments, ACH, invoice and cash. Pre-configured features allow integration with third-party payment processors that include leading financial institutions (Chase, BofA etc). Integration with new payment processors is well-defined with a list of steps that that need to be performed to achieve this. The eBusiness Suite also allows the organization to asses customers in terms of their financial health and manage risk accordingly.
- Within Payables, abilities exist that allow the organization to manage suppliers, setup custom payment terms, manage purchase orders and match with receipt.
- Similar to Receivables, payments can be made to suppliers/vendors using a variety of payment methods including credit cards, cash, ACH and other methods.
- Strong cross-module integration - Oracle eBusiness Suite modules integrate very well with each other and can provide a top-bottom view of activity in an organization.
- For an order placed by a customer, the flow looks like this: Online orders, via Oracle iStore, feed into Oracle Order Management (OM). OM is used by customer service representatives to track orders from the point of being booked to delivery. Manufacturing uses incoming orders to schedule work orders and updates the order status to reflect this. Shipping picks up the order when it is ready to ship and updates the order to reflect this. Finally, Accounts Receivable, invoices a customer when the delivery of an item is made at the customer location.
- Support for mobile apps - The support for getting mobile-friendly information remains limited although Oracle is slowly releasing apps that address different modules. The released mobile apps address information availability in a piecemeal manner versus the integrated view that say, Oracle Order Management, provides on the desktop. Competitors (like SAP) have an dedicated mobile platform that offers users the ability to extend existing apps and even build custom apps that integrate into their ecosystem. In this day and age, the level of support for mobile applications from Oracle has a lot of room for improvement.
- Heterogeneous technologies - The many modules with Oracle eBusiness Suite uses a mix of technologies ranging from PL/SQL to Forms to JSPs to SOA.
- For an organization to effectively make use of the features offered and be able to customize it as per their needs, it will require the use of development staff that can work with all the different technologies that come with eBusiness Suite. While out-of-the-box integration id well engineered in Oracle, building custom integration points between different modules, particularly when it involves a new module versus a much older module (akin to a legacy system), requires the use of developers/analysts that need to workaround the intricacies of integrating legacy systems.
- Support for user-requested features from Oracle Corp - In using the eBusiness Suite, Oracle offers a support plan that includes the ability for organizations to log change requests for new features that they would like to see in a particular module. While customization is an option that can be used to achieve desired functionality in the eBusiness Suite, Oracle does not support and/or offer development advice or custom functionality. The change request process can yield varying results possibly depending on how many users have requested a particular feature and how "critical" the feature is deemed to be based on Oracle's point of view. I general, the change request process (to add new features) appears to take time our organization has come to rely on customization as the primary manner in which new functionality within an eBusiness Suite module is achieved. I count this a weakness since this gives the impression that Oracle is less nimble in responding to changes in the eBusiness Suite.
- Do I truly need a full-fledged enterprise resource planning (ERP) system?
- Does my business operate across different geographies/countries?
- Is my organization willing to invest a considerable amount of time (up to a year during initial setup) and resources in setting up Oracle eBusiness Suite, especially when there are multiple modules involved?
- Am I willing to hire and maintain staff that will provide the ability for me to customize Oracle eBusiness Suite as dictated by changing business requirements and market conditions?
- Am I willing to continuously upgrade Oracle eBusiness Suite as major updates come from Oracle? This is important since Oracle tends to de-support older versions eventually.
- Am I willing to maintain a yearly support license since this provides the best value for making use of Oracle eBusiness Suite?
- As business expands and/or mergers/acquisitions happen, am I willing take on the implementation tasks that come up with incorporating a new entity onto my existing eBusiness Suite system?
Oracle EBS
- I feel it helps by providing great flexibility to store various employee data based on the needs of all different divisions and countries.
- The benefits module is fairly easy to use
- The whole Oracle EBS is intuitive and easy to customize.
- Just wish there was a better reporting tool that could be used to run employee reports more smoothly.
Procurement Contracts - A set of Terms and Conditions for every PO or Agreement you create
Our on staff lawyer enters all of the terms and conditions required for the specific service including general requirements, compliance language, lien waivers, billing instructions, etc...into one big clause which serves as the contract template. These are update periodically when the need arises
- Each document goes out the door with a specific set of terms and conditions
- All of our service work which we do a lot of has its own unique set of terms and conditions
- Material purchases have their own set of terms and conditions
- Our lawyer has had trouble editing the clauses through WORD
- We have not utilized all of the functionality within the product
- We didn't want our buyers picking and choosing from a library of clauses to build a set of terms and conditions. Instead our lawyer has already done the heavy lifting by including everything in one contract template
You can build a set of questions to help guide your users to select the appropriate template or clause but we elected not to go that route.
EBS Review from Support Perspective
- Order fulfillment, scheduling, and planning. WMS and mobile warehouse operations are very good now.
- Easy user management of responsibilities and access.
- Supports multi-language environments.
- EBS is mix of different technologies that shows its age and history of Oracle acquisitions. The older forms are generally better than the OAF web pages. Its code is a mix of PL/SQL, Java, SQL scripts, with some C, Javascript. It requires Oracle Workflow, Report Builder to maintain basic extensions.
- It is an expensive suite to keep supported. Oracle has improved patching but there are still frequent issues caused by applying fixes for one problem that create issues elsewhere.
- Some of the newer technologies to extend SOA are expensive to implement and license.
Oracle ebusiness Suite kudos
- Ease of use in viewing current/previous pay statements
- Readily accessbile when looking at current W4 elections
- Nice layout when checking what my current employee benefit elections are
- I have not experienced any difficulties with my level of use for this product.
Very stable platform with a few bugs.
- The various modules in E-Business Suite are seamlessly integrated with one another and provide the industry standard for transactional systems. The fact that such a wide range of different modules is so seamlessly integrated is a huge plus.
- In addition, the entire stack has great usability and it's not difficult to customize the suite for specific business needs. Customers can expand base functionality through customizations which are relatively easy to develop.
- The product does well with standard ERP functions like inventory planning, order entry, shipping, purchasing and financials. All of these major business processes have become quite refined over the years and work very well indeed.
- One other area the product does particularly well is the ability to automate processes and eliminate the need for manual labor like data entry from third party systems, or automation of the purchasing and supply chain planning solutions. Some examples:
- Design documents: the Agile Product Lifecycle Management module (which was once a separate standalone product) has a very strong adapter to the rest of the suite. Data from this module used to have to be re-keyed into the ERP system but now this is no longer necessary. With Version12, this is easier than ever. The new version had replaced the old character-based forms with web forms which are much easier to integrate with the Agile system.
- Pricing updates. New pricing schemas used to be re-keyed by hand py product managers. Now, it's relatively simple to write a program that uploads an Excel spreadsheet automatically making manual data entry unnecessary.
- Inventory management: When inventory levels fall below a pre-set level, the system automatically creates a new purchase order during the night and notifies inventory managers in the morning.
- The suite has been around for quite a while at this stage and it is now a very stable platform. Many of the kinks and bugs have long ago been fixed and the platform really is rock solid.
- This depends on how the application has been deployed, but some modules or functionality like E-Business Tax may not be helpful for companies that are not operating in Europe or globally.
- Also, some modules like advanced supply chain planning might be overwhelming for companies that have far fewer products to sell. It's important to understand what modules are needed to support specific business processes. This is not always easy to tell.
- The sales module is not great - obviously the key vendor in this area is Salesforce. Many Oracle customers tend to use Salesforce for Sales and Marketing, or else develop their own modules leveraging the extensive and easy-to-use customization capabilities of the E-Business suite suite. Oracle has been working hard to develop the Siebel platform as a credible competitor to Salesforce, but many Oracle customers (like us) have already deployed Salesforce as the industry leading Sales CRM and are very unlikely to switch at this point. Integration between the two products is quite straightforward and the switching costs are high so there is very little incentive to switch.