The oil and gas industry today is grappling with issues like increasing demand, scarcity of talent, growth in data volumes, and stringent environmental and public policies. Technology promises to shift...
the focus to detecting problems and finding solutions. The need of the hour is to do soul (data) searching and analysis, which will become the new frontier to differentiate it from the rest in this competitive world.
The organization that catches the attention of today’s digital customers through an integrated cross channel experience is likely to get the advantage...
in business. To get the customer experience (CX) strategy right, organizations need what Infosys terms the ‘6C Approach’. An effective CX journey must include a transformational roadmap, which is in line with the vision of the enterprise.
Social CRM is progressively moving into the mainstream enterprise strategies. The perceived ability of Web 2.0 technologies to help people network better, presents a promising opportunity for organizations...
to streamline and innovate the Social CRM value chain. However, a majority of the pioneers, who have jumped onto the Social CRM bandwagon, are still in the process of comprehending the complete picture and are cautious about the adoption approach. Social CRM in the current state is just a beginning of the larger shifts that are likely to take place on today’s emerging directions. This paper aims to project the future outlook of the Social CRM landscape across various industries and briefly discusses the challenges that influence the future strategies of the enterprise CRM.
Oracle Corporation has made significant investment in procurement applications. They combine best practices from Oracle's E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft and JD Edwards, boast of stronger...
sourcing and contract modules and highly improvised usability features. Analytics is now a core aspect of the application than an add-on. In this paper, our experts analyze the new functionalities in Oracle Fusion Applications and explore situations where customers derive benefits and justify its adoption.
Siebel (7.5 onwards and upto 8.1) natively supports two types of Inbound Web Service Security. The first is the WS Security UserName Token Profile Support that requires the user name and password to be passed in clear text format in the SOAP Header Message. The second...
is the HTTPS Security which requires a combination of Server and Client Certificate to perform the authentication. In this paper, our expert proposes another creative approach, beyond the two standard solutions mentioned above. In this alternative approach, an additional level of security is built above the Siebel provided UserName Token Profile Support approach by passing a certain security tag in an encrypted format from an external system to Siebel and then decrypting the tag in Siebel using any standard Encryption algorithm. The paper elucidates the above approach by using Siebel integrated with Java to provide custom encryption using external encryption algorithm AES-128.
What is your view of a product data hub? What are its benefits? Does it help in minimizing data interfacing needs across an application stack? Does it reduce the number of errors...
due to wrongly identifying a product? Does it provide enriched business definition and a single source of truth for your products? These benefits are just the tip of the iceberg. This paper deals with the business benefits of a product data hub and how to navigate the challenges faced while achieving the benefits.
Cloud computing is making waves in the Enterprise package space as the latest trend in Information Technology. Companies are forecasting unprecedented growth in the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) segment. On the...
one hand it opens a completely new market section for Oracle, on the other, SME's benefit from using Secure, Complaint and State of the Art applications leveraging Industry standard business processes which can scale as their business grows. This paper analyzes the economics of having Oracle Applications on the Cloud and its suitability to its customers.
Companies are looking for better control over defining accounting rules and a way out of making manual adjustment entries for events requiring different accounting treatments in different geographies...
or agencies. Oracle addressed both these issues with Oracle Financial Services Accounting Hub, a central accounting rules definition engine. Organizations with investments in Oracle E-Business Suite and PeopleSoft can get significant benefits by implementing the new Oracle Fusion Accounting Hub without having to rip apart their existing Financials investments. This paper provides an overview of Oracle Fusion Accounting Hub and the various approaches for it to co-exist with existing Financials applications.
Organizations need to have an evaluation framework and a standard set of processes to monitor skills and competencies and to assign measurable goals to the workforce. Oracle Fusion Talent...
Management On Demand Co-Existence model is the most viable option for companies wanting to leverage on Oracle Fusion Talent Management functionality without incurring additional cost on middleware infrastructure. With features like Organization Chart, Person Portrait, Talent Review and integrated Compensation Management, our expert explains how companies get all that they need in one single product.
CXOs affirm that ERP in an enterprise's IT portfolio ensures progression in the value chain. On an average, System Integrator's (SI) implementation accounts for 50% of the total cost. To address high costs and low returns...
on investment, SI must constantly innovate their execution model. Conventional models ensure completion; however, time, budget or benefit realizations are compromised. A solution that implicitly controls time, budget and scope, and explicitly delivers benefits is the need of the hour. A hosted ERP Service Management Collaboration Workbench aids SI's and IT managers in enhancing implementation effectiveness.
Acceptance of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) is gaining momentum, the world over. From an Oracle application perspective, fixed assets is a key focus area in IFRS implementation. The solution...
strategy differs depending on the IFRS implementation approach - adoption or convergence. This white paper discusses the challenges encountered in accounting fixed assets, in IFRS and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), and provides a solution strategy. It emphasizes the need for a detailed transition strategy from Oracle e-Business suite perspective.
Over the years, globalization has led to a surge in Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A). A planned long-term IT strategy helps alleviate pain points associated with systems integration during mergers. This paper...
illustrates how organizations can achieve merger synergies for their Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems by following a simple Enterprise Maturity framework. It highlights basic/ high-level maturity ERP models for M&A integrating applications.
The staffing industry must address the challenges of customer retention, staff turnover and recruiter productivity to grow revenues and improve profitability. Infosys' expert proposes an innovative managed solution that addresses...
the challenges and reduces costs on the bill-side and pay-side by integrating front, middle and back office solutions. It combines BPO services with Internet-based architecture and applications to help staffing companies outsource two mission-critical functions - customer billing and candidate/ supplier payments. The solution can be delivered in the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model.
A well structured Chart of Account (COA) is a pre-requisite to extract maximum value from Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). Our experts propose a structured methodology in a four stage project-oriented approach to design and...
implement a new COA. It helps identify the key drivers and design principles to finalize the COA structure and values. Several companies have effectively used our framework. In addition, our methodology has helped manage common causes of failure in major transformational initiatives.
To compete in the Flat World, an organization's business strategies must be aligned with its IT systems. To increase revenue, achieve growth and open new markets, the IT systems and strategies need to address new business...
opportunities and challenges. An agile business process must be supported by an agile IT system. In this white paper, our experts present a Business Process Platform that helps enterprises gain a competitive advantage.
ERP implementation is characterized by aggressive timelines, high budgets and the involvement of diverse teams. Earned Value Analysis is a reliable financial tool to measure the performance of ERP implementations throughout...
the execution process. This white paper highlights how Earned Value Analysis can be used for ERP implementations with a focus on implementation. It reinforces the concepts of Earned Value Analysis, analyzes each phase of ERP implementation and describes Earned Value Management activities, phase-wise.
Enterprises need to adopt lean concepts to eliminate process waste. The eight categories of waste include over production, waiting, stocks and inventory, transportation, motion, processing, defects and information. In this white paper,...
Infosys' expert discusses three types of lean initiatives - process focused, package focused and hybrid lean initiatives. According to him, the application of appropriate lean tools and techniques can extract maximum ROI from an ERP system implementation.
Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)-based systems integrate heterogeneous systems in a cost-effective manner. In addition, they enable an enterprise to rapidly deploy and manage critical business solutions....
As enterprises use SOA-based systems, they have to address complexities to achieve maximum ROI and business flexibility. This white paper introduces Fusion Administrator to ensure the smooth functioning of an SOA-based system.
In Enterprise Solutions projects, where ERP package implementations and rollouts are carried out, inaccurate effort estimate results in huge time and cost overruns. An accurate estimate can be derived by empirical models...
if the correct project size is available. While there is no published industry standard to estimate project size, this paper examines the Package Points-based sizing model for Package Implementations developed by Infosys and the Sizing Tool developed for Oracle eBusiness Suite implementations.
Companies that implement ERP must dovetail Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) activities to extract maximum benefits from ERP investments. The initial phases of ERP implementation can be suitably adjusted...
to introduce process re-engineering goals so that the end-result is a streamlined business process. In addition, the organizational governance structure has to support BPR and ERP transformation. This white paper provides a systematic approach to integrate BPR and ERP implementations from the perspective of process, technology and the organization.
To compete in a dynamic landscape, organizations must modernize their legacy IT applications to reduce the cost of operations and maintenance. At the same time, some complex business processes may have to reside...
in legacy applications due to the inherent risks of porting them. Organizations can use Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) to develop new enterprise solutions on new technologies. SOA enables organizations to continue using legacy applications, without integration and interoperability issues.
Utility companies are adopting ERP products to monitor finances and keep a tight tab on processes. These ERP systems run in parallel to applications, and cater to specialized business areas. Since applications maintain their own sets...
of information, integration issues are bound to arise. To avoid such issues, Oracle has introduced products to make integration simpler. This white paper discusses how Oracle's e-business suite along with utility products caters to the requirements of a typical electrical utility.
Online Supplier Collaboration is one of the mandatory steps to realize benefits in the Procure-to-Pay process. This white paper discusses the approach and the business benefits accrued from supplier collaboration. It focuses on the right mix...
of ingredients for a successful implementation, and presents a business case for online supplier collaboration, implementation considerations and approach, product functionalities that result in business benefits.
Oracle acquired Lodestar - a product for Meter Data Management (MDM) and complex billing for utilities. What are the various applications of Lodestar and how can these applications help utilities in billing and MDM? This white paper explores...
whether Lodestar can be used universally for billing, based on meter data across utilities. It also analyzes how Lodestar can support other industries such as telecom where billing is based on meter data.
Process improvement is critical to the success of any organization. Enterprises must identify the processes which require improvement. The process improvement journey involves identification of Key Performance Indicators (KPI), aligning...
ERP systems with KPI measurement parameters, identifying performance targets, development of performance plans and benchmarking. This white paper identifies the processes to be enhanced, and describes the steps for process improvement.
Enterprises must have a mechanism to know how well they utilize IT. An IT Index can quantify and gauge the effectiveness of IT in an organization. Industry-wide information on infrastructure, business process framework...
and system architecture are used to arrive at an organization's IT Index. IT Index, an intellectual property of Infosys, provides a range of opportunities in consulting, designing solutions, architecting, enhancements, Oracle package implementations, Oracle SOA, etc.
Meaningful corporate expense analysis and reporting has been a major challenge to organizations. In today's dynamic business environment it is important to take business decisions based on real-time data, but operational challenges...
hinder access to the latest data. Laws such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the 8th Directive in Europe have thrust additional responsibilities on officers signing financial statements to ensure the accuracy of the data they are certifying. This paper discusses a solution that can be implemented as part of any Oracle GL Implementation; the solution provides an efficient and robust means of corporate expense analysis and reporting up the management chain, simultaneously conforming to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, 2002.
Organizations have traditionally viewed the enterprise application upgrade initiatives as transactional events of little strategic importance. They often do not have an upgrade strategy or if there is one, it is hardly...
aligned with their Business/ Financial/ IT/ Operational strategies.
Infosys believes that an assessment-based structured approach can help organizations to change this perspective and establish enterprise application upgrade strategy as a critical component of their organizational strategy.
Well-planned, well-executed EAI initiatives have the potential to deliver considerable business benefits to an organization. Why, then, do most EAI implementations meet with limited...
success?
Infosys believes that to derive maximum return from EAI, organizations need to develop a macro-strategy that will map integration efforts to business demands. The focus should be on exploiting the potential of EAI rather than using EAI to tie in existing systems and processes.
As most large organizations have moved over to customized packaged products such as SAP, Oracle, Siebel, i2, etc., the experience gained in supporting them can be leveraged by the shared...
service concept. Shared service, when applied to the production support and maintenance of packaged products like Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) suites, can help achieve much-needed cost reduction and efficiency gains. Shared support service can bring in additional cost savings to organizations beyond the benefits of outsourcing and offshoring.
Mergers and acquisitions, adoption of a global value chain, and expansion to new markets are competitive business growth strategies deployed by most businesses for going global. Program...
Management Office (PMO) is critical to the success of any global program, catering both to the current needs of the organization as well as providing scalability for its future growth and its requirements to go global. This paper highlights the emerging role of PMO for enterprises establishing themselves as global organizations. Global Implementations: The chosen alternative for complete business advantage
Complete HR modules implementations are on the rise due to the focus on workforce excellence. Any modification in the Core HR setup can impact other existing modules...
and business processes. If you are planning to implement complete HR modules over your existing non-HR modules, it is imperative that you conduct a thorough impact analysis based on the Oracle documentation. This would enable you to save ad-hoc costs and streamline your project.
Based on the various HRMS implementation experiences, Infosys shares its views to address your key setup decisions for Core HR module implementation.