The UK Oracle User Group has backed Oracle’s plans to
link together its ERP applications under the Fusion middleware
strategy, but admitted it should have done more to raise awareness
about the scheme.
At the group’s annual conference in Birmingham last week, it was
revealed that only half of the UK’s Oracle users said they
understood the company’s plans for Fusion.
Ronan Miles, who chairs the user group, said, “I regard the lack
of awareness of Fusion as my failure to communicate with users,
rather than Oracle’s.
“The idea of Fusion is unquestionably right, and if it does not
work, the industry will just have to return to it until it
does.”
The lack of awareness about Fusion is likely to worry Oracle,
since by 2008 Fusion is due to link the company’s ERP platforms. As
well as Oracle E-Business Suite, the supplier sells systems it
acquired from PeopleSoft and Siebel. In addition, Peoplesoft
includes the JD Edwards platform, which PeopleSoft acquired before
it was bought by Oracle.
In this year’s UK Oracle User Group survey, 64% of Siebel users
said they felt secure about Oracle’s ownership of Siebel. The other
36% said they felt they were in a fragile position following the
takeover
by Oracle.
And 68% of JD Edwards users said they were positive about Oracle
being their supplier, compared with 10% who were negative.
Miles said, “JD Edwards people felt battered and bruised because
they thought they were only bought [by Peoplesoft] to keep Oracle
away. We are seeing a swing to neutral opinions among JD Edwards
users.”
www.ukoug.org
We want better reporting, say users
Despite the lack of awareness about Fusion among UK users, those
that have engaged with Oracle about its strategy to link ERP
systems are pushing the supplier to ensure it offers a closer fit
with essential business processes.
David Bouskill, chairman of the UK Oracle User Group’s finance
subgroup, said UK Oracle users were at the forefront of a global
user push to ask for fundamental improvements, including changes to
Fusion’s reporting structure. He said special interest groups
within the UKOUG had submitted hundreds of recommendations for
changes, with the finance arm alone submitting more than 700
recommendations on behalf of 205 UK companies.
Oracle has highlighted the business intelligence capabilities of
Fusion, including strategic reporting tools for finance directors.
But many finance users said at last week’s user conference that
their priority was to get more relevant reporting tools to make
possible many basic business processes.
Bouskill said one example among many was the need for a tool to
let staff working on accounts payable identify those suppliers that
have been late delivering goods.
The UKOUG finance special interest group has also asked that
Fusion’s user interface be based closely on the interface that
Oracle acquired when it bought Peoplesoft.
Oracle has yet to confirm when it will announce the final
features of Fusion.
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