Oracle E-Business Suite vs. Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne for Mixed-mode ERP

They say a picture is worth a thousand words—but in my opinion, graphs are sometimes worth even more. Therefore, I decided to let the graphs do most of the talking about the main differences between Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne (JDE) and E-Business Suite (EBS).

In order to do that, I have selected our Mixed-mode Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Evaluation Center because it has functionality from ERP for discrete, ERP for process, and ERP for engineer-to-order (ETO) manufacturing. For those of you who are not familiar with our Evaluation Centers, I should mention that you can use them to compare different software vendors, understand the differences between them, and even use the Evaluation Center data to build beautiful and easy-to-read graphs, like the ones below.

The overall ratings show two very similar products, with almost no difference between each corresponding module.

figure-1.PNG [click to enlarge]

Figure 1. Strengths and weaknesses of the two products for the main sections of Mixed-mode ERP.

The first thing worth mentioning is that for the Financials module, the scores are almost exactly the same, even when we drill down into the subsections and to the lowest level. Some of the subsections, like Fixed Assets, Cash Management, Budgeting, and Project Accounting, are supported 100 percent by both products.

The first important difference between the two products can be found in the Human Resources (HR) module. In the Personnel Management section, EBS outperforms JDE by almost 20 percent, which is mainly due to Management of Rewards (almost not supported by JDE, which offers 1.79 percent support) and Recruitment Management (where the difference between the two products is almost 30 percent).



Figure 2. Strengths and weaknesses of the two products for Personnel Management.

The Health and Safety section of the HR module is not very well supported by either product; each of them seems to cover what the other one doesn’t.



Figure 3. Strengths and weaknesses of the two products for Health and Safety.

There are no surprises for the Manufacturing Management module, except in the Field Service and Repairs section, for which JDE does not support Service Training Management.



Figure 4. Strengths and weaknesses of the two products for Field Service and Repairs.

For Process Manufacturing, the main difference is in Costing, as shown below.



Figure 5. Strengths and weaknesses of the two products for Process Manufacturing Costing.

For the Sales Management module, the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) section shows that EBS offers more support. The case is similar for the section on Reporting and Interfacing Requirements, except that the difference between the two products is smaller.



Figure 6. Strengths and weaknesses of the two products for Sales Management.

The SCM Perspective: 2009 in Review—and What You Can Do to Weather the Storms of 2010

In spite of the 2009 recession, some SCM vendors were able to create traction in the supply chain space this year. From an industry landscape perspective, three events from 2009 will have a more far-reaching impact than any other in this space, primarily because they’re priming the conditions for still more vendor competition and industry volatility in the year to come.

News item: Oracle announced its launch of Fusion Applications, its mishmash of E-Business Suite/PeopleSoft/JDE/Siebel applications)
So what? As though Oracle’s strengths were not already apparent, Oracle has created an application that can potentially combine the best features and functions from its current product offerings.

News item: JDA and i2 Technologies decided to get back together after a year of shilly-shallying.
So what? With the combination of two leading supply chain products, many vertical industries will benefit from one source of supply chain expertise (with the exception of warehouse management, which is a key piece of the puzzle that JDA seems to be missing).

News item: SAP reevaluated its go-to market strategy for the SAP Business ByDesign SaaS business model.
So what? SAP is taking this market very seriously—which not only means that the giant will continue to chase after it aggressively, but also spells the beginning of the end for software as a commodity, as the market is increasingly treating it as a true service.

Even though many analysts have predicted that economy will recover next year, I am not holding my breath. Current market conditions are still so volatile that organizations are facing crisis conditions in every aspect (technology changes, regulations, price/demand fluctuations, etc), meaning that they need to adapt to change quickly and effectively.

What You Can Do to Weather the 2010 Storms

Not everyone has the resources of SAP, Oracle, or JDA to handle change. Here’s what you need to do if you’re not one of the giants:

1. Focus on creating a flexible supply chain that can handle uncertainty and volatility with respect to demand/price changes.
2. Develop operational strategies focused on product branding and customers to provide customer centric models.
3. Create a model of collaboration with partners that will provide end-to-end visibility into the extended supply chain.

Fine, but how? You will need to reevaluate how you are using your technologies. Many organizations can adapt to change by

* using tools such as sales and operations planning (S&OP), linked to advance planning and scheduling (APS) to create a complete view of demand and to determine how pricing needs to be adjusted
* integrating manufacturing, product development, and supply chain applications
* using e-commerce or SaaS models to create an extended supply chain network that allows partners to communicate and collaborate effectively

As Charles Darwin says: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”