Envisage of the JDE System – Fusion cuts on an old friend

A lingering question on the minds of many customers investing in the JD Edwards is about its future. With the introduction of Oracle’s very own ERP platforms like the E-Business Suite, companies are beginning to doubt their relationship with the JD Edwards software. Ephlux, with its experience in enhancing and integrating the JD Edwards system, looks into the crystal ball to tell you what’s ahead.
History Lessons First
Before getting into what the future holds for JDE, let’s study how its past has been:

• JD Edwards was founded March 1977 in Denver, Colorado
•  It was purchased by PeopleSoft, Inc. in 2003.
• PeopleSoft, in turn, was purchased by Oracle Corporation in 2005.
• Oracle continues to sell and support EnterpriseOne and World ERP software line.
• Oracle enhanced all their current ERP platforms, including Oracle’s own E-Business Suite (EBS)
• Oracle introduces Fusion Apps and Fusion Middleware at the OpenWorld 2007

 Fusion Apps Trigger Doubts for JDE

With the introduction of Fusion Apps, the JD Edwards clients, customers and consultants became wary of their dependence on the JD Edwards software, largely with respect to its long-term existence. Some insight into the Fusion Apps and Fusion Middleware will make the picture clearer as to why it caused a stir in the ERP Market:

1. The basic architectural element of the Fusion apps, the BPEL (Business Process Execution Language) fuses the object oriented code, thus producing the optimum business flow for each customer – it’s related to the processing option concept in JDE.
2. The user interface of Fusion Apps is very efficient, guiding the user to the work that has to be done.
3. It’s closeness to the EBS, in terms of the database design and the business rule design – rendering it different from JDE.

Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle Corporation spoke on this concern and subdued the rising storm of doubts with these words:

“…we have an extremely satisfied group of JD Edwards customers and our intent is to continue to invest in, enhance and improve that product line … and simultaneously giving you a graceful bridge so if you chose to move to Fusion this year or ten years from now … you have that option. But we’re certainly not going to induce you to move to Fusion by de-investing in JD Edwards. That’s something we’re going to invest in this year, next year, five years from now, ten years from now … that’s a very important and strategic product line for us.”

What earns JDE its Goodie Points?

Having worked with the functional consulting, techno-functional consulting, JD Edwards development, integration and CNC Administration for quite some time now, Ephlux believes in the sound future of JDE too. Some of the reasons why the Ephlux team trusts the uniqueness of JDE are:

1. JDE has a very low Total Cost of Ownership – the Fusion Apps are still underway to come up with a similar or better TCO.
2. JDE’s Processing Options—runtime switches that change what an application does without any coding by the customer. The flexibility of features like Order Activity Rules and Processing Options are quite valuable, which a business analyst or power user can activate in an unlimited number of parallel combinations.
3. JDE’s Vocabulary Overrides—allow customers to change the field labels at the system or application level.
4. JDE’s Category Codes – UDCs (user defined codes) with the separation of the business logic from the presentation logic

 
Back to the Future

Oracle will definitely keep tuning its Fusion Apps and release Fusion Middleware solutions that will attract clients, customers and partners alike – making them opt for Fusion over JDE. This may happen in the future – but not the near future by any means. According to us, JDE has a strong base, a low TCO and superb flexibility that will keep it in everyone’s good books for a few more decades at least.
As these questions trouble the minds of many, Ephlux offers a soothing set of integrated solutions based on the JD Edwards system. How long do you think it will take for Oracle to release all the core Fusion applications? Until then, are you willing to benefit from the great prospects that JDE offers amidst the air of doubts?