Implementing and growing 11i in a small to midsized business David Tomczak, Camelbak Products

Why attend? Business manager planning an implementation Evolving a business system

Why attend? Business manager planning an implementation Evolving a business system You are lost: You intended to be in another session

Case: Camelbak Pre 11i History of steady growth Business processes informal Most analysis adhoc Future growth expected to accelerate Risk: How long could this go on before it would impede the growth

Common dynamics within a small business High % of resources driving products and services Little priority placed on administration Stretched resources (Human and Financial) Informal business practices Business units evolving and maturing

Special challenges to make commitment Difficult cost justification – Don't try to save your way to ROI Cultural change: Requires business to commit to a single suite Will implementation be too distracting for the business? Will maintenance of the system become an anchor?

Reality, Risk and Success Resources are focused on value added efforts Business support and infrastructure can fall behind the business – Growth efforts hampered – Organizational overhead drags down business Provide robust application infrastructure – Ability to add functionality as needed – Integrate your business drivers – Scalability beyond business plan

Why choose Oracle? Eliminate future scalability issues Expansive application footprint Single vendor solution Integration = Risk + Cost Supportability – Oracle Services – Oracle Partners

Less obvious benefits Less obvious benefits The best employees want the best tools Reduce business distraction on future application decisions Proven Oracle dedication the small customers Implement for the company you will be

Implementation – Set goals Create a balanced value proposition – Enhance revenue drivers – Mitigate Risk – Formalize business practices Get the basics first Create a long term vision Be Realistic – Don’t over promise immediate returns

Implementation – Organizational Insure corporate commitment – Get executive involvement – (Steering Committee) – Engage business sponsors – Maintain high profile Internal Resources – Insure business units can support workload Make it quick

Implementation - What they don’t tell you Don’t forget – Basics First Avoid distractions – Monitor business changes Change project team members when needed Look for your next generation of leaders

Implementation - What they don’t tell you Data Conversions – Start early – Balance automated and manual conversions Implementation Partners – Set detailed expectations – Look for industry experience

Implementation - What they don’t tell you Think long term and question everything – Implementers implement – Software salespeople sell – You have to live with it

Lessons learned - Errors Scope creep – If forced, adjust goals and resources Test your integration points more Underestimation of post implementation support – Implementation continues after go-live – Keep learning Let the dust settle before adding on

Now that it is running Business Plan = System Plan – Align the growth plans for both – Realign every 6 months Focus on high impact changes Consistent review and refinement of business practices – Documentation – Training – User Groups

Camelbak Revisited Post 11i (2 years) Business sold for 25x return from original investment (8 years) Doubled revenues Doubled user base Reduced cost of systems support

Follow up questions The following slides recall some of the follow up questions posed by the audience.

Will a “Plain Vanilla” implementation work? Yes, many people do it successfully. Consider using discoverer or other presentation tools for reporting and query. It is wise to avoid customizations to core logic due to long term stability and maintenance cost issues.

I am implementing that is dominated by “personalized systems”. How do I get people to let go and accept an integrated system? Don’t underestimate the users. If they have created special tools (spreadsheets, databases, etc.) for accomplishing their goals you can assume the following: – Creativity – they thought of what they needed – Intelligence – they were able to design it – Dedication – they executed on it – Pride in their work – they are resistant to let go Use these positive traits to your advantage. – Explain to them the benefits of an integrated environment – They may agree – Move forward with your early converts – People will feel pressure to not fall behind Assure that you have executive support. Make that support public. In the face of strong change resistance you may be required to force process change. In some situations you will need to change people’s job assignments.

Our environment is highly customized and not well documented. How do we upgrade? Don’t feel bad. This is not uncommon. You need to choose from the following options depending on how deep you are into this situation. Work the upgrade like as though it was a brand new implementation – The magnitude of this problem is usually not understood until a company is well into an upgrade. If you realize this in the planning phase you will be best suited to act as though it is a brand new system. – Treat everything like it was new. You will most likely find areas where process re engineering back to standard functionality will serve you well. Create the missing business and technical documents. – This option is easiest if the modifications are deep into a few areas of functionality. – It is not well suited for environments where the modifications are wide spread. Account for the extra cost of the implementation including an estimate of the customizations being abandoned. – Use this as leverage to institute better management practices in the future

For further follow-up questions