Special technology report ERP
“
When we look at the proliferation of point applications … we see a need to integrate not only with applications in the same data centre but also with applications that are in the Cloud.”
– Gordon Fleming, QAD.
SOA uptake Norwood’s view is that there have not been any major shifts in ERP
Gordon Fleming, senior executive and chief marketing officer
integration the past two years, “since Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) has been widely considered to be the most reliable way to integrate systems”.
But, what has changed, according to Norwood, is the uptake of SOA in organisations of all sizes. “The technology has proven itself, and middleware toolsets are available such as Epicor Service Connect, to simplify the process of both application-to- application and business-to-business integration, giving IT decisions makers the confidence to wrap legacy applications in SOA wrappers and create solid reliable connections between their applications.”
Although Epicor supports SOA as an integration layer and understands the on- going need for that, Norwood explains that the company has taken a slightly different approach to this question and, instead of integrating a series of best-of-breed components, has moved to offer commonly needed core competencies. These, he says, include CRM, field service, and advanced planning & scheduling as embedded functional processes within the overall ERP footprint. “In many cases this delivers superior benefits to business as they have a single system that looks and feels and works the same right across the business,” said Norwood. “This lets them spend time focusing on the business and not on integrating disparate point solutions.”
Orme also focuses on the SOA theme. “Modern-day system providers who have listened to customer demands have tailored
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MANUFACTURING &LOGISTICS
IT March 2011
their architecture to be SOA enabled, thus allowing integration with other software or mechanisms for data input,” he said. However, he adds that there is still a big requirement for ERP systems to contain the majority of the functionality, as companies do not want costly and time-consuming integration projects that need constant upgrading and maintaining to keep abreast of the latest versions of all the software solutions in place. Orme continued: “The past couple of years have seen products such as EFACS from Exel Computer Systems, which bring together ERP, Supply Chain Management, CRM, Document Management and Field Service Management all within one single integrated product, from a single supplier.”
Fully connected
Burgess considers that businesses now rightfully demand that systems be able to talk to one other. “Technology should live and act as one these days,” he said, “from a CAD system to ERP to Microsoft to document management and so forth.” He added that, in the case of Infor, its ION approach to interoperability is all about ensuring fully connected systems. “Based on the OAGIS standard, ION has really opened up the Infor portfolio to work together,” Burgess enthused. “On a wider industry level, I think it is fair to say that people have been talking open/interoperable systems for a while – but in reality not making much progress.”
Dinesh reflects that there have definitely been successful attempts to move ERP products out of the back-office applications bucket, transforming them into more modern, enterprise productivity applications for users. “This has been achieved by offering user interface upgrades for different packages,” he said, “as well as providing a closer resemblance and integration to front-office systems like CRM, portal applications, touch screen, and mobile interfaces.” Dinesh continued: “The power and information
content within the core ERP systems have also been enhanced by the package vendors, providing out-of-the-box adapters for industry standard warehouse management systems, supply chain management solutions, customer relationship management applications, etc. This kind of integration reduces the 'swivel-chair' syndrome for the end-user, who in the past had to work in different applications in a particular sequence to complete the whole process flow. Now, all the information views and processes can be completed in the integrated ERP.”
Dinesh adds that integration of the ERP applications with other software also has been made simpler with the advancement of Enterprise Application Integration tools. These tools come with standard adapters for the different front-office and back-office applications, eliminating the need to set up point-to-point integration mechanisms. “Most of the applications now provide web services- based integration capabilities to push and pull data to and from ERP systems,” he pointed out.
Turner observes that, in simple terms, integration-related developments are indeed taking place. However, he adds that these developments are only slowly affecting ERP systems as business drivers move companies towards a global business platform that drives standardisation and simplification throughout the enterprise for long-term benefits. This, says, Turner, is being achieved in several ways; including increased speed and capacity of databases such as Oracle’s new Exadata machine, and integration of those databases/middleware and application products. Other facilitators, according to Turner, are pre-built BI applications and better management of data. Additionally, he points out that the use of business process management tools continues to reduce operational costs and increases efficiency; continually defining and leveraging industry best practices. Why is this progress taking place slowly? According to Turner, this is because companies have moved from point- to-point interfaces to integrated packaged systems and to SOA consolidating services, and even to the Cloud – and the rate of
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