Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
for all countries. This is difficult when implementing Greece and Italy amongst other
countries. We recommend having at least some roll out waves, where you implement the
more difficult countries in a later stage where you have the experience from the previous roll
outs.
Language skills of the delivery team
If local language is not available within the customer facing delivery team, the fiction loss and
expectation discrepancies become a risk to the success of the project. If consultants speak
the local language, customer acceptance is higher and the work delivered is more efficient.
From an overall project perspective, an expensive but high skilled multi lingual consultant
saves more costs when doing European Roll outs.
Complexity of European Roll outs of the Oracle E-Business Suite 11i and R12 2009 Page 56
Global Accounting Engine
GAE is required for countries such as France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain in Oracle
Release 11i. This increases the time and complexity of implementing Oracle.
SAB 101 Revenue Recognition
As part of the GAE, European Implementations face issues and enhancements regarding
better Compliance with revenue recognition rules such as (SAB 101). This has also to do with
tighter revenue recognition rules and the potential risk of overstating revenue.
VAT Compliance Issues
As part of the GAE, European Implementations face issues and enhancements regarding
country specific VAT compliance requirements.
Commissionaire Accounting
As part of the GAE, European Implementations face issues and enhancements regarding
country specific commissionaire Accounting requirements.
Complexity of European Roll outs of the Oracle E-Business Suite 11i and R12 2009 Page 57
DATA PROTECTION
Developments of a frontier free Internal Market and of the so called 'information society'
increase the cross-frontier flows of personal data between Member States of the EU. In order
to remove potential obstacles to such flows and to ensure a high level of protection within the
EU, data protection legislation has been harmonised. The EU Commission also engages in
dialogues with non-EU countries in order to insure a high level of protection when exporting
personal data to those countries. It also initiates studies on the development on European
and international level on the state of data protection.
Data protection is highly developed in the EU. The central piece of legislation is
Directive 95/46, which regulates the protection of individuals with regard to the processing
of personal data and the free movement of such data. Implemented into national laws, the
Directive applies to all EU Member States as well as to Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
Regulation 45/2001 lays down the same rights and obligations on the level of the EC
institutions and bodies. It also establishes the EDPS as independent supervisory authority
with the task of ensuring that the Regulation is complied with.
Country Link
European Union www.edps.eu.int
EU Directives http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/fsj/privacy/law/index_en.htm
Data Protection Guides
per country
http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/fsj/privacy/guide/index_en.htm
Estonia www.dp.gov.ee/
Greece www.dpa.gr
United Kingdom www.ico.gov.uk/
Latvia www.dvi.gov.lv/
Lithuania www.ada.lt//
Austria www.dsk.gv.at/
Poland www.giodo.gov.pl/en/
Slovakia www.dataprotection.gov.sk
Complexity of European Roll outs of the Oracle E-Business Suite 11i and R12 2009 Page 58
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Get executive support
Given that you have decided to implement Oracle Applications, this is probably the last time
you will replace your legacy systems in your countries unless major changes such as spin
offs, takeovers or other non system related changes occur. Any future changes are likely to
be enhancements or upgrades to the chosen platform. Investing in an ERP solution is a major
commitment, hence you must understand the true significance of what you have taken on.
Not only the top corporate and European Management must stand behind the project, but
also the country management needs to be in line with the executive sponsorship. If this is not
granted, the project will fail. Senior executives approve the budget and provide the focus
across all business units to negotiate compromises and make cross business integration
happen.
2. Keep it simple
Keep focusing on delivering specific business objectives. Consider quick wins and critical
mass. Do implement countries such as Slovakia, Poland, Baltic countries before Greece or
Italy. Never implement Greece in the beginning of a project, i.e. 2
nd
or 3
rd
country in a roll
out. You must have enough experience and lessons learned from the previous rolled out
countries before implementing Greece, Italy, Spain and Poland. It is recommended to
implement Greece always as the last country in Europe. Keep it simple. Keep it short. Keep it
focused.
3. Start with the Processes
Processes are often the key challenge in implementations and the most impacted area of
change. Apply metrics to improvements in these processes, not the system. Start with the
processes in the implementation and highlight the country specific parts. Do not think of
Oracle Application as a software application think of it as a business initiative whose goal is
to streamline, redefine or otherwise modify key business processes. Identify gaps between
standard Oracle processes and country specific processes. Ensure that gaps can be met with
an accepted manual workaround, avoid extensive customizations.
4. Become Business Driven
Most Oracle Applications implementations are founded on detailed business cases which are
frequently thoroughly researched and reviewed. However, these documents rarely see the
light of day after the capital expenditure approval. Business executives must take ownership
and play a leadership role in the Oracle Applications initiative to avoid gaps between intent
and reality. Due to the fast change and ongoing acquisitions in todays business environment,
it is vital that the company knows who owns which part of the project and that change is
communicated well. Therefore, managing the benefits means also managing changes in the
organization, which may affect the attainability of promised benefits (positively or negatively).
I would recommend that the business case is treated as a living document and used as an
effective project management tool. Scope management needs to incorporate the effect on
benefits as well as the effect on cost and time for each single European country roll out. The
business case document needs to be re-evaluated at major milestones, i.e. going live or a
European country, restating the expected benefits as well as the expected costs.
5. Involve Users Early
The local users know the current processes and not just the obvious, typical Oracle standard
scenarios. They also know all of the work-around for scenarios that happen only once a day,
week or month. It is vital, that you get their knowledge and buy in, and the earlier you
Complexity of European Roll outs of the Oracle E-Business Suite 11i and R12 2009 Page 59
include them in the development, the more successful you will be.
6. Hire Real Package Experts
Many Oracle Applications projects run into difficulty because the wrong people are allocated
from the organization. Finding experts, internal or external, who really understand the ins and
outs of Oracle Applications will save time, avoid mistakes, and make the whole process less
stressful. For European projects, the consultants must know the different local processes,
localizations, legal and statutory requirements, languages and have at least multiple
European roll out experience.
7. Recruit Real Business Experts
How can you manage the change effectively? Many organizations underestimate the impact
that their European Roll out will have on people, roles, required skills and the organizational
structure as a whole. For the Oracle Applications roll out to be successful in Europe, you need
people who know how to apply the tool to your business and how to interpret the data that
comes out of it. As this is different from every single country in Europe, hiring people from
outside Europe for functional or technical roles, such as India or China, is professional suicide.
For European Roll outs, Russian developers are better suited than developers from overseas
countries. A tool in the hands of a skilled craftsman can produce a masterpiece, but the tool
is not the talent.
8. Train Users Well
Members whose Oracle Applications initiatives failed point to lack of end-user training as the
key critical missing element. Though enthusiasm is high when the project begins and the
dollars flow, do not let the weariness of a long implementation overshadow the need for local
training. If this training is held in the local European language of the country implemented,
the better. The benefits will outweigh the investment.
9. Use Reliable Technology and be aware of the organizational impact
Many organizations resist the level of integration delivered and encouraged by Oracle
Applications and attempt to retain the existing organizational structure. So it is not only about
technology, it is also about embracing integration. Avoid functional departments to retain as
they are and senior management roles to remain unchanged. Integration will challenge the
boundaries between traditional functional departments and will place information directly at
the fingertips of operational staff, thereby reducing the reliance on administration support
staff. I recommend considering significant changes to your organization structure and
management roles in order to extract the maximum benefits from the new Oracle system.
When choosing a software package, you need to ensure that the package is scalable, reliable
and flexible. Since your system is deployed to manage mission critical processes, you need to
run it from a single instance and not having multiple environments. Also you need to have a
trustworthy and open culture regarding accessing and managing test and production systems.
If the system or access fails, regardless of technological or political reasons, the business
fails. Its that simple.
10. Outsource with care
Always plan the end of the project before you start. Many organizations fail to consider the
long term implications of introducing Oracle Applications until the end of the project and
thereby degrade the outcome of the project. Outsourcing is often seen as a cost saving
option for ERP initiatives, but be careful. When using the short minded cost saving approach
of hiring low cost technical labour, i.e. from India, the reality will show the opposite.
Problems can emerge if the relationship between the outsourcing and the in-house team is
not extremely well defined. Delivery failures and delays are happening when poor skills are
provided from the outsourcing company, which is often the case when doing European roll
Complexity of European Roll outs of the Oracle E-Business Suite 11i and R12 2009 Page 60
outs. It is an illusion when you think that you can rely on cost savings from cheap overseas
labour. Also, the cost of know how transfer from the functional team, the control of the
deliverables, the correction runs (average 5-7 runs for 1 problem to fix) and the time doing
this will increase the cost of a project. On an average, projects using this approach have
duration and cost excesses of 300%. To avoid finger pointing, clearly document the
anticipated interfaces, hand-offs and deliverables.