In today’s fast-paced business environment, efficient procurement processes are essential for maintaining a competitive edge. Organizations must manage a myriad of products and services, ensuring that they are sourced, purchased, and delivered efficiently. Oracle Product Data Hub (PDH) Cloud and Oracle Procurement Cloud are two powerful tools that facilitate this process. A critical component of this integration is item classification, which profoundly impacts procurement activities. In this blog, we will explore the impact of item classification in Oracle PDH Cloud on Oracle Procurement Cloud, along with practical examples.

Understanding Item Classification in Oracle PDH Cloud

Oracle PDH Cloud is a comprehensive product information management solution that serves as a central repository for all product data. One of its key features is item classification, which allows organizations to categorize items based on various attributes such as type, usage, and specific characteristics. This classification system helps in organizing, tracking, and managing products more effectively across the enterprise.

Item classes in Oracle PDH Cloud can be defined using multiple criteria, such as:

• Product Type: Finished goods, raw materials, components, etc.
• Usage: Consumables, repairable items, capital goods, etc.
• Industry-specific Attributes: Chemicals, electronics, pharmaceuticals, etc.

By leveraging these item classes, businesses can ensure consistent and accurate classification of all items, which is critical for effective procurement management.

Impact of Item Classification on Oracle Procurement Cloud

Oracle Procurement Cloud leverages the data provided by Oracle PDH Cloud to enhance procurement processes. The classification of items plays a crucial role in several aspects of procurement:

Streamlined Supplier Management:

• Proper item classification enables procurement teams to categorize suppliers based on the types of products they provide. This facilitates more targeted supplier management and helps in establishing specialized supplier relationships.
• Example: A manufacturing company classifies its items into raw materials, spare parts, and office supplies. Suppliers of critical raw materials are managed with rigorous quality checks and regular performance reviews, while suppliers of office supplies are evaluated based on cost-effectiveness and timely delivery.

Efficient Sourcing and Bidding:

• Item classification helps in the efficient sourcing of products. By categorizing items, procurement teams can develop tailored sourcing strategies for each class of items.
• Example: An electronics company classifies items into components, finished products, and packaging materials. When sourcing microchips (a component), the company invites bids from specialized suppliers with expertise in semiconductor manufacturing, ensuring competitive pricing and high-quality standards.

Optimized Purchase Order Management:

• Accurate item classification ensures that purchase orders are managed more efficiently. Procurement teams can create purchase orders based on specific item classes, improving order accuracy and fulfillment.
• Example: A retail company classifies its inventory into seasonal items, regular stock, and promotional goods. During the holiday season, purchase orders for seasonal items are prioritized to ensure timely stock availability, while regular stock orders are managed on a rolling basis.

Improved Contract Management:

• With clear item classification, procurement teams can develop and manage contracts that are specific to different classes of items. This allows for more detailed contract terms and conditions, tailored to the unique requirements of each item class.
• Example: A pharmaceutical company classifies its items into active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), excipients, and packaging materials. Contracts for APIs include strict quality control measures and compliance with regulatory standards, while contracts for packaging materials focus on sustainability and cost-efficiency.

Enhanced Spend Analysis and Reporting:

• Item classification provides a structured way to analyze procurement spend. By categorizing items, procurement teams can gain deeper insights into spending patterns, identifying opportunities for cost savings and strategic sourcing.
• Example: A food and beverage company classifies its items into perishable goods, non-perishable goods, and packaging. Spend analysis reveals that packaging costs have increased significantly, prompting the procurement team to negotiate better terms with suppliers or seek alternative packaging solutions.

Compliance and Risk Management:

• Certain industries require strict compliance with regulatory standards. Item classification helps ensure that procurement processes adhere to these standards.
• Example: A chemical manufacturing company classifies items based on regulatory requirements, such as hazardous chemicals, non-hazardous chemicals, and safety equipment. Procurement processes for hazardous chemicals include adherence to safety regulations, proper documentation, and special handling procedures.

Integrating Oracle PDH Cloud with Oracle Procurement Cloud

The seamless integration between Oracle PDH Cloud and Oracle Procurement Cloud is essential for maximizing the benefits of item classification. This integration ensures:

• Data Consistency: Item classification data is consistently shared between the two systems, eliminating discrepancies and ensuring a unified view of procurement data.
• Real-time Updates: Any changes in item classification in Oracle PDH Cloud are automatically reflected in Oracle Procurement Cloud, ensuring that procurement processes are always based on the most current data.
• Scalability: As businesses grow and evolve, the integrated system can scale accordingly, accommodating new item classes and changing procurement needs.

Conclusion

Item classification in Oracle PDH Cloud is a powerful tool that significantly enhances the capabilities of Oracle Procurement Cloud. By categorizing items based on various attributes, businesses can achieve greater efficiency, accuracy, and control in their procurement processes. The integration of these two systems ensures that procurement activities are streamlined, compliant, and scalable, ultimately leading to improved operational performance and cost savings.

As organizations navigate the complexities of modern supply chains, leveraging the power of item classification and integrated procurement management systems will be a key differentiator in achieving operational excellence and competitive advantage.

In June 2024, Oracle announced fiscal 2024 Q4 and full year financial results revealing the market demand for Oracle Cloud Applications remains strong with Oracle Q4 Cloud Application (SaaS) revenue up 10% and Q4 Fusion Cloud ERP (SaaS) revenue up 14%. As Oracle customers look to reap the benefits of their investment in Oracle, many organizations will seek the expertise of Oracle services providers to guide them on their cloud journey.

Forrester released The Oracle Services Landscape, Q3 2024 report to help organizations understand the value they can expect from Oracle services providers and explore potential partners.

Oracle Services Providers

According to the report, “Technology leaders often use one or more Oracle services providers to: implement Oracle cloud products and solutions, provide continuous change management and ongoing Oracle applications support, and future-proof enterprise operational business processes.”

Perficient’s Recognition and Focus Areas

We believe Perficient has been recognized for our ability to deliver on these promises, helping clients implement Oracle cloud products and solutions, provide ongoing support, improve operational efficiencies and business processes with tangible business results. Perficient self-reported the following extended business scenarios as the top three focus areas:

• Oracle Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP): We deliver full-cycle projects to solution, roadmap, and implement Oracle Cloud ERP solutions by leveraging deep industry expertise and accelerators to enable businesses to modernize best practices to scale and grow.
• Oracle Cloud Supply Chain Management (SCM): We help modernize and mature our clients’ end to end global supply chain through strategic sourcing and spend control, source-to-pay improvements, cycle time reduction, and inventory and materials management.
• Oracle Cloud Enterprise Performance Management (EPM): We provide quantitative insights on performance metrics and critical details to help drive corporate strategies leveraging Oracle Cloud EPM to improve the speed, flexibility, and accuracy of planning, budgeting, and consolidation cycles.

Perficient’s Expertise and Industry Focus

Forrester presented an overview of vendors in the market, including geographic and industry focuses and top use cases. They segmented vendors based on geographic focus, industry focus, deployment options, and size.

Perficient was listed among small providers in this space with $10 to <$100 million in annual Oracle services revenue. Perficient’s listing as a consultancy in this Landscape report includes our geographic presence (North America and Asia-Pacific) and industry focus areas (healthcare, manufacturing/production of industrial products, and natural resources and mining).

Download the Forrester report, The Oracle Services Landscape, Q3 2024, to learn more (Link to report available to Forrester subscribers and for purchase).

In the realm of modern business operations, efficient inventory management is paramount. Companies must keep track of a plethora of items, ensuring that they are properly categorized, tracked, and managed. Oracle Product Data Hub (PDH) Cloud and Oracle Inventory Management Cloud are two powerful tools that work in tandem to achieve these goals. A critical component of this system is item classification, which significantly impacts inventory management. In this blog, we will delve into the intricacies of item classification in Oracle PDH Cloud and its profound impact on Oracle Inventory Management Cloud.

Understanding Item Classification in Oracle Cloud PDH Cloud

Oracle PDH Cloud serves as a central repository for all product information. One of its key features is item classification, which allows organizations to categorize items into various classes based on attributes such as type, use, and characteristics. This classification system facilitates better organization, tracking, and management of products across the enterprise.

Item classes in Oracle PDH Cloud can be defined based on multiple criteria, such as:

• Product Type: Finished goods, raw materials, components, etc.
• Usage: Consumables, repairable items, capital goods, etc.
• Industry-specific Attributes: Chemicals, electronics, pharmaceuticals, etc.

By leveraging these item classes, businesses can streamline their product data management processes, ensuring that all items are consistently and accurately classified.

Impact of Item Classification on Oracle Inventory Management Cloud

Oracle Inventory Management Cloud relies heavily on the data provided by Oracle PDH Cloud. The item classification data plays a pivotal role in several aspects of inventory management:

Enhanced Inventory Visibility and Control:

• Proper item classification allows for a more granular view of inventory. This means that inventory managers can easily track and locate items based on their classes, improving overall visibility.
• Enhanced control mechanisms can be established, ensuring that specific classes of items are handled according to predefined protocols. For instance, hazardous materials can be managed with stricter controls compared to regular consumables.

Improved Demand Planning and Forecasting:

• Accurate item classification enables better demand planning and forecasting. By understanding the different classes of items, inventory managers can predict demand more effectively.
• This leads to more accurate inventory levels, reducing both excess stock and stockouts, thereby optimizing the supply chain.

Streamlined Procurement Processes:

• Item classification aids in streamlining procurement processes. By categorizing items, procurement teams can standardize their purchasing strategies based on the specific needs of each item class.
• For example, high-value or critical items can be procured through more rigorous vendor evaluation processes, while routine consumables can follow a more simplified procurement procedure.

Efficient Inventory Replenishment:

• With clear item classes, inventory replenishment strategies can be tailored to each class. Fast-moving items can have automated replenishment triggers, while slow-moving items can be managed through periodic reviews.
• This ensures that the right amount of inventory is maintained at all times, optimizing storage costs and reducing wastage.

Compliance and Regulatory Adherence:

• Certain industries require strict compliance with regulatory standards. Item classification helps ensure that items are managed in accordance with these standards.
• For instance, pharmaceutical companies can classify items based on regulatory requirements, ensuring that storage, handling, and documentation are compliant with industry regulations.

Integrating Oracle PDH Cloud with Oracle Inventory Management Cloud

The seamless integration between Oracle PDH Cloud and Oracle Inventory Management Cloud is crucial for leveraging the benefits of item classification. This integration ensures that:

• Data Consistency: Item classification data is consistently shared between the two systems, eliminating discrepancies and ensuring a unified view of inventory.
• Real-time Updates: Any changes in item classification in Oracle PDH Cloud are automatically reflected in Oracle Inventory Management Cloud, ensuring that inventory management processes are always based on the most current data.
• Scalability: As businesses grow and evolve, the integrated system can scale accordingly, accommodating new item classes and changing business needs.

Conclusion

Item classification in Oracle PDH Cloud is a powerful tool that significantly enhances the capabilities of Oracle Inventory Management Cloud. By categorizing items based on various attributes, businesses can achieve greater inventory visibility, control, and efficiency. The integration of these two systems ensures that inventory management processes are streamlined, accurate, and scalable, ultimately leading to improved operational performance and cost savings.

As organizations continue to navigate the complexities of modern supply chains, leveraging the power of item classification and integrated inventory management systems will be a key differentiator in achieving operational excellence and competitive advantage.

Oracle CloudWorld takes place in Las Vegas September 9-12, 2024 and Perficient will be there, will you? Don’t miss this opportunity to be a part of the global Oracle community and gather with other customers and partners to network and learn. Oracle has more than 1,000 sessions planned and countless hands-on labs. Meet us at CloudWorld Hub in the Venetian to connect with subject matter experts and thought leaders and learn how we’ve leveraged our extensive expertise in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Supply Chain Management, Human Capital Management, Enterprise Performance Management (EPM), Business Analytics, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, and Oil and Gas to drive digital transformation for our customers.

An Oracle Partner with 20+ years of experience, we are committed to partnering with our clients to tackle complex business challenges and accelerate transformative growth. We help the world’s largest enterprises and biggest brands succeed. Connect with us at the show to learn more about how we partner with our customers to forge the future.

At this year’s conference we celebrate our client, G6 Hospitality, recently named as a 2024 Application Modernization Award Finalist. This honor positions G6 Hospitality among a field of top Oracle customers who have demonstrated excellence in application modernization with Oracle Analytics, Oracle Autonomous Data Warehouse, and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. This acknowledgment not only reflects our commitment to innovation and excellence but also validates the hard work and dedication of G6 and the Perficient team.

If you haven’t yet made the decision to attend Oracle CloudWorld, here are some compelling reasons to help you Justify Your Trip. CloudWorld is by far the largest gathering of the global Oracle community. Where else can you network and build relationship with your peers? Over the course of three days, you’ll learn from experts at Oracle as well as numerous partners and current customers leaving you inspired about the endless possibilities you can achieve with Oracle Cloud.

Did you know that a full conference pass includes free Oracle Cloud training and certification at no cost — and you can start leaning before the show begins? With access to more than 500 hours of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure training, 3,500 hours of Oracle Cloud Applications training, and three free Oracle Cloud certification exam attempts, what are you waiting for? Registration is open!

We are looking forward to meeting you at Oracle CloudWorld and hope to see you there!

In the dynamic landscape of the energy and utility sector, efficient management of product data is paramount for success. From power generation to distribution, organizations in this sector rely on accurate and timely information about their products to optimize operations, ensure compliance, and deliver reliable services to customers. Oracle Product Data Hub (PDH) Cloud emerges as a robust solution tailored to the unique needs of the energy and utility industry, offering powerful tools for centralizing, and managing product data effectively.

Centralized Product Data Management

In the energy and utility sector, where diverse product portfolios span from transformers to smart meters and renewable energy solutions, managing product data across multiple systems and departments can be challenging. Oracle PDH Cloud addresses this complexity by providing a centralized repository for all product-related information.

With Oracle PDH Cloud, energy and utility companies can consolidate data from various sources, including suppliers, engineering systems, and regulatory databases, into a single, unified platform. This centralized approach ensures data consistency, enhances collaboration among teams, and enables better decision-making across the organization.

Streamlined Item Classification

Effective item classification is crucial for organizing the vast array of products and components used in the energy and utility sector. From classifying transformers based on voltage capacity to categorizing renewable energy systems by technology type, Oracle PDH Cloud’s Item Classification capabilities simplify this process.

Energy and utility companies can define custom classification schemes tailored to their specific requirements, incorporating attributes such as product type, energy source, efficiency rating, and environmental impact. By standardizing classification practices, organizations can improve data accuracy, facilitate procurement processes, and enhance asset management strategies.

Examples of Oracle PDH Cloud in the Energy and Utility Sector

Smart Meter Management: A utility company deploying smart metering infrastructure relies on Oracle PDH Cloud to centralize data related to meter models, specifications, and installation guidelines. Through streamlined item classification, the company categorizes smart meters based on communication protocols, metering standards, and geographic deployment zones, enabling efficient inventory management and maintenance planning.

Smart meters are advanced devices that measure and record electricity consumption in real-time, enabling utilities to implement demand response programs and monitor grid performance. Item classification for smart meters may include attributes such as communication protocol (e.g., Zigbee, LoRaWAN), metering standard (e.g., ANSI C12.19, IEC 62056), geographical deployment zone, and meter functionality (e.g., prepaid, net metering). Classifying smart meters facilitates procurement, installation, and interoperability testing, ensuring efficient deployment and operation.

Renewable Energy Integration: A renewable energy developer leverages Oracle PDH Cloud to manage product data for solar panels, wind turbines, and energy storage systems. By classifying renewable energy assets according to technology type, capacity, and performance characteristics, the developer gains insights into project costs, resource availability, and regulatory compliance, facilitating informed decision-making and project optimization.

Renewable energy systems, such as solar panels, wind turbines, and energy storage solutions, play a pivotal role in transitioning to a low-carbon energy future. Item classification for renewable energy systems involves categorizing assets based on technology type (e.g., photovoltaic, wind, battery), capacity (e.g., kilowatts, megawatts), efficiency rating, and environmental certifications (e.g., IEC 61730, UL 1741). Classifying renewable energy systems enables developers and utilities to assess project feasibility, estimate energy output, and comply with regulatory requirements.

Grid Infrastructure Enhancement: Energy companies have a need to modernize the grid quickly and make it as effective as possible due to the increasing demands for EV superchargers and other innovations that require more electricity than current grids can handle. A utility undergoing grid modernization initiatives utilizes Oracle PDH Cloud to standardize product data for transformers, switchgear, and distribution automation devices. Through automated data enrichment and classification, the utility enriches asset records with maintenance schedules, lifecycle information, and compatibility matrices, enabling proactive asset management and reliability-centered maintenance strategies.

Grid infrastructure components encompass a wide range of equipment used in electricity transmission and distribution networks, including switchgear, circuit breakers, and distribution automation devices. Item classification for grid infrastructure involves attributes such as voltage rating, current rating, interrupting capacity, and operating mechanism (e.g., air-insulated, gas-insulated). Classifying grid infrastructure components enables utilities to optimize asset management, plan network upgrades, and ensure grid reliability and resilience.

Transformers: Transformers are essential components in electricity distribution networks, used to step up or step-down voltage levels. In item classification, transformers can be categorized based on parameters such as voltage capacity, insulation type, cooling method (e.g., oil-filled, dry-type), and application (e.g., distribution, substation). Classifying transformers enables utilities to manage inventory, plan maintenance activities, and ensure compatibility with other grid infrastructure components.

In each example, nouns such as transformers, smart meters, renewable energy systems, and grid infrastructure components serve as key entities in item classification within the energy sector. By categorizing these items based on relevant attributes, organizations can streamline procurement, maintenance, and operational decision-making processes, ultimately enhancing efficiency and performance in energy systems.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Oracle PDH Cloud and Item Classification process are invaluable assets for energy and utility companies seeking to optimize product data management and drive efficiency in their operations. By centralizing product data, streamlining item classification, and leveraging industry-specific examples, Oracle PDH Cloud empowers organizations in the energy and utility sector to overcome challenges, capitalize on opportunities, and deliver sustainable value to stakeholders in today’s rapidly evolving marketplace.

Monarch Bioenergy needed to create core Finance, Supply Chain, and Project Management processes that would support alternative energy commodity billing and operations.

Achievements:

• Implemented Oracle Cloud ERP Financials, Oracle Cloud SCM Procurement and Inventory, Oracle Project Portfolio Management, and Oracle Cloud EPM.
• The solution went live in 2023 after a seven-month implementation using Perficient’s Agile Based Cloud Implementation Framework.
• Sunset Legacy processes in ViewPoint
• Transformed and converted Inventory Items, Customers, Suppliers, Fixed Assets & Projects from ViewPoint to Oracle Fusion
• Oracle Procure to Pay solution was implemented to support of Monarch’s business process
• Oracle Project Portfolio Management was implemented to facilitate the creation, control, and tracking of Projects

Key Benefits:

• Monarch has a clear view into business operations, improved end-of-month revenue processes, and streamlined procurement procedures to scale with future growth
• Improved Visibility into Capital Projects
• Streamlined Revenue Forecasting
• Allowed Monarch to determine true cost of executing projects
• Ability to monitor project performance
• Capture CIP costs for capital assets.

Recently, Perficient digitally transformed for success by migrating to Oracle Cloud HCM. To share our story, we invited key stakeholders Andrea Lampert, Michael Zucker, Cathie Meyers, and Mike Grennier to join a panel discussion moderated by Stuart Massey, Principal of our Oracle ERP practice.  

As Vice President of People, Andrea is responsible for working across the company to support business goals by driving the implementation of strategic people objectives reflecting Perficient’s commitment to our people and our culture. Michael Zucker, Vice President of IT, is responsible for internally facing technology solutions and infrastructure. Cathie Meyers is Director of HR and Mike Grennier is Director of Talent Acquisition.   

In the first blog post of this four-part series, Andrea and Michael discussed the Challenges of Legacy Systems, Guiding Principles, and Roadmap. In the second blog post in the series, we learned about the wins for HR and IT. For the third blog post, we will hear about the deeper dives into our Oracle Cloud HCM journey. 

To view the entire panel discussion, click here.  

How did Oracle’s global solution help your team manage day-to-day operations as well as being able to scale in the future?

[Cathie Meyers] We connect employees globally and we do that well! Our leaders are working from the US to India, as well as Latin America related to HR actions and projects. In general, we have our standard HR processes along with some manual processes but the one thing that we were missing was the ‘system connection’.  

A prime example is global connections where we have many of our employees progressing in careers as well as moving from country to country. The one thing that we want to do is to be able to manage that seamlessly. Our goal is to get them from the transferring country into the receiving country without a blip. We want to make the experience great for our colleague.  Moreover, we went behind the scenes, to make sure that all those systems, connections and data points are efficiently happening since it was previously a very manual process. As we move into this system, what is going to be helpful for us is that it is going to be seamless and unified in the cloud, not different systems.   

One additional advantage is that the history of the employee is going to follow. Prior to that, we would term them out of one system. We would then have to rehire them in another system, and we lost a lot of valuable data on that employee. Now we’re picking up that record and the journey continues for that employee into the receiving country which is very valuable data when we’re moving them around between countries. Will it be more efficient for the team? With a click of a button, things are hitting all areas such as the teams for projects, operations and payroll, so this is very, very efficient.   

It allows us an opportunity, as Michael said, to develop our employees and give them time in different areas. Therefore, we are really looking forward to the efficiency that we’re going to see, such as from the previous example. There’s many more, but I do like to cite that one example as our global depth continues at Perficient. 

As you transitioned to a fully integrated solution like working in Cloud, how have you found the transition and what are some tips you would share with other clients? 

[Mike Grennier] ‘Trust’ is the first word that comes to my mind. We trusted Oracle as it is the best-in-class solution and can be configured to operate in different environments, depending on the work culture. We already had our on-premises system which was not quite updated. We made our processes work with band-aids and duct tape in which we butchered the process to make it work for us, which was fine, but we recognized that we were far from a standard recruiting process here at Perficient.  

And we had to spend a lot of time trusting what Oracle could provide to us as best-in-class solution. That’s why I said it was so important for us to hear from our consulting partners in terms of what is possible with Oracle, what it really can do. And once we got past the point of trying to make Oracle operate like our old on-prem, taped together, band–aided system, then the process of adoption really accelerated. We realized that we were trying to fight against this new Oracle system, which is a best-in-class solution and I say best-in-class, tested and used by hundreds of companies.   

Now each company must make configurations work for their culture and environment, but the reality is that the recruiting process in most companies should be similar. Therefore, we had to trust that this new cloud–based solution would work, and this resulted in a dramatic increase in adoption. And I think that the key moment for us is when we let our hands go up a little bit and say trust that Oracle is going to be doing the right thing for us, configured our way, of course. But it’s been a really eye-opening experience in that we’ve been able to move to a much more modern experience from a recruiting standpoint and it’s been fun to watch. 

From a user perspective, can you speak about how change management was executed on our project? 

[Andrea Lampert] So first, I will say that change management was executed early and often. We were very fortunate to have a change management resource internally who helped us really think this through from the start. We had to reflect on many questions such as “How do you help people identify with what they do today and what they’ll do tomorrow?”, “What’s different about that and why it makes sense to take that journey?”. We spent a lot of time thinking about how we communicate and train people about organization changes. We were very active in developing personas and taking people really through a day in life and understanding what it meant for them to walk through the change and that was meaningful for us from a change management perspective. 

[Michael Zucker] In our weekly conversations as a steering committee, we also had change as one of our key topics. So not only was it early and often, but we were also discussing it as a leadership team. Specifically, we talked about the upcoming changes by investing in an internal page on our internet site and made sure that it was constantly updated. As we promoted different activities, we were directing applicable people to that activity and the change management became more intuitive. We didn’t have to focus on training as much, but we still had all the communication vehicles available for connecting with the business sponsors. And this leadership group put a lot of thought into it early and often and it paid dividends. 

[Cathie Meyers] Just to add! It was very important to train our teams in becoming the SMEs, so we banded together. That gave us enough bandwidth to provide help not only from the backend, but also from the frontend as a user. In turn, they were also SMEs to all of our employees, which was a huge help when we implemented Oracle Cloud HCM. 

Want to know more about the deep dive we mentioned and how we executed it? We will soon publish the fourth blog post of our four-part blog series ‘Our Digital Transformation to Oracle Cloud HCM’ which will contain a lesson learned viewpoint. 

Recently, Perficient digitally transformed for success by migrating to Oracle Cloud HCM. To share our story, we invited key stakeholders Andrea Lampert, Michael Zucker, Cathie Meyers, and Mike Grennier to join a panel discussion moderated by Stuart Massey, principal of our Oracle ERP practice.

As Vice President of People, Andrea is responsible for working across the company to support business goals by driving the implementation of strategic people objectives reflecting Perficient’s commitment to our people and our culture. Michael Zucker, Vice President of IT, is responsible for internally facing technology solutions and infrastructure. Cathie Meyers is Director of HR and Mike Grennier is Director of Talent Acquisition. 

In the first blog post of this four-part series, Andrea and Michael discuss Challenges of Legacy Systems, Guiding Principles, and Roadmap. In this second blog post in the series, learn about the wins for HR and IT.

To view the entire panel discussion, click here.

What have been the greatest wins achieved via migration to Oracle Cloud HCM from HR perspective?

[Andrea Lampert] I am pretty passionate about the user experience. Back to our guiding principles, if it’s simple, if it’s intuitive, if it helps our colleagues get the things done that they need to get done and focus on the real work that they’re doing every day, it’s a win. And Oracle Cloud was definitely a win for user experience.

It’s a more modern experience for our users, whether that’s our candidates, our employees, our managers, it’s intuitive and clean. You almost don’t need training. Having come from multiple systems to one from recruiting to hiring to onboarding and managing daily tasks, it’s light years ahead of where we were. It’s fabulous, but to do that globally becomes outstanding. We are taking some of our countries from using Excel and Word to a connected system that’s not only connected within their own country and organizational unit, but also around the globe all throughout Perficient. It’s a huge win for our users.

[Mike Grennier] My primary focus is the external candidate experience. When a candidate applies for a job, the system itself should be out of the way. It should feel very normal to a candidate to apply. Let your employment brand, your candidate experience, your marketing materials sell the candidate on the experience and don’t let the application process and the interview process get in the way of a good experience.

Perficient’s HCM experts really helped us to understand what’s possible with Oracle. A lot of our recruiters didn’t necessarily believe it at first. It’s hard to understand going from a legacy system to a very modern cloud-based solution. The experience is dramatically different. Using a system like Oracle, which is by definition best in class, always updated, very current, very modern interface was surprising. We were surprised at how easy it was to use. We were surprised the candidate experience was that much better. We were surprised a hiring manager could post a job without having to call us first and ask us for advice. It’s very intuitive. And I think the fact that we were able to learn from our in-house Oracle HCM experts to get exposed to the system and then start using it early on really made a big difference from a user experience standpoint.

What have been the greatest wins achieved via migration to Oracle Cloud HCM from IT perspective?

[Michael Zucker] My team picked up and learned the cloud platform much faster than I ever thought they would. This encouraged them to grow their careers in a new direction.

From a technical perspective, we gained the scalability and performance of being on a cloud platform. Spinning up new training environments and spinning them down when needed was way simpler than trying to conduct the same on the on-premises environments. We also carried out a large-scale system training plan which was quite successful. Featuring the right materials for the right users, was simpler via cloud during the training period. The users were able to leverage the system in an intuitive way, streamlining the different components and making our jobs easier.

We’ve had several upgrades already that have been relatively straightforward and seamless. It’s been great working with the cloud platform to date and we’re excited to keep that moving on a go-forward basis.

Want to know more about the wins we mentioned and how we executed them? Look for the third blog post of our four-part blog series ‘Our Digital Transformation to Oracle Cloud HCM’ which will contain a deeper viewpoint.

Recently, Perficient digitally transformed for success by migrating to Oracle Cloud HCM. To share our story, we invited key stakeholders Andrea Lampert, Michael Zucker, Cathie Meyers, and Mike Grennier to join a panel discussion moderated by Stuart Massey, principal of our Oracle ERP practice.

As Vice President of People, Andrea is responsible for working across the company to support business goals by driving the implementation of strategic people objectives reflecting Perficient’s commitment to our people and our culture. Michael Zucker, Vice President of IT, is responsible for internally facing technology solutions and infrastructure. Cathie Meyers is Director of HR and Mike Grennier is Director of Talent Acquisition.

In this first blog post of a four-part series, Andrea and Michael discuss the Oracle Cloud HCM migration – the Challenges of Legacy Systems, Guiding Principles, and Roadmap.

To view the entire panel discussion, click here.

What were some of the key challenges you experienced working with multiple on-premises legacy systems?

[Andrea Lampert] Our systems were antiquated. When we analyzed the downstream impact, it was huge. We didn’t have global process standards. Our user experience suffered. The multiple disconnected on-premises systems required enormous manual effort to bridge the gaps to ensure the smooth running of the business.

[Michael Zucker] Licensing was a big issue for us leading to our cloud platform decision for a high-growth company like Perficient growing via acquisitions over the past 10 years. We were paying for licensed growth in two metrics from Oracle, revenue as well as people. The opportunity to move to Oracle Cloud allowed us to consolidate into one metric which was very favorable.

We had multiple systems from a legacy perspective. We were pulling information trying to connect to other cloud-based products as our acquired companies were leveraging cloud-based platforms. That created a lot of challenges for us in keeping the data consistent and well-integrated.

Where did you begin? How did you get HR and IT on the same page in terms of goals and objectives?

[Andrea Lampert] I spent a lot of time thinking about beginning with the end in mind. We needed to align on what’s most important. What are we trying to achieve? What are our expectations along the way?

We developed a set of guiding principles that would help us lead the way in decision-making and how we were going to take on this project. We refer to those four guiding principles all the time, really throughout the project.

The first was to be intentional.  Have we optimized out-of-the-box functionality? Are we really thinking about not just the way we do things today, but about what we want our future to look like? And the expectations that we have that a system will help enable a great process for us.

Another was to be simple and intuitive. Is it easy for people to use? Can we really think about being simple and minimizing complexity for every user?

The third was to focus on the future in everything we do. Will this help us scale?

And then using a global mindset. We had disparate systems around the globe with people on different systems and now we want to follow a similar process, but it also means that our best practices could come from anywhere. How do we involve all our folks from around the globe to ensure that what we’re building is going to work for all of us?

Roadmap

Perficient’s digital transformation journey from Oracle E-Business Suite for our accounting and human capital management processes started with a global design phase. Our team of Oracle experts proposed a four-phased approach. This would allow us to get to ROI faster while reducing disruption and risk.

We built a global template for deployment considering not only what we were going to deploy first, but also the subsequent phases of the implementation. This entire phase ran for two to three months.  A concrete foundation to support all business units, countries, and processes was taken into account. We orchestrated everything with the help of key subject matter experts across the 10 countries involved. We adhered to our guiding principles and focused on taking advantage of out-of-the-box solutions where possible.

The global template led us to validate the deployment roadmap, leading with Oracle Cloud GL and financial reporting, followed by Oracle Cloud HCM in the US and then Oracle Cloud Financials and HCM for the rest of the world.

Part 2 of the blog series places emphasis on the wins of IT and HR during the migration process and how they were achieved.

View the on-demand recording to learn how Perficient, a global digital consultancy with 7,500+ employees, is modernizing HR functions and enhancing the employee experience while better supporting our business by migrating from Oracle E-Business Suite to Oracle Cloud HCM.

Andrea Lampert, VP of People, and Michael Zucker, VP of IT join key stakeholders from our HR team to discuss how the move to Oracle Cloud is helping Perficient scale and grow.

Our panel will discuss:

• Perficient’s Oracle Cloud HCM implementation strategy and approach to Core HR, Recruiting/Onboarding, Benefits and Compensation
• How HR and IT can partner together
• Future plans for Time and Labor and Absence Management
• Lessons learned and best practices

View the on-demand recording.

We’re Headed to Ascend

Perficient is headed to sunny Orlando, FL to attend Ascend which is being held June 11-14 at the Caribe Royale Resort. Did you know that Ascend is where the Oracle user community comes together to share and learn through hundreds of education sessions, panels, and networking events?

If you are headed to the show, you’ll have an opportunity to meet with Crystal Fernandez, director Oracle ERP, and Moises Gonzalez, portfolio specialist, and learn how we’ve leveraged our extensive expertise in ERP, EPM, HCM, SCM, and Analytics to drive digital transformation for our customers.  Let’s meet to discuss your journey to the cloud or thoughts on how to optimize your on-premises environment.

Meet Crystal and Moises at the Show

As the driving force behind our managed services practice, Crystal said she’s really looking forward to engaging with our clients in person at the show. “There’s nothing quite like sitting down with a customer over a cup of coffee and discussing how things are going, what challenges they are facing, and how can Perficient help.” Crystal says that unexpected turnover and the burden it puts on staff that already has a full plate is a common hurdle, but its not insurmountable.  Her goal is to ensure that all of Perficient’s current and future customers have the support they need so that bumps in the road do not become a hindrance to the business. Connect with Crystal via the show app, she’d be happy to meet up at the Brew Pub Hub. She’s a good listener and I think you’d find her advice worth your time.

I caught up with Moises and asked him why he’s excited to attend Ascend this year and his answer was short and to the point, “Networking with the broad Oracle user community. Where else can you meet Oracle users from all across the globe that come together in one place to share and learn from each other?” Moises is looking forward to attending sessions, meeting with like-minded colleagues, and exploring the partner pavilion.  Moises shared three of the sessions he plans to attend: Oracle Cloud HCM and ERP – Better Together, What is the Correct Migration Path From Oracle On-Premise ERP to Oracle Cloud ERP?, and Oracle Cloud EPM Strategy and Roadmap. 

Perficient, an Oracle Partner serving clients for 20 years, provides its clients digital experience, business optimization, and industry solutions and support. We’re committed to partnering with our clients to tackle complex business challenges and accelerate transformative growth.

If you are unable to attend but would like to meet after the show, please leave a comment and we’ll reach out. You can also connect with us via LinkedIn.

In today’s world of fast-moving implementations, take the complexity out of the conversion of your fixed assets. There’s no need for development or expensive tool sets. Oracle Cloud ERP comes with easy-to-use Excel-based tools to upload your assets.

How to Migrate Your Assets from EBS to Cloud ERP

First, you’ll need to set up your environment, accounting for all categories, locations, depreciation methods, etc. You don’t want any unnecessary errors, so be sure your setups and values are complete. The items required to set up the asset system are the required Asset Module Flexfields, the Asset Category Flexfield, Asset Key Flexfield, and the Asset Location Flexfield, as well as values to populate the value sets associated with the required flexfields. Don’t forget your calendars. When you define your Asset Calendar, be sure (at a minimum) to go back as far in time as your oldest asset date is placed in service. If you don’t, depreciation will not be able to calculate.

Cloud ERP comes seeded with Prorate Methods, or you can create your own.

After the required items are created, you can utilize the spreadsheet to create the needed assets. The following fields are required for the spreadsheet:

• Description
• Category, Major-Minor
• Date Placed in Service
• Cost (Original Cost)
• Units (usually 1)
• Location Flexfield
• Depreciation Expense Account

If all other fields in the spreadsheet are left blank, the Category set-ups will default for each asset, and depreciation will be calculated using the life associated with the category and the date-placed-in-service. Be sure to override any fields you do not want to “borrow” from the Category.

The spreadsheet also provides these additional fields:

• Asset Numbers (if not using automated numbering)
• Invoice Number
• Project Information
• Production Type Assets (if needed)

While this would not be a recommended conversion method for a significant number of assets, you can use it to quickly and efficiently convert fixed assets.

Perficient Perspective — Other Best Practices

1 – When converting Fixed Assets data, always convert INTO your prior fiscal year. This will make reporting in your new year in the Cloud ACCURATE. If you are going live 3 months into the following year, load those assets separately IN that year and roll forward depreciation to your go-live month.

2 – Convert your tax books AFTER your corporate book. Of course, you really can’t do it any other way. Just make sure you’ve reconciled your Corporate book before loading your tax book.

3 – Reverse all journals relating to the data conversion to avoid duplicate entries that already exist as balances in your general ledger. You can make this even easier if you set your Assets Categories to “Auto Reverse Same Day” to avoid the extra clicks. Create a special Journal Reversal Set just for this purpose, and then remove the journal set after the conversions are complete.

4 – Don’t load any new assets until your legacy assets are fully loaded and reconciled.

5 – If your Assets don’t balance with your legacy system, validate your costs, your depreciation methods, and your prorate conventions all match your legacy system.

6 – You may need to toggle some settings and re-run depreciation to balance the assets to the legacy system. As long as your cost, depreciation methods, dates placed in service, and prorate conventions are correct, everything should balance perfectly.

For help with your Oracle Cloud ERP conversion, contact Perficient for expert help.