Oracle Users Slowly Easing Toward 11i Suite

Computerworld - Many of Oracle Corp.'s users are eager to upgrade to its new 11i software, which promises a fully integrated suite of Web-enabled enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) applications. But at the Oracle AppsWorld conference here last week, some said they plan to take their time before making the switch.

Despite assurances from Oracle, conference attendees cited ongoing concerns about technical glitches in the software, as well as other issues, such as the internal business process changes that would accompany an upgrade.

"My sense in talking to various users is that they want to [upgrade to 11i] as soon as they can, but with caution," said Rocky Bertz, a project manager at Greenwood Village, Colo.-based CH2M Hill Cos. and treasurer of the Oracle Applications Users Group.

Bertz said his firm, which provides manufacturing and technology project management services, doesn't plan to go live with 11i until next year.

Oracle executives, however, said the latest versions of 11i are stable and that implementing the new suite is becoming easier. In fact, an updated 11i release became available just last week, and for users who don't need to customize the applications, upgrading is relatively simple, said Mark Jarvis, chief marketing officer at Oracle.

	E-Business Suite 11i Was released eight months ago Includes a full set of Web-enabled ERP and CRM business applications Has 180 users Has 2,500 ongoing implementations Includes new code (45% of the software)

Conflicting Reports

At its first-ever U.S. AppsWorld conference, Oracle announced that since 11i was released eight months ago, 180 users, including London-based Barclays Bank PLC, Compaq Computer Corp. and Englewood, Colo.-based Agilera.com Inc., have gone live with it.

Cindy Pence, director of material and logistics at Tropian Inc., a Cupertino, Calif.-based manufacturer of radio circuit components, is among the Oracle customers who have gone live with 11i. Within a 90-day period, Tropian implemented Oracle financial, procurement, inventory and self-service modules, she said. The software will cost less than $100,000, and the implementation costs will be less than $200,000, she added.

In her 15 years in the field, Pence said, it was the easiest implementation she has ever done. More modules that handle order entry and tracking are slated to go live within the next year.

"Sure, there were some bugs, but no showstoppers," she said. "We had decided that we would rather take the risk of working through any potential bugs in 11i vs. having to deal with a future upgrade to gain that [desired] functionality."