An Oracle White Paper December Accelerate Business Processes with Oracle Enterprise Application Documents

Transcription

1 An Oracle White Paper December 2009 Accelerate Business Processes with Oracle Enterprise Application Documents 1

2 Executive Overview: The Disconnected Document It s a digital age, but a paper-filled world. Digital content such as s, photographs, Word documents, and PDFs are filling up digital storage systems at an alarming rate, but paper is still prevalent and continues to be the source document that drives the majority of business processes. Regardless of whether content is in paper or electronic form, managing and controlling it continues to cause inefficiencies and increase costs. One prevalent example today is how organizations struggle to quickly make sense of and efficiently derive information from documents and link those documents to back-end business processes and the enterprise applications that drive those processes. These applications, including enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) systems, help workers pay invoices, process orders, handle service requests, and support sales and marketing campaigns. For each of these processes to be effective, the documents necessary to initiate these processes need to be not only accurate, but also highly available, easily found, and easily shared. Enter enterprise content management (ECM) systems and the functionality they provide to capture, store and manage documents into one system. However, ERP and CRM systems either lack or have limited content management capabilities, and extensive, costly customizations are required to integrate ERP and CRM systems with ECM systems. Enterprise content management (ECM) consists of a vision and framework for integrating a broad range of content management technologies and content formats across the enterprise. ECM suites represent one part of the solution. They combine a number of different technologies, including document management and imaging, records management, Web content management (WCM), However, technology alone won't suffice to deliver business value It needs to link content with business processes and outcomes. Source: Gartner, Key Issues for Enterprise Content Management Initiatives, 2009 In this white paper we will discuss Oracle s approach to managing Enterprise Application Documents. This approach is made by possible by Oracle Content Management, which includes the features, functionality and underlying integration technologies to efficiently and cost-effectively provide ECM capabilities to Oracle Applications users. These capabilities optimize Oracle Applications and help organizations realize true enterprise content management. 2

3 Introduction: The Document to Process Connection Most organizations tend to take a departmental strategy to managing documents, as opposed to an enterprise approach, and they focus their attention on those business processes that are more document or paper-intensive than others, such as accounts payable (A/P). Nonetheless, having a clear strategy and method to manage documents across the enterprise is beneficial in terms of reducing overall paper-handling and storage costs, meeting compliance and records retention initiatives, and improving business process insight. One of the major challenges that organizations have faced in managing documents throughout their business is in finding a comprehensive, standardsbased approach to integrate content management functionality with their business applications. Traditionally, content management software vendors have taken ad-hoc, customized approaches in providing integrations between ERP and CRM systems and their content management offering. These integrations are provided per business process and cannot be easily extended to other processes. This means that content management capabilities and integrations for document-centric business processes, such as A/P, cannot be easily leveraged and extended to other lines of business, such as human resources (HR). Over time, organizations find themselves continuing to struggle with integrating their business applications with content management systems, and they spend a lot of time and money working with multiple vendors developing custom integrations. Inevitably, this leads to several, disparate content repositories as well as customized, point solutions to provide this much-needed content management functionality. Compounding the problem is that as customers upgrade their ERP and CRM systems, these customized content management integrations must be reconfigured -- resulting in additional costs. With this disconnent between ERP and CRM applications and the documents that support and drive processes within those applications, organizations need an efficient, proven strategy and integration framework to content-enable business processes. Oracle Applications customers now have that capability with Oracle Enterprise Application Documents. Through Oracle Content Management, Oracle Enterprise Application Documents delivers leading content management functionality, and a loosely-coupled, yet tightly integrated approach to link enterprise application documents to business processes within Oracle Applications. 3

4 Figure 1: With Oracle s approach to managing Enterprise Application Documents, Oracle E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, and Siebel customers utilize Oracle Content Management to view, search and manage document images and electronic documents directly from their applications, resulting in streamlined processes and empowered application users. Optimizing the Value of High-Value Business Documents Numerous business processes can benefit from infusing content management functionality into the ERP and CRM applications that support them. Essentially, any document-centric business process is a candidate to capture and digitize documents and store and manage them electronically. Because even at its most basic premise, the digitization process alone leads to the reduction of physical storage space, and most importantly, speeds business information to the people that need it. Introduced above, accounts payable is an obvious business area where this is true. A/P clerks need quick and easy access to purchase order and vendor information as they process invoices. If they work from paper, it takes longer for A/P clerks to match invoices with purchase orders and key in the relevant invoice header information into their ERP or accounting system. Furthermore, a paper-based review and approval chain adds to overall processing times and increases risk as paper invoices could get misplaced or fall onto the desk of someone that does not have approval authority. The inefficiencies of this paper-based process leads to higher perinvoice processing costs, as penalties for late fees are common and discounts for invoices paid early cannot be realized. 4

5 Content Management also plays a critical role in ensuring employees always have the most accurate and up-to-date information to work from, which is especially important during a sales process. Sales reps typically go through many rounds of revisions of sales proposals and contracts, and these get associated to customer records within a CRM system. However, as these documents are shared and then re-shared with a customer, partner, or perhaps a colleague, the probability that an inaccurate proposal or contract gets passed along or referenced is high. Not only could this result in the loss of a sale, but potentially, the loss of a customer or partner relationship altogether. Each of the two examples above could be optimized with Oracle Content Management. In the instance of the A/P clerk, invoices could be captured and turned into images, which can then be accessed directly from the native-erp user interface. Couple this with automated workflows that expedite invoice review and approvals, and organizations would experience accelerated invoice processing. For the sales rep, sales proposals and contracts could be archived in one central repository. De-duplication and versioning capabilities ensure document accuracy and all other documents associated with a customer, such as correspondence and orders, could be directly attached and associated with customer records in the CRM application. CONTENT-ENABLED ORACLE APPLICATIONS PROCESS EXAMPLES APPLICATION PROCESS INTEGRATED CONTENT MANAGEMENT FEATURES BENEFITS ORACLE APPLICATIONS SUPPORTED Accounts Payable Document capture Document imaging (access, view, annotate) BPEL-based workflow engine Secure and scalable repository Real-time dashboards Retention schedules Realize discounts and avoid late fees Identify process bottlenecks sooner Quickly access invoice information Secure sensitive financial data Oracle E-Business Suite Financials PeopleSoft Financials JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Human Resources Administration Capture and attach paper and electronic documents BPEL-based workflow engine Secure and scalable repository Retention schedules Decrease costs and cycle times of HR processes Onboard employees faster Centralized access of employee docs PeopleSoft HCM (Human Capital Management) Sales, Marketing and Call Center Capture and attach paper and electronic documents Publish content to external and internal sites Secure and scalable repository Retention schedules Enhance sales force productivity Ensure consistent marketing messages Faster call center response times Siebel CRM 5

6 Best-In-Class Oracle Application Integrations The integrations between Oracle Content Management and Oracle Applications are provided as loosely-coupled adapters that deliver content management functionality to Oracle Applications. The following are the key components that deliver this functionality: SOA-Based Application Adapters: Provide an out-of-the-box integration that seamlessly delivers content management capabilities to Oracle Applications modules. These adapters contain pre-configured commands that are invoked inside of Oracle Applications and can be extended to users outside the application environment. User Interface Integration: Configurable user interface integrations that enable organizations to provide users with single-click access to document images and workflow tasks, and the ability to attach and associate paper and electronic documents from within the familiar user interface of their Oracle Applications. Best Practice Templates: A portfolio of proven BPEL-based workflows, process rules, data forms, and reports. These templates provide a starting point for organizations as they build out workflows for invoice and other business document processing, and can be tailored to match the exact needs of an organization. INCREASED TIME TO VALUE - ORACLE ENTERPRISE APPLICATON DOCUMENTS INTEGRATIONS CONTENT MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONALITY WORKFLOW TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP ORACLE Productized, SOA-based integrations allow Oracle Content Management to be maintained outside of Oracle Applications environments. Comprehensive content management capabilities including document capture, imaging, web content management, document management, digital asset management, records management, and information rights management. BPEL-based workflow engine allows a standardized way to create and port workflows. Oracle Enterprise Applications Documents enables organizations to expand content management capabilities from one application module to another without incurring additional licensing costs. Additionally, application adapters preserve integration integrity during upgrades. COMPETITOR Custom integrations are hard-coded within Oracle Applications causing them to break during Oracle Application upgrades. Point solutions offer limited content management functionality outside of their specific application integrations. Customized workflows created by proprietary workflow engines typically need to be created by the vendor and cannot be extended to other application modules. Competing solutions are licensed per applications module, increasing their overall cost as use cases are expanded. Furthermore, organizations incur costs for workflow changes and re-integration after application version upgrades. 6

7 F U S I O N M I D D L E W A R E Oracle Enterprise Application Documents Capture Digital Assets Oracle Content Management Forms Imaging Oracle SOA & BPM Web Content Document Rights Records A D A P T E R S Oracle E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, Siebel Oracle Applications Unlimited Oracle Fusion Applications Figure 2: Through the features, functionality and underlying integration framework of Oracle Content Management, Oracle Enterprise Application Documents provides organizations with an integrated set of content management products to capture, classify, manage, and retain all business content. These capabilities are extended to Oracle E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, and Siebel customers through certified application adapters. Oracle Content Management also supports Oracle Applications Unlimited, and is the strategic content management solution for Oracle Fusion Applications. Customer Successes: Documents at Work Oracle Applications customers are already benefiting from the integrated content management functionality that Oracle Content Management delivers. Here are a few examples: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University ( Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world s largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, deals with a vast amount of documents across its 130 campuses in North America, Europe and the Middle East. These include student administration documents, such as applications for admission and financial aid, as well as transfer requests. Embry-Riddle was already using Oracle Distributed Document Capture and Oracle Imaging and Process Management, both Oracle Content Management products, to remotely capture and image student-related documents, leading to reduced paper-handling and expediting the student admissions process. 7

8 Embry-Riddle was also using a 3rd-party document imaging solution for their accounts payable process, and this imaging system had a customized integration with Oracle E-Business Suite. This meant that during every E-Business Suite upgrade, the integration between the imaging system and E-Business Suite would break, resulting in high, on-going consulting fees to reintegrate the products. Furthermore, because of the proprietary nature of the integration and the underlying workflows supporting the A/P process, all changes had to be made by the vendor, which led to frequent losses of production and overall high cost of ownership. Embry-Riddle made the strategic decision to replace their competitive imaging system with Oracle Imaging and Process Management also an Oracle Content Management product. Oracle Imaging and Process Management s standards-based integration with Oracle E-Business Suite allows for changes to be made to either system without impacting the integration. Additionally, workflow changes can be made in-house by Embry-Riddle staff, which immediately eliminated their on-going consulting fees. Transitioning to Oracle Imaging and Process Management was a strategic decision driven by a desire to reduce costs, simplify processes and improve our IT infrastructure. Cindy Bixler, chief information officer, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Friesland Foods ( Friesland Foods has a tradition of more than 125 years, in which the company has developed into a leading producer and supplier of dairy products, fruit-based drinks and ingredients. The company boasts strong market and brand positions in Western and Central Europe, Southeast Asia, West Africa and the Middle East. To comply with European Legislation, Friesland Foods needed to have in place a fully auditable order to delivery system for the production and supply of any of their consumer food or ingredients products. A majority of this information was contained in paper and electronic documents, but this content could not be linked to or searched and accessed from their Oracle E-Business Suite system. They desired to have a content management system in place that offered full version control, security and records management of this content, and one that could be integrated with Oracle E-Business Suite. To get started, Friesland Foods began capturing their paper and electronic documents with Oracle Document Capture. All of these captured documents are archived within Oracle Universal Content Management - another Oracle Content Management product. Oracle Universal Content Management is integrated with Oracle E-Business Suite, and provides the content relationship between supplier contracts, order schedules, and shipment notes details in Oracle E-Business Suite, with the metadata and documents where they were derived from. Employees can now easily access all relevant documents from within Oracle E-Business Suite, helping them quickly respond to supplier inquiries. Friesland Foods has also met its compliance 8

9 objective and is able to see a complete audit trail for each supplier from order to delivery. Additionally, all electronic documents have full records and retention policies for storage, ensuring easy access and management of documents well into the future. Large European Bank: This European bank is a substantial Siebel CRM customer, specifically using Siebel to support its sales process and to handle service calls and support requests. Within these two business processes, there is a lot of paper and electronic-based documents supporting the process, including sales proposals, service contracts, and call center scripts. Storing all these documents in the native repository was becoming increasingly problematic as it did not offer versioning and de-duplication features, meaning that employees were unsure if they were accessing the most relevant, up-to-date documents. Furthermore, the bank produced high volumes of documents, and as their repository did not scale, it caused performance issues when locating and retrieving documents. This bank desired a content management system that could be integrated with Siebel CRM and provide the underlying features to manage and maintain all business documents. Additionally, they wanted to be able to easily attach paper and electronic documents to customer records within the context of the Siebel CRM interface. The bank has deployed Oracle Universal Content Management and Oracle Distributed Document Capture to allow for documents to be easily captured and associated to Siebel CRM records. Now, all documents can be easily accessed from the Siebel CRM user interface, and the versioning and de-duplication features of Oracle Universal Content Management ensure its accuracy. Conclusion: Completing the Document to Process Connection Today, many organizations have implemented a content management system, in one form or another, to address specific business challenges. However, outside the departments where these challenges have arisen and where content management has been implemented, a large majority of organizations fail to realize the full value of their content management system. Besides the traditional benefits that content management delivers, mostly in the form of reduced paper storage and handling costs, organizations have difficulty increasing their benefits and overall return-on-investment (ROI) realization. With organizations placing more and more emphasis on further cost reduction and increased time to value for IT projects, business process automation is of critical importance. This automation can be realized by providing seamless entry points and access to enterprise documents and their associated data, further empowering employees with the information they need to process, share, and manage business documents. From streamlining the document capture process and providing quick and easy access to paper and electronic-based documents, to 9

10 the integration with Oracle Applications, Oracle s Enterprise Application Documents approach is ideally suited for this purpose. With Oracle Enterprise Application Documents, industry leading content management and business application systems come together to deliver complete end-to-end processing of all content within transactional ERP applications, sales and serviceoriented CRM applications and custom applications. Through Oracle Content Management, these capabilities are available today. Your organization can utilize one system that provides complete content management capabilities and an integration framework that addresses and automates document-centric business processes within your Oracle Applications, while also helping your organization realize its broader compliance and legal objectives. This comprehensive approach to link high-value business documents with Oracle Applications can only be delivered by Oracle. 10

11 Accelerate Business Processes with Oracle Enterprise Application Documents December 2009 Jason Lamon Oracle Corporation World Headquarters 500 Oracle Parkway Redwood Shores, CA U.S.A. Worldwide Inquiries: Phone: Fax: oracle.com Copyright 2009, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is provided for information purposes only and the contents hereof are subject to change without notice. This document is not warranted to be error-free, nor subject to any other warranties or conditions, whether expressed orally or implied in law, including implied warranties and conditions of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. We specifically disclaim any liability with respect to this document and no contractual obligations are formed either directly or indirectly by this document. This document may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without our prior written permission. Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. 0109