Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Top 3 Reasons to consider R12 Upgrade

Based on 2012 OAUG (Oracle Applications User Group ) Survey on ERP Upgrade Economics,

As of 2012, About 46 percent of the OAUG survey respondents reported that they have already moved to the latest Oracle ERP solution – version 12.1 of EBS. Another 51 percent are still running version 11i (11.5.10). Also, 7 percent are running the latest version of PeopleSoft (9.1).  For many respondents, an upgrade is imminent. A total of 42 percent say that they are either in the process of an upgrade or planning to do so within the next 12 months. There is a segment,totaling 17 percent however, who say they either have no plans or aren’t aware of any plans.

ERP Upgrade Plans (as of 2012)

Among the segment of respondents who have no plans for an ERP upgrade, the main reason is a perception that their current systems are still adequate—as cited by about half. One-fifth are troubled by the lack of budget resources to execute an upgrade.

For those who have no plans for upgrading to R12 in the near future or those who are currently in the process of upgrading to R12, Here are some critical reasons to consider R12 Upgrade.


 

1) Oracle Support


EBS 11i is currently on Extended Support until Dec 2013. After that 11i will be on Sustaining Support. During Oracle OpenWorld 2012, Oracle announced an exception that will be provided for the first 13 months of Sustaining Support on Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11.5.10 (11i10), valid from December 1, 2013 – December 31, 2014.

This exception support will be comprised of components:
    1. New fixes for Severity 1 production issues,
    2. Critical Patch Updates (CPUs), up to and including the October 2014 CPU,*
    3. United States Form 1099 2013 year-end updates (for Oracle Financials/Accounts Payable product), and
    4. Payroll regulatory updates for the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Australia for each country’s fiscal year ending in 2014.
    * POST OPENWORLD ANNOUNCEMENT: Exception for CPUs until October 2014 is newly added feature as of October 29, 2012. 
    As per Oracle’s Lifetime Support Policy for Applications, E-Business Suite 11.5.10 is in Extended Support. There is an uplift fee waiver for all 3 years of Extended Support through November, 2013. As long as customers are current on their Software Update License & Support fees and renewals, their release version will automatically receive the Severity 1 Production Support Exception to Sustaining Support for 11.5.10. Customers must meet, or be above, the required minimum baseline patch level as identified in Doc ID 883202.1 - Patch Requirements for Extended Support of Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11.5.10.



    So it is highly critical that all customers who are currently on 11i plan and upgrade their system to R12 to keep their Extended Support active.

    2) New Features


    Better User Experience in R12

    Reduced pop-ups and duplicate screens
    Re-designed and streamlined entire workflows
    Reduced the number of steps to complete key tasks
    Improved overall look & feel and visual style
    Increased personalization capabilities

    Financials R12 New Features

    Ledgers and ledger sets
    Centralized rules-based accounting engine
    Single, global tax engine
    Centralized payments engine
    Common global intercompany system
    Shared services support with multi-org access
    Centralized data model for suppliers and banks
    Incentive Compensation enhancements
    Improved Collections Functionality
    New Project Management tools
    Enhanced Rev Recognition
    Enhanced Revenue Matching Subledger Accounting

    XML Publisher Reports, Embedded BI

    Other Features

    iRep

    Enhanced Patch Management and Cloning

    Better Security

    Simpler Management, Better UI

    User Management, Globalization

    UPK (User Productivity Kit)

    3) Fusion Middleware

    AIA, BPEL, SOA, ESB, BAM


    Here are some additional reading materials on R12 - EBS Release 12 Information Center on Metalink:
    The link for R12 Information Center

    EBS Release 12 RCD’s (Release Content Documents) (Metalink Note: 404152.1): 
    EBS Release 12 Documentation Resources Overview (Metalink Note: 394692.1):
    EBS Release 12 Translation Matrix (Metalink Note: 412218.1):