Quest International Users Group – Your PeopleSoft and JD Edwards home Blog Posts

Editor's Blog - Carolina Biological Improves CX Using Oracle Commerce Solution

Rebekah Sellers — Wed, 08 May 2013 15:27:38 GMT

Quest board member David Lyle's company Carolina Biological Supply talks customer experience in this informative video.

Editor's Blog - Growth of Cloud Computing and ERP Continues to Accelerate

Rebekah Sellers — Mon, 06 May 2013 18:38:23 GMT

Cloud computing is getting another boost thanks to Arista Networks’ announcement of a new data switch. The New York Times reports on May 1 that the updated technology will allow for 10 gigabits of data to be moved per second. The switch could lead to better computing centers and is positive news considering the immense growth of cloud computing in recent years. It is being heralded as another step forward for the future of enterprise cloud services.

The news of a better data switch comes at the same time as growth accelerates for enterprise cloud computing and ERP (enterprise resource planning) software. A recent survey highlighted by Automation World notes the link between lower annual sales and the lack of an ERP system. Even this limited industry survey, with a strict focus on manufacturing companies, reveals that 22 percent of the businesses were already using a cloud ERP system and seeing better results than the companies without it.

Editor's Blog - COLLABORATE on Forbes.com!

Rebekah Sellers — Wed, 01 May 2013 13:14:23 GMT

Forbes.com this week published a guest piece from Oracle about the successes of COLLABORATE 13:

One of the largest IT user group conferences in North America just took place a few weeks ago in Denver – for four days, user group members, Oraclecustomers, partners, consultants and prospects joined at COLLABORATE 13 in a networking and sharing-fest between users of Oracle products and services. To note – these Oracle user groups are completely independent of Oracle. That’s something rare and therefore extremely valuable.

Editor's Blog - Oracle/Taleo Integration

Rebekah Sellers — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 20:09:08 GMT

As the HR technology market heats up, it's also been consolidating, as large vendors acquire independent leaders to broaden their human capital management (HCM) offerings. Although such deals undoubtedly benefit megavendors and their clients, customers of the acquired company might suddenly become small fish in a greatly expanded pond. Some Taleo customers are feeling that pain since Oracle acquired the talent management vendor in February 2012.

Editor's Blog - Winding Down in Denver

Rebekah Sellers — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 17:28:33 GMT

I'm always surprised - this being my third COLLABORATE perhaps I should learn not to be - at the energy and attendance on Thursday morning. The giveaways are over, the exhibit hall is empty and many attendees danced until the band packed up at Wednesday's Urban Revival Party, but it's back to business for Thursday sessions.

The JD Edwards 100 Day Upgrade Workshop with Barb Canham of Oracle kicked off at 8:30 with nearly 300 people in attendance and lasted all day. In the nearly-full session Managing IT as a Business, attendees asked for management tips, ideas for embedding IT into the business and other professional development topics. Mobile Enablement for PeopleSoft Enterprise Applications was standing room only as Carl Cubba with KPMG and Larry Grey of GreyHeller shared their expertise and answered questions from attendees.

Nearly everything will wrap up at 1 p.m., so many thanks to all of the attendees, vendors and sponsors who helped make this week one filled with fun, learning, laughter, networking, new business partnerships and a better understanding of Oracle's PeopleSoft and JD Edwards products.

Editor's Blog - Flying Without a Propeller and Other Tales of Survival

Rebekah Sellers — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 00:17:56 GMT

Greetings from Denver folks! Sunday's sunny warmth gave way to bone-chilling sleet, but that didn't keep people from venturing out and enjoying all that COLLABORATE has to offer.

Good thing too, as this year's keynote speakers kept attendees riveted, starting off bright and early Monday with Aron Ralston, avid outdoorsman, author and subject of the movie and book "127 Hours: Between a Rock and a Hard Place." Ralston recounted for the audience the harrowing tale of cutting off his own arm to survive the five nights he spent trapped by a boulder while hiking in a Utah canyon. "That was 10 years ago this month," Ralston told the crowd. "I left something behind but I didn't lose anything. I have only gained from my experience." He encouraged attendees to meet their "boulders" in life with gratitude for what they give you and teach you rather than with hatred or fear. "We are always going to be meeting these adversities, these challenges," he said.

As Ralston described the accident, he paused to show the clip from the movie of that moment. The theater of several thousand attendees sat dead silent at the end of the clip, riveted, for several seconds until Ralston began to speak once again. He kept the audience engaged with tales not only of his experience, but what he learned - gifts - from that boulder. "That rock, in that moment, showed me what was important in my life," Ralston said. "It was my loved ones, to tell them the most important things you can say: I love you, I'm sorry, goodbye." The second gift, Ralston said, was finding out what is possible. "It had shown me something so beautiful about life. I've been back 10 times to visit that rock, and to say thank you.”

He left the audience with a challenge when it comes to encountering your metaphorical boulders. "It might be tempting to push them away. But smile at them. Be grateful for them. Maybe even embrace them. Because they will give you gifts."

Tuesday morning's snowy weather didn't keep attendees from filling the auditorium once again to hear Oracle President Mark Hurd and Oracle aerobatics pilot Sean D. Tucker.

Hurd engaged in a question and answer session with Ray Wang of Constellation Research, addressing questions about Oracle strategies, acquisitions and support. "The big issue we have at Oracle is the fact that we're doing a lot of stuff," Hurd said, calling that the good news and the bad news. He talked about Oracle's cloud strategy and elicited a laugh when he told the audience that "the industry has a way every few years of coming up with a word that will solve every issue you have - cloud!" Look for a separate blog post expanding on Hurd's address.

After the question and answer session concluded, Aviation Hall of Fame Inductee Tucker took the stage, drawing the audience in with his infectious enthusiasm for his job and for life. He spoke of his early days as a young pilot and the panic he would suffer at the controls. Ironically, it's that panic that led him to aerobatics. "I had to conquer that fear," he told the audience. "I conquered my fear and found my journey." After nearly dying in an accident a few years later though, he also found perspective. "Early on, I thought it was worth dying for, and it's not. If I die in front of an audience, I've abused this privilege," he said.

He also talked about being prepared when the unexpected happens, and treated the audience to an in-flight video of an incident in which Tucker was flying with a student when the propeller broke completely off of the plane. The student's fear and panic was evident, But Tucker remained calm throughout and found a place to land safely. "If I had been alone, I would have jumped out," Tucker told the audience to a laugh, but saving his student's life meant finding an alternate solution. "We can never achieve perfection, but if you strive for perfection, you can achieve excellence," Tucker said.

And if that weren't enough inspiration, Wednesday's Meeting of the Members, at which Quest officially swears in its new board members, brought wisdom from Tommy Spaulding, best selling author of "It's Not Just Who You Know." Spaulding talked about the importance of building meaningful relationships in business and in life. He related the story of applying for a $50,000 Rotarian Ambassador MBA scholarship despite being far short of the GPA requirements in high school and college. As one of 10 finalists interviewed for the award, the vote was split between Spaulding and a Harvard graduate. The deciding factor? The fact that Spaulding had been the only of the 10 candidates to engage the bartender (where the finalists waited at the restaurant where interviews were being held) in conversation. "I had about three-and-a-half-hours to wait, so I ordered a Pepsi and talked to the bartender," he said, who happened to be a fifth generation Italian fellow with great stories of his life. "My whole life took off like a rocket, and the bartender was the deciding vote." He encouraged the audience to build meaningful relationships, not manipulative ones.

The week is winding down here in Denver, but attendees still have plenty of education to choose from Thursday morning, and of course a blast will be had by all at the Wednesday night Urban Revival party.

More to come!

Editor's Blog - COLLABORATE 13 Kicks Off!

Rebekah Sellers — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 13:20:09 GMT

It was a sunny Sunday here in downtown Denver yesterday, and we at Quest couldn't have hoped for a better opening day for this year's COLLABORATE!

Not only did the weather cooperate beautifully, but registration ran smoothly and attendees from all over the globe met the day with remarkable enthusiasm and energy. Lots of smiles, handshakes, hugs and laughter were seen and heard throughout the Colorado Convention Center as old friends caught up and new connections were made.

Lots of SIGs got together today to discuss strategies and network. Orientation sessions, conference overviews and all the 411 were also presented to help attendees of all experience levels make the most of their time at COLLABORATE. With more educational offerings than ever before on Sunday, the session rooms were buzzing with folks and brimming with energy as like-minded users connected and reconnected.

Both the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne and World Upgrade Consortia met onsite in lieu of their regular monthly calls, with nearly full rooms in both sessions. The World session included the breaking news that release A9.3 update 1 is now available.

With more than 500 first-time attendees onsite here in Denver, it came as no surprise that Quest's New Attendee Orientation was standing room only. Themed around the hit television show The Big Bang Theory, the session was as entertaining as it was informative. With the Quest opening reception immediately afterwards, new connections and friendships were cemented as attendees mingled, noshed and hit the dance floor to the 80s new wave sounds of The Six Million Dollar Band.

Monday will kick off with the inspiring story of Aron Ralston, subject of the movie 127 Hours, and continue full-speed from there, with both JD Edwards and PeopleSoft general sessions, tons of education options and the opening of the exhibit hall.

COLLABORATE 13 promises to be fun, exciting, informative and energetic, so check back throughout the week for more updates from Denver!

ERP Requirements Mgmt 101: What + Why = How

Brett Beaubouef — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 15:02:52 GMT

One of the reasons why I am a consultant is that I enjoy solving business problems with technology. ERP provides a technical foundation that I can utilize to solve problems. However, during my career I came to the realization that simply throwing technology at a business need is not in the best interest of the customer. This is especially true when you do not completely understand the requirement. There is a difference between an evolving requirement and an evolving understanding of the requirement. In the next sections we will briefly review a practical approach for ERP requirements management.

http://gbeaubouef.wordpress.com/2013/03/10/erp-requirements-what-why-how/

Editor's Blog - CIO of Quest member Chubb Insurance Talks Social

Rebekah Sellers — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 20:55:50 GMT

Jim Knight's company is about to roll out an important social business platform, but he's barely thinking about it.

"From an IT point of view, I will not lose a minute of sleep" over the rollout of Jive, said Knight, the global CIO at Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, a $15.8 billion specialty insurer based in Warren, N.J.

A major enterprise software rollout across 10,200 employees used to guarantee at least headaches. But about 40% of Chubb's employees already use the Jive social business platform, so testing issues are long since dealt with. Jive is a cloud application, so adding more people has no impact on Chubb's systems. Enrolling people isn't even the province of IT -- the decision to implement it companywide comes from Chubb's other CIO, chief innovation officer Jon Bidwell.

Editor's Blog - Oracle Buys Private Cloud Provider Nimbula

Rebekah Sellers — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 20:45:08 GMT

Oracle has announced that it will acquire Nimbula, a company founded by former Amazon vice president of engineering Chris Pinkham. Nimbula sells software to companies that want to build Amazon-style cloud services inside their own data centers.

Nimbula was founded in 2009, and it had a nice pedigree. Pinkham oversaw Amazon’s vast infrastructure for many years, and he led the team that originally built the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, or EC2, one of the Amazon Web Services that has taken the tech world by storm. EC2 lets you instantly spin up virtual machines where you can run almost any software you like, including entire websites.

Editor's Blog - Oracle OpenWorld Call for Papers is Open

Rebekah Sellers — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 20:20:45 GMT

Oracle is very excited to announce the Call for Papers is now open for Oracle OpenWorld San Francisco ‘13. To submit a paper please see the Oracle OpenWorld San Francisco ’13 Call for Papers site here.

The Call will be open March 13^th – April 12^th.

Oracle OpenWorld San Francisco ’13 will be held September 22^nd– 26^th.

For more information about Oracle OpenWorld click here.

Editor's Blog - Aberdeen Group Publishes Human Capital Management Research

Rebekah Sellers — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 12:57:35 GMT

Research Addresses Retail Workforce Management Big Data, Critical Skills Training, Retail Workforce Analytics, Mobile Recruiting, Gamified Onboarding

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - Mar 13, 2013) - Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE:HHS), today announced the publication of new research reports from its Human Capital Management research practice.

"Harnessing Big Data's Power in Retail Workforce Management," prepared by Mollie Lombardi, Vice President and Principal Analyst in Aberdeen's Human Capital Managementpractice, states that Big Data is a theme that has been echoing around the human capital marketplace for some time now, but many organizations struggle with understanding what it really means, and more importantly what its implications are for achieving business results. For the retail sector in particular, Big Data can offer critical insights and information that can help organizations deliver a better customer experience -- an essential element of retail success. This Sector Insight will help readers understand what Big Data means and how they can harness its potential to improve operational efficiency and increase customer delight. To obtain a complimentary copy of this report, visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/Aberdeen-Library/8345/SI-retail-workforce-management.aspx.

Editor's Blog - Oracle Releases Enterprise Social Management Suite

Rebekah Sellers — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 15:32:04 GMT

With the enterprise social business market booming, it seemed inevitable that enterprise giant Oracle would enter sooner rather than later. Indeed it's surprising that they've taken as long as they have to enter the fray.

Nevertheless, they announced at OpenWorld a few months ago that a product would be coming shortly, and that time has finally arrived, with the release of the Oracle Social Relationship Management suite.

Editor's Blog - IT Age Discrimination Or Employee Inertia?

Rebekah Sellers — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 20:04:07 GMT

From InformationWeek's Global CIO:

A reader wrote me last week about my column "4 IT Leadership Failures That Make Employees Leave," pointing to the practice of driving away graying employees as yet another leadership failure at IT organizations. "This is supposedly being done because senior IT staff are not keeping up, when it is actually being done as cost control," the reader wrote.

Not to be harsh, but we need to be clearer about what's happening.

I agree 100% that driving away senior, experienced personnel is just bad business. But there's a big difference between getting rid of people because they're old and shedding people who aren't cutting it. To put a finer point on the matter: Thoughtful cost control doesn't equate to age discrimination.

You often get what you pay for. But as we know in the innovation game, sometimes you can pay less because of market or business developments or because of new, less expensive processes. So the question gets reframed: Can you spend less and get the same quality of service? If you can, you have no choice but to make changes.

Editor's Blog - Five Trends That Will Redefine HCM

Rebekah Sellers — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 14:23:08 GMT

The state of global employment is puzzling. While approximately 7% of the U.S. workforce is unemployed, over two-thirds (65%) of companies around the globe are concerned about retaining critical skills and top performing employees, according to Towers Watson. Over half (52.3%) of employers are concerned or very concerned about the shortage in skilled talent. Multinational organizations seeking to strengthen their talent pool would be wise to focus on their most important asset – their current employees. Human Capital Management (HCM) is the approach to staffing that recognizes this need and supports continuous improvement of employees – not only to increase their level of skill for your business, but also to reward their loyalty by offering them new and exciting challenges.

HCM should be strategy-driven, and should align your organization’s people strategy with your company’s overall values and goals. Ensuring that the full employee lifecycle of each of employee (from hire to retire) is aligned with the strategic goals of your business is a critical challenge for leaders. Developing and engaging employees and managing their performance are key priorities that drive business productivity and growth. Sadly, 93% of U.S. companies have no concrete talent management strategy in place. Even for companies that practice HCM, there are key trends in today’s business environment that should be considered to avoid undermining your talent management program.

Read the trends >

Editor's Blog - Oracle Appliance Upgrade Isn't Just Database

Rebekah Sellers — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 21:23:49 GMT

Oracle on Tuesday released the Oracle Database Appliance X3-2, a new version of the vendor's hardware-software combo aimed at midsize companies and departments of larger organizations. But don't think of this as just an upgrade.

Some thought of the first release of the Oracle Database Appliance (ODA) as a "Baby Exadata," but virtualization software built in the new release will let Oracle customers and ISV partners use the appliance as a data center in a box, suitable for running bank branches, hotels, retail stores and other remote operations.

ODA was introduced in 2011 as a fast deployment option for organizations more likely to scale up to the capacity of Oracle's flagship Exadata appliance. The new X3-2 packs 512 gigabytes of RAM and 18 terabytes of disk storage, up from 192 GB of RAM and 12 TB of disk storage in the previous release. The number of compute cores increased to 32, up from 24 previously.

Editor's Blog - Chances Are 'Private Cloud' is no Cloud at All

Rebekah Sellers — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 20:02:53 GMT

Cloud computing is shrouded in a big haze of ill-defined terms, but "private cloud" may be one of the most misused. To be a cloud, a computing platform must be a lot more than a data center with a highly efficient virtualized environment, a web portal and the ability to scale up and down dynamically, reports Brandon Butler at Network World.

As many as 70 percent of the "private clouds" out there don't technically qualify as clouds, according to a study by Forrester Research. "It's a huge problem," said James Staten, cloud analyst at Forrester. "It's cloud-washing."

Read more >

Editor's Blog - COLLABORATE is Coming!

Rebekah Sellers — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 20:42:17 GMT

We are so excited that COLLABORATE is going to be back in Denver, CO – the home of JD Edwards! The JD Edwards community is stronger than ever! We have announced more productsin the past 18 months than during any similar period in the history of JD Edwards. With the conference in Denver, you will have access to many of the JD Edwards experts from product strategy, development and support. That coupled with JD Edwards’ reputation for adding some real fun into many sessions, should be enough to entice you to attend this year. We have a FANTASTIC agenda planned for COLLABORATE. Our goal is to update you on our product strategies, new products and functionality, cloud options and more. You will not want to miss out on the education, networking and fun with theQuest International User Groupcommunity at COLLABORATE this year!

Global Download and Resources for Quest's International Community

Dana Deptola — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 22:21:12 GMT

Last year we began an initiative to customize Quest's content and resources by product, module and region. It is a long-term project but the ultimate objective is the more we can customize our offerings, the more value our users will receive. We are proud to say we have already taken steps towards this goal with our new Info Centers, Upgrades Newsletter, HCM Newsletter and Global Download.

While this blog will focus on the Global Download, all Quest users can expect to see more customized offerings this year. We encourage you to take the time to Update Your Profile as the more information you provide us, the more relevant information you will receive from Quest.

What is the Global Download?

A monthly newsletter for global JD Edwards and PeopleSoft users highlighting the latest product news, international events and content to help you achieve a higher satisfaction with your Oracle product. By leaving out all North American-centric information, we can focus on bringing our global community information that is relevant and valuable.

How big is Quest's international community?

Our international presence is growing fast; we currently have users in 92 countries. Additionally, we have independent user groups, Quest Australia & New Zealand and Quest Asia, run by JD Edwards and PeopleSoft users in those regions.

As an international JD Edwards or PeopleSoft user, what can Quest do for you?
A LOT. Here are a few examples of how our users benefit from the best content, events and networking opportunities:

Content

As a Quest member, you have access to our entire online library featuring recorded conference sessions, past webinars,whitepapers, etc. This year, we be recording over 100 sessions from COLLABORATE 13, our global conference. As a global member, you will be able to access these recorded sessions online saving you time and money in travel. Additionally, all of our slide decks from past Quest conferences are online allowing users on all different product releases to benefit from our online content.

Events
We have international conferences for JD Edwards and PeopleSoft users as well as several local meetings like the Queensland Regional User Group meeting on February 19, 2013. You can view all events on the Quest Calendar.

Networking Opportunities

The best way to connect to other JD Edwards and PeopleSoft users is through Quest Groups. You can find others in your region, in your industry and with your interests.

We are excited about the Global Download and look forward to bringing our entire community more customized offerings in the future.

Best,

Dana

Dana Deptola
Customer Relations Team
dana.deptola@questdirect.org

View more information about Quest's resources or contact us at quest@questdirect.org with any questions or comments.

IOUC Update on the Contracting Process

Jeff West — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 20:49:25 GMT

At a recent user group leader’s summit, Oracle met with key leaders and provided an update on their efforts to improve the customer experience associated with Oracle's contracting processes. Oracle has a list of issues they focus on each year for ongoing improvement and contracting is one of them. Oracle knows that doing business with Oracle can be complex and they want to improve that experience. Over the past year, progress was made with customer satisfaction scores for the contracting process, but until sustained improvement is noticed, it will continue to be a focus.

A team within Oracle is working these issues, with input from several sources, including: CIOs, key customers and user groups. The actions being taken fall into the following groups:
·    simplify and standardize processes
·    normalize and enhance (including training, especially the field)
·    complex deal approval and further automation
·    strengthen sales programs

The issues map to the above categories with an identified timeline and its current progress. Some are further along than others and some are complete. Many of the project changes should be well towards completion during the second half of this year and then they will measure to assure the desired results.

In the end, the user group leaders felt great about what was identified and Oracle’s plans and progress. When completed it should significantly improve the customer experience. Oracle suggested periodic updates to user groups on this initiative and at least at the next summit.