OBIEE Blog

SAP B1 is taking the momentum in getting ERP and MRP applications market share, especially for smaller firms as well as the subsidiaries of large corporation, where Oracle custom solutions or Oracle Financials eBusiness Suite are implemented, especially in Sales and CRM, Vendor management and EDI (Electronic Document Interchange), Oracle based B2B and B2C ecommerce and partner source web sites.  If you have some of these circumstances, you probably need SAP Business One to “talk” directly to Oracle application.  We understand that in large corporation you likely have strong IT department with Oracle programmers and PL/SQL developers, who are comfortable with importing and exporting data sets to and from Oracle EBS or custom database application, however we may expect some level of assistance from your side when you need to understand your options in one way or two way integration between Oracle and SAP BO.  This small publication is for you:

 

1.       SAP Business One integration options.  Here we assume that you would like to deploy native SAP B1 tools, prior to considering SB1 ISV third party add-ons.  SAP Business One Data Transfer Workbench is the first tool you should consider.  If you have SAP B1 functional consultants, serving your account, these people are typically trained in importing data, such as Sales Invoice, Customer (Business Partner), Item, Price Lists to SB1, especially if you could provide the sources in the form of Text CSV files.  Such method might seem to be too poorly automated, when you need ongoing daily or weekly integration from Oracle to SAP Business One.  For more sophisticated and automatic integrations we recommend ODBC based datasets (on the Data File selection step of data migration wizard).  We assume that you are on Microsoft SQL Server 2005 or 2000, in this case ODBC could be based on Microsoft SQL Server view, which in turn through Linked Server construction pulls data from Oracle database.  You can also create the package, which prepares the data export in Oracle prior to calling DTW in SB1

 

2.       SAP Business One SDK.  In SDK your SAP Business One VAR, if they have certified SB1 SDK developers could code integration for you, which is more flexible in comparison to SB1 Data Transfer Workbench.  SDK integration could be packages as Exe application, for example, and you could schedule its execution every night or call it from Oracle upon the event (when ecommerce transaction is complete in Oracle Applications, for example).  SB1 SDK can push and pull objects to and from SAP Business One and if you include both SAP BO SDK and Oracle integration libraries, you can create bidirectional integration between the two

 

3.       Pulling data from SAP Business One.  If you are OK with the option of deploying SAP Business One Data Transfer Workbench for moving transactions to SB1, then you can simply pull data from SAP Business One by connecting from Oracle application to Microsoft SQL Server SB1 company database, especially if you know how to parse and push data to Oracle.  To learn SB1 tables structure, you could just login SB1 company, select View System Information menu and open the object you would like to pull from SB1, Sales A/R Invoice, for example.  Place cursor on the field next to Customer and you will see on the left bottom part of the screen, that Customer ID is stored in OINV table and the field name is CardCode.  This should give you good idea on what to do next

 

4.       SAP Business One is often chosen as international subsidiary ERP application, as SB1 is localized in large spectrum of countries: Brazil, Canada, Europe, Russia, Mexico, Oceania, India, China.  If your company has Oracle implemented in US or Canadian headquarters, SB1 to Oracle integration might be valuable solution

I need to know about how to relate between performance management and talent management. Thank you if you can give me some pictorial description.

Oracle and Microsoft Dynamics CRM integration is what you could expect in large corporation, acquiring smaller business, where IT infrastructure is built on Microsoft SQL Server and Windows platforms.  Microsoft CRM does Leads generation and Marketing campaigns, Sales Quotes and Orders, Products and Pricing, Service and Technician Scheduling job, Contract and Service Case time logging and management, Knowledge Base support and lifecycle and other important business processes.  You could expect several business scenarios, where Oracle needs to be integrated with Microsoft Dynamics CRM.  Let’s review some of them:

1.       Microsoft CRM as Sales Orders front end.  If you have your sales people in regional locations in USA or internationally, this is very good approach, as Microsoft Dynamics CRM is web application and could be launched from anywhere in the World, where you have internet connection.  Plus, if you deploy Microsoft CRM Outlook client, you can work with Local replica of your Microsoft CRM objects and transactions: leads, contacts, cases, contract lines, quote, orders, items, prices, etc.  Microsoft CRM Security architecture is very robust and flexible, no doubt it fits to large organization IT requirements and policies

2.       Oracle eBusiness Suite as Corporate Accounting, ERP and MRP, also known as Oracle Financials or Oracle Applications.  In large corporation Oracle EBS is popular as Corporate ERP.  Assuming that your organization acquires smaller firm with Microsoft CRM – it is natural next step to move your new subsidiary accounting to Oracle Applications.  Accounting business processes are typically straight forward and there is no challenge (or normal little efforts required) to redeploy it in Oracle Financials.  However, expecting revolution in overnight moving business processes from Microsoft CRM to Oracle is probably utopia.  We recommend you to do one step in the time and stick to evolution instead.  Evolution means slowly move your new branch to Oracle Ebusiness Suite, and keep Microsoft Dynamics CRM for several years by deploying custom gateway between Oracle and Microsoft CRM

3.       Microsoft CRM integration technologies.  In large corporation you typically see robust IT departments, and if you are UNIX or high end Linux environment, we expect you also to be strong in Oracle PL/SQL programming.  Your Oracle programmers are likely to be comfortable to provide ODBC connection for Microsoft CRM to integrate its object with Oracle Financials.  You may consider outsourcing Microsoft CRM SDK programming to Microsoft CRM Partner and Reseller

4.       Current Microsoft CRM version.  As we are writing these lines in February 2009, current version is 4.0.  Microsoft CRM upgrade typically happens more frequently in comparison to Oracle DB version upgrade, but in any case both Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Oracle are matured applications with certain commitment to programming and integration tools

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It is important to remember that good Human Capital management is about maximising the value of each individual within a business. It’s about what motivates people, what drives improvement in their capability, what keeps them engaged and how they are treated by the business as a whole person.

One of the best ways to manage an individual, to enhance their performance and their relationship with the organisation they work for is through Performance Management. So what is Performance Management?

Many people think it is about managing someone out of the organisation.  In fact it is about optimising someone’s contribution when they are with the organisation. Leading experts, Armstrong and Baron, define it as “a process which contributes to the effective management of individuals and teams in order to achieve high levels of organisational performance. It establishes shared understanding about what is to be achieved and an approach to leading and developing people…” Basically it is about having good conversations between a manager and his/her people that helps them get clear on what is expected of them and, as importantly, how they are doing.”

This can include 1:1 meetings, giving constructive feedback to generate the right behaviours, discussing individual objectives and competencies, capturing development plans, encouraging training matched to job requirements and nurturing individual aspirations, whether they are personal or professional.
Quality of dialogue

Good Performance Management gives a business the tools to pro-actively review and discuss an individual and their contribution to the wealth of the organisation. It also gives employees a vehicle to formalise their career aspirations, obtain or give constructive feedback, and agree future aims or deliverables.  Technology can support the management of performance in an organisation by tracking meetings, objectives, agreements and development plans.  However a system alone will not deliver good Performance Management in an organisation. The quality of dialogue between a manager and their employee is critical, along with the discipline of ensuring agreements for development and feedback are followed through on.

Performance Management also needs to be set within a context i.e. that of achieving a wider company strategy, or cultural objectives, or, most basically, financial results. Anyone in the organisation should be able to link their objectives to the objectives of their organisation, which means good Performance Management enables a company to bridge the gap between their corporate objectives  – which can often seem lofty and distant from ‘the day job’ – to what employees are doing on a daily basis.

If a business is going to meet its financial targets, growth objectives and business plans, all employees must be aligned to achieve shared goals. The success of a company is based on the sum of its parts, and the way to ensure company objectives are met is through good Performance Management of the individuals inside an organisation. Each employee can then be motivated, appropriately skilled and targeted to deliver.
Implementing Performance Management

According to the CIPD, “Performance Management is difficult to implement.” The key reason they cite for this is “ownership”, as everybody in an organisation needs to play an active and enthusiastic part in the process to ensure it’s successful and effective. HR departments are often custodians of Performance Management, which ultimately impacts every employee as well as the business results, but they rarely “own” execution. Therefore line managers remain critical to the quality of the process and outcome. 

The CIPD also states that “Surveys suggest individuals and managers in organisations, with Performance Management systems, quite like it…although performance-rating often provokes hostility.” Again, this can make the process difficult; highlighting the importance of effective communication, training and change management aspects of any implementation.

HR can help provide the tools and support to make positive adoption of a Performance Management system or process easier, but they can’t force good Performance Management practices into a business. Every employee, line manager and senior manager must interact with the process and play their part to maximise the value each person can bring to the organisation as a whole.