need comparison and advantages of JdEdwards OneWorld Xe and SAP

Hi all,
Our Company is in the process of Implementing ERP. I would be pleased if anyone could give a comparison of JDedwards OneWorld Xe versus SAP. Also i need the advantages of JDEdwards over SAP.

thanks in advance.

A really BIG question....
Contact implementation partners for SAP and JDE to ask for their help in evaluating the products (eg, Deloitte & Touche in Germany has a tool to compare these 2 products). Remember they have their agenda (like an SAP implementation will employ a lot more people for a longer time than will a JDE implementation).

If you can, talk to the day-to-day people who were on the implementation team for each of the products to get a sense of the project issues -- good and bad. And also ask for a "working system" demonstration of business processes that your company will use so the team members can actually "touch and feel" both products. Make sure the integration is demonstrated so team members have a sense of how important their efforts are to the success of the project (eg, process a sales order and a purchase order to see inventory changes and the updates to accounting, then have the customer pay you and you pay your vendor).

In the end, good, knowledgeable people are needed to make a successful implementation and most of those people must come from your company. The implementation partners primary goal should be to make you independent from them.

Finally, remember far less money is spent in the early stages of the project than in the later stages and after Go Live, so planning (eg, doing things like business process modeling) is "cheap" compared to mid-implementation crisis management. Know what you are doing BEFORE you jump into the implmentation.

and GOOD LUCK whatever you choose.

As usual, Rob is right on the money with his points.

In the particular case of SAP, given my limited exposure to it, I would say an interesting difference is the degree to which the respective products can be customised, both in terms of "look and feel" and as regards business process.

By following some of Rob's pointers, you should get a good sense of how well each product is likely to fit with the particular demands of your key activities and workflows.

(By "interesting", of course, I am recognising that JDE's greater flexibilty can sometimes come at the price of needing to spend more resource on configuration if not customisation. With SAP there is often only one "approved" way of performing a given task).

HTH

#7

A small additional and slightly cynical footnote here, I would be wary of anything that the big implementation partners tell you, sure they will come up with some worthwhile information, but their advice always comes down to one thing. They'll sell the solution that they think they can get the most consltancy hours out of regardless of what is best for your business.

On a less cynical note, I have worked with both products and prefer JDE personally. It has one huge strength that puts it way out above all its competitors. It is totally flexible.

It also has one huge weakness. Its total flexibility.

Bearing in mind that the core functioanlity is broadly similar, you should try the user groups. They should put you in touch with happy customers in both camps. Try and find unhappy ones too!

Good luck
Chris.

www.cds-solutions.com