Inside Scoop on ERP9 Upgrades

I am working on a major project outside of OW that will require functionality I know is available in ERP9 (aka B9). The problem right now is timing. From what I have found on jdelist and the KG, general availabilty is supposed to be Aug 2003.

I would like to get a better idea of how ERP9 is coming along. If anyone has the inside track on how ERP9 is progressing, I would be interested in reading posts.

How far along is the release?
How firm is GA in Aug. 2003?
How stable is the release?
Will it be released with a service pack 2x level or will JDE start a new foundation?
Is there a standalone version available yet?
Has anyone installed an alpha or beta release?
What are the risk areas of an upgrade?

Any info on this would be kindly acknowledged.

Do you really want to be on the bleeding edge of Technology ?

Remember what happened when customers went to B733 Base, B732 Base and B731 Base ?

Hopefully it won't happen again with "B9" Base (the first major release since B733 base in 1999)

Of course, I am certainly looking forward to seeing ERP9 - remember, as soon as its released, I'll put up my revitalized Upgrade guide !!!

How far along is the release? The release is being beta tested at
numerous clients.
How firm is GA in Aug. 2003? Barring a "fatal" flaw yet uncovered in
months of beta and internal testing, probably more solid than any other
major release JD Edwards has put out.
How stable is the release? This is impossible to answer. Beta sites are
usually installing fresh on a separate system, or porting the existing
OneWorld installation over to a freshly installed new system, then
performing the upgrade. So the issue is, if you are performing the
upgrade on an existing production system, can you expect as good of
results as a clean install? Probably not. However, on the plus side,
the ERP 9 that will be the GA has been finished since last year. That
is, JD Edwards made the commitment not to be putting resources into
anything other than bug fixing the base that has been around since then,
no new features have been added for months. Therefore, the product, from
the standpoint of needing ESU's or SP's should be pretty solid. I
believe the issues encountered will be in these three major areas...1.
Coexistent clients: ERP 9 will break coexistence. So those shops
planning an upgrade need to figure in data conversion and reporting
conversions at the minimum. 2. AS/400 clients using DB2/400: You will
have to upgrade your DB to DB2/UDB, and for many, this will also mean a
OS/400 upgrade as well. 3. Any installations with a large amount of
customization: Yes, this is a issue with any upgrade, but since the ERP
9 code is written to be UDB compliant, the retrofitters will need to be
able to code in this method as well.
Will it be released with a service pack 2x level or will JDE start a new
foundation? Don't know.
Is there a standalone version available yet? I believe only to those
Beta testing the product. However, I'm sure if your company is in active
negotiations with JD Edwards to upgrade to ERP 9, a standalone copy could
probably be made available.
Has anyone installed an alpha or beta release? Yes, there are
organizations that have installed ERP 9.
What are the risk areas of an upgrade? Well, I'd say the risks normally
associated with a OneWorld upgrade, compounded if you are running on an
AS/400 coexistence and/or AS/400 utilizing DB2/400.

Regards,

Jim

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