Converting from OneWorld to World (no joke!)

  • Thread starter Robert Robinson
  • Start date
Robert,

My question is - has someone sat down and provided a cost estimate for what your parent company is asking. Does it have a justifible ROI? It seems a bit extreme to devolve to WORLD when there is no path to do so. Especially in light of a future migration to SAP. Why not leave well enough alone. If paying maintenance is the issue, than look at third party outfits like Klee Associates or TomorrowNow. The third parties fees for support are a fraction of Oracle's. This does not sound like a reasonable or cost justifiable request. Good luck my friend.
 
Gregg (and others),

Rumor has it... that there are actually a lot of things that World does 'better' than gui.

I've met two clients that could not leave World because of World ability to use a Financial Organization structure and roll each company/component into it's financial 'gatherings'. I created a solution to overcome that, last year - using virtual tables and a complex sql statement...

I'm guessing that the cost to migrate down is less (risk and expense) than migrating up?

World IS being maintained and enhanced - it is not a dead product (just throw this thread at the World side of the list - they'll slap a few of us).

My few cents!

(db)
 
Dan,

No intentional World bashing here. Personally I'm ERP agnostic. I'm just questioning the logic here of that kind of migration. I just finished a research paper and oral presentation for my MBA program that relates to the topic. The point that I made in the paper is that ANY kind of ERP project, whether a new install, major release upgrade, order to cash project, etc., requires an ROI analysis as the first step in the process. If a company follows PMI methodology, they can avoid costly, expensive and unjustifyable projects.

Gregg Larkin
JDE System Administrator (CNC) / North America
Praxair, Inc.
 
Gotta go with Gregg...if you are going to do a ERP migration to SAP or whatever in 2007...migrating sideways (notice I didn't say backwards) from E1, especially after XE is insane. Though E1 and World at one time were "compatable"...poor guy works for an organization that is running at least A/R, from what he says, and also HR, I think, and E1 810. Has nothing to do with an argument of is E1 or World "better"...a migration from 'post' coexistence is a migration from one ERP to another...even though it is E1 and World.

It isn't a matter of World being good...I think World is great. I think the iSeries is the most ultimate box in the world as well. But it comes down to time and money.

I would LOVE to work for a company that is able to perform a consolodation of 2 versions of E1 and 2 versions of World into one instance of World in 2006 (seeing as it's already April), AND will pay to convert that conversion to SAP in 2007.

I just either wonder about how smart they are, or how much LSD is in the H2O. Nobody in the planet can justify the expense of the conversion back to World in 2006 and THEN the conversion to SAP in 2007. I wish I had that moolah to burn.

Either the money spenders are plain stupid (or under the influence of before mentioned LSD)...or there is a lack of understanding of scope.

This is a consulting firm's gold mine! LOL

WOW!
 
My view on your situation is also that it is an insane request. Not for the migration to World from E1 - but the fact that they would undertake something like this in preparation for another migration to SAP ?!?!

A migration from E1 to World is quite literally trying to fit an elephant into a miniskirt. You can get the miniskirt into an elephant, but trying to do it the other way around is venturing into some major unknowns.

Moving from E1 to World might have some touchy-feely "justifications" behind it - but the key here is that it would probably take 90% of the time as an E1 to SAP migration - certainly many of the tables are somewhat similar, but you'll have to remap a lot of the functionality no matter what.

If your company is dead-set about going forward with SAP (which I wouldn't personally recommend) - then I'd plan on three migration paths to get there - however, these three migration paths will share very similar tasks since much of the data is very similar. The hardest will likely be the E1 to SAP migration, and the same processes developed under that migration will likely be shared between the World 7.3 to SAP and World 8.1 to SAP.

However, remember that you already have SAP implemented on one part of your company - that will probably mean you'll have to match your business processes to the SAP way of doing things - which will almost certainly be your biggest challenge. Converting the data into the SAP datasets will probably be the easiest part of the migration. User acceptance, training and business process design will be the hardest - just like any ERP implementation !
 
As I said, welcome to my world...

This post has served its purpose...not only is there no path to devolve, not only has no one tried it...the experts on this forum agree that it is a bad move.

Unfortunately, this decision is set in concrete. I don't know if anyone remembers the old DC comic book "Suicide Squad", but that is what this looks, smells and tastes like.

I thank you for your replies, and will take them as evidence that we should not do this...or a post mortem.
 
Ho Robert,

like a number of the other posters I am a professional PM/Consultant and as such been involved with all manner of small to large scale projects.

This approach would normally be used as part of an IT strategy to bring platforms together over a 3-5 year cycle and NOT part of a migration plan!!

Whenever I have had multiple platforms to bring together under an "implementation" I have ALWAYS moved to common processes (as far as possible - model rollout with localisation) rather than go through the pain of changing the PROCESSES twice or more.
What is being proposed will necessitate retraining twice and so will produce twice the business problems (not IT problems, although they will have that too
wink.gif
). Hence customer service will suffer much more going down this route.

Further SAP was last I looked VERY, VERY rigid in how it is set up and implemented too the point that even a new BU would be a major undertaking.
Also if you guys remember Whitman-Hart (or marchFIRST) well we had PSTF/JDE/SAP/ORCL and I was part of the UK team who did the x-erp analysis and while it is true that functionally they are all similar, they all have varying project cycle lengths - JDE was the shortest and .... you guessed it SAP was the longest by about a factor of 2.5 !

Since your company is going to have to reimplement SAP for the other subsidiaries my strong advice would be to save the pennies from the OW->W migration and use it to perform the JDE->SAP project "properly".

IMHO there is little or no material cost saving in doing a platform consolidation with the SAP implementation looming.

If your company has this set in stone then the only advice I could give is to ensure that the processes implemented mirror the final SAP processes as much as possible. At least this will minimise the final impact on the business.

Good luck !!!!!

Warm regards

Peter
 
Re: RE: Converting from OneWorld to World (no joke!)

I'm smelling a book (at the least)...maybe a miniseries...
 
Re: RE: Converting from OneWorld to World (no joke!)

PS - I love the ICON !!

Maybe you need to get this supersized
laugh.gif


Warm regards

Peter
 
Re: RE: Converting from OneWorld to World (no joke!)

no...my head hurts too much already...
 
Re: RE: Converting from OneWorld to World (no joke!)

It seems to me that you have some people in your company that really don't know what they're asking for - they're trying to see if you can put together for a proposal that will migrate your company to the lowest common denominator.

I'd love to see the cost budget put together. As others have said, I'd also love to be involved in a company that has that much money to throw away over the next few months. I've heard of companies that do this - and I've luckily brought a few companies back from the brink of actually accomplishing certain madness - but I've never actually worked on a time-wasting project like this !

Good luck !
 
Hello Robert, Sorry to hear about your predicament, however you might like to know how much light it has brought to some members of the forum. You also now have some idea of what us Brits have to put up with in the EU.
Keep taking the tablets.
regards
Mike
 
Re: RE: Converting from OneWorld to World (no joke!)

Oh, didn't I mention? There IS no budget (to be done in house) whee...
 
I guess it did kinda hit a nerve (over 500 views), or maybe it is the threaded equivalent of a multi-car crash on the highway...ugly, but no one can avert their eyes...

One more thing...I am trying to locate the KG document which covers the conversion of Subcontracts (yep, we did that too). I am trying to identify the files that the P44980 program affects in a World to OneWorld conversion...
 
Re: RE: Converting from OneWorld to World (no joke!)

[ QUOTE ]
Oh, didn't I mention? There IS no budget (to be done in house) whee...

[/ QUOTE ]
In house or out of house, there is still a substantial expense to do this migration. This unfunded project request is unjustified and should be refused. I have permission to email you off line two articles written by Dr CJ Rhodes. But for the list, I will post two relevant sections that are pertanent to your situation and were key arguements in a master's paper that I recently submited.

“I think the most value from an ERP system comes from the PEOPLE who USE the hardware and software to modify the processes to enable the company to work more efficiently. The ERP system itself is worthless; it is the combination of the people, the process, and the system that is valuable. “


Stretching out Maintenance - Dr. CJ Rhodes, 2006


“…..finally came to the conclusion that traditional ROI analyses were flawed. I now believe that (no matter what the ROI calculation says) the largest payoff for a project doesn’t happen within the first year, nor within the second year – but in the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh year - long after the accountants have put away their spreadsheets and gone home. The issue is not the technology – the issue is the people using the technology. No matter how good the consultant is, no matter how great the hardware and software is, the employees of a business USING the technology are always the best source for the best ways to integrate the information technology into the process. The difficulty is that there is a huge gap between what the employees know and understand about the technology, and what they need to know. Once they figure out the essential ingredients, the resulting process improvements can be stratospheric - and the ROI will jump off the charts.”


Getting Value to the Max – Dr. CJ Rhodes 2006

Good Luck Robert, don't go down without a fight.

Gregg Larkin
 
Would you mind installing a web cam over your desk so that we can watch as the horror unfolds? Now I feel so silly for complaining about the CNC stuff I have to go through.
 
What a great idea!

I knew there had to be a way to profit from the pain that is oh so sure to come...I was thinking about doing a book...I KNOW it would make Oprah's Book Club ("Fear and Loathing in a Downgrading Environment" is the working title), but I know NO ONE would believe that this actually happened, so I would be subjecting myself to the James Frey treatment on top of everything else...

Come to think of it, if I did install my web cam, the next few months would garner an NC-17 rating...

If my plight has helped all of you to appreciate the "minor" annoyances that you encounter, then my sacrifice has been worth it (P.S.: No, OneWorld will NOT rise again on the 3rd day)...
grin.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
(P.S.: No, OneWorld will NOT rise again on the 3rd day)...
grin.gif


[/ QUOTE ]
What? You mean that if you tear down this temple, it will not rise again in three days?
shocked.gif
shocked I am! simply shocked! Now pardon me while I tear my robes...
 
If only we had not built up a good head of steam (with OneWorld) before hitting that brick wall...

got Bactine?
 
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