Oracle EBS

AppsTek Offers Services for the Oracle E-Business Suite of Applications. Enterprise solutions enable the right people to access and manage real-time information and transactions across the entire organization. When a company needs assistance with their enterprise software, they not only require a knowledgeable software expert, but also an individual with expertise in their specific industry. At AppsTek, we provide seasoned and experienced consultants that understand both sides of this equation to deliver the smart, innovative and value-driven solutions that are right for you. Our end-to-end solutions include package assessments, implementations, upgrades, module add-ons, enhancements, business intelligence and functional support.

ROI Improvement Assessments

The Issue
The problem is common. The initial E-Business Suite implementation project took place over a year ago but the savings and benefits that the company initially expected have not yet been realized.

Service Description
Working with a company’s management team, AppsTek consultants can quickly identify the changes that lead to short-term improvement in financial and operational results. We leverage the existing Oracle’s Business Model process framework to help narrow the focus to just key processes that can impact financial results. Experienced AppsTek consultants then work with members of your team to define how you can streamline processes and use newly available information and tools to improve operations. The team will estimate the potential benefits, costs, and time to put the changes in place.

The Benefits
Your management team receives a road map of quick, high impact initiatives to improve the return on investment in Oracle’s E-Business Suite of applications. The action plan is then relayed to the team and put into place systematically.

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Oracle E-Business Suite Implementations/Enhancements

The Issue
We’ve all heard the horror stories which are frequently told about E-Business Suite implementations that run for years and cost millions or more. They begin with tales of expensive consultants who were brought that asked the team “What do you want the system to do?” And, yet, all too frequently, the project ends with business operations that are basically the same as they were before. The result is a project that disrupted the company, raised fixed costs, and delivered little benefit.

Service Description
AppsTek provides seasoned consultants who can actually deliver real world business solutions to your implementation. Our first question is “What do you need to be successful?” We work with your team to develop simple, streamlined business processes. We begin with Oracle’s most commonly used business models and then we tailor those models to help meet the specific processes and functions of your business. This approach avoids recreating your existing system in Oracle’s new technology – a sure way to produce a negative ROI implementation. This approach simply enhances process flows, configuration documents, test scripts, and training materials already produced by Oracle.

The Benefits
AppsTek’s business focused, Oracle-centric approach reduces costs and helps keep E-Business Suite implementation projects on-time and on-budget. Most importantly, we concentrate on getting value for your investment, rather than recreating your existing processes in new technology.

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Business Process Improvements (Efficient Process Reengineering)

The Issue
No one really knows when the process became so complicated, but now it seems to take forever and is no longer reliable. Everyone knows it should be rethought from scratch, but no one wants to sit through long inefficient meetings reviewing overly complex flowcharts that bear little resemblance to day to day operations.

Service Description
Rather than trudging through the tedious As-Is flowcharting, detailed process step analysis, and To-Be flowcharting divorced from the existing technology in place; AppsTek consultants start from the business practices built into the E-Business Suite and leverage that functionality when recommending changes to business processes. Working with your team, AppsTek helps you overcome process impediments and creatively finds ways to fully use the process automation, capabilities and tools you purchased with your original EBS investment.

The Benefits
Beginning with a focus on the end result, AppsTek can dramatically reduce the time and cost of implementing improved processes while leveraging existing tools. Let AppsTek help you enable fast and effective process change without all the hype and confusion normally associated with process reengineering projects.

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Customer Project Management Services

The Issue
It’s Friday afternoon and the Project Manager from your system integrator has just presented you with four more change orders. The project is only 40% complete and is already 25% over budget. How can you regain control in order to save precious time, money and resources over the next six months?

Service Description
Many companies do not have an IT team member on staff with a deep level of experience implementing the E-Business Suite. The Project Managers from system integrators struggle to fulfil your needs but must also remain mindful of their employer’s profit goals. For customers trying to effectively manage the resources and expenses required to implement the Oracle applications, AppsTek Project Managers can help. AppsTek consultants bring years of experience with innumerable successful implementations to serve as an extension of your team. We identify alternative application implementation strategies to help manage costs, manage scope, track progress, and implement successfully. AppsTek Project Managers focus on using Oracle methods and tools such as Accelerators to help your team meet project goals and budgets.

The Benefits
Improved budget-to-actual and schedule conformance by your Oracle E-Business Suite project team. Additionally, these projects typically realize improved user satisfaction for the EBS software post implementation.

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E-Business Suite Module / Process implementation

The Issue
After the initial E-Business Suite implementation, progress has stalled. The original plan was for the company to continue to develop its use of the software and additional modules were licensed. However, now, those licences have become “shelf ware,” as they’ve been ignored due to your company’s focus on other priorities. Now, you need someone to help you jump start the process of improving the value you get for the software you are already paying for.

Service Description
Unlike “Big Four” consultants and large scale outsourcers who seem only interested in helping with million-dollar projects, AppsTek’s experienced consultants can quickly identify how you currently use the E-Business suite and help you add a new module or new functions that fit seamlessly with your current operations. Often, seemingly small operating improvements can lead to significant savings. Various scenarios exist such as enhanced coordination with suppliers to reduce inventories and costs using the iSupplier portal, or using the Self-Service Modules to free professional users from mundane administrative tasks, or using Cash Management or Treasury modules to improve the financial position of your company; AppsTek can help you get the most out of your Oracle investment

The Benefits
AppsTek can help you improve incremental financial and operating performance without a huge upfront cost. Effectively implementing licensed, but unused software captures the value of unused assets. We realize that small projects can lead to big gains for your organization’s success, and we welcome these opportunities to work for you.

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Oracle E-Business Suite R12 Functional Upgrade

The Issue
The ability to upgrade to newer versions is one of the most valuable aspects of Oracle’s support services. Whether you need to move from an unsupported platform, your business has changed significantly since your original implementation, or there are new capabilities available that could improve your operations; AppsTek can help you cost-effectively upgrade to a newer version of the E-Business Suite of applications.

Service Description
AppsTek helps its customers understand the benefits that will result from the upgrade process and work with them to create an upgrade approach, strategy and plan to achieve those results. AppsTek’s experienced consultants use Oracle’s methods and tools to help guide your team through the upgrade process. We emphasize using Oracle’s Business Model to gain the most value from the software, well planned and designed test cycles to ensure system reliability, and appropriate training for users to manage the change process.

The Benefits
Upgrading to newer versions of the E-Business Suite allows your company to readily adapt to business changes over time. AppsTek can help your team complete a quick, seamless, cost-effective upgrade to newer versions of the Oracle software.

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Business Intelligence

The Issue
The cartoon character Dilbert, once commented that the first step of every project was to build a data warehouse. When asked why, he responded, “No matter what the issue, they always built a data warehouse.” We think you’ll agree that the E-Business Suite can seem more of a data prison than a data warehouse. By necessity, Oracle built the E-Business Suite as a transactions processing engine, with a table structure built to speed the completion of the transactions as quickly as possible. But, the complex table structure that supports highly efficient transaction processing poses a huge impediment to users trying to view summary information and identify trends to support management decisions.

Service Description
AppsTek consultants can assist your team in assessing your reporting and analysis needs. AppsTek identifies Oracle software tools to meet your specific needs regarding timeliness, flexibility, and ease of access to reporting capabilities. We focus on using all of the reporting tools available within the E-Business Suite as well as Oracle’s Business Intelligence specific tools sets. With an emphasis on implementing an architecture that can be maintained and extended economically, not just on providing information in a timely manner, AppsTek will assist you in building data warehouses and implementing ad hoc or “cube” based multi-dimensional reporting tools.

The Benefits
AppsTek can help you free the information buried in your E-Business Suite environment and reduce your overhead costs with improved access to information. Partner with us to gather the information you need more quickly to report details with timeliness and efficiency and gain a greater control of the coordination of activities of resources working in diverse locations. Most importantly, build a business intelligence solution that you can change, extend and expand as your business evolves.

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Oracle Applications Functional Support

The Issue
Whether your organization is challenged by retaining experience staff, providing skilled support staff for modules that are critical, but sparsely used, or simply having to deal with sudden increases in support workload due to changes in the business and regulatory environment; most small and mid-sized companies are realizing that it is not economical to solely use internal staff to provide for all their support needs.

Service Description
AppsTek provides various levels of service to meet your company’s varying needs. Our flexible support model can deliver on-going level two support for just one module, short-term support to cover temporary increases in support workload, and even, full-time support for a customer’s E-Business suite of applications. AppsTek helps its customers cost-effectively provide quick response to users.
Below is a list of common uses for the AppsTek support service areas:

• Issue Resolution
• Applications Personalization
• Customization
• Enhanced Reporting
  

The Benefits
AppsTek customers don’t have to bear the burden of staffing their support organization for peak periods or worst case scenarios. AppsTek customers do not face the service level disruptions and increased costs when faced with turnover of key support personnel.

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Oracle Technology

Configuring Enterprise solutions is only one aspect of determining whether the delivered solution is successful or not. To reach optimal performance and usability from an ERP system, sound business strategies must be supported with a strong technological infrastructure. AppsTek offers end-to-end technology-based solutions including technical assessments, local and/or remote database administration support, system administration, technology focused process reengineering, security and reliability audits, database upgrades and performance reviews. Let AppsTek help you achieve the full potential of your enterprise system.

Performance Review

The Issue
Even a few seconds of delay is too much for impatient employees and wandering customers. AppsTek monitors and maintains applications and interfaces to help keep performance and service levels high.

Service Description
AppsTek provides deep visibility into database performance through real-time monitoring of a broad range of metrics with drilldowns to fine-grained database transaction data for troubleshooting using Oracle Enterprise Monitoring tools. We perform detailed tracking of database usage for trending and performance optimization and database policy violations while imposing zero overhead on database operation. Our customers can also benefit from our reliable and scalable resources which keep our customer’s systems at 99.9% availability.

The Benefits
Detect application performance problems early, with no overhead on your application environment.
Optimize queries and table structures to make better use of resources. Improve triage, isolating database-related problems more quickly and accurately, for hand-off to the database team. AppsTek’s performance review can help you plan for future capacity requirements with greater intelligence and leverage high volume, real-time analysis scaled to large database environments.

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Database Administration

The Issue
Inexperienced Oracle DBAs are the bane of corporate America. Oracle Corporation has identified more than 75% of all Oracle database outages are caused due to human error. By hiring the services of recognized Oracle Database Administration companies, customers can avoid the potential downtime associated with human error.

Service Description
AppsTek’s Database Administration (DBA) support solutions include continuous monitoring of your database environment and are designed so that our DBA support team can be alerted immediately should an issue arise. Corrective action can be delivered instantly via numerous remote access methods, onsite and through our offshore consultants or over the phone to your own DBA team. AppsTek will work with you to determine the best method for your environment.

Our site offices are typically connected to your systems via site-to-site VPN, so we have efficient yet encrypted communications. We have sophisticated management tools & unparalleled DBA experience to create a comprehensive monitoring and alerting solution for your Oracle environment. Through this solution our substantial and employed team of Certified DBAs can react immediately to resolve problems, at any time of day.

This solution is at the core of our support offering. However, it is enhanced further by regular health checks, performance audits, bespoke reporting, capacity planning, security testing and numerous other discrete DBA services.

The Benefits
Minimization of risk in managing mission-critical data.
Economical solution for on-going database support.

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System Administration

The Issue
Many companies are not sure of the vulnerabilities that exist with respect to their mission critical business servers. AppsTek System Administration services can provide a System Monitoring and Administration Assessment that will identify potential problem areas or weaknesses that exist. Potential problem areas may include login security and system back-up and recovery procedures along with various others.

Service Description
AppsTek System Administration Services provides reliable and cost-effective system administration both at the OS and the Oracle application level. AppsTek has the expertise to support all UNIX platforms to monitor and support the environment on a 24X7 basis.

In addition to providing system administration services, the AppsTek team can work with you to define a strategic plan and recommendations regarding operating system monitoring and performance, patch analysis, security policies and customized system installation and upgrades.

The Benefits
Our team members have done numerous SAS70 / SOX implementations to improve uptime and availability of your key systems while reducing operating costs. AppsTek helps reduce the strain and workload on permanent IT resources.

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Security and Reliability Assessments

The Issue
Every year thousands of companies experience an un-wanted intrusion. Many of today’s systems are vulnerable to incidents which are capable of destroying their mission-critical systems.

Service Description
AppsTek’s Oracle Security assessment involves a complete review of all Oracle security components.
These services include:

• Full audit of security
• Full audit of access controls
• Audit of all grant execute security
• In addition, the Oracle audit service identifies the following Oracle security exposures:
• Identification all Net8 exposures in your Oracle environment
• Identify all users with external passwords
• Find system privileges that possess the WITH ADMIN option
• Locate end-users who are granted system privileges
• Search for all non-Remote DBA roles that possess the WITH ADMIN option
• Identify all table privileges that can be granted to other users
• A complete review of all tables that are granted PUBLIC access

On the Operating System side:

• Review of network security policies
• Review of vendor security updates
• Complete vulnerability assessment
• Password strength checking
• Checking for improper remote hosts connectivity

The Benefits
AppsTek customers can benefit in many ways as we protect the integrity of their data and prevent fraud. By preventing unauthorized access to hardware and software and having proper security measures in place, we ensure that there are no overlaps that could lead to fraud or foul play.

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Database Upgrades

The Issue
“End of Support” on your current version is approaching but you still need support on your Oracle environments. With no access to new security patches or bug fixes, this only means your company will either suffer from limited support or fall prey to huge cost towards extended support.

Service Description
For upgrades, the key to success is an efficient approach with more upgrade validity tools and an unparalleled pool of resources. The AppsTek approach to Upgrade Services occurs in three phases: Planning and Impact Analysis, Upgrade, and Migration. The AppsTek Upgrade Kit will help focus and manage the successful upgrade(s) of your database through each of these phases with a process that is well-defined and managed. Customers benefit from an industry-proven methodology with 24X7 resources to perform the upgrades at off-peak hours in a cost-effective manner. We also offer EBS upgrades from prior versions to R12.

The Benefits
AppsTek can help your company avoid end-of-support issues, as well as reduce downtime and problems with compatibility which can result in issue continuity and rapid resolution from Oracle. Our clients benefit from the experience and wisdom of the implementations that our team members have collectively encountered. Our hands-on approach has put us in contact with various enterprise environments and virtually every conceivable configuration.

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E-Business Suite R12 Technical Upgrades

Technical Upgrade Services:

• Evaluate business benefits and cost
• Assess R12 functionality and features for “in use” and future planed modules
• Complete ROI analysis to understand architectural or deployment capabilities in R12 and benefits for system performance, availability, scalability, security and manageability
• Evaluate upgrade cost, resources and timeline impact on other planned projects

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Service Offerings:

ORACLE EBS

ROI Improvement Assessments
Implementations
Business Process Improvements
Customer Project Management
Add-On Module Implementation
Functional Upgrades
Business Intelligence
Functional Support

ORACLE TECHNOLOGY

Performance Review
Database Administration
System Administration
Security Assessments
Database Upgrades
EBS Technical Upgrades