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When an adult is caught doing something they should not be doing, one of their most frequently used retorts is “Do as I say, not as I do”. It’s a bit trite and hypocritical, but it’s a well-worn response that will at least get a laugh out of the other person, if not just a snort of derision.
However, if you are running Oracle EBS v12.1.x or earlier, the opposite approach may be a lot more practical when it comes to your upgrade strategy – “Do as Oracle does, not as they say”.
What are the issues with the older version of Oracle EBS?
Oracle customers running older EBS versions are running out of standard support, if they have not already. They are faced with a number of upgrade options:
- Stay where they are, lose standard support, and acquire extended support from either Oracle or a third-party vendor.
- Migrate to a non-EBS ERP system (e.g., SAP, NetSuite) and leave the EBS family.
- Migrate to Oracle Fusion Cloud.
- Upgrade to Oracle EBS 12.2.x.
Let’s talk about your options with Oracle EBS
If you ask anybody at Oracle with a customer-facing role, they will give you the hard sell that Fusion Cloud is the way to go. They will talk about how Fusion Cloud is the future (it is), how cloud-based SaaS solutions mitigate so much technical complexity (they do), and how going to ‘Back to Standard’ will simplify your operations and achieve greater efficiencies (it might).
They will also warn you that an upgrade to 12.2.x is more complex (it’s not), how many data structures are impacted by the upgrade (it’s irrelevant), and how it will significantly impact your business operations (it won’t). In short, they will tell you that it’s a big mistake to NOT move to Oracle Fusion Cloud – and it’s probably not.
Oracle EBS: Changes on the horizon
At the same time, the Oracle EBS Product team is hard at work, adding functional enhancements and innovative capabilities into their on-premise EBS platform. Customers running EBS 12.2.x have more than 11 years of standard Oracle support ahead, ample time to plan next steps at a pace and budget that makes sense. And this window of standard support has been rolling forward as new Oracle EBS versions are being released. Even customers running multiple EBS 12.1.3 landscapes could upgrade them to 12.2.x and then intelligently plan consolidation and process standardization initiatives – before even considering the transformative and disruptive leap to Fusion Cloud.
So, what’s going on here?
Why is Oracle “doing” something very different from what it’s “saying”? I have my suspicions and, despite being a rampant conspiracy theorist, they are being confirmed by sources in the field. DM me if you want to learn more.
Yes, there are technical complexities in upgrading to 12.2.x, mostly regarding Online Patch (OLP) compatibility. And Oracle’s Readiness Reports do not analyze many frequently used object types and also identify many issues that are actually false alarms.
You have other options!
That’s where Panaya’s EBS Change Intelligence Platform comes in. Panaya’s proactive, EBS upgrade risk analysis is second to none. We find more real issues than any tool on the market, downscope more false alarms, and get you live on EB 12.2.x 50% faster while eliminating go-live errors. And then you’ll have more than a decade to plan and time your next Oracle ERP move. What’s not to like about that?
And if you do ultimately opt for choices #2 or #3 above, your business stakeholders will need to test just about EVERYTHING in order to validate the newly built business processes running within a brand-new product leveraging a brand-new user interface. You will need an effective, user-friendly, testing tool that accelerates testing activities, especially when it comes to validating complex, multi-step, multi-stakeholder business processes.
Odds are, you are running the same tried and true testing tool you have been using for decades (Excel? QC?) and these will simply not scale to keep up with the pace of these transformational initiatives. Again, look no further than Panaya, whose Test Dynamix platform has been ranked #1 for more than 2 straight years by the people who matter – actual testers. Take a look on G2.com or read the many Success Studies on our website.
When it comes to upgrading Oracle EBS with Panaya, do as we say and as we do. You’ll never regret the decision, regardless of the path you choose.
Ensure a simple & risk-free Oracle e-Business Suite upgrade with Panaya
FAQs
It was released on September 6, 2013. This version introduced several new features, enhancements, as well as updates to the EBS software suite. Oracle has since continued to provide additional updates, within the EBS 12.2 version, including EBS 12.2.12, 12.2.13, to address issues and improve the overall stability and performance of the software.