Oracle’s New Applications Suite Follows the Rules

Oracle is following rules and regulations.

The Redwood Shores, Calif. company Wednesday said it has put the finishing
touches on improvements to its entire enterprise applications suite, which
it said emphasizes regulations compliance across several industries.

The software maker unveiled Oracle E-Business Suite 11i.9, which features
more than 900 enhancements, including new features to manage electronic
signatures and secure audit trails.

The release comes at a time when electronic recordkeeping and documentation is at a premium. It also comes at a turbulent time in the market for enterprise applications, where consolidation is rampant and Oracle’s bid for PeopleSoft has shaken things up.

Government regulations such as HIPAA, a guideline for managing patient
information, and Sarbanes-Oxley, the new law for accounting procedures, and
others are addressed for the first time by Oracle in the suite, which
spans a number of industries, including aerospace and defense, automotive,
communications, consumer packaged goods, government, healthcare, high tech
and life sciences.

But the company prizes the improvements to its Oracle
Financials portfolio perhaps more than the others.

The new financial
services capabilities are primed to help financial institutions meet Sarbanes-Oxley requirements without hampering operating levels or customer
satisfaction.

Enhancements include daily multi-currency revaluations, user-defined
customer behavior predictions, sales and marketing content creation
management, and enhanced call center support, said Mike Rosser, vice president of Worldwide Applications Marketing at Oracle.

Specifically, Rosser told internetnews.com Oracle Financials now includes a credit management application
to help companies standardize and automate the credit management process so
that businesses may monitor and evaluate customers’ credit. Another, a
receivables application, offers enhanced revenue management functionality to
help companies monitor and recognize revenue.

Oracle Financials also now employs eXtensible Business Reporting Language
(XBRL), an XML-based standard for financial reporting, in its “General
Ledger” application. Companies can use it to produce text, spreadsheet or
XBRL versions of the text-based reports they currently run.

John Hagerty, vice president of research at AMR Research, said a the new functionality in Oracle 11i9 gives companies more options and control over some key areas of revenue and expense management as well as external reporting requirements.

“As companies prepare to meet existing and emerging government and/or regulatory body mandates, they increasingly turn to technology and business applications to assist — even drive — compliance efforts,” Hagerty told internetnews.com. “As a result of the high profile financial scandals of the last few years, companies are taking specific compliance requirements very seriously and establishing conservative corporate governance policies, emphasizing financial and operational risk management.”

In other improvements, Oracle E-Business Suite 11i.9 includes new
capabilities for helping high technology companies stay profitable and speed
time to market. This includes an “Advanced Product Catalog,” to help
high-tech firms centralize product and component information into a single
global catalog.

Also, Oracle’s consumer packaged goods applications now allow regulators to
track the genealogy of products in case a product recall is required. Oracle
E-Business Suite 11i.9 provides companies with Hazardous Analysis and
Critical Control Points (HACCP) quality test points, automatic lot grading
and real-time demand planning.

Available as an electronic download since July 1, in Oracle’s E-Business
Suite 11i.9 is now available on CD-ROMs.

Separately, Oracle has also added a feature to its procurement application
that lets corporate buyers browse and buy materials from online suppliers
without leaving the application to navigate between several supplier Web
sites.

In what Oracle is calling a first in the industry, Oracle’s new iProcurement
software boasts an XML-based “transparent punchout” feature to
make purchasing much more convenient for the user. The company said the
feature is waiting on a patent.

Previously, buyers had to navigate through supplier Web sites to find
various products. Once they settled on an item or items, purchasers were
taken back to the procurement application to make the buy. The “punchout”
feature lets users search and complete purchasing activities without leaving
Oracle iProcurement.

Because many vendors, including Oracle rivals PeopleSoft, Siebel and SAP , make e-procurement apps, it is
important to differentiate offerings. Oracle’s “punchout” feature is
indicative of that push for value-adding features.