August 13, 2008SAP closes the gaps around ERP

Application maker expands product range to plug the gaps between analysis and execution, and between organisations

With a 25% share of the enterprise resource planning (ERP) market, German application-maker SAP can reasonably claim responsibility for the nuts and bolts that underpin global business. Its core ERP software is for many of the world’s largest corporations the engine of enterprise.

But historically, those systems that sit apart from the engine room – such as business intelligence (BI) and business process management (BPM) – have not been seen as SAP’s heartland.

At the company’s Sapphire 2008 user conference in Berlin, however, SAP presented a concerted push to remove that degree of separation. It sought to bring analysis and process management into the fold of ERP while making the ERP platform the medium for collaboration.

SAP’s most explicit display of this desire has been its acquisition of BI vendor Business Objects, announced in October 2007. By linking BI directly into the ERP system, SAP argues, the gap between analysis and execution is eliminated, creating a ‘closed loop’ of performance management.

Article continues at Information Age Online

August 13, 2008Dorset County Council selects Capgemini’s ERP system

Dorset County Council expects to make major savings by replacing its HR, payroll, procurement and finance systems with Capgemini’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system.

This will also serve the council’s three-year programme to save £8.6m each year.

The SAP-based ERP system will equip managers with up-to-date and accessible information on employees, budgets, and learning materials. The employees will be able to update their own information, such as address details, leave requests and expenses claims online.

Matt Howell, head of technology for the public sector at Capgemini UK, said: “Dorset’s selection of Capgemini is very significant to us, as they are now the fourth council in England where we are implementing or supporting SAP, and we look forward to facilitating collaboration and knowledge-sharing between our client councils, to help accelerate delivery of the benefits anticipated by Dorset.”

Read more at CRB Online

August 13, 2008SAP settles ERP dispute from 2001

SAP is to upgrade an SAP R/3-based system in the US state of Arkansas after a dispute over the systems’ functionality that dates back to 2001.

Unlike other disputes involving SAP from that period, the Arkensas [problems stemmed from claims that SAP’s product did not support the needs of disabled workers.

Under the deal reached this month, SAP will give the Arkansas Administrative Statewide Information System (AASIS) support for text-to-speech screen access technology to allow blind persons to use all features of the enterprise software.

The software vendor agreed to the upgrade, and to replace R/3 with SAP ERP 6.0 software, to settle a complaint filed against it by the state.

The National Federation of the Blind of Arkansas had sued the state in 2001 claiming the AASIS system was not fully accessible to blind persons. The state in turn, filed a third party claim against SAP blaming it for the accessibility problems.

The work must be completed by 1 August 2009, according to the settlement.

Article continues at Computer World

August 4, 2008Rob Barnsley, Liverbird Solutions.

The training our staff received from ERP college has proved invaluable - we have since implemented SAP FICO systems throughout all our operations, and will surely be sending new staff on similar courses. Thanks again!