Coates hires Oakton to integrate operations with Oracle ERP solution

The challenge

The overall challenge was to implement a common ERP platform across geographically dispersed businesses that would serve the company’s financial needs for all Australian states. In addition to the complexities of differing requirements and standardising processes across the regions, realising the outlined objectives and expected returns for the CHERP Program, the ERP system had to be implemented nationwide in a compressed timeframe of 6 months using the “Real Application Clusters” Oracle technology on DELL hardware.

Coates identified Oracle as the preferred technology solution; they called upon Oracle packaged solutions Advantage Certified partner Oakton to provide the services which would drive the project.

The solution

Oakton provided a complete team including a project manager, and experienced and skilled Oracle consultants. The Oakton team worked closely with the Coates IT team, using the Oracle AIM methodology to implement the Oracle e-Business Suite 11i and Oracle Data Warehouse on 9i RAC running on Red Hat Linux, to provide a highly available platform. The project ran for 6 months from conception to go-live. It underwent three iterations of Conference Room Pilots (CRP’s) during the project to rigorously test the system and to ensure that user participation was optimised. This greatly eased the eventual production cut-over transition and user training of the system.

By drawing on over fifteen years of Oracle implementation experience and experience in working with multiple and conflicting requirements, Oakton was able to sidestep common implementation pitfalls and fast-track the solution resulting in a highly focused and condensed implementation.

Oakton maintains a strategic relationship with Oracle through the Oracle Certified Advantage Partner programme allowing for fast-track issue resolution when needed; which provides security and peace of mind to the client. Throughout the entire project, Oakton and Coates enjoyed a close relationship whereby weekly executive management meetings were conducted to review detailed progress information, and collectively steer the project in the right direction.

The business outcome

Coates achieved the implementation of the core Financials and Procurement components of their IT transformation programme on time and on budget, ensuring IT support for the strategic business growth objectives. The complete ERP solution included General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Inventory Management, Purchasing and iProcurement.

The key outcomes of the Purchasing and iProcurement implementation were considerable and included:

The introduction of a procurement system used by the entire company across geographic boundaries - Coates was able to run training due to a close working relationship throughout the project

The consolidation of multiple purchasing systems into a single nationwide purchasing system, which eliminated the risks and capacity for error with legacy (packaged and in-house) systems The introduction of nationwide purchasing controls and approval authority which ensured consistency and visibility across all purchasing areas within the company The ability to easily consolidate purchasing data to enable negotiation of company-wide agreements using Coates buying power

Integration with Accounts Payable so that invoices are only processed for received quantities where applicable, through an electronic matching system which replaced a manual approval procedure, saving considerable amounts of time and resources, and error risk mitigation. While the project was successful in integrating the technology across regions, of equal importance was the process of achieving that outcome. Business groups, departments and teams were integrated through constant communication creating a unified framework to move the business forward with future projects.

The Oakton advantage

Oakton provides specialist end-to-end IT services to plan, deliver and operate business systems, as well as business consulting, financial management and assurance services. For nearly 20 years, Oakton has consistently enabled some of Australia’s largest organisations to meet their technology and business needs with a flexible, cost-effective, results-driven approach to service delivery. We employ over 1300 staff, and have offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane and Hyderabad (India), and offer a range of services across the lifecycle of systems and across a range of different technology and industry sectors

Oakton has a strong partner network with leading global and local product companies — this supports a sharp focus on the provision of services that support the successful delivery of business system solutions for customers. However, we do not develop and sell products, nor do we sell hardware or network solutions.

Oakton’s service provision combines highly skilled resources, relevant and proven service delivery methods and frameworks, and a strong focus on project delivery governance. Oakton’s enviable history of achievement for large and medium sized organisations in the private and public sectors is reflected by the testimony of customers to the quality of our service delivery and results.