Re: XA Today

Bryan

Go to http://www.infor.com/solutions/opensoa/video/   for an overview.

The marketing materials from Infor are not the best at explaining why SOA is
really a great strategic/technical solution path for XA customers.

Think of it like this.

Current XA is the base layer.  Data/Logic

Above this layer With R7.8 and soon R7.9 you another logic/data layer called
INFOR EBS (Enterprise Bus System).  You must get to this level as a min.

What does this do?  It creates a common way to extract and update data
utilizing all the rules and logic of the XA layer that is below it.  Why is
this important?  Because it opens up the "old" architecture to current
communication technical standards (SOAP, WSDL) which means that
communication of updates and queries from the XA layer are standardized.

Above the EBS are a set of new applications that have been and are being
developed by INFOR for all of their products.  Applications like My Day (see
the video above), Inventory Management (not a rewrite, but an all new global
ready application), Customer Order (not a rewrite, but a new application
including online store built right in), Master Data Management (imagine EPDM
as it should have been) and more applications are on the way.

Why is this important?  First, understand that the INFOR EBS layer is
written above nearly ALL of the applications acquired by INFOR.  This means
that the EBS makes communications standard to all the underlying systems.
This means that each application can be implemented as you need and desire
WITHOUT required massive upgrades.  If you can take advantage of the MyDay
application, you don't need to implement the new customer service
application.  Or vice versa, if you don't care about MyDay but could really
use a robust customer service application then you can implement it without
having to implement MyDay, etc.  This is true not only for XA customers but
all INFOR customers concurrently.

I have clients that have some plants on XA others on old SSA BPCS, and
others on Syteline.  They can all leverage the new architecture to communize
their application suites WITHOUT HAVING TO TEAR OUT THE OLD APPS!  Just
upgrade to the level that has the EBS and your there.  

XA has had a longer row to hoe than some of the other applications for two
reasons.  1. The conversion from green screen to "client architecture" was
never completed.  2. The client architecture needed to be updated to
incorporate the EBS system.  Had #1 not been an issue, XA would be at the
same levels as the rest of the INFOR applications.

Another thing about this architecture...it allows easy access to the data
WITHOUT having to modify a single line of code.  If you are not familiar
with WSDL, SOAP or Web Services.  Get familiar fast.  Imagine updating your
price lists from an Excel spreadsheet WITH ALL of the logic and error
checking already built in.  And the cost of getting this "new application",
about 1 hour with NO modifications to XA.  (BTW you can do this on any level
of R7.2 in the powerlink / IDF (renamed powerlink to Infor Development
Framework for all the iSeries products) architecture and above, it's just
going to get easier!)

Also, get familiar with the INFOR Flex program.  By making a commitment to
get to the current level of code (R7.8 until approx 3/31 and the R7.9 after
that) you get MAJOR discounts AND implementation support.  

And one last thing:  and perhaps the most important:  YOU GET ALL OF THIS
INCLUDED IN YOUR ANNUAL LICENSE FEE (AKA MAINTENANCE)!  That's right, you
get access to MyDay, Customer Service, etc.  all of the SOA applications
that are release as common apps by INFOR.  

Name one other vendor writing all new architecture and applications and
giving them to you for maintenance on your current system!?

OK enough.

Kevin Fox
Fox Enterprises and Professional Services LLC
(909) 762-1384 mobile


-----Original Message-----
From: mapics-l-bounces-Zwy7GipZuJhWk0Htik3J/[email protected] [mailto:mapics-l-bounces-Zwy7GipZuJhWk0Htik3J/[email protected]]
On Behalf Of Burns, Bryan
Sent: Friday, September 04, 2009 5:38 AM
To: MAPICS ERP System Discussion
Subject: Re: [MAPICS-L] XA Today

Thank you Ross.  For the users like us who are still on the character based
architecture, it's good to know that the future of XA is promising indeed. 
Can you tell us what the SOA and Evolve initiatives are?  Our affiliate
mentioned SOA as being very important in the future but time did not permit
an explanation and I want to give out VP a heads up on it.

Bryan Burns
iSeries Specialist
ECHO, Incorporated
Lake Zurich, Illinois

-----Original Message-----
From: mapics-l-bounces-Zwy7GipZuJhWk0Htik3J/[email protected] [mailto:mapics-l-bounces-Zwy7GipZuJhWk0Htik3J/[email protected]]On
Behalf Of Ross Freeman
Sent: Thursday, September 03, 2009 4:11 PM
To: mapics-l-Zwy7GipZuJhWk0Htik3J/[email protected]
Subject: [MAPICS-L] XA Today

Kevin's posting has set off another train of thought.  Many of our customers
are not much aware of Infor, and how it is different from the latter days of
MAPICS. Some of you may have seen presentations from me on this topic,
others may not.

Let me provide some little known facts about XA.

 - #2 ERP in Infor by revenue
 - Very close to #1 in revenue in North America
 - Customer count has been essentially stable since 2003 (about 1600
customers, 2500+ sites)
 - Annual retention rate over 97% (probably highest in the industry)
 - One of Infor's "go forward" ERP platforms that 100% participates in the
SOA and Evolve initiatives
 - XA Development investment (Enrich) has been fairly stable over time,
still maintaining one of the largest Development labs in Infor
 - IBM has finally taken the cloud away from the System i platform - we have
seen a full roadmap for the product going to 2015. No more doubts about XA's
future because of the platform.

The perception that XA is being allowed to slowly dwindle away is 100%
false.  That may have been true of MAPICS (I believe it was), but it is not
true of Infor.  It is understandable that customers have seen less action
since 2005 than they may have hoped. But let me share some of Infor's
accomplishments over that period.

 - Consolidated 30+ acquisitions, 98 separate business systems and 200+ GL
reporting entities, into one.  In less than three years, on Infor software
(of course).
  - Rationalized all internal business systems and processes across 150+
offices around the world
- Built unified global organizations in Sales, Marketing, Development,
Product Management, and Administration
- Rebuilt a large number of damaged products, where the predecessor company
was visibly failing their customers
- Conceived, designed, built and deployed a complete SOA strategy and
architecture, deploying across 20+ major application sets (ERPs, Financial
Systems, Distribution Systems, EAM, SCM...)
- Conceived and executed a $350 million development strategy across all key
product lines, over and above regular ongoing investments for each product.
- Infor-ized the XA solution set, to enable XA to take advantage of the
Infor strategy - same for all go forward products in Infor
 - Conceived, built and launched the FLEX program company wide - in three
months.
 - Built and deployed a dedicated System i group - in five months
 - Built new customer facing organizations to make sure we actively touch
our customers on a regular basis - all 70,000 customers, plus reaching out
to many more who have "left the family" over the years.
- Maintained solid financial results during the worst recession in recent
memory

Infor's accomplishments in this short period are breathtaking, in my view.
XA is a key player in this story. However, much of this was internal work,
out of the view of our customers.  It is understandable that customers did
not see the activity, and felt a sense of drift around XA.

All of these efforts are bearing fruit this year. I believe all our
customers will see increasing speed of delivery, decisiveness of action and
longer term viewpoint. Our focus is on keeping our customers with us - and
making sure we are still in business to be there with you.

Full disclosure - like Kevin, I have been in systems for close to 30 years.
I have worked intensively with 13 ERP systems, as well as many other
manufacturing systems. I've been a customer, consultant, salesperson,
developer, designer, product manager, and more. I haven't done as many
countries as Kevin has, only 18.

Infor has provided the opportunity for a great team to unleash their
talents.  You haven't seen a lot of that yet, but you will.

This is a statement from me as a person, having worked in all parts of the
software business. This is not Infor marketing material, this is the truth
as I see it.


Ross Freeman

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