Author: Spinnaker Support

JD Edwards Optimizations Checklist: Steps to a Faster, More Stable System

As with any ERP, regular checkups ensure that your system is running optimally. And, as you know, when regular checkups are not performed, chances are you’re going to run into instability and integrity issues.

At Spinnaker Support, we love squeezing out every last drop of ROI we can — and we like to think we’ve perfected the art of optimizing JD Edwards software. Over the years, we’ve developed a process that we use to support JD Edwards users, a comprehensive checklist and scheduled cadence for making JD Edwards’ systems run faster, more effectively, and more stably. As our JDE community seems to be receiving less support than ever before, we’ve decided to share some of these insights for the first time, in the hopes of helping you optimize your instance of the software we all love so much.

  1. CNC
    Have you ever asked yourself how often you need to perform full vs. update packages? Or how often? We’ve worked with customers that have never built a full package before — and when they have a critical fix that needs to be updated, it becomes a nightmare to get that “build of record” completed.
  2. Security
    Check your security setup frequently to avoid vulnerabilities caused by segregations of duties. Internal breaches of your data are not fun and, as we all know, can be catastrophic.
  3. Distribution
    Have you ever booked an order based on item availability, only to learn it was out of stock? If you haven’t conducted a cycle count lately, it’s time to add one to the top of your list. Doing so will correct the available inventory in the system (Inventory Adjustments), so that you’ll know well in advance if you’re running low on any items.
  4. Inventory
    Have you ever come into the office and noticed that all of your inventory was priced incorrectly? There are features in JD Edwards that let you set expiration dates for inventory, and if those aren’t maintained, they can cause huge headaches. So double check that those dates have been entered — and that they’re correct.
  5. Reporting
    Do you run any of the JDE Integrity Reports? These are critical to ensuring that your AP balances to the GL, that your Bill of Materials (BOM) is correct, and so forth. They’re functions that follow JD Edwards’ standards. Run them in Proof mode to understand if there are issues or, if necessary, run them in Final mode to correct them.

When it comes to keeping an ERP, like JD Edwards, humming, these suggestions are just the tip of the iceberg. And if it feels like it takes a village to keep up with regular checkups, remember we’re on your team and here to help — as much or as little as you need us to. For even more tips and tricks check out this infographic.

Is Oracle 12c On Your Mind? It’s on Ours.

Updated on May 15, 2023

Is Oracle 12c On Your Mind? It’s on Ours.

Oracle Database version 12c moved into Sustaining Support on July 31st, 2022. As you know, Sustaining Support is the last and indefinite stop on Oracle’s roadmap for a particular version. The support received under the Sustaining level becomes quite limited, with no bug fixes or new security patches.

But what if you love this very stable version of Oracle Database?

Well, we have an OnDemand webinar that discusses this topic with Martin Biggs, Spinnaker Support’s GM for the EMEA region and one of our customers. His unique view of the enterprise database market comes from many years as a leader in complex IT services organizations. Martin presents 12c customers’ options – including one allowing you to stay on 12c with full support for as long as you like.

Adding to the discussion is Amol Ghadge, the Manager of Storage and Database Services at Danske Bank. Danske Bank has been a customer for over a year, and Amol has quite a few years of experience with databases for several organizations.

Click this link to access the OnDemand webinar and contact us today if you want to speak to someone about the option to stay on 12c indefinitely with full support.

Employee Spot Light Series: Roger Storm, Senior Sybase DBA Consultant

In this installment of our Employee Spotlight series, we’re pleased to introduceRoger Storm Roger Storm, who has specialized in Sybase database administration and design for over 25 years.

Spinnaker Support is proud to be recognized by analysts as one of the largest and most effective global vendors of third-party support, managed services, and consulting. Roger Storm and the rest of our experienced support professionals are the reason. Our team members deliver “follow the sun” service and average almost twenty years of experience.

Let’s get to know Roger!

Hi, Roger. Tell us about your role at Spinnaker Support.

I’m a senior SAP Sybase DBA consultant, which includes a variety of administration work for Sybase products, specifically the Sybase ASE (Adapted Server Enterprise). My job entails installing, setting up, maintenance, and troubleshooting databases. This includes replication server, which is another legacy Sybase product. I also administer Sybase IQ. I’ve been doing this work for more than 25 years. I serve as the primary DBA on our clients’ managed services accounts here at Spinnaker Support, ranging from banking to investments to hospitals to insurance.

What’s your background?

I’ve been working with these product lines for my entire career, since coming out of college in the ‘90s. Before joining Spinnaker Support, I was with Dobler Consulting. Before that, I was with SAP/Sybase. At SAP, I worked on special projects to bring their software onto the Sybase database platform. I’ve also spent a lot of time working as a technical liaison and always in forward facing roles.

When and why did you first get involved with Sybase database technology?

Coming out of college, I worked at an insurance company that was implementing a new general ledger system and a new client server. It was the first client server at that company, and Sybase was the back-end database supported for that general ledger system. Given that I was fresh out of college, everyone relied on me to be up on the latest technologies and the new approaches to this client server design. I just happened to start working on Sybase first, and I never looked back. I’ve had a great career with that product line, but I’ve also worked with SQL server and Oracle database.

What do you most like about working with Spinnaker Support clients?

I’ve always enjoyed working with clients to solve their problems and address new challenges. It’s fun getting to know the people and creating relationships. It’s rewarding for me to help them understand the technology. When I was younger, I wanted to be a teacher and I thought, OK, how can I be a teacher, but still work with technology?

I really like what I do. I make a lot of friends, meet a lot of people, and our clients are great. We solve their problems, which makes them very happy, and that makes for great relationships. Our clients look to us as a source of knowledge, and they trust us to keep their systems running smoothly. We’re very straightforward with what we tell clients we can do and deliver. We get tons of positive feedback.

Do you have a recent example of going “above and beyond” to help a client?

A client needed immediate changes in their database architecture. We found that there were some settings that weren’t right. After a major review of the architecture, we found that there had been some oversights. We corrected them and then worked over the weekend to install the fix.

Honestly, though, I don’t consider this “above and beyond” as this is what we do. But from the client’s perspective, we went the extra mile. It was a limited-hour contract for support that needed us to act quickly to resolve the issue and then get it back in alignment. I’d already had some personal things scheduled for the weekend, but I rescheduled them and made the client a priority.

There are plenty of other examples of working weekends when we’re needed. I see this as part of our responsibility as primary consultants for clients who don’t know how to administer their systems. They rely on us, so I make sure I’m a little more flexible when client problems arise. Plus, Spinnaker Support is great in supporting me when I work weekends, and no one gets upset if I need a little flexibility during the week. From a work environment standpoint, that’s important. It’s all about having a good work ethic, and for an Iowa farm boy like me, that’s a given.

What is one piece of support advice you would give to a Sybase database client?

The thing I see a lot is that clients don’t maintain their databases. They stand them up, they load the data, and then they just let them run and keep loading more data. Eventually the database slows down.

One of my responsibilities is doing performance tuning with the Sybase server. Clients don’t understand a lot of that. An analogy is if you have a car, you need to change the oil, and change the filters and belts. Similarly, companies need to have a quarterly or annual review of their IT environment to make sure that all systems are properly tuned. There are also more users that get added and different connections that change. So, you can’t just let it run and think things will be okay. This is probably the most common shortcoming in database environments.

What do you like to do outside of work?

Family is extremely important to me, along with volunteering at church. I’m also a golf fanatic. I love to compete and spend an afternoon playing with my buddies. I’d say family, serving at church, and golf are my top three activities. I have a 13-year-old daughter and next few years are going to be fun watching her grow up. Supporting her and spending time with my family is of upmost importance to me.

Five Things Enterprises Need to Know About Oracle Support

You buy and deploy core business software to run your systems and pay handsomely to do it. The obvious thing to do to keep those systems running perfectly is to make sure you have a software maintenance contract from the company that sold you the software, right?

Maybe at the beginning of the deployment that may well be the case, but as your systems get a bit older you may find the support you receive from your software vendor is potentially not as good as before and will usually become a lot more expensive.

This is what Oracle customers are finding out, to the detriment of their company’s IT spend and software security.

Vice President and General Manager from EMEA, Martin Biggs, has analysed this topic in detail and has given his rundown of the five things enterprises need to know about Oracle support for Technology Magazine. From support packages and security to cost and the age old topic of being “locked in” – Martin covers all of the elements IT leaders need to consider.

To read Martin’s thoughts on this topic in details, click here for the full article in Technology Magazine.

Winning Strategies to Achieve Salesforce Success, Part 4

John Lange | Senior Manager, Product Marketing 

We’re serious about Salesforce at Spinnaker Support, which is why we commissioned a third-party research project titled, “Winning Strategies to Achieve Salesforce Success.” Our team of Salesforce professionals certainly have time-tested ideas about what it takes to make Salesforce hit on all cylinders. But we also want to hear from other Salesforce decision makers, architects, developers, and administrators about how they approach Salesforce projects. 

In Part One of this blog post series, we reviewed the high-level findings from this report. In Part Two, we drilled down into the first winning strategy: how to kick off major Salesforce projects. In Part Three, we broke down the importance of the second winning strategy: the importance of having an Agile mindset. 

In this post, we review the third winning strategy that highlights the importance of user engagement in the development process. Let’s dive in and review what other professionals recommend for Salesforce project success. 

Winning Strategy #3: Keep Users and Stakeholders Continuously Involved  

Often during an implementation project user input happens at just the beginning or the end of a release cycle. However, the respondents to this market survey were loud and clear that requirements gathering and project communication is a non-stop process. Discovery should not be relegated to just an initial exercise, and feedback is not meant for the time after the solution is in market. Respondents were emphatic: developers and project managers should seek opinions throughout the deployment.  

And the research indicates that multiple users should be involved in every release cycle – don’t just rely on a single point of contact. You should update all parties on the progress, challenges, and delays through frequent engagement. Sharing ideas and innovations on a consistent basis can offset the times when development hits a snag. 

Here’s What Survey Respondents Had to Say: 

“Take your time with users at the beginning and all through the project. Appoint someone who likes talking to them and understanding their challenges and needs. The best of what’s possible with Salesforce comes out of these in-depth discussions.” 

“The more users and stakeholders you include from all levels when planning and executing, the more holistic your solution will be.” 

“Think of every Salesforce project as a business initiative, not a technology or an IT initiative. Involve senior managers and everyday users from the start and respect their feedback. Try to instill this mindset in all Salesforce admins and developers so everyone is paying equal attention to user needs, user feedback, and the end goal.”  

Access the Full Research Report 

This report, “Winning Strategies to Achieve Salesforce Success,” provides you with know-how from Salesforce professionals who are achieving Salesforce success.  

Spinnaker Support sponsored this research to provide the wider market with important insights about how to achieve their Salesforce roadmap and achieve maximum ROI. 

Download the complete research 

Let Us Help You Realize the Full Power of Salesforce 

To learn more about how we help businesses capitalize on their Salesforce investment, check out our managed services offerings and consulting capabilities. 

Is Your Oracle Payroll Support Paying Off?

Dave Bass | VP Global Support Services 

Enterprise payroll relies on periodic tax and regulatory updates to function effectively. Tax rates and regulations change constantly, including revisions to federal, state, and local income tax withholding tables, which is why payroll support is critical and complex. These taxes can change throughout the year, so without timely updates to the withholding tables, companies cannot apply the correct rates and policies. 

Oracle Payroll customers with fully supported E-Business Suite (EBS) releases solve this issue through Oracle updates via quarterly and year-end patches. This works well until the product goes out of support, and those update patches stop. As of January 1, Oracle customers running EBS 12.1 or earlier get no Payroll support from Oracle—it’s not included with Sustaining Support. 

Those specifically on EBS 12.1.3 can purchase Oracle’s Market Driven Support (MDS), which is more expensive and provides some updates, but at Oracle’s discretion. Notably, MDS is not an ongoing solution. It’s merely a stop-gap support measure until 2023 for customers planning to upgrade to EBS 12.2. 

Because the need for ongoing tax and regulatory updates never stops, what can EBS Payroll customers do? 

Superior Oracle Payroll Support at a Far Lower Cost 

Fortunately, companies running Oracle EBS 12.1 and earlier can keep getting critical Payroll update patches without upgrading or relying on MDS by switching to Spinnaker Support. Increasing numbers of Oracle Payroll customers are moving to Spinnaker Support, and they get more than just continued Payroll update patches coming; they get superior quality live support at an average 62% lower cost.  

As an added bonus, Spinnaker Support delivers Payroll update patches not just quarterly as Oracle does, but every month, further reducing the chances of costly mistakes. The cost of tax and regulatory updates is included in our normal support service, so if a customer brings its EBS environment to us, the updates are part of the service if they’re running Oracle Payroll. 

We Support the Vertex Integration 

Oracle EBS Payroll uses Vertex as its taxation partner to calculate U.S. federal, state, and local taxes. Each customer is required to maintain its own Vertex license to receive the updates. When Payroll runs, it goes through the Vertex engine, which supplies the relevant tax amount information so that Oracle EBS can make the correct net payroll calculation.  

Customers can still use their same Vertex licenses when they switch to Spinnaker Support, which has its own proprietary Oracle/Vertex integration.  

You Have a Clear Choice 

Surveys show that 70% of Oracle EBS users are happy with their current versions of EBS, and a growing number are taking advantage of third-party resources from Spinnaker Support to keep their EBS running smoothly, including those using Oracle Payroll. Spinnaker Support can provide all the tax and regulatory updates and Vertex integration support that a customer might need to run their payroll accurately and effectively. 

So, if your company is running Oracle Payroll and getting good value from EBS 12.1.3 or earlier, the choice is clear: switch to expert third-party Oracle EBS support from Spinnaker Support. We can help to relieve tax update headaches, eliminate end-of-month and end-of-year closing headaches, and deliver higher value for your overall EBS investment. Eplore your options today. 

How Leading Organizations Optimize Their Database Infrastructure for Modernization and Cloud Migration

For most modern enterprises, data is the ultimate asset. That’s why, in recent years, one of the key strategies for successful businesses we’ve assisted is the improvement and transformation of all aspects of the data infrastructure. Regardless of whether the database is Oracle, SAP, Microsoft or open source, the focus on data availability, accessibility, and security can pay off handsomely. 

We also see that businesses quickly run into a number of roadblocks put there by their legacy database platforms. While older platforms have the advantages of stability and customization, they may not easily integrate with cloud-based solutions or the latest ERP, or they may not be well tuned or configured for security. This can put a business at competitive or operational risk. 

Aberdeen Strategy & Research has come to a similar conclusion. In recent research, they determined that the organizations that lead their markets are the ones that have deployed database modernization strategies. By re-designing their data foundations, they have reduced data complexity, improved overall security, and increased their ability to be agile and innovative. 

Aberdeen discusses the latest trends in enterprise database strategy in “How Leading Organizations Optimize Their Database Infrastructure for Modernization and Cloud Migration.” This new knowledge brief applies recent market research to discuss the challenges and missteps that can come with database modernization and how leaders effectively build a data infrastructure foundation. 

 

Download your copy today. 

What You Need to Know about JD Edwards Release 22

Brian Stanz | Vice President, Global Support Services

And just like that, EnterpriseOne 9.2 is Release 22! 

Wait…what happened? 

Oracle designated a new name for the latest JD Edwards EnterpriseOne release: Release 22. I view this as primarily a ‘marketing’ change. Nothing under the covers, as far as release numbering, has changed. You will still see Apps 9.2 and Tools 9.2.x throughout the documentation.   

Are you confused yet? Well, you don’t have to be.   

Oracle has decided to realign the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne 9.2 releases with how it publishes Oracle Database and Oracle Tech Stack releases. Going forward, releases will be named for the year published. So, Release 22 is for the calendar year 2022. You may see updates to Release 22 through 2022, and I would suspect that towards the end of 2022 you will start hearing about Release 23.  

Here’s a list of questions I’ve been answering for our customers. 

Is Release 22 a major upgrade release? 

The answer is no. This release follows just like the continuous innovation releases have previously.  There will be some application updates and new Tools innovations. For Release 22, you can find the details on the Oracle website. 

And of course, the JD Edwards team at Spinnaker Support is well trained and ready to help you with all your Release 22 questions and needs, including Digital Transformation (Orchestrator), UX One, and System Automation enhancements through our managed services offerings. 

Do I need to take this release? 

Well, that is totally up to what you need from it. After looking through the list of changes, I would suspect that unless you asked for a specific fix or enhancement from Oracle, you probably do not need this update. Check back to this blog post series as we’ll dive deeper into some of the new features contained in Release 22 and what they really mean for your business. 

How do I evaluate the support-cost benefit? 

Finally, you may be asking, why do I keep paying these extremely high maintenance costs to Oracle for minimal functionality changes and a self-service support model? Spinnaker Support can help you re-allocate and save some serious capital for other important IT projects, while at the same time giving you a much more robust service offering.  

If you would like to discuss how we can address the critical challenges in your JD Edwards ERP and make your life easier, please reach out today.

Employee Spotlight Series: Mic Buchanan, Senior Database Administrator

Larry Goldman | Senior Director, Product Marketing

In this installment of our employee spotlight series, we’re pleased to introduce you to Senior Database Administrator Mic R. W. Buchanan. Mic specializes in managed services and consulting for Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle Database. She joined Spinnaker Support in August 2021 as a part of the Dobler Consulting acquisition.

Spinnaker Support is proud to be recognized as one of the largest and most effective global vendors of database managed services, and Mic Buchanan and the rest of our database team are the reason. Our seasoned database professionals have become a trusted support resource to our growing roster of customers, and every year, they earn high customer satisfaction ratings.

Hello, Mic. What can you tell us about your role at Spinnaker Support?

Mic Employee Spotlight

Hi, I’m a Senior Database Administrator for Oracle and SQL Server. I work with our SpectrumDB Managed Services team, which supports our clients for installation and deployments, upgrades, maintenance, patching, day-to-day issues, and even projects—basically, all things database for Oracle and SQL Server. My team integrates with the client’s IT staff, whether supporting their DBA or becoming their DBA.

How did you get started in your career?

I graduated from University of Missouri at Rolla, and believe it or not, I didn’t take a single database class in college. I trained as a Linux Sysadmin and Unix C programmer, and Linux is still my native environment. When I see a prompt in a terminal window, “ls” is always the first command, even if the DOS prompt gets all finicky and says it doesn’t understand.

I’ve worked in managed services roles for several years now, supporting Oracle/SQL Server databases for companies all over the world. I put in the time to stay current in the technologies my clients use. I really solving whatever issues clients throw my way. It makes work fun and interesting and definitely keeps me on my toes!

When and why did you get started in database technology?

My first job out of college was working as a functional programmer—think basic “if-then” statements. It took me around three months to move into programming in Unix-C full time. From there I discovered PL/SQL and Oracle, and a year after that I became a full-time database programmer and consultant, mostly extending Oracle EBS code.

I learned the Oracle data dictionary early on, which guides extensions with wide-ranging applications—everything from manufacturing to HR to workflows to projects. It’s always challenging to extend Oracle code while making sure my work my work won’t be undone by patches.

My customizations work evolved into custom application database development. After that, I had the opportunity to move into DBA, my dream job! Now when I say, “I had the opportunity,” what I mean is, my mentor basically threw me into the job of DBA after I pushed the database one too many times while playing with parallel processing for a massive data project. After waking him up late at night a few times to bring the DB back up or tweak a parameter, he pushed management of all the DEV/UAT boxes to me. Then, a year or so later, he moved on, and I took his place.

After I’d worked for about five years as an Oracle DBA, the market for Oracle DBAs in Oklahoma was stagnating, and so I shifted to SQL Server, and Oracle took a back seat. When I joined Dobler, I had the opportunity to do my work 100% remotely, and I also got a better balance between Oracle and SQL Server clients.

It’s been a long road, with many interesting challenges and chances to work on many interesting puzzles, and it’s also been a lot of fun. This team is amazing. Without them, I wouldn’t be able to do what I do.

What do you most like about working with your customers at Spinnaker Support?

In a word, “variety.” I thrive on it, and I have an awesome mix of clients. Some of them follow my recommendations to the letter, and their systems have fewer issues. Some don’t, and then I get to solve some very interesting puzzles. I love digging into an issue and going “elbow-deep” until the solution comes into focus.

I was very excited recently to have an opportunity to help with one of our third-party support clients. I did a detailed database assessment and identified several issues that were impacting performance. Assessments are a wonderful way to help clients meet their goals and understand the tremendous impact of bringing our managed services experience and support to enhance their internal teams.

Do you have a recent example of going “above and beyond” to help a customer?

Yes, about two years ago, one of my clients had a developer who’d suddenly become very ill and had to leave. This developer/DBA had had free reign to develop and design a database and application. The application was very slow, and the data warehouse had ballooned to more than 6 TB. I wrestled with how to make the database smaller and more efficient. There were plenty of fits and starts, and it was a very demanding project, but in the end, I reduced the database to 1.6 TB.

Reports that had taken 5-6 hours to run now ran in 15 minutes. It took a huge amount of effort, but I’m proud of the work I did, and I’m ecstatic that it all worked out. The best part is that the client was way beyond “satisfied” with the work. I mean, they’d expected some improvement, but they were just blown away with the level of performance they ultimately got.

What’s one piece of support advice you would give to a database customer?

Follow database standards. If the database technology recommends something, don’t ask why, just do it. It will make your system easier to maintain, and over the lifetime of the system, it’ll save you money.

What do you like to do when you’re not working miracles for your clients?

I absolutely LOVE to travel. I visited Guatemala recently, over the holidays, which was wonderful. I’m planning an island-hopping trip to Greece, or maybe hiking the Incan Trail in Peru. I am not sure which one yet, but either way, it’ll be great!

I am also really into martial arts. I’m a level-5 kick boxer, and I’m working on my Blue Belt in Taekwondo. I’m at the gym four nights a week. I’ve been doing it for about 10 years, and it’s a great way to both stay in shape and reduce stress and relax after a long day of mental labor. Sometimes, when I get a little wound up at home, my kids will say, “Mom, are you going kickboxing today?”

I have to say, the kids really keep me grounded and remind me of what’s important in life. They’re the center of my world, and they inspire me to make our family as self-sufficient as possible. We have chickens, and I love to grow vegetables in my garden. “Dirt therapy” is a real thing! “Nix,” our Great Pyrenees dog, helps with the chickens and guards our family like a champ.

Winning Strategies to Achieve Salesforce Success, Part 3

John Lange | Senior Manager, Product Marketing 

In Part One of this blog post series, we reviewed the high-level findings from the third-party research report titled, “Winning Strategies to Achieve Salesforce Success.” The research delves into the key strategies that Salesforce decision makers, architects, developers, and administrators reported they used when conducting major Salesforce projects. In Part Two, we drilled down into the first winning strategy: how to kick off major Salesforce projects.  

In this post, we review the second winning strategy that revolves around every programmer’s favorite word: Agile. 

Winning Strategy #2: Be Agile – Roll Out New Functionality Incrementally  

Companies may be tempted to go with a “Big Bang” approach when rolling out new Salesforce features and functionality by releasing a large swath of updates across a business. There may be a time and place for that approach, such as launching a new cloud. But research indicates that method is more likely to fail than succeed and should be avoided unless absolutely required.  

The research recommends an Agile approach that allows businesses to release functionality at a consistent pace that users can absorb. Incremental deployments are less likely to disrupt a business and mitigate the risk of failure. This approach puts elements of the new features into play before an all-at-once approach could, and that generally makes for happier stakeholders, customers, and users. 

Here’s What Survey Respondents Had to Say: 

“Use an iterative approach not only to get the most important user stories handled first, but to keep making room for user feedback.” 

“What’s worked for us is creating precise, small rollouts. Keep sprint planning tight. Agile is not just a project management shift, it’s a mind shift to apply to every step of the work.” 

“Deliver changes incrementally starting with the biggest business problem, then addressing the next-biggest problem. This gets the most urgent needs fixed first rather than making everyone wait for everything.” 

“Plan the implementation to roll out in chunks and make sure users are involved throughout. A lot of their feedback on one release will inform your work on the next release.” 

Access the Full Research Report 

This report, “Winning Strategies to Achieve Salesforce Success,” provides you with advice and lessons learned from seasoned Salesforce professionals that are achieving Salesforce success.  

Spinnaker Support invests in third-party research so that the market has important insights about how to realize their Salesforce aspirations. 

Download the complete research 

Let Us Help You Realize the Full Power of Salesforce 

To learn more about how we help businesses capitalize on their Salesforce investment, check out our managed services offerings and consulting capabilities.