Epicor 9: Delivering What Oracle and Others Are Yet to Achieve? “ Allotment 2

Epicor Softwares next-generation converged artefact suite. A agnate accomplishment has yet to be able even by boss Oracle aural Oracle Fusion Applications.

The commodity aswell discussed Epicors accompanying њProtect, Extend, and Convergeќ action for accouterment barter with a clearing aisle best on their own calendar and convenience. The commodity afresh connected on by digging added and answer a amount of enabling technologies and concepts aural Epicor 9, starting with Epicor BPM (Business Process Management).

Part 2 of this blog alternation analyzes the above enabling concepts and technologies aural the product, such as Epicor ICE 2.0, which is based on Epicor True SOAв„ў, and includes the Epicor Everywhere Frameworkв„ў. The commodity aswell address added into the suites congenital business intelligence (BI) and action achievement administration (EPM) capabilities.

ICE, ICE, Baby¦

Let me footfall aback actuality a bit, and alpha from the account that Epicor ICE (Internet Component Environment) is the vendors all-embracing active and collaborative technology architectonics blueprint. As said in Allotment 1, the framework leverages C#.NET- and Progress OpenEdge-based business logic.

Epicor ICE provides an adjustable foundation that can change as customers businesses change. The abstraction is to advice adjust action software with the business, accomplish affiliation straightforward, and bear ever-more business productivity. Epicor ICE was aswell devised with the abstraction of abbreviation the amount and complication of technology acceptance by getting accessible for business users from the chat go.

For its part, Epicor True SOAв„ў is the architectural admission that Epicor ICE 2.0 offers; it is allotment of Epicor ICE and the abstruse archetypal for Epicor 9. In added words, Epicor ICE is based on what the bell-ringer refers to as њtrue SOA,ќ and applies the moniker for the afterward two capital reasons:

1. The applications themselves are congenital with diminutive business casework (or apparatus and entities) that collaborate with one accession and are afresh apparent appliance adaptable markup accent (XML) and Web services. Apparatus can be calmly configured and orchestrated appliance the Epicor BPM accoutrement mentioned in Allotment 1, after acute IT agents or coding, in a way that survives upgrades and avoids artefact adaptation lock.

2. Epicor ICE is not just about service-oriented architectonics (SOA) on the server side, but is aswell SOA for the client-side user acquaintance (UX) design. The absolute user interface (UI) is captured in XML metadata and the ICE accoutrement acquiesce users to calmly adapt and personalize the UI and run both a acute (rich) applicant and a browser-agnostic Web applicant from the aforementioned metadata (including users customizations and personalizations, which are stored in њlayersќ in the metadata).

Much Added than an Affiliation Tool

It is important to point out afresh that Epicor True SOA considers both server business argumentation and applicant business argumentation as absent њbusiness services.ќ Few added ERP systems are accounting appliance SOA concepts that accede both applicant and server business logic. In fact, abounding added systems tend to use SOA or Web casework for check action appliance affiliation (EAI) purposes only.

While Epicor ICE is the encompassing name for Epicors technology framework, Epicor True SOAв„ў, which is a subset of ICE, is Epicors way of anecdotic its admission to SOA. Namely, SOA should not just be a agency to easier integration, but aswell an admission to action business software development (just as client-server accretion was an admission per se).

Epicor calls its SOA admission True SOA, and the bell-ringer referred to њ100% SOAќ in the Epicor Vantage 8 absolution a few years ago. What is the difference? Epicor Vantage offered a C# acute applicant and afresh a services-based middle-tier business logic. There were over 600 business services, and anniversary was afresh delivered as Web casework with annihilation from 5 to 40 methods anniversary for simple discovery, integration, and re-use.

Epicor 9 builds on the admission acclimated in Vantage but extends service-orientation to the client-side, and converts all of the C# cipher to XML metadata services. From this individual antecedent of metadata, Epicor 9 is able to accomplish assorted client-side adventures for users.

True SOA for Epicor Everywhere

Furthermore, the technology that allows this assorted UX architectonics is alleged the Epicor Everywhereв„ў Framework. The Framework is a abstraction that is enabled by Epicor ICE and encompasses the capabilities to admission the appliance from a Microsoft Windows client, a Web client, or a adaptable Web client.

The Epicor Everywhere Framework is a byproduct of the True SOA technology that epitomizes what Epicor agency by SOA on the applicant ancillary (by ensuring that all client-side cipher is stored as tagged XML metadata). Web forms are afresh generated from XML metadata that describes the applicant business logic.

The framework provides a individual antecedent of applicant cipher to be acclimated to accomplish assorted yet agnate user experiences. In contrast, a lot of action systems charge to actualize and advance altered cipher curve for Windows desktop, Web, and adaptable forms.

With Epicor Everywhere, users can use Microsoft Office, Microsoft SharePoint, AJAX, Windows Internet Explorer, Apple Safari or Mozilla Firefox browsers, Web abundance foreground applications, and you-name-a-technology-or-gadget. The framework supports about all bartering adaptable accessories (Symbian OS, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, iPhone, etc.) appliance the Web as against to a accurate adaptable operating arrangement (OS).

The Epicor Everywhere Framework aswell refers to the basal appliance architectonics that allows for localization layers to accede with regulations and best practices in countries about the world. To that end, accession accompanying technology, Epicor Layered Applicant Stack, separates and food applicant attributes for the purposes of personalization, customization, localization, verticalization, etc.

The applicant assemblage provides a agency of extracting UI elements into altered independent layers to baby to the charge of differing user roles, sizes of business, types of industry, and even country requirements effectively, after differing cipher lines. With Epicor Layered Applicant Stack, one alone sees what and if one needs, by user and by role. It is absolutely simple for users to personalize their acquaintance and adapt their UI after recourse to antecedent code.

In added words, with these two technologies (Epicor Everywhere Framework and Epicor Layered Applicant Stack) users can accompany ERP abstracts to whatever roles they charge and in whatever architecture they want. Ray Wangs contempo blog column provides a amount of awning shots, to accommodate some of the acidity of Epicor 9.

Nothing After Intelligence and Achievement Management

Epicor Action Achievement Administration (EPM) is Epicors end-user-driven, search-enabled, and role-based supply of in-context business insight. The new real-time and contextual BI belvedere includes an operational abstracts abundance (ODS) for autumn abbreviated data, a abstracts barn for autumn analytic data, and an online analytic processing (OLAP) cube architect alleged Epicor Cube Connect.

Epicor 9 moves online transaction processing (OLTP) abstracts over to an ODS appliance Microsoft SQL Server Advice Casework (SSIS), which in about-face abide a abstracts barn aural Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Casework (SSAS). Epicor EPM Server afresh pre-populates OLAP cubes based on Epicor 9s anatomic suites.

Epicor Cube Connect is afresh acclimated to let end users (as against to IT staff) use a astrologer to footfall admitting and actualize their own angle and key achievement indicators (KPIs) based on barefaced business entities. Users can afresh arrange these KPIs and OLAP cubes wherever they wish (on Microsoft SharePoint pages, on a adaptable device, and, added importantly, aural the ERP application).

Epicor Cube Connect ships with about 500 predefined KPIs to advice users mange their business, after the claim of any ability of abstracts warehousing or OLAP architectonics techniques. The graphical decision of these KPIs is based on whatever apparatus the user wants, such as Microsoft Excel Pivot Tables.

In addition, Epicor offers Epicor Achievement Canvas. The Canvas is a Web 2.0-based (includes seek capabilities and offers publish/subscribe casework for conception of in-context business insights) OLAP decision apparatus for creating and examination KPIs and accumulating role-based scorecards (i.e., heads-up graphics).

Epicor Achievement Canvas is an automatic and easy-to-use ambiance for building, deploying and arresting analytic insights action wide. The ambiance enables seamless deployment to Windows desktops, Web, and adaptable accessories (via Epicor Adaptable EPM).

Dashboards and Trackers

Epicor Dashboards is a aggregate of assorted altered capabilities such as inquiries, ad hoc reports, workbenches, graphical analyses, trackers, alerts, and business action ecology (BAM), all in a individual view. Dashboards are role-based and pre-packaged (there are about 100 provided), yet personalizable and extensible. They accommodate alternate drill-around defended admission to all locations of the application, appropriately befitting users bigger abreast and added productive.

All of Epicors basic and adaptable role-based dashboards can run as acute clients, broken clients, or Web clients, and are active in real-time appliance the abovementioned Epicor Everywhere Framework. The Epicor Dashboards affection comes as allotment of the appliance after any added cost, which is altered from a lot of competitors offerings.

Another carefully accompanying nice-to-have affection is Epicor Trackers, which are system-wide alternate inquiries. Trackers accommodate a snapshot appearance of aggregate users may charge to apperceive about customers, orders, etc., and accommodate admission to abstracts and application-specific abstracts as required.

Mashing Up Transactions and Analytics

One accurate affair about the in-application BI adequacy is that a user can accept an Order Access anatomy that includes transactional and analytic abstracts ancillary by side, for bigger advice and decision-making. In added words, such a anatomy would be a affectionate of mashup or blended appliance (see amount below).

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To that end, Epicor Blended Applications (Mashups) accredit a publish/subscribe adequacy amid functions and applications. This adequacy reduces the charge for proprietary band of business (LOB) development by acceptance accumulation of new applications by bond calm assorted abate functions. Because of the Epicor Everywhere Framework, Web forms can subscribe to added forms or canyon advice to them to actualize a individual solution.

In accession to ODS, abstracts warehouse, and Epicor Cube Connect, the above-mentioned Epicor EPM Server, which is the foundation of Epicor EPM, includes Epicor EPM Administration Console. The animate manages Epicor EPM updates via a Microsoft Administration Animate (MMC) snap-in.

Optionally, users can advantage Epicor Replication Server that replicates assembly databases to one or added added servers (including ODS) or billow account environments in abreast absolute time. The server provides cogent scalability options for amount acclimation of tasks and user communities, which increases operational performance. Replication can be an bargain way to optimize a assembly ambiance for transaction entry, by offloading trackers, reports, etc., to added servers.

In summary, Epicor EPM is an easy-to-administer Microsoft SQL Server-based band-aid that delivers plug-and-play business insights after the accepted IT overhead. Epicor hopes to assuredly accomplish BI accessories affordable, simple to implement, and advantageous for all business users, and not just for IT agents and analysts.

As for absolute EPM applications for banking and operational reporting, budgeting, planning, consolidation, etc., Epicor offers both Microsoft FRx and Microsoft PPS Administration Reporter (as able-bodied as its own anchored banking address writer) for banking and operational advertisement capabilities, and both are chip with Epicor 9. The Reporter was developed with cogent investment by the Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server (PPS) aggregation and maintains Microsoft FRxs intuitiveness and capacity for banking professionals.

As a caveat, though, I appear on a contempo notable change in Microsofts BI artefact strategy, whereby the aggregation is breaking afar the EPM ancestors of products. To that end, Microsoft has included the ecology and analytic functionality aural Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007, while actively backpedaling on (if not absolutely unplugging) the development of its beginning banking planning and alliance appliance in PPS.

This accident could be acceptable account for Epicor, as Epicor Portal and Epicor Action Content Administration (ECN) accomplish abounding use of MOSS. Thus, the bell-ringer could now accommodate the ecology and analytic elements of PPS to its barter added seamlessly.