Oracle PLM Cloud implementation creates an agile, scalable, and secure data-driven user experience.
A global multinational energy producer employing more than 1700 people across four continents struggled to scale its businesses. The multiple disparate data storage systems used by the different business units were the prime culprits. A lack of interoperability between these complex and cumbersome systems meant that the client could not gather intelligent insights from this data. But that was not all. The sales, service, and engineering teams could not search for relevant information to simplify their daily tasks. But even if they could find that data, its quality was sub-optimal. To facilitate all this, the client needed a data consolidation and migration expert, and that’s where Birlasoft came in.
Birlasoft analyzed the challenges faced by the client and suggested a three-pronged attack. We first used our DaaS solution to migrate the data from multiple solutions to the Oracle PLM Cloud solution. This ensured anywhere anytime access to the data for all the employees. Doing so also required the creation of data governance models that could streamline the data migration and bring transparency and visibility across the organization.
In the second step, we created a database on Oracle JDE, which would make an excellent data usage experience. We added user access controls to the database to build security and created new searchable formats to ensure easy access to information.
In the final step, we used our i-Link to ease the transfer of information between the PLM and JDE ERP. This would enable real-time bidirectional communication between the two systems and make the entire solution blazing fast.
This approach helped us build a centralized data repository, institute enterprise-wide data governance, and enable 3x faster product launches.
The Challenge
1. Infrastructure bottlenecks hampered supply chain
The multiple legacy data storage solutions used by the client across geographies had access to fragmented data and did not communicate with each other. As a result, these systems could not effectively analyze data to make intelligent predictions. This led to massive supply chain issues as the system could not anticipate the need for replacement parts. Thus, the after-market service engineers were left scrambling for replacement parts as they were difficult to find.
2. Sub-standard data quality affected business growth
Today, collating data is not enough; businesses need to analyze the data and make intelligent decisions to ensure growth. In the case of our client, the data being captured by the system, which included critical product information, was not searchable due to poor data quality standards. The sales or customer support teams could not access the information captured in product notes to guide prospects or existing customers. This lack of contextual information resulted in lower sales volumes and customer retention due to poor user experience.
3. Lack of data standardization caused business confusion
The complexity of the existing legacy systems made it difficult for the product teams to document and store product data. This led to a lack of standardization across products and geographies, and the client’s teams had to rely on primitive product knowledge to thrive. It also increased the time to train new personnel and the cost and time for service and maintenance.
The Solution
1. Consolidating and migrating client data to Oracle PLM Cloud using Birlasoft DaaS
To help the client overcome these data quality challenges, we decided to migrate all their data from multiple disparate ERPs and data management systems to Oracle’s cloud-based Product Lifecycle Management software. But to do that, we had to re-organize this data based on industry classifications. For this, we deployed our patented Data Migration as a Service (DaaS) solution. Next, we designed data and governance models in the product hub cloud to bring transparency and visibility into the system. Finally, the item notes data was extracted, standardized, and enriched, and new placeholders were created in the Product Hub Cloud.
2. Enabling a highly secure and enriched data usage experience
We started building the database from scratch to ensure a smooth data usage experience. We first built the product hub and configured the taxonomy to include product categories, attributes, and validation rules. Then, to secure the database against bad actors, we configured role-based security so that the data could be accessed only by authorized personnel.
We created new searchable formats to give engineers and other users real-time access to the required information. This ensured speedier responses to user searches and improved user and customer experience. We also standardized the parts onboarding and launching process to eliminate the supply chain issues.
3. Facilitated end-to-end information flow between cloud and ERP
While all the product data was stored in Oracle’s Product Data Hub Cloud, business decisions were made using Oracle’s JD Edwards (JDE) Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software. But real-time insights and smart decisions depended on the speed of data transfer between the two systems. Birlasoft used its proven i-Link solution to solve the integration challenge and delivered a fast information flow between the ERP and the PLM.
The Impact
By successfully implementing the Oracle PLM solution, we helped our client simplify and smarten its data usage experience by enabling agile, scalable, and secure Oracle Cloud solutions. Our client could now search for products easily by leveraging the product catalogs and taxonomy defined by Birlasoft. The newly introduced governance process helped them quickly add new items and manage change order processes. The newly created or edited items were seamlessly integrated into the JDE ERP.
In addition, here are some of the other benefits of our client's data migration to Oracle PLM Cloud:
- Created a central repository of product data with attribute-based global data models.
- Implemented an enterprise-wide global governance model.
- Ensured an 80% completeness score for all products.
- Enabled 3x faster product launches.
