SAP and Oracle differ in modules however they share some functions where we can base our assessment and comparison. But before that here's a little biased image comparing SAP and Oracle as far as technology is concerned.



Both have Supply Chain Management or Advance Planning, Maintenance, Costing, Treasury Management, Materials Management, Production Planning and Control, Localization , Project Systems, Payroll, Transactional Reporting and ESA Open Architechture.

In the Advanced Planning, SAP has a very strong advanced planning solution while Oracle has recently changed the Architecture of ts Demand planning module which requires significant testing and stabilization. In maintenance, Oracle is less superior because of their history in supporting the use of 3rd party solutions.

As costing is directly linked to the production process, SAP's costing solution is more tightly integrated compared to Oracle. Treasury module is a recent addition to Oracle suite so it's a work in progress unlike SAP having established this over time.

Batch Traceability of raw materials, in Materials Management module, is strong and integrated in SAP. In Production Planning and Control, Oracle supports a combination of the process and discrete manufacturing solution the same instance in SAP.

Localization is not an integrated part of the core Oracle application thus an add-on. In Project systems, Oracle does not have a comprehensive project monitoring tool as part of its Projects module and has to be integrated with 3rd Party products. Sap, on the other hand, has it as an integral part of the projects business cycle from the project procurement to cash budgeting etc in case of rescheduling on the project timelines.

This leads us to the conclusion that SAP product support is better managed as its MySAP suite has far less number of batches compare to Oracle.

2. Conduct research on an ERP package other than SAP that would be suitable for a large organization (Php 1 billion in revenue) and compare the modules that it has to SAP modules.

The people who are bound to work under ERP and its web of business processes must also spun a thread of web to each other to achieve success. The most common failures in Enterprise resource planning implementation happens when circumstances are shifted. In Martha Heller's article "5 ERP Errors CFO's Can Avoid" she coined out, by experience, that the planning stages in ERP is very essential to the success of its implementation whether circumstances are shifted or tested over the course of time.

"If you don’t set them up from the start with the right people, product, partners, and expectations, you may as well not start at all.", Heller stated in her article. The failure in the story or situation the author has established started when the ERP project had run amok and all they have is a newly hired CIO to take care of the problem because the former CIO, who was there at the start and knows the system very well, has already retired from the job.

Instead of digging deeper into the problem, the author simply learned from the story and came up with a helpful list of 'Do Not's'. The reason why we can never solve the problem in the story, by analysis, is that the mistake has already been done and there is nothing the new CIO can do about it. The new CIO would only have to evaluate the impact of the mistake to the company and think about leaving the company the next day.

 In effect, the company had to start over from scratch and the CFO, who is by the way responsible of hiring a new CIO, was held accountable for the damage ergo he's dead. From this, we can conclude that the successes and failures ERP Implementation greatly depends on how much you've worked hard for it at the start. This means perfection is mandatory in ERP and as CFO, you need to watch out for CIO's who has already plotted out their escape plan conveniently after hell breaks loose in an ERP Project.

1.Conduct research on the Web Sites of either CIO Magazine or CFO Magazine for stories about ERP implementation successes and failures. Using specific examples, describe the reasons for the successes and failures. What conclusions can be reached?

1.) Search for at least two (2) Proprietary and Open Source ERP Systems:

• Proprietary 1.) mySAP from SAP
   2.) Oracle e-Business Suite from Oracle

• Open Source3.) Openbravo
  4.) Fedena

mySAP - 

a.) Features of the ERP System

MySAP ERP from SAP features a platform that is fully scalable and can be adjusted to the size and ever changing processes of the companies which implement it. It features four different layers which can be implemented accordingly and they are mySAP ERP, mySAP Business Suite, mySAP All-in-One, SAP Business One.It also features four main areas of integration and they are People Integration, Information Integration, Process Integration and lastly Application Platform.

b.) Modules Available

• Financial Accounting (FI)
• Financial Supply Chain Management (FSCM)
• Controlling (CO)
• Materials Management (MM)
• Sales and Distribution (SD)
• Logistics Execution (LE)
• Production Planning (PP)
• Quality Management (QM)
• Plant Maintenance (PM)
• Project System (PS)
• Human Resources (HR)

c.) Industries served by the ERP System

When several issues about bloggers stormed Philippine blogosphere, even reaching the mainstream consciousness, I didn't give a damn and I didn't say a word. Not that anyone cares about what I have to say. I just thought silence was the best way to deal with issues which at that time were of great importance to others.

There's also the thought that Filipino bloggers needs one less blabbermouth who might have the balls for a TV appearance just so others would think they have a.) a sense of leadership, b.) a telegenic face, c.) a latent dirty political agenda and d.) All of the above.

A few weeks later I found myself in a situation where I couldn't answer the question "What are you?". Well I could have just kidded around and told the person "C'mon, I'm a human being just like you.". But that's not what the person meant and I knew I just can't kid around forever about what I really am in the context of what I do.

So, "What am I?". My mind answers "I am a blogger." But with issues going around involving bloggers, be it online, of national scope, within a certain blogging organization or within my circles, I can't proudly say I am one. Coulda, woulda, shoulda but I didn't. Then I told the person, "I work online.".

It sucks you know!? It sucks. Then I thought, wouldn't it be nice to wake up one day and tell people "I am a Blogger" as though it's a profession or at least something so cool and nice? A day when you know where to put yourself amidst controversies like 'Sotto's Plagiarism', 'Philippine Bloggers Association' and 'Ethical Issues concerning Bloggers'? A day where the "Big Bad Blogger" would become a tale as old as time and finally a day when you can tell people you just don't work online? And that you rock?

That day is far from becoming a reality as of now, especially with unresolved issues piled up like backlogs waiting to be published, read, shared, scrutinized and commented.

But last December, we had the chance to discuss all these with fellow bloggers each coming from Iloilo, Cebu, Manila and there's me from Davao. There were also some people from NGO's, Traditional Media and Public Relations present who shared their thoughts, views, opinions and helped us come up with a WORKING DRAFT of a Manifesto for PROFESSIONAL BLOGGERS in the Philippines.

Check it out and please share your thoughts! :-)

A Blogger Manifesto - Professional Bloggers Block 

Who knows, with this Manifesto, there will come a time where nothing can hold us back from saying " I am a Blogger.".