ORACLE EBS UPGRADE BENCHMARK

SURVEY RESULTS AND EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

February 2012

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Summary .......................................................................................................................2 Respondent Demographics ..................................................................................................3 Oracle EBS System Sizing ....................................................................................................5 Oracle EBS System Characteristics ................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Upgrade Plans .................................................................................................................9 Outsourcing and Use of Partners ........................................................................................ 11 Upgrade Challenges ........................................................................................................ 12 Upgrade Duration, Effort, Budget ....................................................................................... 13

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SUMMARY
Upgrades can be major undertakings for companies that rely on enterprise software to run their business. Not only is the upgrade project intensive on resources (over 1,845 person days and two millions dollars for a large organization), it is also a source of risk. Any system errors introduced during the upgrade progress could be severely disruptive to the companys operations. This benchmark survey was conducted by Panaya to help companies that are planning an Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) upgrade validate their planning assumptions and compare them to those of other organizations. Survey results are based on 42 responses collected from Oracle EBS customers and system integrators worldwide through a standardized online questionnaire during December 2011.

SOME OF THE KEY FINDINGS FROM THIS YEARS SURVEY INCLUDE:

A vast majority of the organizations surveyed (75%) are running systems that have not yet been upgraded to the latest version of Oracle EBS 12. Of the companies that are running earlier versions of Oracle EBS, 84% are either currently upgrading their systems or have plans for a future upgrade. The majority of these companies (61% of the total) have either already started their upgrade or will start the project in the next 12 months. End of mainstream or extended maintenance is the top reason for upgrade (57%), followed by usability improvements (37%). The top three challenges mentioned by survey respondents relate to the planning phases of the upgrade, including cost/effort estimation (40%), justifying a budget (37%), and assessing the impact on the existing solution (31%). Upgrade duration, effort, and cost are highly correlated to the number of production users. While the median effort for organizations with 500 or fewer users is 535 person days over 35 weeks at a cost of $250,000, the median effort for organizations with over 2,500 users is 1,845 days over 52 weeks at a cost of over two million US dollars.

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RESPONDENT DEMOGRAPHICS
More than three quarters (76%) of the survey respondents come from companies that are Oracle customers and run their own business on the Oracle EBS system, while 24% represent Oracle-partner organizations that help other companies with their upgrade projects.

Figure 1: Respondent Relationship to Oracle

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Survey respondents represent a wide range of industries. The largest representation comes from business & professional services, public sector & education, and high tech (17% each).

Figure 2: Respondents by Industry

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The responding customer organizations are fairly evenly distributed among large and small companies. 53% of the responding customers are from companies with revenues of less than a billion US dollars, while the remaining 47% represent companies with revenues of over one billion dollar.

Figure 3: Responding Customers by Company Size

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ORACLE EBS SYSTEM SIZING

The majority of the responding customer organizations (68%) operate a single Oracle EBS production system. 26% of the organizations operate 2-10 systems, while 6% operate over ten systems.

Figure 4: Number of Oracle EBS Production Systems (customer organizations)

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More than half of the responding customer organizations (57%) have 500 or fewer production users. 30% of the respondents have 501-2,500 users, while 13% have over 2,500 users, with the largest organization reporting 25,000 users.

Figure 5: Number of Oracle EBS Users (customer organizations)

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ORACLE EBS SYSTEM CHARACTERISTICS

Version 11 is used by three quarters of the responding customer organizations (75%). 29% of the organizations use version 12 (some organizations use more than one version), and 16% of the organizations run the most current version, 12.1.3.

Figure 6: Current Version used by Customer Organizations (some organizations use more than one version, sum adds up to more than 100%)

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The vast majority of the organizations surveyed (82%) use more than one Oracle EBS module. 40% of the organizations use 5 or more modules.

Figure 7: Number of Modules Used

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Financial Management is the module most widely used by respondent organizations (90%), followed by Procurement (60%) and Order Management (53%). The least used modules are Service (15%) and Value Chain Planning (15%).

Figure 8: Modules Used

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Close to half of the responding customer organizations (47%) use industry solutions.

Figure 9: Use of Industry Solutions (customer organizations)

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Almost all organizations surveyed (95%) have at least one interface from the Oracle EBS system to another system. 64% of the organizations have more than ten interfaces, 24% are using over fifty interfaces, and 14% have over 100 different interfaces.

Figure 10: Number of Interfaces to Other Systems

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UPGRADE PLANS
Overall, 84% of the companies that run earlier versions of Oracle EBS (11 or older) are either currently upgrading their systems or have plans for a future upgrade. The majority of these companies (61% of the total) have either already started their upgrade or will start the project in the next 12 months.

Figure 11: Upgrade Date

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End of mainstream or extended maintenance is the top reason for upgrade (57%), followed by usability improvements (37%).

Figure 12: Reasons for Upgrade (Top Two Selected)

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While extended maintenance is the primary driver for upgrade, the vast majority of organizations (86%) do plan on functional or strategic enhancement as part of the upgrade project. However, many these organizations (37% of total respondents) start out with a Technical Upgrade, followed by subsequent implementation of additional functional or strategic enhancements.

Figure 13: Upgrade Type

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OUTSOURCING AND USE OF PARTNERS

A majority of the organizations surveyed outsource at least part of the upgrade project work to third-party partners. Only 9% of the organizations dont use any partner help, while 37% of the organizations outsource at least half of the project work.

Figure 14: Uses of Outsourcing

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A third (33%) of the organizations that outsource part of the upgrade project use more than one partner. The partners most frequently cited are IBM (33%), Deloitte (14%), Infosys (14%), and HP-EDS (10%).

Figure 15: Most Mentioned Partners

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UPGRADE CHALLENGES
The top three challenges mentioned by survey respondents relate to the planning phases of the upgrade, including cost/effort estimation (40%), justifying a budget (37%), and assessing the impact on the existing solution (31%).

Figure 16: Upgrade Challenges (Top 2 Selected)

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UPGRADE DURATION, EFFORT, BUDGET

Total upgrade project duration is highly correlated to the number of production users, ranging from a median of 35 weeks for organizations with 500 or fewer users to one year (52 weeks) for organizations with over 2,500 users.

Figure 16: Median Project Duration by Number of Production Users

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The most time-consuming stage in the project is Preparation (20% of total project duration), followed by Initial Testing and Fixing (13% each).

Figure 17: Median Duration for Each Stage

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Not surprisingly, upgrade effort and budget are also highly correlated with the number of production users. The median effort for organizations with up to 500 users is 535 person days, reaching a median of 1,845 person days for organizations with more than 2,500 users.

Figure 18: Median Upgrade Effort by Number of Users

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The median upgrade project budget for organizations with up to 500 users is $250,000, climbing up to two million dollars for organizations with more than 2,500 users.

Figure 19: Median Upgrade Budget by Number of Users

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TABLE OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Respondent Relationship to Oracle ........................................................................................... 3 Figure 2: Respondents by Industry ......................................................................................................... 3 Figure 3: Responding Customers by Company Size .................................................................................. 4 Figure 4: Number of Oracle EBS Production Systems ............................................................................... 5 Figure 5: Number of Oracle EBS Users .................................................................................................... 5 Figure 6: Current Version ....................................................................................................................... 6 Figure 7: Number of Modules Used ......................................................................................................... 6 Figure 8: Modules Used ......................................................................................................................... 7 Figure 9: Use of Industry Solutions ......................................................................................................... 7 Figure 10: Number of Interfaces to Other Systems .................................................................................. 8 Figure 11: Upgrade Date ........................................................................................................................ 9 Figure 12: Reasons for Upgrade (Top Two Selected) ............................................................................... 9 Figure 13: Upgrade Type ..................................................................................................................... 10 Figure 14: Uses of Outsourcing ............................................................................................................ 11 Figure 15: Most Mentioned Partners ..................................................................................................... 11 Figure 16: Upgrade Challenges (Top Two Selected) .................................. Error! Bookmark not defined. Figure 17: Median Project Duration by Number of Production Users ........................................................ 13 Figure 18: Median Duration for Each Stage ........................................................................................... 13 Figure 19: Median Upgrade Effort by Number of Users........................................................................... 14 Figure 20: Median Upgrade Budget by Number of Users ........................................................................ 14

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DISCLAIMER AND TRADEMARK NOTICES

This report is provided by Panaya Ltd. It is completely independent of and not affiliated with Oracle or SAP AG. Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle. Oracle and other Oracle products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Oracle. SAP is a registered trademark of SAP AG. SAP and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. Survey results are based on responses provided by anonymous participants and have not been verified by Panaya. The results are based a limited number of responses and are not warrantied to accurately represent any data beyond the scope of the individuals that responded to the survey.

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY
Panaya Ltd. makes no representation or warranties, either express or implied by or with respect to anything in this document, and shall not be liable for any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose or for any indirect special or consequential damages.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written consent of Panaya Inc. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this publication, Panaya Inc. assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. This publication is subject to change without notice. 2012 Panaya Ltd. All rights reserved.

ABOUT PANAYA
Panayas software-as-a-service helps companies that use SAP or Oracle reduce 80% of their upgrade and testing risk and effort. Utilizing a cloud-based supercomputer, Panaya simulates the upcoming upgrade, automatically pinpointing which custom programs will break as a result of the upgrade and automatically fixing most of these problems. Panayas testing solutions dramatically expedite ERP testing and eliminate the need for manual test script maintenance. Seamlessly capturing business knowledge in the background, as users work with the ERP applications, Panaya automatically generates plain-English test scripts that are rapidly executed and continually self-adjust based on test results. To learn more, or apply for a free upgrade evaluation click here: http://www.panayainc.com/Request-aTrial.html

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