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An Oracle White Paper

December 2009

Accelerate Business Processes with Oracle Enterprise Application Documents

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Executive Overview: The Disconnected Document

It’s a digital age, but a paper-filled world. Digital content such as emails, photographs,

Word documents, and PDFs are filling up digital storage systems at an alarming rate, but

paper is still prevalent and continues to be the source document that drives the majority

of business processes. Regardless of whether content is in paper or electronic form,

managing and controlling it continues to cause inefficiencies and increase costs. One

prevalent example today is how organizations struggle to quickly make sense of and

efficiently derive information from documents and link those documents to back-end

business processes and the enterprise applications that drive those processes. These

applications, including enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship

management (CRM) systems, help workers pay invoices, process orders, handle service

requests, and support sales and marketing campaigns. For each of these processes to

be effective, the documents necessary to initiate these processes need to be not only

accurate, but also highly available, easily found, and easily shared. Enter enterprise

content management (ECM) systems and the functionality they provide to capture, store

and manage documents into one system. However, ERP and CRM systems either lack

or have limited content management capabilities, and extensive, costly customizations

are required to integrate ERP and CRM systems with ECM systems.

“Enterprise content management (ECM) consists of a vision and framework for integrating a broad range of content management technologies and content formats across the enterprise. ECM suites represent one part of the solution. They combine a number of different technologies, including document management and imaging, records management, Web content management (WCM),…However, technology alone won't suffice to deliver business value…It needs to link content with business processes and outcomes.” Source: Gartner, Key Issues for Enterprise Content Management Initiatives, 2009

In this white paper we will discuss Oracle’s approach to managing Enterprise Application

Documents. This approach is made by possible by Oracle Content Management, which

includes the features, functionality and underlying integration technologies to efficiently

and cost-effectively provide ECM capabilities to Oracle Applications’ users. These

capabilities optimize Oracle Applications and help organizations realize true enterprise

content management.

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Introduction: The Document to Process Connection Most organizations tend to take a departmental strategy to managing documents, as

opposed to an enterprise approach, and they focus their attention on those business

processes that are more document or paper-intensive than others, such as accounts

payable (A/P). Nonetheless, having a clear strategy and method to manage documents

across the enterprise is beneficial in terms of reducing overall paper-handling and

storage costs, meeting compliance and records retention initiatives, and improving

business process insight. One of the major challenges that organizations have faced in

managing documents throughout their business is in finding a comprehensive, standards-

based approach to integrate content management functionality with their business

applications. Traditionally, content management software vendors have taken ad-hoc,

customized approaches in providing integrations between ERP and CRM systems and

their content management offering. These integrations are provided per business

process and cannot be easily extended to other processes. This means that content

management capabilities and integrations for document-centric business processes, such

as A/P, cannot be easily leveraged and extended to other lines of business, such as

human resources (HR).

Over time, organizations find themselves continuing to struggle with integrating their

business applications with content management systems, and they spend a lot of time

and money working with multiple vendors developing custom integrations. Inevitably, this

leads to several, disparate content repositories as well as customized, point solutions to

provide this much-needed content management functionality. Compounding the problem

is that as customers upgrade their ERP and CRM systems, these customized content

management integrations must be reconfigured -- resulting in additional costs.

With this disconnent between ERP and CRM applications and the documents that

support and drive processes within those applications, organizations need an efficient,

proven strategy and integration framework to content-enable business processes. Oracle

Applications’ customers now have that capability with Oracle Enterprise Application

Documents. Through Oracle Content Management, Oracle Enterprise Application

Documents delivers leading content management functionality, and a loosely-coupled,

yet tightly integrated approach to link enterprise application documents to business

processes within Oracle Applications.

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Figure 1: With Oracle’s approach to managing Enterprise Application Documents, Oracle E-Business Suite,

PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, and Siebel customers utilize Oracle Content Management to view, search and

manage document images and electronic documents directly from their applications, resulting in streamlined

processes and empowered application users.

Optimizing the Value of High-Value Business Documents

Numerous business processes can benefit from infusing content management functionality into

the ERP and CRM applications that support them. Essentially, any document-centric business

process is a candidate to capture and digitize documents and store and manage them

electronically. Because even at its most basic premise, the digitization process alone leads to the

reduction of physical storage space, and most importantly, speeds business information to the

people that need it.

Introduced above, accounts payable is an obvious business area where this is true. A/P clerks

need quick and easy access to purchase order and vendor information as they process invoices.

If they work from paper, it takes longer for A/P clerks to match invoices with purchase orders

and key in the relevant invoice header information into their ERP or accounting system.

Furthermore, a paper-based review and approval chain adds to overall processing times and

increases risk as paper invoices could get misplaced or fall onto the desk of someone that does

not have approval authority. The inefficiencies of this paper-based process leads to higher per-

invoice processing costs, as penalties for late fees are common and discounts for invoices paid

early cannot be realized.

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Content Management also plays a critical role in ensuring employees always have the most

accurate and up-to-date information to work from, which is especially important during a sales

process. Sales reps typically go through many rounds of revisions of sales proposals and

contracts, and these get associated to customer records within a CRM system. However, as these

documents are shared and then re-shared with a customer, partner, or perhaps a colleague, the

probability that an inaccurate proposal or contract gets passed along or referenced is high. Not

only could this result in the loss of a sale, but potentially, the loss of a customer or partner

relationship altogether.

Each of the two examples above could be optimized with Oracle Content Management. In the

instance of the A/P clerk, invoices could be captured and turned into images, which can then be

accessed directly from the native-ERP user interface. Couple this with automated workflows

that expedite invoice review and approvals, and organizations would experience accelerated

invoice processing. For the sales rep, sales proposals and contracts could be archived in one

central repository. De-duplication and versioning capabilities ensure document accuracy and all

other documents associated with a customer, such as correspondence and orders, could be

directly attached and associated with customer records in the CRM application.

CONTENT-ENABLED ORACLE APPLICATIONS – PROCESS EXAMPLES

APPLICATION

PROCESS

INTEGRATED CONTENT

MANAGEMENT

FEATURES

BENEFITS ORACLE

APPLICATIONS

SUPPORTED

Accounts Payable • Document capture

• Document imaging (access, view, annotate)

• BPEL-based workflow engine

• Secure and scalable repository

• Real-time dashboards

• Retention schedules

• Realize discounts and avoid late fees

• Identify process bottlenecks sooner

• Quickly access invoice information

• Secure sensitive financial data

• Oracle E-Business Suite Financials

• PeopleSoft Financials

• JD Edwards EnterpriseOne

Human Resources Administration

• Capture and attach paper and electronic documents

• BPEL-based workflow engine

• Secure and scalable repository

• Retention schedules

• Decrease costs and cycle times of HR processes

• Onboard employees faster

• Centralized access of employee docs

• PeopleSoft HCM (Human Capital Management)

Sales, Marketing and Call Center

• Capture and attach paper and electronic documents

• Publish content to external and internal sites

• Secure and scalable repository

• Retention schedules

• Enhance sales force productivity

• Ensure consistent marketing messages

• Faster call center response times

• Siebel CRM

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Best-In-Class Oracle Application Integrations

The integrations between Oracle Content Management and Oracle Applications are provided as

loosely-coupled adapters that deliver content management functionality to Oracle Applications.

The following are the key components that deliver this functionality:

• SOA-Based Application Adapters: Provide an out-of-the-box integration that seamlessly

delivers content management capabilities to Oracle Applications modules. These adapters

contain pre-configured “commands” that are invoked inside of Oracle Applications and can be

extended to users outside the application environment.

• User Interface Integration: Configurable user interface integrations that enable organizations

to provide users with single-click access to document images and workflow tasks, and the

ability to attach and associate paper and electronic documents from within the familiar user

interface of their Oracle Applications.

• Best Practice Templates: A portfolio of proven BPEL-based workflows, process rules, data

forms, and reports. These templates provide a starting point for organizations as they build

out workflows for invoice and other business document processing, and can be tailored to

match the exact needs of an organization.

INCREASED TIME TO VALUE - ORACLE ENTERPRISE APPLICATON

DOCUMENTS

ORACLE COMPETITOR

INTEGRATIONS Productized, SOA-based integrations allow Oracle Content Management to be maintained outside of Oracle Applications’ environments.

Custom integrations are hard-coded within Oracle Applications causing them to break during Oracle Application upgrades.

CONTENT MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONALITY

Comprehensive content management capabilities including document capture, imaging, web content management, document management, digital asset management, records management, and information rights management.

Point solutions offer limited content management functionality outside of their specific application integrations.

WORKFLOW BPEL-based workflow engine allows a standardized way to create and port workflows.

Customized workflows created by proprietary workflow engines typically need to be created by the vendor and cannot be extended to other application modules.

TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP

Oracle Enterprise Applications Documents enables organizations to expand content management capabilities from one application module to another without incurring additional licensing costs. Additionally, application adapters preserve integration integrity during upgrades.

Competing solutions are licensed per applications module, increasing their overall cost as use cases are expanded. Furthermore, organizations incur costs for workflow changes and re-integration after application version upgrades.

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Figure 2: Through the features, functionality and underlying integration framework of Oracle Content

Management, Oracle Enterprise Application Documents provides organizations with an integrated set of content

management products to capture, classify, manage, and retain all business content. These capabilities are

extended to Oracle E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, and Siebel customers through certified

application adapters. Oracle Content Management also supports Oracle Applications Unlimited, and is the

strategic content management solution for Oracle Fusion Applications.

Customer Successes: Documents at Work

Oracle Applications’ customers are already benefiting from the integrated content management

functionality that Oracle Content Management delivers. Here are a few examples:

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (www.erau.edu): Embry-Riddle Aeronautical

University, the world’s largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace,

deals with a vast amount of documents across its 130 campuses in North America, Europe and

the Middle East. These include student administration documents, such as applications for

admission and financial aid, as well as transfer requests. Embry-Riddle was already using Oracle

Distributed Document Capture and Oracle Imaging and Process Management, both Oracle

Content Management products, to remotely capture and image student-related documents,

leading to reduced paper-handling and expediting the student admissions process.

Oracle Content Management

Oracle SOA & BPM

A

D

A

P

T

E

R

S

CaptureWeb

ContentImaging

Digital Assets

Document Rights Records

Oracle Enterprise Application Documents

Forms

Oracle E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, Siebel

Oracle Applications Unlimited

Oracle Fusion Applications

FUSION

MIDDLEWARE

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Embry-Riddle was also using a 3rd-party document imaging solution for their accounts payable

process, and this imaging system had a customized integration with Oracle E-Business Suite.

This meant that during every E-Business Suite upgrade, the integration between the imaging

system and E-Business Suite would break, resulting in high, on-going consulting fees to

reintegrate the products. Furthermore, because of the proprietary nature of the integration and

the underlying workflows supporting the A/P process, all changes had to be made by the vendor,

which led to frequent losses of production and overall high cost of ownership.

Embry-Riddle made the strategic decision to replace their competitive imaging system with

Oracle Imaging and Process Management – also an Oracle Content Management product.

Oracle Imaging and Process Management’s standards-based integration with Oracle E-Business

Suite allows for changes to be made to either system without impacting the integration.

Additionally, workflow changes can be made in-house by Embry-Riddle staff, which immediately

eliminated their on-going consulting fees.

“Transitioning to Oracle Imaging and Process Management was a strategic decision driven by a desire to reduce costs, simplify processes and improve our IT infrastructure.”

Cindy Bixler, chief information officer, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Friesland Foods (http://www.en.frieslandcampina.com/): Friesland Foods has a tradition of

more than 125 years, in which the company has developed into a leading producer and supplier

of dairy products, fruit-based drinks and ingredients. The company boasts strong market and

brand positions in Western and Central Europe, Southeast Asia, West Africa and the Middle

East.

To comply with European Legislation, Friesland Foods needed to have in place a fully auditable

order to delivery system for the production and supply of any of their consumer food or

ingredients products. A majority of this information was contained in paper and electronic

documents, but this content could not be linked to or searched and accessed from their Oracle

E-Business Suite system. They desired to have a content management system in place that

offered full version control, security and records management of this content, and one that could

be integrated with Oracle E-Business Suite.

To get started, Friesland Foods began capturing their paper and electronic documents with

Oracle Document Capture. All of these captured documents are archived within Oracle

Universal Content Management - another Oracle Content Management product. Oracle

Universal Content Management is integrated with Oracle E-Business Suite, and provides the

content relationship between supplier contracts, order schedules, and shipment notes details in

Oracle E-Business Suite, with the metadata and documents where they were derived from.

Employees can now easily access all relevant documents from within Oracle E-Business Suite,

helping them quickly respond to supplier inquiries. Friesland Foods has also met its compliance

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objective and is able to see a complete audit trail for each supplier – from order to delivery.

Additionally, all electronic documents have full records and retention policies for storage,

ensuring easy access and management of documents well into the future.

Large European Bank: This European bank is a substantial Siebel CRM customer, specifically

using Siebel to support its sales process and to handle service calls and support requests. Within

these two business processes, there is a lot of paper and electronic-based documents supporting

the process, including sales proposals, service contracts, and call center scripts. Storing all these

documents in the native repository was becoming increasingly problematic as it did not offer

versioning and de-duplication features, meaning that employees were unsure if they were

accessing the most relevant, up-to-date documents. Furthermore, the bank produced high

volumes of documents, and as their repository did not scale, it caused performance issues when

locating and retrieving documents.

This bank desired a content management system that could be integrated with Siebel CRM and

provide the underlying features to manage and maintain all business documents. Additionally,

they wanted to be able to easily attach paper and electronic documents to customer records

within the context of the Siebel CRM interface.

The bank has deployed Oracle Universal Content Management and Oracle Distributed

Document Capture to allow for documents to be easily captured and associated to Siebel CRM

records. Now, all documents can be easily accessed from the Siebel CRM user interface, and the

versioning and de-duplication features of Oracle Universal Content Management ensure its

accuracy.

Conclusion: Completing the Document to Process Connection

Today, many organizations have implemented a content management system, in one form or

another, to address specific business challenges. However, outside the departments where these

challenges have arisen and where content management has been implemented, a large majority of

organizations fail to realize the full value of their content management system. Besides the

traditional benefits that content management delivers, mostly in the form of reduced paper

storage and handling costs, organizations have difficulty increasing their benefits and overall

return-on-investment (ROI) realization. With organizations placing more and more emphasis on

further cost reduction and increased time to value for IT projects, business process automation is

of critical importance.

This automation can be realized by providing seamless entry points and access to enterprise

documents and their associated data, further empowering employees with the information they

need to process, share, and manage business documents. From streamlining the document

capture process and providing quick and easy access to paper and electronic-based documents, to

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the integration with Oracle Applications, Oracle’s Enterprise Application Documents approach

is ideally suited for this purpose. With Oracle Enterprise Application Documents, industry

leading content management and business application systems come together to deliver complete

end-to-end processing of all content within transactional ERP applications, sales and service-

oriented CRM applications and custom applications.

Through Oracle Content Management, these capabilities are available today. Your organization

can utilize one system that provides complete content management capabilities and an

integration framework that addresses and automates document-centric business processes within

your Oracle Applications, while also helping your organization realize its broader compliance and

legal objectives. This comprehensive approach to link high-value business documents with

Oracle Applications can only be delivered by Oracle.

Accelerate Business Processes with Oracle

Enterprise Application Documents

December 2009

Jason Lamon

Oracle Corporation

World Headquarters

500 Oracle Parkway

Redwood Shores, CA 94065

U.S.A.

Worldwide Inquiries:

Phone: +1.650.506.7000

Fax: +1.650.506.7200

oracle.com

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