by Lee Balsom

In a previous post we talked about the reticence of some customers to apply Oracle JDE E1 ESUs, and how adopting a proactive approach can make maintenance and uplifting more manageable.

During my time at DWS I’ve been involved with many customers who have upgraded from one major release of JDE EnterpriseOne to another. For JDE customers who are even moderately customized, the technical retrofitting effort is typically the most challenging and resource-intensive element of the upgrade project.

It is negatively impacted by one overarching variable – “Net-Change”. Simply put, the bigger the gap between your current ESU-level and the E9.2 release, the more time-consuming, complex and expensive your upgrade will be; because of the greater incidence of Net Change.

Adopting a code-current strategy

Being code-current within your current release closes that gap, making the uplift effort less complex. Custom objects that would have been affected by net-change (if, for example, they call standard functions that have received Oracle enhancements) are now less impacted or not impacted at all. This places the objects into a “Pure Custom” category – requiring very little effort on average.

For E9.2 customers, the same concept applies, albeit within E9.2. It is simpler and more efficient to get code-current in manageable, smaller time-frames. We usually recommend clients undertake a code-current project annually. Plus, it’s easier to build a business case internally for staying code-current if it can be achieved as part of an operational budget, rather than the substantial capital outlay of a major upgrade.

Using a combination of the tools available from Oracle and DWS, the implementation of ESUs, either ad-hoc or via formal code-current events, should no longer be met with suspicion or angst.

Dimension Tempo™ is a code-current service from DWS that delivers modifications uplift for a fixed annual fee. Dimension Focus™ and Dimension SwifTest™ combine to deliver a significant reduction in testing effort.

Focus will tell you what to test and how to test at an ‘event’ level of detail. Don’t waste valuable time testing functionality that hasn’t changed and simply does not require it. When you do need to test, SwifTest can generate savings of up to 60% during test execution and 70% during the creation and maintenance of test scripts.

So, the moral is, stay current and make the most of the latest product and feature releases from DWS and Oracle JD Edwards. If you’re not yet at the E9.2 release level, making sure your ESU level is as up-to-date as possible within your current release will help your eventual upgrade to E9.2 go as quickly and smoothly as possible.

Explore our Code-Current and upgrade services or contact us now to discuss your requirements.