If you want faster, safer JDE change, you need a business case compelling enough to achieve sign-off.

Oracle’s continuous innovation model means new features and fixes are shipped regularly to the 9.2 code line. With Premier Support guaranteed through at least 2036, this is about making a case for sustained operational value.

This blog shows how to diagnose the problem, quantify benefits and costs, manage risk, and map milestones—then prove ROI with recognised metrics, with DWS as your testing partner.

 

Diagnose the problem

We start by setting the baseline—measuring lead time per ESU, releases per quarter, change failure rate, MTTR, test coverage across the critical path, and total manual regression hours.

From there, we map the modified footprint to reveal the risk window and quantify the impact of each change.

Finally, we surface the constraints and make the consequences visible: missed regulatory dates, delayed month-end close, working capital drag, and SLA hits.

 

The business value

Your benefits tie straight to the JDE business case: faster change, lower risk, smoother cutovers, cleaner audits and staying code-current.

• Cycle-time compression: faster ESU throughput pulls value forward
• Defect/incident cost avoidance: fewer escapes; faster recovery
• Risk-window reduction: patch-to-prod days down
• FTE redeployment: manual hours moved to higher-value work
• Reliability signalling: improved lead time, deployment frequency, change-failure rate, MTTR.

 

Costs and ROI

Consider up-front costs (enablement, initial pack build, environment/test data) and ongoing costs (licences/hosting and light-touch maintenance/support).

When it comes to ROI, in the 9.2 continuous model, returns compound over multiple ESU cycles. This is a multi-year operating mode, not a one-off.

ROI is simple to calculate: (benefits − costs) ÷ costs. The common mistake is focusing only on “reduced test hours”, when in reality the value runs much wider.

To find out how to calculate the true ROI of enterprise test automation, read our blog.

 

Risks and mitigation

Treat test case design as a first-class job: keep scripts modular, use robust locators and protect golden data. Be sure to resource script creation early and consider bringing in a trusted partner to establish a reusable library with clear standards.

Then reduce runtime risk. Schedule runs to avoid environment clashes, isolate test data and prove performance before go-live. You’ll want to keep governance light but firm with short feedback loops, a clean rollback path and simple approval gates. Use AI where it helps; “record an action” for faster authoring and self-healing to cut maintenance—always with human review for accuracy.

Finally, make progress visible. Share a lightweight scorecard everyone can read at a glance: lead time per ESU, change-failure rate, MTTR, and the percentage automated on the critical path.

When the trend line is clear quarter by quarter, adoption sticks and the business case sells itself.

 

Timeline and milestones

Set milestones to match your ESU cadence so improvements show up quarter by quarter. The aim is to prove value early, then scale, using small batches and fast feedback that fit Oracle’s continuous innovation on JDE 9.2.

• Early phase: Establish a working pipeline and baseline by agreeing scope, turning on your core tooling and proving a small set of critical flows end-to-end.
• Build-out phase: Create a repeatable cadence by expanding coverage where change actually happens, formalising out-of-hours/controls as needed and sharing the first read-out on savings and risks.
• Run-state phase: Embed a sustainable operating rhythm by keeping packs lean, tightening maintenance and publishing a simple performance scorecard so stakeholders can see progress quarter on quarter.

 

How DWS can help you build a business case for JDE test automation

We help you plan, build and run the cadence—while training your team to take ownership fast and giving you the artefacts finance expects (baseline, ROI model, roadmap).

• Analysis Services: Codebase and test-analysis to map the modified footprint, size the impact by process, and produce an ESU-aligned test plan with a clear benefits/costs view you can drop straight into a business case.
• Dimension Tempo™: A cadence-based CCaaS codebase analysis and retrofitting service for JDE E1 offering cost certainty, predictability and risk mitigation as you reduce and retrofit the modified footprint.
• Dimension Focus™: Analyses the full E1 system to pinpoint exactly which objects a change touches and how much, so you only test what needs testing. Benchmarks show up to 85% savings in testing effort and cost.
• Dimension SwifTest™: A no-code tool for JDE that lets business analysts and super-users own automation. Teams typically save up to 60% on execution time and up to 70% on script creation and maintenance.
• Dimension LoadTest™: Native to E1, installs in minutes, simulates large, variable virtual-user loads on-prem or in the cloud—so you can prove performance at scale and go live with confidence.

Learn more about how to make code current a reality with these solutions here.

 

Conclusion

A credible JDE business case is clear on the problem, aligned to strategy, quantified on benefits and costs, honest on risks, and realistic on milestones. Miss any of these, and the case quickly falls apart.

To get underway, reduce the modified footprint, test what changed, and let business-owned automation compress cycle time and risk—then measure progress with recognised metrics.

Do this consistently, and you establish a rhythm that makes JDE upgrades simpler, safer, and more rewarding year after year.

To understand the benefits your business could gain from an automated testing project, get in touch to claim your free, personalised ROI assessment.