What needs improvement with Oracle E-Business Suite?

An area for improvement is related to the flexibility of the processes in Oracle ERP. It is challenging to change processes within the system, which sometimes hampers our ability to quickly adapt to new requirements. Adding a BPM (Business Process Management) layer over the ERP could make it more flexible.

It's more expensive than other options due to licensing costs and core-based hardware. Managing licenses can be tedious. For example, if I want to discontinue some licenses, it's a complicated process. Once we're committed, it's challenging to exit the system.

I think a lot more automation can be brought into E-Business Suite.

In Oracle E-Business Suite, there should be a proper document flow for each transaction. There should be some features in Oracle E-Business that are included in SAP Business One. I have used SAP Business One, and if we open a transaction, we can move to another related transaction through its map. In SAP Business One, each transaction has a map, but Oracle E-Business Suite does not offer such type of relationship maps or document flows for transactions. The tool can have proper document flow for the mapping system in Oracle E-Business Suite to show each transaction. One should be able to link the transaction through the map.

Oracle E-Business Suite is hard and takes six months to one year to implement.

In the past few years, the main challenge has been the annual maintenance cost. We've often replaced Oracle with Dynamics, which is cheaper than Oracle but still expensive for governments in Africa with limited budgets to sustain it. So, the main challenge is the cost versus the value. We don't get lower value with Dynamics 365, and I've seen governments implement other alternatives like Odoo, too. They don't see the value in paying millions of dollars in maintenance fees. Oracle needs to understand the reality of the situation. In the African market, Oracle is the least of the considerations. People don't even want to consider Oracle. They need to come up with something more cost-effective because people do not see the value in paying those maintenance fees. As a system integrator, I don't gain anything because most of the money gets transferred to Oracle. They need to relook at their licensing models. NetSuite is pretty rigid for a cloud-based suite. There are varying requirements to make changes to the configuration, which becomes a hassle compared to even Dynamics. They need to relax how they handle this. The licensing is also very complicated, with so many parameters that it's confusing, and sizing becomes confusing. Streamlining the licensing would be helpful so that it becomes transparent for the customer.

We find challenges in the manufacturing modules. The users feel that the product is not user-friendly. Continuous manufacturing is very complex. We must automate the whole manufacturing process cycle and connect multiple production lines. It is not an easy task in Oracle to implement such things. Other than that, the solution is excellent.

The only thing that could be improved is the pricing. It is on the expensive side.

Sometimes, when you prepare your rules, the robustness of the rules is essential. Allowing excessive user modifications can lead to situations where only specific scenarios are considered, neglecting others. This can cause difficulties for users. SAP doesn't allow changes in their processes beyond the limit. While this might restrict some flexibility, it fosters repeatability in system behavior, which users eventually adapt to. In Oracle E-Business Suite, we've faced situations where a procurement workflow appears stuck in someone's inbox, even though it's not there. This discrepancy is potentially caused by configuration or feature issues.

The document that supports the Oracle E-Business Suite regarding the installation and upgrading is long compared to other products and needs to be enhanced. Some components of Oracle E-Business Suite, like the database, GDK, and WebLogic, stop at a certain point, which is not its last version.

Oracle could improve its licensing model by offering more flexible options, such as subscription-based pricing. Nowadays, people are going for more open-source products. I would like to see Oracle E-Business Suite include all the necessary patches and fixes in the main product instead of requiring customers to pay for support for each one.

The initial setup is complex.

Improving the reporting and user interface of Oracle ERP would be beneficial and is something that can be considered for future updates. As an operations manager, my knowledge of the functional aspects of Oracle ERP is limited, and functional experts would likely have a better understanding. However, based on feedback from many customers, the reporting features of the system are not considered to be very effective.

The operations could be better, specifically for manufacturing processes. There could, for example, be some sort of forecasting available. We need more planning and scheduling options. They need more analytical capabilities. It can't really scale.

We would like to see some automation in this solution. In addition, the implementation team should improve their customer service by meeting with customers regularly.

The system has bugs, is not user friendly, and requires too much customization. I consider the solution open source with full customization, but ours was not done correctly at the beginning because we still have many issues. We always need consultants to do changes or corrections. We are eight years after implementation but we still have system bugs. For example, we have the option to assign serial numbers for accounts payable and receivable vouchers. We have to select manual serial numbers and change the numbering every year. It is not logical to have two different vouchers for two different vendors but both with the same serial number unless you manually change them. Something happened during implementation that allows this to occur. For another example, we have some approval hierarchies in the system. If someone delegates an action, the system sometimes jumps to the next approval and ignores handling the delegated action.

E-Business Suite's pricing could be lower. In the next release, E-Business Suite should include the HIS information system and 360-degree feedback.

The implementation can take some time and it's one of the difficulties with Oracle as compared to SAP. Deployment takes way too much time.

They should have a nicer way to handle very high volumes of data because we deal with really high volumes, and sometimes, we end up with performance issues.

Oracle E-Business Suite could improve the tables. When we remove some of them sometimes they cloud the modules into one. It becomes a little difficult to segregate.

Oracle E-Business Suite's stability could be improved as they have a lot of bugs that need to be fixed. Their integration and data cleaning could also be better. Oracle is focusing too much on Oracle Cloud, and E-Business Suite is missing out on new features.

The UI isn't up to speed with most digital marketing-style interfaces. It's not an end-user-responsive UI.

The solution could be improved especially for budgeting. We are using budgeting in GL, which is a basic budgeting module. We need enhanced budgeting and a few other parts. For example, we need supply chain. That's based on financial health. Currently, we are using financials, however, in financials, most of what we are missing is enhanced budgeting. I want an enhanced budgeting module. The initial setup is complex. I want built-in dashboards. I also would like more center reports or center reports like FSG. It's only available in GL and I want FSG in other modules as well.

From the business processes, there are areas where you could streamline new processes. You could take out some of the redundant ones, which you are either using or don't want to use, but you're still using it because it's been coming from your legacy systems.

This system can't be improved.

There are some enhancements in the process itself that is needed in the application. In the cloud version, they covered some of these areas and requirements but the on-premise version has to catch up.

The biggest improvement for Oracle is for them to move to the cloud. With Oracle E-Business Suite, movement to the cloud should be supported. I am still not working on cloud applications, but I will eventually.

Oracle could improve the flash system integration. We are now focused on the cloud, so Oracle needs to use some cloud connect and exchange data and connect to various databases to access the data. With Oracle EBS there is no process, vertical manufacturing, vertical in the cloud.

I believe they should improve their sales service. In terms of finance, they need to improve the interface. For example, there are issues with the gateway. GoldenGate should make significant progress in this area. The business reporting tool, Oracle BI, and the Business intelligence tool do not meet our requirements, as a result, there are several things we need to do in that regard. They should include database functionality. Also, backup and all of the features should be included with the Oracle. RMAN, in particular, should have more functions.

Earlier when our organization was small they chose Oracle because in the telecommunication industry everybody was using Oracle. Our company has grown to a size where our particularly billing phase has created some challenges and now we are looking at alternate solutions. There is not a billing engine or module that you can buy from Oracle that can be added to this EBS solution to fix our problem. They should add a billing module or engine to the solution.

It requires training before you can easily use this product, so it should be easier to use. It is of moderate difficulty; not very easy and not too hard, but training is needed. The installation could be simplified.

Oracle E-Business Suite is a bit outdated because it's been developed more than ten years ago, and this is an area for improvement. My team is still getting used to the solution, so there could still be some features that have not been enabled or features my team isn't aware of yet. There have been issues with the Treasury module of Oracle E-Business Suite, so this is another area for improvement. My company hasn't decided yet on whether to implement the Treasury module or just go with another solution. Another room for improvement in Oracle E-Business Suite is the design, as it needs to be optimized based on usage patterns. What I'd like added in the next release of Oracle E-Business Suite is the time attribute. The solution still has dashboards being rolled out, so the time attribute could already be there or is still in the process of implementation. I also didn't find much use for the Projects module based on my company's requirements. The integration of Oracle E-Business Suite with the rest of the Oracle tools isn't very tight as well, but it could be because of customizations here in India, where the integrations work seamlessly everywhere, except in India. You'll find gaps because of customizations in India which are very, very irritating. For example, if a procurement is moving in the system then all the data has to move from one module to the other, but in the Oracle E-Business Suite Procurement module, you'll notice breaks or gaps that require you to manually transfer that data, so I'd like this improved in the next release of the solution.

The solution is very expensive. The price is high for smaller organizations. Enterprises might find it to be okay. It's very dependent on integration with other products, especially with Oracle, for an OIC solution.

Improvements could be made in mobility for mobile applications or tablets. The solution still has some web-built pages and Java forms, and Oracle is currently shifting Java forms to be web-based. Once that is complete, Oracle will be accessible from mobile applications and tablets. This is a main difference and strong benefit in comparison to cloud-based solutions like Oracle Fusion. I'd like the addition of modern merges and an integration with social media like LinkedIn. Minor enhancements in function are sometimes requested and should be implemented.

Oracle is easy to implement at a new organization like ours, but it might be more challenging for an established organization with more rules and policies in place. I don't have many feature requests because we are still in the early stages. I'm currently trying to gather all the small change requests that arise out based on our business requirements.

Oracle E-Business Suite is not great for small and medium-sized enterprises. Those clients are better suited for Oracle's NetSuite. It would be great to see Oracle E-Business Suite become less dependent on the SOA solution, which is an integration solution for Oracle platforms.

E-Business Suite's user experience and interface could be improved. There are also some issues related to the cloud version, such as less powerful flexibility that prevents easy customization and integration. In the future, I would like E-Business Suite to include more self-service applications and no-code/low-code capabilities for users to create simple applications.

The system alerts could be improved.

As the pricing for Oracle E-Business Suite is too high and maintaining it is too costly, instead of users patching in a timely manner, they complain about the price, and only do the patching whenever there's an issue. Pricing for this solution could still be improved by Oracle. Another area for improvement, particularly when working with the on-premises version of Oracle E-Business Suite, is that it can be difficult to expand, unlike its cloud version. On cloud, it's easier to improve on things, and there's a lot of improvement, while in the on-premises version, it's more limited.

Oracle has improved a lot because Oracle E-Business Suite is quite outdated. Oracle built the Oracle Fusion platform and it has many improved processes. We registered a few enhancements requests, but it's a very long bureaucratic process with Oracle. It doesn't make any sense to communicate with Oracle about what changes should be made to the system. We had feedback from Oracle, however, it takes years to implement any new feature that is requested.

The solution needs to be updated with modern technology as it currently runs on the Java platform, JRE, which quite running obsolete and requires you to need an NPAPI supported browser to run the tool I would also like to see an interface that is supported on a tablet or phone.

Areas for improvement would be that sometimes it's a bit rigid with customization and doesn't always facilitate region-specific requirements. In the next release, I would like to see a more flexible way to implement the product - it should have a process-driven configuration and a common user language. I would also like them to add an auto-responding intelligence with a common database for errors so that the end-user can figure out where the problem is coming from.

Sometimes I have issues with the performance tuning. There is not much help there. There have been many times where I have had performance problems if there are high volume loads. There is some lack of functionality, specific tools, and certain ways of doing business. The business process and Oracle capabilities occasionally fall short so we have to customize many, many, many things. The depth of functionality is not that great for some niche business processes, like distribution or warehouse management. Due to this, we have to go for an outside business product, a specialized product. One major thing we found was there are no user interfaces for corrections. If we have a lot of integrations, then error handling and correction management are very manual and we had to build a lot of user interfaces to do that. They should allow a proper framework for integration building on the E-Business Suite. In the cloud, it may be better, however, a lot of it is left to clients to do customer development. Out-of-the-box integration supports are very limited, particularly transactions and error handling and re-submission, reporting, et cetera.

They should charge lower support and licensing fees. Pricing is the biggest disadvantage of Oracle. Releases are a different issue, first, they have to consider the initial support cost as well as the licensing cost. Furthermore, they should not force customers to use hybrid or private clouds.

In the cloud version of Oracle E-Business Suite, I think most of the features are already there. We are working on Oracle EBS SaaS applications as well, a lot of the improvements have already been made in the new modules that Oracle. The on-premise version could improve. In the future, Oracle E-Business Suite could improve by having a better UI. Competitors are providing much better interfaces.

The user interface could be better. It's not good because they made their interface all in one, and my customers don't want to use it. I have to customize the interface and personalize it to hide some fields on the screen. It has lots of information on the screen, and the user can't easily navigate it. It's very difficult to use. I think that Oracle should have something like best practices. They need to provide some patches to simplify the interface based on the industry niche. Because now we see everything on the same screen, but the users don't need all that information. It's complicated to use for end-users, and we have to spend more time training them. In the next release, I think they should implement most of the features in the mobile app. It should be better. Oracle didn't update their mobile application for a very long time. Connecting the mobile application is complicated.

It would be nice to have more web services. For example, it would be easier to integrate our applications with EBS. I would definitely like to see web services in purchasing. It has badly covered integration with APIs.

There are some cycles in HR that are not straightforward. For example, the attendance approach, and the second admin transfers are not straightforward procedures. We can see many features in the cloud and other applications that are not supported in EBS. For example, in iRecruitment, the recruitment or selection workflow process for candidates to be recruited is very advanced, it's a very skilled and enhanced process in Taleo. This is not something that is present in EBS but there are many requirements for this. Customers require this area of recruitment. For example, in Taleo, a person cannot move from the HR interview to the technical interview unless he has passed the HR interview. This does not exist in EBS. Many customers are asking for this functionality. In Taleo, Candidate workflow allows you to do this. They give you the feature to configure that selection workflow for the candidates in terms of steps. You cannot move from this step until you complete the first step. This is definitely an area to consider. There is strength in the product but we are always looking for weakness to improve. The reporting area is very weak. It needs some improvements. The embedded analytics is something new but it's a bit complicated. They tried to embed the analytics into the EBS with the same model as in FUSION but it's not easy or straightforward to enhance and maintain. Organizational restructuring is a horrible process and very difficult in EBS.

Our biggest problem with this solution is the user interface. We'd like to see a simpler, more user-friendly product, with a flexible process, like you get with Fusion or SAP S4HANA. Both those solutions have a better UI, whereas Oracle has older features and feels like an outdated product. We're looking to migrate to another product because of that and because Oracle is lacking AI features.

There are some business-specific processes still not implemented. We need the IPC solution subcontractor management that is not available. We have to create the IPC solution but these types of extensions should be provided by Oracle and be included in this solution and the cloud version.

I currently work for a company that specializes in aircraft maintenance. There used to be a module in Oracle called CMRO. Now, the current situation is that they are pretty much closing down that module. Roughly eight or nine years back when they started it, they were anticipating a good number of customers but the reality turned out to be different — that's why they closed down that module. That created a lot of trouble for a lot of companies. Truthfully speaking, that is the reason I moved towards ISS. Although it's not as popular as Oracle or SAP, ISS focuses on industries. ISS provides us with an industry-based solution, geared toward aviation, field service management, or manufacturing for example. Oracle E-Business Suite uses an old technology (Forms), which is Java-based. If you're using a functionality that is based on Oracle Forms, then the client machine needs to download an applet in order to use that function. Often I've encountered, during support issues, that the client machine, if it is a little obsolete or an older version, the Java versions cause trouble. Wherein if you look at the modern cloud perspective or modern software in general, it's mostly web or browser-based. That's one thing that Oracle should consider on-prem. There is still a huge amount of customers who are on on-prem. Upgrades should have a business case. I don't want to upgrade just because Oracle has come up with a new version — I should have some benefits. We are one of those customers who are not interested in shifting to the cloud for various reasons. Because of this, we have to live with this old Forms technology. Oracle should try to offer a balance between both versions instead of pushing customers to the cloud. This seems to be a strategy that both SAP and Oracle follow.

Some of my clients report that the overall ease of use could be simplified. The product still uses some old technology. Some of the modules have moved to new technologies like HTML, et cetera, but there are still old components and old sequence usages which bother my customers because they are not fancy and up-to-date. They're heavy-duty machines — they're not posh. They perform heavy-duty jobs. So users entering operational data, transactional data heavily, they love it; however, management-level doesn't like the screens because they don't look fancy.

We are in Zimbabwe. At the moment we are having challenges with foreign payments. The pricing for us is quite high due to the exchange. We wanted a fully-fledged solution that has got payroll, HR, finance et cetera, basically everything finance and administration we'd like to see sustainability management. This solution doesn't offer exactly what we need all in one package. We want to upgrade, therefore, we're currently seeing what else is on the market to see if there are competitors that have the kind of full packaging we require. There's an issue with business process automation. I would like an end-to-end in terms of processes. There are different modules, however, there's not that end-to-end that we are looking for in terms of process automation. That is what is lacking right now. I have seen Microsoft, for example, really work well when it comes to process automation.

They don't have built-in bank integrations, which would be very helpful. For API, I know Oracle has a big library of APIs, and you can extend it. But most important integrations are still missing. These are mainly for features to integrate with other systems and other market forces, like banks or civic parties. For example, for the environment to work using E-Business Suite, which is not handling the budgeting in the power tool, we have to purchase Hyperion and integrate Hyperion with the E-Business Suite. If you want reporting, you can select a reporting tool or different reporting tools for business intelligence. For each case, it's painful to have multi-systems in place. Most companies prefer to have one system and it's costly.

We don't like Oracle EBS because it is very old. Nowadays, all the systems are on the cloud and web-based. With Oracle EBS, you need a huge setup before installing it. You need a lot of servers. There are a lot of problems and bugs in the system. We have to move from Oracle EBS to another system. In terms of improvements, it can have better training for end users and better support.

It is difficult to get answers from technical support right away.

The way things are going, Oracle is not putting much effort into their master data management. They need to look into machine data and then the integrated data domain. How, in the master data domain, do the product supplier, site master and reference data talk to one another. They really need to improve on this because that was my number one reason for moving to Informatica and other tools.

The simplicity of the user experience needs to be improved tremendously. The support and analytics features need to be improved.

I think the capability for deployment is not great when you get out of financials. That is, when you get to the edge products around the E-Business core, I think that needs improvement. For example, if you are in manufacturing and the core focus of your work is financial procurement and HR, I think E-Business is very good. When you get away from that focus and you get into the more specialized area of work, then EBS needs improvement. They are trying to fit everything into the cloud, but they are adopting pieces rather than adapting them to the cloud. One other improvement could be adopting more of the NetSuite total-business solution. I think that is a weakness that E-Business is really more like a module that connects things than a complete solution. I think that they should be looking at making it a total business solution.

After the announcement of the cloud products, the on-premises products from Oracle are not garnering as much development attention. Some of the new features that used to come to us earlier before the cloud product are now coming at a slow pace. So we want Oracle to work on the on-premises product in parallel with their cloud product. E-Business Suite should not fall behind. What I want to improve about this product is the user interface. In some of the modules compared to recent, cloud module releases do not have a very nice look-and-feel because they are letting the on-premises product age. Compared to the advanced cloud modules, this product has some rigid look-and-feel for the user experience.

The reporting needs to be improved. I think that there are times when you have to build too many custom reports in order to achieve what you want. This comes out of the fact that it is so flexible because if you don't go by the standard, in terms of the implementation you choose, then it means that you have to come up with a lot of reports. I have seen some of the reporting that they are now doing through Hyperion, which is very nice, but I don't know if it will solve the problem. I have found that when somebody is not experienced with Oracle, it is difficult to use.

It should be made a little bit more user friendly. When I complete my implementation and hand it over to the clients or the person who will operate it on a day-to-day basis, they find it a little bit difficult because they are not from a highly qualified IT background. I want Oracle to make it a little bit more user friendly.

It's difficult for some customers to understand in the beginning. A user really has to understand the processes. They are still developing out the E-Business Suite. I would like some things about contract management and the other parts of the procure to pay process to be able to standardize more for the public sector. That's the feedback I've encountered from clients. They've all chosen to go for custom made solutions now mostly due to this. The solution could offer more integration with other toolsets. That's why NetSuite does better in that market. It's in the cloud completely and you can integrate with other software more easily. With E-Business Suite you have to use database links or something of that nature to establish better connections. Oracle E-business is not a cloud product.

I would say the integration needs improvement. Oracle needs to work on the integration layer to make the solution much more robust and modern. The solution needs full cloud netting.

Oracle has always had one drawback and that is that it's not as user friendly as it's competitors, whether from the database perspective or switching from SAP to Oracle. The amount of administrative effort required for SAP is far less than that required for Oracle where the administration part is very tight and can be a bit of a headache. With SAP, the number of patches, bug fixes or interim upgrades are far less than Oracle which releases a lot of patches for bugs. As a head-on comparison, you get the feeling that SAP is a far more stable product. The bottom line is that the administration of the database and the application could be improved. There are many additional features I'd like to see. From an automation perspective, things could be improved. If you compare it with many of the competitors' products, the markets associated patent technology is highly competitive. Most other solutions are very user friendly and have such rich experience in the user interface that I think a holistic approach towards making Oracle more user friendly and usable is something I'd like to see.

Administration takes some effort. Administrating the technology stack is not so complex but application aware database administration and following the new methodologies like online patching can be a little complex and time consuming. Oracle should ease the administrators jobs and do some innovation on this administration area as well. Oracle Autonomous Database is Oracle's leading technology these days. Using a similar approach, application stack may become a little more self-managing. EBS still leverages Oracle Forms technology. Oracle Forms might be considered as an old technology when it puts the client machine into the picture. Clients are using their web browser to connect to the EBS and use several functionality and applications using the web browser only. However, some applications automatically runs Oracle Forms through a Java applet on the client. Of course, this creates a fast, easy-to-use client experience, but it has disadvantages as well, such as, the requirement to manage the client side java.

Reporting.

Sending alerts through bulk SMS. With the growing use of mobile phones, we would appreciate sending notifications through SMS.

Its user interface is not completely a web interface. It uses a lot of traffic which costs too much for a large number of users scattered throughout the country as they connect from their terminals to do their tasks.

The UI interface is not good. In addition, there is a constant challenge that new things are evolving and people are looking at new ways of connecting. They do not want to log into web interfaces. And, the standard UI does not give you flexibility. You need to have a specialist who will work on the workflow. If changes are made, alerts are required. This provides challenges. Additionally, if inventory gets linked with our OEM portals, you enter some number, order number, find the OEM number and then an inventory which you have ordered. You receive the GRN updates your inventory also, links with OEM, and we really good because then you'll know the third party hardware or whatever solution you're purchasing, what is the end of life, where is the end of support, when is the warranty ending, what is the new product coming? All things can be related. Right now it is a stand alone system that is not integrated, whereas today you're talking about global solutions things can be in database. Even if it is not loud, even then things can be dated because you have only given purchase order to your OEM, you're under warranty. We have the right to get the information. OEM has the right to push information but then ERP is not supporting us. None of the effort goes into that.

Reporting is a big area for improvement. It needs to provide the ability to extract data from the suite. Oracle has also been making a great effort to make E-Business Suite more user-friendly but there are still areas where a focus on User Experience would help.

I would like to see more integration with other systems.

The iStore could be better.

Standard reporting needs to be changed. Many of the standard reports look the same as they did 20 years ago in version 10.7.

Currently, Oracle is focusing on their Cloud ERP. Since Cloud ERP is being rebuilt from scratch using a different technology, it seems that their on-premise support is slow and unresponsive. This differs with SAP Strategy, whose cloud solution is moving to their on-premise solution.

* New hire on-boarding, employee off-boarding, etc. * More user-friendly fast formulas for all HRMS modules. * HRMS analyzers should be automatically updated to be the most recent because Oracle support always asks for the latest version of the analyzer output.

One issue with the product is because it build on a lot of older technologies, there is a substantial technical debt in the system. For example, the use of Oracle forms which are a much older technology, and are basically a two-tier client server setup shoehorned into a three-tier architecture, it might create issues over a wide area network. It would be good if the EBS team enables multitenant fatures beyond the current single pdb cdb architecture allowing for pdb snap clones in the same oracle cdb database.

Deployment of customization is complex, thus nobody is using it. Instead, we are deploying the same code on both filesystems (fs1, fs2). In order to follow standards, the deployment process should be as easy as before, in R12.1.