Companies providing Oracle Apps and Oracle BI Consultancy services in India

Many a time, i have been asked by freinds who are seeking a job change, and sometimes by clients enquiring about organizations that provide consultancy service in Oracle Apps and Oracle BI in India. Though there are many small and big organizations working on Oracle Apps, but only a few top software companies provide the complete range of consultancy services in Oracle Apps and Oracle BI.

I shall try and list some of the organizations here (in no particular order) who are into Oracle BI and Apps in a big way, and would welcome readers to share their information regarding other organizations they are aware of who provide Oracle Apps consultancy and i missed out here.

1. Tata Consultancy Services
2. Infosys Technologies
3. Wipro Technologies
4. Satyam Computer Services
5. Accenture
6. IBM
7. Cognizant Technology Solutions
8. Deloitte
9. Oracle Corporation

There are other organizations in India who also provide Oracle Apps and oracle BI services apart from the ones mentioned above, though their scale of operations in India is not as large as the organizations mentioned above. Some of them include, HCL Tecnologies, Sierra Atlantic, Patni Computers, Intelligroup, Polaris Software Lab, Zensar Technologies, GenPact, Birlasoft, Cap Gemini, iGate, etc. Though most of the organizations in India provide basic consultancy services in Oracle Apps, not many of them provide services in Oracle Business Intelligence. Also, some of these organizations predominantly work in some core areas of Oracle Apps like Oracle Process Manufacturing, Oracle CRM, Oracle HCM, Oracle SCM, etc. Many of the MNC's like Deloitte, Cap Gemini, Unisys, Bearing Point are yet to ramp up their India operations upto the levels of TCS, Infosys, Accenture and IBM . In all probability, most of the big MNC's will further consolidate their India operations and outsource substantial part of their development and support work back to India. So, it seems exciting times are ahead of Oracle Apps consultants in India.

Typical Business Requirements while setting up Invoice Approval Workflow

Approving AP Invoices using Oracle Approval Management (OAM) is a fast and easy way of maintaining transparency and accountability in Accounts Payables department. However most of the time OAM setup needs to be modified and workflow customized depending upon the business scenario.

One of the most common business requirement is that organizations do not need approval of invoices that are matched to PO Receipts. Anticipating this request, Oracle has already given this as an Attribute under the Transation Type 'Payables Invoice Approval'. But, apart from this there are several other common requirements which one faces. I have listed down some such requirements. Some of these requirements can be very easily applied using the standard OAM functionalities, while some others require a bit of customization.
Some common requirements include the following:

1)Approver forwarding the invoice to another employee for approval.

2)Approval of an invoice based on criteria like invoice amount, cost centre, account segment, etc.

3)Adding new lines like 'Voucher Number', 'Cost Centre' details, etc., in the approval notification email.

4)Considering scenarios when the Approver is on leave, so that the invoice moves to another person for approval
after some time period.

5)Approver is able to delegate his/her approving right to some other person while going on leave.

6)Control on the email notifications, which tend to fill the mailboxes of approvers.

7)Mixed and Prepayment type of invoices do not require approval.

8)Invoices should go directly to the final approver and not through any hierarchy.

9)Invoice entry clerk should be able to choose the approver from a LOV (list of value). Sometimes the reverse scenario also exists where the Invoice entry clerk should not have a say in selection of Invoice Approver.

It would be great if readers can also add further to the above list so that we can have a comprehensive list of common requirements that come up while setting up Invoice Approval Workflow.

Oracle to Buy Demantra

Oracle yesterday announced that it will expand its supply chain planning applications with the acquisition of Demantra, a leading provider of demand-driven planning solutions. Leveraging powerful analytics and collaboration capabilities, Demantra offers solutions for Demand Management, Real-time Sales and Operations Planning, Retail Planning & Store Replenishment, and Trade Promotion Management and Optimization.

Further details can be obtained at the Oracle site http://www.oracle.com/corporate/press/2006_may/demantra.html?msgid=4777530