Re: Why SAP is doing well when Oracle is not - Adding to the list

DA Morgan <damorgan_at_exesolutions.com> wrote in message news:<3E21EF2B.1A3F4C97_at_exesolutions.com>...
> Ognjen Antonic wrote:
>
> > > Will tell you all you need to know of SAP. But before you talk of SAP
> > > remember every SAP system data is sitting in a Oracle database - so
> > > Oracle is the lifeblood of a SAP system.
> > >
> >
> > There are implementations of SAP system on IBM's DB2, too.
> >
> > Best regards,
> >
> > Ognjen Antonic - Ogo
>
> And on other RDBMS backends too as I recall.
>
> Daniel Morgan

New SAP war stories have come I am updating the list.

http://news.com.com/2100-1001-971053.html?tag=rn http://news.com.com/2100-1001-966780.html?tag=rn

Software troubles hit firm's bottom line

By Alorie Gilbert
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
January 30, 2003, 3:51 PM PT

The difficulties of installing business-management software have tripped up yet another company, causing Milwaukee manufacturer Brady to miss its earnings targets. Brady's effort to install applications from SAP in December led to "temporary disruptions" in its direct marketing business, the company told investment analysts last week.

Brady, a maker of industrial label printers and software, partially blamed the SAP project for a revenue shortfall that will result in the company missing revenue targets by 50 percent. Continuing sluggishness in the U.S. economy and a shift in sales to lower-margin products are also at fault, the company said.

Brady joins a legion of other companies that have blamed botched software projects for hamstringing their operations and affecting earnings. Software from SAP, along with rivals Oracle, PeopleSoft and i2 Technologies, have a long history of being named the culprit in such cases. Such software, which often costs millions of dollars to license and set up, is supposed to help companies save money by automating everything from bookkeeping to coordinating activity on the factory floor.

Brady spokeswoman Carole Herbstreit said the company doesn't blame SAP for its problems. She said the trouble stemmed from the company's efforts to load large amounts of data from other business systems into the SAP applications. When the company switched on the SAP system last month, some of the data hadn't been loaded properly and was incorrect, she said. Brady employees also had trouble using the software, slowing the normal pace of entering orders into the system.

A representative from SAP declined to comment on the project.

Sneaker giant Nike encountered a similar glitch two years ago installing applications from i2 Technologies.

Brady has yet to fix the problem, but anticipated it would soon have it solved.

The company has successfully installed other SAP applications over the past two years, Brady said. The December project was more complex because of the volume of orders, number of products, and the high level of call center activity involved, Herbstreit said.

SAP, based in Walldorf, Germany, is one of the largest makers of corporate software in the world. The company reported on Thursday that it booked $8.05 billion in sales last year.

SAP denies report of stalled project

By Alorie Gilbert
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
November 22, 2002, 2:38 PM PT

Software maker SAP denied Friday that the German government has hit serious snags installing its accounting applications, as was reported earlier by the German press.
Delays in a major SAP project at the German Federal Armed Forces have raised the ire of German bureaucrats, according to an article published Thursday in the German business magazine Handelsblatt. The German government continues to pay 350,000 euros ($350,664) a day in outside consulting fees, even though the project has ground to a halt, the article said.

The SAP applications are the centerpiece of a 10-year, 6.5 billion euro ($6.5 billion) computer modernization effort under way at the military agency, the magazine said.

Disputing the Handelsblatt report, SAP spokesman Markus Berner said his company's component of the larger project is moving forward on schedule and that the consulting charges singled out by the report were not unexpected.

The German government, Berner said, began the SAP implementation about a year ago and is still in the initial planning phase--not unusual considering the size of the project. Walldorf, Germany-based SAP is scheduled to meet with government officials next month to discuss the next steps, he said.

Berner attributed conflicts within the German government to the fact that the government has been late in selecting an information technology services contractor for the larger 10-year project.

SAP is one of the world's largest suppliers of business applications designed to automate bookkeeping, order processing, and inventory tracking.

Software companies have been eagerly courting government contracts as private businesses around the world have cut back on investment in computer systems. On Wednesday, SAP competitor Siebel Systems said it had formed an alliance with U.S. government contracting giant Lockheed Martin to sell computer systems.

SAP project with German military stalls

By Alorie Gilbert
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
November 21, 2002, 2:30 PM PT

Software maker SAP is taking some heat for a stalled information technology project within the German federal government, according to a report.
The German Federal Armed Forces has delayed using a new set of bookkeeping applications from SAP due to problems installing the software, according to an article published Thursday in the German business magazine Handelsblatt. The delays are costing the German government 350,000 euros ($350,664) a day in unplanned fees for outside consulting on the project, the article says.

The SAP applications are the centerpiece of a 10-year, 6.5 billion euro ($6.5 billion) computer modernization effort under way at the military agency, the magazine said. SAP, headquartered in Walldorf, Germany, is one of the world's largest suppliers of software applications designed to automate bookkeeping, order processing, and inventory tracking for businesses.

Bill Wohl, a SAP spokesman in the United States, confirmed that the German Federal Armed Forces is a SAP customer but declined to give further information about the project or about the company's relations with the German Ministry of Defense, which oversees the Armed Forces.

Just last month, SAP announced it had won a contract with the U.S. government for a similar project. Under the three-year, $30 million deal, SAP has agreed to provide accounting software to the Internal Revenue Service as part of a larger information technology renovation project at the tax agency.

Software companies have been eagerly courting government contracts as businesses around the world cut back on investment in computer systems. On Wednesday, SAP competitor Siebel Systems said it has formed an alliance with government contracting giant Lockheed Martin to sell computer systems.

But SAP's trouble with the German armed forces may be a warning call that government contracts are not always a walk in the park, particularly for a segment of the IT industry prone to project snafus and missed expectations.

"These federal deals operate in the glare of public scrutiny," said Joshua Greenbaum, a technology analyst at Enterprise Applications Consulting.

"The kind of oversight that goes into government spending does pose a real problem to vendors when things go wrong," Greenbaum added. "The idea that it's a panacea to the software industry is stretching it." Received on Thu Jan 30 2003 - 21:27:33 CST