ClearCARE_Blue_Bell
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Blue Bell Creameries is one of the top three best-selling ice cream brands in the US and has been an Oracle user since 1997. They decided to outsource their Oracle hosting and DBA responsibilities to Emtec. When upgrading from EBS 11i to R12, Emtec provided resources and support to help with the complex upgrade process involving changes to inventory management. The project was successful with no disruption, and Emtec continues to provide reliable hosting and application support services.
ClearCARE_Blue_Bell
- 1. FIRM PROFILE Blue Bell Creameries is ranked in the top three best-selling ice cream brands in the United States with the majority of sales in 22 states. Founded in 1907, Blue Bell’s Headquarters is in Brenham, Texas and operates manufacturing facilities in Brenham, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, and Sylacauga, Alabama. THE BUSINESS CHALLENGE Blue Bell has been an Oracle user since 1997. Years ago, Blue Bell decided to outsource their Oracle DBA responsibilities and the hosting of their Oracle environments to a third party provider. They pursued a partner who could provide comprehensive hosting, database and application support services. By engaging Oracle On-Demand, Blue Bell selected Emtec to provide hosting and DBA managed services. THE SOLUTION When Blue Bell began to assess the feasibility of upgrading their EBS 11i to R12, the decision was not an easy one due to the changes taking place in OPM inventory. However, the upgrade was necessary because of requirements around HR/Payroll support levels. Blue Bell had concerns on the OPM side because they knew the upgrade was going to be complex with numerous table changes and the merging of OPM Inventory with Discrete Inventory. To complicate matters even more, OPM Manufacturing Planning was not supported in R12. The project also included the implementation of the Advanced Supply Chain Planning (ASCP) module to enable unconstrained planning models, third party interfaces, Discoverer, and Oracle reports. Custom interfaces for the automation of transfers between manufacturing facilities, distribution centers and OPM batch transactions had to be developed. A new third party ‘mobile supply chain’ implementation was also part of the plan. Blue Bell had qualified, in-house resources that would drive the upgrade project, but needed Emtec’s ClearCARE team to offset missing skill sets and serve as an extension of their existing team. RESULTS Blue Bell has utilized Emtec’s hosting and database administration services for over six years. Blue Bell has also expanded its use of ClearCARE for additional application functional and development support as needed. Emtec has employed a unique, predominantly remote delivery model, supporting Blue Bell’s core internal team with highly experienced project management, OPM, ASCP, and DBA resources. Key project milestones were achieved and user training was performed with both teams onsite. It was beneficial that Blue Bell already had experience with the upgrade process. • Emtec assisted with report remediation of 60 legacy Oracle reports. • Several data conversion processes were performed in 11i in areas where the standard upgrade process did not convert data to work properly within the R12 environment. • The payment process was created for payables based on the new procedures in R12. BLUE BELL CREAMERIES Leading Ice Cream Brand Hosting & Managed Services ABOUT EMTEC® Emtec is the right size provider of technology-empowered business solutions for world class organizations. Our local offices, highly-skilled associates, and global delivery capabilities ensure the accessibility and scale to align technology solutions with your business needs. Our collective focus is to continue to build clients for life: long-term enterprise relationships that deliver rapid, meaningful, and lasting business value. APPLICATION SERVICES Emtec provides support and expertise throughout the entire application lifecycle. We help clients reduce costs, streamline processes and gain efficiencies through better utilization of their applications. Our application expertise includes: • ERP • HCM • CRM • EPM • BI • Planning • Collaboration • Financial Management • Application Development & Testing • ClearCARE Managed Services
- 2. ©2015 Emtec Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED www.emtecinc.com PEACE OF MIND “Several years ago, we researched the idea of outsourcing DBA responsibilities for our Oracle EBS system. When evaluating the pros and cons of outsourcing, it became very clear that hosting was the way to go for Blue Bell. We started with Oracle On-Demand, but then started looking at third party providers as a cost effective alternative. We knew what to look for and what we needed in a hosting partner and decided Emtec could best meet that need. We were mainly looking at DBA and hardware hosting solutions, but the fact that Emtec had a strong application support model was also a benefit to us. We have been with Emtec for over six years and are very satisfied with their team and service capabilities. We are not a 24x7 operation, but they are. We do not have to worry about application availability or critical support, which allows our Oracle team to focus on what’s important - making ice cream. We have been utilizing Emtec more and more on the application and functional side of Oracle with positive results. In addition, we engaged the ClearCARE team to conduct training courses on BI Publisher and EBTax onsite at our offices. As a result, I can attest that my team has a better understanding of and comfort level with those tools/modules and our team’s productivity was enhanced.” – Vickie Monk, Systems Manager, Blue Bell Creameries • Several unique forms personalizations were developed in the inventory module including the ability to display item supply demand for OPM batches and blanket purchase order releases. • Additional forms personalizations were created for payables and receivables. Once Emtec performed several iterations of the upgrade process and conducted substantial testing, a ‘go live’ date was determined. Blue Bell selected a three day weekend that did not include a holiday and payroll would not be due the following week. Blue Bell successfully went live with no business disruption and the ClearCARE team continues to provide them with reliable, worry free hosting and managed services support. ClearCARE SERVICES • Application & Database Hosting • DBA & Infrastructure Managed Services • Application Functional & Technical Support • Application Enhancements • Client Specific Application Training BLUE BELL CREAMERIES Leading Ice Cream Brand Hosting & Managed Services An Emtec Company