Teaming for Success

1
Teaming for Success
The W.C. Bradley Company Combines Functional and
Technical Teams for Effective Implementation,
Optimization, and Support
2

WCBradley Co. Home Leisure Group
Char-Broil
Bradley Direct
New Braunfels Smoker Company
Lamplight
Developers Investors
Lews
Grill Lovers
Tiki
Zebco
Martin
Thermos
Rhino
PGA Tour Stop
Oklahoma Joes
Van Staal
Quantum
WCB Real Estate
WCBradley Co.
3

Char-Broil
ORACLE HUMAN RESOURCES
Bradley Direct
New Braunfels Smoker Company
Lamplight
Lews
Grill Lovers
Tiki
Zebco
Martin
Thermos
Rhino
Oklahoma Joes
Van Staal
Quantum
WCB Real Estate
WCBradley Co.
4

Char-Broil
ORACLE FINANCIALS
Bradley Direct
New Braunfels Smoker Company
Lews
Grill Lovers
Zebco
Martin
Thermos
Rhino
Oklahoma Joes
Van Staal
Quantum
WCB Real Estate
WCBradley Co.
5

Char-Broil
ORACLE MANUFACTURING
New Braunfels Smoker Company
Lews
Zebco
Martin
Thermos
Rhino
Oklahoma Joes
Van Staal
Quantum
WCBradley Co.
6
1996 Char-Broil Highly successful WMS
Implementation Project
So . . .

• Kicked Off ERP Selection Project to Address Key
  Business Issues
• Aging Mainframe Legacy Systems
• Y2K Concerns
• Support Emerging Acquisition Strategy

7
INFORMATION SYSTEMS DEPARTMENT STRUCTURE

• Legacy System - Developed in RPG, COBOL, CICS
• Hardware - IBM mainframe
• Applications Development, DBA, and Mainframe
  Administration Groups
• 12 Developers provided all functional and
  technical applications support
• No team members devoted specifically to
  functional support

8
INFORMATION SYSTEMS DEPARTMENT STRUCTURE

• Applications Development, Web Development, DBA,
  Infrastructure, Business Intelligence, and
  Functional Teams
• Apps Support Team Structure Now Consists of 5
  Developers and 7 Business Applications Consultants

9
ADVANTAGES OF CURRENT STRUCTURE

• Functional Team is front line support and
  interprets for both groups, using business
  experience and analysis skills to spec
  development requirements
• Developer role is modified so technical team can
  focus on technical development
• Each group operates within their core strengths

• More effective delivery of
• Customized forms and reports
• Systems optimizations
• Business process and configuration changes
• Leverages combined institutional knowledge of
  functional and technical teams

10
CHALLENGES OF CURRENT STRUCTURE

• Educating Functional Team on technical
  capabilities and technology tools.
• Changing developer mindset. Less direct
  involvement with business unit customers and not
  taking calls directly.
• Continually demonstrating value to business
  units.
• Outsourcing vs in-house support.

11
KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• 1998 Phased Big Bang MFG and FIN Applications,
  R10.7SC
• 1999 Implemented Oracle HRMS R11.03
• 1999 Implemented R11.03 MFG and FIN at New
  Braunfels
• 2000 Upgraded Columbus-Based Businesses to R11.03
• 2001 Implemented R11.03, Red Prairie WMS, Small
  Parcel Fulfillment Systems at Zebco
• 2002 Implemented Portal Applications Web
  Customers Web Suppliers
• 2004 Implemented Oracle HR at Lamplight and Zebco

14 Months, Full Consulting Support
6 Months, Full Consulting Support
6 Months, Minimal Consulting Support
4 Months, Minimal Consulting Support
4 Months, No Consulting Support
4 Months, No Consulting Support
1 Month, No Consulting Support
12
Questions?
13
ABSTRACT
Businesses face a multitude of challenges when it
comes to optimizing the use of ERP systems. An
effective means of addressing those challenges is
to closely couple functional and technical
support teams. By doing so, organizations can
realize more rapid definition and deployment of
solutions in support of their systems
requirements. The WCBradley Company of Columbus,
Georgia established such an organizational
structure within its IT department at the
inception of its Oracle applications
implementation project in 1997. Since going live,
functional and technical teams have paired up to
deliver hundreds of business process and
development solutions to a growing number of
customers from manufacturing and administrative
divisions alike. The combined team now supports
over 500 Oracle users at a number of business
units on three production instances.   Oracle
Apps History 1997 - Formed implementation
team 1998 - Implemented R10.7 for Char-Broil and
other Columbus based business units 1999 -
Implemented R11.03 for New Braunfels Smoker
Company in New Braunfels, Texas 1999 -
Implemented HR on separate instance in
Columbus 2000 - Upgraded Columbus Instance to
R11.03 2001 - Replaced existing systems at Zebco
with Oracle apps R11.03, DM WMS, and RDC 2003 -
Implemented additional organizations and business
unit on Zebco instance 2004 - Implemented Portal
Applications 2004 - Implemented Oracle HR at
Lamplight and Zebco We will share a brief
history of our Oracle experience to date, and
field questions from participants.