Eric
Since I know you well enough to know that you won't take offense, I'm going
to use your posting to put my two cents into the mix.
I have to disagree with you. Dick Cook and his cronies only did one thing
right, they kept mapics out of that protean mess. However, while claiming
to "support our customer base" they ran mapics to ground...that is why there
is still green screen application screens in 2009 (hopefully soon to be
forgotten).
Infor on the other had has invested heavily in developing AND executing a
very sound strategy to rescue its customers from the 1980's. Has anyone
realized that they can upgrade to the latest code for next to nothing? (Flex
program) Does anyone realize that their ALF now includes the free deployment
on a module by module bases of the SOA architecture? (BTW, how many of you
have deployed in a test environment MY DAY? And yes I know that the XA
integration is a work in progress, but still, do you have plans for it?)
Anyone who claims that INFOR is not concerned with supporting its customer
base is either just plan ignorant of the facts or continues to get all gooey
and mushy when they see green screens. Giving away code is NOT supporting
your customer, it is guaranteeing that they will eventually be unsupported
or have antiquated software which makes their business processes in
efficient.
Has anyone deployed SupplyWeb? We have seen 300-400% process ROI's. It's a
MUST HAVE. I'd like to know if 1) you have deployed, 2) you are in the
process of deploying, 3) you don't think you need it, 4) you have no idea
what I'm talking about.
BTW, everyone should know that many of the "protesters" on this log are
either a: former employees of failed companies that refused to understand
the INVESTMENT in IT/IS required and now no longer use any system much less
MAPICS because they are out of business or sold to a company that DID INVEST
in IT/IS; b: current consultants who get their money from RPG green screen
programming and can't understand why the world has changed; c: current
employees of customers that still, in 2009, do not understand the value
and/or strategy of investing in IT/IS.
It is very interesting for me to see that the "defenders" of the policies
(excluding INFOR employees of course) are usually customers that are very
proactive about process improvement and investment in the supporting IT/IS
requirements.
Let me refer to the specific issue of the source code. Understand that this
company is still on R3 circa 1994-96. (I implemented the first R3 code with
IFM and remember well the pain!) They have not invested for more than 15
years and STILL don't want to invest. They see the source code as a COST.
If they have properly done their homework, there should be a good business
case including ROI that says that staying on the current code, investing in
source code, investing in a programmers annuity to maintain the code
structure for x number of years is cost justified. But I think not, they
just complain about the cost. These are the companies that either have low
growth, no growth or just don't care. I could be wrong, but I'd love to
hear what the cost justification was to begin to migrate to R7 code base and
if enterprise integrator is included in their analysis.
My advice to my clients is always the same, if you can cost justify moving
to a different ERP solution you have a moral(!) obligation to do so. If you
cannot, then you have an equal obligation to invest in process improvements
and where practical utilize the new features and functions that you are
entitled to with your ALF.
Everyone on this list should know that I do not work for INFOR or any of the
INFOR channel partners or INFOR software partners. I have however been
co-founder of two different MAPICS affiliates, designed, architected and
developed the XA PLM software, and have worked for MAPICS / XA clients in 26
countries for the past 32 years. My only source of revenue is advising
management teams on how to improve processes by selecting and deploying
information systems; very often this has been MAPICS, MAPICS XA or INFOR XA,
but just as often it is something else.
I hope that I've continued to stir up the pot on this topic. This is good
for the community.
Kevin Fox
Fox Enterprises and Professional Services LLC
(909) 762-1384
-----Original Message-----
From: mapics-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:mapics-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Eric A. Wolf
Sent: Thursday, September 03, 2009 7:03 AM
To: 'MAPICS ERP System Discussion'
Subject: Re: [MAPICS-L] Source code costs
One thing that we (the XA user community) have to realize is that the XA
customer base is not as large it used to be. Remember the days when you
would here that "MAPICS is being used world-wide by over 4000 customers"?
That number is probably closer to 1400 now.
At the first Infor (combined) conference, I felt like the XA users were only
a small part of the Infor community. I guess what I am saying is that we are
no longer the primary customer base of Infor and they are looking at the
bigger picture. We just have to get used to it.
IMHO...
Eric
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