Oracle Accelerates Business Intelligence App DeploymentOracle Accelerates Business Intelligence App Deployment

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Oracle announced Wednesday that it's adding more than two dozen Oracle Business Accelerators designed to speed deployment of Oracle Business Intelligence Applications by as much as 60%.

Delivered through Oracle partners and consultants, Accelerators are Web-hosted wizards and software configuration tools that are used to deploy applications specifically for a customer's needs and business process workflows. After answering online questionnaires about the particulars of a deployment, partners or consultants download software instructions that automatically configure application instances.

"This isn't just spreadsheets and templates with written instructions that people have to execute; we're delivering hosted tools that actually configure the software," Steve Cox, VP of Oracle Accelerate Global Programs, told information.

Oracle has built up a portfolio of more than 600 Accelerators for its ERP systems since 1995. Wednesday's release dramatically expands support for Oracle Business Intelligence applications. The vendor previously offered just one Accelerator for these apps, and it was limited to integration with Oracle E-Business Suite.

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For E-Business Suite users, the new Accelerators cover 17 dashboards tied to four BI Apps: Financials, Procurement and Spend, Supply Chain and Order Management, and Projects. In the case of JD Edwards, Accelerators are available for nine dashboards tied to two BI Apps: Financials, and Supply Chain and Order Management.

The whole point of the Accelerators is to speed time to value. In the case of ERP apps, Cox said the Web-based tools cut deployment time, effort, and required resources by as much as 60%. "We've seen full E-Business Suite ERP deployments collapsed from many months down to 70 to 80 days," Cox said.

Oracle BI Application dashboards are typically powered by multiple key performance metrics. For example, days sales outstanding is a critical metric served up in both E-Business Suite and JD Edwards ERP systems. The Accelerators automate the technical integration of that metric where required within BI app dashboards.

Oracle has seven BI apps tied to ERP and six tied to CRM systems, so it has a ways to go to support the entire BI apps portfolio with Accelerator lineup. The vendor does not currently offer Accelerators for PeopleSoft or Fusion ERP systems. Cox said Oracle plans to add Accelerators over time, but he declined to detail those plans.

The Accelerators are free to Oracle customers, but they're offered and administered exclusively by trained partners and consultants.

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