Page 315 - Untitled-1

294 INTEGRATING PM AND ERP

change and updating. An AutoAccounting function automatically generates finan-
cial accounting transactions and posts them to General Ledger.

Individual contributors use the Oracle Personal Time and Expense module to
record their time and expenses. An option, for online posting, via the Web, is avail-
able in the Oracle Project Costing module. These modules are also integrated with
Oracle Projects Billing, which is further integrated with Oracle Receivables.

For enterprise-wide, multiproject, multidimensional analysis, the industry di-
rection is to bring data from selected modules into a data warehouse, utilizing on-
line transactional processing. For example, the Oracle Data Analysis Collection
Pack facilitates interrogation of all the project data of the enterprise. The multi-
dimensional views allow you to slice and dice the data, at varied levels of detail.

State-of-the-Art

This is a fairly new set of technology. Most of the products just discussed were of-
ficially introduced during the past four years. The development of project-centric
data handling structures, by the leading ERP and data management companies,
together with tools that facilitate the integration of these products with traditional
project management software, is a natural move toward more inclusive, better in-
tegrated systems, that will also provide improved security and rules standardiza-
tion. The trend is toward greater use of web-based capabilities, which is also
bringing about rapid changes in the names of the products.

Firms seeking to manage all of their projects in an enterprise-wide mode, while
minimizing duplication of data entry and maximizing connectivity to the corporate fi-
nancial and data systems, will want to take a good look at these new offerings. The
CFO will appreciate the ability to analyze the impact of projects on the business.
The CIO, using the data warehouse, will appreciate the improved data security and
consistency. Both will appreciate the rules-based flow of data within the greater sys-
tem. The CPO (Chief Projects Officer) will appreciate the automated link to time
and cost data, and the single point of entry. The CEO will finally gain the long-
awaited objective of fully integrated analysis and forecasting of all the firm’s business.

Trap While putting an interfaced PM/ERP system in place can
go a long way toward providing the CEO, CFO, CIO, and Proj-
ects Team the tools that they need to manage both opera-
tions and projects, we must not forget that a strong,
structured project management function is still a prerequi-
site for project success.