DURABLE SOLUTION
The end of Lotus Notes lifetime support policy jeopardized the client's core solution. With Oracle BPM lifetime support is once again assured.
This customer is a global leader in the luxury industry who relies on a highly secured and complex information system.
This company wanted to modernise its business process automation solution by moving from a heterogeneous environment based on Lotus Notes coupled with proprietary BPM to a unified and centralised solution.
Challenges
Migrate from a data-centric to a process centric-application
Ensure adoption by end users with an intuitive platform
Ensure constant functional and service levels
Aggressive project schedule due to legacy application decommissioning
Our solution
Process Automation
Process Automation
We proposed a solution based on Oracle BPM 11g and Oracle WebCenter Portal as the new common process automation platform.
By reverse-engineering Lotus Notes applications and existing process applications, we were able to map the company’s processes, which we then classified into three groups based on their level of complexity. After a process improvement step we specified and designed a user-centric BPM platform based on standard product features completed with custom components.
We started the second phase by putting the solution to work. Webcenter Portal was the single user interface presenting a unique task list, available processes requests and specific task forms. Oracle BPM Suite was in charge of managing processes execution with their related data. Finally, we used Oracle WebCenter Content to manage the various versions of documents, security and metadata. In addition, a specific methodology combined with a generic framework allowed us to structure migration of Lotus Notes bases. We also used specific functional components to speed up process integration. Then we applied these tools in a pilot against a process of medium complexity to validate the concepts, with special attention given to the UX to ease the user adherence.
In the final phase we migrated processes one by one. This iterative approach minimised the risks and leveraged our methodology. At this point, we were also focusing on training key users and having them validate the method so they would later be able to help others move to the new system with greater ease.
Benefits
REDUCED SOLUTION MAINTENANCE
By concentrating all workflow activities on one platform, the customer was able to reduce its product maintenance cost and rationalized the technology knowledge investment by focusing on one product: teams are reunified and better organized.
CORPORATE ADMINISTRATIVE TASKLIST
Using Oracle BPM Worklist, business users find in one place all administrative tasks assigned to them. Users can acquire and check out shared tasks, define personal to-do tasks, define subtasks, custom vacation rules and eventually delegate tasks.
SIMPLIFIED ADMINISTRATION
As the new platform supports all business processes of the company, deployments are required whenever a business process is modified. Currently our client's processes are constantly evolving and new ones are being created.
Our client's deployment process was also complex and cumbersome due to the large number of technical activities required. To simplify it we automated their deployment process using the XLDeploy tool.
STREAMLINED INTEGRATION
By using Oracle connectors and the Oracle Service Bus, the solution is a completely integrated element of the information system. Oracle offers a wide variety of connectors to simplify communication with target applications (ERP, database or service). Oracle Service Bus is also in charge of adapting the information structure between actors.
