Without strong integration
between the two, the result
was unreliable data and inefficient business processes.
The answer? PTC decided
to build itself an integration
foundation by deploying the
Oracle Fusion Middleware
components needed to
establish a robust SOA.
PTC, lacking in-house
experience with SOA technologies, called on Oracle
consultancy Zanett for help.
With all the Oracle Fusion
Middleware components now
in place after a four-month
effort, PTC is enjoying new
efficiency in its handling of
customer and product data. It
has been able to block access
to Oracle E-Business Suite
and make Siebel CRM the
system of record.
“By implementing SOA,
we’re able to say that Siebel
CRM is the single source of truth for customer information,
and all customer information is managed in Siebel CRM and
then gets pushed out to Oracle E-Business Suite,” says Erez
Azaria, technology practice director for Zanett.
That, says PTC’s vice president of enterprise applications,
Michael Lillie, is yielding improved operational efficiencies,
by eliminating the time that staff members were spending on
rekeying data into Oracle E-Business Suite.
Perhaps even more important, says Ted Cannie, Zanett’s sales
director, is that the new architecture sets up PTC to handle
future integrations and tweaks to its business processes in-house. “Managing change and making changes and updates to
business processes are a lot easier in an SOA architecture than
in a traditional point-to-point approach,” he says. “This is a
significant innovation that will provide PTC with a whole new
level of efficiency and flexibility in managing their business.”
That has Lillie thinking about the possibilities of what his
team can accomplish in the coming years, replacing inefficient
one-off integrations and creating new integrations where none
currently exist. Long-term, he’s dreaming about the concept of
master data management—a comprehensive single version of
the truth—once PTC is ready for that step.
At Vion Food Group, Willem Bastmeijer’s first rollout of a service-oriented architecture framework was done
on a small scale. The goal: to develop a business case that would demonstrate the benefits of creating a
more-flexible service environment.
“Now that we’ve got the glue that cements everything
together in place,” says Lillie, “we’re positioned to do that.”
That glue—Oracle Fusion Middleware—also will give PTC
the ability to link third parties such as outsourced human
resources provider Brass Ring into its business processes.
“We’ve got the infrastructure in place to start talking to Brass
Ring and doing an automated business flow to streamline the
whole process of setting up employees,” says Azaria.
In the meantime, Lillie is brainstorming about how he can
take advantage of additional integrations in the short term. His
plans include improving Web site functionality offered to PTC
customers by eliminating the site’s reliance on existing point-to-point integrations. He also says big ideas are brewing for
customer-facing applications that he can’t talk about yet.
And although Lillie is looking forward to evaluating
future Oracle Fusion applications, which are being built on
Oracle’s SOA framework, he’s relieved that the combination of Oracle Fusion Middleware and Oracle’s current line
of best-of-breed applications isn’t forcing him to commit to
them before his business is ready for them. “Using Oracle
Fusion Middleware provides a foundation for future integrations and enables customers to transition to the Oracle
