Executive Summary

  • This is the Brightwork Research & Analysis software rating series.
  • We rate both the software and estimate the risk of implementing each application.

MUFI Rating & Risk for JD Edwards EnterpriseOne

MUFI: Maintainability, Usability, Functionality, Implement ability

Vendor: Oracle (Select For Vendor Profile)

Oracle second-largest ERP software vendor with 13% of the ERP market. Unlike SAP, Oracle’s software heritage is not in ERP but is in databases and this why all of its ERP software was acquired. Oracle went through a transition where they moved from being primarily a database company to being an overall enterprise software company, and having a competitive ERP system was a significant part of that transformation. There was no reason for doing this, as most ERP systems can run on multiple databases. Still, it was an effective use of leveraging preexisting sales contacts to sell more software into existing accounts. Now that SAP has acquired Sybase, both Oracle, and SAP attempt to get their customers to use their database when they purchase their applications. This has nothing little to do with any technological benefit to doing so, but is related to competition between these two giants and is entirely based upon account control.

However, still Oracle JD Edwards Enterprise One has one of the best user satisfaction levels in the ERP software category.

Application Detail

Oracle JD Edwards Enterprise One competes directly with SAP ECC. It lags SAP ECC the breadth of its functionality (although a much higher percentage of it is usable than with SAP), and Enterprise One has a much better user interface.

JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Composite Applications & Screen Layout At Your Fingertips! - YouTube

Unlike in the SAPGUI, in Oracle, the user interface elements can in some cases be moved around the screen. While better than SAP ECC, Oracle’s JD Edwards Enterprise One user interface is still quite dated compared to almost every other ERP system. 

Speaking of the user interface, while SAP and Oracle tier 1 ERP systems are the most expensive applications in the ERP space, both user interfaces considerably lag ERPNext, which is inexpensive with one of the lowest TCO’s of any ERP system that we analyze.

The superiority of the user interface is clear from the screenshot below:

ERPNext Bookmarks

Some of the modern ERP systems allow the user to take advantage of easy to use bookmarks – and they have breadcrumbs along the top, which tells the user where they are in the process. These systems are easy for both experienced and novices to use because the business process is explained right in the application. 

When one uses either SAP or Oracle ERP systems, it seems like getting in a time machine when compared to the newer ERP applications. Both SAP and Oracle are offering ERP software to business which is seriously dated, and which has serious negative implications for the productivity of companies that purchase it. The only reason that is not more broadly known is that the major consulting companies and IT analysts – both with financial conflicts of interest obstruct buyers from knowing this by offering simplistic platitudes related to “standards” and “core” or “non-core functionality.”

EnterpriseOne is also considerably less expensive in the total cost of ownership than SAP ERP. Some of the reasons for this is that its infrastructure is more modern, and it is easier to integrate to Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne than SAP ECC. However, Oracle follows an identical sales strategy to SAP, proposing that companies can if they wish to use what amounts to a bunch mediocre combination of functionality. If a company is intent on going with a tier 1 ERP system, the decision between SAP and Oracle is very simple – those companies wanting a lower TCO and faster implementation will want to go with JD Edwards Enterprise One.

The major consulting companies heavily parasitize both solutions, which means that generally, both applications tend to involve a major consulting company, increasing costs and reducing the likelihood of implementation success. It will also be a trying experience as the partner of the major consulting company will attempt to influence other IT decisions and purchase of the “customer.” This strategy is referred to as “penetrate and radiate,” that is to use any project to become a “trusted advisor” and to sell more services into the account.

However, with so many better options in the market than either SAP ECC or Oracle JD Edwards Enterprise One, it’s difficult to see how this strategy makes any sense anymore. This is explained in the book The Real Story Behind ERP: Separating Fact from Fiction. The TCO of using SAP and Oracle ‘s ERP as the centrepiece to the enterprise software strategy is shown in our Solution Architecture Packages, and the results would make a person logically question why anyone would follow this strategy.

MUFI Scores

All scores out of a possible 10.

MUFI Scores

Search for the vendor in this table using the search bar in the upper right of the table. Shortening Key: 
  • Ma. = Maintainability
  • Us. = Usability
  • Fu. = Functionality
  • Im. = Implementability
AppMa.Us.Ft.Im.Cat.
Average Score for Big ERP5.14.85.25.4Big ERP
Average Score for CRM6.26.25.15.9CRM
Average Score for Small and Medium ERP8.386.78.5Small and Medium ERP
Average Score for Finance8.88.888.8Finance
Average Score for Demand Planning7.67.277.1Demand Planning
Average Score for Supply Planning6.76.976.8Supply Planning
Average Score for Production Planning6.86.976.9Production Planning
Average Score for BI Heavy5.55.36.95.3BI Heavy
Average Score for PLM77.26.87.3PLM
Average Score for BI Light7.78.798.3BI Light
Arena Solutions Arena PLM 10101010PLM
AspenTech AspenOne48107Production Planning
Birst 88.5108BI Light
ERPNext10107.510Small and Medium ERP
Delfoi Planner866.57Production Planning
Demand Works Smoothie SP910710Supply Planning
Hamilton Grant RM1098.59PLM
IBM Cognos2.731.53BI Heavy
Infor Epiphany7865CRM
Infor Lawson8767Big ERP
Intuit QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions9959Finance
JDA DM97.588Demand Planning
Microsoft Dynamics CRM2322CRM
NetSuite CRM6433CRM
Netsuite OneWorld7788Big ERP
OpenERP788.587
Oracle BI4436BI Heavy
Oracle CRM On Demand4535CRM
Oracle Demantra533.54.5Demand Planning
Oracle JD Edwards World4136Big ERP
Oracle RightNow6745CRM
PlanetTogether Galaxy APS10101010Production Planning
Preactor8737Production Planning
QlikTech QlikView99109BI Light
Rootstock9899Small and Medium ERP
Sage X38878Big ERP
Salesforce Enterprise88.597.5CRM
SAP APO DP3432Demand Planning
SAP APO PP/DS2243Production Planning
SAP APO SNP3484Supply Planning
SAP BI/BW1.5242BI Heavy
SAP Business Objects32.573BI Heavy
SAP CRM4364CRM
SAP ECC336.53Big ERP
SAP PLM12.523PLM
SAP SmartOps4475.5Supply Planning
SAS BI6.5796BI Heavy
SAS Demand Driven Forecasting7897Demand Planning
Tableau (BI)9101010BI Light
Tableau (Forecasting)10859Demand Planning
Teradata86.39.76BI Heavy
ToolsGroup SO99 (Forecasting)7897Demand Planning
ToolsGroup SO99 (Supply)56107Supply Planning

Vendor and Application Risk

Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne is on average the second-longest to implement all the ERP systems. As with SAP ECC, the flawed proposal regarding Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne is that a company should implement the ERP application first, and then it will be in a better position to implement other applications. Another argument that JD Edwards EnterpriseOne has financial functionality that is highly differentiated is also false, with best of breed applications like Intacct exceeding SAP ECC’s financial module.

Likelihood of Implementation Success

This accounts for both the application and the vendor-specific risk. In our formula, the total implementation risk is application + vendor + buyer risk. The buyer specific risk could increase or decrease this overall likelihood and adjust the values that you see below.

Likelihood of Application Implementation Success and Failure

Estimates are for a typical project. A specific implementation requires details from the project to make a project-specific estimate.

Search for the application in this table using the search bar in the upper right of the table.
ApplicationProb of Implementation SuccessProb of Implementation Failure
Actuate0.770.23
SAP Smartops0.390.61
NetSuite CRM0.460.54
Sugar CRM0.620.48
Base CRM0.910.09
SAP CRM0.350.65
Salesforce Enterprise0.720.28
QlikTech QlikView0.820.18
Tableau (BI)0.980.02
SAP Crystal Reports0.460.54
Brist0.830.17
MicroStrategy0.70.3
SAS BI0.760.24
Oracle BI0.350.65
IBM Cognos0.230.77
Infor Epiphany0.580.42
Microsoft Dynamics CRM0.260.74
Oracle RightNow CRM0.410.59
Oracle CRM On Demand0.360.64
Teradata0.760.24
SAP Business Objects0.320.68
SAP BI/BW0.250.75
SAP PLM0.290.71
Hamilton Grant RM0.890.11
Arena Solutions0.960.04
Delfoi Planner0.70.3
Preactor0.640.36
PlanetTogether Galaxy APS0.960.04
AspenTech AspenOne0.550.45
SAP APO PP/DS0.270.73
Demand Works Smoothie SP0.930.07
ToolsGroup SO99 (Supply)0.820.18
Demand Works Smoothie0.960.04
Tableau (Forecasting)0.90.1
SAS Demand Driven Forecasting0.820.18
ToolsGroup SO99 (Forecasting)0.860.14
JDA DM0.570.43
Oracle Demantra0.330.67
SAP APO DP0.280.72
FinancialForce0.920.08
Intacct0.980.02
Intuit QB Enterprise0.80.2
ERPNext0.90.1
OpenERP0.780.22
Rootstock0.910.09
ProcessPro0.930.07
Microsoft Dynamics AX0.40.6
SAP Business One0.490.51
Sage X30.620.38
Infor Lawson0.580.42
Epicor ERP0.40.6
Oracle JD Edwards World0.310.69
Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne0.360.64
SAP ERP ECC/R/30.320.68
NetSuite OneWorld0.650.35

Risk Definition

See this link for more on our categorizations of risk. We also offer a Buyer Specific Risk Estimation as a service for those that want a comprehensive analysis.

Risk Management Approach

Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne is a risky implementation. It is problematic these implementations tend to have so much breadth. Another major problem is that the major consulting companies primarily implement Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne – and they treat their tier 1 ERP projects as cash cows – actively extending the projects to maximize their billable hours. The tier 1 software vendors have done very little to make their software more implementable and more usable.

The main objective should be to keep Oracle from “taking over the company,” and this is a challenge. SAP, like SAP and several other ERP vendors, uses ECC as a wedge to sell in what are often inappropriate applications to ERP customers using the faulty logic of integration costs savings. How badly this is for customers is covered in our Solution Architecture Packages). This is a strategy based on leveraging previous investments to influence future investments and is about harnessing the buyer into bad decisions. The best way to get value from SAP ECC is by controlling its scope and by controlling SAP to prevent them from taking over the company’s IT spend.

Finished With Your Analysis?

To go back to the Software Selection Package page for the Big ERP software category. Or go to this link to see other analytical products for Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne.

References