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ERP OS/Database

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by crooks

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I am part of a team evaluating several ERP solutions and I would like to hear from anyone that has an ERP (any one) about what Platform/OS/Database they are using. Our management is dead-set on using Oracle on OpenVMS, but I cannot see any compelling reason to use it over either a Windows or UNIX solution. Actually, I have not been able to find any ERP vendor that implicitly supports OpenVMS, although you can get Oracle on OpenVMS.
That may be, but my argument continues to be that if no one else is using it, why should we?

6 replies

by tmcintosh

We have been a VMS shop since about 1983. We have been running ORACLE on VMS for years and presently run up to 10 instances (production and test) on on ALPHA 4100 (400MHz) Our load is relatively light most of the time. ORACLE backups are run every night. The VMS has run for up to 200 days. It just runs. Many of our vendors complain about us running ORACLE on VMS because they don't have support. When we do track down problems, they usually turn out to be ORACLE problems and not VMS problems.
I just heard that at least two BC hospitals are installing hospital systems and will be using VMS.

by dataweaver

I used to support a very substantial Commercial Property & Casualty Insurance system on both the OpenVMS and MS Windows Server platforms.

Compared to MS Windows & MSSQL Server 2000, Oracle Rdb on OpenVMS was always much more reliable; hands down, no bones about it. Less thread locking and fewer 'surprise' server or database outages/downtimes.

The OpenVMS DCL command lang. interface provides a much more intuitive scripting environment than any cryptic UNIX shells that I've had to contend with. And OpenVMS has true batch queue/job management built right into the O/S ... and is a lot more useful/managable than the pitiful MS Windows' scheduler.

by sgri

You are right that there aren't any ERP platforms on OpenVMS.
I would ask management why they want Open VMS, is it because:
1. you have it and they want to keep costs down?
2. they want a proven stable platform (which OpenVMS is)?
If the answer is 1 they should know that OpenVMS has not been a target platform for many years, and if they insist on it they may find a product, but it will be limited for functionality, a risk in terms of vendor stability, and probably will cost more in the long term due to the specialised support required.
If the answer is 2, they could look at another proprietary platform that has proven stability, and that is IBM's iSeries (should to be AS/400). That at least has solutions from Oracle (JD Edwards) and Lawson.
BTW, why Oracle as well? Both SQL Server and DB2 support many ERP apps, and cost less.
Regards,
SG

by keith.cayemberg

Huh?

Please research your topic before attempting authoritative answers. Otherwise your response may have the intellectual and moral equivalence of marketing FUD.

There are many commercial ERP solutions running on OpenVMS. Some for mainstream business, others specialized for specific trades or industries such as healthcare, education, telecommunications, banks, logistic services, manufacturing or lotteries.

Here's a "short list" of the better known ones...

Arel
http://www.arel.com.au/products/modules/erp.htm
CODA
http://www.coda.com/
COGNOS Powerhouse
http://www.cognos.com/products/powerhouse/compaq.html
CCS4VMS
http://www.ccs4vms.com/solutions.stm
Datacon DC/4
http://www.datacon.dk/produkter/erp--pos/dc4
Digiflex Information Systems Inc. - CLASS Financials
http://www.digiflex.ca/class.html
http://www.digiflex.ca/proclass.html
Down To Earth Business Software
http://www.datvsn.com/
Martin Group OSS Solutions
http://h71000.www7.hp.com/partners/martingrp/index.html
ROSS ERP - iRenaissance or GEM
http://www.rossinc.com/aview.aspx?id=1342
http://h71000.www7.hp.com/solutions/healthcare/ross.html
SSA Enterprise Resource Planning - MANMAN
http://www.ssaglobal.com/solutions/erp/ln.aspx
Strategic Systems International Ltd - Tropos ERP
http://www.ssi-world.com/
http://www.ssi-world.com/gencontent/casestudies/roxel.htm
Timecost Solutions Ltd. (TCS) - ORCA
http://www.orcabytcs.com/ORCAoverview.html

SAP and others can also use Oracle Classic or Oracle Rdb (with the OCI interface) as the third tier DB on top of OpenVMS.

If you limit your horizon to just what the the popular IT business magazines decide to be interesting products, you will come to think that there exist only 4 or 5 ERP products in the world at most, and miss the existance of at least 90% of the products on the market. Some of these are potentially having a much more up-to-date, sophisticated and appropriate design for your particular business as any of the so-called market leaders.

I find almost all of the big named IT consultancy firms to be both prejudiced and uninformed. They will tell you what their limited market knowledge is the safe choice for their "rep", usually without performing a real scientifically-oriented analysis of your real situation and an equally unbiased consideration of all the possible best-fit solutions. Mostly they are not coming equiped with the technical background, intellectual tools or critical attitude to analyse and decide correctly.
My recommendation is that the customer should put in the hard work to understand their their situation and the true capabilities of products on the market themselves, developing the critical insight to make their own independent decisions tailored to their situation, instead of only uncritically following the unqualified opinions of IT Business magazines and IT consultancies like a herd of cattle being mindlessly led to the trough.

Cheers!

KC

by david_wales

We have been using an ERP system running on an IBM AS/400, I-series as is called these days, for the last 6 ? 7 years. The database is DB2. I have found this server set up excellent in terms of reliability and high availability. However, the business now wants, like you, to go to Oracle. There is no sense in the decision apart from the fact that as it is French owned they would like all their companies to be on the same software. We will shortly be looking into the possibility of going to Oracle. Preliminary findings, which perhaps you may be aware of, show that the licensing issue can be potentially very expensive.

by frankz

Let me start by offering my apologies, as I am participating a little late in the discussion, but I am interested in knowing what ERP solutions your team is evaluating, as well as finding out if your company has industry-slanted requirements that might not be met by the more common ERP solutions. Would you mind sharing this information? Thank you.

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